 | January 19, 2010 |
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UniformMarket News
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Written by Jackie Rosselli
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Monday, 18 January 2010 11:37 |
 If there was one bright spot in 2009, it was the growth of e-commerce. Even as customers everywhere cut back spending, online sales posted steady gains. A report by the Department of Commerce for the 3rd quarter 2009 showed an increase in total adjusted U.S. online retail sales of $1.6 billion from the second quarter, to $34.0 billion.
Retailers, too, fared better than originally expected this past holiday season, fueled in part by a 15.5 percent surge in online purchases.
Now, the uniform industry is poised to capitalize on that growth with the arrival of UniformMarket's Vendor Alliance Program (VAP). Launched last December, VAP is the quickest, easiest and most cost effective way to drive traffic – and increase sales to online stores.
That's great news for manufacturers and retailers, given that double-digit e-commerce growth is expected to continue, experts say. Online sales are forecasted to grow approximately 14% annually through 2012, according to a recent report by Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company. If accurate, online sales are expected to grow about $20 billion to $30 billion each year, reaching $335 billion annually in just two years.
What's driving the growth? Changing shopping preferences and time constraints, say the experts. The vast majority of consumers – 88% -- say they have bought something online in the past and plan to do so in the future. From the customer's perspective e-commerce offers convenience, variety, cost savings, and anonymity – you can shop in your pajamas and no one would notice.
From the store owner or manufacturer's perspective, e-commerce provides a way to instantly satisfy demand for products, services, and information of each customer individually. The ultimate customer-centric tool, e-commerce shifts the power from the seller to the consumer, building relationships – and sales – along the way.
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Last Updated on Monday, 01 February 2010 15:46 |
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Economy
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Monday, 18 January 2010 13:32 |
 Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to lectures by a couple of PhDs. One who spoke, Dr. Ken Dychtwald, was on PBS, and he discussed how our social dynamics are changing due to people living longer than ever before in history.
A few hundred years ago the average life expectancy was 18 years old. The traditionally accepted retirement age of 65 was determined by Otto Von Bismarck around the turn of the last century. At that time, life expectancy was only 35. No one expected many to reach the ripe old age of 65, so there would not be many benefits to pay, but thanks to modern medicine, we are living longer. Ken said that of all the human beings in history to have reached the age of 65, fully two thirds are alive today!
Our retirement planning from years ago did not encompass the idea of life expectancy to draw near 90 years as it stands today. This past Monday, I attended a lecture at the Philadelphia Speakers Series by Dr. Robert Reich, a highly intelligent and experienced tenured professor at Brandeis and former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton. Those two met at Oxford in the Rhodes Scholar program and attended Yale Law School together.
Reich has a comfortable speaking style to approach seemingly complex issues, like the economy, and put them in very understandable terms. He postulated that there are four major methods to stimulate the economy: higher consumer spending, increased business investment, increased exports, and government spending. The first three methods have been largely depleted since the big recession began. This left only government spending, according to the old Keynesian economic model, to be available to stimulate the economy. Reich argues that while the $800 Billion stimulus appropriation of last year may have seemed like a huge sum, it wasn't enough. The fact is, nobody knew what the right number was then and I am not sure if they know the right number now.
Reich asked for a show of hands of those in the audience born from 1946 (as he was) through 1964 as most of the audience was and we are known as the Baby Boomers. Well, we Boomers are now reaching the retirement age and many or most don't have the means nor the desire to retire, myself included in both categories. Social Security, Reich said, after speaking to the DC economists, is not in trouble if you assume a modest 3% growth in the economy. This is the historic US growth rate from the time of the Revolutionary War. It seems that the economists threw a scare into us by theorizing that Social Security would run out but that was based on a growth assumption of just 2.6%. They just wanted to be conservative. When running the numbers at 3% we turn out well-positioned to fund SS.
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 15:01 |
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January 19, 2010
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