Trend towards online shopping

Download: Trend towards online shopping (PDF file)The rapid expansion of e-commerce has made it possible for almost all retail companies to set up their own online stores. This trend is stimulated by the attractive low-cost e-commerce hosting services offered by different hosts on the web. In Germany, for example, the sales volume generated by online shopping has increased by 15 per cent to € 15.4 bn. Here, as in other European countries, printed catalogues still serve as a source of information for many customers in spite of the Internet age, according to sector experts. With regard to written and telephone orders, they are the only medium used in around 80 per cent of all cases. The majority of online shoppers still use printed catalogues too before placing an order over the Internet. It is forecast, therefore, that the greatest volume of sales in the sector this year will be achieved by retailers offering a catalogue and Internet service in parallel.Year on year, UK online sales increased by 8.2 per cent to £ 3.7 bn as of May this year. This is far behind the rise of 30.9 per cent year on year to May 2008. The £ 3.7 bn of online sales in May was also down 3.5 per cent from April, and a report said this "bucks usual seasonal trends". UK shoppers spent most in the health and beauty sector, where spend has expanded 26.3 per cent year on year. Accessories and electrical goods posted the biggest year-on-year increase, up 69.9 per cent and 27.9 per cent respectively from the previous year. Alcohol posted the biggest change, with monthly spend declining 17.4 per cent, with a 6.5 per cent year-on-year fall.Poor performance by online storesThere may be several reasons why sales lag behind expectations. For example, a poor ranking with search engines: most Internet offers are found by the consumer via search engines and catalogues such as Google and Yahoo, for instance. Operators of online stores can only get their pages displayed high up in the list of search results with the aid of professional search engine optimisation. Programming by EDP experts, many of whom have not really taken on board the fact that there are people with little or no experience of computers, often fails to include sufficient user guidance. Although the pages boast a brilliant design and are equipped with a host of features, they are then often confusing and discouraging for users not well versed in EDP. Even the entrepreneur himself forgets all too often that, in contrast to real life, a…