LK Bennett revamps Web site

Fashion business LK Bennett is rolling out an e-commerce platform with new user experience features and multi-channel capability, states Computing.co.uk.

Pressures on the firm's online infrastructure since its 2007 unveiling prompted the replacement of the Web platform for a more scalable set-up. The Web site will be introduced in the first quarter of 2010.

“Our ambition is for our Web site to be the flagship store for the brand globally, with online customer experience matching the high level of customer experience provided in store,” says the retailer's chief executive, Margaret McDonald.

According to the latest numbers from metrics firm comScore, online holiday spend is set at nearly $20 billion, with almost two full shopping weeks until the big day, says BizReport.

So far this holiday season, e-commerce has grown by 4%. The official total is $19.9 billion and both Cyber Monday, 30 November, and Thursday, 10 December, saw shopping revenues reach $887 million and $853 million respectively.

Some experts expect to see a new all-time high for single day online shopping (more than $900 million) before the holiday season ends.

The past 12 months have been a banner year for cyber crime, threatening the future of e-commerce, reports CNN.

"At current trends, in three or four years people will start to think twice about transacting on the Web, with individuals and businesses," says Michael Fraser, director of the communications law centre at the University of Technology Sydney.

"The way it's trending now, the Web could be so full of rubbish that people won't trust it," Fraser says. "That could destroy the potential of the whole knowledge economy, which so many developed economies are counting on for the competitive advantage."