Measurement Top Marketing Bottleneck

Measurement, analysis and learning is the most frequently cited bottleneck affecting marketers, according to a study conducted in Q4 2010 by Unica. The study finds that 57% of North American and European marketers consider measurement, analysis and learning to be a bottleneck. Measurement, analysis and learning is followed by two technology-related bottlenecks: integrating cross-channel efforts (53%) and IT support of marketing technology needs (47%). The least-cited bottleneck, channel execution and delivery (31%) is also technological in nature. Unica notes there is a sharp distinction of priorities in this list of bottlenecks, with 26 percentage points separating the top and bottom choices (more than one selection permitted).

Q1 Online Retail Spending Up 12%

US online retail (non-travel) spending reached $38 billion during Q1 2011, according to estimates from comScore. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit (12%) growth rates.

On a quarter-over-quarter basis, e-commerce sales fell about 12% from roughly $43.4 billion in Q4 2010. However, comScore historical data shows that e-commerce sales generally peak during the fourth quarter due to holiday spending, and the decline is slightly less severe than the 13% drop experienced between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010.