Laura Forer says, “Consumers’ use of mobile and digital devices while shopping in-store has increased significantly in the past few years, an infographic by CUBE, a company that specializes in providing digital customer experiences, points out.For example, 5% of retail sales were influenced by mobile devices in 2013, but by 2016 that figure had jumped to 37%, and 22% of consumers spend more as a result of using digital devices in-store, according to data the infographic cites.But incorporating effective omnichannel strategies can be challenging: The strategies of 93% of brands and... [...]

Barry Feldman says, “Star ratings are simple, but they have an immense effect. They increase social proof, boost word-of-mouth marketing, and improve the results of paid ads. And, most important, they influence purchases.So… What’s social proof?Social proof is “a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.” That’s the answer you get by Googling “social proof,” courtesy of Wikipedia.Stay tuned. The rest of this article is 99% jargon-free.If you’re hip... [...]

Marsha Hunt says, “Shopify is used by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs to sell products online. The Shopify app store never falls short of hosting thousands of intuitive apps that are simplifying lives and boosting productivity every day. The sheer number of apps in the store may find you confused and overwhelmed to find the perfect app, as the search results can leave people scratching their heads. Some high quality while others happen to be quite efficacious…and yes, free! The free apps elicit a great deal of interest from store owners at Shopify because it gives them an opportunity... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “By one estimate, nearly 40 cents of every dollar spent in the US on online purchases is spent on Amazon. Some 65 million Prime members spend an average $1,200 a year on Amazon. This eclipse of one marketplace over the orb of e-commerce has forced brands big and small to reevaluate where to put their energies and invest their resources.Amazon’s scale, coupled with consumer trust and one-click shopping, has proven a potent combination. The sales volume can be intoxicating, outweighing margin hits from seller fees and advertiser costs paid to Amazon.Amazon’s dominance... [...]

Allison Enright says, “Amazon.com Inc. will begin collecting state sales tax on orders from consumers in Hawaii, Idaho, Maine and New Mexico starting on April 1. In doing so it will conclude a near decade-long story about sales tax collected on online orders, regardless of whether the e-retailer selling the goods has a physical presence, or nexus, in the state.Amazon has no physical presence in these four states and thus is under no legal obligation to collect sales tax on orders from residents in those states. It also doesn’t have a physical presence in Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi,... [...]

Astroblu has just released (on Monday) a new WordPress theme, the Uzicom Theme, and by using it, you can create fully responsive e-commerce websites.You are going to find the features of this theme helpful in building a productive site, particularly in e-commerce. This theme will save you the monthly fees that other platforms (such as Shopify) charge. Buy a license and it lasts a lifetime.Take a look at what it offers:• Fully Responsive websites• 1-Click install• Drag & Drop Layout Builder with visual composer• SEO Optimized• Retina Ready granularity• Beautiful CSS3 layouts•... [...]

Whether your business is primarily offline (as a “brick and mortar” store in some city) or entirely online, you need a presence online that draws people into your business and interests them in what you have to offer.Even offline businesses need a way that people can find them online since more and more, that’s how people do their searching when they want to buy something. And, while they are on your site, you can interest them in the specific items you have for sale.There’s a new WordPress theme, Uzicom, that help give you an attractive online, appealing representation... [...]

Laura Forer says, “”Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a systematic approach for increasing the percentage of website visitors that become customers,” according to a collaborative infographic by design consultancy XPLANE and conversion rate experts The Good.CRO can have a significant impact on end results, such as when the 2008 Obama campaign ended up increasing conversion 40.6%, which garnered an additional $60 million in campaign funds, the infographic points out.It goes on to highlight seven steps you can follow to use CRO to turn your website browsers in to buyers.And,... [...]

Michael Sandstorm says, “Everything from music streaming services to healthy sweets are being marketed through free trials and there’s a reason why it’s such an effective marketing tactic.It allows your customers to ‘own’ your brand without initially paying for it, and because once they have a brand they value it more highly, they are more likely to continue using your product.Humans are creatures of habit and comfort, making it highly unlikely that we will give up on what we perceive to be a benefit to us once it has become an established part of our everyday lives. Just as... [...]

Astroblu, the WordPress theme development company, has just released a new theme dedicated to building e-commerce stores and affiliate stores. They call is Uzicom.This theme lets you take advantage of many e-commerce advantages such as you might pay thousands of dollars for, annually, with the “big names” of e-commerce, like Sholify.com and BigCommerce.com.It can be used for affiliate sites, such as Amazon stores, or for selling your own products, or as a consultant you can use it for your offline clients who want to create an online sales channel.Uzicom is unusually flexible, allowing... [...]