Despite the economic slowdown, e-commerce and online business has remained strong. This prompted an article in the E-commerce Times this morning asking if this is just a fluke and if the e-commerce industry is just lucky.
The conclusion from the article is that since e-commerce businesses focus more on relationship building activities and customer loyalty than brick-and-mortar retailers, the e-commerce model thrives.
I'd have to agree with this. E-commerce businesses have so much more data at their disposal since business happens electronically. They can learn which offers and online marketing channels drive the most business, and testing offers and creative on the web is, well, easy. Not so offline. Try asking a brick-and-mortar retailer how much business their TV or radio ad drove, and you'd get nothing more than an educated guess.
