Online Plaza hit by declined web traffic

Online Plaza, the UK based online shopping catalogue today issues it first profit warning as a result of declined web traffic.

"It shows how competitive the UK market condition is, and vague economic prospective does not help too much." Said the marketing manager. "Our traffic declined in recent months but it seems to be steady now. We are working hard to maintain this, i.e. retain existing customers while attracing new customers. We realise that majority of UK consumers do not feel confident in buying online, one reason is that the lack of understanding in the Internet security issues."

"On the other hand, we were also hit by the increased advertising costs plus our technology upgrade. From this point of view, we still positive about our long term future as we have a stonger base now whilst the question now is simply how are we going to build on this? and we certainly have a proper plan for it."

"Our Travel store performed disappointedly and as it works in conjunction with an external partner, we are sad to say that poor integration among technology is the problem. We are in talk with our partner now and we hope things would get right back soon."

Apart from that, Online Plaza seem some growth in its Gift and Gadget department. "We are curious about this and we are now studying the possibility to improve that area and provide our users with more choice with lower price."

Online Plaza is experiencing its first decline in profit since it was launched in June last year. Ambitious move in advertising and technology is believed to be the main reason behind, "but it is definitely neccessary for our long term success," claimed the CEO, Chin.