Even though there is substantial shifts in behaviour due to the current economic climate, online retailers remain reasonable bouyant about their business’s prospects for 2009.
The 11th annual “State of Retailing Online 2008: Profitability, Economy, and Multichannel Report” found that 35% of online retailers expect their online business to perform better than expected in the next 12 months, while another third (33%) anticipate their online business will perform the same as expected.
Nearly three fourths (72%) of internet retailers say the online channel is more likely to withstand an economic slowdown than offline channels, and most are cautiously optimistic about their business performance in the next 12 months, according to a study from Shop.org conducted by Forrester Research.
Additional findings:
- 81% of online retailers report that their e-commerce business was profitable in 2007, and 75% said it was also more profitable last year than in 2006.
- Almost half (49%) of online retailers say their average conversion rate in 2007 was higher than in 2006, and that 36% total sales for the online retailers were driven by repeat customers – higher than in 2006.
- Because of their outlook for the US economy, 37% of survey respondents have lowered their expectations for their online business performance in the next 12 months.
