Multichannel retailers increased their sales by 14% in 2005 in both the number of transactions and in sales volume, according to Abacus.
According to the 2006 Abacus Multi-Channel Annual Trend Report, this increase was driven by the purchasing activity of 62 million households, of the more than 90 million that are included in the Abacus Alliance. These households made approximately 257 million purchases via direct channels in 2005, resulting in $31.3 billion in sales.
For most of the top categories, stable growth continued with two exceptions: senior products growth rates lost momentum from a high of 9% growth in 2002 to 4% in 2005. Children’s products sales grew 11% in 2005.
The largest categories and year-over-year performance include:
* Apparel and Accessories– $8.6 billion, 9% increase
* Home Decor and Furnishings–$5.4 billion, 5% increase
* Gifts— $3.6 billion, 7% increase
* Men’s products– $3.1 billion, 6% increase
* Senior products–en’s products – $1.3 billion, 11% increase
In addition, the shift of sales from call centers to Web sites continues. In total, 25% of direct sales for multichannel merchants were conducted through Web sites in 2005, up from 20% in 2004, the study continued.
The report also showed that customers still prefer to order through phones, mail and fax, with 51% of households ordering through those channels. However, household purchases from the those channels is down 5% from 2004, while the proportion of dollars and transactions generated via the Web continues to grow steadily between 17-19% year over year.
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