E-Commerce sales in the U.S. totaled $306 billion in 2014 and are projected to pass $494 billion by 2018. With numbers like this, it is safe to say that e-commerce is here to stay and is only becoming more powerful by the minute. You might already run your own e-commerce store or are about to launch one from scratch; either way, there are six principles every e-commerce website should follow. 1- Clean Visuals Visuals and the overall look of your website are one of the most important elements in building trust with potential customers and in increasing their engagement on your site. If a website... [...]

Rachel Serpa says, “Coined in Joseph Heller’s classic satirical novel of the same name, ‘Catch-22’ is a term that refers to a situation in which a person is trapped by completely contradictory goals or circumstances. In Heller’s book, the only way for a pilot to escape his WWII flying mission is to request psychiatric evaluation due to mental instability, and be deemed insane. However, awareness of his own insanity is considered proof of a rational mind, thus making it impossible to escape his mission, a total and complete Catch-22″. Privacy and personalization: a marketer’s... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “The ultimate guide to personalisation: upselling and persuasion”. Ian McCaig says, “As technology has advanced, so has the online marketer’s ability to shape website utility and brand perceptions. Product recommendation engines were the first real move away from a one size fits-all website, but it wasn’t until the introduction of A/B testing that ecommerce professionals started to look at personalisation as more than just algorithmic product curation. Ecommerce is graduating into a new phase of personalisation where... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Mobile is now the main driver of global adspend growth: stats”. Christopher Ratcliff says, “Mobile advertising, including display, search and in-app ads, is now growing six times faster than desktop internet. Forecasts suggest that mobile advertising will continue to grow by an average of 50% a year between 2013 and 2016, thanks to the widening penetration of smartphones and tablets. These figures come from ZenithOptimedia’s latest advertising expenditure forecast. It reveals that overall global advertising spend will... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Personalisation: where to start and what’s to come”. Heather Hopkins says, “Last week I moderated the roundtables at our Digital Cream London event on personalisation and I wanted to share some of the themes and takeaways from these sessions.  Personalisation is certainly on the radar. It was named this year’s top digital priority by B2C marketers in our Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing published in January. But this is a nut we have not yet cracked. Whilst it’s an exciting opportunity, it is also... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Ecommerce technology is failing to meet merchant needs: report”. Ben Davis says, “Companies are reporting the underperformance of ecommerce solutions in critical areas of functionality such as site search, product management, SEO and mobile-supported commerce. These deficiencies, coupled with difficulties with integration, have led many merchants to replatform, according to Econsultancy’s first survey-basedTechnology for Ecommerce Report. The reports, carried out in association with Neoworks, shows that only a minority... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Five ecommerce personalization tips for Valentine’s Day”. Ian McCaig says, “You’re one in a million. But hopefully your conversion rates will be higher than that this Valentine’s day. There’s nothing like the feeling of love in the air that gets people wanting to be extravagant with declarations of their love. But how do you go about providing the best experience for your Valentine’s customers to drive conversions, fast? Here are my top tips for helping people in a loving mood get the most out of your site“. Five... [...]