e-Commerce amidst the economic crisis

Yesterday, 77 was flattered to participate in a half-day roundtable session held at Il Sole 24 Ore’s publishing division, BusinessMedia 24, where we were invited by Francesco Marino, Business Media’s Publisher, as the only agency amongst a panel of participants which included Managing and General Directors of prominent companies such as Media World, Euronics, Esprinet and Microsoft to name a few.

The conference, which was dedicated to e-Commerce in the consumer electronics sector and the shift between online versus offline consumption, opened up with Antonio Besana, GFK’s Director, giving a brief sum up on the latest findings and emerging e-commerce trends.

He explained how there’s an increasing number of consumers who are now shopping online in a more frequent manner, which is resulting in that the Internet remains the fastest growing sales channel.

e-Commerce itself rose significantly in 2008, a growth which is primarily attributable to the fact that more people are shopping on the net than ever before. In 2008, the number of online purchases rose by 12% to 29.5 million out of an estimated spend of 252 million euros in Europe, according to a study by casaleggio.it.

Amedeo Guffanti (see image below), 77Agency Partner and Business Strategist, intervened by explaining that despite the economic crisis the world is facing today, e-Commerce is proving to be a great opportunity for branding and having online presence, especially for companies that had never before considered the Internet as an alternative marketing strategy, making particular reference to the fashion and luxury goods sector. Some brands 77 is currently working with that have decided to tap into the online world include Athlete’s World, Miss Sixty and Dimensione Danza.

In conclusion, we can say that today’s crisis has helped businesses expand their horizons and marketing strategies. Some more than others have in fact realized that the integration of the different channels- online, offline, mobile- serve as great contribution to improving customer loyalty, client interaction and the overall availability of products and services. In this sense, it is of great importance companies begin jumping on the bandwagon in order to survive the economic downturn and seek for innovative, non-traditional marketing methods.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 7:02 pm and is filed under e-Commerce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.