Aplus.net Blog

A news release was issued earlier this month stating that online retailing remains a “bright spot amid a struggling economy.”

“Online retailers are expecting average annual growth this year of 25%, and 35% say they expect to perform better than initially expected through the first half of next year,” states the article, which can be found on  Internet Retailer, a news website dedicated to following the ins and outs of the online commerce industry.

The story cited a recent nationwide poll of 125 retailers, stating that “Five percent of respondents said they believe their online businesses will perform substantially better than expected during the coming 12 months, 30% said slightly better than expected, 33% the same as expected, and 32% slightly worse than expected.”

Retailers reported positive trends in conversion rates and profitability, though many still face challenges in selling across channels including the web, stores and catalogs, the study says.

81% of respondents said their e-commerce business was profitable in 2007, and 75% said e-commerce was more profitable in 2007 than in 2006.

Many retailers are still struggling to increase sales by integrating order and inventory systems and coordinating marketing and merchandising efforts across channels, the report says. The report notes that many retailers continue to operate each retail channel as a separate silo and have not been able to justify investments in multi-channel systems. 51% of respondents indicated, however, that their online customers are active in at least one other retail channel.

Since it follows recent trends pretty closely, this news doesn’t come as a big surprise, perhaps, but it’s good to have the strength of online selling reaffirmed yet again — especially in the face of the recent dramatic ups and downs that the American and world economies have been going through. Internet commerce’s complete domination of the way shoppers worldwide find products and spend their money has never been more dramatic. And, as times get tougher, the ease and inexpensive nature of online shopping is looking better and better for everyone.

Read the original article here. The report from Shop.org referenced in the article can be found here. (It’s not free, unfortunately.)