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BizReport : E-commerce : December 12, 2007
Online avenues help offline store performance
It appears the pre-holiday forecasts may have been mistaken. Before the full shopping rush hit, many online forecasts predicted that etailers and advertisers would see a decrease in online sales. With a Cyber Monday online shopping total of $4 billion, it appears those forecasts were wrong.
Hitwise has reported that online shopping increased by more than 25% year over year on Cyber Monday. At least part of that increase could be linked to an increased knowledge of how to promote online.
According to CurrentCodes.com's CEO Barry Boone, online retailers are becoming more familiar with what works and what doesn't in cyberspace. Boone reports that CurrentCodes.com has seen a 10% increase in traffic overall this holiday shopping season and for Cyber Monday, traffic increased by 30%.
Much of the increase is due to online promotions, either with coupons or the offering of gift cards. Boone says most online retailers offer one or the other to consumers and many offer both coupons and gift cards.
"The most popular [offer] is free shipping. Then, massive percentages off [the ticket price] but those offers are rare," said Boone. "Most stores are looking at 10% to 20% off." After the percentages off offers, Boone said many etailers are offering actual dollar off offers.
Another "offer" more etailers are taking part in is the gift card. With gift card sales expected to skyrocket this holiday season, Boone says he has seen a trend in more etailers offering this option. He predicts that etailers who don't already offer gift cards will have gift card options by next year.
"There are so many more stores [in 2007] than what I saw last year with gift cards," he said. "[I've]noticed also a lot of stores had gift cards for online-only or offline-only but that is merging [for the cards] to be used either place."
Boone has also noticed that online storefronts are beginning to impact offline revenue.
"It costs virtually nothing to have customers come to a website and look around. [It] costs virtually nothing to send an email. You don't have to have the same staff for people browsing websites, and a lot of companies are finding ways to leverage both angles of that." Boone said he expects more retailers to offer online ordering and in-store pick up in the future.
Tags: ecommerce, etailing, online shopping
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Comments
A lot more etailers and other online groups are piloting efforts to make gift cards work. Sites like Leveragecard.com, where consumers can organize their gift cards, are offering incentives like interest and free shipping, as well as features to manage credit card rewards and airline miles. These kinds of sites are making this holiday season a good one for gift card holders.
Posted by: Kel Arris on December 14, 2007 23:02