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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Barbara Coll sent me this report indicating that in 2005, Internet retail sales grew 80% over the year before.
That's solid growth. More than solid. Rapid.
Contrast that with several bearish comments heard in the Search Engine Marketing in Canada: Roundtable forum this morning at Search Engine Strategies Toronto. Maybe it's in the DNA of Canadian business to be a bit cautious and conservative, like a farmer assessing this year's crop by calling it "fair to middling."
But consumers are no longer sitting on their hands. They're web savvy, and willing to take a chance. I'm not particularly interested in "can't do" excuses - such as Canadians' purported preference for debit cards over credit cards. Maybe in the grocery store. But I don't personally know anyone who expects to buy online using some means other than a credit card. It's not scary and it's not exotic. People will adapt and this growth will continue, because it has every reason to: people are getting what they want and need faster.
We've turned the corner, I would argue, as several leading sites offer a better experience for users, driving expectations higher. High expectations are better than low expectations... they'll lead to further growth.
Posted by
Andrew Goodman
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