MULTICHANNELNEWS 09


CYBER MONDAY PROVIDES ONLINE BOON D


ubbed, ‘Mega’ or ‘Cyber Monday,’ the busiest online shopping day before


Christmas, has seen online shopping sales and mobile traffic rise. Initial statistical analysis from the


day, which has proved busiest for e-retailers in previous years, found eBay UK experienced a 21.89% increase in sales compared to 2011 figures, while Amazon UK saw a 14.33% increase. E-commerce provider ChannelAdvisor calculated the e-retail giants’ same-store sales based on the gross merchandise value (GMV) processed by its software platform customers. This supports the latest IMRG


Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index prediction that UK e-commerce sales would hit £4.6bn over the two weeks commencing 3 and 10 December – 15% up on the same period last year (Online shopping on track for


record Christmas, 16 November 2012, RetailTechnology.co.uk). But the unprecedented spike in


mobile traffic and sales emerged as the most notable trend from the day. IBM analysis during 3 December found that sales and traffic from mobile devices continued to increase significantly year-on-year. The influence of the iPad continues


to have a dramatic impact, with the Apple tablet accounting for 10.6% of all online shopping, which amounted to more traffic than any other mobile device, and an increase of 194.4% over 2011 on the same day. Overall the number of consumers using a mobile device to make a purchase increased to 14.2%, up from 9.7% in 2011 on the same day. However, IBM also found – from


its analysis of raw e-commerce transactional data of 150 UK retailers running its cloud-based web


NEW LOOK CONCEPT STORE GOES DIGITAL


New Look has introduced a number of digital interactive technologies with the launch of its revamped Marble Arch store in London. The flagship concept store aims to offer


customers a more premium and boutique experience, blending the fashion retailer’s off and online presence. Building on the success of a pilot in its Westfield


Stratford store last summer, New Look has installed the UK High Street’s first Bodymetrics scanner as a permanent fixture in its Marble Arch site. Housed in a specialised denim area with specially


trained denim experts, customers will be invited to step inside the Bodymetrics pod for their scanning experience. Detecting figures, not dress sizes, the scanners determine the customer’s body shape. And New Look denim staff are on hand to advise the best-suited styles according to the scanner results. Newlook.com has become a definite focus, with


a whole area dedicated to merchandise exclusive to the website for customers to engage with. It also includes point-of-sale (PoS) tablets designed to help customers track down product they have viewed and purchase it online. Mannequins with iPad faces also feature to engage and surprise customers, dressed solely in product exclusive to the website to further increase the online presence instore. In addition a new makeup range endorsed


by Kelly Brook uses mobile augmented reality technology from Blippar. After downloading the free Blippar app customers can scan the relevant PoS or window display to access related rich media content, such as the chance to have their photo taken with the celebrity. Kirsty MacDiarmid, concept manager for New


Look, said: “We’re delighted with the results of the new Marble Arch store. The technology innovation and design elements are fantastic.”


analytics platform – shoppers were spending less, with online average order value down by £5 this year to £100.16 per transaction. The MetaPack eTracker, made up from online delivery data of over 300 retailers, including 70 of the UK’s largest 100 retailers, saw a record 51% increase in orders on the first Monday in December this year, with sports and leisure categories contributing the most to this jump, with an 81% increase. Patrick Wall,MetaPack chief


executive and founder, also suggested online Christmas shopping is gradually moving closer and closer to Christmas week itself. He said: “Some of our retailers have reported as much as a 300% increase in sales during this period and clearly everything has to be automated and working right first time, so we can all keep the customer happy.”


u Marks and Spencer (M&S) has appointed specialist digital customer engagement agency Underwired to work with its eCRM team. The work will cover strategic briefs as well as creative optimisation. Felix Velarde, Underwired managing director, said the agency would work


alongside the M&S team “creating headroom and adding bottom-line value”.


u Bravissimo boosted online pay-per-click (PPC) driven sales revenues for its swimwear range nearly 600% in March, April and May this year, by predicting weather


conditions to better target online shoppers. The specialist lingerie and clothing retailer used weatherFIT software, which is designed to enable PPC


campaigns to be tailored in real time to local weather data.


NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 RETAIL TECHNOLOGY


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