UK Retailers Missing Out On £1bn Worth Of Online Sales This Christmas

Published 7th December 2005

7 December, 2005 – The Voice Commerce Group today issued a warning that British online retailers stand to miss out on up to £1 billion worth of sales in the run-up to Christmas...

Despite the CBI’s warning that UK high street retail sales fell at their fastest pace for 22 years in November, 2005 is still set to be a bumper year for online retailers, and with competition for purchases at its most intense, it’s increasingly important that the online shopping process is made as simple as possible. With research revealing that more than 50% of shopping carts are abandoned due to lack of confidence or information, e-commerce as we know it is about to change.

Nick Ogden, Voice Commerce Group President and WorldPay founder, explained: “With UK online retail market worth some £5 billion this Christmas, it’s staggering that retailers aren’t using Internet communications technology to make the most of this lucrative period. Many of the abandoned transactions could be saved by including a simple ‘click-to-call’ link on retail websites. By giving the customer the confidence and information needed to complete the purchase, using VoIP technology to talk directly from their PC to a customer service representative, retailers could realise the full potential of the multi-billion online retail market.”

Nick Ogden, who built Europe’s first online shop in 1994, predicts that the voice commerce revolution will be more profound than e-commerce. Voice Commerce believes that with growing broadband penetration, fuelled by intense price competition, the online shopping experience will start to become much more realistic through the use of voice, 3D animation and video technologies.

Christmas online in 2006 will be a fascinating experience he predicts, “You will be able to “walk” along a virtual street and into shops that you recognise, watch video’s of the latest fashions and click on the products you like, visualise them in 3D, talk to the sales assistant and then buy them securely, and perhaps even haggle for a discount.”

This year has seen huge growth in VoIP with eBay’s multi billion dollar purchase of Skype setting a trend that Google and others are following. Voice commerce, which allows people to use their computers to talk and visualise, is set to revolutionise the way the Internet functions during 2006.






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