Press Release:

ekmPowershop.com, the UK’s leading shopping cart provider surveyed over 6000 online shops in the run up to Christmas 2009. The biggest independent survey of its kind in the UK found that independent retailers are growing more resilient against the perceived clout of the ‘retail giants’. 

Most of the headlines were rather predictably grabbed by the bigger retailers like Play.com, Amazon and John Lewis, but what about the SMES? They are the heart and soul of the British economy and employ the bulk of our population. Independent businesses are thriving online as our studies show. 

Across the board, merchants have seen an increase on last Christmas (2008) in the region of 23%. That’s solid proof that despite the recession, retailers can still grow their businesses by diversifying through online channels. It’s also an encouraging sign of consumer confidence picking back up as we start to loosen the purse strings. 

Steven Hickey, Head of Commercial Development at ekmPowershop.com reflects on the biggest annual survey for online retail in the SME sector – one which the online retail industry looks forward to every year:

“As a hosted platform with more merchants than any other company in the industry, we can query our servers and get live, accurate data like no other provider can. The stats we produce are used by both the hosting and payment service providers as a glimpse at the coming 12 months and any changes or shifts in buying patterns we may be in for. At the moment the big shift seems to be in value based purchases; as people shop around for the best price and make a more considered purchase with their diminished funds compared to 2 years ago before the recession set in. Stocking hard to find products and offering a more personal level of Customer Care also seems to be a big advantage for the smaller online businesses.”

Caroline Rutter from online retailer www.PrettyCool.co.uk comments on how smaller retailers have greater flexibility which gives them a competitive edge over the retail giants:

“We have many, many products that the retail giants only stock when they see shops like ours selling weeks before hand. For instance, our bendy necklaces have been on our site for two years and we sell many each week, but you will not see them on the retail giant sites”.

Stocking hard to find items and offering a more personal touch makes smaller online shopping websites a more popular choice than in previous years. As they develop over time it seems as though things will only get better too. 

Sarah Burns from online jewellery retailer www.Jewellery2clear.co.uk observes how her business competes with the major retail brands online: “It is possible for smaller companies to compete if they rank high enough within the major search engines, and can provide diverse products at the right price. Such a service that can in many respects be better than larger organisations”.

Even industries where we might expect there to be a downturn over winter months such as swimwear and swimming equipment have felt the surge online this Christmas. Carla Lloyd from www.FunSwimShop.co.uk added:

“The online environment does create more of a level playing field for retailers, smaller companies can compete if they offer products people want and invest time and money optimising their site for the search engines. Orders are up 100% on this period last year.” 

Antony Chesworth, Managing Director of Ekm Systems Ltd has seen the year on year growth of independent online retail since he created ekmPowershop.com eight years ago: 

“"We see too much emphasis given to the giants of the retail sector both online and offline, when year on year we see how small independent businesses with small budgets win big by having their own online shop. Many of these small independents today will become the giants of tomorrow."

Full Press Release at http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=52809