Skills shortage may hobble online retailing
Chris Zappone January 20, 2011
High staff turnover and a poor understanding of online shopping are hampering Australia’s retailers from capitalising on the accelerating drift of consumers to the Internet, web-based retail professionals and analysts say.
Online shopping | Skills shortage dogs growth of e-commerce
Daily deals site Catch of the Day has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2006, and is now planning a massive IT revamp to keep up with demand.Vijay Bala is the chief technology officer for Catch of the Day and has worked with the company since day one. He told ZDNet Australia that the amount of traffic the site receives every day has sent him back to the drawing board to bolster back-end infrastructure so it can deal with the millions of hits.
Catch of the Day set to beef up IT - Business - News
U.S. online retail spending reached a record-breaking $43.4 billion in the fourth quarter, fueled by strong holiday spending, Comscore reports.Spending in the fourth quarter was up 11 percent over a year ago, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of positive annual growth and the second quarter of double-digit growth rates in the past year.
Holidays drive record-breaking e-commerce | Digital Media - CNET News
In more news from the world of online retail, auctioneer Grays Online has sold a 25 per cent interest in its business to finance company, Caledonia Investments. According to the Australian Financial Review, the deal is estimated to be worth around $35 million, valuing the total company at around $140 million. The company generates sales of close to $310 million.
Online auctioneer sells stake > Inside Retailing > Articles page
Online buying group, OfferMe is on the verge of finalising a round of substantial venture funding led by overseas investors. The company says the financing will allow it to provide a better user experience and add value to both buyers and sellers."A number of potential overseas investors, including US-based private equity and venture capital fund firms, Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, have approached OfferMe in the past year," said Bekim Ahmedi, marketing manager at OfferMe.
Buying group seeks investor help > Inside Retailing > Articles page
Another article repeating the famous words that have been used each year for the last 6 years or so... "Online retail will explode this year.... " Load of bunk.. it will continue to evolve at an ever increasing rate each year.
Here's the article:
Online retail spending will explode from $16.9 billion in 2009 to $33.3 billion in 2015, with digital sales now accounting for 7% of all retail spending, a new report from Forrester Research claims.The report also shows that while computer equipment is the most popular product bought online, more money is being pumped into large appliances, which have traditionally been thought of as having a limited online market.
Online sales now 7% of total retail spending, growing at over 10% a year: Report
