Hidden E-Commerce Sales
Written by Evan SchumanIn Sunday's New York Times, there's this intriguing piece talking about how E-Commerce sales are quickly running out of steam. Perhaps "intriguing" is the wrong word for it. A more apt term might be "dangerous" or "out-of-context" or ..... nah, I think I'll stick with "dangerous."
The piece is not dangerous because it reveals some deep, dark secret. It doesn't, not does it claim to. It's dangerous because it perpetuates the misguided—but commonly held—belief that online and offline retail efforts today are distinct. Even worse, it seems oblivious to the rapidly-increasing influence that each has on the other.
The story is built on stats showing a sharp decline in online sales. But those statistical issues are not the key problem with the Times story. The problem is that it still sees online and brick-and-mortar as rivals. The reality is that we are just starting the age of the merged channel.
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June 18th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
The NY Times article indicates that “online sales are running out of steam”. How correct is this statement when we’re still expecting to see sales GROWTH online to exceed 15% in the United States.
Most multi-channel retailers are seeing sales growth from their online channel at least double that of their bricks and mortar channel.
Realistically the online market is maturing in the US. It must. How realistic and sustainable is another 5 years of +20% sales growth.
And yes the sales channels are merging. Consumers are using all the tools at their disposal to purchase the goods they want, how they want, when they want, whether it is m-Commerce, e-Commerce or in-store purchase.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Perhaps we will look back 10 to 20 years from now and see that the real impact of the Internet on retailing is not as a buying channel, but as a product research tool. If so, then the real challenge for retailers will be to drive online researchers into their physical stores to consummate their purchases.