ChoiceStream

Matthew Katz of Alix Partners - who heads up the consumer insights division for the analyst firm - was interviewed by MarketWatch on the changing buying habits of the American consumer during these economically challenging times. According to Katz, the recession has led to a fundamental change in consumers’ shopping behavior. For the first time in at least 10 years, consumers are choosing products and price/value over service, experience and time-spent making a purchase in their buying decisions which is increasingly the case as flight to value is defined by Katz as the intersection of price to product. Brand loyalty and store loyalty may be a thing of the past says Katz. Still, Katz does say that retailers with the “ability to connect with their consumers at some point” will ultimately win. To hear the interview, click the link above. Read the full article at MarketWatch

Shopping continues to shift to the Web, but the years of torrid growth are coming to an end. Forrester Research is predicting in a new report that e-commerce in America will grow another 11% this year. Just a few years ago, online shopping was growing at more than 20% per year. But today, that growth is stabilizing, as shopping habits have shifted to make buying online a more regular occurrence for many types of products. “There are still high levels of growth. But we are on a much bigger base now,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester’s e-commerce analyst. The National Retail Federation predicts 2.5% for U.S. retail overall in 2010. This year, e-commerce is expected to account ofr 7% of all U.S. shopping (excluding autos, travel and prescription drugs). With growth rates slowing for e-commerce, retailers are now focusing more of their online efforts using the Internet and mobile technology to influence sales that happen in stores. Already Forrester’s study found that 42% of all retail purchases in 2009 – worth some $917 billion – were influenced by the Web in some way. By 2014 that figure is likely to jump to 53%. Stay tuned.Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal

Consumers have gotten used to seeing sponsored links across the web, with just about every major publisher from The New York Times to Food Network serving them up. But until now, e-commerce sites have largely steered clear of the ads. They are, after all, in the business of selling products, and ads from competitors could direct traffic to the competition. Now, as the retail environment gets more competitive and new advances in targeting continue, more stores are adding text links to their sites as they look beyond the sale for ways to earn revenue from visitors. Retailers, including Target, Walmart and CSN Stores, have all partnered with Google to add the links. Google AdSense, the leader in the space, declined to reveal its retail clients, but said it’s seeing more and more retailers sign on. “The retail world is starting to realize that digital assets have an incredible value from a media perspective,” said Chris O’Neill, director-retail at Google. “This program unlocks that value. ... And certainly in tougher times all businesses are looking for additional sources of revenue.” While sending customers to rival sites is a valid concern, Forrester’s Sucharita Mulpuru said that because click-throughs are typically low and the links are usually placed in an undesirable location, they’re not likely to siphon off meaningful traffic. “If [a consumer is] on your site, on a product-detail page, there’s a reason for them to be there,” she said.Read the full article at AdAge

The increasingly consumer-centric focus of online shopping sites is now leading two-thirds of them to plan a site redesign for 2010, according to the recent “Website Design Strategies and Tactics” survey by Internet Retailer and Vovici. Among those sites that will refresh their looks, better organization and updating of home, category and product pages are top priorities, followed by better search engine optimization. In fact, one-quarter of all retailers surveyed said they will introduce personalized product recommendations. Also, many retailers are planning on adding mobile site capabilities in the next two years. The goal of the improvements is to help the consumer who demands a seamless shopping experience—and in turn to help the bottom line.Read the full article at eMarketer

According to Gartner, the worldwide market for mobile devices with touchscreens will grow over 97% this year. Last year, consumers bought 184 million devices with touchscreens. Gartner predicts the market will surpass 362 million units this year. By 2013, Gartner predicts, touchscreen mobile devices will account for 80% of all sales in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, mobile search engine Taptu says mobile shopping and services sites right now make up close to 25% of all mobile-friendly sites in the company index. One can only assume the percentage of mobile shopping and services rise dramatically as more touchscreen mobile devices get purchased in the next few years. Read the full article at NY Times

Although social media has been a hot button for retailers, it seems that 2010 is the year for social commerce to materialize. In an effort to better understand consumer perception and social media habits, ForeSee Results conducted a research study to look into social commerce. The study found that social media could be validated as a viable marketing strategy when retailers understand what consumers want. ForeSee Results used the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to examine these issues. The ACSI is able to show how different elements of a shopper’s interactions with a company (including on social media) impact their purchase intent, loyalty and recommendations.Read the full article at Retail Touch Points

According to Jack W. Plunkett, CEO of Plunkett Research, Ltd., the online retail sector is positioned to grow in 2010. Since consumers are looking for convenience and low prices, they are turning more and more to the Internet for bargains. Amazon.com’s huge 2009 sales results are a perfect indicator of this trend. Plunkett added that the continuing growth in broadband subscribers at home is another positive boost to online sales. As consumers start relying on the web more and more for basic shopping, online travel sales will start to recover.Read the full article at TMCNet.com

A recent survey published by Sterling Commerce has revealed that U.S. consumers online and offline want a better integration of channels to improve their buying decision. The mobile channel has become increasingly important for consumers in a street store, but the opinions differ significantly between age groups. 33% of consumers between age 18 and 44 would like to use their mobile phone to get more info on a product, whereas only 14% of the age group between 45 and 64 years would use their mobile for that purpose. 35% of the younger age group would use their mobile to inquire for price comparisons, while only 20% of the older age group would do this.Read the full article at Internet Retailing

Consumers must know that most supermarkets and retail stores not only have cameras to keep people from stealing merchandise, but monitor their traffic movement through aisles, too. As a reporter in the mid-2000s, I visited IBM in upstate New York and got a sneak peek at some applications and platforms the research and development team were working on. The camera tracking software gave stores the ability to determine traffic patterns, providing insight into how people shop. That’s part of the way Wal-Mart Stores, Target and others know the exact location on the shelf where Arm & Hammer baking soda or All detergent sells best.Read the full article at MediaPost.com

Many retailers have mastered the art of personalizing their own web sites to create a one-on-one shopping experience. The next step is to take personalization to social media, mobile commerce and all forms of online marketing. To do this successfully, a retailer must be able to compile data about what a consumer has viewed and bought online, and what she may have purchased in the retailer’s stores. The last thing a retailer wants to do is recommend a product to a site visitor that she has just bought in-store. Similarly, an e-mail message promoting that already purchased product will seem awfully lame.Read the full article at Internet Retailer