Recent research in the UK on ecommerce revealed that independent retailers were the big winners during the Christmas rush.
In the 4 weeks running up to Christmas 2008, a sample of over 2000 ecommerce merchants revealed that on average, they were processing in the region of £3,000 per hour.
On 'Mega Monday' (Monday 8 December-the biggest day for online shopping) this reached as high as £5,000 per hour. The research revealed a turnover increase of 68% from December 2007. A strong rate of growth was confirmed by the ecommerce payment gateway company Protx, who recorded a 63% increase in transactions for December-proving that despite huge discounts on the high street, customers are still shopping online.
Many experts are predicting that up to 50% of shopping will be done online by 2015.
“If retailers stick to the format of a professional looking online shop combined with good customer care, the boom in independent online retail is sure to continue"
David Clarke of DBS Internet Marketing Lincolnshire commented.