Whilst the retail industry has been struggling throughout the world after the credit crash a few years ago, the e-commerce industry has been a ray of light in the gloom. E-marketer revealed recently that e-commerce sales in America are set to reach nearly $300bn a year by 2015.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) meanwhile revealed recently that e-commerce spending was a bigger part of the American economy than the federal government, with e-commerce set to be over 12% of the UK economy by 2016.
Research released recently by Nielson has come to a similar conclusion over the growing importance of e-commerce. The report called Retail USA: What's in Store 2016 reveals the importance of e-commerce as a growth channel for retailers.
You can see from the image below how Nielson believe retail will change in the coming years.
What is clear from these three independant pieces of research is the growing importance of e-commerce to the success of retailers throughout the world.
So what makes a fantastic online store? Here are five things that I think define a great online store.
- Great navigation
- A great search engine
- An easy to use shopping cart
- Personalised offers
- Outstanding use of images
With research from Forrester showing that just 3% of websites have exceptional usability there is clearly some way to go for many retailers but the potential rewards for those that do get it right are clear for all to see.
Have you increased your own online spending in recent years? What defines a great online store for you?
This article was originally published at Technorati
I would take number 3 one step further to say, easy/efficient/safe to use check out process–its a win-win: retailer-consumer! What are your thoughts on Facebook commerce or F-commerce?
Hi Tori,
Thanks for the comment, and welcome to the blog. I'm not convinced by it simply because I don't think people are really in buying mode when they are on Facebook. Of course with the size of the site there will be business done there, but as a proportion of overall activity I think it will remain quite small.
Not surprised by this at all. I do so much online now, from books to groceries. I only ever really shop in the high street for clothes, and even that I'm beginning to question.
This has been a valuable contribution to the topic, thanks for sharing.