Susan Wu says, “Join us tomorrow as we host a webinar on the state of global online retailing in 2015. Learn how to better target increasingly sophisticated buyers through an understanding of consumer behaviors and market trends.   We will talk about the present status of shoppers and its implications for the future.  The webinar will draw on forecast data insights from our Online Retail, Web-Influence, and Luxury Retail forecasts.We plan to discuss:1)     What you can learn from young mobile shoppers in mobile-first economies.2)     How product purchases differ across markets... [...]

Duncan Jones says, “If you’re trying to use e-commerce in a B2B context, it is no longer safe to ignore the procurement role within your customers’ organization. At the moment you may be able to market and sell successfully direct to end-user customers, but not for long. The growing imperative for chief procurement officers (CPOs) to guarantee compliance with various external laws and internal policies is driving a much tougher stance on so-called rogue buying.I’ve been studying the customer’s side of B2B e-commerce for a number of years. The clients I speak with work in procurement,... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “In a reversal of what was looking like a year-long trend, e-commerce conversion rates improved year-over-year in Q2, according to the quarterly report from Monetate.The gains were fairly modest, but notable after several quarters of declines among Monetate’s e-commerce customers. Conversion rates rose from 2.93 percent in 2014 to 3.00 percent in Q2 of 2015. The lift occurred across all devices, with tablet conversion rate improvements continuing to outpace those of smartphones and desktop. Conversion rates on tablets increased 12 percent, while smartphone and... [...]

Lily Varon says, “Long gone are the days in which eCommerce site localization means just translating language and accepting localized payment methods. In a high stakes environment, where a global roll out of direct localized sites can mean millions of dollars of investment, eBusiness professionals responsible for managing international customer-facing websites must localize effectively or risk damaging the reputation of their brands and stifling growth.Forrester published a report today that outlines seven mission-critical areas to any website localization initiative. Among these imperatives... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “By some estimates, upselling and cross-selling is responsible for generating more than a quarter of online retail revenues.When it comes to the where of trying to entice customers to spend more than they originally intended, sellers have a number of options and each offers a variety of potential advantages when employed correctly.Product pagesProduct pages are an ideal location to cross-sell and many retailers display related products on these pages.One of the most effective examples of product page cross-selling can be seen with Amazon, which often displays additional... [...]

Mark Rogers says, “Nearly all consumers look online to research products, and more than half (55 percent) prefer to do their shopping through an online retailer.Customer needs vary, however, and it is important to meet their needs in an online shopping environment. Streamlining the online shopping experience is essential to the success of your shop and continued consumer satisfaction.Considering that two-thirds of shoppers abandon their shopping cart without completing their order, your online shop should be designed to make purchases as easy as possible“.The Digital Shopping Experience:... [...]

Ria Sabnis says, “You know the drill: you find yourself clicking through an online shopping site, adding a couple shirts or laptop stickers to your shopping cart, and once you’re satisfied, you decide to check out. However, something stops you, like millions of online shoppers, from completing the process.Online retailers everywhere have fallen victim to shopping cart abandonment, which keeps a shocking 68% of shoppers from completing their online transactions. In fact, according to a new infographic from Ripen eCommerce, $3.38 trillion will be forfeited in abandoned shopping carts around... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “On the MarketingSherpa blog, we report on every conceivable element of marketing success — from customer service to content marketing, email deliverability to responsive design.One element of marketing success you shouldn’t overlook is passion.Push-through-all-obstacles, make-the-impossible-possible, Teddy-Roosevelt-man-in-the-arena passion.I met Marc Lobliner, Chief Marketing Officer, TigerFitness.com, at the MarketingSherpa Media Center at IRCE 2015. TigerFitness.com has been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for three years in a row with... [...]

Susan Warren says, ““There are so many ecommerce retailers who now believe that in order to differentiate themselves and establish better brand relationships with their shoppers, they [need to consider] opening brick-and-mortar stores,” Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief, Retail TouchPoints, said.According to Advertising Age, 80% of companies have increased digital marketing budgets for 2015. Whether it’s selling products on a website or through a mobile or desktop app, virtual marketing has become the norm.However, some ecommerce retailers have recently invested in the opening of brick-and-mortar... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “Ecommerce has long been considered to have a cost advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers. After all, real estate, inventory and human resource costs are all lower.However, these reduced costs come at an expense — Internet retailers rely on a third-party for fulfillment. Which means their margins and perhaps overall business model is at the mercy of other companies.This dependency became all the more clear recently when UPS and FedEx announced a significant change to shipping policies by applying dimensional weight pricing (also known as DIM) to all ground shipments.... [...]