ChoiceStream

Retailing is emerging as a real-world incubator for testing how computer firepower and smart software can be applied to social science — in this case, how variables like household economics and human behavior affect shopping. According to experts, the rapid surge in the amount and types of digital data that retailers can now tap, and the improved computing tools to try to make sense of it are leading a data explosion that spans internal sources, as well as census data and syndicated services and tracking online visitors to Web commerce sites and customer interaction with social media sites. The result: Retailers are increasingly mining vast troves of digital information to improve the decisions they make about pricing, shelf-stocking and product offerings. “This huge and growing ecosystem of data is an asset that some retailers are really beginning to exploit for competitive advantage,” said Thomas H. Davenport, a professor of information technology and management at Babson College. “It brings more science into the business. Relying on gut feel is yesterday’s strategy in retailing.”Read the full article at The New York Times

SearchEngineLand notes companies who aren’t taking advantage of real-time behavioral targeting – customizing their websites to create a more welcoming and engaging destination – are missing the boat. “To get the greatest ROI from behavioral targeting, employ it on pages where visitors choose where to go next, such as the homepage or category pages. These can be crucial intersections for those who are not necessarily sure of what they would like to see.” Further, SearchEngineLand notes, “Onsite behavioral targeting is useful in determining [a consumer’s] source of interest and matching the experience to that interest. Once you set several distinct options, each calling for a different need or interest, the personalization engine will find the group of visitors for whom it is most suitable. Using these analytic and predictive capabilities enables you to promote various offerings on your site, engaging your visitors and encouraging them to learn more about your products and services.” Read the full article

U.S. retailers this year geared up for the annual back-to-school shopping season, the parents and children didn't fill the streets and shopping malls - they stayed inside, and online, cruising for bargains on the Internet. Overall sales this August were up only slightly from last year, failing to give stores the boost they needed after a sluggish summer. However, among all the uneven retail numbers this year exists a bright spot that has been growing for years, and is leading companies to overhaul their traditional business models: the online retail market.
Online sales in August were up for a 13th straight month, rising 7.2% from July compared to a 1.5% gain the same month in 2009, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse data. "People are just shifting their dollars to the Web," said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research. "The Web is definitely a channel where people are able to find better prices and better values." For more information, click on the link above.
Read the full article at MorningMoney

Online holiday sales in 2009 sprung back to log a 5% gain after a disappointing drop in 2008, according to figures released Wednesday by online metric compiler comScore. The market research firm said about $27 billion was spent in online shopping activity during the 2009 holiday season. The figures were influenced by a number of factors, including the deepest U.S. recession in decades, as well as heavy snow in the Northeast. More shoppers than ever used online services this year, but the amount spent per user dropped, probably as a result of the tough economic environment. Read the full article at Information Week

Despite concerns from some privacy groups and U.S. lawmakers about behavioral advertising, most large advertising networks generally comply with a set of privacy and data-handling standards adopted by the Network Advertising Initiative a year ago, the NAI said in a report released this week. The NAI’s first annual audit of its members privacy and data-handling practices found “no compliance deficiencies” in most areas of the group’s guidelines. The group’s 38 members had appropriate mechanisms in place for Web users to opt out of targeted advertising, they complied with rules for the collection and use of personal data, and they had reasonable security measures in place to protect the data, NAI’s report said.Read the full article at PC World

Yahoo! Shopping exec Greg Hintz has some advice for online retailers about how to keep potential customers from abandoning their shopping carts. Hintz suggests that retailers show any additional expenses upfront. “A lot of users put items into shopping carts not realizing there will be tax and shipping on top of the price,” Hintz said. In one example, a couple of simple fixes, including letting customers check out without a password and withholding a request to send them a newsletter until after the transaction had been made, cut abandon rates to less than 20 percent.Read the full article at Entrepreneur

48% of corporate information technology decision makers say they plan to boost their budgets over the next six months, according to the latest CDW Corp. I.T. Monitor research report -- a nine percentage point rise since October, CDW says. The December CDW I.T. Monitor is based on an online survey of 1,047 I.T. decision makers conducted between Nov. 17 and Nov. 24. “There are a number of dynamics in the marketplace that, when combined, create a greater sense of optimism—especially during a time of the year when people traditionally feel more hopeful,” says Thomas E. Richards, president and chief operating officer, CDW.Read the full article at Internet Retailer

Online shopping scored with U.S. consumers this holiday season and the bigger retailers are taking over, according to an annual holiday survey released by Foresee Results. Shoppers are giving the highest customer satisfaction scores to the largest e-retailers as these bigger retailers with lower prices and spending power are investing in improving their customers’ Web shopping experiences. The 100 largest e-retailers control more than 55 percent of online retail sales for the top 500 e-retailers, according to Internet Retailer magazine. Last year, 27 companies reached $1 billion in online sales, up from 21 the prior year. Overall, customer satisfaction with their e-commerce experience rose this year. J.C. Penney Co.’s score rose five points this year to 81 (a score of over 80 is considered “excellent”). Over the last 18 months, J.C. Penney has integrated its online and catalog marketing and buying operations with its brick-and-mortar stores. Meanwhile, several companies scored at least 10 percent higher than a year ago, including Macys .com (79), Gap.com (76) and Overstock.com (76). Why does customer satisfaction matter? A highly satisfied online shopper is 65% more likely to buy and 70% more likely to recommend the site, according to the study. Customer satisfaction scores are based on price, merchandise, functionality of the site and product content.Read the full article at The Dallas News

More holiday shopping roundups are hitting. The Washington Post is reporting that consumers spent a little more than anticipated during the holiday season with overall retail spending increasing around 3.6% year-over-year. The biggest jump in 2009 holiday retail spending happened online, where purchases rose 15.5% compared with last year. Online retail sales now account for about 10 percent of all retail sales. On a wider scale, the uptick in holiday spending came from electronics, jewelry and footwear, which combined to make up more than 16 percent of all sales, MasterCard said. However, online retail’s gain came at the expense of brick-n-mortar department stores who saw sales dip 2.3%.Read the full article at The Washington Post

Among the top-gaining online retail subcategories were toys, consumer electronics, and department stores -- each growing more than 30% versus October, according to comScore. Toys sites attracted 27.4 million Americans during the month of November, representing a 33% increase from the previous month while consumer electronics sites grew to 52.8 million visitors during the month of November. Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “With nearly 4 out of 5 Americans online visiting a retail site during November, the Internet clearly represents an increasingly important channel for retailers during the holiday season and beyond.” Online Department Stores also saw a 33% gain, reaching nearly 81 million unique visitors in November. Read the full article at MediaPost