What is e-tailing?

by Zorayda Ruth B. Andam

E-tailing (or electronic retailing) is the selling of retail goods on the Internet. It is the most common form of business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction.

Box 8. E-Tailing: Pioneering Trends in ECommerce

The year 1997 is considered the first big year for e-tailing. This was when Dell Computer recorded multimillion dollar orders taken at its Web site. Also, the success of Amazon.com (which opened its virtual doors in 1996) encouraged Barnes & Noble to open an e-tail site. Security concerns over taking purchase orders over the Internet gradually receded. In the same year, Auto-by-Tel sold its millionth car over the Web, and CommerceNet/Nielsen Media recorded that 10 million people had made purchases on the Web.

What are the trends and prospects for e-tailing?

Jupiter projects that e-tailing will grow to $37 billion by 2002. Another estimate is that the online market will grow 45% in 2001, reaching $65 billion. Profitability will vary sharply between Web-based, catalog-based and store-based retailers. There was also a marked reduction in customer acquisition costs for all online retailers from an average of $38 in 1999 to $29 in 2000.

An e-retail study conducted by Retail Forward showed that eight of its top 10 eretailers40 were multi-channel-that is, they do not rely on online selling alone.