Digitalreport. It's Official: High Street Down As Online Up. So now it’s official. Leaving aside the big freeze in late 2010, this was the worst Christmas for British retailers for more than a decade. If the collapse of a series of high street retailers wasn't evidence enough, now we have the verdict from the Office for National Statistics. It has found that total retail sales excluding fuel dropped by 0.3% in December. The ONS said this was the worst December performance since 1998 - save for the weather-affected drop in late 2010.
However, the picture for the high street stores was even worse than the headline figures, since a growing share of shopping is now done online. The ONS said that the proportion of internet sales has risen from just over 2% of all sales in 2006 to 10.6% of sales in December. The ONS said that normally the share of internet sales drops sharply between November and December, as consumers take to the high street for Christmas shopping. Economists had been expecting far stronger retail sales figures for last month. A Social Media Guide for Retailers. As the UK continues to teeter on the brink of a triple-dip recession, the UK’s high street retailers are operating in difficult times. In recent months, commentators have suggested that investing in social may help to save high street brands, by making the shopping experience more enjoyable, driving brand awareness and ultimately, increasing sales.
Focusing on eight UK high street retailers (Argos, Aurora Fashions, Debenhams, House of Fraser, John Lewis, Mothercare, Primark and Topshop) we at Media Measurement used qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate how they are faring in their use of Social Media and how well they are making the transition from high street to social street. Using Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s listening solution we first analysed UK Social Media buzz about the retailers (see Fig. 1). Fig 1. Fig. 2 (Table of General Scoring) When analysing and considering the different categories three common themes emerged for the most successful strategies. Fig 3. Fig 4. Reinventing the high street: shops must embrace the internet. Can social media save the high street? I took part in a debate at Imperial College’s ThinkSpace in London last week with the BBC’s Chief R&D Scientist, Brandon Butterworth, and podcaster, Neville Hobson.
We were asked whether digital media is destroying retailers or could be it’s salvation. There’s no doubt that Amazon, iTunes and eBay have taken a large chunk out of the highs street, but I prefer to look on the bright side. I think we’re on the brink of something new and fascinating in the world of shopping. Top Shop’s ‘model cams‘ – cameras attached to models to give buyers a model’s-eye view of London fashion show – and their hook-up with Google+ were just the latest in a series of smart integrations.
With 40% of consumers more likely to buy a product if a friend has recommended it via a social network, I think the opportunity is self-evident. But there’s also another revolution happening much closer to home. This isn’t about numbers. I gave a talk at Moo.com‘s pop-up shop in Shoreditch a few months’ ago. eDition - Multiplatform publishing. Branded Environments: Ten Technologies Redefining Retail. Branded Environments: Ten Technologies Redefining Retail The retail industry is undergoing a transformation of epic proportions. Two weeks ago, serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame predicted the eventual death of bricks-and-mortar retail in favor of pure play ecommerce.
Reid Hoffman responded with a more balanced view that envisions a world where innovations in software and social media bring the off-line and on-line retail worlds together in an ever more seamless integrated experience. Underlying either forecast is the acknowledgement that technology has irreversibly changed the way consumers shop. These same expectations are bleeding over to physical retail. Fortunately, the pace of innovation in retail technologies has quickened, empowering consumers like never before. And advances in mobile software and in-store display technologies are transforming certain offline retail experiences. 1. Applications 2. Applications 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Technology: The rise of interactive retailing | Analysis.
Online and upward: UK internet shopping hits record high | Business. Shoppers may be avoiding the high street but the rise in online shopping continues unabated, with spending in November up 10% on a year ago. As the latest footfall numbers showed a 2.9% drop in visits to high streets, out-of-town sites and shopping centres last month, online sales in the UK rose to a monthly record of £10.1bn. Electronic gadgets are leading the boom, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, as shoppers snapped up iPads and games consoles online.
Sales of electrical goods rose 63% in November, while sales of home and garden items rose 42%, according to the study. That strong growth is in dramatic contrast to the picture on the high street. The number of shoppers across the UK was down 2.9% on November last year, according to figures released at the weekend by the British Retail Consortium and analysts at Springboard. The rapid rise in online sales has led to some problems for retailers. UK sees rise in online Christmas shopping. 10/01/2014 - 08:04:54Back to Business Home More Britons than ever did their Christmas shopping online in December as almost one in five non-food purchases were made on the internet. Web sales growth accelerated to 19.2% compared with the same month in 2012, the fastest rate for more than three years – while overall UK retail sales grew by just 0.4% on a like-for-like basis. The data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) survey carried out by KPMG showed online trade represented 18.6% of total non-food sales in December, up from 16.5% the year before.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: “More of us clicked into Christmas than ever before, with online non-food sales growth putting in its best performance since March 2010 and accounting for nearly 20% of spending. “The surge in the use of tablets and smartphones last year, together with the ever-faster delivery times achieved by an increasing number of retailers, has provided a new spur of growth to online shopping.” UK retail sales hit five year high.