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M-commerce helps Shop Direct reduce losses

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 - 12:24 by Paul Tissington

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The growing number of people buying products from their smartphone has helped retail group Shop Direct to increase sales and limit the losses it suffered over the past year, according to the Financial Times.

Sales were up by 0.4 per cent at the company as a whole, with chains like Littlewoods encompassed by its corporate umbrella.

However, m-commerce purchases accounted for a fifth of all sales in the last 12 months, up from 10 per cent in the previous annual period.

This means fans of safe shopping online are using their tablets and smartphones in greater numbers than ever before, to the benefit of companies like Shop Direct, which are choosing to take advantage of that fact.

Shop Direct used to make many sales through its catalogue service, although it has been forced to make the leap to an e-commerce oriented business strategy, following the exponential growth of safe shopping online.

Company chief exec, Alex Baldock, said that he believes the recent financial figures show that the firm is now latched on to a resilient strategy for success, promising a bright future once the expense of restructuring has been absorbed.

Eighty percent of all Shop Direct sales now come from the web, which is significant, since analysts currently predict that a third of all retail sales will be generated online by 2022.

There is no guarantee that all retailers which embrace a multichannel approach in the coming years will not face further financial struggles.

While consumer confidence seems to be returning to a certain degree, the economic pressures that have built since the 2008 crisis remain intense in some areas.

Retail executives are honest about the struggle that they face, but by adopting m-commerce platforms to cater to consumers who love shopping from smartphones, it will be easier to stave off further losses.