Chargebacks911 COO and Co-Founder Monica Eaton was quoted in a recent IMRG article discussing the H1 2022 “Year in Review.” The article focused on category performance, conversion rates, online-only retail, and multichannel stores to identify the year’s defining trends in retail.
Founded in 1990, Interactive Media Group is a trade association focused on helping online retailers and brands to better understand and improve their overall performance. IMRG has grown to become the UK’s largest eCommerce membership community in recent years. Composed of retailers, brands, and technology partners, they encourage cooperation between brands and technology partners to forge sustainable relationships.
According to the article, the market experienced slow growth in most verticals through the first six months of the year. There was only a slight uptick in retail numbers around May 2022. Average basket volume, on the other hand, saw a significant increase from May to June. However, if we compare May 2022 with May 2021, we can see the extent to which the market has been struggling.
“The first half of the year has been incredibly tough and turbulent for retailers,” Monica says. “First, there has been the slow return to normality from the previous two years. However, we’ve seen the global supply chain crisis, which slowed down production. The shipping companies who take their finished goods across the world similarly slowed down their operations in anticipation of much less demand. Now we’re in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that is likely to worsen throughout the year, with many consumers potentially not looking to spend as they did previously.”
Monica urged retailers to focus on what they can control, like the consumer experience, retention, and acquisition, as well as mitigating the threat of fraud and chargebacks. “Because these can be so damaging to companies and require so much effort to counter effectively, retailers must look to the market for the solutions that can help them grow their revenues for the rest of the year,” she says.
