An article in New York Times, that online sales has dropped dramatically in diverse categories especially health and beauty products, computer peripherals and pet supplies. Other segments includes “appliances, sporting goods, auto parts, computer peripherals, and even music and videos” also slowing down.
Some example; eBay reported that revenue from Web site sales increased by just 1 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.
Travel bookings from Expedia’s North American Web sites rose by only 1 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Dell revenue in the Americas (United States, Canada and Latin America) for the three months ended May 4 was $8.9 billion, or nearly unchanged from the same period last year.
The slowdown is a result of several reasons:
1) Consumers are changing their shopping habits and some customers like a more interactive experience and pleasurable.
2) Retailers have livened up their stores to be more alluring.
3) Sometimes, online shopping could be tedious, for example ensure websites has security features, follow-up on delivery, return policy, and so on.
If you’re doing online business, what need to be done to improve the situation?
Change Your Strategies
Some online shops, such as Borders, Best Buy, Sears and others, allow customers to reserve books online and pick them up in the store.
Barnes & Noble upgraded its website to include online book clubs, reader forums and interviews with authors.
However, an economics professor from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, John Morgan said :”He is expecting online commerce to continue to increase, partly because it remains less than 1 percent of the overall economy. There’s still a lot of head room for people to grow”
So, what do you think?
Read the full article here.
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