Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales. 2nd Quarter 2007
Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales. 2nd Quarter 2007
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Read MoreTag: Retailing
External demand for US web site products and services
More U.S. providers of web infrastructure and services are gearing up to support online retailers’ expansion beyond the U.S., and retailers from outside the U.S. are eyeing the online market in this country. “The drive for international commerce is a huge focus because we are getting a lot of demand from overseas. We are not trying to stimulate it at all, but overseas marketers are coming here and asking us and other U.S.-based companies to help them,” says Ken Burke, CEO of e-commerce platform provider MarketLive. “And, U.S.-based companies want to go international or translate sites into other languages, so we are seeing more requests for it and we are building out more technology to support it.”
Read MoreE-retailers and affiliate partners missing out on global sales, survey says
87 pct of companies polled at a recent retail e-commerce affiliate conference said they would like to sell to non-U.S. markets, but 79 pct said their overseas business amounted to 0-10 pct of total sales, World Market Express reports.
World Market Express polled attendees and exhibitors at the recent Affiliate Summit West conference in Las Vegas about the extent of their global e-commerce business. 29 pct said that they and their clients had no non-U.S. business, and another 50 pct said that 10 pct or less of their business came from outside the U.S.
34 pct of respondents cited as the biggest obstacles to global e-commerce the overall expense of handling international orders and a lack of internal expertise. 21 pct cited the need for international shipping and payment systems.
The survey also revealed a common complaint among e-commerce affiliates: that web traffic they forward to retail e-commerce partners is often wasted because their partners are unable to handle orders from outside the U.S.
Among those respondents that do sell overseas, 28 pct cited the U.K. as among their three largest foreign markets. Canada was ranked second, cited by 25 pct, followed by Australia, 11 pct. Germany, China and India were cited by 9 pct; Japan, 6 pct; and France, 3 pct.
Read MoreU.S.-based online seller growth tops 20 pct in international sales
International sales and shipments made by U.S.-based eBay sellers grew 20.1 pct in the past year, up from 14.3 pct the previous year, the fastest growth in three years, says MyStoreMaps.com, a company that tracks worldwide shipping. Growth outpaced other countries mainly because of a weaker U.S. dollar, MyStoreMaps reports.
EBay sellers in all major western economies are seeing increased growth in international sales, says Brian Lawe, president of MyStoreCredit Inc., the parent company of MyStoreMaps.com
MyStoreMaps’ numbers are based the company’s data set of more than 3 million shipments made between buyers and sellers in 162 countries. Sellers outside the U.S. experienced growth at only half the rate of U.S. sellers. “For the same time period, the rate of growth in shipments for all non-U.S. sellers was only 10.6 pct,” Lawe tells Internet Retailer.
The ramp-up for international sales is three to four years behind domestic e-commerce sales, Lawe says. He attributes the past year’s growth to “a lower U.S. dollar rate, primarily, and buyers who have become very comfortable buying online from sellers in their own country.”
Trust has been the main obstacle to more international buying, Lawe says. As shoppers become more at ease buying from e-retailers in their own country, they begin to experiment. If nothing bad happens with their first overseas purchase, subsequent buys become easier, Lawe adds.
The most popular countries that U.S.-based eBay sellers ship to are Canada, at 28 pct ; United Kingdom, 20 pct ; Australia 10 pct ; and France, 6.5 pct , says Antoine E. Hall, vice president, operations and client services at MyStoreCredit.
Read MoreUS e-retail sales have climbed 23 pct in a year
The comScore report on US e-commerce spending for Q2 2007 showed that non-travel (i.e. retail) e-commerce grew by 23pct compared to one year ago, reaching some US$27.2 billion.
Over the same period, online travel spending increased by only 14pct to USD 20.3 billion, and total US e-commerce spending climbed an average of 19pct to reach USD 47.5 billion during the year. fmansilla This article is copyright 2007 TheWiseMarketer.com).
E-retail rebounding
According to Gian Fulgoni, chairman for comScore, “Retail e-commerce rebounded solidly in the second quarter after a modest start to the year. After posting 17pct growth year-on-year in Q1 2007, retail e-commerce sales grew by 23pct year-on-year in Q2 2007, continuing to match the growth rates seen over the past couple of years.”
The top-gaining e-commerce category in Q2 2007 was video games, consoles & accessories, which jumped by 159 pct on the strength of Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 sales. Sport & fitness also saw substantial gains (up 58 pct), followed by consumer electronics (up 51pct ) and event tickets (up 44pct ).
US e-spending forecast
Total US online consumer spending reached USD 170.8 billion in 2006, with non-travel spending accounting for USD 102.1 billion of that. Based on the first-half growth rates for 2007, total US online consumer spending is forecast to reach a milestone of USD 200 billion in 2007.
“Even factoring in the moderate growth rates from Q1 2007, we are currently on target to break the USD 200 billion mark in 2007,” explained Fulgoni. “However, in the past, we have seen growth rates accelerate as the year progresses, culminating with the online holiday shopping season, so the USD 200 billion forecast may even turn out to be a conservative estimate.”
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