ETD: 982 Web war chest;Online Retail Predicted to Top $200
Billion;What Do High-Net Worth Consumers Want?
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue May 30 10:54:30 GMT 2006
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0982 May 30, 2006
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Web war chest
[3] Online Retail Predicted to Top $200 Billion
[4] What Do High-Net Worth Consumers Want?
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I hope our US members had a wonderful Memorial
Day weekend. I wonder how many people really
know the meaning of the holiday - honor those
that served our country, and not the unofficial start of summer :-)
If you have a unique entrepreneurial business,
you may want to talk with Fox Interactive
Media. They have a $2 billion war chest for
acquisitions. I can think of at least one list
member who has a property that may be of interest to them.
List member Jules Kaplan sent us a piece on the
predictions that online retail will top $200 billion. Are you ready?
And Pam Danziger was scheduled to be on CNBC this
weekend. Did anybody see her?
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Web war chest
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It looks like Web properties are hot again. Fox
Interactive Media has a $2 billion war chest for acquisitions
They just acquired small Internet start-ups
Newroo Inc. and kSolo Inc., demonstrating News
Corp.'s online division is keeping close tabs on
young entrepreneurs as it builds its network of Web properties.
The acquisitions, whose values weren't disclosed,
are minor deals for Fox Interactive, which paid
$580 million last year for Intermix Media Inc.,
the parent company of social-networking site MySpace.com.
Newroo was formed in 2002 by Brown University
students Dan Gould and Brian Norgard as a service
for aggregating news and other content. Mr.
Gould, 28 years old, and Mr. Norgard, 25, were
still developing the technology when Fox bought the company earlier this year.
New York's kSolo began its Internet karaoke
service last summer and has about 150,000 users,
a spokeswoman for Fox Interactive said. Using
kSolo, people can choose from a database of
thousands of songs, record performances and send
their renditions to friends via "singing e-cards" and Web casts.
KSolo's founder Nimrod Lev, 35, is an
entrepreneur whose last company, JCupid.com, was
sold to Spark Networks PLC, which owns JDate, an
online dating service for Jewish singles.
Fox Interactive plans to continue running
kSolo.com as a stand-alone service as well as
incorporate the kSolo and Newroo technologies
across its network of Web properties, which
include MySpace.com, Fox News and the "American
Idol" Web site. Fox Interactive declined to talk
about specific integration plans.
Newroo's three-person staff and kSolo's 10-person
staff will join Fox Interactive as a result of the deals.
Fox Interactive was formed last summer to house
News Corp.'s expanding stable of Internet assets.
The buzz from its high-profile deals in the past
year, Fox said, has prompted young entrepreneurs
-- like Newroo's founders -- to approach Fox
before they raise funds from venture-capital
firms. In turn, Fox is spending a good portion of
its time looking at smaller, early stage acquisitions.
In April, News Corp. also waded back into the
world of venture-capital investing, joining
venture firm Foundation Capital in a $13.5
million Series C round for online job-posting service Simply Hired Inc.
The last time News Corp. was involved in venture
investing was in 2001. The company had previously
committed around $750 million to venture capital
through two funds, epartners and epartners II,
now discontinued, according to industry tracker Dow Jones VentureOne.
Fox Interactive isn't necessarily making a big
push into venture-capital investing, though the
company won't completely rule out other venture deals in the future.
Article at...
http://www.startupjournal.com/ecommerce/ecommerce/20060502-nolan.html
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[3] Online Retail Predicted to Top $200 Billion
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Here's an interesting article for your readers.
It was only three years ago that online sales
reached the $100-billion mark. Now, according to
ninth annual "State of Retailing Online" study
from Shop.org, conducted by Forrester Research,
online sales (including travel) will be up 20% in
2006, reaching $211.4 billion. Sales excluding travel will reach $138 billion.
According to the report, online sales rose 25% in
2005 to $176.4 billion. And — again excluding
travel — online retail sales rose 28% to $113.6
billion, representing 4.7% of total retail sales in 2005.
After travel, the largest categories this year
will be computer hardware and software, autos and
auto parts and apparel, accessories, and footwear.
In addition, this year the pet supplies and
cosmetics and fragrances categories are expected
to experience growth rates over 30% — more than any other categories.
Increasingly, retailing is becoming a
multi-channel activity. With customers jumping
online to compare prices, find gifts and research
high-ticket items, retailers are using websites
not only to sell online, but to increase sales offline.
The report found that over two-thirds of
retailers have consistent pricing across channels
and nearly half let customers buy and redeem gift cards online or in stores.
"Retailers have been focusing on integrating
their websites and stores to better serve their
customers, which is paying off for companies in
the form of higher sales," said Scott Silverman
of Shop.org. "By encouraging different channels
to work together, instead of in isolation, everybody wins."
In fact, retailers reported that 22% of offline
sales are influenced by Internet visits. The
report also found that websites enable retailers
to reach entirely new customers. More than
one-third (38%) of online customers were new customers.
To put the Shop.org numbers in context, the
Department of Commerce (DoC) just released its
estimate of US retail e-commerce sales for the
first quarter of 2006. Adjusted for seasonal
variations and holiday and trading-day
differences, but not for price changes, it was approximately $25 billion.
That means the first quarter 2006 increased 25.4%
over the first quarter of 2005. Unlike the
Shop.org estimate, however, the DoC figures do
not include travel and several other categories of sales.
For more in-depth information, read eMarketer's
recently-published report US Retail E-Commerce
Yours truly,
Jules Kaplan, Chairman / Founder
Inovium Corporation
702-254-6385 / FAX 702-926-9629
http://www.inovium.com
Inovium is a web-based billing and payment system that automates
accounts receivable and accelerates payments for specific industries
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[4] What Do High-Net Worth Consumers Want?
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Some call it ‘inconspicuous consumption,’ the
counter-trend of conspicuous consumption where
people buy to impress others and proclaim their
socioeconomic status. By contrast, today’s
high-net worth consumers don't want or need
status symbols or designer goods to impress
anyone. Rather true luxury living in America is
about who you are, your values and what you do
— not about what you have or own.
The luxury market today is going experiential
with consumers spending more on travel, dining,
spas, resorts, entertainment, home services and
other experiences, and less on traditional luxury
goods. While high-net worth consumers live very
comfortable and materially-enriched lives, their
luxury spending is directed less toward
ostentation and materialism and more toward a
search for meaning and emotional fulfillment.
Pam Danziger was scheduled to appear on CNBC’s
High Net Worth program this past weekend. She
will share results from Unity Marketing research
about how the high-net worth consumers are
shifting their spending from material goods
toward living the good life experientially. The
show was to broadcast Saturday and Sunday at 6
a.m. and repeated Sunday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time.
Did anybody see it? I'm sure Pam will let us know how it went.
George
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