Will the increase in demand backfire on retailers?
By silicon.com
Published: 2 January 2008 14:54 GMT
It can't be denied that the holiday period has been a bumper haul for internet retailing. One early poll put increases in customers at 27 per cent and increases in revenues at 46 per cent compared to the same period in 2006. This suggests not only are more people shopping on the internet, but they are spending more money too.
It appears that the economic doom and gloom of the past few months was forgotten, for a while at least, with retailers such as Marks & Spencer launching their latest sales on midnight Christmas Day, ensuring consumers would not stop shopping even on the 25 December.
Against this positive news for retailers however, is a worrying trend. Along with the rise in sales comes a rise in fulfilment problems. Many online shoppers had the convenience of buying goods at home offset by having to queue at postal depots to recover the goods they bought. A straw poll of the silicon.com editorial team found one online shopper had a gift arrive six days after Christmas Day and this is undoubtedly not the only example of goods arriving late.
Retailers face a real danger of becoming the victims of their own success, with growth in sales actually damaging brand loyalty if they don't pay more attention to fulfilment of orders. In fact, it may be more likely the parcel delivery services are at fault, but customers won't see it that way. They will be more likely to blame the retailer they purchased the late (or in some cases never) arriving gift from.
It seems the retailers getting it right more often are the dedicated online companies, ahead of established brands with internet channels as well as a high street presence. Perhaps the dot-coms have more to lose if online shoppers come away with a bad experience at Christmas. More power to them and if there is a customer backlash on multi-channel retailers, they deserve what they get for not grasping a business opportunity when it is handed to them.
Our client, a leading engineering company located in Bucks, is looking for a Goods In Inspector. The Goods In Inspector will be reponsible for ...
You will be required to maintain and update relevant spreadsheets, prepare print works orders and print production schedules, communicating with ...
We also specialise in a wide range of positions within the Print, Direct Mail, Direct Marketing, and Fulfillment & Mailing Houses, Packaging ...
Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
Petra Papinniemi
Legal Eye: Ecommerce held back by outdated laws
No wonder no one's buying...
Matthew Cushen
E-tailers: Be choosy overseas
Markets are not always what they seem
Tim Ferguson
'If you look at iPlayer from a distance, it's still very web 1.0'
Q&A: Erik Huggers, director, BBC's Future, Media and Technology
Kit Burden
Legal Eye: Tech could brighten retailers' gloom
Regulation and recession loom
Matthew Cushen
Retailers: Look to emerging markets
Comment: Massive opportunities if you get the IT right
Julian Goldsmith
How Zavvi lost its Virginity
IT director Tony Johnson on the retailer's changing web strategy