E-Commerce Express

Simpler Checkout for Single Page Websites

2013-05-16T17:40:00Z

Single-page site design is a popular Web trend, but it's not typically a good fit for those actually selling products. There are plenty of good examples where this style of design is used, but it's mainly for information publishers and digital brands looking to raise awareness, not neccessarily conversions. For the most part, the actual checkout process is left for another page and a far more robust (and often expensive to maintain) e-commerce platform. But does it need to be that way? Fortunately...(read more)

Williams-Sonoma Goes Global with NetSuite

2013-05-15T18:20:00Z

Williams-Sonoma brought a tight timeline and lofty expectations to its shopping criteria for an agile platform that enabled it to handle the complexity of global multi-channel commerce. The high-end, multi-channel retailer was impressed by the capabilities of NetSuite SuiteCommerce , which it ultimately selected for its global expansion into Australia. NetSuite CEO, Zach Nelson, made this announcement during his keynoe at SuiteWorld on Tuesday, but the brand went live on the platform May 2. NetSuite...(read more)

Answered: 5 E-Commerce Sales Tax Questions

2013-05-13T19:35:00Z

There seems to be at least one thing that democrats and republicans agree on – all merchants should collect sales tax, regardless if they sell through a traditional brick-and-mortar store or exclusively online. In fact, the e-commerce sales tax bill, known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, successfully made its way through the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 69-27 just a week ago, and is now awaiting a vote in the House of Representatives. And if this bill makes it to the President’s...(read more)

Marketing to Moms: Rewards Required

2013-05-13T19:25:00Z

Moms are a valuable customer segment, as they tend to make the majority of a family’s purchasing decisions. But what motivates this influential customer segment to engage with brands online and make purchases? According to a new study from PunchTab the answer is rewards. In fact, the study, which surveyed more than 600 moms, reveals that 81 percent of moms will engage more with a brand when offered some type of incentive. In addition, the study found that some non-financial compensation, like...(read more)

7 Hot Summer Marketing Strategies for Merchants

2013-05-06T19:20:00Z

The flowers are blooming and the temperatures are rising, which means that summer is getting ready to make its official debut. While this leaves most of us fantasizing about lying by the pool and sipping fruity drinks with umbrellas, online merchants are left strategizing ways to attract customers and increase sales during this notoriously slow time of the year. In order to allow merchants more time for the beach, Website Magazine has eased the process by compiling a list of seven hot marketing tactics...(read more)

Checkout vs. Cart Abandonment

2013-05-06T16:25:00Z

Abandonment occurs when website visitors leave before their order is completed. But there's a difference between "checkout abandonment" and "cart abandonment" and as an e-commerce merchant you need to know the difference if you want to improve this key performance indicator - it's also important to have metrics in place to indicate the difference. Cart Abandonment refers to the loss of a customer that has added products to their shopping cart but not yet arrived at a point...(read more)

Merchants Fight for Protection from Fraudulent Chargebacks

2013-05-06T16:15:00Z

Chargebacks were initially introduced to protect credit card-holding consumers in the United States, allowing them to receive a return of funds from an issuing bank and reverse an outbound transfer from their credit/debits cards. However, over the years, a few rogue consumers have been using chargebacks to cheat merchants out of goods, and according to former online retailer Monica Eaton-Cardone, it is widespread ignorance about chargebacks, particularly on the part of merchants, that is contributing...(read more)

Bigcommerce Grows Momtrepreneur’s Site, Know-How

2013-05-06T16:10:00Z

Balancing business and baby is tough. And while there is no secret to how moms do it, getting support from qualified sources is a key ingredient to success, just ask "Momtrepreneur” Nicole Ropp (pictured). After Ropp’s baby was born with very sensitive skin, she created a natural skincare line that was safe and effective. Tender Leaf Natural Products was born and Ropp needed an efficient and easy way to market her product and drive business growth, which is where Bigcommerce came...(read more)

Should E-commerce Merchants Accept Bitcoin?

2013-05-06T15:12:00Z

The Peer-to-peer electronic payment system known as Bitcoin has certainly garnered its fair share of attention over the past few months. While I won't delve into the details of how it works or what I think of the currency system in general, recent news has emerged that, for many Internet retailers, may signal an end to those high payment processing fees: eBay may actually be considering accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, eBay CEO John...(read more)

Ecommerce Design: Dickies Goes to Work on Online Store

2013-05-06T14:45:00Z

Simple navigation, clear communication, comprehensive product information and easier checkout are among the new and improved features and functionality of DickiesStore.co.uk, which go lives May 7. As the exclusive provider of Dickies Branded Clothing, DickiesStore.co.uk upgrades are a solid benchmark for other online merchants to be measured by: Simple Navigation With a strong focus on intuitive navigation, DickiesStore.co.uk has ensured that the path toward finding that perfect product is clearly...(read more)

System Verifies Military, Segment Statuses

2013-05-01T17:25:00Z

Tableau, Costco and Symantec are just a few companies using new technology that expedites promotional campaigns, prevents fraudulent purchases, captures and retains consumers and uses analytics to analyze consumer-purchasing trends. The PGA Tour also counts itself among this group partnering with SheerID , a point-of-sale verification provider that, for these golf events in particular, can verify the status of active duty, military retirees, dependents and veterans who are interested in obtaining...(read more)

Head-to-Head Comparison of E-Commerce Site Search Providers

2013-04-29T18:35:00Z

Among the most important elements of a website is its search functionality, as it has a direct impact on the end-user experience. In fact, having good search functionality is especially vital for e-commerce sites because shoppers cannot purchase what they cannot find. This means that a search feature that turns up no results, irrelevant results or isn’t personalized may be negatively impacting a merchant’s bottom line. But with a variety of e-commerce site search solutions available on...(read more)

Q1 Jobs Report Documents the Rise of E-Commerce

2013-04-29T18:30:00Z

Last week, Freelancer.com revealed the figures for what it found to be the 50 fastest growing online jobs for the first quarter of 2013. What the global outsourcing marketplace found was that the e-commerce industry continues to grow at an impressive rate, Android is starting to catch up with Apple, marketers are returning to the loving embrace of email over Twitter and Facebook and much more. By analyzing 283,490 jobs during the quarter, Freelancer.com found that e-commerce is steadily dominating...(read more)

What Internet Retailers Spend on Paid Search

2013-04-26T13:31:00Z

Paid search is a significant driver of impressions for Internet retailers but acquiring users through the channel certainly does not come cheap. Search engine intelligence provider AdGooroo released a thought-provoking infographic on the paid search retail universe which breaks down the $2.3 billion dollars spent on performance advertising (Adwords and Yahoo! Bing in the second half of 2012 in this case) by retail category. “Mass retailers” collectively spent a whopping $490 million in...(read more)

5+ User Review Websites Critical to Small Businesses

2013-04-25T17:15:00Z

Thanks to the Internet, word-of-mouth reviews spread like wildfire – which can be both a good and bad thing for merchants. Since consumers tend to trust the opinions of their peers more than anything else, user reviews are a very influential factor in a customer’s purchasing decision. In fact, a 2012 BrightLocal study reveals that 72 percent of survey respondents claim that they trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations, while 52 percent said that positive reviews...(read more)