Will Real Retail Days Be Better After "Electric Shock"?

Data from Channel Advisor, a US e-commerce service provider tracked by more than 2700 retailers selling online products, showed that e-commerce sales increased by 15.6% over the same period last year, according to preliminary data from online shopping Monday.

After a relatively weak "black Friday", preliminary data on online shopping Monday showed that the Internet has become the main driving force of the US retail industry.

IBM's statistics show that traditional retailers such as department stores and clothing chains have experienced varying degrees of online retail business this year.

According to the traditional view, the profit rate of online retailing should be higher, because the website does not need to maintain the high cost of real estate and employees in the retail network.

But after the touches, the profit margins of many retailers' online retail businesses are very low, or even a loss, because of the cost of delivery and the rate of return.

Industry analysts point out that for retailers who have outsourced websites and distribution businesses, their operating costs may be as high as 25% of total sales.

Kohl's s Corp, the third largest retailer in the US, says that the profit margin of the company's online retail business is less than half of that of the retail business.

WAL-MART said that by 2016, the company's online business will always be in the red if it is invested in building its own technology, technology and distribution network.

Taghit said that with the growth of online retail sales, the company's profit margins will decline.

Best buy said that by the end of this year, the rapid growth of online retail business will have an impact on the profitability of the company.

Meanwhile, Primark, a European discount retailer who plans to open 8 retail stores in the United States, has been shunning the business because it believes that online businesses can't make profits. Mark

John Barson, chief financial officer of Associated British Foods PLC, parent company of Mark, said: "our current main business is not online retail business, nor has it been profitable through this business."

The above comments of traditional retailers reflect that the challenges faced by traditional retailers are increasing with the increasing number of online shopping by American consumers.

The profit margin is not only a problem that retailers who want to touch the net need to overcome.

Like other online retailers, the profit margin of Amason's online retailing industry is also very low.

So far, Amazon spokesman has not commented on this report.

Simeon Siegel, an analyst at Nomura, said: "if the nature of e-commerce can generate enough profit margins, the profit margins of pure e-commerce companies should be higher." Simon Siegel said.

Online retail is growing at a much faster rate than physical retailing.

Market research firm Forrester Research predicts that by 2018, total retail sales will reach US $414 billion, accounting for 11% of total retail sales.

The company also expects us online retail sales to reach US $294 billion this year, accounting for 9% of the total retail sales.

Kevin Mansell, chief executive of Kevin, said: "if you don't choose to touch the net, you will make a big mistake, because this is the direction of market movement." (Mansell)

Mansell said that he was willing to sacrifice part of his profits to get more revenue.

Like most retailers, the Department reported almost no mention of its retail business in its financial statements.

Mansell said that the online profit of the department store's online retail business is about 4%, less than half of its nearly 1200 physical retail outlets operating profit margin of 10%.

"I don't care if consumers choose to shop in a physical store or a retail store," he said.

We are concerned about sales. "

In the last quarter of November 1st, the company's profit margin dropped by 20% compared with the third consecutive decline in quarterly sales this year.

However, sales of the company are expected to increase in the current quarter.

About $2 billion of the $19 billion sales forecast for the year of the Department of commerce is about online retailing.

The reason for the lower profitability of the online business of the Department is mainly due to lower retail prices of online goods.

Retailers have no obvious advantage in selling cheap products on the Internet, because the cost of warehousing and logistics is almost the same as that of the same size products.

As more customers of the department store start shopping online, and the expenses of website operations and distribution centers have been diluted, the company is expected to be

The profit margin of the business will decline.

But Wesley MacDonald, chief financial officer of Wesley, said he expects that the profit margin of the company's online retail business will not exceed the profit margin of the entity store business. (McDonald)

American teenagers

Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co and North American high-end Yoga apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. are among the few retailers who separately calculate online business profits in earnings reports.

Their financial data show that the profit margin of e-commerce business exceeds that of physical stores.

However, market analysts believe that there is much room for the two companies to allocate costs.

Up to now, neither of the two companies has commented on this report.

For the outside world,

The profit margin is still a mystery because the vast majority of retailers do not disclose the relevant data of the network business too much.

But there are signs that the profit margins of retailers' online businesses are falling.

Paul Lejuez, a Lejuez analyst with 15 retailers who specializes in tracking their online businesses, said that the profit margins of 9 retailers have declined along with the rising proportion of total sales of retailers' online business.

There are many explanations for the decline in profit margins of the above retailers, including the reduction of passenger traffic and the increase of discount activities.

However, Le Ruzi believes that the rise of e-commerce has made consumers more comfortable than the price of products, which also led to the profit margins of retailers.