In the eCommerce solution provider business, most companies are not innovators but rather Web designers who use other's solutions and re-brand the same to appear to belong to the Web design firm itself. There is a new possibility for merchants who cannot or do not want to spend a small fortune hiring and maintaining an in-house team of specialists to work on the so called free eCommerce platforms, which cost a small fortune to customize and maintain in good order.

Why Pay More? Buy Direct!

Real Time LLC and their www.realtimeshoppingmall.com Web site offer an interesting variation on a theme... clients have direct access to product and service providers, eliminating the fear of having purchased a solution that may become obsolete, leaving the merchant few options to secure and safeguard their investment in time, effort and work product.

Richard Ackermann the founder of Real Time has researched the Web for the best-of-breed products to make the www.realtimeshoppingmall.com a one stop shopping mall for real time products, advertising and Web marketing solutions. Ackermann asks: "Why would anyone want to reinvent the wheel? Does it make sense to hope that you or your one man Web design solution provider will think of every combination and permutation, to give you and your business the options required to succeed in eCommerce?"

Ackermann says: "If you could own or rent an eCommerce solution in use by thousands of other merchants, why reinvent the wheel?" The solutions offered by Real Time on their site are flexible and adaptable. In addition Real Time is constantly researching the marketplace for new and better products and services.

Do NOT Let a Novice do Your Web Site -- Why Reinvent the Wheel?

How many so called eCommerce service and product providers or vendors do you think actually created proprietary technology? How many Web solution providers make their source code accessible to you? These small details can make or brake the future health of a Web based marketing and sales eTail organization. Every day almost ten thousand new eCommerce sites are created on the Internet, lamentably most will not succeed. Having a Web site is one third the battle. You need reliable solid technology that is easy to learn and manage, that is the first order of business. You also need to rest assured that the technology you acquire will be there tomorrow.

Many companies have seen success followed by horrible experiences for their merchants. Even the stalwart original online stores by Yahoo! have caused their share of heartache for merchants at the behest of giant Web companies, which sometimes make moves that leave their community pondering why as well as why now? (Many times changes take place at the worst possible time of the year, in October right before the holiday season.)

If you are lucky enough to find a solid technology, not the proverbial free solution such as OSCommerce or Miva that anyone can have, but only those who know computer languages can configure and modify, you have to be fortunate in finding a low priced company or freelancer that will do the store setup and customization for your Web site.

Often merchants feel they have little knowledge and resources to research and locate solid technology solutions for their eCommerce platform. They felt comfortable when deciding on their technology for a Web store, only to find later on that living with something is not the same over time.

Online auction sites such as eBay have become more and more shopping malls than online used merchandise auctioneers and anyone that has done business with either eBay or other stalwarts of the early eCommerce days knows that solution providers who bring you business can be fickle and change their rates midstream at any given moment. 

Shoppers Want to Save on Gas...

The high cost of gasoline and other fuels drives shoppers to search for products and buy online. In addition to the ease of finding the desired products at the lowest cost, aided by comparison shopping engines, while evaluating product specifications, prices and vendor ratings by prior customers enjoy a comfort level not available off line.

“After a decade of perfecting the model for selling online to a niche audience, now they are leveraging the franchise and looking to do the same in other apparel segments,” Okamura says. “If they are utilizing the web to launch their latest brand instead of stores, that tells me they are using the Internet to drive a big portion of their overall corporate strategy and business development.”

Take a look at the United States Census Bureau statistics on eCommerce and the question becomes how ready are you and your company to do business on the Web or maximize visibility, search engine ranking, branding and take advantage of all the Web has to offer to make a difference in your bottom line?

http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/ecomm.html

http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/data/html/07Q4.html

Total retail sales for the fourth quarter of 2007 were estimated at $1,030.7 billion, an increase of 0.9 percent (±0.3%) from the third quarter of 2007. The fourth quarter 2007 e commerce estimate increased 18.0 percent (±2.1%) from the fourth quarter of 2006 while total retail sales increased 4.7 percent (±0.2%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the fourth quarter of 2007 accounted for 3.5 percent of total sales.
 

On a not adjusted basis, the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2007 totaled $41.8 billion, an increase of 29.5 percent (±1.8%) from the third quarter of 2007. The fourth quarter 2007 e-commerce estimate increased 18.2 percent (±2.1%) from the fourth quarter of 2006 while total retail sales increased 5.0 percent (±0.2%) in the same period.

E-commerce sales in the fourth quarter of 2007 accounted for 3.9 percent of total sales. Total e-commerce sales for 2007 were estimated at $136.4 billion, an increase of 19.0 percent (±2.8%) from 2006. Total retail sales in 2007 increased 4.0 percent (±0.3%) from 2006. E-commerce sales in 2007 accounted for 3.4 percent of total sales. E-commerce sales in 2006 accounted for 2.9 percent of total sales.
 

Surprised? When you see the impressive almost exponential growth of eCommerce sales across the board how do you fare?

Last modified: Friday, May 30, 2008

The Economy and European E-Commerce

JUNE 9, 2008

Karin von Abrams, Senior Analyst

The economic downturn is starting to slow e-commerce growth in continental Europe, but much less so than in the US and the UK. In France, for example, online buying revenues during the post-Christmas sale period were high. In the first five days of these sales, French trade group FEVAD noted a 25% rise in revenues from nine leading online retailers in 2008, compared with the same period in 2007.

The group predicts that B2C e-commerce will grow 30% this year. That is down from 35% in 2007, but still quite healthy.

French consumers have a generally high opinion of online buying. More than 85% of French respondents to a Benchmark/Brandalley survey said online retailers offered better prices and reductions than offline stores. More than one-half also said online shopping helped them avoid crowds.

A survey by DirectPanel in May 2008 found that over one-half of 12,000 French shoppers polled had bought books, CDs, DVDs or software online. A similar number had bought train or plane tickets online. One-half had also bought clothing and shoes or other leather goods—traditionally a tough sell online. All these purchases indicate a major commitment to online shopping.

In France, another significant trend is the growing revenue for sales of luxury goods online. Responses to an online questionnaire circulated by Benchmark in 2007 indicated that 80% of French female Internet users had already bought clothes, shoes or accessories in the "luxury" bracket. This may not affect many buyers, but it is an excellent index of the confidence both sellers and buyers have in the market that the Internet is taking increasing amounts of sales in this category.

Germany is now a healthy market too, thanks to its large population as well as the efficiencies of major online retailers.

eMarketer estimates that more than three-quarters of German Internet users are already buying online, and this percentage should continue to rise. Nielsen thinks the number is already higher, at 97%.

Major retailers are leading the charge. For example, Amazon does extremely well throughout Europe.

Another reason e-commerce is expected to remain strong in Europe despite economic woes is that online buying has reached critical mass and is being adopted by very large numbers of Europeans in a variety of categories. The very strong underlying growth in this phase of the expansion cycle should help e-commerce do well, even though some offline stores will struggle.

This is more true in France, Germany and Scandinavia than in Italy and Spain, where infrastructure weaknesses and cultural habits have generally discouraged e-commerce on a large scale.

There is also every reason for online comparison shopping to flourish in Europe. The desire to compare prices when budgets are tight plays directly into the strengths of these offerings, although comparison sites that are well-organized and user-friendly, with good security, will benefit more than those that are not.