Xmas Shopping – Online Retail

Despite the recession the latest figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) indicate that consumers haven’t been put off and online shopping has excelled over the Christmas period. In fact Retail Week indicates that the UK appears to have had two cyber Mondays which are the days with the most online transactions. The last Monday of November after shopper’s final pay cheques before Christmas and the first Monday in December.  IMRG indicates that on the 7^th of December £1.4 million was spent online at 13:43 in just one minute.

Concern of trust on ecommerce sites

The main thing to remember when shopping online at Christmas is the importance of using safe shopping websites. The BBC provides several accounts of consumers purchasing goods online for a cheaper price – both on black market goods and counterfeit, sometimes even faulty products.  One of the main problems with online shopping on less than reputable sites is that you don’t necessarily know who you’re dealing with. Tips include being wary of unrealistically low prices as the items are probably fake, researching the website to check its reputation along with looking for the padlock symbol as you proceed to payment, to avoid disappointment.

Potential disappointment with goods purchased

Another thing to bear in mind when buying online is that you don’t get to handle what you’re buying until the goods have been delivered. This can obviously result in the extra hassle of chasing emails or call centres along with posting gifts back to resolve the issue along with the race against time to ensure delivery in time for Christmas. Although most of the well known retailers will exchange or refund items without question and this can often be done in store, it is important to check the retailer’s return policy prior to purchase.

Concern over guaranteed Christmas delivery

Unsurprisingly following the recent postal strikes, consumer concern regarding goods being bought online not arriving in time for Christmas is understandable. Although Retail Week suggest that confidence has returned as all postal strikes have been postponed until 2010, consumers are still tending to be more selective about what and where they are buying.

The Guardian also reveals that more than half of all consumers apparently feel they have been misled by their postman because a ‘Sorry you were out’ card has been pushed through their letterbox while they were at home, thus resulting in a frustrating extra trip out to the post office to pick the parcel up.

Summary and Advice

To summarise, online shopping can be more convenient and price competitive, you just obviously just need to be aware of website security and shop from reputable sites only. Also don’t leave your shopping too late for items that could potentially need exchanging before Christmas. Lastly don’t forget to check out past customer reviews to aid your selection of your presents and the shopping sites you use!

With the final deadline fast approaching for guaranteed delivery before Christmas, retailers are already gearing up for online sales that are due to start early this year including online price cuts on Christmas day.  After a successful period of trading for e-commerce retailers, despite the VAT increase set for 2010, the outlook for the New Year is positive.

Happy shopping!