Movers and shakers news in the ecommerce world is that lingerie e-tailer has been bought for £11.5 million by home shopping group N Brown. This could be a very smart move for N Brown Group, which already owns brands JD Williams, Jacamo, High & Mighty, Simply Be, Oxendales and such as High & Mighty, Simply Be and Marisota as many more people sign on-line to do their shopping.

Figleaves, which launched in 1998, attracts 1.2 million on-line visitors each month and is set for a turnover of £23 million in the year to the end of June. The e-tailer sells more than 100 brands of lingerie and delivers to more than 100 countries including the US.

N Brown’s CEO Alan White is reported as saying: “The Figleaves purchase… demonstrates our commitment to continue to expand the ecommerce proportion of our business.”

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Any e-commerce owners will be delighted to hear about another on-line business success. New Look’s recent on-line growth has seen it become the third-biggest e-commerce fashion retailer in the UK, moving up from fifth place in 2009.

New Look reported that it benefited from 1.3 million on-line orders in the last financial year. The e-retail site gets two million hits every week, which is awesome.

The budget fashion retailer – with 1,108 stores worldwide – will be pleased with an underlying operating profit growth of17.7% to £163 million for the year to 27 March 2010. Total sales were up 10.7%, reaching £1.45 billion.

It’s clear that even in tough economic times – and when high street stores are suffering financially – that many on-line stores are surviving well.

Could it be that romantic shoppers were the reason for boosted on-line sales in February? Certainly last month’s figures have helped to improve the slight downturn on January’s figures.

Sales from e-commerce sites were by 13% compared to February 2009, according to latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
An estimated £4.1 billion was spent on-line in the month compared to £3.6 billion in 2009.

This sales increase comes after a decline of 4% in January 2010, most likely a seasonal fall-off after the big Christmas spends.

Taking a closer look at Valentine’s sales on-line the report reveals a shift in the buying choice. The gifts sector – including flowers and hampers – fell by a third in the week before Valentine’s Day while sales of lingerie and beauty products grew by 30% and 25% respectively.

Chris Webster, vice president of retail consulting and technology at  Capgemini is reported as saying:
“It is reassuring to see that romance hasn’t been lost in the recession, and shoppers clearly haven’t lost the love for on-line retail.

“The growth of less traditional sectors in February paints an optimistic picture of consumers picking themselves up following the doom and gloom of the last couple of years. Despite on-line retail’s maturity, it is still showing strong growth levels of 13%.”

A new report reveals the continued growth of ebay traders. The IMRG/IMRWorld survey of 458 ebay retailers showed:

*Annual turnovers of between £100,000 and £3.4million
* Average turnover for survey respondents of £242,000
* Average number of employees is eight
* 44%employed three or more people.

This revealed that the UK has over 120,000 online businesses on eBay alone, generating sales of €1.9 billion per year.

At the same time an eBay survey shows that internet sales drive exports, by making it possible for SMEs to export around the world.

Overseas sales are big business for British eBay sellers, with exports making up one in six of their sales. Of these, 88% of businesses sought growth by engaging in cross-border trade in the last quarter of 2008.

An e-retail index reveals just how fast on-line businesses are expanding in the UK, generating many new jobs and driving new export business.

The latest report from the e-retail body, IMRG, shows:

* 600,000 British jobs are now either directly in or supporting e-retail and e-commerce.
* The UK has 150,000 on-line retail businesses
* E-retailers employ six times as many staff as when they started trading
*78% of on-line retailers surveyed expect to recruit staff in the next year
* 39% expect to take on more staff within three months
* 88% of eBay retailers sought growth through cross-border trade in the last quarter of 2008.

It is only 16 years since the first UK e-retailers started in business – and since then the “Compound Average Growth Rate” (CAGR) of employment in on-line retail has been 19% (18.9%). If growth continues at this rate, it’s predicted that there will be one million e-jobs by 2013, and almost three million by 2020.

James Roper, chief executive of IMRG is reported as saying: “It’s clear that being competitive in the on-line marketplace is critical both for businesses and the economy. E-retail is making a huge contribution to the UK’s wider economic health, creating revenue, new employment and opportunities for people to purchase goods at lower prices.”

Retail businesses are obviously always on the look out for ways to boost footfall in stores and increase traffic on-line. So you have to hand it to high street chemist giant for their latest idea.

The company – which has both a high street presence and a strong e-commerce brand – is thought to be considering allowing other retailers to use its 2,600 stores as pick-up points for customers who shop on-line.

The theory is that while there are many retailers with great offers, particularly in sectors such as fashion, they don’t have a good customer reach. However, Boots boasts more than 2,600 stores and in many remote or smaller towns, which means it could offer a great geographic spread of pick-up points for other on-line companies.

A spokesman for the store added that 40% of its online orders during the festive period were collected in-store.

At the same time, the health and beauty retailer has agreed a deal with Mothercare to design and sell a range of children’s clothing for Boots UK and Ireland and is also considering getting together with other retailers to expand its multi-channel click-and-collect service.

These initiatives would clearly provide a potential sales boost for Boots as they will drive increased drive footfall into its high street stores.