Online Retailing set to Rocket!

With last week's bad weather affecting much of the country and with more snow still to come, it is perhaps unsurprising that eretailers are looking forward to a bumper trading period over the next few weeks.

Research published last week from Interatctive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) and payment processor Retail Decisions indicated that sales were likely to peak during the 5th and 6th December, with over £23million being spent per hour in the UK!

While Christmas is an exceptional period for eretailers, the growth of online shopping continues irrespective of seasonal cycles. In October this year, an average of £85.00 per person was spent online, a year on year increase of 23%.

The acceleration of online sales isn't just impacting the UK. The economic feel good factor is being enjoyed across the EU, with the largest Christmas related online sales growth forecast to take place in the Netherlands this year. UK consumers are spending more online than their neighbours, but combined with France and Germany, are responsible for a whopping 65% of all online festive spending across Europe.

Interestingly, a rise in consumer spending online comes at a time when offline sales are decreasing, so how can retailers make the most of digital technology to attract and retain clients? In our view, it is the niche specialists, SME's and boutique providers that appear to have the most to gain from online retailing. The nature of search engines allows us all to pinpoint our searches to exacting requirements. Building an online brand takes time and effort, but it is more measurable than many traditional marketing techniques, and arguably, more cost effective.

Channelling targeted traffic along with researching new products and entrants to the market is made easy thanks to tools such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Lastly, thinking of your website as the critical link between you, the supplier, and your client base can not only help cement loyalty, but give you a roadmap for your relationship with customers. Basic analytic tools provide trend information in terms of the usage of your site, buying behaviour and much more, enabling you to target wider marketing activities, promotions and campaigns more accurately, delivering greater results.