Online Shopping Exceeds In-Store
According to a UPS report, online orders have finally surpassed in-store purchases. The study, conducted by ComScore and e-commerce consultancy The e- Tailing Group, shows that on average, 51 percent of shoppers’ purchases, excluding groceries, were made online within a three-month period.
Driving the trend are two factors — millennials, who on average now make 54 percent of purchases online; and smartphones, which were used to buy stuff by 44 percent of device users, up 3 percent from last year.
Amazon Favored By 70% For CE Shopping
According to a report from marketing communications consultancy Walker Sands, fully 70 percent of shoppers purchased CE products from Amazon or its third-party affiliates within the past year. By comparison, 51 percent bought tech items in brick-and-mortar stores, and 17 percent ordered directly from a manufacturer’s website.
Perhaps equally disconcerting, 9 percent didn’t buy any consumer electronics at all within the past year.
The findings jibe with TWICE’s latest Top 100 CE Retailers report, which showed Amazon leapfrogging Walmart on a 28-percent growth curve to become the No. 2 tech retailer in the country, behind only Best Buy.
Back-To-School Spending Inches Up
Back-to-school (BTS) expenditures are expected to edge up this summer following an anemic 2015 selling season.
According to market research firm eMarketer, total BTS retail sales are projected to rise 2.6 percent, to $828.8 billion, compared with last year’s 1.6 percent gain — which was the weakest year of the last five, compared with a nearly 6 percent boost in 2013.
The selling period, which accounts for about 17 percent of full-year sales, is the second most critical season for retailers after the Q4 holidays. Spending on CE ranked second last year, behind apparel and ahead of shoes, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).
May Sales Slump
Year-over-year sell-through for the CE/majap channel fell 3.1 percent in May, to about $8.6 billion, and was essentially flat from April.
According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, sales at furniture and home-furnishing stores were flat from last year, and sell-through for etailers and other direct-sellers jumped 12.2 percent.Total retail sales, excluding restaurants, car dealers and auto parts stores, edged up 0.4 percent for the month.
Nationwide Snags Wynonna Judd For PrimeTime Show
Country star Wynonna Judd will kick off the Nationwide Marketing Group’s PrimeTime meeting and buy fair next month with an Aug. 14 performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
The PrimeTime show, running Aug. 14-17 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center under the theme “We Are Nationwide,” will also feature product demonstrations, cash-back opportunities, and show-special deals from leading appliance, electronics and furniture manufacturers, the group said.
Judd and her touring band, Wynonna & The Big Noise, follow a PrimeTime performance by Martina McBride when Nationwide last assembled in Nashville in 2014.
