Excluding travel, online retail sales grew 34% to $72 billion last year
Excluding travel, online retail sales in the U.S. grew 34% in 2003 over the previous year, reaching $72 billion, with a rising economic tide loating all boats,?meaning that all product categories online did well, according to the just-released Shop.org/Forrester Research State of Retailing Online Survey.
Online revenues in every product category gained (with the exception of autos and auto parts, due to a survey methodology change.) The growth rate in categories that have greater maturity online, such as computers and books, took a back seat to that of newer categories. For example, online sales of sporting goods grew 104% in 2003 over 2002; while the flowers, cards and gifts category grew 98% and health and beauty grew 93%.
Overall, online sales accounted for 5.4% of total retail sales in 2003, up from 3.6% in 2002. In 2004, online sales are projected to account for 6.6% of total retail sales. One of the most significant changes from 2002 is that in the aggregate, all retailer types recorded operating profitably in 2003. A total of 79% of retailers posted positive operating margins for their online businesses last year, with retailers in the aggregate reporting operating margins of 21%.
Web-based retailers showed the greatest improvement in operating margins over last year, turning a loss of 16% in 2002 to a gain of 15% in 2003. nline retailing has experienced its own version of survival of the fittest," according to the report, pointing out that those that failed to control costs and attract consumers shut down. Store-based retailers improved profitability, reporting average operating margins of 7% in 2002 to 21% in 2003. With average operating margins of 28%, catalog-based retailers were retail most profitable group in 2003.
The survey found that while retailers?investment in technology such as cross-channel tracking systems was flat between 2002 and 2003, the multi-channel experience of the customer didn suffer as a consequence. The web influenced one in four offline purchases, the retailers reported. 87% of retailers now accept in-store returns of online purchase, up from 78% last year. However, as cross-channel integration improved as retailers encouraged shoppers to buy in stores and online traffic increased, conversion rates fell ?to 2.4% in 2003 to from 3.2% in 2002.
According to the report authors, online sales and profitability gains in 2003 indicate most retailers have mastered the basics of online selling. The key to the next phase for retailers is differentiating themselves on the basis of marketing, merchandising, and the quality of the multi-channel experience.
s investment in digital marketing reaches an all-time high, retailers must experiment with local search, word-of-mouth marketing, and e-mail segmentation in order to reach new customers and create intimacy with existing ones,?the report states. ombining merchandising expertise with automated technology will produce more relevant product recommendations and increase customers?loyalty, as will offering custom products.?P> Including travel, the survey found that online sales in 2003 grew 51% over the previous year to reach $114.1 billion.
fr.: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=12056
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home