Did you know that last year more than 1.4 million New Zealanders made purchases online? This is the figure from Nielson Online "Online Retail Monitor Report". We think this is more likely to be online sales not people as I for one; order many times throughout the year.

6% Increase

This figure is up 6% on the previous year and to TLD; this is what is important - Internet Online Sales Growth! We also believe that this sales growth is sustainable and likely to escalate to higher growth percentages in the near future. We just need to look at larger markets overseas to make this prediction. Sure some of the Internet Sales Growth in larger markets comes down the time it takes to physically travel to a bricks and mortar store, find a park, pay for that same park and to top it off get "SOLD Too" by an incentivized salesperson that really wants you to buy the model that makes them the most money not the model that suits your individual requirements. I am sorry if this sounds cynical (I am actually an optimist lol), however having run, managed and been involved in the expansion and set up of large consumer electronic stores, this comment is not without knowledge.

Reasons For Growth

Anyway back to the point - Internet Sales Growth and the reasons. The above reason to shop online is showing up in New Zealand, mostly in the larger cities. However I think the biggest benefit is our ability to compare and with a few clicks make sure we are paying the fair price for the model that best suits OUR needs.
I personally will pay a little more from a website that truly offered me the ability to make a FULLY informed decision.
Recently CatchOfTheDay launched into New Zealand. Catch of the Day is Australia's largest online shopping site (according to Hitwise.com.au anyway). They have a great concept and offer just one product at a special price every day. These products can be almost anything (that can be shipped anyway) right up to big ticket items. In Australia they have set some records like clearing more than 1 million dollars worth of stock in an hour. With this online presence Catch Of The Day ranks higher than Australian department stores. Wow are you getting the point here, we can all be part of this....

Catch Of The Day

Catch Of The Day sells a product in OZ every 18 seconds, that's seconds not minutes phew! They already have over half a million people signed up for an account and up to 100,000 actually shop each day. Imagine what effect this will have on the New Zealand retail sales sector, with already more than 400 manufacturers on board. This opens up the possibility of online sales only type companies. There are thousands of great brands not yet in New Zealand, I can see distribution warehouses and Internet only companies popping up and benefitting from stores like Catch Of The Day.
What about "catch of the week" or "Magical Monthly", "One Hour Only", "First in first served" haha.
I think Trade Me and other online stores will actually benefit from Catch Of The Day, this is because like me, a lot of people will do a quick check to see if the product is truly a good deal. Last week I checked out one Catch Of The Day Deal and found the same product on Trade Me quite a bit cheaper.... Catch Of The Day will benefit from the reputation they have and are building in NZ. This is the disadvantage the small guy has on Trade Me.

Want to be part of this Internet Sales Growth?

Keyword Domain Name Advantage

TLD specialises in Keyword Loaded Domain Names and if you use a keyword loaded domain name you will have an advantage over even the like of Catch Of The Day. Admittedly only for the product or service your domain name covers, but the keyword domain name advantage is powerful none the less. It is well accepted that to rate well for one phrase in your domain name is far easier than rating for multiple phrases. Catch Of The Day is a great idea; however they rely on external media and word of mouth to get their domain name known. Unless we already know the company; we don't search for "Catch Of The Day" do we! We search for "LCD TV Deals" or "Cheap LCD TVS" etc. Catch Of The Day over time will rank well for many searches just like Trade Me does, but it will not be hard to beat them in the search results with a niche website for one of the product segment they sell. Anyway, drop us a line if you would like to know how TLD can help you take a share of the market, we are always happy to discuss ideas. We can design, Build, SEO and suggest Keyword Domains if we don't have what you need.

Thanks for your time.