e-commerce news, online trends

News

Consumers Click Away
Research is showing that half of consumers would consider NOT using a business that does not have a web site where they can obtain information and order products and services. Consumers will also think long and hard before using a poor quality web site.

The UK’s large Small Business sector is definitely losing out and losing business revenues by ignoring this new selling channel. Businesses are apprehensive about adopting technology that is now well developed and they also believe that such a system will cost a lot of money.

Businesses that have moved online are now finding that online sales quickly reach the levels of the traditional channels. This applies to a professionally built web site that has been properly optimized for the search engines.

All recent research has shown that customers want to use the Internet to buy goods and services at a time of their choosing. Worries about online fraud are still an issue but consumers are overcoming these doubts as they become better educated on how to protect their personal data and avoid rogue web sites.


	Sep 2006: High Street Sales decline The business press has reported a decline in high street sales of over £750m pounds. The trend of people buying online rather than in high street stores continues and will gather pace. Many more people are gaining confidence in shopping via the Internet and are finding reliable traders that can undercut store prices.


		Aug 2006: FSB Members Trading On Online The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has reported that under 20% of its members have provided their customers with the facility to purchase their goods and services online. Many members are worried about the cost of getting online and have a perception the fraud levels are higher than using offline credit card processing. Both of these premises are false. Contact KPR i-Services for a more detailed discussion.

		Aug 2006: Internet Shopping: 10% of all Sales The total amount of online sales is expected to hit £30 billion pounds by the end of 2006. This contrasts with the £19 billion was was spent in 2005. If the trend continues then next year at least £40 billion will be spent online and don’t forget that this trend is upwards.



		July 2006: Small Businesses Slow to Adopt the Internet The number of small businesses making money online has increased to about 1 million enterprises. This is a staggering number but nevertheless it means that about 80% of small businesses are still not exploiting the power of the internet to its fullest. The high street continues to decline and the average shopper will soon be spending £500 per annum on the internet. The really avid users are spending a lot more than this.