Web 2.0 adoption in Retail
Over the next few blogs, I will be sharing some of the results of the research and benchmarking study I have done on over 800 global retailer websites on their Web 2.0 adoption rates. The objective of this research project has been to benchmark the Web 2.0 initiatives across global retail enterprises. The results in turn would enable enterprises to benchmark themselves against competitors, arrive at strategies, best practices as well as roadmap for future Web 2.0 initiatives. First let me give an overview of the research methodology, the data set, analysis parameters etc. The methodology adopted is Website analysis. Each retailer website was analysed in detail for the presence/absence or degree of sophistication of over 30 Web 2.0 features and parameters and they were in turn assigned scores. The sample set consists of retailers spread across the world. Lets look at some statistics as part of this study. Total sample size: 708. The sample break-up of retailers based on country of origin looks like this: USA(452), France(37), Germany(50), Japan(38), Netherlands(14), UK(57), Finland(21),Australia(9), Canada(25), Spain(12), Portugal(9), Others(82). This retail population was in turn segmented into retail segments and the breakup and the number of retailers in each segment looks like this: Apparel & Footwear(143), Catalog & Mail Order(45), Consumer Electronics & Entertainment(57), Department & Discount(63), Drug Stores, Health & Beauty(49), Supermarkets & Grocery(225), Home Improvement(30), Specialty(194). I will share some of the results of this research in the forthcoming entries.
