E-Commerce Up, Pureplay Online Down
Written by Fred J. AunApril 28th, 2009
The vast majority of major multi-channel retailers enjoyed increased online sales during the first quarter of 2009, but their success might have come at the expense of smaller, Web-only players that didn't fare nearly as well. Forrester E-Commerce Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said the hardest hit pure-play shops were smaller "E-Bayish" E-Tailers that couldn't compete with price-slashing by the big guns.
"My hypothesis is that, in tough times, consumers stick to brands they know which are the big multi-channel retailers," Mulpuru said. "Also, those multi-channel retailers are very aggressive with pricing now and they're discounting aggressively to maintain market share."
This Story Is Only Available For Premium Subscribers. Click Or Login In Below To Read The Rest Of This Story.
Already a Subscriber? Login Here
2 Comments | Read E-Commerce Up, Pureplay Online Down
Leave a Reply
Readers, specifically those who want to comment on a story:
Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
-Ed
April 29th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Aside from the heavy discounts, another possible reason is that more and more big names are now selling overseas, thus increasing their market size. Examples are Saks, Zappos and Hugo Boss. For the smaller E-tailer, international shipping is a lot of hassle with paperwork, going to the post office and charging high international shipping rates.
April 30th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Being a large etailer, we find that the orders still come but they are for smaller and less expensive goods. Perhaps the big ticket orders are still there and are being swallowed by the bigger guys but you ask us people just arent spending.