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E-commerce Blog

eBay Predicts Increase in Online Shopping Over Christmas - 27th October 2009

The Internet auction site eBay is predicting a strong Christmas for online retailers, based on a recent survey.

The advertising arm of eBay has found that 85% of shoppers intend to maintain or increase their online shopping in the run up to Christmas, despite of the current postal strikes and prevailing world economy. Entertainment, clothes, shoes & accessories, and home electronics are areas expected to benefit the most from the increase spend, with 'value for money' being cited as a key factor.

The survey also found that trust is still the biggest deciding factor in consumers' online shopping habits. More than three quarters (78%) would refuse to buy from a web site that doesn't generate significant trust. Therefore, if online retailers want to be part of this predicted increase in online spending ahead of Christmas, it is important that they ensure:

  • Consistent branding between online and offline retail locations
  • Secure payment and verification systems are put in place, with logos displayed clearly
  • Acceptable guarantees covering delivery and returns are also made prominent

These are just a few of the steps online retailers can take towards ensuring the web drives high volumes of sales over the Christmas period. By putting these foundations in place, browsers are more likely to spread the goodwill to your online cash register than those of your competitors.

Niche Retailers Succeed Online Through ‘Common Lack of Fear’ - 14th August 2009

This week, a feature on Retail Week web site caught our attention, called ‘The sky’s the limit: Tomorrow’s retail stars’. In it, ten of the most promising small businesses in the UK share their stories of success – as well as the occasional mistake – when building up their businesses in the shadow of a recession. What we found remarkable was how much they had in common.

In addition to all being small businesses catering for defined niches, most have put a large emphasis on the web as a sales channel, investing heavily in e-commerce and online marketing. This has allowed them to:

  • Create rock solid brands that stand out from the larger chains, without the need for the same expenditure
  • Respond quickly to changing market demands
  • Slash overheads by omitting the up-keep of brick and mortar stores
  • Expand their customer reach, which would have been severely limited if they opted solely to trade on the high-street

Because many entrepreneurial start-ups lack the ‘bottomless pockets’ of their larger competitors, they have opted for e-commerce and online marketing to attract customers and build their brand themselves, even when others thought it couldn’t be done. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and other elements of social media all allow brands to spread word of mouth and reach prospects faster, all for the cost of an Internet connection.

That’s not to say the venture into e-commerce was plain sailing for all the retailers; some lessons to take away from others’ mistakes include:

  • Build your online presence alongside your catalogue at the same time, as one without the other is like a car without wheels
  • Ensure you’ve chosen an e-commerce provider who can check your site for technical errors, or you might find yourself without a checkout on your opening day!

Small entrepreneurs carve loyal and successful niches for themselves through their unique offerings and harnessing the power of word of mouth; if these examples are anything to go by, the process is made that much faster when you embrace e-commerce and online marketing.

Pay Fair: OFT to Investigate Internet Pricing Tactics - 27th August 2009

In a bid to make retail a less frustrating activity for shoppers, The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to conduct a market study of potentially misleading pricing and advertising tactics used by retailers, particularly in the online realm.

The ‘Advertising and Pricing’ market study will evaluate which pricing strategies act least in shoppers’ best interests. It may also look at the use of personal information acquired online to dictate what advertising messages they receive.

A few of the tactics the OFT plan to examine are:

  • ‘Drip’ pricing – where cumulative charges and supplements are added throughout the buying process
  • ‘Baiting’ – advertising discounts to attract visitors whilst having few items actually on sale
  • Reference pricing – artificially inflating the pre-sale price of an item in order to make the discount look more attractive
  • Time limited offers
  • Complex pricing – where it is difficult to calculate the unit price such as ‘three for two’ offers and non-inclusive pricing

Some of these practices or more obviously unfair than others, but others - such as whether time limited offers are genuinely unfair, or keeping postage and packaging charges for orders secret until the checkout stage qualifies as ‘drip’ pricing - are more grey areas.

For this reason, the OFT is requesting that interested parties submit their written views to advertisingandpricing@oft.gsi.gov.uk by 18 September 2009, as they will shape the outcome of the report, due to commence work in Autumn.

Get Bigger Windows for Your Online Window-Shoppers - 19th August 2009

The best e-commerce sites make it easy for visitors to find what they want. They can search by brand, model, format, or by keyword and it brings up the items they’re interested in. But what about the visitors who don't know what they want?

They might have an idea e.g. a cheap gift for a teenage boy between £10-£25, but won't be sure what fits the bill exactly. Or they may have turned up on your site just to have a browse, with a vague idea of something they might like – if the price is right. You can help lead these kinds of visitors to their desired items and a potential purchase by offering them advanced search options; something beyond the usual categorisations.

These advanced categories will differ from site to site depending on what it is you sell. Using fashion retail as an example, help visitors sort items based on taste: 'smart/casual' or 'colour/pattern', or specific occasions like cocktail party, nightclub, dinner-date etc. You could let browsers use these fields in different combinations, so they can see if you have any red cocktail dresses for under £200.

We recommend surveying your visitor base to find out if this is something they want or need first. It won’t be for every company, but if you want to capture some of your idle browsers and add value to your site, consider introducing this advanced search option to your e-commerce site, and start polishing those windows!

Free Postage & Packaging Increases Online Sales - 13th August 2009

According to recent research, e-commerce site owners are more likely to increase sales at their online retail store by offering free postage & packaging than by any other means. As an incentive, free postage & packaging influenced 87% of people surveyed whether to go ahead with a purchase, outranking product reviews (51%) and free returns policies (39%).

Product reviews are still important in establishing whether the item is the right one for the customer. However, the nature of the web makes it easy for browsers to ‘window-shop’ for the best deal, so it makes sense that an extra discount in the form of free postage & packaging would be the one most likely to persuade shoppers to do their purchasing online. After all, its cheaper than a trip to the high-street.

EC Law Creates E-commerce Confusion for Luxury Brands – 28th July 2009

A new draft of e-commerce laws in Europe could spark a wave of litigation warns a prominent lobbyist, with particular consequences reserved for auction sites such as eBay and luxury brands.

The new EC law is designed to grant brand owners greater control over who sells their items over the Internet within Europe, and in what quantity, in the hope that it will redress the bias currently in online retailers’ favour.

However, Jaques Lafitte, founder of Brussels lobby firm Avisa yesterday pointed out that certain rules are still not clear, in particular: "What if eBay opened a shop on the Champs Elysee in Paris; could it then sell as much luxury branded goods as it liked via the internet?"

In the new draft of the law, it states that asking distributors to limit the proportion of overall sales made over the Internet is against the law, but a footnote to the regulation states makers of luxury goods are allowed to request, “the buyer (retailer) sells at least a certain absolute amount (in value or volume) of the products offline to ensure an efficient operation of its brick and mortar shop".

Until this contradiction is unravelled, it is likely that confusion around the law will only spread and lead to strained relationships between suppliers and retailers. A public consultation on the law will run until September 28th 2009, at which point a resolution to the conflict is hoped to be reached.

E-commerce: The High Street's Saviour or Executioner? - 15th July 2009

In the early days of the Internet, it’s fair to say e-commerce was viewed as a kind of novelty; a niche for the well-heeled and tech-savy. And while the dot-com boom may have been exciting while it lasted, once the bubble burst, e-commerce was prematurely written off as ever having a shot at dominance. Now, several years later, in the midst of a recession that's rocked the UK to its core, e-commerce has proved itself a roaring success with many high-street retailers realising that in order to win, they're going to have to play for the winning team and embrace the channel.

E-commerce has pulled more than its fair share of the UK economy's weight over the past year: driven to seek bargains, consumers have been turning to the Internet in search of those competitive prices. And they've been able to find them thanks to e-commerce's reduced overheads and increased transactional capabilities. Leading Internet luminary, ASOS, the online fashion retailer has recently revealed pre-tax profits soared 93% to £14 million in the year to 31 March. They are now predicting a similarly strong year ahead. At the same time, a report published jointly between PayPal and Experian predicts e-commerce's market share will have doubled to 7.4% by 2011 - effectively one in every 14 pounds spent.

So what does this mean for the high-street? Is e-commerce to blame for the difficult times brick and mortar stores are experiencing? While e-commerce might eat further into its margins and some high streets disappear completely, they have too strong and profitable a relationship for either to try and undercut the other. We predict a greater integration between the two.

Web sites drive sales in stores and vice versa. When retailers implement sophisticated stock management systems, retailers can accommodate a whole range of purchasing behaviours. For instance, a shopper might want to check a TV in store first for sound and picture quality whilst doing the weekly food shop; then, later on their way home they put the item into a price comparison engine using their smart-phone to see who has the best deal; finally, at home, the credit card is out and the item is being snapped up at the winning retailer’s online store.

We expect to see this model of shopping become more common as technology becomes cheaper and shoppers realise the convenience it affords. The effects of the recession will be long lasting, but not all of it will be bad: multi-channel shopping gives both retailers and consumers more transactional opportunities, leading to more sales and profits for surviving businesses.

Live Chat With Your Customers For Improved Customer Service – 24th June 2009

Sometimes transactions go wrong or visitors have trouble finding what they're looking for. It's in these instances that you need a reliable customer service channel in place, or else risk losing potential sales. Which of the following customer service channels do you offer on your online store?

  • Telephone support
  • Email
  • Live Chat

Our next question would be, which of these channels do you think is the most effective?

Most if not all web sites offer some sort of free phone number for support enquiries, but research from senior Gartner analyst, Tim Smith suggests that live chat could significantly improve the efficiency and resolution rates of incoming support enquiries.

Smith conducted several mystery shopper test on six leading online retailers stores, making one purchase off each site to ensure it was a valid purchasing scenario, but using all three support channels for typical enquiries (special offers, unable to locate an item etc) to bring the sale to a conclusion.

Of the investigation, Smith said: "Each method of communication—telephony, e-mail and live chat tended to gravitate toward the most logical application, which is live chat. For online shopping the logical progression is to view the retailer’s products in your browser and stay within the browser to use live chat for immediate contact."

While telephone and email both have their advantages (telephony’s real-time human interaction; email’s record of correspondence) they also have significant drawbacks. Phone calls can sometimes require browsers to leave the page they are stuck on or even the computer itself, while email, for all its positives, doesn't provide much of an immediate response.

Live chat doesn't win by default however: it is both immediate, has an element of human interaction and enables visitors to stay in front of their computer. To maximise the effectiveness of live chat on your site, make sure you do the following:

  • Place the chat box in a prominent position; too many retailers bury them away at the foot of the page or deep within the site; the checkout is a key area for placement
  • Include a 'chat not available' logo if there is no one manning the chat box; it's very frustrating for a customer to try this channel and get no response
  • Measure the volume of support enquiries you get and allocate staff accordingly, as chat box queues are similarly frustrating

While live chat might be the most suitable channel for resolving technical difficulties and search problem, email and telephony still have a vital part to play in the customer service experience. Look into integrating all three channels within your contact centres so staff can work flexibly and meet demand in whatever direction it comes from.

Persuading Site Visitors to Buy Through Personas – 10th June 2009

As a general rule, visitors to your web site are unpredictable: they might abandon a shopping cart right before they get to the checkout; change the nature of their search queries, or arrive and leave at unexpected points. The phrase “herding a flock of cats” comes to mind. How can you get these visitors to do what you want them to i.e. buy?

Although visitor behaviour on the whole is unpredictable, certain patterns can emerge when you monitor it, which will help you to identify a number of customer personas. These personas can give you the key to creating persuasive messaging on your web site.

For instance, knowing that there is a segment of web traffic arriving at your web site because of an online magazine feature about your products will help you map the path they should be taking from arrival to checkout along these lines:

Online Article - - > Search Engine - - > Landing Page - - > Shopping Basket - - > Checkout - - > Sale Conversion

Using this model, relevant links and calls to action should be placed strategically throughout the site to nudge visitors from one stage to the next. The landing page should make mention of the article (‘As featured in...’); the shopping basket icon should be placed prominently on the landing page with more emphatic calls-to-action (‘Buy Today: Save 20% On Shipping’) and the shopping basket should also be optimised for convenience.

Learning about who your customers are and where they're coming from requires time for research and planning, but will help you write copy that speaks directly to their needs e.g. security, quality, fashion etc. making you more likely to persuade them to buy.

If you’re wondering what makes this effort worthwhile, consider the financial returns of getting just 5% more of visitors to make a purchase. Targeting and designing your site towards customers in this way can lead to significant increase in sales volume. The long-term benefits of knowing who your customers are and how they are navigating your site will help you design and run a much more profitable e-commerce venture.

Is E-commerce Growth About to Reach a Plateau? – 27th May 2009

It seemed unlikely at the beginning of the century but online retail has proved itself to be the more resilient sales channel compared to the high-street, continuing to grow even through the recession. On the 9th anniversary of the IMRG Capgemini Index’s inception, e-commerce had expanded by 5000% to a value of £200bn since the year 2000; to put this in perspective, high street retail grew by just 21% over the same period.

Of course, e-commerce is a new channel and rapid growth is to be expected when measured next to established brick and mortar shops. However, the fact e-commerce seems to have been relatively unaffected by the economic slowdown suggests that the past nine years have been more than just a youthful phrase of rapid growth. As Tina Spooner, Director of Information at IMRG says, “E-retail has not only become a channel of retail choice for consumers, but a way of life for many.”

However, we’ve also mentioned in previous posts that there is still a great deal of work to be done in convincing some members of the public that it’s safe to make purchases online: 20 million people to be more specific. This throws some interesting light on comments made by Mike Petevinos, Head of Consulting for Retail at Capgemini UK:

“Shoppers are spending an average of £10 more online per visit compared to a year ago...it is, however, clear that the online market is maturing, with seasonal fluctuations becoming more noticeable in certain sectors as they are no longer obscured by the 50% plus year on year growth rates of the past.”

Although e-commerce’s exceptional growth will have to reach a plateau eventually, we don’t think the market has quite matured yet, especially when there’s a whole third of the population that still haven’t made a purchase online (baring in mind this figure is just for within domestic borders).

E-commerce merchants should be taking steps to ensure that they remove as many barriers to purchase as possible; to take a look at their website with a user’s perspective and ask themselves whether it might be putting prospects off. It could be worth another extra £10 per visit if they do.

E-commerce Merchants Cutting Back on Search Marketing Spending – 19th May 2009

A recent study from Shop.org has shown that almost a third (30%) of online retailers intend on cutting back marketing spend. Over half (55%) have singled out search engine marketing as the channel due for the biggest cutbacks.

Is it sensible for e-commerce merchants to be making these cutbacks when online retail is faring better than high street retail? It depends on the individual business: if savings need to be made and there’s no other option but to cut search spend, it's probably the sensible option. But the same research has indicated 25% of online retailers are increasing search spend specifically to take back market share from their competitors at this time of vulnerability. These highly aggressive tactics, usually seen only during that lead up to Christmas, could be put into practice much earlier this year.

Your e-commerce website should be driving targeted web traffic to specific landing pages with the help of a search marketing campaign, and you should be prepared to turn the above tactics on your competitors - if you have the resources and the occasion calls for it. By bidding aggressively on relevant search key phrases, you could even price your competitors out of the search market completely. But at the very least, you should be holding your ground so you don’t lose any more market share to competitors.

Who’s Afraid Of Your E-commerce Site? - Thursday 14th May 2009

From the evidence on offer, you'd think the answer would be no-one. E-commerce and online retail boasted a 12.5% increase in non-food sales over the same period, with DIY, outdoor furniture and toys, sandals and summer clothes selling the best. These items are also shifting well in stores, according to Sharon Hardiman, head of non-store retailing at the British Retail Consortium, but clearly not as well as online.

If growth rates were to continue at their current pace, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest e-commerce sites could soon be matching (and perhaps beating) their brick and mortar counterparts in like-for-like sales in the not too distant future.

However, a third of UK consumers are still ‘too scared to shop online'.

The findings come from a recent survey by the Office of Fair Trading and discovered fraud and identity theft are consumers’ prime concerns. A lack of trust in business websites was cited as another barrier, one that is an e-commerce site owner’s responsibility to overcome.

Every effort must be made to instil confidence in the consumer when they first visit your site if you are to increase sales to their full potential. This includes (but is by no means limited to):

  • Investing in professional HTML design and maintenance - if you want people to trust you with their money, you have to show you are a professional in every area of your business: that means no broken links, clip-art, jingles or anything else that sniffs of ‘amateur’
  • Updating your website regularly - static websites are dead in the water; if your inventory or news page hasn’t been updated in over a month, what’s to stop a visitor thinking your business could be about to fold and their money will be lost in your bankruptcy black hole?
  • Creating a secure checkout facility - and posting security icons to inspire extra confidence; explaining what security procedures your transactions go through can go a long way to allaying customers’ fears about fraud
  • Explaining how you use customer data – lay out your terms and conditions clearly, provide consumers with the option to opt-out of sharing data with third parties and do everything you can to protect your customer e.g. if you never ask for credit card details in an email, tell them

Gareth Thomas, minister for consumer affairs has stated that he will be “setting out proposals in (his) forthcoming consumer white paper to better protect people from fraudsters and increase their consumer knowledge when shopping online.”

You should be doing your part too, because the benefits are there for you and your customers: create a secure, reassuring and easy-to-use website and there’s no reason why you won’t soon be generating the sales of a multiple store outfit without the costs to match. Use the tips above to get you started.

Is There Room for 'Expensive' in the Recession? – 15th April 2009

Now that there’s lttle sign of the recession ending before the end of the year according to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, do you find yourself embarrassed by the prices on your e-commerce site, wondering whether it's time to start lowering them in order to remain competitive?

There's no need to start stripping away your profit margins. In a recession, the primary concerns for consumers are value for money and choice, not just pricing. Very few shoppers make decisions based on price alone according to the MIT Sloan School of Management. So whether you’re the cheapest in the industry or pitched at a higher price bracket, your primary goal is to communicate value for money and trust on your ecommerce site.

You want to create a secure environment free of any obstacles for the consumer. Failing to include security logos on your checkout facility will make convincing shoppers to buy from you there and then much harder. You may also want to update your website copy to reflect the recession economy. For instance:

  • Does your product page copy acknowledge that people are looking for high quality, value for money products?
  • Have you geared your special offers towards cost-conscious customers e.g. free shipping on items over £25?
  • Maybe the recession has presented you with an opportunity to up-sell some of your more basic items and accessories in place of premium items?

That doesn’t mean you should have to turn around your whole ecommerce image as the recession dictates; There is still a place for ‘expensive’ in the market place. By providing a dynamic search function that allows users to browse items within specific price brackets, you can capture both the price-conscious and the price-casual shoppers. Including related and recommended items next to product pages can help drive extra sales too.

You shouldn’t ignore price - but where other ecommerce sites may be focusing on undercutting you, you should be finding ways of communicating trust, choice, and the most worthwhile of qualities – value for money on your ecommerce site.

Second Life for High Street Brands On-line - 1st April 2009

The news that old high street stalwarts Woolworths are looking to re-launch their brand as an Internet presence comes at a time when ecommerce looks incredibly healthy in relation to its brick and mortar counterparts. Figures from IMRG show that on-line sales increased by 12% year on year in February, while figures for the high street remain depressed.

Zavvi, another casualty of the shrinking economy are also looking to start afresh as an Internet retailer with a product range expanded to include perfume, underwear and other lifestyle goods in addition to CDs, DVDs, games and electrical goods.

The significant savings brought about through on-line retails’ reduced overheads could see other failing businesses brought back from the brink of administration and re-launched as Internet only operations. However, embracing ecommerce as a sales platform alone won’t solve the problems that may have led businesses to go under in the first place: it simply gives them a second chance.

With this in mind, Woolworths, Zavvi and others like them will have to look closely at the functionality of their sites to make sure that they are easy to navigate, and interactive and secure enough to compete with the established names in ecommerce. This will be integral to re-instilling confidence in consumers about these fallen giants.

They will also have to think carefully about how they intend to promote themselves on-line. Woolworths have already been taking advantage of social media to help refocus on what their most loyal customers expect to see from the re-launch, with a blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page for feedback. In order to gain credibility as an Internet retailer, Zavvi and others will be expected to do likewise; we’ll be monitoring the success of these re-launches as they develop.

Ecommerce Makes the High Street 'Green' With Envy – 18th March 2009

If you sell items popularly bought as gifts, ecommerce might just be the way to boost your sales figures and ‘green’ credentials at the same time.

Ecommerce continues to expand in spite of the recession and poor spending figures on the high street, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, with current on-line retail revenue up 13% on 2008. Sales of gifts, including beers, wines and spirits have done particularly well, with Valentine’s Day creating a noticeable peak in spending.

It has also been reported, this time by the Logistics Research Centre at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, that shopping on-line and having items delivered to your door is often more environmentally friendly than travelling by private, or even public transport to pick up items in person.

The research focused on the “last mile” of delivery for small goods such as CDs, cameras, books and other items for around the home. It found that 181g CO2 was produced by a typical van-based home delivery, compared to 4,274g CO2 for travel to and from the shops by car. Meanwhile, an average bus trip by a shopper produced a 1,265g carbon footprint. In short, if a customer travels by car and buys fewer than 24 small, non-food items per trip, or fewer than 7 items when travelling by bus, home delivery is more environmentally-friendly.

The director of Logistic Research Centre, Prof. Alan McKinnon was keen to point out that neither on-line or off-line retail has an absolute advantage over the other when it comes to carbon emissions. Grouping multiple activities into single trips and multiple items into single deliveries are equally effective ways of minimising environmental impact that shoppers can use.

If you have an ecommerce site already, considering posting this information as useful hints and tips; offer to group multiple orders into single deliveries where possible to attract environmentally-minded customers. For those retailers who have a market share in gifts and don't already have an ecommerce site, it's safe to say they're going to become essential if trends continue of their overall path, and could turn out to be much more than just the saviour of your business, but a catalyst to growth.

5 Tips to Get Your Ecommerce Site to the Top - 4th March 2009

With on-line retail predicted to expand by 6% and reach an estimated value of £56bn by 2014, ecommerce site owners will be considering how to maximise the amount of traffic their websites receive. Research from Forrester indicates that the amount of Britons using the Internet for retail will reach 37m by 2014. With the increase in on-line spending expected to come at the expense of the high street, there is going to be a lot more competition for this search traffic in future.

Ecommerce site owners should be using search engine optimisation (SEO) to compete because when done correctly, it makes sites more visible in natural search engine listings, creates site traffic and helps save cash that might otherwise be spent on pay-per-click campaigns.

The basic concept of SEO involves making your site as direct a match as possible for generic search queries - 'home lighting' for example - through strategic use of keyphrases and links, both on and off your website (we recommend using Google Adwords as it is a useful and free tool for getting keyword suggestions based on what the most popular search queries have been recently).

Tick off the following check-list to ensure you are receiving a strong volume of traffic for your keyword choices (remember, if your site has multiple products, multiple keyphrases to match are recommended):

  • Does the keyword feature in the page title and web URL?
  • Is the most important, keyword rich content at the top of the page?
  • Are you keeping a blog that's hosted on a different domain? Update it with vauable, keyword rich content about your industry and provide links back to your main ecommerce site to help increase traffic and page rankings
  • Are you using SEO on the blog for your keywords as well? Google places more value on links from sites it deems are 'relevant'
  • Is the linking structure in your site simple or does it have many sub-menus and 'layers'? Remember that search engine spiders do not always search very 'deep' into a site, meaning they can miss important, keyword rich pages if they are buried under several menus

SEO is not limited to larger companies - SMEs can use their small size to make decisions and amendments to their sites faster to match popular search trends. It's also a very detailed subject and the check-lists at the top are just the start of what you could be doing to ensure your ecommerce site is fully optimised. Stay posted for future tips on how to improve your site's search engine listing popularity.

SprintEcommerce Attends TFM&A 2009 - 18th February 2009

Doctor Net will be exhibiting SprintEcommerce at this years' Technology For Marketing & Advertising show at Earls Court, London alongside its additional on-line marketing services, which are now all available in one fully-integrated ecommerce platform.

TFM&A 2009 Logo

The new platform has been designed to simplify the marketing and sales process by eliminating the need for multiple technology vendors. It includes ecommerce, email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimisation (SEO).

To find out more about our attendance at this year's show, please visit the Press Release section of our site by clicking here.

More Ecommerce Sites Getting Web 2.0 Make-Overs: Is Yours? - 4th February 2008

When was the last time you updated your ecommerce site? There's a one in two chance that it was in the last year, as recent statistics from the Internet Retailers' monthly survey show that 49.9% of merchants rolled out a new site design within the last twelve months. More specifically:

  • 26.6% re-launched their site within the last 6 months
  • 13.3% re-launched their site in the last 90 days

As Web 2.0 technologies become increasingly popular, ecommerce site owners have been looking at their websites with a fresh perspective on what it means to engage customers and are now overhauling their sites to deliver increased functionality, personalisation and new media content.

Of particular concern to respondents was search engine optimisation (SEO), looking to improve content and other on-page HTML factors to help their sites appear higher in search engines' natural listings. The aim is to increase the amount of traffic to the site and the volume of on-line sales as a result.

If you are among the reported 72.9% of ecommerce merchants reportedly thinking about SEO, bear in mind that there's plenty of 'off-page' work you can do to improve your site's rankings. Get quality inbound links from relevant sites by providing informative content and exclusive offers to blogs, fan sites, forums and other specialist sites related to what you sell. Get in touch with web masters / blog owners directly with a personal email and request a link in exchange for the content you've provided. And don't forget to request 'link text' that matches the keywords and phrases you want to appear highest in Google for.

For the other 50% of the survey (those who haven't rolled out any changes to their site in the last year) it's not a case of 'keeping up with the Jones'': on-line shoppers now expect easy navigation, site search and checkout services. If your ecommerce site doesn't meet these standards, it's at a serious disadvantage to competiting sites. Review your ecommerce site, test it thoroughly to see if you can unearth any bugs when it comes to navigation or the sales processes and draw up a plan for improvements. That way, when on-line shoppers arrive at your website and want to make a purchase, they're able to do so flawlessly, encouraging repeat visits, word of mouth recommendations, customer loyalty and customer satisfaction.

Strong Christmas 2009 Sales Predicted for Ecommerce Sites - 21st January 2009

Recent figures released by the IMRG in the third annual Logan Tod Online Shopping Index will come as cheering news for on-line retailers. The increase in UK ecommerce spending between 2007 and 2008 - which amounted to about £653.2 million – is set to continue into Christmas 2009. Of all the consumers questioned in the most recent survey, 53% intend to make more of their purchases on-line next Christmas.

Knowing that increased interest from consumers is there is one thing, but what can on-line retailers do to make the most out of these intentions? The report has revealed three key factors most likely to affect shoppers' purchasing decisions; when asked what features of a website were important when it came to making a decision between ecommerce sites, the following proportions of interviewees responded:

Availability of product (71%) Effective search tools (70%) Smarter delivery options (70%)

It's advisable therefore that ecommerce sites spend the intervening months tidying up their search functions and delivery services, testing new ways of searching for products on the site more accurately and delivering products with greater levels of flexibility.

The increased uptake in on-line spending is thanks in part to the growing web-smarts of consumers, with the largest growth potential being found in the 45 – 54+ year old demographic - so ecommerce sites will benefit from investigating into this demographic's web usage trends to make sure their site is easy for these people to navigate.

Other challenges facing on-line retailers include maintaining average order values in a marketplace that is seeing product prices driven lower by reduced overheads and loss-leader pricing tactics, increasing the competition. The answer, in short, is to look again to the bullet point figures above: consumers are stating clearly what it is they find most important about the websites they visit. Beyond attractive design and engaging content, the effectiveness of search capabilities and overall product availability are going to be pivotal to building trust and confidence in retailers – so site owners and web developers better get testing in time for Christmas 2009.

Customer Reviews Important for Ecommerce Sites - 12th January 2008

The internet has opened a lot of doors for consumers, giving them access to a range of retailers they would not have been able to reach physically in the past. It has also given them the opportunity to investigate unfamiliar products and services from the comfort of their own home, comparing retailer prices and testimonials to make an informed judgement before visiting stores or making purchases using the ecommerce sites.

A recent Nielson survey has shown that 63% of respondents thought the inclusion of customer reviews on ecommerce sites was the most important factor behind their purchasing decisions. This is likely to be because feedback from other consumers is seen as trustworthy; after all, it comes from a similar perspective to their own: 'what is this product / service doing for me, the customer?' The more feedback there is, the more objectively shoppers can view it. Interestingly, only 3% of respondents considered a review coming from someone they knew as being as important in their decision making – maybe because they view it as having too much bias.

So it's not necessarily who is making the judgement, but how many. Although on-line retailers might find the prospect of opening up their website to public feedback (both positive and negative) a little daunting, some well placed positive feedback at the bottom of a product page could be what swings the consumer's buying decision in your favour. After all, opinions will spread by word of mouth and across the internet, with or without your help – better to have the positive reviews on your site where they can convince shoppers to make a purchase.

SprintEcommerce Widens it's Bandwidth in Time for Christmas – December 3rd 2008

Lately there have been conflicting reports on the state of ecommerce – some claim it's in good health while others say it's on the wane. Speaking for ourselves, we've seen a massive increase in the amount of business we've helped our ecommerce clients generate. As a result, we've had to increase our bandwidth by three times as much in order to help them cope with the demand.

This bodes well for the upcoming Christmas period, and hopefully the ecommerce sector at large will see an increased stability in its sales. Cyber Monday, the on-line equivalent of the Thanksgiving & Black Friday spending spree in the US is regarded by many as a good indicator of how businesses will fare for the rest of the year, and latest reports from Nielson Online have it that Cyber Monday saw a 10% increase in traffic to ecommerce sites across the web.

Over the past two months we've been updating this blog with regular news and tips on ecommerce and how to get the most out of it. Now's the time to put all that information together if you haven't done so already: ecommerce is growing quickly as a sales channel, accounting for one in every £10 spent in the UK economy, and we expect it to make an even bigger impact for our clients before the year is out.

Reduce Basket Abandonment On Your Ecommerce Site - 27th November 2008

Your efforts to provide an enjoyable, problem-free transactional experience for your on-line customers could all be going to waste, a recent study has shown, if you aren't backing it up with an adequate call centre support team in case things do go wrong.

It's reported that 41% of all on-line adults who've ever tried to make an on-line purchase have encountered a problem at some point along the checkout that's stopped them from completing the transaction. There are only two things that consumers can do in this case: walk away from the sale, or turn to the call centre.

You should have a working telephone number and the opening hours of your contact centre marked clearly somewhere on the checkout and the on-line shop's landing page for your customers to turn to in case of difficulty. By the same token, you should make sure that your call centre staff are well versed on the ins-and-outs of the ecommerce site, particularly the areas in which consumers are likely to have problems.

If you don't think you have enough resources to retrain your contact centre agents, and you don't have an IT department they can transfer the call to, you can still help reduce the burden on your support line and the frustration of your customers by uploading an FAQ and troubleshooter page. That way, the most common transational failures can be resolved by the consumers themselves. If it means fewer abandoned baskets, it'll be worth the extra effort.

Consumers Not Getting What They Want from Ecommerce - 19th November 2008

The customer's experience and perception of a business is affected by everything, from the aesthetic (presentation, brand image) to the substance (effectiveness of customer support, quality of goods and services). Whether ecommerce is the business' only sales channel or not makes no difference; if the customer has a poor experience on-line, then that's likely to reflect heavily on all future interactions with the business.

This has been reflected in some very interesting new research from iPerceptions. Their '4Q website survey' gathered the thoughts and opinions of 50,000 web visitors in 2008 and gives marketers insight into why web-users visit websites, how many of them are able to achieve what they set out to do, and how this can effect their perception of the business.

It won't come as a surprise that not everyone visits an ecommerce site to make a purchase; in fact, only 16% of respondents said that had been their primary intention. The majority (43%) were using the website to browse and compare goods and services before buying, demonstrating that the web is still seen as a useful research tool. Other reasons included checking out prices and promotions (11%), accessing customer support (10%), finding a shop location (4%) and other long-tail motivators, such as reading the company blog or watching an on-line video (10%), all of which can add or detract from a consumer's attitude towards a company, depending on the visitor's success. Ensuring there are no obstacles standing between consumers and their intended objectives is a relatively easy and low-cost way of influencing their attitudes for the better.

It's surprising then that according to the research, an aggregate average of just 67% of visitors were able to complete their primary tasks: that's 3 out of 10 people coming away from websites 'empty-handed' (figuratively speaking) and more than likely feeling dissatisfied with the service. The impact? Visitors are half as likely to make a repeat visit. Compare that with the 67% of consumers who would hold an enhanced brand-opinion as a result of a smooth ecommerce experience and you can see how much influence the ecommerce channel has potentially.

Your website is a representative of your business and not a separate, isolated entity - you can positively influence the number of sales you see coming through all of your channels simply by ironing out the creases and providing visitors with an enjoyable experience. With Christmas now looming, businesses should be testing and checking their sites thoroughly, making sure that visitors are be able to walk away from it satisfied with all their aims achieved, whatever those aims might have been.

New Ecommerce Growth Indicator Launched - 6th November 2008

The increasing importance of on-line retail's contribution to the economy is becoming harder to ignore. Last month, fashion retailers As Seen On Screen (or ASOS as they're more commonly known) reported a 104% increase in half-year sales. This was followed swiftly by Dominoes Pizza who reported £83.3 million in sales in the thirteen weeks leading up to the 28th September, with an 84% growth in their on-line business.

Cost-conscious e-tailers such as these are bucking the trend of reduced consumer spending and increasing the popularity of the internet as a sales channel. In recognition of that fact, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG have announced a new indicator for non-store sales is to be launched.

This demonstrates a significant change in the way on-line retail is regarded by the retail sector. In the past, sales generated through on-line channels have been lumped together with general sales. This has made it harder for analysts to get an accurate picture of ecommerce's contributions to the economy as whole (recent estimates have it somewhere in the region of 10% of all non-food sales turnover).

The indicator's first findings are due to be published on the 11th November 2008 and will show how much on-line, mail-order and telephone sales of non-food products have grown in the period between October 2007 and 2008. But here at SprintEcommerce we're looking forwards, not backwards. For us, it will be particularly interesting to see what the indicator shows in the wake of the Christmas rush, and whether or not 2009 will herald an even more impressive growth in sales for other e-tailers the likes of ASOS and Dominoes.

Proctor & Gamble Sell The Essentials On-line - 22nd October 2008

This week, in what could become a trend-setting move, Proctor & Gamble have launched www.theEssentials.com, an American-based ecommerce site where consumers can purchase Gillette, Braun, Duracell and Crest branded products directly. This brings them into direct competition with supermarkets and other stockists of Proctor & Gamble who have traditionally undercut them with cheaper, own brand variations on the same products.

You might think this move would present an unreconcilable conflict of interest for Proctor & Gamble but the economic recession is forcing manufacturers to improve their price competitiveness by reducing costs and it just so happens that on-line selling enables them to do so. There's going to be no love lost between companies when it comes to riding out the economic storm.

The news of Proctor & Gamble's move comes at the same time that GAP, who already sell on-line in the US, have announced their intention to look at the possibilities of moving into the new on-line, geographical markets in Canada and the UK. In other words, a UK version of the existing website, www.gap.com, could soon be on the cards – good news for British followers of high-street fashion.

No one is quite sure how successful theEssentials.com will be at competing with supermarkets like Tesco, who already offer free home delivery on purchases over £50, but what we can expect is a steady increase in the number of companies investing in 'front of house' ecommerce websites. As overheads rise and disposable incomes shrink, companies will have to become more competitive than ever. Internet retail has already proven itself to be a resilient, potentially life-saving platform – the next year will really put it to the test.

A 'Hop, Skip And A Jump' Away From Great Ecommerce - 6th October 2008

A recent survey by IBM into shopper purchasing habits has shown consumers are making greater use of the range of shopping channels available to them, leading to a phenomenon known as 'channel-hopping'.

75% of the consumers questioned in the survey stated they prefer to use the internet to research their purchases beforehand. This 'before sale' behaviour presents e-tailers with new problems and opportunities to address: the opportunity to poach customers away from their rivals, and the problem of stopping the same thing from happening to them.

The importance of getting your ecommerce solution right the first time can't be overstated: consumers are more likely to switch retailers in the process of channel-hopping than at any other time. One of the best things you can do is to ensure your sales checkout is completely hassle-free, so the customers you do entice towards a sale don't abandon it half-way through.

On the subject of hassle-free checkouts, an interesting discussion has been unfolding on Webmaster World about the various dos and don'ts of setting up an ecommerce channel. Recurring complaints revolve around checkouts being too crammed with visuals and copy; customers having to re-enter all their data if they miss out an information field and a general lack of understanding about what to do in the case of a credit card decline.

Take a good, long look at your own checkout: would you be happy to wait in line to make a purchase here, or would you channel-hop to someone else's queue? If your site suffers from any of the things mentioned above, you're probably losing valuable customers.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 October 2009 )