BigCommerce reports online retailers are optimistic about sales in next 12 month

 According to the 2009 Internet Retailer Survey, conducted by BigCommerce, a great number of online retailers are new to selling online. The survey shows that most popular products include apparel, software and computers/accessories with major part of sales coming from online stores.

In regards to the next 12 months, the majority of online retailers take a hopeful view towards improving sales from their online store and have seen the best return on investment from email marketing (37%), Google AdWords (37%) and social media (15%). Email marketing (71%), Google AdWords (60%) and blogging (42%) comprise the major marketing strategies which will be implemented by those online retailers surveyed going into 2010.

34% of respondents use FaceBook to communicate with potential customers, while 32% use Twitter. The typical online retailer posts between 0-2 tweets per week and when asked how Twitter affects their online sales, the majority (39%) reported that they weren’t able to track the results. Twitter has had on their sales. Similarly, 34% of online retailers who reach out to prospects and customers on FaceBook reported they didn’t have a way to track sales made from their social media efforts.