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BD-BrandProtect Perspective:
Protecting the Integrity of Your Brand from Online Risk Exposure

Introduction

In recent years, corporate Internet strategies have evolved so significantly that the Web is almost universally accepted as simply another channel for doing business. The trend towards e-commerce likely started with catalogue shopping firms such as J. Crew, L.L. Bean and Land’s End, and evolved to include strictly Internet-based businesses such as eBay, Amazon.com and Travelocity. Today, however, countless traditional “bricks and mortar” companies have extended their reach to sell online – reducing operating costs and speeding up the delivery of goods in the process.

The trend is so pervasive, in fact, that the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that, in the third quarter of 2006, U.S. retail e-commerce sales rose 4.5% from Q2 to reach $27.5 billion. Similarly, according to comScore Networks, a global Internet information provider, the all-time record for daily U.S. online retail sales was set on November 27, 2006 when online sales totaled $608 million. Even more notably, that record was broken a mere one week later, on December 4, when consumers spent $647 million online in a single day.

Yet, despite the enormity of the numbers, industry watchers agree that there remains significant room for growth in the world of e-commerce. U.S. Census Bureau numbers verify that e-commerce sales in the third quarter of this year accounted for only 2.8% of total sales – underscoring the sales opportunities yet to be leveraged on the World Wide Web. Additionally, there is little doubt that product information available over Internet sites will continue to influence consumer-purchasing decisions in both online and offline markets.

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