U.S. retailers are learning an important lesson this holiday season.
And it has nothing to do with the prices they set for Barbie dolls, video games or HDTVs.
The lesson being learned is that the successes of future Black Fridays won't be solely keyed to "door-busting discounts," or luring shoppers to stores at 3 a.m. In fact, as this year's Cyber Monday proved, U.S. consumers like to shop online. And that means that the merchants with the most enticing deals and most convenient Web sites will win the race for the dollars that U.S. shoppers drop on their online purchases.
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We Want to Hear From You: Is Appealing to Online Shoppers the Key to U.S. Retailers' Survival?
Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Moving Business Online as Foot Traffic Declines
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.
Overall sales this August were up only slightly from last year, failing to give stores the boost they needed after a sluggish summer.
A report from MasterCard's SpendingPulse released yesterday (Wednesday) showed that consumers gave a slight bump to children's clothing and consumer electronics with their back-to-school shopping, but pulled back in other areas of merchandise which cut into sales gains.
But among uneven retail numbers this year exists a bright spot that has been growing for years, and is leading companies to overhaul their traditional business models: the online retail market.
Overall sales this August were up only slightly from last year, failing to give stores the boost they needed after a sluggish summer.
A report from MasterCard's SpendingPulse released yesterday (Wednesday) showed that consumers gave a slight bump to children's clothing and consumer electronics with their back-to-school shopping, but pulled back in other areas of merchandise which cut into sales gains.
But among uneven retail numbers this year exists a bright spot that has been growing for years, and is leading companies to overhaul their traditional business models: the online retail market.
Online Retail Sales Shake Off Weak U.S. Economy and Continue to Grow
By Jennifer YousfiManaging Editor Online retail sales continue to defy the economic downturn while their brick-and-mortar counterparts struggle. But while online sales continue to grow, the rate of growth is slowing. Web-based selling is still a relatively new way of retailing and has yet to be tested by a true economic contraction. So while theories […]
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