Op de eerste dag van de Global E-commerce Summit kwamen diverse interessante sprekers en cases voorbij. In deze posting bespreek ik - in het Engels gelet op het globale karakter van het evenement - vijf online retailtrends in de Verenigde Staten en de samenwerking tussen Wehkamp.nl en C&A.
5 Trends of US online retail
Dieter Junghans, president of EMOTA opened the first Global eCommerce Summit in Amsterdam. In his opening speech he pointed out to the growth of the European market, reaching 110 billion euro's in 2007.
Scott Silverman, executive director of co-organiser Shop.org and chairman of the first day, also showed staggering figures and predictions for the US market: 117 billion USD in 2007, 334 billion USD in 2012. But what are some of the US trends that are shaping US online retail?
Growth of the market
Scott talked about 5 trends that are shaping US online retail. He talked about the growth of the US market and pointed out to a 21% growth in 2007, 17% in 2008, 15.2% in 2009 and ultimately a 11.2% growth in 2012. By now the online penetration is significant in many categories: 8 retail categories like computers, books, dvd's, consumer electronics, baby products show an online penetration of 20% or higher!
Impact of financial crises
On the impact of the financial crises on online retail, Scott's comment was: the online market is not immune for the financial crises, but it is resilient.
Free shipping
Scott also talked about on old American tradition: free shipping to consumers! Amazon started this tradition back in 2004. Nowadays free shipping is offered to consumers by 8 out of 10 retailers and obviously, consumers love it. Research shows that consumers value free shipping as an unique selling point three of the top 8 favorite online retail promotions involve 'paying less for shipping'.
Social media
Social media is going to change the online landscape, Scott pointed out. Monica Luechtefeld, vice president of 5 billion corporation Office Depot, first key note speaker, talked about the upcoming challenges of social media. Back in 1994 we said: 'The internet will change everything'. Social media is now about to change the online market, even though nobody nows for sure who and with what technology will ultimately will become the dominant players and the new Google. Social media is about social networking, where ages 17-25 are the target for now. . the past was about pull, the future will be about push. Socail media will start at consumers, then small business and finaly to corporate business.
Privacy concerns
Luechtefeld also talked about privacy as one of the 6 US online retail trends. While 7 out of 10 consumers express concern about privacy, only 4 out of 10 bother to read the privacy statements, according to Luechtefeld.. It is a privacy dilemma: on the one hand there are privacy concerns, on the other hand consumers are willing to provide various forms of information in exchange for something as modest a $50 $100 sweepstake entry.
Bringing online and offline retailers together: the C&A and Wehkamp case
In 2007 C&A and Wehkamp started working together in an unique alliance between the online Dutch department store and fashion chain.. C&A recognized the future growth opportunities of multi-channel retailing. And rather then investing capital and resources they preferred to partner with one of the largest Dutch online retailer. Paul Nijhof, CEO of Wehkamp presented the case in the afternoon of the first Global eCommerce Summit in Amsterdam.
Competences are shared, both online and offline, Nijhof explained. Wehkamp takes care of website content, photos and marketing, logistics and return, payment and credit and customer call center. C&A selects the assortment, but based on experiences of online consumers. C&A is of responsible for its branding and offline promotion, which includes online marketing and even C&A TV-commercials, which include both brands.
On lessons learned Nijhof talked about the faster uptake of online campaigns in comparison to offline campaigns. Even though building assortment for online is different to offline, Wehkamp is able to tell C&A what the online fast movers are, which C&A takes into account when stocking the shelves. And most important for both parties: store and online campaigns are more complementary in revenue sales than previously thought.
Er is op dit moment 0 keer gereageerd op:
Gezien op de eerste dag van de Global E-commerce Summit
Je kunt niet meer reageren op dit artikel.