Shopping Centers Today -> June 2002
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ISRAELIS FIND ONLINE SHOPPING SAFER
The recent plague of suicide bombings in Israel has resulted in
a surge in online shopping there. Netsol, the Web site of Israeli
supermarket chain Super-Sol, saw a more than 25 percent sales increase
over the Passover holiday, while Sakal On-line, which sells electronics
and appliances, recorded a 250 percent jump, according to
The
Jerusalem Post. Some of the increase is the result of the natural
Internet usage growth that all countries are experiencing. Further,
Passover is a traditionally busy time for shopping. Nevertheless,
officials say that many Israelis are choosing to shop from the safety
of their homes rather than venture out to stores and other public
places.
PLASTIC PASSWORDS
Visa International has introduced a new card to cut fraud
that requires users to submit a password when making a purchase
from participating retailers. The password then has to be verified
by the issuing bank before the sale can go through. Among the scores
of participating retailers are Bed Bath & Beyond, 1-800-Flowers.com,
Target and Walmart.com.
AMAZON’S NEW FRONTIER: BORDERS
Amazon.com, that icon of online retail, has decided that stores
are not such bad places to sell books after all. Now when its shoppers
order online, they can opt to collect their purchases at a local
Borders store. For each item picked up at one of their stores, Borders
gets a portion of the sale. The two signed a similar agreement last
year, albeit in reverse, through which Amazon handles Borders’
online sales and receives a percentage of each transaction. “Customers
overwhelmingly indicate a desire for the convenience of in-store
pick-up,” said Greg Josefowicz, president and CEO of Borders
Group. “We’re combining the convenience of online shopping
with the speed of in-store pick-up.”
CONSUMER WATCHDOG SNIFFING E-TAILERS
Consumers Union, the consumer group that publishes
Consumer Reports
magazine, has begun rating Internet merchants through a new division,
Consumer WebWatch (www.consumerwebwatch.org). The organization scores
shopping sites according to how up front they are about return policies,
shipping fees, delivery dates, and other issues. “Consumers
are wary,” Beau Brendler, the director of Consumer WebWatch,
told
SCT.
KOREAN E-MALL’S LATEST ATTRACTION: J.C. PENNEY
EHyundai.com, an online mall run by South Korean retailer Hyundai
Department Stores, has signed a deal with J.C. Penney to supply
merchandise for its Web site and cable television channel.
A WELCOME ACCOLADE FOR KMART
A lot of rude things have been said about bankrupt Kmart Corp. lately,
but its online shopping site, BlueLight.com, was ranked among the
top 10 e-tailers for customer service by Chicago-based consulting
firm The E-Tailing Group. The company surveyed 100 sites during
the first quarter of this year, judging them on the time they took
to send merchandise, respond to e-mail and issue credit, and on
the number of clicks needed to complete a purchase. Other retailers
that scored high included Amazon.com, Lands’ End and Nordstrom.
MUSIC SALES DROPPING, DOWNLOADING RISING
The record industry’s victory over Napster hasn’t done
much to stem the illicit downloading of music from the Internet,
according to a study by San Francisco market research firm Odyssey.
The study indicates that 31 percent of online users over age 16
(more than 40 million consumers) downloaded music over a recent
six-month period. Music sales dropped 10 percent last year, the
worst decline in the industry’s history, reports the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a recording industry trade
group. The problem is also prompting many record stores to diversify
into nonmusic merchandise, as
SCT reported last month.
