Dayna Winter says, “Think back to the last time you bought something online. Did you consciously think about the design of the site? Maybe not. If the design was doing its job, it wasn’t demanding attention. It was quietly allowing the products to shine, and helping you to make your purchase in the most seamless way possible. Now, think about the last time you left an ecommerce store frustrated, abandoning your shopping mission before even reaching the cart. I’ll bet design was top of mind that time. Bad design is obvious, leaving customers confused and irritated, and costing merchants... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Next up in our series of yearly roundups, we’re looking at the year in ecommerce. So, what were the biggest trends and talking points? For more on this topic, check out these training courses from Econsultancy: Ecommerce and Online Retailing Training Conversion Optimisation – How to Deliver Digital Growth Training Focus on the ‘customer experience’ Paul Rouke, founder & CEO, PRWD: This is extremely healthy, although “being customer-centric” is easier said than done. In 2016, there were only a small number of brands who recognised how crucial... [...]

Jeff Rajeck says, “By all measures, ecommerce is on the rise globally. In the US, Adobe Digital Insights reported that Black Friday generated $3.3bn in online sales, a 17% year-on-year increase. US consumers spent an additional $3.45bn on Cyber Monday, an annual increase of more than 12%. While impressive, these figures look small compared to Singles Day (November 11th) 2016 in China. According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese consumers spent $17.8bn in one day on Alibaba sites alone, up 32% from 2015″. Seven tips for boosting ecommerce performance Econsultancy  [...]

Stefany Zaroban says, “Nonstore sales increased 11.9% year over year, a deceleration from October, and an indication that election fatigue’s effect on retail was short-lived. All in all, November was a good month for online retail, as new data released this morning suggests U.S. consumers spent a lot more on the web in November than they did last year. That bodes well for many in e-commerce and could dispel any fears that softness in online retail spending measured in days leading up to and following the Nov. 8 presidential election would put a damper on sales all season. November is traditionally... [...]

Thomas Smale says, “If you’re subscribed to any number of newsletters, there’s a good chance you saw Black Friday promotions coming from your favorite brands — and those promotions are increasing each year, coming from unlikely or at least less likely places. So, if we now look back a month to take stock of this year, 2016’s, results: How does Black Friday affect businesses, and how has it changed, with the rise of online stores and mobile shopping? Is it helping or hurting businesses? What were some of the most successful Black Friday deals? Black Friday results and how... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “According to eDataSource, an email marketing and e-commerce analytics platform, Amazon’s email marketing efforts have outperformed seven other retailers so far this month. Tracking campaigns sent between November 29 (the day after Cyber Monday) through December 10, the e-commerce giant sent 1,691 email campaigns – earning 96.6 percent inbox placement and a 19.8 percent read rate. Looking at email marketing efforts for Amazon, Toys R Us, Macy’s, Dicks Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Walmart, Kohl’s and Target, eDataSource tracked the total campaigns sent, read rates... [...]

Mike Kalis says, “There’s something undeniably charming — and perhaps a bit nostalgic — about being a local business that conducts only face-to-face commerce. But in this tech-driven day and age, you’re selling your customers short by limiting the scope of your services to an in-person setting. Sure, you might be able to say you’ve personally met and shaken the hand of each and every one of your clients, but as your business expands, a time will come when those one-on-one interactions no longer make sense. In fact, they’ll only be stunting your growth... [...]

Holly Miller says, “Without question, November and December are among the busiest months of the year. If you work for an e-commerce brand, in many cases the development teams have placed a hold on any new SEO or development requests. So what do you do? How can you make the most of the job searchers looking for information on what’s best for them and the people they’re shopping for? During the past holiday season, mobile searches related to “best gift” grew 70 percent year over year while searches related to cheap or inexpensive gifts grew about 35 percent.The following on-page... [...]

Khalid Saleh says, “Checkout conversion rate is arguably the most important metric for any e-commerce business. This is the page where your business actually makes money. Mess up here, and all the hard work you put in attracting and nurturing visitors will have gone to waste. Shopping cart abandonment makes your checkout process conversion rate even more important. The average shopping cart abandonment rate for e-commerce stores is roughly 68.8 percent. This means seven out of 10 people leave your website after committing to purchase. In this post, we’ll look at some simple tips you can... [...]

Alex Wolk says, “For everybody, the holiday season is a time to come together and celebrate the close of another year. But for e-commerce businesses, the holidays are a time to really give business a boost. Follow these tips below to make sure that the stressful season doesn’t get the best of you. 1. Do something to stand out. Every e-commerce site is working hard to up their game over the next couple of months, so you can’t just sit on your hands. Find a way that you can be different from the crowd, whether that’s by offering cool content (which we’ll take about later), incredible... [...]