Sheila Eugenio says, “Few industries are as competitive as ecommerce. Not only are online retailers competing with other online stores and brick-and-mortar locations, but also the overall noise that is the Internet. We live in a world where consumer attention span is getting shorter and shorter:40 percent of people abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load, and the average shopping cart is abandoned more than 68 percent of the time. I’m hard pressed to find an ecommerce site that is not constantly scrambling to engage more and drive more sales. Technology is finally... [...]

Pratik Dholakiya says, “The global ecommerce market is on pace to sell more than $22 trillion in products by the time 2016 comes to a close. Even though annual growth rates are set to slow down in the coming years, the ecommerce juggernaut shows no such signs of stalling. In fact, experts predict it will continue to post double-digit growth through 2020. Given the extreme competition they face from established players, ecommerce startups are focusing on products as yet untapped by the existing market. The mere fact that worldwide consumers are willing to buy non-traditional products online is... [...]

Julian Connors says, “The world of e-commerce optimization is vast and complex, and it demands a particular level of attention in order to function and perform correctly. Over the last 10 years, I have had the opportunity to manage a variety of enterprise-level e-commerce websites that offer everything from athletic gear to office supplies. Regardless of the intended audience, most e-commerce sites suffer from similar optimization issues. These issues prevent them from maximizing their exposure to qualified traffic and the related revenue. Usually, these problems are connected to how business... [...]

Rose Leadem says, “Even with the rise of ecommerce, nothing beats an in-store shopping experience. Aside from books, electronics and office supplies, a majority of people still prefer to shop in a physical store, according to the Walker Sands Future of Retail 2016 report. The report, which surveyed more than 1,400 U.S. consumers, revealed surprising predictions about the growing importance of supply chains and future of retail. Although people might prefer to shop in stores, there’s been a year-over-year increase in the frequency of online purchases since 2014. Today, nearly a third of... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “According to recent research, serial returners are on the rise. This is the term used to describe online shoppers who send back more items than they keep. However, this behaviour is not usually due to indecision, but rather the confusion over variations in size and fit. It’s been suggested that online retailers should request the personal measurements of consumers, and in a recent survey on the subject, 60% said they would be willing to provide this information if it meant they’d be guaranteed the perfect fit first time. While it’s unlikely that this... [...]

Richard Stevenson says, “Some months ago, a colleague of mine ordered a pair of shoes from an online store. When they unpacked the parcel during lunchtime, there was a leaflet in it with pictures of three friendly looking men working in the shipping department of that online shop: With a marker, there was a cross below one of them, indicating that Toby was the person who packed the parcel. Did I need we know that? No, not really, but it did it turn the anonymous online store into a likable business run by real people. This is just one example of how online stores can make themselves unique.... [...]

MOZ team says, “From your top-level nav to your seal-the-deal content, there are endless considerations when it comes to crafting your ecommerce page. Using one of his personal favorite examples, Rand takes you step by detailed step through the process of creating a truly superb ecommerce page in today’s Whiteboard Friday”. How to Craft the Best Damn E-commerce Page on the Web MOZ  [...]

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... [...]