E Commerce

E-Commerce Continues to Rise

June 16, 2011 * Posted by Antonella Pannizzo * 0 Comments * Trackback Url

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Retail e-commerce spending has increased throughout the last few years. At the end of 2008 we saw a decrease in spending due to a declining economy that continued to fall throughout 2009. However, 2010 was a turning point when spending increased and sales grew. According to Internet Retailer, the sales of the Top 500 retailers grew 18% to $150 billion in 2010 from $127.1 billion in 2009. Furthermore, comScore released online spending estimates for Q1 2011, up 12% to $38 billion compared to a year ago. This quarter represented the sixth consecutive quarter of positive gains.

The online channel remains the fastest growing segment in the retailing industry. In Canada alone, e-commerce spending is expected to double by 2015 to 3.9 billion. Forrester research estimates that U.S. retail sales is expected to grow by 10% each year to $279 billion by 2015.

Source: Internet Retailer

Global e-commerce sales are also growing at rapid rate, at an estimated 19% a year. According to Goldman Sachs, worldwide e-commerce sales will reach $1 trillion by 2013.

Source: Internet Retailer

Tags: e-commerce, research

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2011 Retail E-Commerce Spending Sets New Peak

US retail e-commerce spending reached a new peak of $161.5 billion in 2011, representing a 13% increase from $142.5 billion in 2010,according to February 2012 figures from comScore. Online retail spending reached $49.7 billion in Q4, marking a 14% increase from $43.4 billion in Q4 2010, and a 27% rise from $39 billion in Q4 2009. In fact, Q4's growth rate was the 9th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth and the 5th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

Top Categories Show Significant Growth

The top-performing online product categories in Q4 2011 all grew at least 18% compared to a year earlier. These were: digital content & subscriptions; jewelry & watches; consumer electronics; toys & hobbies; and computer software.

Data released by comScore's in December 2011 indicated thatChristmas Day saw a dramatic increase in purchases of digital content and subscriptions, a retail category that includes digital downloads of music, TV, movies, e-books, and applications. Whereas on an average day during the 2011 holiday season-to-date, digital content and subscriptions accounted for 2.8% of retail e-commerce sales, on Christmas Day the category accounted for more than 20% of sales.

Half of Transactions Came With Free Shipping

Meanwhile, 52% of all e-commerce transactions in Q4 2011 included free shipping, representing an all-time high, up 6% from the previous high of 49% in Q4 2010.

Retailers clearly were out to meet consumers' needs: according to other comScore data from December 2011, 36% of internet users said that free shipping was very important to them and that they would not make a purchase without it. A further 42% of the respondents said that free shipping was somewhat important and that they were active seekers of free shipping deals. In fact, results from an October 2011 e-tailing group survey indicate thatfree shipping is the most important website feature for consumers, with 73% of respondents rating unconditional free shipping as a top 2 very important or critical feature when making a purchase from a website, ahead of free returns (70%), and sales and specials sections (62%).

E-retail sales jump 14% in Q4

E-retailers sold nearly $50 billion worth of goods to U.S. consumers in Q4, comScore says.

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