 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Shopping Centers Today -> November 2002
 PRINT THIS STORY: |
  CHANGE TEXT SIZE: |
|
 |
HIGHER HOLIDAYS
2002 holiday season Internet purchases in the United States are set to rise against the holiday period last year, though three different surveys cite three different sets of figures. Online shoppers will spend $19.6 billion on their holiday purchases (excluding travel), a 27 percent increase, reported comScore Networks, which tracks online sales. Jupiter Research, meanwhile, predicts a 17 percent gain, from $11.2 billion to $13.1 billion. And a Yahoo-ACNielsen study foretells a 23 percent increase, with average per-shopper spending rising from $225 to $244 per transaction. |
A TAXING PROBLEM
Barnes & Noble.com has an obligation to collect taxes on sales made in California, that state’s Board of Equalization has ruled, because Barnes & Noble’s bricks-and-mortar stores are the “authorized representative” of the site. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, online retailers have an obligation to collect taxes on sales in states where they have a physical presence. In the California case, the board noted that Barnes & Noble circulated discount coupons in its stores that were redeemable only on purchases from its Web site, underscoring the relationship between its bricks and clicks divisions. |
APPLE RECIPE MISSING INGREDIENT
Retail guru Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy, loves Apple Computer’s stores, but he says they could do a better job of integrating their catalog, physical and Web retail operations, he said in a recent Business Week Online interview. When responding to his e-mail requests for help with technical problems, the company might have used the opportunity to inform him about the array of programs offered at his local Apple Store — but didn’t. Apple has more than 30 U.S. stores offering sales and service.
 |
A FITTING SOLUTION
Getting clothes to fit off the rack can be a challenge for those falling between sizes, and ending up with the wrong size is especially frustrating for Web shoppers, who then have to send the item back. To address the problem, Lands’ End now lets customers input their waist and inseam measurements, height and weight for an exact fit. “We are changing how people shop for clothing today,” said Bill Bass, senior vice president of e-commerce. “No longer are shoppers pushed into a prefabricated bucket of ‘size 10’ or ‘32-34.’”
 |
|
TWO STEPS FORWARD…America’s online grocery trade advances in fits and starts, returning to California’s San Fernando Valley, for instance, where Vons offers sales and delivery, and where Albertsons was poised at press time to do the same. But it’s fizzled in southeast Wisconsin, where Pick ’n Save says its service lost money. Internet shopping is thriving in Britain, though. There Tesco posted a £1.9 million ($3 million) profit for Tesco.com during the first half of this year. |
|
SHOP TILL YOU’RE STOPPED
Most online purchases (59 percent) were made at work last year, compared with 37 percent at home and 4 percent from schools, says a survey by comScore Networks. And not much of it was done during the lunch hour, noted The Wall Street Journal, which reported on the survey. Online shopping picks up in the morning, peaks at noon, then drops off at lunchtime, rising again between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. For all that, the average user spent slightly less than 1.5 hours a month shopping at the office, the survey noted. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Websense, the company that makes software enabling companies to monitor and block online usage, found that 20 percent of firms block access to retail and auction sites, 78 percent block pornography, and 4 percent prevent access to news sites.Shopping Centers Today
 | Current Issue March 2010 |