Shoppers search for preferred online checkouts now more than ever

Since the New Year the number of online checkouts registered users has climbed massively as the shopping trends slide towards purchasing online and not from the high street.

For Amazon, last year’s busiest day was the 8^th of December when in a 24-hour window, it received 1.4 million orders. This is approximately 16 orders a second.  John Lewis also had a record breaking year online. On the 22^nd of November it sold 48% more than the same day in the previous year. Home Retail Group (the owners of Argos) has already seen a huge growth online, with 25% more visits to the site fuelling its boost in revenue.

The e-market has increased mostly because of the very easy way that deals can be verified and compared to get the best offer.

These types of trends have been lead by the App market, where an online retailer offers an app for download that is an instant link to their store from your smartphone or handheld device. There is also the facility on some of these Apps that the barcode of an item that you might be looking at in store  can be scanned, recognised and compared including the price within seconds against other retailers, ensuring that you have the most competitive price.

Once the item at the correct price is found, the next stage is the online checkout. From a consumer’s point of view, a secure site that will complete your order effectively by debiting your bank account for the goods chosen is ideal.  Google checkout is one of the many payment processing services provided by Google itself. Once an account is established with Google you can store your credit or debit card details with them and preferred shipping details to make the purchase very tidy when purchasing goods from participating stores. It’s an assumptive idea, but ideally for Google they would try and channel you to search for an item from their Google Search engine, click through to the site that offers that item and complete the order with Google Checkout.  But, that then promotes a problem.

Let’s say that you have a Google Checkout account, and you are looking to make a purchase from eBay. You have seen the item and you wish to have it, and you have the account with Google to order it – here is the problem. In 2006, eBay added Google Checkout to the list of online checkouts that is not accepted as a payment method, preventing Google Checkout Account holders from using eBay to complete the order. The reason for this is that eBay had its own checkout system called PayPal.

So, from a shopper’s point of view you have to have an account to complete the order that you want. There will be a stage when new users of the online retail market will have to consider which payment service they register with, such as PayPal, Google Checkout or Worldpay. This could very much depend on where you prefer to shop. Registering with all services may not be your cup of tea, so the decision will be based on where you shop, to confirm which service you use.

Now is the time to start an online business

In a recent article published by the Fontana Herald News, financial analysts claimed that we are coming out of the recession and heading into a new economy that is geared towards online transactions.

Retailers are seeing more online business than ever before, meaning they would be fools not to invest time and money into their digital marketing efforts.

The web and buying online are no longer alien to people as customers of all ages have learnt how to use the internet.  Whilst there are still many that prefer to do physical shopping, there is no denying that online purchasing has gone through the roof and changed peoples shopping habits.

Another attraction for entering into the digital marketing arena is the low financial risks.  Starting an online business requires a smaller amount of money to get up and running.  In fact, many businesses run multiple websites at the same time to generate multiple sources of income.  Just because it costs less, it does not mean e-commerce is less effective than traditional means.

The Herald News printed 11 tips to get an online business up and running:

1.  Create a business plan
2.  Use a flow chart
3.  Hire a good webmaster
4.  Keep it simple
5.  Collect names and email
6.  Optimise for the search engines
7.  Use domain names with keywords
8.  Use videos more than text
9.  Blogs and social network
10.Use banner ads on popular websites
11.Regular networking

Online Shoppers Spent More Than Planned Over Christmas

Whilst we expected a lot of people to use the web to do their Christmas shopping in 2010, it seems that many online shoppers spent more than they intended to on web purchases.

In recent research undertaken by consumer research specialists, Intersperience, it came to light that 35% of online shoppers actually spent more than they had planned to.

According to Intersperience chief executive, Paul Hudson, the bad weather played a heavy factor in the figures as people could either not get out to shop or opted not to go out to the high street and stay in the warm.

Given that the UK has seen snow for the last 2 winter periods, it would be a brave person that bets against it happening again.  That said, surely it’s time for businesses to invest in SEO services for the future to ensure they have a good digital strategy and online presence to capture the custom of consumers who choose to shop online.

Mr Hudson said: “Over the years our surveys show that people always spend more than they intend to.”

This follows research undertaken by eDigital that saw 86% of shoppers surfing the net on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Online Sales of over £500m for department store John Lewis

High street giant John Lewis has highlighted how important it is to run a successful website following a bumper Christmas period which saw them take over £500 million in online sales.

The trader saw an increase of 8.9% compared to last year in the 5 weeks up to January 1^st which saw them make £545 million.

Managing director of John Lewis, Andy Street, was delighted with the results and stressed how important it was to use the internet correctly for business.

Street went on to say:  ”Our success confirms our strength as a multichannel retailer. This capability was particularly important during the adverse weather. Online sales soared during the first snowfall as customers struggled to get to the shops,”

Following their Christmas success, John Lewis are now driving their January sale campaign with reductions of up to 70%.

Christmas was a huge hit with online businesses

Never mind the shopping on the run up to Christmas.  Christmas Day and Boxing Day saw an astonishing 86% of British bargain hunters logging onto the web.

According to eDigital Research, this is a huge 10% increase on the same period last year.

The study also revealed that 62% of the online shoppers were after sale items, while Boxing Day saw 30% of shoppers make purchases.

Founding Director at eDigital Research, Chris Russell, advised: “Internet use and particularly mobile shopping is predicted to grow in popularity as people take advantage of the 24/7 nature that online shopping affords them.”

Analyst Berg Insight has predicted that the mobile marketing and advertising industry across the globe will increase at a yearly rate of 41% between now and 2015.

Berg Insight also added that the growth will be pushed by the increase in smartphones which let retailers connect with their customers.

Yahoo undertake online shoppers survey

With another festive shopping spree behind us, Yahoo! decided carry out research to find out how search played a role for shoppers.  The key question for Yahoo! was: How are people who use search as part of their shopping process different from other shoppers?

Yahoo got together with marketing consultancy agency, AddedValue to survey 2000 shoppers.  They were quizzed about their shopping habits and whether they used search before making a purchase.  Yahoo discovered that those who used search as part of the purchase process represent a group of hyper-engaged shoppers.

The survey revealed that the hyper-engaged shoppers had more knowledge of products and used more online resources than non-searching shoppers.

The survey revealed the following facts:

50% of searchers source customer reviews and ratings online
43% of searchers visit shopping comparison websites to make an informed decision
37% of searchers visit coupon websites to check daily deals
25% of searchers check out a brand’s social media channels like Twitter and Facebook
53% use their mobile devices to help them research a purchase

Following the survey, Yahoo! invited it’s hyper-engaged shoppers to provide them with feedback so they can try to improve the users experience where possible.

Christmas Day online sales could break £150m

Online traders are preparing themselves for a sales drive on Christmas Day.

E-retail organisation IMRG forecast that approximately 4.8 million people will take to the net to buy goods on 25^th December with sales figures of about £153 million.

MD of IMRG, David Smith, said that people will be trawling the internet looking for bargains and special offers.  He also believes that the bad weather recently endured in the UK should help to increase online sales heading into January.

“With many people not being able to get out to the high street sales due to the wide-ranging impact of the snow, online could see a real boost over the next few weeks,” Mr Smith stated.

In the recent IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, figures showed that UK shoppers spent £6.4 billion in November which is 21.5% up on the same period in 2009.

Online Shopping – the most popular minute of the year?

 The online market and online shopping are becoming more of a key channel when we consider our purchases, whether it would be a part of our regular shop or for something a bit special.

We have more devices and technology that supports the internet which assists in fuelling the online shopping activity.

On December 6^th 2010 at precisely 13:15, a total £815,000 was spent online during one minute. This amount was 21% higher than the same day on 2009. These figures provide concrete evidence that consumer shopping preferences have altered significantly in the last 12 months, towards online.

Many online retailers will be showing a very good year in terms of sales, despite consumers spreading the cost of their shopping because of the economic climate.

Research does indicate that as much as 6.4 billion pounds could be spent online in December alone, hopefully that amount should improve the economic climate.

Small online companies need to raise their game

Small and medium sized companies need to do more to compete with large online retailers.

This was the outcome of a recent study undertaken by ForeSee Results.  ForeSee found that customers are getting a far superior online experience when using companies such as Play.com, Amazon and John Lewis.

Vice president of retail strategy at ForeSee Results, Kevin Ertell, advised that it is vital for companies to get the web experience right for new customers: “Retailers need to tune into and fully understand what their customers want from them and focus their attention on converting browsers into customers.”

Getting the user experience correct would make happy customers “worth their weight in gold” as they will use your service again and possibly recommend it to their friends.

Online shoppers ready to beat VAT increase

Tracy North of price comparison site Kelkoo, believes that online companies can expect a high number of visitors once the Christmas period is over.

North suggested that online shoppers will be keen to grab themselves bargains before the VAT increase commences in the New Year.

 She feels that high priced items are expected to be big sellers as customers try to take advantage of the current VAT rate.

“Getting a bargain has become a common talking point down the pub, even if it’s just a few pounds saved consumers really do like to feel they’re getting the best deal,” Ms North stated.

In a recent survey undertaken by EPiServer, 45% of online shoppers will compare prices on more than one site prior to making a purchase.