In today’s Internet Retailing newsletter we report on the continuing growth of online sales, even as retail sales fall across the UK. The evidence points to the inexorable migration of consumers from shops to online as does the figure that some 10% of all retail purchases now happen online, according to the ONS today. Further evidence of that move online comes from Kantar Media Compete research that suggests shoppers bought online this Christmas because they simply didn’t have time to go to the shops.
The winners continue to be those retailers who make the most of new and emerging ways of giving shoppers ever more convenient ways to buy. Today we cover one of those innovations, the partnership between Tesco and BBC GoodFood.com, which allows consumers to shop for ingredients direct from the recipe they’re browsing.
We also cover new research from VoucherCodes.co.uk that suggests that it’s more likely to be women who are doing the shopping online. In today’s IRX 2013 previews we focus on the SoLoMo Conference, while we also bring you insights into social media campaigning courtesy of Owned it co-founder Manoj Krishnapillai. Our guest comment today is from Stephen Mailey, of VoxGen, who looks at whether phone customer service could be costing sales.
We have some upcoming Internet Retailing webinars to flag up this week. As always, it’s free to attend our webinars, and you can find out more on our webinar page, where you can also watch earlier events that you may have missed.
On February 20, at 11am, Matthew Curry of Lovehoney and Chris Edge of SLI Systems join us for a webinar, If they can’t find it they can’t buy it – importance of site search for online retailers. During the session the two speakers will examine how site search is used on the Lovehoney site, while Chris Edge, head of customer success UK at SLI, will also give broad advice on best practice use. To find out more about this webinar and to register, click here.
And on February 28 at 11am, we’ll be joined by Tim Pickard, chief strategist at NewVoiceMedia and Martin Hill-Wilson, chief executive of Brainfood and a long-standing member of the UK customer service community, for a discussion on how retailers can connect their CRM data with telephony to recognize and respond to individual customer situations and so offer a truly personalised customer experience, in Customer experience: making it personal. For more information and to register, click here.
UK online sales grew in January – while wider retail sales fell
Women more open to online shopping: study
IRX 2013 THE INDEPTH VIEW The SoLoMo Conference
IRX 2013 Comment: Is social referral the new affiliate marketing – and are retailers ready for it?
GUEST COMMENT Is your phone customer service costing you sales?
BBC food website links to Tesco basket for ease of cooking
Time-starved shoppers bought online this Christmas: study
