Interesting Trends and Data

I was reading my Internet Retailer publication today and came across these interesting trends. I wanted to share them with you to ponder and consider as you grow and market your business.

Trends:

• Online retail sales have grown an average of 20% each year from 2000 to 2007. (Source: US Dept of Commerce)
• Retail Chain vs. Web-Only - Web-only merchants outpaced Chains online by 4.15% (Source: Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide)
• In 2010, 84% of households access the Internet with a broadband connection (Source: Edison Research)
• The largest online shopper age group? 32-44 - 80% shop online (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project)
• Top online holiday shopping retail day in 2009 was Tuesday, December 15 (Source: comScore)
• In 2008, 51 million people owned smartphones; from 2008-2009, consumers who owned a smartphone increased by 34%; consumers that own smartphones will double by quarter 3 of 2011 (Source: eMarketer Inc.) 

Wow - that's quite a lot to digest! 

Take aways:

• If you aren't using your Web site to sell - think again and do it now! 
• If you aren't poised to be able to sell to consumers using their mobile devices - start preparing now. 
• If your customer demographic is age 32-44 - figure out how to sell to them online.
• Start preparing your strategy for online holiday shoppers 

Food for thought :)
Ciao for now, Paula