Kristopher Arcand says, “With the winter shopping holidays now behind us, Forrester is wrapping up its annual qualitative exploration of US consumers’ perceptions of the holiday season, both for their own behavior as well as what they observed across retailers. The retail industry has seen an increase in consumer spending compared to last year — possibly due to savings from lower gas prices. Overall, we saw that consumers felt less compelled to go out and buy gifts on Black Friday itself, but they still love a good bargain. Some other insights we gathered: Black Friday sales effectively... [...]
Archive for the 'E-Commerce' Category
Sandra Guy says, “Gap garners the lead for fastest-loading mobile site in Catchpoint Systems survey of its Top 50 e-commerce desktop and mobile websites. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. gave its online shoppers the gift of speed this holiday season. That’s according to a just-released survey from website monitoring firm Catchpoint Systems, which measured the load time and availability on both mobile and desktop of the top 50 online retailers in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide from 23 locations across the U.S. at five-minute intervals. Web-page load time is the time it takes for... [...]
Tracy Maple says, “Shoppers conduct more online research before buying, and that translates into online sales, according to MasterCard. Retailers also benefit as consumers spend money they’ve saved because of lower gasoline prices. Online retail sales increased 20% between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, while total retail sales excluding automobiles and gasoline rose 7.9%, according to data released today by MasterCard Advisors. MasterCard’s data shows that furniture and women’s apparel sales posted double-digit increases, accounting for a large chunk of the growth. MasterCard did... [...]
Anand Srinivasan says, “When it comes to ecommerce, mobile is picking up steam. A recent survey, conducted by the National Retail Federation, found that nearly 57 percent of online shopping traffic during this year’s Black Friday season came from mobile phones. Meanwhile Walmart reported sales from mobile phones nearly doubled from 2014 to 2015. While the debate over whether online shopping will kill brick-and-mortar stores has been around for a long time, do these latest statistics indicate that desktop ecommerce is itself in danger of becoming obsolete? Not necessarily, according... [...]
John Duke says, “Content marketing is so much more than a business blog, but many forget that little fact when trying to boost their business. When the holidays roll around, there are only so many blogs you can write, right? This is when you really need the reminder that content actually means anything your customers will consume, including social media, videos, images, and even sounds. Some of these ecommerce shops show you what content marketing is all about. Take a look at some of the hottest digital marketing this season has to offer. Coach This holiday video features the products in... [...]
Philip Rooke says, “Like most ecommerce businesses, the run-up to Christmas is a busy time for Spreadshirt. Last year our busiest day was in December with 19,200 orders in one day, and we’re expecting something similar this year. That said, it’s always important to have a moment to reflect on the hot topics of the past year and think about what we can expect from 2016. I think that in the next 12 months there’ll be a shift from the glamour of mobile optimisation to the nitty gritty of cross-border growth. If 2015 was a year of optimisation, 2016 will be about big moves in the market. 2015... [...]
Bryan Robinson says, “When you think of eCommerce, your thoughts likely go to traditional, consumer-based online shopping. But – stop the presses – did you know that B2B eCommerce sales are almost double those of B2C? In fact, the inexorable rise of eCommerce is one of the biggest trends in B2B marketing right now, and one which shows no sign of slowing down. It’s beenpredicted that the market will be worth a phenomenal $6.7bn by 2020. While there are certain features that are required across both customer types, it’s increasingly important for businesses to understand... [...]
Jordan Elkind says, “Black Friday weekend is a unique time for retailers: The holidays are approaching, the shoppers are swarming and the prices are slashed. While the shopping extravaganza may come only once a year, the marketing trends we noticed through the weekend are unlikely to vanish as quickly as those 50-percent markdowns. The 2015 holiday weekend saw several interesting new trends in e-commerce and online marketing that are likely to have a strong impact through 2016. Here are the three key lessons we uncovered in this year’s “holidata.” Note: The stats below come from The... [...]
Jordan Simas says, “It’s hard to do things alone. Especially complicated things like growing an ecommerce business. When it comes to selling online, the more friends you have the better. Having connections who can talk up your product is essential to driving traffic to your site and increasing sales. This is where blogger outreach comes in. Even if you don’t have a lot of contacts online you can still reach out to people for help. You just have to do it the right way—and I’m here to teach you how! Types of Blogger Outreach Blogger outreach is about more than just making... [...]
Ryne Landers says, “A crack team of web analytics gurus build an innovative eCommerce website valued at $200K to sell salon furnishings. Instant success story, right? Not so much. Here’s an unpopular opinion with potential to increase your sales: Silence your designer. This advice goes against every piece of content dedicated to eCommerce companies both startup and established, but it’s what increased the conversion rate of our in-house eCommerce site by over 900 percent. By focusing on what we were already doing–and unfocusing on the market and competitors– we debunked... [...]