As every retailer knows, a good Christmas can make the difference between success and failure. This is particularly true in the UK, with research from ING finding that Britons are the most generous present purchasers in the world, and expect to spend an average of £294 (US$446) on gifts this Christmas. By contrast American shoppers are aiming to spend £250 ($38...
If recent media rumours are to be believed, Amazon is planning to open its first bricks and mortar outlet, located in the heart of New York City, close to the Empire State Building and world famous department store Macy’s. The opening is said to be scheduled ahead of this year’s holiday shopping season.The move, if true, looks like a big change in direction for an ecommerce giant which...
The first secure ecommerce transaction took place 20 years ago when a lucky shopper paid $12.48 plus shipping to buy Sting’s album, Ten Summoner’s Tales, from NetMarket. From these small beginnings online sales have grown to hit £93 billion in the UK last year, according to IMRG, and are expected to top £100 billion in 2014.How we shop today is radically different to 1994, ...
Cross-channel sales, also known as web-influenced sales, are purchases that are touched by a digital channel but are not completed online. According to US data from Forrester, cross-channel sales are becoming increasingly important and are worth four times more in total than online sales alone. In fact, the analyst estimates that cross-channel sales will reach $1.8 trillion by 2018.A big par...
Last month Amazon turned twenty. In 1994 founder Jeff Bezos left his job, drove to Seattle and set up the business in his garage. Originally going to be called Cadabra (as in Abracadabra), the name changed to Amazon after fears that people would mishear it as “cadaver”. It now offers over 230 million separate items for sale in the US alone and had 2013 revenues of $74.5 billion.Amazon ...
New figures show that retail sales in December increased at the fastest rate for nine years. Statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that sales in December were up 5.3% on 2012, and 2.6% greater than November 2013. 12% of sales were through the online channel. Separate research from the IMRG-CapGemini eRetail Sales Index show that UK shoppers spent £91 billion online in...
By the time you read this most people will have completed the bulk of their Christmas shopping, particularly anyone buying presents online. And the latest figures show that more and more consumers are now purchasing on the Internet. Online sales are still climbing – hitting £10.1 billion in November 2013, according to the IMRG Cap Gemini e-Retail Sales Index, up 10% on 2012.There are a...
Sales on the High Street continue to be squeezed by online rivals – and the growth of smartphones is opening another front in the battle for revenues. Increasingly shoppers are using mobiles while in-store to showroom, testing products and comparing offline and online prices before choosing where to spend their money.Research from TNS demonstrates the scale of showrooming – but also wh...
As companies embrace fast-growing channels such as social media there’s a perception that these essentially replace older methods of communication. In some cases this is true, but it is important to realise that consumers don’t automatically move to new channels just because they are there. After all, if that was the case no-one would be calling your contact centre any more.What consum...
We’re now less than six months from Christmas, and the majority of retailers are well-advanced in planning how they will handle their busiest time. And with economic conditions little better than in 2012, competition is expected to be intense as shoppers demand more for their money.So what do retailers need to focus on to ensure that Christmas 2013 is a happy one?New research by L2 into spec...