Online Buying: E-retailers Stand 10 Million Strong

About two-thirds of people who use the Internet have also made online purchases. Over 10 million online retailers are projected to sell $249 billion in 2014. Clothing accounts for the biggest part of that, at 16 percent. Those are some of the revealing factoids highlighted on a website for online shoppers. SiteJabber.com, which offers consumer news and scam alerts, has compiled data from several sources to create a compelling informational graphic released Sept. 12 that paints a clear picture of the state of electronic retailing. A sample from... 

Keychain Breathalyzer Makes Great Convenience Store Impulse Buy

All Fun Gifts, a novelty wholesale company, is introducing a new keychain breathalyzer that sales manager Joe Renard says is a great fit as an impulse buy at independent retail stores. “It’s an item that we’re really pushing towards convenience stores, flea markets, and truck stops,” he says. The company is offering two skus, one slightly more feature-rich than the other. Renard emphasizes that these are gadgets with a high entertainment value. “Both of the products are intended to be used as a novelty item,” he says. The product works... 

INOX Collection Targets Contemporary Professionals

INOX Jewelry presents one of its newest sets of stainless steel jewelry, the Midnight Collection, for entrepreneurs and retailers that cater to the contemporary professional class. An array of affordable, sophisticated and high quality jewelry for men, the Midnight Collection is suitable even for the dress code sensitive corporate men. Made of high grade 316L stainless steel inlaid with carbon fiber details and black PVD plating, the Midnight Collection is designed to be simplistic and stylish. It is comfortable and light yet durable for men with... 

Latest Wholesale Data Show Big Year-Over-Year Boost

Sales of goods at the wholesale level held steady over the last month but rose substantially over the year, according to the most recent data from the Census Bureau. The Monthly Wholesale Trade report revealed that sales in May 2010, the most recent month available, fell just 0.3 percent compared with sales in the previous month, but sales rose 15.1 percent compared with U.S. wholesale sales a year ago, in May 2009. According to the Economic Populist website, the 03. Percent month-to-month drop is the first in 14 months. The rise was pushed primarily... 

Total Retail Sales Grow; E-Commerce Sales Grow Faster

Online retail sales jumped 14 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to an AdWeek report citing U.S. Census Bureau estimates. That would total $36.6 billion dollars in e-commerce sales by U.S. online shoppers in the first three months of the year. AdWeek also reports that total online retail sales should grow a projected 12.7 percent over all 12 months of 2010, to $152.1 billion. Somewhat more conservatively, ComScore, an online metrics and digital marketing company, reports that for the first quarter of 2010, e-commerce sales rose 10 percent... 

In Mixed Retail Forecast, Look for Cost-Cutting, New Products Through 2012

Faced with “increasingly demanding customers,” consumer goods and retail companies are responding with a slew of new products — 60 percent of companies surveyed in a recent report say that they are rolling out new products or variations on old ones. That’s according to a June 2010 research paper by management consulting company PRTM, who surveyed 350 companies to discern current and future trends in supply chain management. One positive finding: business is up. “Survey respondents, on average, expect annual revenue growth of 8.3 percent... 

Three-quarters of e-retailers have or are developing a mobile strategy

(Source: PR Newswire and Forrester) Nearly three-quarters (74%) of online retailers either already have or are developing a mobile strategy. One in five boasts having a fully-implemented mobile strategy in place already.  Read More →

Report: Retail theft down slightly

(Source: SecurityInfoWatch.com) Preliminary results of National Retail Security Survey show retailers lost more than $33B to theft in 2009, down from $36.5 billion in 2008.  Read More →

Consumer confidence craters in June

(Source: CNN Money) A key measure of consumer confidence fell in June, reversing a three-month gain, as Americans remain nervous about the job market.  Read More →

Mister Snacks Offers Healthy Choices

In the healthy snack business, it doesn’t pay to be stale, and Mister Snacks Inc. is working hard to constantly bring fresh new products to market. “We’re large enough to take care of our current customers and many many more,” says national sales manager, Steve Letourneau, “but the nice thing about being a smaller company is that we are willing to try new items. We don’t have a large R&D department. We don’t go out and take six months to survey people. Instead, we see something, we think it might work,...