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Category Archives: E-commerce

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Cyber Monday is Not the E-commerce Holy Grail

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According to comScore, the top 10 e-commerce spending days in 2010 and 2009 all occurred in November and December. With the holiday season in full swing during those months, that’s probably not a huge surprise.

What is surprising, though, is that Cyber Monday – generally perceived as THE day for online retailers – isn’t actually the biggest spending day of the year. In fact, in 2010, Cyber Monday wasn’t even in the top 10 spending days.

 

So, what does Cyber Monday’s “fall from grace” mean for online retailers?

  1. Cyber Monday saw $947 million in sales. That’s a lot of money. The fact that at least 10 other days saw more money means, simply, that there is a lot of cash that consumers are willing to spend online during the holidays. Make sure you’re taking advantage with a marketing plan that caters to the entire season, not just Cyber Monday.
  2. In 2010, six days hit the $1 billion mark. Time email campaigns, PPC campaigns, shipping speicals, and coupon / promo code deals around big spending days. The stats prove that more people are shopping and buying online during these days anyway, so capitalize on that and make sure they’re spending some of their money with you. On a side note, projections indicate that in 2011, the number of days that will hit the $1 billion mark will grow to nine.
  3. The recent explosion in usage of mobile devices has also changed the Cyber Monday game. With the advent of couch commerce (yes, it’s happening), people can sprawl out on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner, watch the football game, and shop online via their tablet or smartphone. Note that Thanksgiving Day saw $355 million in sales last year, and expect that number to grow in 2011. Ultimately, the more shopping people get done from the couch after Thanksgiving dinner, the less shopping they’ll have left for Cyber Monday. So, if you don’t already, make sure you have a mobile-ready website for the holidays (and any other time of year, really).

The numbers speak volumes. The fact that Cyber Monday is no longer the e-commerce holy grail should not be in question. What should be in question, though, is this: Is your e-commerce website keeping up with the changing holiday-season demands of consumers? If not, you’re potentially missing out on a lot of sales and revenue.

NOTE: Data in the calendar is provided by the MasterCard SpendingPulse 2010 Actuals

 

Posted in E-commerce, Email Marketing, Mobile

 

Warning: Slow Mobile Site Speed Causes More than Customer Rage

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We’ve all been there. You’re shopping on your favorite store’s mobile site, snapping up the latest two-hour deals left and right. You’ve got everything you need (and probably a few things you don’t). You’re ready to head to checkout and …. nothing. The page won’t load.

The irritating loading icon is going round and round, but your page is blank. After an excruciatingly long minute you throw your phone down in frustration and say forget it. You didn’t need that super cute bag and three pairs of perfect pumps anyway. Or did you?

For mobile shoppers, slow load times are the kiss of death. We expect that mobile sites are going to load quickly and perform correctly – just like they do on our desktop or laptop – and when that doesn’t happen we have little patience for it.

Just how thin is that patience? The graph below (kindly provided by this great article on Web Performance Today), shows how aggressively people will react to slow load times on mobile websites:

That graph was produced using data from a recent study done by Harris Interactive on behalf of Tealeaf. This study’s complete findings actually reveal that rage-induced reactions are the least of your concern.  Why? The percentage of customers having issues with mobile sites is much higher than it should be, and these issues are costing businesses big time.

How great is the impact of slow mobile site load times? This should give you an idea:

  • Four in five (about 84%) U.S. adults who have conducted an online transaction via a mobile device in the last year report experiencing a problem.
  • A whopping 63% say they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other channels if they experience a problem conducting a mobile transaction.
  • Surprisingly (or not), 47% of customers actually expect the experience of conducting a mobile transaction to be better than the experience in-store, and 85% expect the experience to be better than or equal to using a laptop or desktop.

These stats outline trends that are showing up more and more often across the ecommerce industry. Another study, done on behalf of Gomez, Inc., by Equation Research, (Why the Mobile Web is Disappointing End-Users) reveals that mobile users’ expectations have risen dramatically since 2009. Below are a couple key comparisons to illustrate.

Percentage of users who expect a site to load as quickly on their mobile device as on their desktop:

  • 2009: 58%
  • 2011: 71%

Percentage of users who will bounce after waiting just five seconds for a mobile site to load:

  • 2009: 20%
  • 2011: 74%

Since users are expecting more and more from their mobile shopping experiences, companies that want to be successful will rise to meet these demands – and exceed them.

Need to get your mobile site up to speed (or just get one set up, period)? See Jonathan Levey’s “Google Introduces GoMo Initiative” or Fathom’s mobile e-commerce resources. Also, check out some of these helpful sites:

 

 

 

*Image provided by Impact Communications, Inc.

*Graph provided by article on Web Performance Today, entitled “Phone Rage”: How People React to Slow Mobile Sites

 

 

Google Introduces GoMo Initiative

 

Posted in E-commerce, Mobile, Online Marketing, Online PR | Tagged , , ,

 

M-Commerce: Are You Ready?

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As an owner of a smartphone, I can tell you that I have made more purchases from my phone over the past year than I did from my PC. I have found that my smartphone accommodated the spur-of-the-moment and prompted me to research and purchase on-the-fly from establishments such as Amazon, Orbitz, Best Buy, GameStop, Dockers and Macy’s, to name a few.

As mobile Internet devices are strategically placed to surpass the PCs, industry research points for the need of organizations to develop e-commerce apps and mobile-friendly websites to expand their operations to accommodate mobile users. There are approximately 2 billion Internet users worldwide, and it is estimated that this number will grow to 2.7 billion by 2015. E-commerce is also anticipating a growth in spend from $708 billion to $1285 billion by 2015. According to IDC (International Data Corporation), “the number of mobile Internet users will grow by a compound annual growth rate of 16.6% between 2010 and 2015.” In addition, a forecast from Gartner Inc. also indicates that 50% of company sales will also be generated through mobile devices by 2015. Companies such as Recreational Equipment Inc., Target Corp. and HSN Inc. have been working to stay ahead of the curve by developing mobile-friendly sites for users. Overall, the consensus from the online marketing industry is to be prepared for m-commerce, as advertising, spending and accessibility will increase significantly.

Below are a few m-commerce tips from E-tailing Group, who provided “mystery shop” studies on retailers:

  • Ensure all paths used by mobile phone owners lead back to the mobile site.
  • Keep usability top-of-mind.
  • Maintain branding consistency across all channels.
  • Provide a store locator that includes comprehensive information.
  • Enhance product pages with comprehensive product information.
  • Provide shoppers the ability to reach out and touch someone.

For more detail on these bullet points, click here.

For information related to tablet devices and paid search, please read “Creating a Paid Search Strategy for Tablets.”

Posted in E-commerce, Mobile | Tagged ,

 

Attention Internet Retailers: Are You Taking Advantage of Text Message Marketing?

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  • 83% of American adults own cell phones*
  • 73% of those adults send and receive text messages*
  • Cell phone owners between ages 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 text messages per day (that’s over 3,200 texts per month!)*
  • On average, the adult population sends or receives an average of 41.5 text messages per day*

These statistics leave zero doubt about whether or not texting is a common form of communication. But what they don’t directly show is that texting has the potential to be much more. Specifically, it has the potential to become a hugely successful marketing vehicle.

A few forward-thinking companies are already using texting to enhance their E-commerce stores, promote their products and services, offer coupons and promotions, encourage customers to participate in contests, and get people involved with loyalty programs. The potential for success is there, and below are a few reasons why.

Some of the major benefits of text message marketing include:

  • Allow retailers to have two-way communication with customers, something that isn’t possible with traditional print and television advertising (and even some online ads). It allows for the sending and receiving of personal information between retailers and customers, an incredibly valuable tool for successful marketing.
  • Doing targeted customer outreach by requiring people to text a certain phrase/number to a designated number to opt in for future texts. This is often done in the form of a promotion or giveaway.
  • Can smoothly integrate with other promotional efforts and effectively enhance them. For instance, you can promote texting campaigns through email, on an E-commerce website, in a store and on banners. Or, you can use a texting campaign to drive people to your site, your store or your email newsletter. Basically, once you have a customer opted in through one channel, you can use it to promote all the other ways they can interact with your brand. Essentially, you are creating one seamless marketing message.
  • Use customers’ responses to promotional texts to tailor future text messages to appeal specifically to each person. For example, if you know a customer bought a certain product last fall, you can send them a text informing them when it’s back in stores the following year.

Once retailers get someone to opt in to their marketing campaign by providing a phone number, they can can use text message marketing to:

  • Send mobile coupon codes
  • Inform customers when their favorite products are in stock
  • Re-engage with customers a few weeks after they make a purchase
  • Launch a contest
  • Give a new product traction by offering it in a giveaway
  • Send customers to the store’s mobile site and/or E-commerce store
  • Enroll customers in a loyalty program
  • Quickly, easily and directly answer customers’ questions
  • Increase personalized communication

As you can see, there are all kinds of things that can be done with text message marketing. This incredibly accessible platform has the potential to bring highly qualified leads directly to a retailer’s doorstep (so to speak). It takes time to build a subscriber list, but by fostering each of these leads individually, there is greater opportunity to make them last.

 

 

*Statistics gathered from the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s Report on Americans and Text Messaging

*Image provided by cletch on Flickr

Posted in E-commerce, Mobile, Online PR | Tagged , , , ,

 

YouTube Launching into E-commerce Sphere with Merch Store

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We all know that YouTube is the premier place to watch, share, create, and upload original or professional videos on the Internet. And with approximately 450 million people visiting the site every month, there is a great deal of potential to make money.

So what is YouTube’s next big push? E-commerce, of course.

YouTube already made a brief foray into the e-commerce realm back in May by giving users the ability to rent and watch movies through the site. But now YouTube is taking things further with plans to launch its very own Merch Store.

The Merch Store will give musicians the chance to sell tickets, songs, T-shirts and other merchandise directly through YouTube.com. A specific launch date hasn’t been announced, but Google, the owner and operator of the website, is working with a variety of existing companies and platforms to hasten its arrival.

Some of the companies Google is working with include Apple, Amazon, Songkick (a concert tracking service) and Topspin (a retail software platform). Through these partnerships, the Merch Store can take advantage of the successful infrastructures their sites already have in place. Plus, these arrangements make it possible for consumers to purchase items on YouTube that come through Apple’s iTunes or Amazon’s music service.

This is definitely a smart move, because according to the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, Amazon is ranked the number one retail web site and Apple sits comfortably at number three.

There have also been rumors floating around that Google may eventually launch its own digital music store, an entity that would inevitably become part of the Merch Store umbrella as well.

The goal appears to be to give consumers the broadest range of choices when it comes to buying music and merchandise from their favorite artists. And since YouTube gets such a massive amount of web traffic, this may end up being a wonderful opportunity to better monetize the streams of people who visit each month.

 

 

 

 

*Image provided by Christian Reed – Concert Co-Op on Flickr

 

 


 

 

Posted in E-commerce, Google, Online Marketing | Tagged , , , ,

 

Fathom That?! – Ep. 12 – Shopping Cart Platform

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Although it is only October, you’re going to start seeing Christmas decorations spring up from store to store. It seems each year it starts earlier and earlier; but it’s never too early to get your e-commerce site ready for the holiday season.

Today we are continuing our e-commerce mini series with Fathom’s e-commerce expert, Matt Messenger. In this episode, Matt talks to us about the importance of having a good shopping cart platform and what to look for when choosing one.

Thanks for checking out this week’s episode. Stay tuned next week for more e-commerce tips as we continue our mini-series “Gear Up for the Holidays.”

Posted in E-commerce

 

Attention E-commerce Sites: Google’s “Trusted Store” Badge Has Entered the Playing Field

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Google recently launched a new feature aimed at helping customers find the most high-quality ecommerce sites that offer the best shopping experiences: Google Trusted Stores.

The program is still in the pilot stages now with only a few merchants participating (O.co, Wayfair, BabyAge.com and Beach Audio), but those who are interested in getting involved as it expands can sign up online to try their chances.

So what exactly is this new program supposed to accomplish?

  • The goal of Google Trusted Stores is to help online buyers shop with more confidence and complete their purchases with greater ease. It’s also a way for online stores to let potential customers know that their site is a great place to shop.
  • Merchants who meet the standards Google has established will be allowed to display a badge on their websites that attests to their ability to serve customers well.

What kind of information will the badge display?

  • The badge allows customers to see the store’s track record for both shipping and customer service performance. In order to continue displaying the badge once it’s earned, merchants have to ship a high percentage of orders within the guaranteed time, maintain a low average shipping time and meet customer service standards. No specific numbers have been given in regards to these metrics, but that will come in time.

Wait, there’s more?

  • Sure is. Customers who shop at stores that have earned the badge also have the option of selecting free purchase protection from Google for up to $1,000. If a problem arises, Google will work with the merchant on behalf of the customer to address the issue. It’s not a product warranty, endorsement or form of insurance, but it’s still Google sticking its neck out there for the stores that earn this badge.

So what does a store have to do to get Google to award this new badge? Well, in standard Google style, the full details are not being released, but here’s what we do know:

  • Participating sites have to share shipment data and allow Google to collect customer service metrics when shoppers seek help with a purchase problem.
  • Google has not released exact metrics for how high a store’s shipping and customer service rates must be to earn a badge.
  • The badge will display a grade for “reliable shipping” and “excellent service” and will show specific numbers and percentages to justify that grade
  • Google will be expanding the program over the coming months and is currently accepting applications from any online store

Based off that information, here’s what we’re assuming:

  • Google will probably want a good amount of data before they are willing to award a badge, which means smaller stores may have trouble earning one.
  • If Google is sticking out its neck to offer the $1,000 purchase protection, there’s a good chance it is going to be difficult to earn a badge. The company isn’t going to risk its reputation on stores it isn’t confident in.
  • This program has the potential to make a pretty big impact in the world of ecommerce. If online shoppers begin giving a lot of credibility to the Trusted Stores badge, stores that are unable to earn it could have trouble attracting new business and inspiring consumer confidence.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As with all new programs and features released by the search engine giant, only time will tell how great of an impact it will have, and whether or not it will really be the next game-changer.


 

Posted in E-commerce, Google, Online Marketing, SEO | Tagged , , ,

 

How Does Your Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) Feed Look?

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Back in July of this year, Google’s Merchant blog announced they are requiring merchants to include more attributes and keep their products updated or their accounts will be disallowed. Both large and small businesses have had mixed reviews about it, but if you think about it from the consumer perspective then Google is only ensuring that the end user sees the most relevant products as well as current information.

So make sure to check out your feed (even Google Commerce blog has posted a reminder) and correct any warnings or errors. In Google Merchant center, check under Data Quality. If you see this, your feed is okay:

Good Google Feed in Merchant Center

If you see this, then you need to work on fixing the feed file:

Bad Google Feed in Merchant Center

Thankfully, Google lists out what item and/or attribute is missing or has an error. Just click on the plus mark for the items to display. However, if the feed is not updated then Google may suspend the account if it has critical errors that are not fixed.

Depending on if you hand-created the feed or if you have a CMS system that creates your initial feed, Google’s Merchant Help Center will guide you on where to update the changes. Preferably, if you have a CMS system, then correct the missing information in your CMS system. This way it keeps your database updated with accurate information needed to create the feeds. If you had to hand-create the feed then look for the line item with the error. (Quickest is CTRL +F)

Lastly, might as well update all the comparison shopping engine feeds with the newest feed file, because if Google had errors then the other feed properties had some errors as well.  Ensure that your prospective customers have a chance at seeing your products and that what they see doesn’t have errors.

If you need assistance with this, Fathom’s experts in E-commerce marketing can get your company’s feed compliant. We offer feed creation, maintenance and optimization, along with many other online services geared toward improving your E-commerce revenue.

*** Stay tuned for my next post on Various Ways to Optimize CSE’s Feeds next month ***

Posted in E-commerce, Search Engines | Tagged , , , ,

 

Fathom That?! – Ep. 11 – “Gear Up for the Holidays with Live Chat”

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It’s never too early to start planning for the holidays.

Today we are continuing our e-commerce mini-series with Matt Messenger, Fathom’s e-commerce guru. In this episode, Matt brings on live chat specialist Jenni Ramminger.

Learn about what live chat can do for you company, the types of live chat services and a few things to consider when choosing a service.

Stay tuned next week when Matt will bring a social media expert on to talk about Facebook commerce.

Posted in E-commerce

 

Free F-Commerce Solutions

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Is your business considering creating a store on Facebook to sell your products?  There are a ton of Facebook-commerce (f-commerce) solutions out there, and each is unique in what they offer.  Certain solutions are not free, with either a flat rate fee or a fee based on the success of your store, but there are plenty of quality free solutions to choose from.  So how do you decide which is right for your business?

Given the fact that f-commerce is still considered new and experimental, you probably have a lot of questions surrounding which f-commerce solution is the best for your business.

We’ve taken a look at some of the top free solutions below to help you decide which fits your business best:

  • HighWire Commerce
    • Allows for up to 100 products
    • Does not provide a custom domain
    • Provides SSL checkout
    • Allows for discount codes
  • TabJuice
    • Unlimited number of products
    • Secure network payment processing with merchant gateway processing options
    • Easy 3rd-party webstore integration using an API
    • All-in-Tab Shopping Experience – customers purchase directly on your page
  • Beetailer from Magento
    • Allows for up to 10 products
    • Purchases are not made on Facebook – sent back to company website to checkout
  • Payvment
    • Allows for unlimited products
    • Products are automatically included in Payvment’s Shopping Mall
    • TRUSTe Certified
    • CSV catalog import capabilities
    • Set “Featured items” for maximum exposure
  • Quickerbuy
    • Unlimited number of products
    • Product import from eBay and Google Base
    • Buyers can purchase directly from Quickerbuy Facebook app
  • VendorShop
    • Allows for unlimited number of products
    • Fan-only discounts available to drive fan growth
    • Products can be purchased on Facebook
    • Allows for multiple-store management

If you have questions about f-commerce options for your business, please contact Fathom today!

 

 

Posted in E-commerce, Mobile, Social Media

 

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