In its recent report on "European Convenience Stores Market Report [2006-2008]", RNCOS has included North America and Europe as the regions displaying highest incidence of Internet shopping, with UK, Austria, and Germany being the topper in the list. The three countries had 95% Internet users making online purchases, as of 2005.
It’s a period of revolution for the retail industry. With an increasing number of tech savvy consumers going for online shopping, Internet sales are on the rise and mortar and bricks businesses are also following specialist e-retailers online.
IMRG, industry body that promotes global e-retailing, had published its research in the 1st week of May ’07. The research revealed that UK shoppers would spend £42 Billion in online shopping this year – an amount equivalent to the turnover of supermarket giant "Tesco". Approximately 860 Million parcels would be shipped to some 26 Million online shoppers in UK and each of the online shoppers would spend £1,600 on an average, added the research.
Several retail giants are seeing Internet as a great opportunity to further expand their horizon. Tesco said that its online sales had hit £1.2 Billion in 2006, whereas John Lewis, Debenhams, Comet, and Next had witnessed shooting up online sales.
According to James Roper, Chief executive with IMRG, "It is a bigger marketplace and consumers can find precisely the product they want rather than just what is available in the shops." "You can get products from anywhere in the world. The traditional retail model is not geared up for that," he added. THE INDEPENDENT published Roper’s statement on May 1, 2007.
RNCOS report on "European Convenience Stores Market Report [2006-2008]" notifies, "Currently, Internet shopping is emerging as a threat to C-Store retailers who’re targeting cash-rich time-poor shoppers. Since, Internet lets them shop from the convenience of their homes and thus they don’t even need to visit the C-Stores. However, going forward it may emerge as a big opportunity for overall C-Store industry."
The report attempts to answer key questions such as what are the technologies that can help convenience store markets to improve their operations, how these technologies are increasing operational efficiency in this industry, and so on.
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