Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Blockbuster Story From The Chicago Tribune: “Internet Poised To Become Bigger Force In Retail”


The article below is just more proof of where Internet shopping is going.  This is the future, this is "NOW."  Join the evolution, join DubLi and get a piece of the pie!
DragonHorse

Highlights and opinions by John Cini of Antipaper



Internet poised to become bigger force in retail
Frugal shoppers turning to Internet in droves, retailers investing in technology

Through much of last year, in our DubLi presentation we shared this WSJ story about the tough economy’s impact on malls (traditional stores) and the rise of ecommerce.  The article’s quote two-thirds of the way down summed it up:
“Why go to a mall anymore? I can get whatever I want cheaper
on the Internet and it comes to my door.”
Now a new story has arrived, with the same message but updated info.  As we share the DubLi story with people, use this to drive home the point that ecommerce is getting bigger and bigger.  There are still some people who say, “I don’t do much online shopping,” just as there were people five years ago who said, “I don’t use email very much.”
The killer quotes:

  • “At the end of the day, everyone is afraid of Amazon because they are so aggressive from a technical standpoint … They own all this information on the (shoppers), so they have the ability to market based on buying patterns.” – DubLi is positioning the same way.
  • “… the economic downturn has left the Internet poised to enter 2010 as a larger force in retail.”
  • “… online shopping, historically only 5 percent of U.S. retail sales, is about to get a lot bigger.”
  • “Online sales, excluding travel, had been growing at a roughly 20 percent to 25 percent annual clip for much of the decade.”  [Obviously the growth slowed as the economy crashed, but the key is to note that while the economy was in negative territory (shrinking), online sales were positive (still growing).]
  • “Amazon, Wal-Mart and Best Buy saw their Web site traffic soar more than 20 percent on Black Friday from the year-ago period.”
  • “Traditional chain stores are starting to recognize what Amazon long has known: The benefit of an online store reaches far beyond the dollars generated by selling merchandise.”
The article ends with the critical point that only companies with very deep pockets will survive the price-war battles, making it nice to know about the financial backing and long-term vision DubLi has.

Thanks to Stephanie Price for forwarding us this gem!  What’s so perfect about her sending the story is that she says she’s “not a computer person!” – more proof that you don’t have to be a “techie” or “geek” to see the vision of DubLi or to position in front of the trend to make a fortune!

Red highlights are mine.
JC

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tc-biz-outlook-retail-0105-jan06,0,6844636.story

Internet poised to become bigger force in retail

Frugal shoppers turning to Internet in droves, retailers investing in technology

By Sandra M. Jones
Tribune Newspapers
January 6, 2010

The battle for the shrinking American budget is moving online this year with a vengeance.

While the recession took a toll on shopping centers and strip malls across the country, the economic downturn has left the Internet poised to enter 2010 as a larger force in retail.

Frugal shoppers are turning to the Internet in droves to compare prices, hunt for bargains, download coupons and seek advice from fellow shoppers. Retailers, weary from years of building sprees, are diverting capital away from storefronts and to Web sites, investing in the technology to make online shopping easier, faster and cheaper.

Look no further than Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for a sign that online shopping, historically only 5 percent of U.S. retail sales, is about to get a lot bigger. The world’s largest retailer announced late last year plans to unleash its economic might on its decade-old but often neglected Web site, walmart.com, intent on toppling Amazon.com Inc. from its perch as the world’s largest online merchant.

There’s no question the Internet has gone from being a curious sidebar to a main event,” said Mark Cohen, marketing professor at Columbia Business School in New York and former chairman and CEO of Sears Canada Inc.Customers are becoming completely comfortable with doing business on the Net. … This year is going to be a very good year for online shopping, tempered only by the negative effect of the economy.”

Credit Suisse Securities LLC, the New York investment firm, issued a report Tuesday predicting that e-commerce sales will rise nearly 10 percent in 2010 to $144 billion after ending 2009 with an estimated 1.1 percent gain, the worst year on record.

Online sales, excluding travel, had been growing at a roughly 20 percent to 25 percent annual clip for much of the decade, before slowing to a 6 percent gain in 2008, according to ComScore Inc.

When ComScore releases its year-end data this week, the market research firm expects 2009 online sales to remain about even with 2008 at $130 billion. That would make it the first year online sales have failed to expand, said Andrew Lipsman, ComScore’s director of industry analysis.

After tumbling in the second and third quarters of 2009, online sales rebounded to post a 5 percent gain from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, ComScore said. The strong finish bodes well for 2010. Lipsman expects online sales to return to “reasonably healthy growth rates” this year.

Some experts say Internet sales reached a turning point over the holidays. Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving, typically has been a day for physical stores to shine with early-bird specials that entice shoppers to stand in line for hours until stores open their doors at dawn.

But last year the big national chains — including Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney and Best Buy — grabbed a piece of the doorbuster promotions by offering “screenbuster” sales online for shoppers who wanted to stay home. The cyber activity spurred a record $595 million in online spending that day, an 11 percent gain over Black Friday 2008, ComScore said. Amazon, Wal-Mart and Best Buy saw their Web site traffic soar more than 20 percent on Black Friday from the year-ago period, the firm said.
There was a time when big brick-and-mortar retailers looked askance at their online divisions, figuring stores should receive most of the company’s resources and attention because they generate the bulk of the sales. No longer. Traditional chain stores are starting to recognize what Amazon long has known: The benefit of an online store reaches far beyond the dollars generated by selling merchandise.

Websites are a treasure trove of information about shopping behaviors and purchasing preferences. Retailers can track what each customer buys and use that information to target discounts and suggest products, said Lauren Freedman, president of E-tailing Group Inc. in Chicago. “At the end of the day, everyone is afraid of Amazon because they are so aggressive from a technical standpoint,” she said. “They own all this information on the (shoppers), so they have the ability to market based on buying patterns.”

Online data firm Forrester Research said the Web influenced $937 billion in U.S. store sales in 2009, a figure projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2013, or about one-third of total retail sales.

“I know this is an overused phrase, but it really is a perfect storm,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, retail analyst at Forrester. “People want to find the cheapest products. Most households have broadband, and there are a lot more devices with access to the Web.”

As the price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon escalates from books to a wide range of goods, the smaller e-merchants are in for a challenging year, said Howard Jackson, president of HSA Consulting.
“It reminds me of the cola wars where Coke and Pepsi won and everyone else lost,” Jackson said during a Credit Suisse-led conference call Tuesday on the state of the e-commerce industry. “That may be ultimately where the game goes. The question then is, how long does it take to get there and what happens in between? Which I think is the magic of 2010.”
smjones@tribune.com




 

The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA): “Many wooed by direct selling during slow economy”


Reprinted from antipaper
 
I don’t think there’s a ton of money in a Pampered Chef business, and how many people want to do home sales parties anyway, but the point is that people are willing to do a lot of different things to generate income now.

Don’t miss the quote at the end, “The median income for a direct seller is $2,400 annually.”  That sounds high enough to catch a lot of people’s attention, with the mindset that since most people are very part-time in their networking/home-based businesses, what would a full-time, focused achiever be able to do.  We already know the answer.


Bolding and red highlights are mine.

New career starts at home

On Dec. 13, 2009, the Palm Springs, CA, online newspaper, The Desert Sun, ran an article about a man who “needed to find supplemental income and a reason to get out of the house”:

Wooed by a device that could quarter an onion without breaking the peel, Barton bought a “piece of junk” off a television infomercial a few months back.
It was truth in advertising all right: The blades were so dull, they couldn’t cut through much of anything.
After hearing about the bad chopper, a friend suggested Barton try a similar tool sold through The Pampered Chef, a direct seller of kitchen gadgets since 1980.
“The difference between that and what I bought was night and day,” Barton said.
The 62-year-old Rancho Mirage man became a Pampered Chef consultant a little more than a month ago, with 10 parties under his belt already.

The article commented on the trend of people in a recession turning to home based businesses:
With conventional means of finding a job drying up, many American workers like Barton are turning toward direct selling to make some money in this recession.
“It’s turned into a good opportunity for me,” he said. “It’s paying my mortgage.”

Important stats from the Direct Selling Association were given, showing the continued growth of the MLM/network marketing profession:
The Direct Selling Association, celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, tracks employment and growth of the direct sales industry. While average employment growth rates slowed 0.5 percent during previous recession years, direct sales employment rates grew an average of 8.4 percent.
We definitely look at direct selling as an alternative to people when they’ve been laid off,” said Amy Robinson, vice president of communications and media relations.
The number of direct sellers nationally started increasing toward the end of 2008, Robinson said.
While 2009 figures won’t be available for a few months, she said the group is optimistic about the number of new consultants joining the industry — and the selling they will do as they get started.

Towards the end of the article, the author noted there’s significant income to be earned:
Most people who get involved with direct sales have a specific goal in mind — a way to pay for a family vacation or a new car, said Robinson of the Direct Selling Association. The median income for a direct seller is $2,400 annually.
But with flexible hours and little risk to get started, there’s potential to turn the opportunity into a full-time career, she said.

DSA Member Companies Donate More than $15.7 Million to TODAY Show Holiday Gift Drive


On November 20, 2009, the Direct Selling Association announced on their website and via a press release:
The Direct Selling Association will help kick off the 16th Annual TODAY Show Holiday Gift Drive on Monday, Nov. 23, by presenting the direct selling industry’s donation live on the show in Rockefeller Plaza.
Twenty-five direct selling companies donated a total of more than $15.7 million dollars in products and cash to the Toy Drive. Of the 25 participating companies, at least nine will be featured in their own spots on the TODAY Show during the holiday season. In its six years of participation, DSA member companies have donated more than $52 million in products, services and cash to the Toy Drive.
“The Holiday Gift Drive is an amazing way to make a real difference in the lives of thousands,” said DSA’s Amy Robinson. “Every item our member companies donate will impact the life of someone. It’s just one more illustration of the many ways direct sellers contribute to the community.”

The 25 direct selling and MLM companies participating include:

4Life
Amway
Arbonne
Avon
Blessings Unlimited
Creative Memories
CUTCO
DeTech
Essential BodyWear
Jafra
L’Bel Paris
lia sophia
Mary Kay
Oxyfresh
PartyLite
RealKidz Clothing
Rodan & Fields
Shaklee
Stampin’ Up!
TARRAH Cosmetics
Team National
The Pampered Chef
Thirty One Gifts
USANA
Vantel Pearls

The DSA pointed out in the press release that “Approximately 90 percent of direct sellers operate their business part-time.”

DubLi Corp.: Media company to move HQ to Boca Raton



http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2010/01/04/daily10.html?ana=yfcpc


Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 10:00am EST

Media company to move HQ to Boca Raton

South Florida Business Journal

MediaNet Group Technologies said it will relocate its headquarters to Boca Raton on Feb. 1.
The Berlin-based media company said it is relocating senior management and other key employees from Germany, while creating several new jobs.

It expects to employ 25 people at the new office, including the 10 employees from its BSP Rewards division currently located in Margate.

The relocation follows the completion of a merger between MediaNet (OTCBB: MEDG) and the DubLi Cos., which runs the DubLi.com online retail auction portal.

In a news release, MediaNet said it leased about 11,000 square feet in Boca Raton, which will be used as a global training center. About 30 employees will remain in Berlin for European operations.
MediaNet President and CEO Michael Hansen said the East Coast of the U.S. made the most sense as a location for the merged companies.

He said the Florida location provides “easy access” for business associates in the U.S. and Europe.
“We are excited about growing our operations in the United States as inroads into the market have proven very successful,” Hansen said in the news release.

BSP Rewards is described as an affordable “customer relationship marketing program” and “communications solution” using an Internet rewards mall platform and applications, including the BSP Rewards Mall.

MediaNet shares were up 3 cents to 61 cents in morning trading. The 52-week high was $1.01 on Dec. 19. The 52-week low was 3 cents on June 5.
 

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