Sales
are booming and if you can't take credit or debit in your business,
you are missing out on lots of additional sales. Internet or
e-commerce has become a commanding presence in today's economy
and most of that online shopping is paid for via credit card.
You need to get in on that action! Check out some of these statistics
on online retailing as compiled by Shop.Org:*
In total, members of Generation Y -- people born since 1977
-- have annual income of $211 billion, a Harris Interactive
poll determined. Each year, this group spends about $172 billion
of that income. And the amount spent online is growing: This
year, people aged 8 to 21 spent 14.5 percent of their income
online, versus 11.8 percent last year. (Harris Interactive
11/28/2003*)
Online retail sales in the U.S, grew 39% to $956 million
for the week ending July 20 from $688 million in the corresponding
week a year ago. com (Score Networks 07/29/2003* )
Online sales totaled 30% of catalogers' sales in 2002, up
25% from 2001, when the proportion of online sales was 24%.
(Abacus 07/15/2003* )
Online sales are expected to increase 20 percent this year to
$211.4 billion, after hitting the $100 billion mark just three
years ago, according to a Shop.org study. Online sales excluding
travel are expected to reach $138 billion this year.
Projected to reach an estimated 63 million U.S. households
by 2008, online buying is moving increasingly toward the mainstream.
The typical web buyer has been purchasing online for about
three years, spending about $300 online in the past three
months, from household income of more than $70,000 per year.
(Forrester Research 07/08/2003*)
Retail sales online will grow by an average rate of 21% per
year between 2002 and 2007, when the web will account for
5% of all retail sales. (Jupiter 01/08/2003* )
For the week ending Jan. 26, consumers spent $965 million
at e-retail sites, 25% more than the same week a year ago.
The spending rate was 40% over the average $702 million per
week for the first two weeks of the year. (ComScore 02/03/2003*
)
Here's another amazing fact: so far the tax returns filed
for 2003 have increased exponentially over all prior years!
More people have filed returns than ever before. And why,
you ask? Simple..... because it's so easy to file them online
and ontime. And let's not forget that payment for filing all
these online returns had to either be made by credit card,
or as a deduction from a refund (for a fee, of course).
McDonald's®, Wendy's®, Taco Bell®, KFC®,
Church's®, and many other fast food restaurants are now
accepting plastic. Even these huge franchises have recognized
that missing out on credit/debit is missing out on too many
additional sales, and leaving too much money on the table.
Even they are on board - shouldn't YOU be?!
