Internet clicks with consumers and retailers

Traditional retailers with an online presence have to go to extra lengths, the marketing manager fore-commerce and online at Toys ’R’ Us, Beth Glancey says.

“Consumers are more demanding with how they buy online,” she says.

Toys ’R’ Us had “significant double-digit growth” in online sales in December compared with a year earlier, Glancey says, although this came off a low base.

With the new sales channel came new challenges. Orders deemed “risky in terms of delivery”, she says, were pulled from Australia Post and sent by express couriers. Customers were given online tools to track delivery. “They’re happy to use the tools that are there at their hands, so long as you give them a bit of guidance,” Glancey says.

The retailer, which relaunched its e-commerce store in September 2011 increasing the number of items available to 1100 from 300, has a “robust” return policy that allows customers to return goods bought online to any one of the 33 Toys ’R’ Us stores around the country.

Customers are also keen for the retailer to give them the ability to buy online and pick up in store. “That’s something that we’re going to be looking at in 2012,” Glancey says.

Based on total payment volume and the total number of transactions, December 2011 was “the largest online Christmas we’ve seen in Australia”, says Adrian Christie, a spokesperson for online payment provider PayPal.

Many online-only retailers are experiencing sales growth from growing customer bases. Winegrowers Direct chief executive Andrew Dal Broi says the number of transactions on the website per day in December 2011 increased to 350 from about 100 a year earlier, with an average transaction value of $125.

“We’re getting a lot of organic growth as people forward our marketing emails and talk about us on social media,” Dal Broi says.

BRW

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