Online Sales Surge During Holiday Season

Strong online growth seen this holiday shopping season

Online retail sales are expected to jump as much as 18% during the Holiday Season – in this week’s Regalix Roundup.

ComScore Inc. has predicted a 15 to 18 percent growth in online retail sales over the Holiday Season. Contributing to the growth are early online deals, businesses’ encouragement of purchasing through mobile devices, and more online offers with free shipping. Cyber Monday sales alone are expected to jump 30 percent.

J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth projects that, for the first time ever, 10 percent of retail sales in the United States will be through online purchases in Q4 alone

Source: Yahoo News (via Reuters)

Regalix Response:

With several large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target opening in-store deals on Thanksgiving, competitors specializing in narrower product channels have to match the deals by providing in-home convenience and other perks such as free shipping.

Conversely, larger retailers will continue to draw in more people by pushing the need to buy on Thanksgiving weekend, but they also have the opportunity to capture an entire audience – both those in-store and those avoiding the Black Friday rush – by offering online deals, too.

NYC payphones get revived as touch-screen tablets

GigaOM has reported that Cisco Systems and 24/7 have announced to transform New York City payphones into 32-inch touchscreen information kiosks. These “Smart Screens” provide information related to events, restaurants, and other points of interest around New York. A handful of Smart Screens are already available around Union Square, but the project will expand to payphones located around bus stops, train stations, and shopping malls; Cisco and 24/7 will complete its 250 Smart Screen project in early 2013.

Source: CNET

Regalix Response: The Smart Screen is programmed with data and content that will appeal to tourists and residents – saving them the hassle of taking out their mobile device, spending time getting onto a 3G/4G/WiFi network, and searching around. But with recent reports about mobile device hacking, it’s scary to imagine what an intrusion into such an information system would mean for a large city.