The USA is leading the world in technology and innovation. In Australia online shopping has just a 3% penetration into the retail market. In the USA its already 22% and on track to hit 50% of all retail sales in the the next 4 years. It does not matter if Australian retail business continue to ignore online shopping – it will come regardless. It matters not to an online shopper if the products come from across town or from across the world.
In his State of the nation speech to the USA delivered yesterday President Obama said:
“We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It’s how we make a living.”
I found this really informative report on leading online US news site Money Morning reports:
U.S. retailers this year geared up for the annual back-to-school shopping season, the parents and children didn’t fill the streets and shopping malls – they stayed inside, and online, cruising for bargains on the Internet.
Online sales in August were up for a 13th straight month, rising 7.2% from July compared to a 1.5% gain the same month in 2009, according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse data.
“People are just shifting their dollars to the Web,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). “The Web is definitely a channel where people are able to find better prices and better values.”
Online retail sales will grow 10% a year for the next five years, accounting for 53% of all U.S. retail sales by 2014, according to Forrester Research.
Monumental Paradigm shifts like this occur usually only once a century. They always create new winners and many losers. Those that can stay ahead of the trend and in tune with consumer win and those that won’t lose.
Here is the scary thing – it does not matter if Australian businesses embrace the online revolution, it will happen anyway. From the Money Morning report:
And as retailers become more comfortable online, they are starting to branch out to foreign Internet markets.
“The economic downturn has led retailers to take two approaches – either decide to hunker down or to say, ‘Yikes, we need to diversify our revenue by going global,’” said Forrester Research analyst Zia Daniell Wigder.
A July Internet Retailer survey reported that international shoppers account for 11% of Web site traffic for one-third of U.S. retailers. More than 60% of online retailers that don’t sell internationally are currently looking into the benefits of globalizing.
If you are in bricks and mortar retail you have only 2 choices:
Stick your head in the sand and hope the e-tailing wave washes over you and you survive.
Invest in your businesses future. Bite the bullet and move into a hybrid in store / e-tailing business model with a custom built e-commerce website design for your business. When you do here is a word of warning from experienced e-tailers in the US.
Still, companies need to do more than just offer their products on the Internet to be successful with e-retailing. They have to create enjoyable, user-friendly, and efficient shopping experiences for consumers.
That is why you should be talking to us here at A3 Rev today. We are experts in every aspect of e-commerce website design. Custom built e-commerce web design sites that get found in the search engines and then convert visitors to sales. Can you afford to wait any longer? Of course you can – give it a few years and see how it pans out. With 60% of US online business looking to go global I don’t think you are going to have to wait that long to see. 🙂
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