In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re looking for evidence, in our This Week in Peak feature, of how shoppers bought this Christmas, and of how retailers responded. Figures from the ONS show 20% of retail sales taking place online this Christmas, and suggest that ecommerce continued, largely, to grow over the Christmas peak trading period while sales across all channels fell back between November and December. It’s likely that fall came as shoppers spent less time in stores.
We also report on the latest Christmas trading period from Game Digital and from N Brown Group. Of note is that Game Digital saw UK sales fall behind those of last year, but that it says it’s still on course to meet profit targets after a trading period in which it focused on more profitable products and services. Meanwhile, N Brown Group saw revenues from its largely-only power brands grow, while revenues from its largely offline legacy brands fell back in what the home shopping group says is a managed decline.
Certainly, taken together it seems that multichannel retailers are likely to shift their focus still further online in the year to come, investing in the technologies that make it easier to give customers the experience that they demand. This week we also take a look at some of the technologies that they might be considering.
Our regular January look-ahead at what changes 2019 might bring to the industry this week focuses on augmented reality and on voice and image search. We also report on how L’Occitane is using AI alerts to optimise its online experience.
Today’s guest comment comes from Amir Harel of Zetes, who considers how retailers could benefit from improved visibility of their supply chain.
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