The news today said retail sales are down. But online they’re holding, which is actually a virtual increase. From WebProNews:
For the holiday season through December 12, $19.44 billion has been spent online, about the same amount as last year. For the twelve days beginning with December 1 (Cyber Monday), the kick-off to the heaviest part of the online shopping season, sales totaled $8.26 billion up 3 percent compared to a year ago.
If the economy wasn’t slowing down, I think we’d actually be seeing an increase in online sales. The fact that fewer people are shopping offline and online sales are about the same as last year means that online sales are in somewhat of a decline, but it also means that some of those people who would be shopping offline are now shopping online. So while dollars spent may be in decline, people spending those dollars are increasing. That’s encouraging.
What every advertiser should be asking is how they reach their target market more effectively and cost efficiently using pay per click and other online paid marketing tools. It is not too late to take a look at pay per click as an alternative to traditional offline marketing. Now is the best time ever.
