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, ...
We’re used to stories of doom and gloom on the high street. The combination of the internet, out of town superstores and the recent recession have decimated the number and range of shops available in town centres, with many long-standing retail chains going into receivership.However a new report from the University of Southampton’s Retail Research Group points to major, positive change...
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...
With the English weather remaining drab and grey and Easter coming up, many people are looking to book their summer holidays. But how they do it has changed dramatically over the last ten years due to the internet. The traditional trip to the High Street travel agent has been replaced by the web, which provides virtually unlimited choice of countries, flights, destinations and places to stay.Accor...
Amidst all the bad news on the high street there is one bright spot when it comes to physical retailing – the shopping centre. Despite national figures that show 1 in 7 British shops are currently unoccupied, there is major growth in high end shopping centres that act as destinations for consumers. In fact rents are rising by 5-6% in larger centres with very few shops left empty and multiple...
This has not been a good week for the High Street, with iconic music retailer HMV joining camera group Jessops in administration. It also marks a watershed moment when it comes to physical music and DVD retailing - after the disappearance of Zavvi and Woolworths, and Virgin France closing across the channel there are no longer any standalone chains of shops where you can pop in and pick up the lat...
The Christmas shopping season is in full swing. We’ve had Mega Monday (where online orders reached an estimated £10,000 per second), and overall Christmas ecommerce is expected to exceed £4.6 billion, despite the recession.Festive sales are vital to hard-pressed retailers. Given the overall economic picture and the importance of Christmas, those companies that fail to generate re...
When it comes to customer service the focus is normally on the web, email, social media and telephone channels. However it is vital not to overlook the importance of face to face customer service. After all, a huge number of consumers interact with businesses in this way – whether buying something in a high street shop, depositing money at a bank or when having a meal or popping down the pub...
The recent outbreak of sunshine might have driven it from our minds, but the UK suffered from truly awful weather at the start of the Summer. The constant rain has had a real impact on consumers visiting physical shops, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium and data company Springboard.They report a decline of 2.3% in the number of shoppers visiting high streets, shopping centre...