RetailBiz has reported on the latest ecommerce benchmark figures from Coremetrics.
According to Coremetrics, which surveyed the buying habits of more than 75 million shoppers worldwide, Australian and New Zealand shoppers are returning to the world wide web in droves to peruse global e-commerce websites and make online purchases.
Since the global economic downturn, consumers have been naturally careful about their spending habits but it seems that online opportunities are proving too good to pass.
“These figures represent a smarter modern shopper; one that takes time to visit e-commerce sites all over the …

Overstock.com, Inc. today announced its launch of international sales to customers in Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. This announcement now brings to 37 the total number of countries in which Overstock is selling products to customers.
These International shoppers can now search, browse and purchase over 600,000 quality discount products, all priced in local currency, from the company’s website: http://www.overstock.com.
“International markets are underserved by online retail,” said Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com chairman and CEO. “With the weakness of the dollar the time has never been better for international customers to buy bargain …

In an interview with eTailToday.com.au, dStore’s CEO Andrew Cooper announced they will open their first bricks and mortar store in Brisbane before Christmas.
“It will be a test of the multichannel shopper theory and will be more of a destination where you can pick up a product you’ve ordered online, make a return or buy the product you saw available online,” Cooper said.
“People shop online, they research online, they shop offline and sometimes they research offline and then go and buy online. What we’re providing is an additional channel for customers.

The economy is forcing online retailers to change their marketing tactics in order to acquire and retain customers, according to findings from The State of Retailing Online 2009, the 12th annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). The survey of 117 online retailers also found that, while the number of companies focusing on customer retention has nearly doubled in the past year, many retailers see the recession as an opportunity to capture market share from weakened competition.