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E-commerce persuasion, not conversion
"The future is not about optimizing conversion, nor about maximizing conversion, it’s about spectacular user experiences that convert effortlessly from the users point-of-view." An insightful contribution from the fabulous brothers Eisenberg.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on August 31, 2010 in Online retailing
Men's fashion online
Wall Street Journal covers how men buy their fashion online.
Men may buy less than women, but they spend more. Affluent men, those with income levels in the top 20% of U.S. households, spent an average of $3,970 on Internet purchases during the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with $1,958 for women.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on July 22, 2010 in Online retailing
Retailers expect VAT increase & will pass on rise to consumers
An overwhelming 81 per cent of UK retailers believe the coalition government will increase VAT in next week's budget announcement, according to recent research from More2.
Over two thirds of retailers (68 per cent) are planning on passing the potential increase on to their customers. One in 10 is claiming that if a rise occurs they will absorb the price increase.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 16, 2010 in Online retailing
E-commerce conversion optimisation: back to basics
Well written piece on SEOmoz about improving conversion: "Conversion rate optimization is a) finding out why visitors aren’t converting and b) fixing it."
Advice such as "Don't follow best-practice and guesswork" and "don't worry about misleading metrics" may seem counter-intuitive, but it all rings true and the guidance is imminently sensible and practical.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on April 28, 2010 in Online retailing
Online shoppers will spend 10% more for great service
Excellent online customer service may be worth US$17.3 billion in 2010, according to a new Ovum/StellaService report. That's a 10% premium consumers are willing to pay.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 24, 2010 in Online retailing
Internet retailing evolution 2008-2010
Sarah Clark (who is leaving Internet Retailing) has summarised the changes she has observed over the past few years in her tenure. One is so close to the minutiae, it's good to get a birds-eye view.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 24, 2010 in Online retailing
Online retail sales will hit £1.26 billion during Xmas 2010 shopping season
The Logan Tod 2010 Index showed the largest growth is in the ‘adopters’ age group, 45+, who are becoming increasingly comfortable shopping online. These shoppers are more focused on convenience, with the primary reasons given for shopping online being prices, store opening times, home delivery and avoiding crowds. More than 70% of this demographic researched online before purchasing.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on January 28, 2010 in Online retailing
Top 10 blog posts from Screen Pages in 2009
The top news stories on the Screen Pages news site - mostly blog entries and news stories - for 2009 have been compiled. The launch of the Ness clothing website was the most read story, closely followed by Stephen Sacks' updated rules of Monopoly.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on December 22, 2009 in Online retailing
Luxury brands sell online
Many in the fashion business remain wary of the Internet, partly because of continuing legal battles over online sales of counterfeit goods and concerns about diluting carefully honed brand images. Many companies also have failed to execute online storefronts successfully. But executives say that attitudes are softening as brands realize that the Web provides one of the last untapped sources of potential growth.
Read the whole piece in the NY Times, with commentary from Net-a-Porter (£100m online) & Burberry.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 23, 2009 in Online retailing
How to plan your online business
We chaired a "Build your brand's sales online" session at Ecommerce Expo featuring contributions from Thorntons and the RSPB. Very compelling material, indeed.
I was asked to post my own slides on "how to plan your business", discussing how to achieve your sales target by measured visitor acquisition...
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on October 20, 2009 in Online retailing
Online Retailing - no more excuses
Great business-oriented summary of the state of the online retailing nation, brought to my attention by Brent Hoberman (lastminute, mydeco) on Facebook.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on September 28, 2009 in Online retailing
E-commerce advice for retailers from Drapers
Drapers ran an e-commerce panel in the month of August with lots of questions and the experts' responses.
Follow the link for the questions & answers.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on September 23, 2009 in Online retailing
E-commerce Innovations
Interesting summary of what's coming next in e-commerce. "Just as the evolution of the speed-skating boot set new standards for the sport, innovation in today's constantly evolving e-commerce landscape has worked as a catalyst to move it forward. E-commerce practitioners from all industries need to be ready to step up and embrace innovation as a means of staying ahead of the game," advises the article.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on September 23, 2009 in Online retailing
Roger Willcocks in Online Fashion 100
Screen Pages is very chuffed that its owner, Roger Willcocks, has been counted in the Online Fashion 100, sponsored by Schway. The publication lists "inspirational, interesting and influential people in the online fashion industry."
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on September 08, 2009 in Online retailing
Online shoppers value reputation above price
The reputation of a retailer is what online shoppers value most when buying online, according to findings from user experience consultancy, Webcredible. Almost one third (28 per cent) of online shoppers are most likely to be persuaded by the reputation of the retailer, showing that security is still a major concern when it comes to online shopping. In addition, respondents feel that reputable retailers will offer better customer care and returns policies.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 18, 2009 in Online retailing
Online retail grows at 13.3% during recession
Online spending growing is forecast to grow by £2.4 billion in 2009 and is proving to be a star performer in the recession
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 17, 2009 in Online retailing
Online retailers shift e-commerce spend
Online retailers are shifting their marketing from traditional advertising to less expensive tools like Facebook.com and Twitter and e-mail as they seek market share or just work to retain customers. 30% expect to cut their spending on Web operations for the year, while 24% would increase it and 46% would spend as planned.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on May 05, 2009 in Online retailing
Online retailing analysis from Retail Week
Comprehensive review of online retail trends from a macro perspective, courtesy of Charlotte Hardie.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 25, 2009 in Online retailing
Sheerluxe E-tail Conference
We recently attended the Sheerluxe Etail conference in glitzy Fulham's town hall - the new e-capital of Europe. Here's a summary of the proceedings.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 12, 2009 in Online retailing
Online shipping charges - free is best
Delivery costs are a huge factor in whether people choose to buy online or offline. Almost one-fifth of all shoppers (17%) report that when they choose to buy something from a retailer’s store instead of website, avoiding delivery costs is the main reason. When they choose to shop on a retailer’s website instead of in the store, 31% report that the availability of free delivery encouraged them to buy online.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on January 20, 2009 in Online retailing
New info shoppers
While elites were busy shoveling money into Madoff's black box these past few years, strapped consumers have been poring over product spec sheets, third-party reviews and expert blog sites. This past holiday season they watched every dollar. A special kind of consumer has taken a major role in the marketplace -- the new info shopper.
Posted by 'support' on January 09, 2009 in Online retailing
Online retailer Top 50 in the UK
Top 50 online retailers for the month of October 2008. Higlights are rises in event tickets, fashion, groceries and computers, while travel falls lower than usual.
Amazon.co.uk (1), Argos (2), Play.com (3) and Tesco (4) lead the field as usual. M&S makes it into the top five for the first time and John Lewis (13) reaches another all-time high.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 28, 2008 in Online retailing
Christmas online analysis
Shop.org has posted some valuable pre-christmas research which should help most retailers inform their plans.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 19, 2008 in Online retailing
Luxury online in a cold climate
We went to the Walpole Society's conference on selling luxury brands online hel at the RAC club. The Walpole Society promotes the interests of the British luxury goods world. Its members include our clients Smythson and the Real Flower company. Online is one of two special areas for luxury markets, the other being China.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 07, 2008 in Online retailing
Retailing strategies
Strategists (and McKinsey fans) will appreciate this article which analyses approaches to gain competitive advantage during tougher times - just sitting it out is not an option. Retailers should either be investing to get ahead - if they have the balance sheets - or they should be taking out cost to improve performance.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 06, 2008 in Online retailing
Can websites act like virtual salesmen?
In theory yes, the practicalities of online salesmen/facilities are far greater than shop floor. Online can serve thousands of customers a day where as a sales team of four may only reach a fraction of this.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 02, 2008 in Online retailing
Planning a new website?
It’s actually hard work helping would-be online retailers get what you want website-wise. OK, so you might think it is hard picking a path through the techno-marketing waffle we potential suppliers throw up, so a little bit of education might go a long way.
At Screen Pages, we are often asked “what should we have on the new website we are planning?” Actually, it’s worse than that: frighteningly, businesses say “we’d like to sell more”. We then ask the question “how” and that’s when the hair scratching kicks in. Sometimes, we get the feeling that you hoped we wouldn’t ask that question and rather we just told you what to do.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on May 02, 2008 in Online retailing
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Online customer service
Top 10 Tips for Exceptional Online Service on a Budget (Source: E-commerce Guide)...
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 11, 2008 in Online retailing
Online retailers benefit from bad weather
According to Hitwise, the miserable weather over the bank holiday weekend caused a spike in online shopping in the UK.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 13, 2007 in Online retailing
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Online clothing sales makes number one
A Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research of 170 retailers, found that Americans last year spent more online on clothing than they did on computers for the first time in history.
The report found the apparel, accessories and footwear category reached $18.3 billion in 2006 and is expected to hit $22.1 billion in 2007. This year, 10 percent of all clothing sales are expected to occur online.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 11, 2007 in Online retailing
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Online clothing sales top £1bn
Recent research by Mintel - widely picked up in the press - shows that Internet fashion expenditure has risen by 461% over the past five years because of wider internet access and a rise in clothes-based websites. The sales record in 2006 came after more retailers made their entire range available to buy remotely.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on February 01, 2007 in Online retailing
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Online retail grows to 10% of retail
Internet retailing will be worth £30bn in the UK this year, or 10 per cent of all retail sales, says the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).
Online sales are increasing at an annual rate of 45 per cent, adds IMRG. Sales of electrical products have increased by 100 per cent year on year, while sales of clothing, footwear and accessories are up 33 per cent.
IMRG reckons that the Internet affects another £30bn worth of High Street sales, with shoppers using the web to make comparisons. It also found that 44 per cent of consumers expect to increase their online spends in the next year.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 07, 2006 in Online retailing
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Online retail comes of age (again)
Writes Richard Holway, esteemed Ovum founder & analyst:
Any last vestige of doubt that anyone might have about the “coming of age” of internet retailing will have been blown away by the release of data from IMRG today. This shows that internet shopping now accounts for 10% of retail sales in the UK. £30bn is expected to be spent online in 2006 - a 56% increase on 2005. In addition some £20bn will be spent online on such things as insurance and gambling.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on May 24, 2006 in Online retailing
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High street retailers suffer
Nearly 50% of high street retailers reported a decrease in sales. Our estimates are that 90% of online retailers are enjoying an increase in sales: online sales are up 23% for week ending July 10, according to Comscore.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on August 02, 2005 in Online retailing
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Homeware and garden online retailers show double digit growth
According to Nielsen, 8 of the top 10 online home and garden sites experienced double-digit YOY growth in visits in June. The top 8 are:
1. DIY Network had the largest increase, rising 69% to 3.26 million from 1.93 million a year earlier.
2. Northerntool.com ranked second, with a 46% increase to 1.4 million from 960,000 visits a year earlier,
3. Lowe’s up 42% to 6.93 million from 4.87 million;
4. Home Depot, up 37% to 9.5 million from 6.9 million;
5. HGTV, up 26% to 4.8 million from 3.8 million;
6. Linens ‘n Things, up 17% to 1.55 million from 1.33 million;
7. GardenWeb, up 11% to 1.45 million from 1.31 million;
8. eBay Home, up 10% to 10.41 million from 9.5 million
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on July 20, 2005 in Online retailing
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UK online retailers weak on returns
IMRG research reveals that online retailers in the UK are not exemplary when it comes to returns handling. More than half hid returns information in "about us" or "terms" (or similar); 12% offered minimal assistance; nearly half of the retailers expected the customer to pay postage on returns, with 35% covering the costs; 10% were unclear about who paid postage on returned goods.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on July 08, 2005 in Online retailing
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High street retailers spend more online to stem high street slump
A study from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) predicts that UK retailers will invest more than £120m a year in 2010 on advertising online, up from £31.13m in 2004.
The top man, Guy Phillipson, said: “We’re seeing the beginnings of a trend that cannot be reversed and the traditional retail sector is largely unready to reap the benefits of e-commerce and online advertising.”
High street sales fell 2.4% in May 2005. This compares with a rise in Internet sales of 30% year on year and a 13% increase on the previous month, with online sales reaching £1.5bn. By 2010 online sales could total £60bn, 20% of all retail spend. A further 40% of high street purchases will be researched online.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 30, 2005 in Online retailing
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Online retailers use cross-sells - but do they work?
76% of online retailers use cross-sells, per a recent report by Jupiter on "dynamic merchandising". But, Jupiter suggests (sadly) that only 9% of consumers use them. For every 10,000 visitors, with a site conversion ratio of 4% and an average order value of £75, that makes £32k of sales - for zero effort. Sounds good to me!
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 22, 2005 in Online retailing
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Online and mail order buoy retail sales
Worthwhile analysis of latest Office for National Statistics reports, with additional insights on Boden, The White Company and Charles Tyrwhitt.
Retail sales increased just 1.3pc on an annual basis, the lowest rate of growth since 1999, due to downward revisions for earlier in the year. But within that mail order, internet shopping and agency catalogues saw volumes leap by 6.5pc to account for about a fifth of total sales.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 20, 2005 in Online retailing
Multi-channel retail a distant dream for retailers?
A recent online retailing straw-poll from Zendor (covered by Marcia McLeaod in Retail Week) reports that retailers may operate more than one channel, but run them as silos: no integration, little cross-fertilisation etc. The sample is taken from 100 of the biggest high-street retailers who are known to be slow off the mark.
Screen Pages' experience is that niche retailers are very committed to integrating their channels: it is companies like White Compay, Fat Face, Charles Tyrwhitt and White Stuff they who earn the laurels for multi-channel retailing (as well as most of the better organised mail order companies!).
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 15, 2005 in Online retailing
Maternity wear: how do you get that top search result?
Recent research from Hitwise (via NetImperative) found that 'maternity wear’ and ‘trainers’ are among the most searched for products sending visits to fashion retailers. A quick and dirty check shows about 35,000 people looking each month for "maternity wear" and 100,000 for "maternity clothes" , But high street retailer Next did not receive visits from either term across the four-week period in which the research was conducted. This concurs with Screen Pages' own report on how high street retailers manage their presence in search engines.
How do all those maternity wear companies do better? Ultimately, after ensuring your site is well indexed with lots of relevant content, it's about quality inbound links. That's about interesting content which people will link to voluntarily.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on June 06, 2005 in Online retailing
Online retail sales and profitability climb
2004 online sales rose 23.8% to $141.4 billion. Excluding travel, online retail sales also rose 23.8% to $89.0 billion, representing 4.6% of total retail sales, according to Forrester and Shop.org
The report predicts that online retail sales (including travel) will rise 22% to $172.4 billion this year. Sales excluding travel are expected to reach $109.6 billion.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on May 27, 2005 in Online retailing
Internet takes over for catalogue companies
According to Mintel, the Internet has overtaken mail order catalogues as the most popular form of home shopping. One in three adults bought product online last year, as opposed to one in four who bought from catalogues (compared to over half in 2000).
The value of the home shopping market increased overall from £45.8bn to £46.5bn.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on May 12, 2005 in Online retailing
E-commerce in the garden and home sector
Latest report from Internet Retailer on e-commerce in the home and garden sector. IKEA doing well.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on April 04, 2005 in Online retailing
High street retailers hit by the cold, online retailers and rate rises
Well argued piece in the Times about French Connection (fcuk).
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 10, 2005 in Online retailing
Mail order salaries
We are impressed by what directors make by way of salaries in the mail order business. Especially at the White Company.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on March 08, 2005 in Online retailing
Women setting up online & retail businesses
20% of all businesses run by women are in retail. Fun article from Seattle (home of Amazon) about women setting up online retailing businesses.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on February 06, 2005 in Online retailing
Selling clothing online via e-commerce
Internet Retailer offers this insightful and detailed analysis of best e-commerce practice for selling clothing via the Internet: 12% of all clothing sales will be online by 2010.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on January 04, 2005 in Online retailing
Online jewelry sales
Well-written New York Times article about how well jewelry is selling online. That was in 2002. Nowadays, the jewelry and watch category is the second biggest in Ebay, with about 1.2m visitors per week. A recent report shows jewelry sales this Xmas up 32% on last year - tied second with DVDs against music in the fastest growing area.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on December 22, 2004 in Online retailing
Multi-channel retailing
Ashley Friedlein, CEO of e-consultancy, has uploaded lots of material and research about cross-channel issues in a multi-channel retailing context.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on December 20, 2004 in Online retailing
Online retailing "state of the nation"
Belatedly, we discovered the Forrester Research/Shop.org "State of Online Retailing 7.0", published in May 2004. About.com summarises the key messages pretty well. Here are the key stats...
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on December 15, 2004 in Online retailing
Online retailers exploit catalogues for recruitment
Catalogues are now being adopted by online businesses as a way of recruiting new customers. An article from Silicon.com provides a case study
Rumours of the demise catalogues are premature: a view confirmed by several speakers at ECMOD 2004 (including the White Company).
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 24, 2004 in Online retailing
Catalogue/mail order sales moving online
According to the DoubleClick Holiday 2004 Shopping Report, there is a continuing channel shift towards online sales in catalogue-driven purchases.
35% of catalogue-driven orders in 2004 were recorded at call centers (vs. 54% in 2003), 36% were recorded online (vs 22% in 2003) and 29% in stores (vs. 24%). When the direct channels are analyzed in isolation, the number of orders by channel has gone from 70% at call centers versus 30% online in 2003, to 50% through each channel in 2004.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 19, 2004 in Online retailing
Online shopper profile
According to Aqute Research, 51% of online buyers are male, 47% have a household income of £25-50k, 41% are aged 18-35, 38% have broadband and 30% have shopped at Amazon (of which they're fans).
38% have shopped online more than 10 times in the last six months and 28% have spent between £200 and £500.
Now it's easy to target folk.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on November 05, 2004 in Online retailing
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Web catalogue sales overtake call centre in USA
Catalog Age summarises recent research from Abacus Annual Catalog Industry Trend Report, showing that: "The trend toward Web purchases is an ever-increasing one: In 2003, 32% were conducted online, compared with 28% percent in 2002."
The Internet now represents 32% of catalogue sales in the USA. Our experience in the UK is that the Internet is, on average, 10-15% of sales - implying a lot of upside for the mail order industry here.
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on October 29, 2004 in Online retailing
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What women like online
Internet Retailer covers research launched at shop.org which lists the top ten things women want online.
"Understanding what women want from a shopping experience is important, because while they make up 51% of the population, women account for 83% of retail spending. They are responsible for 60% of online spending. Making their shopping simpler is important, because many are multi-tasking while they are shopping online."
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on October 08, 2004 in Online retailing
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Internet impact on offline spending at all-time high
Axcess News reports that "online product research conducted by consumers the past year was responsible for driving $180.7 billion in offline spending, compared to $106.5 billion in direct online consumer spending."
It is true that while the web accounts for (on average) 10-20% of a mail order company's sales, it can account for 50% of all initial customer contact.
The report also concluded that "Internet-influenced offline spending is now growing faster than direct online spending. Internet-influenced offline sales grew 31% last year and direct online sales grew 14%, while total U.S. retail spending grew only 5% during the comparable period."
Posted by 'Screen Pages' on October 07, 2004 in Online retailing
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