Olivia Solon says, “China’s unique ecosystem means that international brands can’t adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach to reach its tantalizingly large population. Dr. Sara Ye, president of Chinese ad tech titan iPinYou’s international business, explains how to crack the People’s Republic with programmatic buying. Dr. Ye will be speaking at the forthcoming ad:tech conference in New York on 2-3 November. How would you sum up the challenges faced by international brands trying to break into China? Many international companies find it a very difficult market to enter. Even if... [...]

Gregory Gazagne says, “It seems that barely a week goes by without fresh evidence of the unstoppable rise of the smartphone. Just last month, two new reports highlighted just how much of a focal point our phones have become in all our lives. Deloitte’s Mobile Consumer Survey found that UK citizens look at their smartphones over a billion times a day, declaring that “no other personal device has had the same commercial and societal impact as the smartphone, and no other device seems likely to.” Around the same time in late September the IAB released its ‘Mobile Commerce: A Global Perspective’... [...]

Anna Johansson says, “We’ve all seen blogs – both personal and business – launch with great imagination and aspirations, only to eventually fade away and fail. A company blog is a tremendous asset for e-commerce companies and the benefits are numerous. Four Reasons E-commerce Sites Need Blogs If you’ve yet to start a blog for your e-commerce website, then it’s probably because you don’t understand the value it could provide your brand. Let’s take a look at a few of the top reasons why thousands of e-commerce sites have made the plunge and the investment. 1. Blogs give your... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Ecommerce checkout design has come a long way in recent years. As many big retailers focus on making the process as seamless as possible, guest checkouts are now seen as standard and slow-loading speeds are a thing of the past. But what about payment preferences? I’ve recently been questioning whether people do actually care if a site has a one-click buy option. If the process is quick, transparent and easy – does it really matter? According to new research from PayPal, the answer appears to be yes. Here’s a closer look at the stats and the reasons why payment... [...]

Barry Levine says, ““Mobile wallet” conjures up the virtual equivalent of a worn leather billfold harboring credit cards, coupons, boarding passes, and discount cards. But that’s only because its name is borrowed from the wallet’s heyday, when all “stores” were tangible. The future of the humble mobile wallet may turn out to be something much more unique than acting as a billfold-substitute. Corey Gault, director of communications of mobile engagement provider Urban Airship, told me via email that his company believes “mobile wallets will become [a] marketing platform”... [...]

Satish Meena says, “The first week of October witnessed the start of the holiday sales season in India as the big three online retailers — Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal — launched high-profile sales. Originally started by Flipkart in 2014 as Big Billions day, this week witnessed a discount-driven war among the top three players. Online retail in India has witnessed significant growth during the past five years, powered by highly funded online retail companies that bought growth through discounts. This gross market value (GMV)-led growth led to very high valuations and burn rates for... [...]

Thomas Smale says, “Your ecommerce store is up and running, and you’re getting some sales. Congratulations! But, if you thought you could squeeze every bit of profit out of your business without optimizing your store and using the right strategies to engage customers, you thought wrong. Generating new business is one way to increase your ecommerce sales, but there’s a good chance you could be doing more with the customer base you already have. Here are five ways to increase your online sales. 1. Upsell and cross-sell products. You buy a brand new guitar, but within a few short years,... [...]

Susannah Morris says, “Pumpkin spice is reappearing on menus and fantasy football is now the hottest hallway topic – fall is finally here. With the change in the leaves comes the inevitable countdown to Cyber Monday for ecommerce marketers. In 2015, one out of every six dollars spent over the holiday season was spent online. To capture your share of that revenue, you need to plan early (and often). To help you get started, we’ve put together a three-part guide to help you succeed this holiday season. The first part, 1. Before the Season, kicks off the series by helping you reflect on... [...]

Divyan Gupta says, “eCommerce and fundraising are the new buzzwords. Everyone seems to be wanting in on the action. The glowing press coverages, rock star status and proclamations of the new ‘Entrepreneur God’ has everyone wanting to turn to eCommerce and get funded. Many founders and entrepreneurs think that they only way they can create a successful business is by getting funded right from day one. They forget that somewhere in the middle of all of that is the need to create a business. One that is sustainable and long lasting and not dependent on funding after funding. In a recent... [...]

Bryan Robinson says, “Today businesses are connected to consumers like never before, so it’s hardly surprising that the E-commerce industry continues to see phenomenal growth. In fact, if you take a look at this Statista report, E-commerce sales are projected to grow to 534.95 billion U.S. dollars by 2018. 1. Social Selling According to this BI Intelligence report, social networks are now driving more sales than email, with Facebook being the number one driver of traffic. Facebook makes it easy for store owners to promote, market and sell their products from within the app, and... [...]