Today is Cyber Monday, the biggest shopping day of the year and UK shoppers are set to spend more than £250 each online, giving etailers their best Christmas haul to date. Despite this, OpTier, a leader in business transaction management, is warning retailers not to count their Turkeys too soon.
In October the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index found that online Christmas sales are set to be 16 per cent higher in 2010 and will rise to £6.4billion. After a rollercoaster year, this news was nothing short of the Christmas miracle that retailers, fearing the VAT rise in January, had been hoping for.
Research conducted by the company found that the biggest turn off for shoppers looking to beat the crowds and shop online for their gifts were poorly performing websites. With Cyber Monday fast approaching, are IT Grinches set to ruin the festive party?
“Anyone who has ever battled down Oxford Street in December will appreciate the appeal of doing your Christmas shopping in the comfort of their own home. That this Christmas sales online sales are set to rise again shouldn’t be surprising,” said Colin Rowland, Senior VP Operations EMEA, OpTier.
“Many etailers continue to miss the point, opting to invest in a flashy, visually engaging website but completely neglect the back end. In doing so they impact their ability to scale in line with demand, give a great shopping experience and manage their supply chain. People shop online for the convenience of having everything delivered to their door – if your website crashes mid-purchase you can guarantee that your call centre will be flooded with angry customers wondering if their goods have been ordered or not.
“Websites have become online retailer’s most valuable commercial asset. Yet unless they have the correct visibility into IT performance, how can online retailers manage the customer experience? Unlike the recent rush for Take That tickets, etailers selling the latest must have toy are two a penny online and if your site doesn’t perform it takes just one click to find a competitor that can. It’s basic errors such as these that threaten to leave large pound shaped hole in etailers Christmas stockings.”
www.OpTier.com