Spotted last week that ebay is predicting a tougher time on the web for retailers coming up to Christmas:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7673486.stm

Interesting and probably not unsurprising that they are feeling the pinch. They are a great indicator for retail sales although you might expect ebay to have more robust results than the general high street as whatever the high street prices, the inherent mechanism within an auction site should make them cheaper.

However, this doesnt mean that it needs to be bad news for all companies driving value from their web presence, be that selling direct to consumers or selling business to business. The key as always is to differentiate from your competitors. There is still a lot of business out there and the key is to make your web presence work smarter and harder.

In my view, this means driving more intelligence into your web presence - you need to understand exactly how your customers and potential customers are finding you, using your web presence and what behaviours they exhibit before they eventually convert (or not) into actual customers. Its not a time for despair, its an opportunity for those willing to invest in really understanding how the web could work for you and driving more value from your web presence.

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