Digital Marketing Webinar Insights: State of the Online Retail Economy

When we at ASQ come across a webinar that provides innovative tools that can be integrated into digital marketing strategies, we’ll share our industry research legwork with you. We recently viewed “State of the US Online Retail Economy Q3 2011″ and pulled the following key retail marketing takeaways from the webinar:

1. E-commerce sales continue to rise

2. Holiday shopping is changing

3. Smartphone adoption is increasing

Takeaway #1: E-commerce sales continue to rise

Year over year, e-commerce sales are up by double digits for four straight quarters. This growth is nearly double that of total retail sales and means that soon, one in every ten discretionary dollars will be spent online. The channel shift to online appears to have accelerated in 2011.

Takeaway #2: Holiday shopping is changing

By early November, four in ten consumers had already started shopping for the holidays. Consumers are increasingly shifting holiday spending to digital channels to save money. Additionally, the overall holiday spending outlook appears to be more positive than previous years; comScore’s preliminary forecast predicts 15-17% growth. Key issues for this year’s holiday shopping season include iPad vs. Kindle Fire battle, mobile shopping, digital content downloads and free shipping.

Takeaway #3: Smartphone adoption is increasing

Smartphone adoption continues to grow; 3.1 million new phones were activated in September 2011. Overall, 87 million people now use a smartphone.

If you decide to check out the webinar, let us know what digital marketing tips you found insightful.