Global ecommerce channel speeds up in Q2-2014 in every region according to Icecat

AMSTERDAM - July 15, 2014 - PRLog -- .Highlights E-channel Q2-2014 based on 737 Million Icecat downloads

Hyper-competition: global e-channel grows by 117% in Q2-2014

Ecommerce in Russia and Ukraine is developing fast despite turmoil
Battery Manufacturers BTI and AGI are doing remarkably well
Notebooks revived by slim form factors
All-In-One computers replace classic PCs
Spare parts, Gardening and Care are important growth categories.

Hyper-competition: Global Ecommerce grows by 117% in Q2-2014

“The global ecommerce channel resumed in Q2-2014 its fast-growth pace of before the global recession”, according to Martijn Hoogeveen, CEO of Icecat. “Data-sheet Downloads increased by 117%, the number of connected channel partners and supported platforms increased with 29% and 24% respectively. The traditional retail channels will feel hyper-competitive pressure in more and more countries, in more and more categories.” In Q2-2014 Icecat facilitated 737 million product data-sheet downloads (DDs) for products from 8,914 different brands in 159 different countries. A data-sheet contains product specifications as standardized by Icecat, and additional data if permitted by the respective brand. The number of monitored brands increased by 35% and the number of supported categories grew by 14%.

Ecommerce in Ukraine and Russia is developing despite political turmoil

In the Global e-channel, the fastest year-on-year growth of download activity is noticed in respectively Slovakia, India and South-Africa. In terms of regions, Eastern-Europe, the BRICS and East-Asia are outperforming other regions in terms of expansion. We had noticed in 2013 already, that Greece is quickly closing the gap with the more mature ecommerce markets in Europe.

Looking at our compund figure for download and user share, and the changes in download activities, we saw most relative change in Slovakia, the Netherlands and Latvia. The fast-growth East-Asian countries are respectively Taiwan, China and Korea. Not a big surprise. If Jamaica is just a one time blib in the top 20 or is structurally developing it’s ecommerce channel can only be judged in coming periods.

The European ecommerce market is strongest in the Benelux, German-speaking countries, UK, France, Spain and Italy.

In the CIS region, ecommerce in Russia and Ukraine (surprise) don’t seem to suffer from the turmoil in the latter country.

Battery Manufacturers BTI and AGI are doing remarkably well

HP (150 million downloads) and Philips (31 million downloads) are again the No 1 and No 2 e-channel brands in Q2-2014. Lenovo became No 3, pushing down Sony and Samsung a bit. The biggest surprise in the Icecat Brand Top 10 is BTI (+2346%), a specialized computer supplies manufacturer with some 30,000 (!) different batteries in its portfolio. Also No 8, AGI (14 million downloads), is doing remarkably well as a specialized battery manufacturer. It visualizes how one-category champions can use the ecommerce the ecommerce channel to dominate the market.

All-In-One computers replaced PCs
Also within the top10 categories, we can witness that rechargeable batteries are performing remarkably well. Logical if battery manufacturers BTI and AGI are at the same time outperforming other brands. Significant is further the development of All-in-One PCs and All-In-One Workstations. The traditional PC is completely phased out now.

The No 1 category, Notebooks (+219%), is also bouncing back, which indicates that business are investing in workplaces and that the market has understood that tablets are not going to replace them on the desktop.

Spare parts, Gardening and Personal Care
Deliberately, we lowered the threshold for categories to compete in the Icecat Top 10 Fast-Growth index. This gives a better feeling of the diversification of the ecommerce channel. Smart card readers, Nail care and Fountain pens form the top 3. Also gardening (Ladders, Power Sanders and Lawnmowers) seems to be doing remarkably well, but coming from a low level.

Ultrathin revives Notebooks category

Looking at the  three most popular notebooks in this reviving category, we notice that slim form factors are leading: the ultrabook Lenovo ThinkPad T440 (20B60061GE) and two Apple MacBook Pro 15” variants (CTOMD103D/A-54/ZOMV and ME293D/A-023939). All other specs are taken for granted: clamshell format, more MBs, GBs, GHz, graphic capabilities etc.

About Icecat

Icecat NV is an independent worldwide syndicator of product content and publisher of ecommerce statistics.

Icecat standardized millions of product data-sheets in 35 world languages and analyzes the performance of 8000+ brands. Its statistics are based on 2 billion annual product data-sheets downloads by tens of thousands connected ecommerce websites: online shops, ERP systems, comparison sites, purchase systems, rating portals, and other applications.

Open Icecat is an open catalog, part of Icecat's full catalog, via which the product content for 300+ technology brands is distributed for free (see: http://www.icecat.biz/menu/partners/index.htm ).

The download popularity of a brand's products is influenced by:

• Popularity of its individual products.

• Availability of its products via distributors and online channel partners.

• Level of standardization of its product data for search & comparison engines.

• Online campaigns.

• Compatibility, cross-sell and up-sell intelligence.

• Free of charge distribution of (multimedia) product data.

For more information contact us: http://icecat.biz/en/menu/contacts/index.htm

Disclaimer: due to updated measurement methodology, the published historic data may differ a bit from report to report. However, within the same report the same methodology is used to take care of valid comparability. Only the indirect online channel activities of brands are measured.