online shopping Tag

2009 Online Holiday Shopping Ends High

The numbers are in from the 2009 online holiday shopping season, and it could be a good sign for the economy.  In the report from comScore, the e-commerce industry faired better than the same time in 2008. 

“During [November 1- December 24], approximately $27 Billion was spent online, which represents an increase of 5 percent over the same period a year ago,” said the comScore Press Release. For the period from Black Friday through Christmas Eve, and after adjusting for the additional shopping day in 2009, sales grew by approximately 3.5 percent.” (more…)

Cyber Monday Sales Better Than Expected

Results are already pouring in from yesterday’s Cyber Monday sales.  While sales were expected to fall compared to last year, they actually grew 13.7%, a significant increase considering the current economy. 

The report comes from Coremetrics Inc, a web analyst company based out of California.  The report also indicated that people spent more money for online sales Monday, compared to Black Friday. (more…)

The Truth About Cyber Monday

As I am sure you are aware, today is Cyber Monday.  A day supposed to be filled with discounts and deals for online shoppers.  While you will find many great deals, some are questioning whether Cyber Monday is real or just a smart business ploy.  It seems to be a bit of both.  Let me explain.

Just 4 years ago, in 2005, Shop.org coined the phrase ‘Cyber Monday’ in order to bring more traffic to their website.  A year later, hundreds of other online retailers jumped on board and started an Internet tradition.  While Black Friday, remains the biggest shopping day of the year, CyberMonday surprisingly is actually not the biggest online shopping day.  One year after Cyber Monday started, Scott Silverman, Executive Director for Shop.org, said “It was not the biggest day, but it was an opportunity to create some consumer excitement.”  (more…)

Wal-Mart And Amazon Battle It Out For Top Holiday Deals

Let the chaos begin, the holiday shopping season has officially arrived.  While the world is an economic battle, another battle is brewing between many online retailers, most specifically between Amazon & Walmart.  Last Friday, millions of people started their holiday shopping, lining up to get their hands on some of the best deals around.  It turns out though that many skipped the lines and did their shopping exclusively online.

Data from Experian Hitwise shows that Walmart.com took the top spot for sales on Thanksgiving Day, while Amazon.com had the biggest revenue for Black Friday.  Unfortunately, Experian Hitwise said that among the top 500 online retail stores, the number of U.S. visits were down 15% on Thanksgiving Day compared to  the same day last year.  Online traffic on Black Friday was also down nearly 4% compared to 2008.  (more…)

Consumers Ready for Social Media Holiday Deals

Everyone is gearing up for the holiday season.  While many businesses have said that they will be using social media sites this year to attract online shoppers and offering exclusive discounts to users, consumers are already scoping out discounts through social media networks. 

The advertising agency Razorfish released the results of survey on Tuesday, suggesting that online businesses should start to see profits for the holiday season very soon, if not immediately.  Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, falls on November 30 this year and has been the No. 1 online shopping day since its start in 2004, but online shoppers are looking to start their holiday shopping early this year.  (more…)

eBay Launches Online Magazine

Early Wednesday morning, eBay, the largest online marketplace, announced they would launch a new online digital magazine called The Inside Source. The magazine is designed for shoppers and will feature the insights and stories based off of what the 89 million users are currently searching for, along with what they are buying and selling on eBay. Each day, The Inside Source will feature several sections which will provide snapshots of real-time  most-watched merchandise and most searched terms, along with fresh articles, analysis, and opinions from eBay community contributors.

“Imagine that every day, every person in the United States tells eBay what they want,” said Alan Marks, Senior Vice President of Global Communications for eBay. “That’s the power of how many searches occur on eBay every day. Now add insights gleaned from almost 200 million live product listings, the stories of more than 25 million sellers and the several million purchases people make each day on eBay, and you get The Inside Source – a perspective on shopping trends, pop culture obsessions and the stuff people love, that only eBay can offer.”

Meredith Barnett, former Director of Digital Media for Lifetime Digital has agreed to take on the task of directing and managing the editorial content and staff.  Barnett and the editorial team will not just focus on what’s happening on eBay but will also check in with a large range of other popular topics including fashion, technology, automotive, home and garden, and pop culture.

Barnett is best known for her success at managing myLifetime.com, Lifetime TV’s website focusing on women’s entertainment.  Barnett is also co-founder of StoreAdore.com, an internet guide to the best boutique stores around the country and online.  The site has been successful so far — probably because of frequently updated blog posts and a search database of boutique profiles of more than 3,000 stores. 

“Meredith brings the perfect blend of consumer-focused ecommerce and editorial experience to The Inside Source,” Marks said. “Combining Meredith’s editorial vision with eBay’s insight, our aim is to make The Inside Source an engaging, useful read for people who want to know the latest trends happening in the world`s largest online marketplace.”

Readers of the online magazine will also be able to share their thoughts and opinions on topics by commenting and sharing content through social media platforms, such as Facebook.

This Week In Social Media – November 6, 2009

This Week in Social Media – Nov 6, 2009 iePlexus from iePlexus on Vimeo.

This Week in Social Media – Nov 6, 2009 iePlexus from iePlexus on Vimeo.

Here’s a look at some of what happened this week in the world of social media and elsewhere on the Web.

-It should be no shock that MySpace is losing users, but now the company is in jeopardy of losing nearly $100 million.  In 2006, MySpace made a $900 million deal with Google that would allow the search engine to be the exclusive search advertiser on MySpace, which at the time was the most used social networking site.  The site is coming dangerously close to maintaining a minimum traffic level, which could break the deal with Google. In the past three months, MySpace’s page views have dropped 22.75 percent.  (more…)

Online Retailers Expected To Have Best Holiday Season

Forrester Research came out with a survey Monday, which said that online retailers will see an 8% increase in sales since last year while stationary retailers are expected to show no increase.  And with online advertising through the  use of social media, this is no surprise, since the world is trying to break out of the global economic crisis. 

The National Retail Federation has unfortunately forecasted a 1% decline in overall U.S. holiday sales this year. The Forrester survey which had polled more than 4,000 U.S. online consumers found that 94% of those who have shopped online within the past three months plan to shop online this holiday season. (more…)

Who Needs Guns When You’ve Got Keyboards?

Internet shopping may well reach records highs this holiday season. This influx of business is welcomed by online retailers and criminals alike. Criminals believe that online shoppers are vulnerable to their scams – and they’re right. These aren’t the crooks of yesteryear, today’s thieves don’t need guns – they’ve got technology.

In the last year internet fraud and identity theft have become more widespread than ever. Despite the risks many shoppers choose to do the bulk of their holiday buying online. Who can blame them? There’s nothing worse than standing for hours in line at a department store, battling raging drivers in traffic, or having to travel to several stores just to find one item (wasting gas and money in the process).

When it comes to shopping online the best advice is “buyer beware.” A 2007 survey reported the number of consumers taken in by bogus offers increased by 40 percent between the 2006 and 2007 holiday seasons. Three percent of the adults surveyed said that they lost money from phishing scam. Last year the overall costs to consumers of online fraud surpassed $3 billion, compared with $2 billion the year before.
(more…)

Staying Home This Year? Get Some Gear

For many Americans it’s about that time to start planning spring and summer getaways. A couple of years ago that may have meant a visit to the Eiffel Tower, a week-long road trip to the Grand Canyon, or a few days soaking up the sun on a beach in Mazatlan. But, those days of excess have come to a grinding halt as the economy has worsened, and layoffs have proliferated.

This year has been coined the year of the ‘staycation.’ People are spending less, and staying home more. A recent Allstate poll found that nearly half of all Americans plan to cut back on travel in 2009. An International SOS survey found that 4 out of 10 Americans are reducing their international trips, and, according to a Zagat study 20 percent less people will travel in 2009 than 2008.

That doesn’t mean that people won’t be using their two weeks of paid vacation. In fact, more and more people are taking their vacations – at home. And, there’s good reason why they’ve decided to stay home. Even when gas prices are falling, airline fees are stagnant. In October, for example, airfares were up 10 percent. People could barely afford to fly a year ago, and this year it’s no better.
(more…)