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Winning Internet Integration Strategies for Today's Retailer

 

 

e-RETAILING NEWS & OPINION ARCHIVES

November 2008

For the Archives Index, please click here

 

About Advertising

and Promotion

 

November 28, 2008

From The New York Times:

"In Lean Times, Online Coupons Are Catching On"

Internet merchants are offering steep discounts to anyone willing to punch in a secret coupon code or visit a rebate site for a referral before loading up their virtual cart...

http://www.nytimes.com

 

November 28, 2008

From IDC:

"Social Network Users Less Receptive To Advertising"

There are four major reasons why consumers use social networks:  to connect and communicate; in response to peer-pressure; for entertainment; and for work-related purposes.  Advertising does not factor into the consumer's motivations...

http://www.idc.com

 

November 27, 2008

From MarketingProfs.com:

"Effective Online Marketing in a Recession"

The most successful Web 2.0 marketers establish measurable goals and then consistently track the results...

http://www.marketingprofs.com

 

November 26, 2008

From eMarketer:

"E-Mail Marketers Get in the Spirit"

Create a sense of urgency in the last six weeks of the year.  Pay special attention to messaging and be crystal clear about shipping dates, return policies and fees...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 25, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"E-Tailers Cooking Up Cyber Monday Promos to Goose Holiday Sales"

Retailers that run a very heavy Cyber Monday promotion could see in an increase in Web sales volume by as much as 10 percent...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 24, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"Even in this Economy, Shoppers Will Respond to the Right Pitch"

59% of online shoppers will likely make an impulse purchase if they see something online that is perfect for someone they know...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 21, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"Online Advertising:

A Glimmer of Light"

The steep rise in Internet advertising revenue over the last year indicates more and more marketers are turning to the Web at a time when the global economy is slowing down and the costs associated with traditional modes of advertising are on the rise...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 21, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"How Blogs Drive More Sales Than Social Media Sites"

When using blogs to enhance your marketing, assess the full impact of the blogs, because they aren't a one-shot promotion yielding immediate returns...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 20, 2008

From MarketingProfs.com:

"Three Key Tips to Minimize Email-List Churn"

Get subscribers engaged right at the beginning of the relationship, when they are likely to make quick decisions about their email relationship with your company...

http://www.marketingprofs.com

 

November 18, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Winning Marketing Tactics in an Uncertain Economy"

Optimize your conversion path by bringing users directly into the funnel instead of forcing them to find it.  Simplify the experience to create the desired action...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 18, 2008

From eMarketer:

"Targeting the Female Holiday Shopper"

This year it is especially important for marketers to engage women using direct marketing that gives them a personal incentive to shop...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 17, 2008

From eMarketer:

"Consumers Opening Fewer E-Mails"

The average marketing e-mail open rate fell to 13.2% in the first half of 2008, compared with 16.1% in the first half of 2007.  Click rates also fell, from 3.1% in the first half of 2007 to 2.7% in the first half of this year...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 14, 2008

From DM News:

"E-mail Is Just One Tool in Your Marketing Arsenal"

Marketers should focus less on how often they send messages and more on how relevant those messages can be...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 14, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Five Ways to Leverage E-mail in a Down Economy"

Look to increase average order sizes and overall revenue by creating a long-term testing program while improving segmentation and targeting to your house list...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 14, 2008

From iMarketing News:

"Search Offers Help for Retailers Looking for Holiday Booster"

If you're selling a product that 30 other companies are selling, ad copy is your first chance to differentiate yourself ...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 13, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Never on Sunday?  Rethink Your E-mail Schedule"

E-mails sent on Sundays garner the highest open rates...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 13, 2008

From DM News:

"SEM Turns the Media World Upside Down"

Today, ever more savvy marketers are waking up to the fact that SEM is not simply an ancillary channel in their marketing mix, but rather the actual foundation upon which to build their overall marketing plan...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 11, 2008

From eWeek.com:

"How to Drive Revenue by Improving E-mail Deliverability"

Seven best practices designed to keep your company's e-mail deliverability efforts aligned with its revenue goals...

http://www.eweek.com

 

November 6, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"The Search Engine Marketing High-Wire Act"

The already intense competition for the eyes and ears of Web surfers will only increase as consumers look for bigger deals online and free information to download...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 5, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Personalized Subject Lines:

Beneficial or Bad?"

Using the person's name in the subject line, when the message isn't about him or her, feels cheap and even spammy.  Consumer messages that lend themselves better to subject-line personalization are birthday greetings, reminders, surveys, and similar messages...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 4, 2008

From MarketingProfs.com:

"Email Deliverability Is in Your Hands"

Allow recipients to set preferences for how often to email them to ensure that you are not inundating your customers.  Make sure you are immediately recognizable in the From line and ensure your Subject line is well thought out and eye-catching...

http://www.marketingprofs.com

About Customer

Service

 

November 28, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"Secure Checkout Key Factor in Attracting Online Shoppers"

79% of online shoppers indicated that a secure checkout is very important in initially attracting them to a web site, with 59% citing product quality as very important, and 48% calling easy-to-use web site features very important...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 25, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"E-Retailers Still Haven't Figured Out that E-Mail Customer Service Thing"

More than a dozen years into the Internet revolution, a significant number of retailers still haven't figured out how to respond quickly and appropriately to customers' e-mail inquiries...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 24, 2008

From DM News:

"Complement Analytics with Consumer Input"

Visitors aren't necessarily deterred by small glitches to a Web site, but may be put off by them from making an immediate purchase...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 21, 2008

From Nielsen Online:

"Holiday Shoppers Continue to Shift Purchases Online for Convenience"

Consumers will continue to shift their gift buying online this holiday season, citing convenience, time saving and price among the primary reasons for shopping on the Web...

http://www.nielsen-online.com

 

November 20, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Search Improves All Marketing Aspects"

Search queries that include phrases, rather than single words, can be mined to learn what questions customers have that may pose hurdles to making a purchase...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 19, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"Half of Shoppers Who Plan to Buy on Retail Sites Leave without Purchasing"

Task completion rates were highest, at 80%, for visitors seeking a store location, followed by 78% for visitors seeking pricing and promotional information, and 76% for visitors researching a product...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 17, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"Don't Mess With the Platform -

Enhance the E-Commerce Experience"

The golden rule of store-based retail is to entice your customers to come in and shop through interesting and attractive storefront displays, end-caps and in-store attractions.  The golden rule of online retail should be no different...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 12, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Consumers Want to Pay Now for Online Purchases, Not Later"

Online consumers are likely to increase the amounts charged to store-branded credit cards...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 7, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"To Keep Customers Coming Back, Get Personal"

Provide useful information.  The consumer is trying to make a decision - give them confidence in their purchase.  They want the product in context, with good descriptions.  Provide background information so that the consumer can become smart about a product, category or brand they may not know well...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 6, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"81% of Shoppers More Likely to Buy Online with Easy Returns"

An inflexible or stringent returns policy can be an obstacle to growth, particularly as those consumers most likely to return items also tend to be the most active online buyers...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 6, 2008

From MarketingVOX:

"Comparison-Site Sales Rise as Consumers Scavenge for Deals"

Consumers are turning to comparison engines and user reviews to make informed purchasing decisions and derive value...

http://www.marketingvox.com

 

November 5, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"Shoppers Don't Understand Really Simple Syndication"

To spur consumer adoption of RSS, marketers need to take on the burden of education and awareness...

http://www.internetretailer.com

About Webstore

Management

 

November 28, 2008

From Search Engine Watch:

"25 Design Best Practices for Your Small Business Web Site"

Break up long paragraphs with photos or bullet points.  Having great paragraphs of text bores your user - give them information in a concise and easy to skim manner...

http://searchenginewatch.com

 

November 27, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"Shoppers Use Term Black Friday Online, But Mainly to Find Store Deals"

Most online consumers still plan to do at least some shopping on the web during the holidays and more plan to turn to the internet for the majority of their holiday purchases...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 27, 2008

From The New York Times:

"E-tailers Face Tough Holiday Shopping Season"

Merchants must do broad capacity checks for their Web sites, not just for their home pages but also of their shopping cart, search engine, checkout process, product catalog and the like...

http://www.nytimes.com

 

November 26, 2008

From iMarketing News:

"Unify Your Data, Improve Your E-mail, Boost Your Conversions"

A unified data approach records the visit and browsing of the customer - whether authenticated or not - and is able to comprehend that the customer is also an e-mail subscriber...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 26, 2008

From MarketingProfs.com:

"Understanding the Fundamentals of Web Site Design"

Identifying the look and feel that will send the proper message to your target audience will have a direct effect on how visitors respond to your Web site...

http://www.marketingprofs.com

 

November 25, 2008

From MarketingProfs.com:

"Click, Click, Cha-Ching!"

Creative ideas to boost cost-per-click ROI at little or no extra cost...

http://www.marketingprofs.com

 

November 25, 2008

From iMarketing News:

"Tracking Consumer Behavior"

The online advertising world has been pretty obsessed with getting right down to the bottom of the purchase level and last-click attribution.  Look at all the things people do online and attribute a sale in a more representative way than just the last click...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 24, 2008

From MarketingVOX:

"Retail E-Commerce Outpaces Total Retail in Q3"

E-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2008 accounted for 3.4% of total retail sales...

http://www.marketingvox.com

 

November 24, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Getting Support for Your Search Marketing Activities"

Use quantitative research and statistics proving that your audience is on the Web and that the Internet is a viable channel...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 21, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Establishing Trust in Your Local Business"

Your Web site is your storefront on the Web, so be certain to present an up-to-date image to potential customers.  A site that looks as though your nephew created it as a school project can give people the impression that your work is sloppy or that your shop is unkempt...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 20, 2008

From The New York Times:

"Web Sites Wage Holiday Price Wars"

To preserve the sanctity of their brands and some level of pricing control, some Web companies are promoting discount sites separately from their main brands...

http://www.nytimes.com

 

November 19, 2008

From eMarketer:

"Online Buyers Active But Practical"

The challenge for retailers is no longer how to lure shoppers online, but how to differentiate their brand among all others...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 19, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Goal-Oriented Content Optimization"

Search engines love (love, love) fresh content...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 19, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"How to Maximize Site Performance for the Holidays"

Look at what percentage of paid search traffic comes to your site and immediately leaves after looking at only one page...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 18, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"How to Avoid Gridlock in Web Traffic Analysis"

Seven tips for getting the most out of your analytics...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 18, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Quick Fixes You Can Make Before the Holidays"

Go through your product path (home page, category page, subcategory page, product page).  Do all the images representing your categories reflect the most scintillating content within those categories?

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 17, 2008

From The Globe and Mail:

"Canadian Internet Shopping Rises 61% in Two Years"

The increase was driven by a larger volume of orders, which rose to 69.9 million in 2007 from 49.4 million in 2005...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

 

November 15, 2008

From iMarketing News:

"Web Retailers May Thrive in Holidays"

The primary reason online retail is expected to weather the economic storm better than offline is because of the ease which consumers can comparison-shop online...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 14, 2008

From Nielsen Online:

"78% of  Adult Online Consumers Made Internet Purchase in Previous Six

Months"

Most consumers see online retail as a primary benefit of the Internet.  The sheer convenience of being able to comparison shop from your home or office has become all but irresistible...

http://www.nielsen-online.com

 

November 13, 2008

From MarketingProfs.com:

"Don't Settle for Web Site Mediocrity"

If your site is well-built and well optimized, yet the design is boring and amateurish, then your well-placed Web site will drive customers away and just might as well not exist...

http://www.marketingprofs.com

 

November 13, 2008

From eMarketer:

"Blogs and the Purchasing Decision"

For a portion of Web users, blogs rival search as a navigation tool, which has really interesting implications for advertisers...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 12, 2008

From Advertising Age:

"Online Retailers Tightening Belts"

Retailers should be viewing online investments as a way to capture lost sales and prevent them from going to a competitor...

http://adage.com

 

November 12, 2008

From eMarketer:

"The Gen X Online Shopper"

In a budget-conscious time, Gen X is especially value-driven.  They're educated, tech-savvy and in debt, so they use the Web to find the best values...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 12, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"What's Old Is New Again for Driving Web Site Traffic"

Online businesses should invest in opening multiple channels of traffic toward their Web site, and one of the most time-tested yet little-known sources of traffic is called direct navigation traffic...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 11, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Translating the Language of Search"

Some of the most frequently used search industry terminology, jargon, abbreviations, and simplified definitions...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 10, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"The Seven Deadly Consumer Biases"

Every successful or failed search, every page visited or revisited, every purchase or abandoned cart, carries with it valuable information that is typically ignored or relegated to reports with unclear consequence...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 10, 2008

From InternetRetailer.com:

"As Holidays Approach, Online Retailers Remain Optimistic"

56% of online retailers expect their holiday sales to increase at least 15% over last year...

http://www.internetretailer.com

 

November 7, 2008

From MarketingVOX:

"Retail E-Commerce Sales Growth 6% in Q3"

With so many consumers expected to be especially cost-conscious this holiday season, it is important for retailers to reach them at the initial point of the purchase funnel - when many product research and price comparisons are being conducted online...

http://www.marketingvox.com

 

November 7, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Optimizing Online Data Collection"

How much information do you really need?

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 6, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Six Last-Minute SEO Tips for the Holidays"

Include internal links to special holiday sale sections from your site's navigational map.  This will provide another clear crawl path for the spiders to discover and index the new URLs...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 5, 2008

From eMarketer:

"Pinching Pennies Online for the Holidays"

Consumers will time their shopping to capitalize on peak promotional times such as Cyber Monday, when Web retailers frequently offer free shipping and other price-cutting deals...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 4, 2008

From ClickZ.com:

"Calculating the Value of Optimizing Your Web Site"

Think about what you are trying to achieve from a site change and what your goal in that change is...

http://www.clickz.com

 

November 4, 2008

From MarketingVOX:

"Websites Influence Most Toy Purchasers"

It is critical toy retailer websites show the quality and value of what they're selling, the breadth of product selection and the expertise they provide...

http://www.marketingvox.com

 

November 4, 2008

From iMarketing News:

"How to Use Flash - And Still Be Indexed by Search Engines"

For pages that you want to keep entirely Flash-based, such as a 3-D product view, it is helpful to create HTML landing pages preceding the Flash content and describe to users what they are about to view...

http://www.dmnews.com

 

November 3, 2008

From eMarketer:

"Where Is Generation X?"

A full 90% of Gen Xers used the Internet - only one percentage point less than Generation Y...

http://www.emarketer.com

 

November 3, 2008

From E-Commerce Times:

"A True Internet Model for E-Commerce Fulfillment"

E-commerce fulfillment providers can support pure-play e-commerce Web sites, multichannel retailers who sell through third-party Web sites, and merchants who sell through brick-and-mortar stores...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com

 

November 2, 2008

From Strategy+Business:

"Web Sales with a Human Touch"

By separating the tire kickers from the hot leads, then chatting with those leads in a way that personalizes their experience and drives them toward a transaction, Web retailers can open up the bottom of the funnel significantly...

http://www.strategy-business.com

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