Cyber Online Sales Increase In 2010
Online Sales Help Small and Medium Sized Businesses Succeed
One of the continuing trends this holiday season has been the increasing popularity of online retail. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics; whereas in 1998 online sales (in millions of dollars) made up $4,988 of the total $2,587,105 (0.19%), by 2007, online sales were accounting for $126,697 of the total $3,994,823 (3.17%) in sales. And this figure just keeps on rising.
Small and medium sized businesses seem to be gaining a lot of the online sales because the internet has given them the opportunity to compete with large retailers. Like a huge one-stop shopping experience, consumers can view every product in one convenient place (while sitting in their pajamas, no less).
2010 Online Sales Rising Over Last Year
According to comScore, an internet audience measurement firm, the 2010 Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving) saw an impressive 16% gain from 2009, for a total $1.03 billion in online sales.
Black Friday (still the largest overall shopping day of the year) saw online sales up 9%, to a significant $648 million for the day. The day before Thanksgiving, a typically slower sales day, saw a whopping 28% growth, to $407 million.
The rest of November saw an overall 13% rise in cyber sales, resulting in the expectation for an intensely vibrant online holiday sales season. Though the big online retailers like Amazon and Walmart pulled in the biggest share of the earnings, small and medium sized businesses have started to seriously compete for their share in the increased online sales.
Small and Medium Sized Businesses Winning Online Sales
The major online auction and sales company eBay has released its inaugural U.S. Online Business Index (OBI), which is a new report that is focused on small business owners (since so many small businesses utilize eBay for online sales) and their growing share of online sales.
Most (60%) of eBay small business owners are considerably optimistic about the 2010 holiday shopping season, largely due to the predicted increase in online holiday sales. 72% expect that their total online sales to rise significantly.
An Online Business survey in the UK of eBay sellers sees 62% projecting increased online earnings despite the continuing tough economic climate. American eBay sellers, overall, have 66% raising their target earnings because of the healthy online buying climate.
Baltimore-Washington Metro Area Online Sales Increase
Google searches for “Cyber Monday sales” saw a 30% jump over last year, and just the term “Cyber Monday” more than double. Searches of specific goods had large increases as well. For example, the popular series of dolls “American Girl” had a 70% gain, and the term “toys” had an 11% gain.
Within the month, to demonstrate the importance of the holiday season on searches and sales, the search for “best buy deals” went up 450% over the course of the month, culminating in a high on Black Friday (suggested that those people searched for online deals rather than risking the crowded stores).
What does this mean for small and medium sized retail businesses? It means that they can compete with the largest retail outlets because the internet (and search engines in particular) level the playing field.
This also explains the rise in SEO (search engine optimization) companies that assist small and medium sized retailers. WebMechanix owner Chris Mechanic says of his SEO firm, “We help the smaller businesses really compete, fundamentally, with the big guys. If you are listed ahead of Walmart in a Google search, you will get the customer, even without their 5,700 stores.”
Online Sales Beyond Holiday Shopping
It is the prediction, and hope, of many economists that the continuing rise in online sales around the world will help U.S. retailers and manufacturers. This would, in effect, help the U.S. combat their trade deficit and once again sit as an economic power that produces goods and sales.
If this trend continues, it might just be the factor which leads to the end of the economic recession.
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