Report on 2011 e-Commerce Results for 2011
Those of us in the e-Commerce fulfillment business are starting to recover from our Holiday hangover. I know at TAGG it was an extremely busy December as we fulfilled orders for our direct-to-consumer internet clients, as well as provided catalog fulfillment services. We are starting to get reports on sales for the Holiday season and the numbers back up that hangover feeling. Overall, Holiday e-commerce sales were up 16.8% over 2010. While this number is impressive in itself, it also represents a grown rate of over 5 times retail sales. That means that consumers continue to embrace the internet as an alternative sales channel to traditional retail. Research indicates that not only were more consumers using the internet to purchase items, the number of buyers were up nearly 6%, but also those buyers increased their purchases by over 12% compared to last year. In addition, Cyber Monday represented the single largest online buying day of the year with sales toping $1.25 billion, up 18% from last year.
Most analysts note the pace of increase seems to be maturing compared to recent years and on-line retailers are working harder to continue driving consumers to the internet. 2011 saw more promotion days, free shipping days and the use of social networks and daily deal sites to drive volume.
TAGG continues to see a steady increase in its e-commerce fulfillment business. Like the industry, we had the largest Holiday Season in our history and that momentum has carried over into 2012. We work hard with our on-line clients to ensure that their promotions and shipping deadlines are met and understand that a successful 2011 builds the base for an even better 2012!
