Retail in 2011

RETAIL IN 2011 AN INDUSTRY DRIVEN BY E-COMMERCE, savings.com SOCIAL MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY FORECASTING U.S. ONLINE RETAIL SALES AND GROWTH FOLLOWING THE CLOSE OF THE 2010 HOLIDAY SEASON, RETAILERS' HOPES ARE HIGH FOR ANOTHER YEAR OF SALES GROWTH WITHIN THE INDUSTRY, AND MORE SPECIFICALLY E-COMMERCE. ONLINE RETAIL SALES ARE PREDICTED TO REPRESENT 8% OF ALL RETAIL SALES IN THE U.S. BY 2014, UP FROM 6% IN 2009. 2011 2010 2009 $171.1 $152 BILLION BILLION $134.9 BILLION 127 12.5% FORRESTER RESEARCH FORECASTS THAT APPAREL, ACCESSORIES AND FOOTWEAR WILL LEAD E-COMMERCE WITH $34.1 BILLION IN SALES THIS YEAR -- MORE THAN ANY OTHER CATEGORY. KEY POINTS FOR THE FUTURE OF RETAIL (WOw 3-8 GOING GREEN ONLINE TECHNOLOGY TIME IN-STORE SOCIAL EXPERIENCES TECHNOLOGY FACTOR MEDIA THE STORE E-COMMERCE Without quality customer service and a quick turn around for purchases, in-store shoppers will look elsewhere. As shoppers spend more time online and are fed a steady diet of deals they can cash in with just a few clicks, the portion of sales inked to e-commerce will grow in the next year. Shoppers will continue to reward businesses that "do the right thing" for the environment. Water usage is expected to become a hot consumer-facing issue in the coming year. Overall retail sales in the make-or-break fourth quarter of 2010 were up 36, but online sales increased an astonishing 13.56. Tablets and handheld devices will become more standard for sales associates. WOW MARKETING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY [IT) Consumers are bringing technology into the stores with them, altering the retail landscape and challenging IT professionals to figure out how to fuse the e-commerce, brick-and-mortar and social aspects of their business. 2011 will bring more Facebook promotions, more mobile coupons and more offers sent directly to shoppers' smartphones. "Thinking Green" is now mainstream and the more attention it gets in 2011, the more new products and services will be created to support it. No more waiting in line. IT will take advantage of "pay on the spot" by using technology such as the iPad tablet computer to manage checkouts. MOBILE & SOCIAL A GENERATION OF SHOPPERS во в 2011 will be the year of m-commerce and what some call "1-commerce" Already several retailers have created small stores on Facebook, and it won't be long before Facebook becomes a full-ledged channel in the world of retail. Millennials, ages 15 to 32, spend 7 hours per week on social media networking sites, but they are not active online shoppers compared to older generations. Consumers in 2011 will check prices, use apps like Foursquare to "check-in," research items and read reviews as they shop and download coupons to their mebile phones. Gen Xers, ages 33 to 44, are moving into their peak spending years and are the most engaged in social media shopping. They spend 5.5 hours per week online doing shopping activities, almost a fll hour more than any other generation. Mobile commerce sales more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2010. Shoppers will use mobile price comparison apps more frequently to help them compare competitor prices, something retailers will have Boomers, ages 45 to 63 and Seniors, 64 plus, are online as many hours as Gen X, but don't participate as much in social networking sites. to address this year. S. COUPONS THE ECONOMY 2011 will bring small booms in the economy, but will also bring about mini busts as consumers are predicted to alternate between SPENDING ONE DAY and SAVING THE NEXT. "Coupon use will continue to grow fueled by new technologies that will bring efficiency to online promotions." -Laren Bendele, CEO Svings.com Sales are expected to rise between 2.5 and 3.5 percent by the end of the year. Discounts are not simply found in newspapers or store checkout lines, but on mobile phone apps, email messages, and websites that find consumers the best prices on products and services. SOURCES: Mintel | The Nieben Campany | W Strategic Research | ellarketer | Bussiness News Daly| Forrester Research | Savings.com