In the midst of the economic doom and gloom being widely reported, many retailers are cautiously evaluating their eCommerce investment programs.  Here is a summary of my analysis of how the current economic situation will impact retail eCommerce investments:

• Retailers will continue with their investment plans in eCommerce systems but will be selective in those investments. 
• "Selling", or front-of-the-house systems that can be cleanly tied to ROI will be paramount.
• Many retailers are still seeing double-digit growth in Web sales. As these sales grow, retailers are still challenged with their second-generation systems in areas like customer behavioral insight, personalization, and content delivery.
• Where we will see increased investment selectivity will be in decisions to do full re-platforming projects vs. incremental site-level improvements. Retailers will begin to allocate budgets based on shorter time horizons with a bigger emphasis on short ROI engagements.
• Most retailers still feel there is untapped opportunity in eCommerce.
• eCommerce Investments are relatively small, and can "move the needle".
• eCommerce investments represent relatively small expenditures with the ability to exert significant positive influence when compared to store-level initiatives which may require large expenditures, training, broad organizational alignment and risk.
• Retailers see value in cross-channel strategy
• Just as we have seen over the past five years, many retailers continue to believe in the broad value of a coordinated cross-channel strategy, where eCommerce and Web capabilities act as a branding hub that connects them to consumers.
• Linkage of the investment to measurable revenue growth online or cross-channel
• Investments with short-term ROI like SEO
• Improved customer analytics, and affiliate marketing will represent quick wins and will rise to the top of funded budgets.
• Conversion rate impact
• Measurable improvements in conversion rates will continue to be a major focus for retailers at the expense of broader customer engagement strategies.
• Revving up the engine for growth
• For retailers fortunate enough to be experiencing double-digit growth in eCommerce, many will want to address the health of their growth engine. In other words, will their eCommerce systems continue to support revenue growth.