LBi Netrank: Red Monday.

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Red Monday.

Posted on 11th December 2007 at 8:32 am by Manley

With 17% of Britons still paying for last Christmas, yesterday saw the largest on-line spend of all time, with around £370million of the £7billion that will be spent this Christmas changing hands.

Whilst there remains a massive divide across the sexes when it comes to shopping on-line, by far the largest spending sector is professional men, with a little over 60% of sales occurring during working hours. The truth is that the on-line market is growing at an alarming rate.

Is the effect of borrowing likely to lead to a market collapse? No. This is more a shift in habits than anything else. The FT reports that while many British adults expect to spend 40 hours doing Christmas shopping they could do the same chores in just 10 hours online.

There is no marketing or search lesson in this post - Chris has already covered that - but I have recently been hearing rumours that e-retail is a fad, that consumers only buy products that they have already researched in actual stores, that only certain categories of products are bought on-line and that nobody will buy romantic gifts on-line. This isn't idle back room chatter either, this is coming from boardrooms and conference tables.

I don't know why there has been such a resurgence of doubt in e-retail, but I feel a little clarification is called for. In the words of the great Mr R Stevens:

Listen and understand.

That Internet is out there.

It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with.

It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop

Ever.

Enjoy your Christmas and the bounty it will bring, but be left under no illusions that we are in the midst of a growth trend which is not about to stop any time soon.

Sources: IMRG [PDF file - 164K], Savebuckets, FT.

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Red Monday.

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