1st In Video – Music World, Inc.

A recent DoubleClick study, “Searcher Moms – A Search
Behavior and Usage Study,” in partnership with Microsoft and ROI Research found that a high percentage of mothers use the Internet for planning online and offline purchases, vacations and more.

• 89% use the Internet at least twice/day
• 90% have been online 7+ years
• 70% use search engines before buying online
• 57% use search engines before buying offline
• Reasons for using search engines:
  • To compare prices: 72%
  • To find retail locations: 71%
  • To gather product information: 71%

Source: DoubleClick Performics unveils data resulting from a search usage study targeting the “moms” segment and completed in cooperation with Microsoft and ROI Research, “Searcher Moms — A Search Behavior and Usage Study. – 91K PDF

US retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2007 was estimated at $31.8 billion, according to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. That is up 20.7% from the second quarter of 2006. E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2007 accounted for 3.1% of all retail sales.

Source: Retail E-Commerce Sales Strong in Q2 – eMarketer

2006 was the first year that Americans spent more online for clothing than they did for computers. This year, 10 percent of clothing sales are expected to occur via the Internet.

Source: Online shopping can become addictive- NewsOK

NEW YORK, August 27, 2007 – 1st in Video – Music World, Inc., the parent company of Your Electronic Warehouse and DiscountGolfWorld.com, was ranked on the first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the country. The Inc. 5,000, an extension of Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 500 list, ranks companies based on their sales growth over a three year period. The expanded list incorporates many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500. Taken as a whole, the companies on the Inc. 5,000 represent the backbone of the U.S. economy. (more…)

Current demographics show that broadband users are more likely to be more educated and wealthier.

Source: eMarketer

Burst Media recently found that the more complex the travel product, the more likely it will be researched online, but booked offline.   Customers were much more likely to book airfare and car rentals than hotels and travel destinations.  The travel industry still makes booking vacation packages too complex for the consumer.  When a customer is booking a complex  vacation involving airfare, hotels, transfers and/or cruises, it makes sense to book through a Travel Agent to make sure everything connects properly.  Help from live customer service agents was a major incentive to travelers who booked offline.

Read More: Online Travelers Bargain-Hunt on the Web – eMarketer

Southwest Airlines and Northwest Airlines now both accept PayPal as a payment option on their websites.   Both airlines announced the acceptance of PayPal earlier this summer.  PayPal allows a safe and secure way for customers to pay either using a credit card or their bank account.  PayPal enables merchants to accept payments from customers who have a bank account, but not a credit card.

Read More:

• Southwest Airlines Takes Off With PayPal For Online Ticket Purchases
• Northwest Airlines Offers PayPal for NWA.com Ticket Purchases

In a recent Yahoo!/ChannelForce study of television and digital camera sales, customers who searched online spend 10% more on in-store purchases than those that did not use an online search engine.
Read Full Story: Consumer Electronics Sales Start Online – eMarketer

• 153 million PayPal accounts (35% increase from 2006)
• Almost $1 billion turned per week.
• 1.2+ million transactions daily (more…)

This article is a good overview of the recent Supreme Court Decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. and how it effects resale price maintenance, MSRP, MAP and unilateral pricing. Manufacturers need to realize that “quality partners should be paired with premium products, while commodity sellers should be paired with commodity products”

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