The Multichannel E-Commerce Path Out of the Recession By Irwin Kramer
In the midst of the U.S. economic crisis, cautious spending and downsizing have left the retail industry in dire straits. The Commerce department recently reported that retail sales continued to fall in March -- down 1.1 percent from February's sales figures. March 2009 saw a 9 percent decline compared with March 2008.
Even as retail numbers drop, however, online shopping and total online sales continue to show steady growth in the face of adverse economic conditions.
Forty-six percent of the 117 online retailers that participated in a recent Forrester survey claimed they intended to spend as planned on their Web businesses. A quarter of respondents expected to spend more than they had originally planned. In January, Forrester forecast online sales would grow 11 percent to US$156.1 billion in 2009, following a 13 percent increase in 2008.
Given cautious consumer spending and tight credit, why is online retail continuing to surge while overall retail numbers drop? Retailers need look no further than the tremendous benefits and savings of selling via a multichannel e-commerce platform. As in-store retailers that haven't embraced online shopping go out of business, orphaned shoppers are turning to the retailers that have.
Better Efficiency and Immediate Cost Savings
Increasing attention is being placed on green business practices these days, and an e-commerce platform helps retailers promote ecologically friendly business practices. From a business perspective, retailers can save significant costs by eliminating traditional paper marketing and distribution methods.
Retailers used to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on printing and materials for paper catalogs; an e-commerce platform allows retailers to cut catalog expenses through email marketing, easily updatable online catalogs, and catalogs offered through multiple distribution channels.
Data Capture and Analysis
With the evolution of business intelligence, more and more companies (regardless of size) are recognizing that an efficient system for data capture and analysis is necessary to grow their businesses. An e-commerce platform simplifies raw sales data capture, as well as data for customer profiling and order-processing information any data that is necessary to provide a greater understanding of the retailer's business.
I can highlight the basic 4 reasons why businesses around the world start an online store in order to increase their annual sales and why E-commerce will continue to grow at a very rapid pace during the upcoming years:
- 24-hour availability to customers
- Global reach and presence
- Ability to interact with customers
- Provide information to customer such as sizing, measurements and other specs.
As a customer, buying online can save us gas, time and effort while shipping charges are very low or sometimes we can receive our order with no shipping charges.
