It wasn’t only the high street that suffered a festive slowdown – on-line shopping in general also dipped 3% during the traditionally lucrative period. However, some e-tailers did buck this trend and a study shows that while consumers spent less, more shoppers went on-line to shop in November and December 2008.

Now e-commerce forecasters are predicting that if businesses are hoping to beat the credit crunch – and have a successful, long-term business – then e-tail is the only way to do it.

At the same time e-rail analysts have revealed that the fastest growing on-line product genre in recent months has been sports and fitness. Next up was video games and consoles. In third place was clothing and accessories.

Those e-tailers suffering the biggest credit crunch hit include office supplies, music and movies, jewellery and computer hardware.

Are you an e-tailer that is bucking or confirming this trend?

You can’t help but notice a fast-growing trend for embedding video into websites. And videos can have big advantages for on-line business – but only if the videos are well made, well executed and to the point.

It’s like everything on-line: you have just a few seconds to impress a new visitor and anything – including design, text and video – that looks a bit dodgy will be an instant turn-off.

The key is to offer video that truly offers added value because of unique and informative videoing. Also make sure you keep the video short and to the point.

If you stick to all these points (and maybe it is better to hire a pro to do your videos for you) then in many cases videos can actually offer a whole lot more than words. For example, if you wanted to tell a potential customer about the latest Wii game then it’s quicker and more effective to show them a video of the game in action than to try to explain the game in words.

Why not tell us about the good videos you’ve seen – and the bad.

There was a glimmer of good news for some bosses last week after Labour unveiled a scheme to guarantee up to £20bn in loans to small and medium-sized firms. Labour’s Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, said the proposals would target “genuine business needs” to help small firms survive the economic downturn.

Central to the Government’s loan plan is a £10bn Working Capital Scheme designed to help banks lend capital to businesses. In effect what this means is that Labour will, in return for a fee, insure banks against companies defaulting on loan repayments. The proposals amount to a 50% guarantee on of £20bn short-term loans to firms with a turnover of up to £500m.

Mandelson is reported as saying: “The £10bn injection to banks represents a guarantee to enable them to free up working capital to sustain existing loans and create new ones.”  But he added that “a condition of [banks] getting the money will be that they negotiate with the government on what capital will be freed up”.

Bank lending is to be targeted at “innovative, viable and growing” companies that are finding it difficult to access working capital, for example to pay employee wages.

Other parts of the package include a pledge by Labour to put aside £225m to cover any repayments that can’t be made by some small businesses that may default on loans. Plus there will be a new Enterprise Guarantee Scheme, which will secure up to £1.3bn in additional bank loans to companies with a turnover of up to £25m. These companies will be able to borrow a maximum of £1m, with 75% guaranteed by the Government.

In addition, Mandelson said that Labour was setting up a £75m Capital for Enterprise Fund specifically for businesses with high levels of debt that have “exhausted traditional forms of financing”. £50m will be provided by the government and £25m by the major banks.

For the second year in a row, online customer service satisfaction researchers, ForeSee Results, conducted a Top 30 UK Online Retail Satisfaction Index during the Christmas period.

While ForeSee’s results looked at only the 30 biggest players in the UK, the results offer some pointers for smaller e-retailers, or those planning to launch an online retail website.

ForeSee’s study asked 7000 visitors to the 30 UK e-retail sites, between November 28, and December 15, 2008, for their satisfaction responses. Of the respondents, 87% were from England, 9% were from Scotland and 4% were from Wales.

Online shoppers were asked to consider four specific points:

* Merchandise: Availability, variety, and appeal of products

* Functionality: The variety, availability, and usefulness of features on the website

* Content: The accuracy, quality, and freshness of content

* Price: Product price appropriateness and competitiveness.

Overall, the findings show a slight increase in satisfaction from Christmas 2007 to Christmas 2008: from 66 to 67 on the study’s 100-point scale. More e-retailers saw satisfaction increases than decreases, and some saw huge gains. But one-third of the top 30 online retailers saw their scores drop. Scores for the 30 online retailers span an 18-point range from a high of 78 to a low of 60.

In first place

In top, tied position in 2008 were Amazon UK (up three points form 2007) and Play.com (up two points from 2007) both with a score of 78.

Next up

Runners up in order of highest satisfaction were: eBay UK (72), Apple iTunes UK (entering the chart at 71), Screwfix Direct (up two points to 71), QVC UK (70), Ebuyer (70), ASOS and Argos (both up three points to 70).

Last year’s news

Falling out of the top performers category this year are HMV (69) and Marks & Spencer (down two points to 68).

Weakest link

While B&Q (60) tied for the last spot, the company had improved a superb seven points over last year. PC World (60) is up one point. Meanwhile, The Orange Shop (60) fell one point and Currys (60) remained the same year-on-year.

Lessons to learn

It’s commonsense that a positive online shopping experience is likely to lead to increased shopping loyalty and improved word of mouth marketing.

In order to increase overall satisfaction, e-retailers need to understand how changing certain elements of their websites will (or won’t) impact satisfaction.

WebCreation UK offer a full range of ecommerce solutions which would allow to you run your business 100% online. Why not take a look at our ecommerce options today and decide which may be right for you.

Happy shopping!

You can never predict what will happen in the world of web design in the coming year. So often, technology moves faster and in more amazing ways than you could ever imagine. But there are some design growths to look out for over the coming 12 months.

Vids: The way to get ahead with your website is to include video delivered by Flash. To do this, designers need to be familiar with the workings of sites such as YouTube and Viddler. Get to grips with this and your website just got even more attractive to typically fickle visitors.

Widgets: Interactive widgets are growing – and will definitely get bigger in 2009.

Social media: Hot social media techniques such as using Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, that provide more links to websites, will undoubtedly have a large presence and a greater influence. Look out for automatic distribution, too.

Design styles: Ever more exciting designs and even hand-drawn websites are likely trends for 2009. It’s good news for arty types – and a way to ensure your website stands out from the crowds.

Web design for mobiles: Mobile web use is predicted to grow so watch out for more streamlined websites that will be better suited to the smaller devices.

A successful website needs good, quality content. If you don’t already know this, then now is the time to get clued up.

While you’ll need to get people to come to your website in the first place (so you’ll have to invest in some promotion and marketing), once they find your website they will only stick with you if they like what they read. Poor content equals a quick exit, rather like when you read the first page of a new novel. But if visitors are instantly attracted to good content then they are likely to spread the word. In the internet world, word is spread via “links”.

And it doesn’t stop here. Make sure that your website also has RSS feeds so visitors can easily share the word. This makes it simpler for people who like the content on your website to spread the word to others via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Digg etc. The more people who share your website around the more links you’ll get and the more your website will be read. It goes on and on.

But don’t let people bad mouth you. If your content stinks, or is inaccurate in any way, then visitors might well spread the word on your poor website. No website owner or on-line business wants a bad reputation. Remember it’s just as easy for visitors to spread a “bad’ word, as it is a “good” word. Creating good content gives you credibility.

So now you’re in the position to gain advertisers. Advertisers and sponsors like to know that websites have a good reputation and lots of visitors so once you’ve set up your good quality, reputable website there is more chance of making some money form advertising. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

That’s why content is king! Because it can pave the way to untold riches.