Online sales expected to rise
A new survey by the Forrester Research for Shop.org found that online sales would continue to climb this year, despite current economic problems.
The State of Retailing Online 2008 found that retailers were find that traditional acquisition programs such as search engine or affiliate marketing could serve as ways to keep customers as well as a way to make new customers.
Online retailers said that search engine marketing continues to be the most effective way to reach new customers, with respondents saying that 35 per cent of sales came from this method. Almost all retailers (90 per cent) said they used pay-for-performance search placement.
Sucharita Mulpuru, principal analyst and lead author of the report for Forrester Research said: "What’s spearheading online retail sales growth is a tale of two shoppers that visit the web for very different reasons."
Casual shoppers discern between price she said, while more affluent shoppers "are not necessarily looking for the best deal".
