Retail or Etail?

Retail sales figures published today show the extent that traditional retail is failing to attract and retain consumers.

Retail sales in October 2008 were 2.2% lower than 12 months ago. If you couple this to a 3% rise in prices over the same period, the real fall is more than 5%. Like-for-like sales have now fallen in seven of the past eight months with every sector down on a year ago (except food and footwear).

Compare this with online sales where etailers have seen a year-on-year growth of more than 16% and, with the Christmas boom-time still to come, it looks like being another good year for those businesses that sell on-line.

A quick poll earlier today of our etail customers suggests the main reasons for the growth in etail sales at the expense of traditional retail are:
1. Consumers looking for a bargain
2. Convenience of on-line shopping over retail
3. Growth in reliability of on-line stores.

We'd also add the fact that there are no limited shopping hours, no pressure from pushy shop assistants and the comfort of your home is much nicer than braving the aweful weather we're having this year.