Fast evolution of internet technologies is enabling retailers to reach their targeted audience from multichannel. Especially brick and mortar stores have found sale catalysts in the internet world as they can now promote goods and services across a growing population of netizens far and wide.
With adequate infrastructure to handle massive buying orders generating online and proper product delivery capacity, retailers that have strong physical presence e.g. Burton can increase sale to a great extent on the back of e-retailing.
Burton, one of the world’s leading makers of snowboards and accessories, has a network of retail outlets and stores in a good number of cities around the world.
It is not alone in exploring the prowess of virtual conduits in hooking up with the huge population of customers beyond geographical and time barriers. There are many such examples.
Online shopping does not force customers into buying decision like physical evidence including sale agent’s pitch might do. This point is a strong motivation to internet shopping.
Ecommerce is growing leaps and bounds. The last year was rather auspicious for the online retailers as it saw a 13 per cent surge in their sale to $161.5 billion, according to comScore. Fourth quarter of 2011 witnessed 14 per cent climb in online retail spending to $50 billion from $36 billion in the previous three months, it noted.
Another noteworthy development of this quarter was record-breaking free shipping. According to the world’s leading digital world tracker, 52 per cent of all ecommerce transactions in three months factored in free shipping. The last record was of 49 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
“Price and convenience continue to be the critical value drivers for e-commerce, and unless those conditions change we can expect to see more channel-shifting to online in 2012 and perhaps even acceleration in the current growth trend,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman comScore.
“In the face of continuing uncertainty regarding the U.S. economy, consumers increasingly went online for their shopping needs.”
No comments:
Post a Comment