Distance sales are booming, as consumer confidence increases in online shopping.
EMOTA, Europe’s distance selling association which represents 2,000 companies
in 21 countries, reported a global turnover of more than 76,6billion euros in
2005. This is an increase of more than 10% over 2004’s sales of 68.5billion
euros, despite lagging financial growth in some of its member companies and
ongoing barriers to the EU’s Internal Market.
Distance sales continued to boom in 2006 and expectations for 2007 and beyond
are high.
In the meantime, catalogues remain of vital importance together with other
channels such as mail shots and telemarketing. However, these more traditional
forms of selling will be more widely used to help customers place their
orders via the internet (report from EMOTA 2005).
It has become apparent that with the outstanding growth of online sales,
the public has become more demanding than ever. Mail order companies have
to be cleverer, more strategic, more entertaining and more tuned to different
targets. In the wide variety of marketing schemes available to businesses
today, promotional gifts are one of the most cost effective. That’s why CIAD
is here - helping our clients look for new ideas to create new products and
solutions so that they can stand out from the crowd.