January 04 2008
Good news, bad news, part one
Early indications from Christmas 2007 season show bad results on the high-street but as usual some great results for online
We’ve just come back from the Christmas break after a few weeks of retoxing and all we’ve been met with is doom and gloom on the high-street, but quite frankly we don’t care online looks great - we’re not called Internet Retailing for nothing!!!
New year, new survey, same result.
E-commerce specialist Actinic were fast of the block with the first e-retail survey and it makes for happy reading. Their early poll of Christmas trading results has found continued growth in shopping online.
Respondents reported a 27% rise in the number of customers
buying online at Christmas compared to the same period in 2006. They also
reported an even greater increase in internet revenues at 46% indicating that
not only are more people shopping online, but they are spending more as well.
The poll also found ecommerce making a greater proportional contribution to the
bottom line compared with other channels. Companies trading both online and
offline, reported that on average, just over 50% of sales in November and
December were made online, compared with only 30% in 2006.
According to Actinic CEO Chris Barling, the results show that growth in online spending remains remarkably buoyant. “Considering the effects of the US credit crunch, the Northern Rock crisis and the general overall decline in confidence, 46% is remarkable growth and continues the rise and rise of online retailing,” he says.
In all, over half of retailers who responded were very confident that online
sales would continue to increase in 2008. Less than a quarter expressed the
same level of confidence that conventional retail sales would grow.
Fashion retailer Next warned of a difficult year ahead, saying it is
"extremely cautious" on prospects as the consumer credit squeeze
bites.
In the US
Over Christmas we’ve been tracking comScore’ s US updates on the US Christmas season e-commerce and the results for the final sales are in. Online spending for the first 57 days of the 2007 season (November 1 – December 27) have now totalled nearly $28 billion, marking a 19-percent gain versus the corresponding days last year with no real sign of spending collapsing until after the January sales.
“Even as the holiday shopping season winds down after Christmas, we continue to see some relatively strong online spending days,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. “For example, the day after Christmas saw online sales of $545 million, more than double the sales on the same day last year. This would appear to indicate that consumers were willing and able, to take advantage of the attractive late-season promotions and price discounts offered by retailers this year.”
