comScore: B2C e-Commerce Growth Grew by 6% in 2008

eMarketer reports on comScore's 2008 E-Commerce Sales..

Unlike in preceding years, business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce growth got sluggish in 2008. Looking specifically at retail e-commerce, comScore found that sales grew by only 6% in 2008, the lowest rate since the dot-com crash in 2003.

Of the total $221 billion in B2C online sales last year, $130 billion were retail e-commerce sales. The rest were travel sales.

Other sources reported numbers similar to comScore’s, with Citi Investment Research, Collins Stewart and eMarketer all within $10 million of their retail projection.

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The online retail categories that were hardest hit by theslowdown were computer software, digital entertainment and officesupplies, while fitness equipment, books and furniture continuedstrong.

So how can companies thrive under tough economic conditions? GianFulgoni of comScore suggests savvy marketers ask themselves thefollowing questions:

• Am I appropriately allocating my marketing/advertising budgets?
• How am I measuring my online advertising performance?
• What is my current coupon/promotion strategy?
• Am I using the down economy as a time to build relationships with customers that will pay off in the future?
• Am I optimizing my search strategy in today’s economy?
• Am I being creative, or am I doing what I have always done?

If you have the right answers, then the downturn might not be so bad.