Digital River’s New Ecommerce Research Findings Call for Brands to Sell Direct to Consumer

Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV), a leading global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions, today announced new research findings that underscore the reasons brands should sell online directly to consumers. The "Go Your Own Way” report: http://www.brandsgodirect.com/, reveals that, with a direct commerce offering, brands can harness insight to own customer relationships and control their proposition more responsively.

With 95 percent of Brits now e-shopping¹, the rewards presented by digital commerce are tangible. However, brands could be missing out on the opportunities leveraged by going direct, according to a new original research report commissioned by Digital River and conducted by Redshift Research, an insight-led market research company. The key report findings reflect that:

• More than three quarters (78 percent) of shoppers surveyed for the report said they would visit another online marketplace if they couldn’t buy direct. This means that brands could be forfeiting control of messaging and the customer journey by operating non-transactional websites.
• Whilst 89 percent of consumers say they visit brands’ websites when shopping online, the study showed nearly a third (31 percent) would change brand allegiance if they couldn’t buy direct. Not being able to buy a product from a brand’s website can deter shoppers not only from purchasing directly through another channel such as the store, but from continuing to buy from that brand altogether.
• For brands looking to harness customer relationships online, the report highlighted the importance of creating a connected consumer journey. Among the attributes most rated by online shoppers were clear pricing, comprehensive product information and being able to shop across devices. Whereas, lack of stock availability and finding better deals on other websites were common reasons for purchase abandonment.
• Selling direct establishes opportunities to control key elements of the retail process, such as price. The research revealed that 21 percent of consumers always carry out a price comparison when shopping online, while nearly half of all shoppers (49 percent) expect to pay less when buying directly from a brand. This demonstrates consumers’ willingness to purchase directly from their preferred brands’ transactional sites.

In addition to managing digital conversations with customers, selling direct enables brands to control fraud and counterfeiting, as well as makes brands more responsive to market changes or surges in demand.

Marco Vergani, general manager and vice president of EMEA at Digital River, commented: "Consumer appetite lies at the heart of online retail’s explosion. Shoppers have evolved in the way they want to gather and share information, interact with brands and retailers, and ultimately purchase goods.

"We know budget constraints and lack of expertise can often be barriers to brands when considering ecommerce. Outsourcing the management of the commerce business infrastructure is an extremely effective way for brands to establish direct online access with consumers, while removing the complexities of transacting online,” Vergani stated.

To hear more about the study results in person, RSVP for an exclusive event where a panel of market-leading retail speakers will share first-hand experience on building digital sales and communications strategies. The event will be hosted at One Aldwich in London on October 8, 2014, at 6:00-8:30 p.m. BST.

For further information or to download the report, please visit: http://www.brandsgodirect.com/.

Notes to editors

Commissioned by Digital River, the "Go Your Own Way” report was written based on a survey conducted by Redshift and included more than 1,000 UK consumers in June 2014.

¹ http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/online-retail/video-online-retail-celebrates-20th-anniversary-of-first-sale/5063120.article

About Digital River, Inc.

Backed by 20 years of ecommerce experience, Digital River is recognized as a leading global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions. Companies of all sizes rely on Digital River’s multi-tenant, SaaS commerce, payments and marketing services to manage and grow their online businesses. In 2013, Digital River processed more than $30 billion in online transactions, connecting B2B and B2C digital products and cloud service companies as well as branded manufacturers with buyers across multiple devices and channels, and nearly every country in the world.

Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate website, read the Digital River Blog, follow the company on Twitter or call +1 952-253-1234.

Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.

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