“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got,” said W.L. Bateman. What a true statement surrounding so many areas of life — certainly equally true in business. If you’ve traditionally run a brick and mortar business, research suggests that you are likely missing out on dollars you could be earning by taking your business online, and more importantly selling online.
According to Internet Retailer, “EMarketer today increased its e-commerce growth forecast for 2012, and now projects that U.S. online shoppers will spend $224.2 billion this year, up 15.4% from $194.3 billion in 2011.” The reason for this optimistic projection? The Department of Commerce reports “consumer optimism, homebuilding and the number of people willing to buy goods online is growing, while unemployment is declining slightly.”
The other good news is that sales are increasing across many retail industries: apparel, accessories, home decor, recreation, electronics and more. “Retailers continue to increase the scale of their e-commerce operations, particularly by investing in online sales platforms that display products and convert shoppers more effectively,” says Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer principal analyst.
Check out these stats from a recent study of general and online shopping habits as they relate to holiday spending:
- 80% of online shoppers and 71% of in-store shoppers say email offers influence them to buy
- 62% of consumers have used a mobile device to compare web prices while in store
- More than 41% of mobile device owners have purchased in response to a email promotion viewed on mobile
- 1/3 of top ecommerce brand emails linked to a non-mobile optimized landing page
- 7 of 10 surveyed report they will spend the same or more this holiday season versus 2011
- 1/5 consumers plan to begin holiday shopping at least 3mos before Black Friday
(Source: Consumer Online Behavior Report)
Clearly retailers must keep up to compete by lining their digital marketing strategies up with current consumer trends. And while you may be pressed for time to convert your site to e-commerce before the holiday spending season, it is definitely worth your while to begin making strides in this direction. Rave Retailer offers e-commerce websites at affordable pricing, direct dashboard access, along with the help of an Online Specialist to walk you though each of the steps along the way.
Not convinced? These numbers are projected to grow considerably. The infographic below by Baynote demonstrates projections over the next four years.
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