While the big players are undoubtedly reaping the rewards of big gains in e-commerce sales, smaller on-line sales players should also take heart. It’s clear that e-retail is the arena to be in for 2010.

First up is news that sales at Tesco Direct leapt a massive 50% in the six-week period to January 9. Total on-line sales growth in this period reached almost 205. The retailer also said that it had its strongest Christmas in the UK for three years.

Then comes John Lewis with news that web sales increased by 56% during the week ending January 9 – and when the UK was suffering some of the worst weather for decades.

While shoppers were reluctant – or unable – to set foot outside their own homes and into the high street stores, the e-retail section of John Lewis was clearly benefiting from a wealth of on-line shopping.

Perhaps it’s fair to suggest that when people are stuck at home they are more inclined to turn to e-commerce sites for their retail therapy. Or maybe we’re simply becoming a nation that favours the ever-so-easy retail realm that comes with the internet.

Whatever your thoughts, e-commerce businesses of all sizes should be rejoicing over the news from these two big players.

Two major companies have announced a big rise in on-line sales over the Christmas period.

First up is John Lewis, which saw on-line sales increase by 23% in the first three days of its clearance sale. The retailer experienced its busiest ever hour on-line when it launched the on-line clearance sale at 6pm on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day on-line shoppers made a purchase every 10 seconds. And on Boxing Day John Lewis saw a record number of visitors to the website.

Meanwhile Ocado has also revealed soaring sales. On-line trading was up 49% in the week leading up to Christmas, reaching £8.9 million. Sales in the four weeks ending December 26 were also up 30% when compared to 2008 at £40.8 million.

Times might be economically tough but many on-line businesses are managing to weather the storm. And with sales figures up for Christmas 2009, many more e-retailers are now looking at ways to continue on high in 2010.
There are a number of ways that have proven to be successful for e-commerce sites. These tips include:

• Clean and simple: E-commerce sites that offer clear info about deliveries, payments and contact details are much more attractive to potential customers.

• Deliveries: Most customers now expect a range of delivery choices and if they need it the next day they many will be keen to pay for this option. Be clear about what you offer and always aim to deliver when you say you will.

• All in the detail: Customers can’t pick up the product to take a look at it so the more info you can provide about each of the products the better it is for customer satisfaction.

• Unique content: Some e-commerce sites simply use the manufacturers product info replicated on their site but customers often like to know a bit more. If you can tell them why a product is particularly good, important, different then customers might be more inclined to buy.

• Recommendations: Products that can be shown to have been professionally test-driven or reviewed, or are recommended through consumer watchdogs such as Which?, are often seen as a better buy by customers.

• Specialise: In the on-line world of business it can be good to be “niche”. An e-retailer might sell only swimming goggles but if that’s what a customer is looking for then it’s likely they will head directly to the swimming goggle specialist. Variety isn’t always everything.

Another new survey has revealed that e-retail sales in 2009 sales were almost £50 billion – some 21% up on 2008.

The report by Retail Decisions also showed that in 2009 30% of online sales took place in November and December and the top five busiest e-retail sales days of the year were all Mondays.

Monday December 7 was the biggest online shopping day of the year in the UK, up 16% on 2008. The other four top selling Mondays were: December 28, December 14, November

So the predictions that Christmas 2009 would be good for e-commerce sites have been more than proven.

One survey, carried out by e-commerce specialist Actinic, reveals an average increase of 51% in order volume from small and medium businesses for November and December 2009, compared to the same months in 2008. The average turnover figures were also positive with a 42% revenue rise on 2008.

A spokesperson for Actinic is reported as saying: “This is another impressive performance by on-line sellers in the SME market with many Actinic customers weathering the economic climate and reporting healthy increases in both ordervolumes and revenue.”

The research also confirmed what many e-retail analysts had been suggesting – that many shoppers would leave their purchasing decisions as late as possible. Indeed, the busiest purchasing period was found to be the first two weeks in December in comparison to the last week in November 2008.

The general gloom of Britain’s recession continues but over the last year we have blogged about the continued strengths of trading on-line. Growth has not always been huge, but in many cases it has been consistent or rising.

With this in mind, the chances are that in 2010 more small businesses and would-be entrepreneurs will be looking to e-commerce as a way to make an improved living.

Here we bring you a few tips on how to start an on-line business:

Keep it simple: You do not need an original idea, just a good idea expertly executed. Look around at what other companies are doing – and then try to do it better or cheaper.

You get what you pay for: Make sure you hire an experienced and reputable web design company, and copywriter. It might seem that cheap is the way forward when launching your business but without great design, good copy and effective SEO you will not be a business success.

Become an SEO expert: SEO is a cheap form of marketing. It’s often a question of spending time ensuring that you optimise your website to maximise traffic from Google, or other search engines. You’ll need to address incoming links (you need lots of them and good quality) and the content of your website. It’s not enough to get traffic to your website, you need to ensure that people want to stay on your site.  Hiring a website copywriter is the best way to ensure good quality content.

Get networking: Social media networks and forums, as well as blogging, offer great channels for further marketing of your business and products. It will take time and creativity to be a success on the likes of twitter but you will get pay back in time.

Be old-fashioned: We may be in an era of electronic mail and messaging but sometimes the old-fashioned snail mail offer a good outlet for getting across a point. These days it’s more surprising to be sent a piece of marketing on paper – and this type of marketing will sit around for a while, for example on kitchen tops or sideboards, in people’s line of sight

Become a great time manager: It goes without saying that running your own business will be time consuming but if you are good at setting deadlines and drawing up specific goals lists then you will get more done in a shorter time. Disorganisation is a major time waster.

Believe in yourself: Launching a business will not be easy but if you have the confidence to give it your best shot you are more likely to be successful. Plenty of people run profit-making on-line business and e-commerce sites, so there’s no reason why you can’t, too.