Bhupendra Kunwar Blog

18 Dec 2006

Online shoppers set a single-day spending record last week - and broke it two days later - while holiday season spending is so far up 25 percent from last year, according to comScore.

During the first 45 days of the holiday season (Nov. 1 - Dec 15), total online retail (non-travel) spending reached $19.5 billion, a 25-percent increase from the $15.7 billion in during the corresponding period in 2005. And on Monday, Dec. 11, consumers set a single-day record for online spending with $661 million - and two days later broke that record with $667 million spent online.

“The growth rate of online retail spending accelerated during the latter part of last week, with sales on Friday, December 15, growing 38 percent versus the corresponding day last year,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks. “This demonstrates consumers’ willingness to rely on retailers’ late-season shipping guarantees.”

The growth rate versus a year ago accelerated toward the end of the week, demonstrating that consumers are continuing to shop online later this season.

“Retailers have been aggressive this year with their online marketing efforts, targeting consumers with early-season promotions,” said Fulgoni. “And now they’re looking finish off the season strong by tempting consumers to continue shopping online later, with guarantees of on-time delivery for items purchased as late as December 18.”

News Source: http://www.marketingvox.com/

14 Dec 2006

Some 75.6 percent of B2B marketing executives say they plan to increase their online budgets next year, according to BtoB Magazine’s 2007 Marketing Priorities and Plans survey of 569 B2B marketing executives.

Moreover, 62.7 percent of B2B marketing execs plan to increase their overall marketing budgets in 2007, up slightly from the 60.7 percent who said so in 2006. BtoB’s survey also found that customer acquisition is the primary marketing goal for 2007 (62.3 percent of survey respondents), followed by brand awareness (19.5 percent) and customer retention (11.0 percent).

The largest share of online marketing budgets (31.7 percent) will go toward website development, according to BtoB’s survey. Email follows with 21.8 percent, search with 18.7 percent, and webcasts at 8.8 percent. Banner advertising will receive only 5.9 percent of B2B online marketing budgets, and sponsorships 5.5 percent.

Online video is expected to receive 2.7 percent of the online marketing budget in 2007. Blogs, RSS, product listings and lead-generation programs will together account for 4.9 percent.

Overall, some 50.2 percent of B2B marketers said they plan to increase spending on direct mail next year, and 44.1 percent said they plan to increase spending on events. Print, broadcast and outdoor advertising budgets will not be significantly upped in 2007, according to the BtoB survey.

News Source: http://www.marketingvox.com