Archive for November, 2011
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
 Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, (CIRP), which provides securities research to the investment community using advanced market research strategies, methods, and analysis has released, “Apple’s iPhone Launch – October 2011,” with the first detailed analysis of consumer trends for Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 4S and related models.
The report reveals a number of important findings since the October 14, 2011 launch:
- High-end iPhone models selling well
- Mobile phone carrier (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) shares shifting
- Significant online sales
- iPhone is the “gateway” to Apple product ecosystem
- Women buy the white iPhone more.
CIRP surveyed customers that purchased an iPhone since October 14, 2011, the launch date for sale of the new Apple iPhone 4S and for new aggressive pricing for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS models.
From an initial response of 4,632 subjects, CIRP surveyed 504 qualified subjects for the analysis. “This report represents the first analysis of the Apple iPhone 4S results since the October launch date,” noted CIRP Partner and Co-Founder Josh Lowitz.
Said CIRP Partner and Co-Founder Mike Levin, “The most expensive and presumably highest margin iPhone 4S – 64 GB model accounts for 23% of all iPhone 4S sales.
30 percent of iPhone 4S buyers upgraded
A surprising 30% of iPhone 4S buyers upgraded from the iPhone 4, which is just over a year old.
And, in the first three weeks since the launch, 43% of the customers bought their new phones online, at the Apple website, the carrier websites, or other retailer websites such as Best Buy Online.
Only 25% of iPhones were sold through Apple owned channels – the approximately 245 Apple Stores and the Apple website – and 75% sold through the carrier stores and websites, and multi-line retailers such as Best Buy. “
Tags: Apple, AT&T, CIRP, high end iPhones selling well, iPhone4S, Sprint, Verizon
Posted in Hardware, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
A slow economy, global political turmoil, and other Grinch factors failed to prevent U.S. consumers from spending record amounts in online shopping this year.
The U.S. online retail sector delivered strong growth on Cyber Monday 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to cloud-based analytics findings by IBM (NYSE: IBM). IBM’s findings expand on the company’s earlier report that Thanksgiving Day 2011 saw a record number of online retail sales that set the stage for a strong Black Friday.
Cyber Monday 2011 Compared to Cyber Monday 2010 (year/year)
- Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales were up 33.0 percent over 2010, with consumers pushing the average order value up from $193.24 to $198.26 for an increase of 2.6 percent.
- Shopping Peaks at 11:05am PST/2:05pm EST: Consumers flocked online, with shopping momentum hitting its highest peak at 11:05am PST/2:05pm EST. Consumer shopping also maintained strong momentum after commuting hours on both the east and west coast.
- Mobile Sales and Traffic Grows: On Cyber Monday, 10.8 percent of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 3.9 percent in 2010. Additionally, mobile sales grew dramatically, reaching 6.6 percent on Cyber Monday versus 2.3 percent in 2010.
 Cyber Monday 2011 Compared to Black Friday 2011
- Consumer Spending Increases: Online sales were up 29.3 percent over Black Friday.
- The Mobile Bargain Hunter: On Cyber Monday mobile traffic averaged 10.8 percent compared to 14.3 percent on Black Friday.
- Mobile Sales: Consumer sales on mobile devices reached 6.6 percent versus 9.8 percent on Black Friday.
- The Apple Shopper: Apple’s iPhone and iPad continued to rank one and two for mobile device retail traffic (4.1 percent and 3.3 percent respectively). Android maintained its position in third at 3.2 percent. Collectively iPhone and iPad accounted for 7.4 percent of all online retail traffic versus 10.2 percent on Black Friday.
- The iPad Factor: Shoppers using the iPad also continued to drive more retail purchases than any other device with conversion rates reaching 5.2 percent compared to 4.6 percent.
- The Social Influence: Shoppers referred from Social Networks generated 0.56 percent of all online sales on Cyber Monday versus 0.53 percent on Black Friday. Similar to Black Friday, Facebook led the pack, accounting for 86 percent of all social media traffic.
- Social Media Chatter: Discussions on social media sites leading up to Cyber Monday increased in volume by 115 percent compared to 2010. Top areas of discussion focused on consumers sharing tips about using price comparison websites while avoiding cyber scams, Cyber Monday deals for international consumers and conversations about Black Friday in-store shopping experiences.
“Cyber Monday was once again the big winner for the Thanksgiving holiday shopping season, with a record number of consumers focused on finding the best online deals,” said John Squire, Chief Strategy Officer, IBM Smarter Commerce. “Retailers that adopted a smarter approach to commerce, one that allowed them to swiftly adjust to the shifting shopping habits of their customers, whether in-store, online or via their mobile device, were able to fully benefit from this day and the entire holiday weekend.”
Today’s news is based on findings from IBM’s fourth annual Cyber Monday Benchmark which tracks more than a million transactions a day, analyzing terabytes of raw data from 500 retailers nationwide. With this data, IBM helps retailers better understand and respond to their customers – across the organization – improving sourcing, inventory management, marketing, sales, and services programs.
Tags: 2011 Cyber Monday spending, Black Friday 2011, IBM, online holiday spending soars in 2011
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
 A cell phone tower Carriers will be putting a huge emphasis on fiber-based services to deal with mobile networks that are being pushed to their limits, according to M/C Partners, which has released its annual list of the top 10 communications, technology and media industry trends to watch in 2012.
A dramatic increase in cloud services and video consumption are creating serious challenges for carriers, who will be scrambling to address the issue. Many will use fiber to upgrade cell tower backhaul networks to raise network capacity, according to the private equity firm’s list.
M/C Partners compiled the list as part of its ongoing research to understand industry trends and identify investment opportunities in the communications, media, and information technology sectors.
According to M/C Partners, the leading trend in the new year will be carriers’ use of fiber to upgrade cell tower backhaul networks to gigabit connections, a staggering increase from the 1-2 megabits carriers provisioned to cell towers only a few years ago.
“As mobile users expect their phones to operate more like PCs and increase their consumption of social and traditional media, mobile networks are being pushed to their absolute limits,” said James Wade, Managing General Partner, M/C Partners.
“Adoption of cloud services and mobile consumption of video are only in their early stages, but growing very quickly. Networks are struggling to handle it right now. What will happen when demand grows ten-fold, as it likely will? Ubiquitous fiber will be the solution.”
Trends on the M/C Partners’ list include:
1. Fiber to the tower will become the number one priority for network operators struggling to deal with mobile users’ insatiable thirst for broadband.
2. Enterprise adoption of cloud-based services will drive demand for network-based managed services that will provide critical monitoring and management of application and service performance across LANs, MANs, WANs and the public Internet.
3. New technological innovations on the handset and in the network will improve important services like caching, compression and signaling to enhance mobile user experience, battery life and network access.
4. Consumerization of the enterprise will expand as end users move from simply driving iPhone and iPad adoption in the enterprise to pushing IT departments to provide more user-friendly and consumer-style applications for information sharing and management.
5. Micro-transaction business models will expand from social games into MMOGs, console games and other areas such as video, social networks and communications services providing consumer-directed price discrimination across a range of services.
6. HTML 5’s simplification of mobile application development will improve app economics, competition and usage by providing a seamless cross-platform experience and backward compatibility to the PC environment without sacrificing performance.
7. Consumers will realize the value of managed technology services from OEMs, broadband service providers and independent tech support companies to maximize the utility of their networked devices, as the need for better performance and up-time becomes increasingly valuable to consumers.
8. The content rental model will push beyond music and video into print publications with tablets providing an improved consumption medium that content owners will seek to fill with magazines and books.
9. Marketing options for small local businesses will expand beyond daily deals into more powerful tools that provide better yield management and integration with traditional local media and direct marketing for improved customer acquisition and lifetime value of customers.
10. Cable operators will answer over-the-top threats with apps and more subscription package variety to gain the upper hand in alternative video viewing options for consumers while still preserving the critical distribution and billing relationship.
M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the communications, media, and information technology sectors. The firm has invested over $1.5 billion into nearly 100 companies in those sectors. Companies M/C has backed include Cavalier Telephone, Corelink, Fusepoint, GTS Central Europe, ICG Communications, Legendary Pictures, Lightower, MetroPCS, NuVox, Open Mobile, Public Mobile, Seven Networks and Zayo Group.
Tags: cloud-based services, consumerization of the enterprise, content rental model expands to print, fiber to the tower, marketing options for small businesses, micro-transaction business models, stressed mobile networks
Posted in Cloud, Hardware, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
 By Manish Shivhare
Companies around the world invest more than $50 billion per year on applications testing and quality assurance, according to Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC).
Research firms such as IDC and Forrester report a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent with spending reaching nearly $19.3 billion by 2015 on testing services alone.
The following 6 trends are in the software testing industry tower:
1)( Mobility Application Testing : IDC predicts that the volume of Smartphones is estimated to reach over 500 million shipments by 2014.
These smartphones are used by buyers to congregate their personal and professional necessities. ‘There is a plethora of mobile handsets which run millions of applications embedded in it.
Some of the applications today are using the power of cloud to communicate with the ERP systems. In such situations, the data security is of paramount importance. The multitude OS used on the handsets adds to the challenge calling for functionality testing and integration testing.
2) Testing-as-a-Service: Research says that there is increasing usage and demand for TaaS as an alternative for ‘avoidable’ infrastructure spend.
Today most CXOs perceive TaaS as a tool to address the concerns pertaining to cost reduction, managing wide range of testing projects, test competence needs, exigency to resolve higher defects rates, and using third party’s test environment to subside the project requirements. TaaS offers a platform to utilize shared resources in pay as you go model. TaaS is sometimes referred to as Cloud Testing or Managed Testing also.
3) Cross cloud testing: There are very few initiatives taken to standardize the data formats and communication patterns among the clouds. Standardizing the communication patterns will help users to secure their data, gain confidence in their testing vendors and result in seamless transition. Soon we will witness a trend where vendors would engage themselves in testing apps over cross cloud implementation.
4) Business Intelligence Testing: The efficiency of any business intelligence tool does not only reside in its ability to analyze the vast pool of data.
An important indicator of efficiency is how effectively the tool gives meaningful options to its user to extract real time data and identify the key trends using this data. This calls for an extremely efficient system that can pull out the data, clean it and present it in a ubiquitous way without compromising on the performance of the system or causing a downtime.
5) Crowd sourced Testing: Momentum for crowdsourced testing is already building across the industry. IDC expects that traditional outsourcers will increasingly compete with evolving cloud crowdsourcing models for testing applications (e.g., Web apps, mobile apps). As a trend in 2011, it is observed that enterprises now prefer a crowdsourced marketplace so as to get access to global talent and diverse set of skills.
6) Testing catalyzed through test data generation and management: While testing an application, more often than not, confidential information of customers gets exposed to testers.
A breach of this data can lead to serious damage, both to the brand and business. Test data management ensures the availability and security of the test data by obfuscating it on large scale testing engagements. Lots of testing vendors are now researching on various methods to mask this data or create ‘test-only’ data and help maintain privacy and security while using it.
NASSCOM reported a growth of USD 3.5 billion for testing services in 2010 and a steady growth at 17 percent CAGR until the year 2020. As more and more companies are now outsourcing their testing requirements the market is set for to vault and these 6 towers will be the front runners.
Manish Shivhare works with the Marketing team at AppLabs (a CSC company), the world’s largest software testing and quality management company. His responsibilities include Market Research, Analysis and Forecast.
Tags: AppLabs, business intelligence testing, cross cloud testing, crowd-sourced testing, Manish Shivhare, mobility application testing, trends in computer software testing
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, smartphones | 4 Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2011
 Playing violent video games for one week changed the brains of young men, according to a new study likely to raise once again the question of how playing such games might affect behavior.
A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis of long-term effects of violent video game play on the brain has found changes in brain regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control in young adult men after one week of game play.
The results of the study were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America(RSNA).
Controversy raged for years
The controversy over whether or not violent video games are potentially harmful to users has raged for many years, making it as far as the Supreme Court in 2010. But there has been little scientific evidence demonstrating that the games have a prolonged negative neurological effect.
“For the first time, we have found that a sample of randomly assigned young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home,” said Yang Wang, M.D., assistant research professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
“These brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior.”
Shooter games tested
For the study, 22 healthy adult males, age 18 to 29, with low past exposure to violent video games were randomly assigned to two groups of 11. Members of the first group were instructed to play a shooting video game for 10 hours at home for one week and refrain from playing the following week. The second group did not play a violent video game at all during the two-week period.
Each of the 22 men underwent fMRI at the beginning of the study, with follow-up exams at one and two weeks. During fMRI, the participants completed an emotional interference task, pressing buttons according to the color of visually presented words. Words indicating violent actions were interspersed among nonviolent action words. In addition, the participants completed a cognitive inhibition counting task.
The results showed that after one week of violent game play, the video game group members showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during the emotional task and less activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during the counting task, compared to their baseline results and the results of the control group after one week.
After the second week without game play, the changes to the executive regions of the brain were diminished.
“These findings indicate that violent video game play has a long-term effect on brain functioning,” Dr. Wang said.
What do you think? We’ve noticed that playing violent shooter games can temporarily increase our aggressiveness, but the effect never seemed to last much longer than game play.
We suspect we’ll see a new wave of discussion about whether hyper-violent video games should be regulated, although any attempt to control free speech is apt to hit First Amendment road blocks.
Tags: affect of violent video games on cognitive function, brain regions important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior, fMRI video game study, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, shooter games changed brain function after one week of play, violent video games changed brain function
Posted in games, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports, University Tech, video, Viewpoint | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2011
 What are the best cities for technology jobs now? You can probably guess that Seattle, would be high on the list, and it indeed came in at number one on a list compiled by newgeography.com. But if you guessed the Silicon Valley, you would be wrong.
The Valley, despite a concentration of tech jobs- six times the national average – it came in at 17 on the site’s list of the top 51 cities for tech jobs. It points out that the Valley was one of the biggest tech job losers over the last decade, dropping 80,000 positions, despite the more recent dot-com funding craze.
San Francisco itself is way down at number 29.
Newgeography used high-tech employment data from EMSI, an economic modeling firm. It then charted those areas that have gained the most high-tech manufacturing, software and services jobs over the past 10 years.
The top ten, newgeography says, are:
Seattle, Baltimore, Columbus, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Washington, DC, New Orleans, Riverside/San Bernardino, and San Diego.
The next batch inlcudes more surprises: Indianapolis is 11, Buffalo 12, San Antonio 13, and Charlotte 14. Boston is way down at 22.
Factors affecting high-tech job creation, the site says, include the presence of a major research university – although that wasn’t of much help to Boston, which lost 45,000 tech jobs (18 percent) in the last decade.
Business costs are another factor. They’re high in the Valley, Boston, and the Bay area, less so in many of top ten cities. Even low business costs are not a sure path to tech job creation though. Texas has good business metrics, but nevertheless experienced losses in tech jobs, primarily due to cutbacks in telecom, electronics, and communications equipment manufacturing.
Personally, we think a careful look at the results of this study suggest something we’ve said all along: big manufacturing operations are not the be all and end all of job creation. Placing an emphasis on creating a welcoming atmosphere for startup tech companies is a better way to go, and some areas, including Durham in the Research Triangle of North Carolina, are taking that route.
Newgeography suggests that two up and comers in this decade might be Detroit, which it says “has some real high-tech mojo,” and New Orleans, which has expanded its tech workforce by about 10 percent since 2009.
Tags: Baltimore, best cities for tech jobs, Charlotte, Columbus, DC, Detroit, Durham NC, eattle, Jacksonville, New Orleans, newgeography.com, Raleigh, Riverside/San Bernardino, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Texas, top tech growth cities, Washington
Posted in Hardware, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs, TechLife, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Monday, November 28th, 2011
 Online shopping behavior on Thanksgiving Day was significantly different from the rest of November, according to Channel Intelligence (CI). Buying activity in the United States started strong early in the day and then tapered off throughout the afternoon.
CI reports that during the first part of November, there were consistently large spikes in online purchases from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., noon to 12:30 p.m., and 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. local time.
On Thanksgiving Day, however, an online buying surge started at 6 a.m. local time and continued until 10:30 a.m. There was a gradual decline in buying from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., followed by a cliff-like drop-off at 7 p.m.
Conversion rates up early
Conversion rates on Thanksgiving were up 75 percent between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. compared to average conversion rates during the same time period from Nov. 1 through 23.
CEO Rob Wight said that in the early hours of Black Friday, CI saw another enormous buying surge.
“Shortly after midnight, we noticed a significant jump in online orders,” said Wight. “In the first hour of Black Friday, from midnight to 1 a.m., our systems recorded transactions equal to nearly half of all the orders recorded in the entire day on Thanksgiving.”
Channel Intelligence is the leading provider of technology services that drive online purchases, and the company’s software handles about 14 percent of all online commerce in the United States. CI will continue to report on e-commerce activity throughout the holiday season.
Tags: Channel Intelligence, online shopping patterns Thanksgiving 2011
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 28th, 2011
 Microsoft xBox consoles and games are among the top products people are searching for this holiday shopping season. A 32″ Samsung TV, Microsoft’s xBox console, the Call of Duty game and both the iPad and the iPod Touch are among the most searched for sale items this holiday.
Even on Thanksgiving Day, many shoppers were using their phones and tablet computers to comparison shop online or simply shop, according to data just released by TheFind.
The early store openings by many of the national retailers seem to have helped to bring shoppers in Thursday night as mobile search volumes on TheFind indicated.
Door Busters:
Topping the list of most searched for items on mobile phones and tablets was a 32 inch Samsung LCD screen which typically sells for as much as $349.99, and was being offered for $279.99, a price matched by several national retailers.
Another top scanned item was a Microsoft Xbox 4GB Kinect bundle, which Amazon was selling at a promotional price of $199.99, for which the retailer quickly sold through its stock of discounted units.
Apple iPad and iPod Touch were also highly searched for items with mobile devices. Amazon’s Kindle Fire did not fare as well in mobile searches, and didn’t crack the top 20 most searched for items by mobile shoppers according to TheFind. Though it is in the top 5 most searched for items by online electronics shoppers on TheFind.
Perhaps indicating a trend for the holidays, shoppers appeared to be in the market for accessories to go along with their smartphones and tablet computers, along with games to accompany new or existing gaming consoles.
“With a sluggish economy and the lack of a breakout holiday “must have” gifts, shoppers did take advantage of the early starts to Black Friday. Searches and scans from smart phones indicate that consumers went to stores Thursday evening and night but seem to be trying to keep their gifts below $50 thus far, with the exception of items that are priced too low not to buy, such as some of the door buster deals on new TVs and gaming consoles,” said Siva Kumar, CEO of TheFind.
Facebook Like Data
In keeping with its tally of Facebook Like data that indicates that the LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet would be a hot seller, TheFind’s actual mobile search data from Thanksgiving Day shows the LeapPad as one of its top searched for toys.
According to TheFind, the top searched for toys and electronics by mobile shoppers on Thanksgiving Day were as follows:
Toys:
1. Disney Meet the Robinsons Toy Set Spy Case
2. Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome
3. Disney Princess Ariel Little Mermaid Magical Talking Salon Vanity
4. FurReal Friends Newborn Puppy Black and White
5. Fisher Price Little People Pop ‘n Surprise Train
6. American Plastic My Very Own Nursery & Baby Alive Doll Bundle
7. Cra-Z-art Creative Activities Studio Tool Box (11017-2)
8. Diego Plush Backpack Animal Rescuer
9. Fisher Price World Of Little People Sarah Lynn’S Royal Palace
10. Learn & Dance Interactive Zoo
11. LeapFrog Leapster2 Connected Learning Game System – Green — green
Electronics/Computers/Software/Games:
1. Samsung 32″ Class LCD 720p 60Hz HDTV, LN32D403
2. Sony Speaker Dock for iPod and iPhone 4
3. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360)
4. Garmin nuvi 50LM 5″ Portable GPS
5. Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller – Black
6. XBOX360 4GB CONSOLE KINECT BUNDLE
7. Sony DC-BDPS185 Blu-ray Player
8. Call Of Duty: Black Ops Ps3
9. Nikon L105 12.1 Mp Digital Camera With 15x Optical Zoom – Black
10. Droid X Purple Flexible TPU Protective Skin
11. iPad Wi-Fi + 3G 64GB Tablet – Black
12. Wii Console
13. RCA Wi-Fi Streaming Media Player
14. Magellan RoadMate 3120-SGUUS 4.7″ GPS Unit
15. Sony – PS3 Hardware 160GB Core
Top mobile searches for Nov. 25 were as follows:
Toys:
1. Fisher-Price Imaginext DC Super Friends Batcave
2. LeapFrog Leapster2 Connected Learning Game System – Green — green
3. Transformers Dark of the Moon Ultimate Optimus Prime
4. Playstation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller Black
5. Nintendo 3DS Flame red with Super Mario 3D Land – Black Friday
6. Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome
7. Bag – Classic (80 pcs) –
8. Laugh And Learn Learning Table
9. Barbie Sisters Go Camping Camper
10. Nerf N-Strike Vortex Nitron
Electronics/Computers/Software/Games
1. Samsung 32″ Class LCD 720p 60Hz HDTV, LN32D403
2. Microsoft Xbox 360 4GB Console – Black
3. Nikon L105 12.1 Mp Digital Camera With 15x Optical Zoom – Black
4. Sony Speaker Dock for iPod and iPhone 4
5. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360)
6. Samsung Ln40d503 40″” 1080p Lcd Tv”
7. Sony Computer Entertainment America PlayStation 3 (160GB) Complete Entertainment Bundle 98310
8. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with Pre-Order Bonus Premium Physical Map – Xbox 360
9. Sony DC-BDPS185 Blu-ray Player
10. Westinghouse 40″ Class 1080p 120hz Led Lcd Hdtv – Black (ld-4055)
Tags: Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 3, Disney meets the Robinsons, holiday product seareches, iPad, iPod Touch, Kinect Bundle, Samsung 32" Class LCD 720- TV, Sony Speaker dock for iPod and iPhone 4, Thanksgiving Day searches, TheFind.com, xBox console
Posted in Amazon, Apple, games, Hardware, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports, video | Comments Off
Monday, November 28th, 2011
 The International market for US internet retailers is setting new records this holiday season, reports GlobalShopex, an international shipping solutions provider for US Ecommerce retailers.
The company is already experiencing a record fourth quarter in international orders processed on behalf of its online retail customers. The company is also reporting top countries originating demand for US Ecommerce retailers’ goods.
Already, through October and early November, a number of the company’s retailers that sell internationally are experiencing more than double the international shipping volume they saw in 2010.
Top countries for international orders through the GlobalShopex platform so far this season include Australia (17%), Canada (16%), and the United Kingdom (6%). Rounding out the top ten are Singapore (4%), Japan (4%), Ireland (3%), Malaysia (3%), New Zealand (3%), Norway (2%), and Switzerland (1%).
GlobalShopex also reports orders from such exotic locales as Malta, New Caledonia, Barbados, Moldovia, and French Polynesia in this record setting peak selling season. In addition, new markets for US-based internet retailers are emerging, such as Latin America, where the Internet population grew by 15% to over 112 million people from 2010 to 2011 (comScore).
Lower international shipping rates and improved international shopping options provided by GlobalShopex are helping retailers sell internationally.
Some of the company’s retailer customers are reporting improved conversion rates on international traffic by over than 50% versus prior years. More US-based online retailers are now offering shipping options to customers located throughout the globe, including collecting duties and taxes during the checkout experience, making the shopping process much easier for customers located in other countries.
Still, the majority of US Ecommerce sellers do not offer international shipping, providing significant upside opportunities for growth for these companies.
“This is turning out to be a breakout season for international holiday orders for US retailers,” said Raimundo Martinez, CEO of GlobalShopex. “We were expecting to see strong demand from Canada and Australia, but we were surprised by the high volume of orders from other parts of the globe, and particularly the diversity of locations around the world.”
Tags: Australia, Canada, global demand for goods from U.S. online retailers doubles, Global Shopex, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Noraway, Switzerland, top countries for International orders, United Kingdom
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, November 28th, 2011
 For the holiday season-to-date, $12.7 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year, according to digital measurement firm comScore.
Black Friday (November 25) saw $816 million in online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2011 and representing a 26-percent increase versus Black Friday 2010. Thanksgiving Day (November 24), while traditionally a lighter day for online holiday spending, achieved a strong 18-percent increase to $479 million.
2011 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2010
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore, Inc. |
|
Millions ($) |
| 2010 |
2011 |
Percent Change |
| November 1 – 25 |
$11,093 |
$12,737 |
15% |
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) |
$407 |
$479 |
18% |
| Black Friday (Nov. 25) |
$648 |
$816 |
26% |
*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru November 26, 2010)
“Despite some analysts’ predictions that the flurry of brick-and-mortar retailers opening their doors early for Black Friday would pull dollars from online retail, we still saw a banner day for e-commerce with more than $800 million in spending,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it’s clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels. We now turn our attention to Cyber Monday, a day that Shop.org says will see eight-in-ten retailers running special online promotions. Last year, Cyber Monday was the heaviest day of online spending ever, with sales exceeding $1 Billion, and we fully expect to see another record set this year.”
Black Friday Bargains Boost Web Browsing Behavior
As the online channel increasingly influences offline shopping behavior, consumers turned to Black Friday sites on the web to conduct research in advance of the day’s events. comScore analyzed several Black Friday deal sites for the five days ending Black Friday (Nov. 21-25, 2011) compared to the corresponding days last year, finding that bfads.net led the pack with 3.9 million unique visitors, up 51 percent versus last year. TheBlackFriday.com followed with 3.2 million visitors while also posting the strongest year-over-year growth at 137 percent.
Unique Visitors to Selected Sites Featuring Black Friday Deals
Nov. 21-25, 2011 vs. Nov. 22-26, 2010
Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore, Inc. |
|
Unique Visitors (000) |
| Nov. 22-26, 2010 |
Nov. 21-25, 2011 |
Percent Change |
| bfads.net |
2,607 |
3,926 |
51% |
| theblackfriday.com |
1,364 |
3,234 |
137% |
| blackfriday2011.com* |
1,612 |
1,854 |
15% |
| blackfriday.com |
668 |
621 |
-7% |
| blackfriday.fm |
399 |
532 |
33% |
| gottadeal.com |
270 |
424 |
57% |
*Site was known as BlackFriday2010.com in 2010
Amazon Ranks #1 Among Online Retailers on Black Friday
Fifty million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, representing an increase of 35 percent versus year ago. Each of the top five retail sites achieved double-digit gains in visitors vs. last year, led by Amazon. Walmart ranked second, followed by Best Buy, Target and Apple.
Most Visited Retailer Properties on Black Friday
Excludes Auction Sites (e.g. eBay)
Black Friday 2011 vs. Black Friday 2010
Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore, Inc. |
| Retail Property |
| 1 |
Amazon |
| 2 |
Walmart |
| 3 |
Best Buy |
| 4 |
Target |
| 5 |
Apple |
“Each of the top online retailers generated significantly greater Black Friday activity compared to last year,” added Mr. Fulgoni. “Amazon.com once again led the pack, with 50 percent more visitors than any other retailer, while also showing the highest growth rate versus last year. However, it is telling that the top multi-channel retailers also showed strong growth in visitors, demonstrating the importance of the online channel to the retail industry as a whole.”
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Black Friday 2011, online retailers, online sales, Target, Walmart
Posted in Amazon, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
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