Online retailers are set for another record Christmas, according to a newly released forecast from Verdict Research.
Verdict expects the value of goods bought online in the fourth quarter to rise by 35% to reach £3.4 billion or 4.5% of all Christmas spending.
It says that high street retailers recognise that a growing number of shoppers prefer to make purchases online and risk losing sales to online competitors if they do not have a compelling web offer and many have enhanced their online offer to capitalise on the festive season.
It also points out that Debenhams has invested in a site redesign and new infrastructure in a bid to catch up with rival John Lewis, whose annual online sales now exceed £100 million.
Meanwhile, Waterstone’s has parted company with long term partner Amazon to set up its own transactional website and will be much more proactive at driving sales.
Other retailers Verdict points out as improving their online offerings ahead of Christmas include Tesco, with its new Tesco Direct non-food range, Arcadia which has now launched transactional sites for all of its fascias and Woolworths, which is attempting to reposition itself as a multichannel alternative to Argos.
Meanwhile, the latest forecast from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) forecast that the UK economy is set to grow at or just above 2.5% per annum both this year and next (see UK Economy Set To Grow At 2.5%).
EMarketer has also issued a forecast for the holiday season, saying that web merchants will ring up sales of $24.3 billion in the US, an increase of 22.1% more than last year.
EMarketer’s Q4 2006 retail e-commerce sales forecast is $33.2 billion, accounting for nearly 31% of all 2006 online retail sales.
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