While experts predicted a decline in eCommerce sales this holiday season due to the current global economic downturn, Read Write Web recently reported, that Amazon’s 14th holiday season was its ‘best ever’ with the online retailer processing over 6.3 million orders worldwide (for one day – December 15th). Why was Amazon so successful where others weren’t? Well, it may be partly due to the company’s open adoption of new technologies to improve the shopping experience. Amazon was among the first to incorporate RIA elements into its site and today it continues this innovation with the recent addition of its Windowshop.com platform.
The market was fruitful for many retailers this year, with ComScore reporting that U.S. consumers spent almost twice as much online during the final weekend before Christmas as they did last year. However the question is will this continue?
Now that we’ve hit the post-Boxing Day season where it seems that the entire month of January has morphed into an extension of blowout sales, it will be interesting to see if retailers will begin to rethink their current eCommerce strategies and will reach out to Rich Media and RIAs as differentiators like analysts predicted last year. New methods of presenting products online, conducting transactions and delivering messages via support and sales are helping many businesses to weather the storm. Diversifying the means in which these companies spread information by reusing the tools they already have on hand such as catalogs, product guides and brochures all position them for success. As many experts have said before, the companies that integrate smart technology choices into their business model will be the survivors during this period of transition.
