Gli e-shop dalle uova d'oro

[okprezzi]

"Tra i settori legati alla net economy, il commercio elettronico è quello che continua a tirare di più, almeno negli USA.

I dati di Internet Retailer (http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=15099) indicano una crescita continua delle vendite di prodotti online, con un americano su tre ad aver fatto almeno un acquisto nel 2004.

Un mercato da 87 miliardi di dollari. I primi 400 siti hanno generato vendite per 51 miliardi, il 56% del totale. Altro segno di vitalità è dato dall'aumento della spesa media da 92 $ del 2003 a 107 $ del 2004.

Guida la classifica del negozi a maggior fatturato Amazon con vendite per 6,9 miliardi di $ e 44 milioni di clienti ad aver fatto almeno un ordine. Il club del miliardo di $ comprende altre 8 aziende, tra le quali Dell, HP e Sony".

Fonte i-Dome (http://www.i-dome.com/flash-news/pagina.phtml?explode_tree=58&_id_articolo=9071)

[BarbaraBonaventura]

Dall'articolo originale qualche spunto interessante:

The $1 billion club

The Guide’s top 100 includes 40 chains, 28 catalog/call center companies, 24 web-only merchants and eight consumer goods manufacturers. Amazon continues as the Internet’s largest retailer with 2004 sales of $6.9 billion, up 31% from $5.2 billion in 2003. Amazon has more than 44 million active customers and offers more than 10 million SKUs.

But Amazon, which on its own accounts for about 8% of all U.S. Internet sales, is joined in the $1 billion club by eight others, including No. 2 Dell Inc. (2004 web sales of $3.2 billion); No. 3 Office Depot Inc. (2004 web sales of $3.1 billion); No. 4 Staples Inc. (2004 web sales of $3 billion) No. 5 HPDirect Inc., a unit of Hewlett-Packard Co. (2004 estimated web sales of $2.7 billion); No. 6 Sears, Roebuck and Co. (2004 estimated web sales of $1.7 billion); No. 7 SonyStyle.com, a unit of Sony Corp. (2004 estimated web sales of $1.6 billion); No. 8 CDW Corp. (2004 web sales of $1.5 billion); and No. 9 Newegg.com (2004 web sales of $1 billion).

The guide’s top 10 merchants reflect the fact that office supplies, consumer electronics and personal computer equipment retailing and direct marketing companies were among the first—and most aggressive—groups of merchants to begin selling online and introduced merchandising tactics that are now standard operating procedure for most web retailers. Dell, for instance, dominates the selling of personal computers online because of its innovative and pioneering strategy of giving customers the option of designing and personalizing their own PCs.
[...]

Learning from offline

As a category, many chain retailers came later to the web and business-to-consumer e-commerce than their direct marketing and Internet-only competitors. While there were exceptions such as Macy’s, a unit of Federated Department Stores Inc., that began selling online in 1998, many chains didn’t understand the Internet as a new merchandising tool and feared the web would hurt existing sales channels. As a result, many chains early on launched limited e-commerce sites with only a few product categories or formed separate Internet divisions and stand-alone units. But times change and now chain retailers are using their considerable merchandising, supply chain, technology and marketing resources to make the web a key component of their respective multi-channel retailing strategies.

[...]

Across all retailers ranked in the Top 400 Guide, using the web to drive multi-channel sales or using stores and catalogs to emphasize the speed and convenience of shopping online remained a top priority. For instance, many traditional catalog and direct marketing companies are now posting interactive editions of their catalogs and updating their web sites with catalog quick order boxes or enhanced search tools that enable catalog shoppers to quickly and easily find products. Catalogers also are using the web to test new products, text and images before printing their next editions. Innovations such as these are helping many catalogers achieve higher web sales and make the Internet their biggest merchandising channel.

[BarbaraBonaventura]

Manufacturing online success

Online shoppers frequently visit manufacturers’ web sites to research product information and view content on the latest styles, features and colors. As statistics compiled about consumer brand manufacturers in The Top 400 Guide clearly indicate, more manufacturers are commerce-enabling their web sites and selling direct to the public. In 2004, customers spent almost $10 billion purchasing direct online from the manufacturer. That compares to category sales of $8.1 billion a year earlier, an increase of 23%.

Many of the nation’s biggest and most well-known consumer brand manufacturers, including No. 2 Dell, No. 7 Sony Electronics, No. 17 Apple Computer Inc., No. 110 Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., No. 193 Liz Claiborne Inc., No. 205 Patagonia Inc., No. 215 Fossil Inc., No. 218 RealNetworks Inc, No. 220 Tupperware Corp., No. 228 A/X Armani Exchange, No. 237 The Nautilus Group Inc., No. 240 Hershey Foods Corp., No. 241 Sara Lee Branded Apparel and others are ranked and profiled in The Top 400 Guide. In practically every instance, the e-commerce functionality, product displays and site search tools are as up-to-date and sophisticated as any competing chain retailer’s or direct marketer’s site.

The result of paying more attention to web retailing is helping consumer brand manufacturers complete more sales. For instance, The Pfaltzgraff Co., No. 285 in the Top 400 Guide, had web sales of $10.5 million in 2004, up 25% from $8.4 million in 2003. One reason for the growth in sales is the addition of a line of personalized dinnerware and a new web site, pfz.com, dedicated to promoting—and selling—the new product line.

Manufacturers are extremely brand-conscious and, in addition to selling direct to the public, also encourage multi-channel retailing by including links to their distributors and store locater buttons on their web sites. For instance shoe manufacturer Steve Madden Ltd., No. 374 with 2004 e-commerce sales of $5.2 million, features a series of pages on SteveMadden.com that enables customers to find a store in their state. Two search boxes also help customers search by store or by ZIP code.

Consumer brand manufacturers represented about 19% of all U.S. business-to-consumer e-commerce sales in 2004, compared to around 20% in 2003, according to The Top 400 Guide. It’s also clear that consumer brand manufacturers, like their chain retailer, catalog/call center and virtual (web-only) counterparts, are on an upward sales path. With U.S. Internet retailing sales historically growing at an average 20% to 25% annually, the industry is on track to achieve total sales of at least $106 billion in 2005.