15% of all retail spend was online in 2007

UK online shopping reached an all time high in the run up to Christmas, with £15.2 billion spent online in October to December. This brings the full year UK e-retail sales to £46.6 billion, up 54% on the £30.2 billion recorded for 2006, according to the 'IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index'.

December's e-retail sales were nearly 50% higher than last year's, although demand for online shopping tailed off significantly towards the end of 2007 with December's index only 0.2% higher than November's, reflecting the credit crunch across the UK economy.

The data, collated by The Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) and analysed by Capgemini's consumer retail team, reveals that peak online shopping occurred in the first week of December where there was a 9% increase in all online sales. This is later than in previous years, indicating that consumers are making the most of pre Christmas discounting and delaying purchases until the onset of the sales.

The final week of the year only saw a reduction in online sales of 4% (compared with -22% in the previous year) suggesting a tendency to go online to spend Christmas money and vouchers and hitting the online sales post Christmas rather than the high street sales. Clothing increased by 13% in this final week and electrical items by 4%.

James Roper CEO of IMRG, said: "Consumers are making the most of the 24/7 convenience and competitive pricing that online shopping has to offer. Why would you fight the shopping crowd to buy a TV on the high street when you can arrange for it to be delivered to your home, at a time that suits you and often at a more competitive price? Consumer behaviour has changed dramatically over the last few years and really is the driving force behind many of the changes in the e-retail landscape. If retailers intend to be part of the future retail scene, they need to develop a robust online presence, and that is getting harder as the sophistication of channel increases and customers expectations rise".

www.imrg.org

New Look optimises inventory fulfilment

European fashion retailer New Look has implemented Quantum Retail's inventory optimisation solution, Q, to manage the replenishment of its 600 stores.

"As a fast fashion business with our customers at the core of everything we do, we recognised that Quantum Retail's demand forecast model offered us an opportunity for our customers to further influence our decision-making," said New Look director of IT, Adrian Thompson. "Its innovative science allowed us to continue to support our fast fashion model with speedy and accurate decisions based on our latest sales and stock figures."

Quantum Retail's Q solution has been implemented alongside the retailer's existing Oracle retail merchandising system, initially optimising the replenishment part of the business. Future planned phases include multi channel lifecycle management, initial allocation and reorder planning.

"The successful delivery of this program was based on an exhaustive proof of concept and a speedy implementation," Thompson said. "The Quantum team integrated seamlessly with my own. Their well thought through designs included system and integration, great business engagement and training at both commercial and functional levels. Quantum is now live with no adverse impact to either IT or the business and is already giving us confidence that the business case will be delivered successfully."

After an initial monitoring period, service levels showed an increase in availability alongside a reduction in total inventory when compared to a control group. As the rollout of Q continues, it will be rebalancing stock throughout New Look's 600 UK and international stores, leading to fewer stock outs and improved sales and profit. Through the use of Q's advanced forecasting and order planning module, New Look will be able to gain greater visibility of long range inventory need and be able to optimally flow inventory to its stores.

"Its simple user interface means Q can be used by our allocators, rather than having to rely on experienced forecasters and mathematicians," Thompson concluded.

www.quantumretail.com

Borders UK to trial CD and DVD ROM on demand in store

Borders UK have announced that it has signed a deal with Tribeka Ltd to trial a service that will offer CD and DVD ROM on demand.

Branded as On Demand, it will go into the Borders flagship Oxford Street branch in London on 4th February, offering customers the opportunity to choose from over 1,500 software items, including educational, business and entertainment products such as games, music and video.

The solution is based on Tribeka's SoftWide technology which allows customers to walk into a store, choose from a range of software, and walk away with a secure software copy, identical to the traditionally distributed version. The company has agreements with more than 225 brand name software publishers including the BBC, Dorling Kindersley, Lego, McAfee, Sage, and Britannica. The SoftWide solution is also capable of supporting music and is upgradeable for the release of console platforms and movies.

Customers at Borders in Oxford St will be able to choose items from either an online e-catalogue or from a printed version available in store. As soon as the customers have made their choice and purchased a product, the SoftWide system will automatically obtain authorisation from Tribeka's control centre via a secured license release and will then immediately start an on-site replication of the product. The software will then be pressed onto a disc and the entire process, including the printing of a user manual and colour inlay, all to factory quality, will be completed within a couple of minutes.

David Kohn, commercial director of Borders, said "Borders are excited to be associated with this ground-breaking initiative. As well as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, the technology is designed to work with standard CD and DVD formats. We believe it could transform radically both the experience and the economics of retailing entertainment product in store. We are already working with publishers on how we can extend the offer to include spoken word, and believe there is a great opportunity to breathe life back into this market."

www.tribeka.com

Sainsbury's selects Eqos to scale sourcing operations

Eqos Ltd. provider of on-demand PLM (product lifecycle management), global sourcing, and supplier management solutions for the retail supply chain, announced this week that J Sainsbury plc has selected Eqos 4.0 to support their private label programme.

Eqos' PLM, sourcing and supplier management solution will enable Sainsbury's to scale its international sourcing operations for private label general merchandise, grocery and apparel.

"We're extremely pleased to have this opportunity to continue to support Sainsbury's corporate growth objectives," said Jane Biddle, Eqos chief marketing officer. "For more than a decade, we've worked in partnership to strengthen and improve Sainsbury's supplier management and key performance indicator capabilities for its more than 5,000 suppliers. This new project will extend the Eqos collaborative platform to include international sourcing operations, agents, factories and other supply chain partners."

www.eqos.com