Press Releases
MyBuys Reports Health of Online Retail is Up 4% in September
Total Revenue Up 18%, but Increase is Entirely Driven by Product Discounting
Redwood City, CA—October 14, 2009—MyBuys, the leading provider of personalized product recommendations (PPR) for retailers, today released the MyBuys E-commerce Health & Wellness Index™, which measures the overall health of U.S. e-commerce and tracks key trends among retailers. The September index reports an 18% year-over-year growth in total revenue, but the health of e-commerce was up just four percent. As was true of the August index, sales of discounted items were up over 100% from the previous year, and the depth of discounts also increased. Despite the heavy promotion-based sales increases, online retailers also saw virtually no gains in revenue from non-promoted items.
“The major finding from this month’s E-commerce Health & Wellness Index is that online retail continues to be ‘on sale’ early this holiday season, as it has been all year. Consumers are more selective with their online purchases, and are looking for sales, promotions and bargains before they purchase online,” said Robert Cell, CEO MyBuys. “Our expectations are that the remaining three months of the year will show a convergence in discounting practices versus same e-store sales a year ago, as online retailer behavior at the end of 2008 reflected the economic downturn that began that September.”
One bright spot continues to be the impact of retailers’ personalizing offers with relevant products, as an alternative to relying on discounts. The index showed that retailers discounted 72% less on personalized offers than they did for non-personalized offers.
Added Cell, “Putting the right product in front of consumers at the right time leads to purchases without the need to discount.”
About the MyBuys Ecommerce Wellness Index™
The MyBuys Composite Index aggregates total sales, non-promoted sales, discounted sales performance, depth of discounts, AOV and consumer impulse response from our over 150 MyBuys clients.
Media Inquiries
Emily Borders
Borders + Gratehouse
415.963.4174
emily@bordersgratehouse.com