For those ecommerce business managers looking for an ecommerce sales benchmark for 2006, expect to see online sales grow 20%. So says Shop.org’s annual State of Retailing Online study conducted by Forrester Research. Pet supplies and cosmetics are expected to lead ecommerce sales growth in 2006.
Shop.org Executive Director Scott Silverman notes that online sale growth of 30% per year is probably not sustainable and that he expects growth of near 20% per year for the next several years.
The study also found that gift cards and loyalty programs have helped increase sales.
Online sales in 2005 grew at a rate of 25%, so clearly this year’s growth is expected to be less than last year’s. If you’re an online retailer, you can combat this by looking closely at your conversion rate and brainstorming tests to improve it. By improving your conversion rate, you’ll make more money from the traffic you already have. You can also attempt to get more traffic to your site by increasing your ad spend, examining the effectiveness of your paid search advertising, and better optimizing your site for search engines. Of course, if you need assistance with any of this, please contact me.
