As we move into the start of 2009, it's worth taking a quick look back over the Christmas and New Year sales period to see beyond the pre-Xmas predictions and find out just what consumers actually did buy online this holiday season

Read on...

Play.com, Debenhams and Amazon — plus a number of smaller online retailers — have all bucked the trend to report substantial increases in sales this Christmas

Read on...

The maternity specialist has become the latest retailer to cease trading online as it teeters on the brink of administration

Read on...

Overall activity was up 59% in the week leading up to the big day, says Shopping.com, but 14% of shoppers waited until after Christmas to bag the very best deals on their gifts

Read on...

InternetRetailing.net's web editor, Sarah Clark, on the day's news...

Read on...

Five million people will shop online on Christmas Day, spending an average of £20 each, says IMRG

Read on...

Lidl has opened a non-food online operation in Germany and has international plans for it, while Aldi is launching a UK version of its discount travel site in the new year

Read on...

Foresee's annual survey finds who came top, who come bottom and just how much more likely a satisfied online customer is to buy again

Read on...

More consumers plan to make purchases during the January sales than usual — but they each plan to spend less than they did last year

Read on...

65% of consumers check into an internet retailer's reputation before making a purchase and most are now happy they get the same level of service online as they do in-store

Comments:

The Retailers New Year Resolution: Personalisation to all
Reputation is all well and good but retailers need to understand that these are built one customer interaction at a time, so a personalised service at every touch point is imperative if they are don’t want to fall foul of the tough economic conditions.

So, at the top of retailers' New Year’s resolution list should be the need to review their 2009 customer care initiatives. Our recent study concluded that the two biggest factors, likely to influence consumer spending during a credit crunch, are competitive prices (79%) and a combination of good prices AND good customer service (72%). Retailers relying on brand pedigree, product uniqueness or reputation to see them through the downturn in spending may come unstuck as these were listed as the three least influential factors.

Joe Brown, General Manager, EMEA, RightNow
jgbrown@rightnow.com

By: Joe Brown, General Manager EMEA, RightNow

Read on...

A willingness to look at new ways of structuring a deal may be key in the year ahead, as TradeDoubler and LoveFilm have been finding out...

Read on...

InternetRetailing.net's web editor, Sarah Clark, on the day's news...

Read on...

The French retail giant is making its first foray into the UK market with the launch of a British version of its highly successful non-food online discounter

Read on...

The bikes-to-car-parts retailer has just rolled out a significant site upgrade into which systems integrator Salmon has incorporated a brace of leading edge ecommerce technologies and strategies...

Read on...

Ernst & Young's annual Christmas pricing survey has found that pre-Christmas discounts are averaging 37% of the full selling price

Read on...