Things seem to be on the up: and that’s official. Well, ‘official’ in that an IMRG Capgemini study suggests that online retailing had its best Q1 since 2011. According to the figures online sales are up more than 17% – and its being driven by both more online shoppers and by existing online shoppers spending more when they shop.
And it’s this last bon mot that really shows us that things are perhaps getting better. Retail price inflation is steadying, so excess spending per shopping expedition is down to confidence..
Perhaps.
We also report this week that Conlumino forecasts relatively slow retail growth this Easter, predicting that retail sales will rise by 2.4% to £324bn in 2014, with Easter retail spending up by 3.2% to £4.3bn.
Part of the problem is that consumers are feeling that Easter is too commercial. But I am sure they will all feel better once they have a massive sugar rush on Easter Sunday.
While consumers may be waivering, technology companies clearly sense better times ahead, with some really interesting stuff happening this week to try and combine loyalty, vouchers and payments and an interesting foray into letting consumers walk through real stores from the comfort of their iPads and PCs – something that has been massive in Japan for several years. It’ll be interesting to see if that takes off here in the west.
Our research
We’re currently looking at the use of ecommerce techniques in the B2B sector. Take part in our survey to contribute to a research briefing that will be published later this spring.
Our awards
Nominations are now open for the 2014 Internet Retailing Awards sponsored by Venda . Last year the winners of these multichannel and ecommerce industry awards included Tesco, Burberry, Asos, Lakeland, eBay, Amazon, Oasis/Warehouse and LoveHoney, who celebrated their wins at a roof top party in the middle of the City. Who will take this year’s titles? This year’s awards will be announced at an exclusive event at One Mayfair on Thursday June 26. There’s also plenty of time to snap up a discounted early bird ticket to the event – though be warned, the opportunity expires at midnight on Thursday May 1.
Catch-up on IRX 2014
If you missed an Internet Retailing Conference 2014 presentation that you’d like to catch up on, you can do so now through the post-event website. Visitors to www.internetretailingconference.com can access all the presentations that we’ve been given permission to share with our audiences.
Chloe Rigby is on holiday
