KEY POINTS:
The advertising, marketing and public relations elves have been working overtime lately to spread this season's festive message: Do your Christmas shopping online.
A joyous bundle of new and revamped websites, improved internet shopping software packages and technologically advanced payment solutions have hit consumerland just in time for the silly season.
The tools are available and now the hard work begins - convincing shoppers to part with their money over the internet.
New Zealanders have stubbornly refused to embrace e-commerce. In the United States and Europe up to 10 per cent of total retail spending happens online whereas the figure here is estimated to be under 1 per cent.
While there are several reasons for the reluctance to spend online - including a love of shopping malls and fears credit card numbers will be stolen - there is also an increasingly well-funded campaign under way to get e-tailing rolling.
The most high-profile marketing initiative at present is from Telecom's online mall Ferrit, which is pinning its hopes on the recently launched ability to process sales of items from multiple retailers through a single credit card transaction.
Ferrit is also addressing another major issue for Christmas shoppers - that the online option should offer a bargain - by offering free delivery of purchases until December 20.
A newcomer challenging Ferrit's claim on the barren e-tailing wasteland is The Mall Plus, a site whose point of difference is its "virtual" 3D graphical shopping experience. The Dunedin company says it is pitched at time-poor women looking for a convenient way to "browse" stores.
There is some overseas evidence that broadband-enabled virtual shopping has found a niche but given the infant state of Kiwi e-tailing, my pick is this project is ahead of its time and will have flopped by next Christmas.
A major factor holding back e-tailing is a reluctance by shoppers - or an inability - to pay online. There has been a scramble over the past month to solve this issue for customers.
Technology company Unisys and web transaction specialist Centricom have launched POLi (payments on-Line), a debit transaction system linking e-tailers with customers' regular online banking facilities.
POLi says its appeal is based on the fact that more than two million Kiwis use the internet, almost 800,000 of them being active online shoppers or internet bankers, yet 55 per cent of adults do not own a credit card. So offering them a service that directly debits their bank account seems to make sense. Yet, in a sign of the state of e-commerce here, POLi reportedly has 15 Australian merchant customers a year after launching there but none at launch here.
Others are also leaping into the void created by our reluctance to pay by credit card online. Westpac has launched a debit Visa card pitched at those wanting to shop online without going into debt and New Zealand Post has launched a "disposable" Visa card which is good until the pre-paid credit runs out.
NZ Post's Prezzy Card's fees and conditions haven't pleased the Consumers' Institute but the card could prove a turnover booster for more seedy e-tailers because its pre-paid nature means it can provide an anonymous shopping alternative to charging that online sex shop purchase to your regular credit card.
Aiming to placate another e-consumer phobia - the fear of identity theft while shopping online - security software company Symantec has launched an anti-online fraud product, Norton Confidential. The software aims to block surreptitious password and bank account number-stealing attempts and authenticates banking and e-commerce sites.
While the purveyors of this extensive range of new convenience-focused websites, software packages and payment systems seem to have left their run late to fully capitalise on this year's peak shopping season, there is evidence that e-commerce might be gaining momentum.
Electronic transaction processor Paymark said this week a big retailer push online was behind a 63 per cent increase in transactions through its virtual internet payment gateway last month compared with November last year.
"In the past, New Zealanders may have been a little behind when it comes to shopping online but it looks like we are catching up quickly," said Paymark chief executive Simon Tong.
Let's hope so. A significant shift online would provide a vital fillip for the retail sector. Mastering e-tailing would also give local businesses the opportunity to take that expertise to the world. Why couldn't the next Amazon.com be run from down here?
* See Saturday's Business Herald for an in-depth look at Telecom's attempt to transform online shopping with Ferrit.
