go-Digital Blog on Digital Marketing

US E-Commerce Benchmarks, by Device, in Q2 2014

source: http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/us-e-commerce-benchmarks-by-device-in-q2-2014-46549/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink

Tags: E-Commerce

Packaged-Goods Marketers Wade Warily Into E-commerce | Digital – Advertising Age

source: http://adage.com/article/digital/packaged-goods-marketers-wade-warily-e-commerce/294937/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1411431322

Online sales of food and beverages will account for only 2.3% of the $304 billion that will be spent on e-commerce retail in 2014, according to projections from eMarketer. Add in health and personal-care brands and consumer-packaged goods will account for only 8% of the online market. Put another way, online buying comprised only 1% of the $666 billion in consumer-packaged-goods sales in 2013, according to a recent report prepared for the Grocery Manufacturers Association by The Boston Consulting Group, Google and IRI.

Why have big brands been so slow to implement e-commerce strategies? There are major questions about marketers’ ability — and will — to overcome the executional challenges of online grocery selling, which requires vastly different marketing strategies than operating in physical stores. No longer is it about promotional spending and free-standing inserts; the e-marketer operates in a world where search is the new shelf space and the online retailer controls the consumer relationship.

If the industry can adapt, the potential is huge. The GMA report stated that e-commerce could grow to 5% of CPG sales by 2018, or more than $35 billion in sales, and accelerate to 10% “soon ther! eafter.” What’s more, the report stated that this 5% share would account for nearly one-half of the total CPG growth in the next five years, which underscores the slowing growth of traditional retailing.

Companies that fail to implement digital strategies “risk stagnation, loss of share and even shrinking sales,” the report stated, while early movers “have the opportunity to establish positions that will be difficult to dislodge.”

But changing big food’s mindset is a tall order, said a former food-company executive who also has experience working for a retailer. “National media dollars have to start shifting, so that the call to action for the customer isn’t ‘Hey, come to our website,’ it’s ‘Buy this at Amazon,'” this person said. But “it’s just so hard to jump into the future when so much of your cash comes from the past.”

Tags: E-Commerce

‘Generation Z’ Is Poised To Drive A Surge In E-Commerce Growth

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/generation-z-e-commerce-shopping-2014-9

It’s important for retailers to know who their potential customers are online — and what they’re interested in — to market to them effectively. 

BI Intelligence finds that there are surprising and important differences in behavior depending on gender, age (especially for Generation Z), income, and education. Generation Z, those aged 18 to 24, spends almost one in ten of their dollars online.

And they are spending a much higher proportion of their income online compared to other generations. 

Access The Full Report, Charts, And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here are some of the most important stats about who shops online, and how:

• Age: Despite having relatively low incomes, millennials, those consumers aged 18 to 34, remain the key age demographic for online commerce, are spending more money online in a given year than any other age group. They spend around $2,000 annually on e-commerce. 
• Age: Despite having ultra-low incomes, Generation Z, those aged 18 to 24, spends the highest share of their income online: 9%. As they age and make more money, that will drive big gains in e-commerce growth. (See chart, above.)
• Age: Boomers and seniors are not only shopping offline. They are pretty mobile-savvy. They have adopted mobile commerce. One in four mobile shoppers in the U.S. is over the age of 55. That’s about even with their share of the overall U.S. population. 
• Gender: The conventional wisdom is that women drive shopping trends, since they control up to 80% of household spending. However, when it comes to e-commerce, men drive nearly as much spending online in the U.S. as women.
• Gender: Men are more likely to make purchases on mobile devices.  22% of men made a purchase on their smartphones last year, compared to 18% of women. 
• Gender: Many men want to buy everything online: 40% of men aged 18-34 say they would ideally “buy everything online,” compared to only 33% of women in the same age group.
• Income: Online shoppers tend to live in households with higher-than-typical incomes. An Experian survey found that 55% of e-commerce shoppers in the U.S. live in households with incomes above $75,000. 

Access The Full Report by Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

In full, the report:

• Explains why men are so much more important for e-commerce retail, compared to in-store, and why they are more likely to buy on smartphones than women. 
• Indexes e-commerce spending by age group against the amount of time a given demographic spends online.
• Breaks down online spending habits of teens, including the brands and products they shop for. 
• Examines the factors behind what drives online purchases among millennials.
• Identifies Gen X, boomer, and older consumers’ online spending tendencies.
• Looks at how education and income influence e-commerce spending.

For full access to all BI Intelligence’s reports, charts, and newsletters covering the e-commerce industry, sign up and get started. 

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Tags: E-Commerce

How E-Commerce Is Finally Disrupting The $600 Billion-A-Year Grocery Industry

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/e-commerce-disrupting-600-billion-grocery-industry-2014-8

At $600 billion a year in sales, food and beverage is by far the largest retail category in the U.S. by a wide margin. However, it’s also the category that has been the least disrupted by e-commerce; less than 1% of food and beverage sales currently occur online, according to BI Intelligence’s estimates.

But shopping habits are changing, and niche online grocery services that compete on convenience and selection are gaining traction. Meanwhile tech giants like Amazon are fronting the cost of expensive delivery infrastructure that has so far held back grocery e-commerce.

In a new in-depth report, BI Intelligence looks at why the grocery business has proved so challenging to e-commerce companies — from consumer reluctance to complicated and expensive logistics — and what new strategies e-commerce startups and big-name tech companies are pursuing to push more grocery sales online. Between 2013 and 2018, online grocery sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.1%, reaching nearly $18 billion by the end of the forecast period. For comparison, offline grocery sales will rise by 3.1% annually during the same period.

Here are some of the key findings explored in the report:

• There are a number of disadvantages to buying groceries online on both the consumer and business side, such as the cost and complexity of logistics, shipping fees, and the quality and freshness of orders. For online grocers to deliver the freshness consumers want, they have to be able to deliver orders fast while maintaining the quality of easily damaged foods like produce.
• But there are still some advantages to online grocery shopping, in particular convenience and a large selection of products. Only 15% of U.S. adults have purchased general food items online, but 25% said they have bought specialty food and beverages online, which are hard to find elsewhere.
• New startups that focus on concierge shopping and subscription prepared meals are innovating on the online grocery model and offering services that really are differentiated from traditional supermarket shopping. We believe these services could change the way people shop for food. In addition, established online grocers have an opportunity in enterprise grocery sales, which lowers costs through bulk purchases.
• Some of the biggest names in tech — Amazon, eBay, and Google — are beginning to offer and promote same-day delivery services. As consumers get used to the convenience of ordering something online and receiving it the same day, grocery e-commerce may benefit too, with people more likely to buy food they know they will get quickly. While same-day delivery comes with a big price tag, 25% of millennials said they would pay a premium for same-day delivery.

Tags: E-Commerce