Zia Daniell Wigder says, “Many brands eyeing Latin American eCommerce markets look first to Brazil, and with good reason. Brazil is Latin America’s largest online retail market by a wide margin and growth rates remain high: Our forecast shows the market growing by a CAGR of 18% to reach $35 billion in 2018. As in every fast-growing eCommerce market, however, companies that compete in this environment face numerous challenges. Issues like complex tax navigation and the long path to profitability are well documented. In addition, companies need to prepare for shifts in what consumers... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “Earlier this year, I wrote a post looking at some of the best ecommerce sites around, picking out aspects of these sites that others could learn from.  As the vast majority were B2C, some commentors challenged me to find similarly good examples of B2B ecommerce sites. I’ve asked the Econsultancy team, found a few myself, and here we are. Some are listed because they offer a great all round experience, others because they do a particular thing very well (navigation, copywriting, and so on)”. Which B2B ecommerce sites are getting it right? Here’s... [...]

Jason Del Rey says, “Investment in the burgeoning Indian e-commerce industry continues to boom, with Flipkart, perhaps the country’s best-known online retail marketpalce, raising a new $1 billion in funding. The round includes investments from Tiger Global and Naspers and brings Flipkart’s total backing to nearly $2 billion. The funding gives Flipkart a deep war chest as it faces off against competitors Amazon, eBay and eBay-backed Snapdeal“. Flipkart, Amazon’s Indian Rival, Lands $1 Billion Investment Re/code  [...]

Shane Jones says, “While ecommerce has come a long way in recent years, it still has a long way to go. One of the main problems with online shopping is that a certain amount of guesswork is always required before making a purchase. Customers are never quite sure about the quality of an item, since they can’t touch it like they would when shopping in person. Instead, they are forced to rely on small photos and glib product descriptions”. The five words that don’t belong in ecommerce customer service ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Carmen Weeks says, “The MECLABS Conversion Heuristic is what we use when optimizing our Research Partners’ websites – and now for me as a research analyst, it’s become second nature to optimize every website I encounter. I say this because truthfully, it’s one thing to simply memorize and understand a formula. But when you’re able to conceptualize and apply it, you own it. For instance, I was recently window shopping on one of my favorite sites, HauteLook, a members-only ecommerce website that offers limited-time sales of leading brands in fashion, home décor, skincare, and occasionally,... [...]

Rachel Serpa says, “Coined in Joseph Heller’s classic satirical novel of the same name, ‘Catch-22’ is a term that refers to a situation in which a person is trapped by completely contradictory goals or circumstances. In Heller’s book, the only way for a pilot to escape his WWII flying mission is to request psychiatric evaluation due to mental instability, and be deemed insane. However, awareness of his own insanity is considered proof of a rational mind, thus making it impossible to escape his mission, a total and complete Catch-22″. Privacy and personalization: a marketer’s... [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “Finally, mobile devices are at a stage where technology meets and occasionally exceeds the expectations of the consumer. Although not every retailer is offering a flawless and perfectly persuasive conversion bonanza when it comes to a mobile commerce experience, but most are now beginning to at least think ‘mobile first’ when it comes to ecommerce design. Obviously the arguments for responsive or adaptive design can hardly be considered a trend as it’s a conversation that’s been raging for a long while”. 10 trends that will impact your mobile... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Customers responding to email marketing and shoppers navigating directly to online stores (including app traffic) accounted for the highest share of purchases on phones in the first quarter of 2014, according to a recent report from Custora. Email marketing generated 26.7% of retail purchases made on phones in 1Q14, compared with only 20.9% of sales on desktops and 23.1% on tablets. Direct traffic also drove a larger share of purchases on mobile phones compared with desktop, with one-third (32.9%) of sales coming from shoppers who went straight to online stores/apps. On... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “In its latest round of reports, Custora claims mobile e-commerce revenue is set to reach $50 billion by the end of this year, up nearly $8 billion since last year, and an astounding $48 billion since 2010. Analyzing e-commerce data from more than 100 retailers, 70 million consumers and $10 billion in transactions, Custora found mobile traffic to e-commerce sites has increased from three-percent to nearly 37 percent in the last four years, while mobile e-commerce revenue climbed from $2.2 billion in 2010 to $42.8 billion last year”. Study: Mobile E-Commerce Sales... [...]

James Critchley says, “Many online retailers remain obsessed with growing overall site traffic, at the expense of increasing conversion rates from existing customers. Research shows that for every £100 retailers spend getting customers to a website, only £1 goes into converting them. This can be counter productive: the cost of acquiring new trafficis increasing exponentially. Actually it makes much more sense to convert the 97% of customers that visit your site and abandon before making a purchase. What often prevents retailers from concentrating on conversions is the perception that... [...]