The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “What’s the point of User-Centred Design?”. Tom Stewart says, “No, I have not suddenly started to question an approach which I have pioneered for more than three decades.  What I am doing is reflecting a discussion currently underway in the International Standards committee considering the revision of ISO 9241 part 11, which defines usability.  Don’t worry, we don’t intend to change the definition in any way that most people would notice. Standard-makers love arguing about fine detail, so there may... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Avoiding ecommerce deployment disaster: 10 areas to watch”. Darryl Adie says, “Replatforming and deploying major updates are some of the most stressful moments for an ecommerce team.   These moments are vital for staying ahead of the competition, for introducing innovative new features or responding to user testing, but they’re also the point at which things can go most wrong. Too often when you or your agency throw the hypothetical switch you end up with a site that’s got serious bugs or, even worse, no site at... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “How well are you optimizing your digital and ecommerce activities?”. David Moth says, “How would you like to receive a free personalised copy of the Adobe 2014 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey Report? The report, which Econsultancy has helped to produce, reveals which optimization tactics savvy marketers will use in the next 12 months and gives tailored recommendations on how to build your own winning strategy. In order to receive your free copy all you have to do is complete the survey by clicking on this link“. How... [...]

The latest article on ‘The Forrester Blog’ is titled “China’s Online Retail Sales Passed $300 Billion in 2013”. Kelland Willis says, “We recently published an online retail forecast for Asia Pacific, followed by an online forecast specific to China. The numbers are staggering! To give you an indication of the speed at which eCommerce is taking off in China, consider that recent figures from the State Post Bureau of China indicate that more than 6 billion packages were shipped in the first three quarters of 2013 – an increase of 61% from the same period in 2012. Factors contributing... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “50+ fascinating stats about mobile commerce in the US”. David Moth says, “Mobile commerce is no longer the newcomer to the digital scene, but it is likely to remain one of the main challenges for businesses for the foreseeable future. Ever-increasing levels of smartphone and tablet ownership in the US means that businesses have no choice but to adapt to accommodate the ensuing rise in mobile web traffic, however some sites (including our own) are still lagging behind. So just to reiterate the importance of mobile commerce... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “11 easy responsive themes for ecommerce and small business”. Christopher Ratcliff says, “Responsive design isn’t just for the giants of ecommerce, your start-up business can also grab an off-the-shelf model for a reasonable price, or even for free. Following on from David Moth’s article 10 simple responsive WordPress themes for small businesses and blogs I thought I would take a look at some of the best available templates for ecommerce sites. If you run a small business, or are looking to make the leap... [...]

The latest article on ‘Website Magazine’ is titled “E-Commerce in Your Twitter Stream”. Pete Prestipino says, “While information publishers and service providers still struggle with how to best use the platform, Twitter is reportedly extremely close to releasing an e-commerce solution of its own, as a new deal pends between the social network and payments startup Stripe. Little is actually known about the pending arrangement, but the two companies would likely work together to introduce functionality that would enable retailers to accept purchases directly from inside a tweet.... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Website Is Losing Sales”. Max Knoblauch says, “The online retail game is not an easy one to win, but new research and analysis might help cast a light on the glaring problems causing your site to lose sales and customers.Collecting user feedback and complaints from 400 websites over three years, Qubit has narrowed its findings to 10 main problem areas. The results paint a picture of a consumer with much higher expectations for retail websites and their user-friendliness. Based on Qubit’s research, here... [...]

The latest article on ‘Website Magazine’ is titled “Why Are Your E-Commerce Customers Not Buying?”. Graeme Caldwell says, “Getting people to your e-commerce store is one thing; getting them to make a purchase is something else altogether. The first is the realm of advertising, search engine optimization and social media marketing; the second falls within the scope of conversion rate optimization (CRO). The factors that compel a customer to buy are complex and numerous, and so are the factors that influence a decision to buy elsewhere or not at all. It doesn’t take much in the... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Digital marketing and ecommerce trends for 2014 by Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein”. Ashley Friedlein says, “Each year I try to give my personal thoughts on what will be interesting and important in the world of digital marketing and ecommerce for the year ahead. These are somewhere between trends and predictions. They are based largely on the many conversations I have with industry influencers and practitioners. Following are just a selection of 10 trends that I’ve chosen to highlight. However, there is free... [...]