Swanndri’s direct to consumer strategy required the support of eStar’s eCommerce expertise and functionality

2015 was a big year for ecommerce as retailers found their groove in the online marketplace and fought off international competition. eStar CEO Andrew Buxton gives some insights on some of the trends in store for 2016.

eStar chief executive Andrew Buxton participated in The Register's series exploring the retail industry's smartest moves of the past year. He shares his insights into 2015 and suggests what retailers should be thinking about in the new year.

eStar’s customers showed average online transaction growth of over 300% on normal trading during the 2015 Christmas / Boxing day period.

While eStar’s clients increase exceeded 300%, during the period page load times showed no degradation of services despite extra customer visits, orders and sales occurred.

Slow loading websites costs retailers millions and has a direct correlation on conversion rates, especially with the increase in mobile usage.

Page load speeds are driven by a host of factors such as page design, content, eCommerce solution used, and if the infrastructure / hosting environment is not equipped to handle the increased volume of traffic. It is important to get the balance right.

Retailers can do more to meet consumer expectations. eStar can help ensure retailers have a sound digital strategy in place to deliver the best customer experience.

Opinion Piece by Andrew Buxton, CEO eStar

Major expansion in retail means acquiring new customers. In simple terms that is done either through the expansion of products, services, or brands offered, or by expanding into new markets. Traditional market expansion has been through adding more physical retail stores.

Traditional store growth for retail chains in New Zealand, with our small population of 4.5 million, usually reaches saturation at about 50-70 stores for most brands. For successful retail brands the next step is to look overseas. While there are many retail examples of international store expansion, such as Pumpkin Patch, Kathmandu or Rodd & Gunn, many have struggled to make such international expansion a financial success. Expansion through physical stores has a large commitment – store leases, fit-out costs, people costs, stock holding and distribution costs in market, not to mention market entry and store promotion. It’s a big commitment with high risks.