PESA Professional eBay and eCommerce Sellers Association InternetConference - Gold Coast June 2012 

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Some notes and statistics over the last few months on eCommerce and Online Retailing in Australia

How time flies. I recently noticed that its over three months since my last update, so here one is. Once again my thoughts, learnings and experiences over the last few months.

I have formed an opinion that the Online Retailing landscape continues to evolve rapidly (duh who doesn’t) and changers every three months.  Factors that appear to affect this are:

A natural increase in online shoppers

The rapid evolution of cloud solutions and drop in costs and barriers to entry in entering the online space are dropping (Shopify, Big Commerce, Volusion, Neto, Epages come to mind amongst others).

More sellers are creating online offerings therefore more competition than ever from local and international online retailers. International competition continues to increase as more retailers abroad vie for Australian dollars from local consumers. The uncertain economic landscape in Australia (and the world for that matter), and more so called experts and "eCommerce consultants" and full service agencies are popping up like wild mushrooms. There is a 12% increase in online spending according to Forrester (not sure if this is Australian or International).                                                                                         

more.....

Australian consumer ecommerce market lagging - Marketing Magazine

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Frost & Sullivan have identified the Australian consumer ecommerce market as being undeveloped and lagging both the US and UK markets by approximately three years.The market is expected to reach $12 billion for the 2010 calendar year. This figure excludes online services such as online ticketing and events, travel, music downloads and financial services. It equates to per capita expenditure of approximately $536 per year, which is slightly behind the US and UK markets.

Australian consumer ecommerce market lagging - Marketing Magazine

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Welcome | HopShopGo | PayPal

Welcome | HopShopGo | PayPal

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How do e-commerce websites work on the iPad?

Should etailers think about designing apps or special versions of their websites for the iPad, or will the existing websites do the job? Whether these sites need to adapt for the iPad or produce apps is debatable at the moment, since the number of users of the device is still small, but it may be something they will have to think about in future.

How do e-commerce websites work on the iPad? | Econsultancy

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Digital Ministry - 10 tips on getting an effective e-commerce website in 2010

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Digital Ministry - 10 tips on getting an effective e-commerce website in 2010

A nice article with some tips about going online. I would add that anyone looking to start selling online should talk to a lot of people before getting involved as  there is a lot to know about selling online, and the technology is just the enabler, it counts for a very small component of the success of the site.

 Other elements such as content management, images, search optimisation, marketing, hosting etcplay a vital role in a sites success.

Online retailing is not for the faint hearted.

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Revealed: Why our SMEs are laggards in adopting eCommerce - Business news, business advice and information for Australian SMEs | SmartCompany

Craig Reardon from the e Eteam writes on Smartcompany.com.au in response to the Sensis eBusiness repot recently published

• Only 54% of small business (1-20 staff) have a website at all
• 28% of small business do not intend to have a website
• Around 10% of Oz retailers sell online
• 96% have broadband connection
  

Download the Sensis report here:

Craig Cites technophobia as one of the main reasons business has not adopted the web. It's an interesting take on the topic and in my opinion partly true.

I guess the core thing about the web, no matter what business you are in really leads to the question of search. You may be a barber or an auto mechanic who feels that there is no place for your business on the web. WRONG. With increased usage of the internet for quick lookup of information, and the web going mobile as more Smartphones go into use, search is becoming more important for users in our ever hectic lives. So if the barber or motor mechanic does not have at least a well indexed page with contact details, what they do etc, they are out of the loop for a customer seeking their service, yet as with anything there will always be sceptics.

Read Craig's article here:

Revealed: Why our SMEs are laggards in adopting eCommerce - Business news, business advice and information for Australian SMEs | SmartCompany

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It looks like the Toys R Us Site is now online

After what appears to be a brief launch hiccup on Thursday (don't we all have these when launching a site for the first time), the new Toys R Us ecommerce site was up and working  tonight and I had the opportunity to test some of its features. Visit our article here for more commentary on the site.

Best of luck to the team at Toys R US and Citrus, I'm always excited when a national brand dips their toes into the online retailing space.