tag:www.retail-blog.com,2008://19 2007-10-09T22:49:38Z European Retail-Blog - Retail Business Know-how - up to-date, meaningful, free-of-charge Movable Type 3.33-de tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.2501 2007-10-09T22:39:41Z 2007-10-09T22:49:38Z

Its October and the Holiday shopping season is rapidly approaching. Good news, right? It is if you are an online shopping site. According to a recent survey by Burst Media and a related press release, the percent of consumers who...

Lawrence Fournier Its October and the Holiday shopping season is rapidly approaching. Good news, right? It is if you are an online shopping site. According to a recent survey by Burst Media and a related press release, the percent of consumers who expect to complete either a portion or all of their holiday gift purchasing online this year has surged to more than half (50.7%), up from 37.6% in 2006. While increasing use of the Web for holiday shopping is a positive sign for Internet retailers, there are also signs of economic uncertainty among consumers. Survey results indicate holiday spending is likely to decline from 2006 levels for many consumers. Among survey respondents, one-quarter (25.6%) expect to reduce spending, 36.1% will spend the same amount as the prior year and only 16.8% expect spending to increase. These conservative spending estimates are true even among the highest income segments. About Burst Media An online media and technology company founded in 1995, Burst Media (www.burstmedia.com) is a leading provider of advertising representation, services and technology to independent Web Publishers. Burst Media levels the playing field for these independent web publishers and enables advertisers to reach finely segmented, engaged consumers as they visit Burst’s extensive number of interest-based sub-channels. Through its Burst Network and Burst Direct offerings, the company represents the broadest and deepest number of interest-based websites online. Burst also markets its ad management platform, AdConductor ™, which empowers content web sites, online ad networks, and web portals to manage the complete process of ad sales and service. Burst Media is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with offices throughout the United States and in London, UK. For more information, visit www.burstmedia.com or call 781.272.5544. ]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1997 2007-08-01T00:16:29Z 2007-08-01T00:27:46Z

Total E-Commerce Reaches $95 Billion during First Half of 2007

Lawrence Fournier www.comscore.com), a leader in measuring the digital world, total U.S. e-commerce spending for the second quarter of 2007 climbed to $47.5 billion or an increase of 19 percent over the same period last year. Non-travel (retail) e-commerce grew 23 percent versus year ago to $27.2 billion, while online travel spending increased 14 percent to $20.3 billion. ]]> Online Sales of Video Games, Consoles & Accessories Explodes The top-gaining e-commerce category in Q2 versus year ago was video games, consoles & accessories, which jumped 159 percent on the strength of Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 sales. Sport & fitness also saw substantial gains (up 58 percent), followed by consumer electronics (up 51 percent) and event tickets (up 44 percent). The chart below shows the top 10 eCommerce Categories for Q2 2007 vs. Q2 2006: 1. Video Games, Consoles & Accessories (159%) 2. Sport & Fitness (58%) 3. Consumer Electronics (excl. PC Peripherals) (51%) 4. Event Tickets (44%) 5. Jewelry & Watches (32%) 6. Furniture, Appliances & Equipment (25%) 7. Music, Movies & Videos (24%) 8. Computer Software (excl. PC Games) (23%) 9. Books & Magazines (22%) 10. Apparel & Accessories (20%) Source: comScore, Inc. U.S Online Consumer Spending Likely to Reach $200 Billion in 2007 Total U.S. online consumer spending reached $170.8 billion in 2006, with non-travel spending accounting for $102.1 billion and travel spending accounting for $68.8 billion. Based on the first-half growth rates, total U.S. online consumer spending is on track to reach $200 billion in 2007. ComScore’s numbers exclude sales at eBay.com that could be construed as retail. ]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1993 2007-07-30T15:31:29Z 2007-07-30T15:41:57Z

Requirements Aimed at Securing Most Frequent Targets of Data Thieves to Take Effect

Lawrence Fournier In light of the well-know data compromises including TJX Corp reported earlier this year by the retail-blog.com, Visa USA announced a program earlier in the month of July designed to help the nation's small businesses improve their security. Visa's program calls for acquiring financial institutions to strengthen their existing data security efforts to identify and address risks among their small merchant customers, including identifying whether merchants are storing sensitive account data and are complying with the industry-wide Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Visa has long required all entities, including small businesses, which store, process, or transmit Visa cardholder data, to comply with PCI DSS. www.NFIB.org, to help small businesses protect themselves from data fraud. Visa acquirers are required to provide Visa with a summary of their small merchant compliance plans by July 31, 2007. As part of their plans, acquirers must submit how they will identify where the greatest potential security risks exist in order to manage them. Factors such as the likelihood of sensitive data retention, transaction volume, market segment, acceptance channel, number of locations and other factors can help qualify or quantify the merchant's risk level and may be used by acquirers to categorize merchants into specific risk groups. The highest priority Visa is asking acquirers to address is to verify that small businesses are not retaining prohibited cardholder data (including magnetic stripe data, CVV2 and PIN data) after transaction authorization. "This is precisely the kind of data most sought by hackers because of its use in counterfeiting payment cards," said Smith. "Merchants who store this sensitive data are placing their businesses in the cross-hairs for today's data thieves." In some cases, small businesses store prohibited cardholder data without knowing it because the systems they use to process card payments store it by default. To avoid that problem, Visa is strongly recommending that acquirers make merchants aware of Visa's list of payment applications that have been validated as being compliant with the Payment Application Best Practices (PABP), which can be found at www.visa.com/pabp. Acquirers should also make certain that their small business customers do not use vulnerable payment applications that have been previously identified as storing prohibited data. Businesses should evaluate all cardholder data that they store and consider the business case for doing so. Visa has embarked on a campaign to educate merchants about cardholder data security, emphasizing the theme "don't store it if you don't need it." Smith said, "Minimizing data storage is the easiest thing a small business can do to mitigate risk." "Visa is committed to increasing data security awareness by providing a wide range of communications, including webinars, training and support," said Smith. "As we continue with these efforts, we are asking our acquiring banks to provide direct data security education and tools to their small business customers." Such a package of information and tools can be provided in a variety of ways, across both print and web-based channels, and using Visa's own comprehensive set of educational materials, he added. "While small merchants may have limited access to sophisticated security analysis and tools, even small changes can dramatically improve security for them, their customers and the payment system," said Smith. Visa USA is a leading payments brand and the nation's largest payments system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. In the United States, more than 521 million Visa-branded cards have been issued by more than 13,000 financial institution customers. Visa products generated $1.8 trillion in total volume in the United States during the four quarters ended March 31, 2007. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the globe. For more information, visit www.visa.com ]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1966 2007-07-25T14:14:47Z 2007-07-25T14:32:11Z

Cosmetics leader Estee Lauder has announced that it has closed down its site -- Gloss.com -- after six years of operation effective at the end of June, 2007. Gloss.com was one of the leading stand-alone e-commerce sites, ranked 180 in...

Lawrence Fournier Cosmetics leader Estee Lauder has announced that it has closed down its site -- Gloss.com -- after six years of operation effective at the end of June, 2007. Gloss.com was one of the leading stand-alone e-commerce sites, ranked 180 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 sites and featured deep content and tools that enabled shoppers to personalize beauty product purchases. . The site offered shoppers nearly 5,000 products and was originally launched as a partnership between Estee Lauder and such consumer brand manufacturers as Chanel S.A and Clarins. Over the last few years, Estee Lauder emerged as the majority owner. The company has decided to close down Gloss.com and concentrate on better serving customer needs on its other commerce-enabled web sites such as Clinique.com and Aramis.com. tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1786 2007-07-02T13:09:00Z 2007-07-02T13:49:52Z

According to Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Retail Report that measures online consumer retail activity and purchasing behavior, the Lane Bryant web site had the highest visitor conversion rate of any e-Commerce site tracked by Nielsen in the June, 2007 report on May,...

Lawrence Fournier According to Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Retail Report that measures online consumer retail activity and purchasing behavior, the Lane Bryant web site had the highest visitor conversion rate of any e-Commerce site tracked by Nielsen in the June, 2007 report on May, 2007 activity. Visitor conversion rate is the ratio of buyers to visitors at a web site. It is the key metric by which all commerce sites measure themselves, because it is directly related to revenue. www.laredoute.be. EasyAsk is also used at the Dutch bookseller BGN both on their website www.bgn.nl and in kiosks in the stores. Helping customers find the products they are looking for has a significant impact on conversion rate because customers can’t buy what they can’t find. As more shoppers become more experienced shopping on the internet, they have higher and higher expectations of the search process on a commerce web site. In many cases, a single bad experience with a search will cause customers to simply shop at a different web site. On the other hand, customers that can easily find what they are looking for are much more likely to return for additional purchases. ]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1755 2007-06-27T20:19:39Z 2007-06-27T21:32:30Z

AT&T and Apple hope the introduction of the new iPhone on June 29th will cause the next retail frenzy. The device, which uses a touch-sensitive screen rather than a keypad, has been hotly anticipated with more than 1 million people...

Lawrence Fournier AT&T and Apple hope the introduction of the new iPhone on June 29th will cause the next retail frenzy. The device, which uses a touch-sensitive screen rather than a keypad, has been hotly anticipated with more than 1 million people signing up with AT&T to receive notice when the device is available. Using the same hype techniques that toy manufacturers use for the launch of new gadgets and games like the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll, we will certainly hear about people camped out in lines for days and the ridiculous and inevitable stampedes of customers rushing to order the $500 - $600 unit. To wit, AT&T has announced that only a restricted number of units will be available for the initial launch of the combination media player, wireless Web device that also acts like a cell phone by the way. An AT&T spokesman promised that the limited availability will only be for the initial launch. Later, it will be sold on AT&T's Web site and through other outlets. Analysts are projecting that the launch will be highly successful with more than 3 million units and related service contracts being sold over the next three months. These numbers translate to more than $1.4 Billion of new revenues as a result of the exclusive iPhone deal at AT&T. When will the madness end? Maybe as iPhone inventory increases, the price decreases, and we hear about product safety recalls, people will find out that a phone that lets you answer emails and watch your favorite rock video makes about as much sense as a doll that rolls over on its side when you tickle it! Of course the new iPhone is cool; it looks great and will make many people feel much better about themselves because they own one. The real question is what drives people to want the next newest craze and pay the premium price for something that they really didn’t know they needed in the first place? Just good marketing I guess! By the way, would you mind holding my place in line? I've got to take this call. tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1742 2007-06-25T13:41:58Z 2007-06-25T13:47:50Z

Internet Retailer 2007 annual exhibition and conference took place in San Jose, CA June 4-7th. The Conference boasts the single largest gathering of retail executives in the United States with more than 4,000 attendees, 105 speakers, and 245 exhibitors. Attendees...

Lawrence Fournier Internet Retailer 2007 annual exhibition and conference took place in San Jose, CA June 4-7th. The Conference boasts the single largest gathering of retail executives in the United States with more than 4,000 attendees, 105 speakers, and 245 exhibitors. Attendees report that site search and improving conversion rates were the hottest topics during this year’s conference. It was clear from the variety of eCommerce practitioner speakers that bullet-proof site search was essential to increasing conversion rates. Progress EasyAsk was a major exhibitor at this year’s conference with a brand new 10’ by 20’ booth located strategically on the exhibition floor. Booth traffic at EasyAsk was high with live demos going non-stop. EasyAsk conducted a drawing for a high-end set of Bose QuitComfort3 Acoustic Headphones that were won by an attendee from House of Antique Hardware (houseofantiquehardware.com). EasyAsk also participated in the Win the Wheels contest sponsored by Internet Retailer where a 2007 Mercedes convertible was given away. Also, EasyAsk, part of Bedford, MA based Progress Software hosted a customer event – a night out at the ball park to watch the Red Sox play Oakland Athletics. Progress EasyAsk’s product site search, navigation and merchandising technologies deliver an unparalleled shopping experience. In fact, Nielsen NetRatings consistently reports unmatched online visitor conversion rates across EasyAsk’s eCommerce customers. Using advanced linguistics technology, EasyAsk delivers the most relevant product set possible today. It enhances the experience by presenting the features available for those products to the shopper, consistently enabling them to browse and find the product(s) they want to buy! Business marketers use advanced merchandising tools to enrich the shopping experience and ensure that business rules are met; whether to present refinement choices for each product category or alternative/complementary products or offers. EasyAsk blends and balances search, navigation and merchandising technologies based upon your product set and target audience and ensures a consistency across each of your customer interaction channels, from online to call center. Together, these increase conversion rates, average order size and overall customer satisfaction. tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1741 2007-06-22T13:11:17Z 2007-06-25T13:40:54Z

Each year, Internet Retailer, the leading information provider for the e-retailing industry, looks at the Top 500 online retailers to provide a logical ranking for America's largest e-retailers based on their annual sales on the web. The all new Top...

Lawrence Fournier Each year, Internet Retailer, the leading information provider for the e-retailing industry, looks at the Top 500 online retailers to provide a logical ranking for America's largest e-retailers based on their annual sales on the web. The all new Top 500 Guide contains the very latest competitive data on the leaders of web-based retailing who account for nearly two-thirds of $135-billion e-retailing industry in the U.S. Click on the link below to read datapoint excerpts from the new research. The Internet Channel Fastest Growing Retail Channel For more than a decade the Internet has been the fastest growing retail sales channel. It routinely generates annual growth of 25%, while total retail sales have been growing at 5% to 6% each year. Last year was no exception, with online sales reaching $136.2 billion, up 25.9% from a year earlier. But what was different last year was that growth came from smaller retailers. While the Top 500 was the engine that powered online sales growth for several years, in 2006 sales at the Top 500 grew 21.3% compared to 25.9% for the entire market. Top 500 sales totaled $83.6 billion, up from $68.9 billion a year earlier. The rest of the market, including an estimated $34 billion in eBay Inc.-originated sales that could be considered retail sales, accounted for $52.6 billion in sales, up 29.9% from $40.5 billion a year earlier. David vs. Goliath: Small Site Growth Outpaces Large Established Competitors Smaller and more nimble merchants continue to grow faster than their established competitors. For instance, the Top 25 retailers grew their combined sales in 2006 to $52.9 billion from $44.8 billion, an increase of 18%. But the total sales for all start-up retailers in the Top 500 Guide—companies only in business since 2004—grew by 55% to $494 million last year from $319 million in 2005. Retail eCommerce Strategy is Shifting In the early days of e-commerce most web merchants built sales by concentrating on customer acquisition and increasing brand awareness. But now, with active U.S. web shoppers expected to peak at about 161 million by 2010, web retailers are shifting resources to applications, third-party services and merchandising strategies that drive more repeat business. Clearly online buyers are spending more time surfing, searching and shopping the Internet and spending more each time they make a purchase. In 2006, the total number of transactions initiated on all Top 500 web sites rose by 20.7% to 632.5 million from 523.9 million, while the average ticket grew 19.2% to $199 from $167. Factoring out unusually high average orders, such as furniture and computers/-electronics purchases, the average ticket is $132, compared with $118 in 2005. As in previous years, chain retailers accounted for the biggest portion of total online sales in 2006. Last year chain retailers amassed 41.1% of all sales vs. 40.3% in 2005. In 2006 chain retailers in the Top 500 Guide generated combined sales of $34.3 billion, an increase of 23.4% from combined sales of $27.8 billion in 2005. Following chain retailers were virtual merchants with 30.8% of sales among Top 500 companies, while catalogers and consumer brand manufacturers ended 2006 with market shares of 14.4% and 13.7%, respectively. In 2006, Top 500 web-only merchants combined for sales of $25.7 billion, up 23.6% from $20.8 billion, compared with catalogers with total combined sales of $12 billion vs. $9.9 billion in 2005, an increase of 21.2%. Consumer brand manufacturers combined for $11.5 billion in 2006 sales, an increase of 9.1%. Among the Top 100, three merchants including EasyAsk customers Redcats USA (No. 28), and Talbots Inc. (No. 62) grew year-over-year by more than 50% through key acquisitions during the year. Redcats acquired The Sportsman’s Guide Inc., while Talbots purchased the J. Jill Group. The Fastest Growing eCommerce Categories In 2006, the fastest--growing Top 500 merchant category was hardware & home improvements followed closely by apparel & accessories. In 2006 total web sales for online hardware and home improvements retailers climbed 42% to $1.2 billion from $851.2 million in 2005. The merchants in the largest category in the Top 500 Guide—apparel & accessories—continue to show that shoppers have no qualms with buying clothes and other items, including shoes and bags, online. Combined 2006 web sales rose by 41% to almost $10 billion from $7 billion in 2005. The group with the potential to dominate web retailing—chain stores—often still views the Internet as a minor sales channel or as a venue best used to support their bricks-and-mortar operations But chain retailers also make up only 20% of the 50 fastest-growing merchants in the Top 500 Guide. In contrast, virtual merchants make up 70% of the list followed by catalogers at 4% and consumer brand manufacturers with 6%, respectively. Conversion Rate Averages The Top 500 retail sites recorded an estimated 632.5 million separate sales in 2006 at an average ticket of $132. Sales conversions based on monthly visits vary widely, ranging from 0.05% to 22.5% for chain retailers, 0.33% to 12% for catalog/call center operators, 0.03% to 22.5% for web-only merchants and 0.33% to 12% for consumer brand manufacturers. To find out more about Internet Retailer 500, or to purchase the report, click on the link below: http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1377 2007-05-14T12:15:23Z 2007-05-14T12:34:04Z

Welcome back to the future! Remember the success of industry exchanges during the Nineties? It turns out that Web sites, like fashion, have cycles of nostalgia when what was old is new again. At least that's what's happening at eSourceApparel.com....

Lawrence Fournier www.esourceapparel.com) is quickly becoming the central business hub for the global apparel industry, reporting an average of 10,000 hits per week and a steady increase in new members since its March 21 launch. ]]> The apparel industry’s most comprehensive direct global sourcing and inventory sales network connects the sector’s entire supply chain via an unprecedented B2B e-commerce platform designed to improve and stimulate global business. eSourceApparel.com’s advanced features help users to easily identify and contact new suppliers, find customers and partners, discover prime sourcing locations, compare prices globally, buy and sell inventories and much more. Users are developing additional business through the site’s searchable inventory marketplace where new in-stock opportunities from countries all over the world are being listed daily. The inventory marketplace currently includes more than 400,000 garments and more than 100,000 yards of textile inventory. Members across all categories are also employing eSourceApparel.com’s email system and the site’s business leads section to directly communicate with one another. eSourceApparel.com’s database contains more than 60,000 global sourcing and services contacts in thirty-seven countries including China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, India, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. Searchable company profiles allow members to locate and contact prospective business partners, and identify new opportunities. The site’s advanced search engine optimization and submission features (SEO/SES) offer members the added advantage of increased visibility on all major search engines. The most detailed and updated profiles receive higher ranking on eSourceApparel.com which translates into higher search engine rankings. tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1371 2007-05-14T02:28:15Z 2007-05-14T02:40:18Z

70% of leading online retailers report that visitors who use web site search tools were more likely to convert from browsers to buyers, according to the Aberdeen Group. And Aberdeen’s research survey also revealed that more than half of best-in-class...

Lawrence Fournier 70% of leading online retailers report that visitors who use web site search tools were more likely to convert from browsers to buyers, according to the Aberdeen Group. And Aberdeen’s research survey also revealed that more than half of best-in-class retailers use site search as a merchandising tool, according to “Web Site Search: Revenue in the Results,” a new report from Aberdeen Group. Among best-in-class retailers, 62% continually fine-tune search for desired results based on user actions, current promotions and collective behavior, Aberdeen found. Half of these retailers segment search query results based on different attributes of product categories, and that number of retailers will grow to 92% in the next 24 months. http://www.aberdeen.com/c/report/sector_insights/4063-SI-SearchAndRising.pdf]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1372 2007-05-13T02:34:17Z 2007-05-14T02:37:24Z

Forrester Research estimates that online research influences more than $400 billion in in-store sales, and predicts that figure will exceed $1.1 trillion by 2012. But consumers often go to one retailer’s web site to check out a product, then buy...

Lawrence Fournier Forrester Research estimates that online research influences more than $400 billion in in-store sales, and predicts that figure will exceed $1.1 trillion by 2012. But consumers often go to one retailer’s web site to check out a product, then buy it in another retailer’s store. “That means there’s a huge opportunity for retailers to engage customers across channels,” says Tamara Mendelsohn, author of Forrester’s new cross-channel sales forecast report. 51% of online shoppers say they research products on the web and then buy them in stores. And 45% of them say they buy additional items once in the store, spending on average $154 on those other items. Asked why they purchased the product offline rather than on the web, the most common answer was to obtain the product immediately (51%), followed by wanted to see the item before purchasing it (42%), did not want to pay shipping costs (40%), and it was more convenient to buy offline (27%). tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1277 2007-04-26T20:09:25Z 2007-04-26T20:16:01Z

Martec International's report called IT in Retail 2007 just came out with detailed systems profiles for the leading 100 UK retailers. The report is build on five years of data to show trends in the market. A brochure or a...

Lawrence Fournier http://www.martec-international.com/technology_vendors/tv09_it_in_retail.htm ]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1251 2007-04-20T15:31:51Z 2007-04-20T16:16:32Z

Redcats is a subsidiary of PPR, a nearly €18 billion corporation headquartered in France. Besides Redcats brands that include Woman Within /Lane Bryant, and Jessica London, PPR’s collection of well-known brands includes international retailers such as Printemps, Gucci, YvesSaintLaurent, and...

Lawrence Fournier Redcats is a subsidiary of PPR, a nearly €18 billion corporation headquartered in France. Besides Redcats brands that include Woman Within /Lane Bryant, and Jessica London, PPR’s collection of well-known brands includes international retailers such as Printemps, Gucci, YvesSaintLaurent, and Stell/McCartney. Recently, Redcats participated in a global eCommerce Webcast for online retailers. Redcats brands are ranked number 3 worldwide in home shopping and the 19th largest retail cataloger just behind JC Penney and Sears. Redcats statistics are impressive with sales of €4.4 billion in 26 countries, 60+ e-commerce websites, 30 catalogs, 100+ stores and 38 million active customers. According to Redcats USA, they have been able to advance their lead as an agile competitor in online and catalog-based retailing leveraging site search, navigation and merchandising technology . Redcats has deployed a single global platform for eCommerce for its network of online retailers called Millena. The eCommerce Platform hosts and manages multiple Web stores on a common infrastructure and allows a high degree of customization to fit the various unique brand identities and business objectives. Millena also allows all divisions to share in emerging technologies while providing the ability to implement best practices across the entire corporation. As part of Millena, Redcats deployed a single solution for site search, navigation and merchandising from Progress EasyAsk. The site search solution uses multi-lingual linguistic search for English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, German and more. As a result of the deployment, Redcats online conversion rates have been near or at the top of the Nielsen//NetRatings reports since May 2006, when Nielsen first started tracking Redcats sites. In fact, the company’s brands have been in Nielsen//NetRating’s top ten highest conversion rates seventeen times. In addition to the dramatic increase in conversion rates, the deployment has allowed the company to establish e-commerce best practices across Redcats’ leading retail web sites worldwide -- visited by approximately 15 million unique shoppers each month. tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1235 2007-04-20T13:05:07Z 2007-04-20T13:49:23Z

According to Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, Google accounted for 64 percent of all US searches for the four weeks ending March 31, 2007. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 22, 9 and 3 percent respectively....

Lawrence Fournier According to Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, Google accounted for 64 percent of all US searches for the four weeks ending March 31, 2007. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 22, 9 and 3 percent respectively. The remaining 48 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 5 percent of U.S. searches. Health and Medical are thrieving and accounted for 43.27% of searches during March 2007 with an annual growth rate of 9.76% 2. Travel is gaining ground accounting for 30.79% of searches during March 2007 with an impressive annual growth rate of 24.95% 3. Shopping and Classifieds are showing well at 25.35% of searches during Marh 2007 achieving an annual groth rate of 14.24% For up to date analysis of online trends and statistics, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence Analyst Weblogs at weblogs.hitwise.com and the Hitwise Data Center at www.hitwise.com/datacenter. ]]> tag:www.retail-blog.com,2007://19.1126 2007-04-05T20:55:00Z 2007-04-05T20:57:34Z

The company says, "Customers are browsing and finding products in the catalogs and then making purchases on the Internet."

Lawrence Fournier Like so many retailers these days, Foot Locker has seen a substantial growth in the eCommerce channel. In 2006, the retailer posted web sales of $270 million, an increase of 11.1% from web sales of $243 million in 2005. The web is now the main direct sales channel for Foot Locker Inc. jogging far ahead of catalog sales. Internet sales were only 5% of total sales in 2006, but 71% of total direct sales of $380 million. Some of the gains in Internet sales were offset by the decrease in catalog sales by 20.3% to $110 million in 2006 from $138 million in 2005. According to the company’s annual report, customers are browsing and finding products in the catalogs and then making purchases on the Internet. This seems to be a major trend for many leading retail catalog companies.