Online Retailers Show Big Gains

Sales at Web-based, Amazon, were up 37 percent over the same period a year ago according to a Forrester Research online retailing report highlighted at Internet Retailer. Overall, online retail was 16 percent ahead of last year’s pace with the food and home improvement sectors showing the largest gains. The report covered the first two quarters of 2006.

Also, a recently concluded Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) study found almost half of surveyed adults have bought an item through an electronic channel (story at MediaPost). These channels include online, home shopping TV, infomercials and radio. While it is common for people to buy items in brick-and-mortar stores after seeing the merchandise online, this study showed an interesting reversal of that trend. It revealed 60 percent of consumers who bought online reported seeing the item in a store, ad or catalog before making a purchase. This fact demonstrated the importance of a multi-channel communication and distribution strategy to reach consumers.

The ERA study reported the most popular categories for people making purchases via electronic channels were sports/fitness and cosmetics.