Take Advantage of E-Commerce Spending Growth

Spending Up 10% From Last Year According to Research

comScore recently released its Q1 2010 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates. The firm found that online retail spending neared $34 billion for the quarter, a 10 percent increase compared to last year.

Are you finding new ways to reach customers online? Comment here.

This is the first time growth rates actually reached double-digits since the second quarter of 2008, according to comScore. Take a look at this table of growth rates:

“The first quarter returned the U.S. retail e-commerce market to healthy double-digit growth rates,” says comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “While these spending gains provide reason for optimism, we should note that upper-income households are currently shouldering much of the growth. Should the economy falter in the second half of the year and upper-income consumers return to a savings mode, we could still see growth decelerate. But for the time being, this momentum is encouraging.”

Other highlights among comScore’s findings include:

- Growth in the first quarter was predominantly driven by upper-income consumers, with spending among the $100,000+ household income segment up 14 percent.

- Pureplay (online-only) retailers continued to gain e-commerce spending market share from multichannel retailers.

- Larger online retailers continued to generate higher growth rates than smaller retailers, but the smaller retailers are finally beginning to see positive growth once again.

Businesses have more ways than ever to reach consumers online to increase sales, and this only appears to be increasing. Just yesterday Amazon, for example, launched its new WebStore e-commerce product, which lets businesses take advantage of the Amazon platform and design sites around it, while minimizing the Amazon branding itself, but utilizing its trusted checkout process.

Of course Facebook is looking to play an increasingly great role in online shopping. There are already numerous apps catering to this, and Facebook itself is closing in on 500 million users.

Some Mobile Internet Stats That Should Make You Think

How Important is Mobile to Your Strategy?

Millennial Media released its S.M.A.R.T. (Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting) report for the US, revealing some interesting statistics that businesses should be interested in as mobile Internet use continues to accelerate.

Some key findings:

- The number of users who access the Mobile Web increased by around 2% and is now over 73 million

- The average user session time decreased to 4:43 for April while average monthly page views per user decreased to 122. Android ad requests grew 77% month-over-month. Since January, Android has grown 282%.

It’s quite clear that mobile is going to have to become a bigger part of the marketing strategy for more and more businesses moving forward. Luckily, between ad platforms and apps, there are numerous ways to get in front of customers on their mobile devices. One of the biggest challenges is probably finding the right ways to target across platforms, apps, and devices.

The entire report can be found here.

Apple’s iPad as a Business Tool

Businesses See Benefits to iPad Use

This week Apple revealed that iPad sales have surpassed two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3rd. Until last week, it had only been available in the U.S. On Friday, the company began shipping units to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K.

Do you use an iPad for business? Let us know.

“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

There are currently over 5,000 apps for the iPad, and the device will also support many of the 200,000 apps in the App Store. This is one reason why Apple itself pushes the iPad as a business tool (among other things). Apple has a page set up dedicated to illustrating the device’s businesses uses. These include:

- Email, Calendar, and Contacts
- Securing data
- App platform
- Web browsing
- “Easy” configuration
- iWork for iPad
- Accessories

It turns out that businesses seem to agree with Apple in that the device is useful for business. Citrix ran a survey, asking about iPad adoption as a business tool. 84% said they’d support personal iPad use.

“The fact that IT can safely provide access to company apps, data and virtual desktops without managing the device will make the iPad a game changer for business beyond just the form factor and features,” says Chris Fleck of Citrix. “This device will provide the leading example of how IT can keep control of the data, apps and compliance yet enable their users to maximize their choice and productivity from anywhere.”

Some other noteworthy findings from the Citrix survey:

- 80% will purchase and use the iPad for business

- 84% of organizations will support personal iPads; 50% expect their organization to purchase for them

- Primary app to be used on the iPad are productivity apps with 87% response rate

- 90% of respondents will use iPad for business email, closely followed by the ability to view, edit and create presentations. Nearly 60% of respondents indicated that they will use iPad for online meetings and to access critical business information

- Largest benefits: 90% indicated increased mobility to work remote, at home, or anywhere, 74% indicated improved productivity and satisfaction

Apple will begin shipping the iPad to nine additional countries next month, and then even more later in the year. Meanwhile, the world awaits similar devices from competitors.

Is Print Marketing Still in Your Mix?
By Chris Crum – Wed, 05/05/2010 – 12:34pm.

Study Suggests Businesses Sticking with Print

FedEx Office released the results from its annual Signs of the Times national small business survey, finding that small business owners are “eager to lead the charge” out of the recession. According to the results, about three quarters

(72%) say they’ll be the driving force behind the U.S. economic recovery this year. 51% said their own businesses have already or will fully recover by the end of the year.

How important is print marketing to your business? Let us know.

Marketing opportunities appear to be one of the key reasons businesses are so optimistic. 42% of those polled are

considering increasing spending on marketing and advertising this year, while 30% say they may increase spending on sales initiatives.

Read the rest of this entry

Take Advantage of E-Commerce Spending Growth

Spending Up 10% From Last Year According to Research

comScore recently released its Q1 2010 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates. The firm found that online retail spending neared $34 billion for the quarter, a 10 percent increase compared to last year.

Are you finding new ways to reach customers online? Comment here.

This is the first time growth rates actually reached double-digits since the second quarter of 2008, according to comScore. Take a look at this table of growth rates:

“The first quarter returned the U.S. retail e-commerce market to healthy double-digit growth rates,” says comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “While these spending gains provide reason for optimism, we should note that upper-income households are currently shouldering much of the growth. Should the economy falter in the second half of the year and upper-income consumers return to a savings mode, we could still see growth decelerate. But for the time being, this momentum is encouraging.”

Other highlights among comScore’s findings include:

- Growth in the first quarter was predominantly driven by upper-income consumers, with spending among the $100,000+ household income segment up 14 percent.

- Larger online retailers continued to generate higher growth rates than smaller retailers, but the smaller retailers are finally beginning to see positive growth once again.

Businesses have more ways than ever to reach consumers online to increase sales, and this only appears to be increasing. Just yesterday Amazon, for example, launched its new WebStore e-commerce product, which lets businesses take advantage of the Amazon platform and design sites around it, while minimizing the Amazon branding itself, but utilizing its trusted checkout process.

Of course Facebook is looking to play an increasingly great role in online shopping. There are already numerous apps catering to this, and Facebook itself is closing in on 500 million users.