The Internet contributes one hundred billion pounds to the UK economy every year & employs 250,000 people in the UK.
Thanks to everyone who entered the Docnet PHP NW 2011 MacBook Air Competition.
Amidst much fanfare the winner was randomly chosen today and we're (fairly sure) you'll want to join us in congratulating Marc Easen who is the lucky winner!
As we've said before we are always on the look out for PHP Whizzes, why not check out our Jobs page to see if anything catches your eye.
Whilst overall retail sales dropped 0.3%, Internet and mail order sales were up 18%*. Convenience, stress reduction and better prices have all been highlighted as major reasons for 44% of UK consumers spending more online this year. House of Fraser’s online sales grew 120% compared to 8.5% overall sales in the 5 weeks up to the 8th January, and for the first time ever, sales on the House of Fraser website were higher than any of its outlets. *compared with December 2009
This year also saw a 10% rise in the number of consumers using the Internet on Christmas and Boxing Day, 22% of which used their mobile phones stressing the importance of mobile optimised websites for retailers.
Supermarket Morrisons is said to have missed out on sales to its online competitors Sainsburys and Tesco this Christmas, forcing them to trial an online service later this year.
Over in the US, online retailers have achieved similar success with online sales for this holiday season reaching a record of $32.6bn, a 12% increase on last year.
Despite this huge growth in online spending, Tealeaf say online retailers have actually missed out this year. Nearly half of all adults who shopped online this Christmas said that they encountered problems causing 32% of shoppers to abandon their baskets at the checkout. Top reasons for abandonment included: errors on the retailer’s website, high delivery prices and late delivery dates. Tealeaf’s research then went on to find that 46% of the shoppers who encountered problems would be less likely to buy from that company again.
UK retailers are blaming the 0.3% drop in overall retail sales on the big freeze, with Debenhams saying the weather has caused them to lose out £30million worth of sales.
Looking forward to 2011, Docnet’s main advice for retailers is;
Don’t lose out on valuable sales coming through mobile devices. Test your website out on mobile handsets.
If you don’t have an online store, you’re going to miss out on market share.
Create a hassle free checkout that will reduce abandonment.
Register Now For Our Complimentary Webinar!
In today’s crowded marketplace it’s essential for you to differentiate yourself from your competitors. What better time than the turn of the year to ensure you are doing just that. Here at Docnet we’ve been taking a look back at 2010 to see what has been successful and what has not. We’ve summarised the most important lessons we’ve learnt and come up with 7 resolutions that if implemented we believe will optimise your online store and get next year’s sales off to a kick start.
Join our complimentary webinar at 10am on November 30th and learn how to implement our 7 simple strategies which will make your site as user-friendly and easy to navigate as possible. The webinar is due to last for half an hour and will include a question and answer session at the end. Within this webinar we will be covering-
What visitors should see when they land on your homepage and why
How to use your product pages to entice browsers and reduce returns
How to inspire visitors with the same level of personality and customer service as you would in-store
Tips on getting your delivery offer right
Creating a hassle-free checkout that will reduce abandonment
How to ensure you aren’t missing out on valuable sales coming through mobile devices
How to build up a loyal customer base
We hope you can make it!
Space is limited
Reserve your complimentary seat now at GoToWebinar.
This week saw the launch of the first national daily newspaper for almost 25 years, a brave move in today’s digital age when many choose to access the news online. i went on sale Tuesday with the aim of targeting lapsed readers of quality newspapers. The idea is to serve the time poor by summarising the day’s news from around the globe in short concise articles. The paper also comes at a much lower price than its parent paper, The Independent, at just 20p.
Having had a read through Tuesday’s edition of i, the layout and concept of the paper do appeal to me. The short, to the point information boxes seem to offer something for everyone. Having no large chunks of copy means that even if a story is of no particular interest you needn’t waste too much time skimming through.
On a more negative note, there has been speculation that the paper may have to go free to succeed and I must admit I agree. The Independent says i is a great answer for rushing commuters yet if they’re in such as hurry it is hard to see why they would walk all the way to a shop in the morning to buy a paper when the can pick up a free metro on either the bus or the train. On top of that i must compete with people having the ability to access most national dailies via smartphone apps. That said, the speculators could be wrong and it will be interesting to see whether readers will choose to adopt i as part of their daily routine.
Join us at 10.00am on Oct 21st to ensure you are doing everything you can to take advantage of the most profitable time of year.
With less than 12 weeks left until Christmas day and with the competition growing fiercer year on year, retailers must put their e-commerce strategies in place now to catch those early birds. The webinar will last for 30 minutes and will focus on 8 topics we feel could make or break your Christmas period. Within these we will share with you;
Hope you can join us!
Space is limited. Reserve your complimentary seat here.
