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Magazines Archives - 2008 December Online retailers upbeat this holiday season ONLINE retailers are optimistic that they would continue to attract shoppers this holiday season, despite the economic turmoil that has beset the world, a study conducted by shopping search The results of the eHoliday Study, released on November 5 this year and conducted for Shop.org — the digital retail organisation under the National Retail Federation — showed that over half of online retailers, or 56.1%, expect their holiday sales to increase by at least 15% this year, compared to last year. But they also forecast the increment to be less than last year’s, when 77.5% of the retailers said that they expected sales to grow by more than 15%, reflecting that while they are showing resilience, “Retailers will be heavily promotional to attract shoppers on a budget, but have also invested in new site features to improve the online buying experience,” he added. Retailers, for instance, plan to continue free-shipping promotions, with 78% of those surveyed saying they planned to offer the promotion “with conditions” at some point during the festive season. Another 21.3% said that they would require a higher purchase amount for customers to be eligible for New site features launched included improved search functions, product video and consumer reviews to provide online shoppers with more information to make buying decisions. Clearance sale and featured sale pages have also been added and enhanced, the study added. The study attributed online retailers’ popularity among shoppers to the convenience they offer. “As in the previous year, consumers acknowledge that the 24-hour shopping convenience is one of the main reasons why they choose to buy online,” the study revealed, adding that other reasons included not wanting to fight mall crowds, easy price comparisons, and free shipping. “Also, nearly one in four shoppers (23.1%) says they’re spending more online due to high gas prices, more than double the number which said the same last year (9%),” the study added. Conducted for seven years, the eHoliday study provides a snapshot of the holiday activities of online retailers as well as the sentiment of online shoppers. Conducted this year by Shopzilla’s
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