Top etailing trends for 2010

Analyst Verdict Consulting (on behalf of Webloyalty) has come up with ten trends for 2010 in the online retailing area.

‘Internet Retail Trends 2010: Ten Actions For Your Business’, suggests that despite growing by 13.3% in 2009, internet retail has suffered in the recession, with an estimated £1.6bn in lost revenues.

The trends (in short) are:

1. Growth will be more difficult – the channel is slowly maturing and with many of the easy wins now maximised, further progress will be much slower. Retailers now need to think more strategically about maximising revenue online.

2. The recession has impacted- a critical lesson for the online channel will be to add value and persuade customers to trade up in what they buy.

3 Acquiring new customers will be tougher – as acquiring new customers becomes more of a challenge, retailers should switch more marketing budget to maintaining existing customers and drive repeat business.

4. There will be more mouths to feed – deep knowledge of your competitors’ online offerings coupled with sophisticated testing of different customer acquisition strategies will be crucial to stay ahead of the market.

5 Expectations will rise – retailers must focus on adding more value than they have done in the past.  They must clearly communicate why customers should shop with them, and what extra benefits can be gained from doing so.

6. Loyalty can be increased – those retailers that offer a combination of one-off tactical deals to excite the customer, combined with long-term strategic programmes with extra value benefits to lock in customers, will have a winning strategy.

7. Conversion will be key – website personalisation is a key way in which conversion can be grown.  If ‘cherry-picked’ products are pushed through to relevant customers when they visit a website they are far more likely to see a product which appeals to them, and therefore make a purchase.

8. Basket abandonment is here to stay – providing clear, accurate and detailed information on products, prices and additional charges is a key way to reduce basket abandonment

9. Customers will be channel blind – those retailers that offer multiple consumer touch points will see benefits; though branding must be consistent across all channels.

10. It’s more than about selling – to boost revenue, retailers should consider monetising their web pages by linking with third parties that offer products and services that suit their target market.

Thanks to Net Imperative for the tip-off.