'Net Features : ecommerce

Easier Shipping for Ebay Sellers with Endicia

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:10:00 GMT

Endicia is now offering its online postage and shipping software to Ebay sellers.

The integration will enable Ebay sellers to import their Ebay orders into the solution, print shipping labels and post tracking information back to Ebay. Using the Endicia system, Ebay sellers can also combine up to three orders into a single package and use one tracking number for each order.

The cost for sellers to use Endicia's Ebay integration starts at $15.95 per month and $34.95 per month for the professional service plan.

"We are thrilled to offer a solution specifically for those eBay businesses that are just getting started," said Amine Khechfe, general manager and co-founder of Endicia. "Our new feature provides an affordable solution to help small eBay businesses free up time previously spent manually entering shipping data, which increases efficiency and allows them to focus on growing their businesses."

Digital Showcase: 17 Companies to Know

Administrator — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Opportunities abound for emerging and established enterprises looking to make or maintain their virtual mark. Industry trade shows like SES, eTail, Conversion Conference, IRCE and many others, offer unparalleled opportunities to educate yourself on emerging trends, technologies and talk, in general, but they are also a fantastic mechanism to drive brand awareness and rub elbows with those who have the ability to help you grow your business, whether it be through partnerships or press.

Website Magazine attended IRCE this week in our hometown of Chicago and brought back 17 companies (or news items) that caught our virtual eye in this digital showcase.

Needle

One of the more interesting companies was that of Needle, a live chat/sales “guided shopping” platform for big retailers that leverages vendors' brand advocates. Needle helps retailers recruit and train those advocates who receive rewards and payouts based on the quality of their participation. Needle counts Overstock.com, Norwegian Cruise Line and Coach and others as clients currently.

Feedvisor

Website Magazine covered Feedvisor in late May and it was well received at the time by our readers, and the same can be said for its presence at IRCE. The algorithmic repricing solution for Amazon, which is currently in use by brands such as American Greetings, will be very appealing to Internet retailers of all budgets interested in optimizing their advertising spend at the popular marketplace.

WisePricer

Maximizing ad spend has been a hot topic this year and numerous companies have built solutions to help Web retailers do exactly that. WisePricer’s is a unique solution Website Magazine encountered that enables retailers to track, monitor and gain insights about their competitors in order to determine an optimal pricing strategy.

Listrak

Email marketing service Listrak was busy at IRCE showcasing its e-commerce-based platform for Internet retailers.

Listrak's solutions run deep and include those for acquisition and engagement, post-purchase and re-engagement, life cycle management and segmentation.

Doogma

Interactive product personalization platform Doogma is certainly a service that will appeal to startup merchants looking to add interactivity into the purchase process, enabling buyers to visualize products before they buy based on their design preference matched with the Web retailers offering.

SAP

Days after Salesforce purchased ExactTarget, SAP announced that they have acquired Hybris Software, a popular provider of e-commerce technology for both B2B and B2C segments, featuring management of content, orders and data from the platform, as well as powerful search and merchandising features.

AT&T and IBM

AT&T and IBM teamed up to offer the e-commerce suite that will provide a convenient service in a single, subscription-based package with features including predictable monthly pricing and integrated software licensing.

This payment format differentiates this product from others by eliminating the up-front licensing fees typical to e-commerce solutions. Also key to mid-size retailers, and their bottom lines, is the scalability of the website and application hosting to meet their changing promotional and seasonal needs.

RetailMeNot.com

RetailMeNot.com is enjoying fantastic growth, as according to a recent review of comScore’s monthly unique visitor data, RetailMeNot.com ranked as the 25th most visited retail website. Categories in the review included coupon, retail and travel websites.

BrightTag

At IRCE 2013, BrightTag showcased its products including BrightTag Tag Management and BrightTag FUSE, its omni-channel data integration platform. BrightTag’s team of marketing and analytics experts were onsite to offer event attendees consultative advice on how to drive their business with better data.They also announced three tips for driving online results: embrace your customer's multi-device world, take data quality seriously and think real-time with your data strategy.

Simple Helix

Web hosting tends to be one of those topics that no one ever thinks about until they need it. A new breed of hosting companies is emerging fortunately that are committed/dedicated to serving the e-commerce market, and more specifically users of specific platforms – like the popular Magento solution. Simple Helix is one such provider that is quickly making its market in the

Signifyd

Internet retailers are very concerned about payment fraud but some fascinating companies are emerging, such as Signifyd, to minimize the problem and impact. Signifyd uses real-time, big data, relationship graph analysis that reveals and scores information from various sources (e.g. social, geo, address, phone, names, airports, cards) to simplify the often complex but important decision about whether transactions should be reviewed by an agent.

eBay

If you’re in e-commerce, you’re likely dealing with eBay or using one of its service in some capacity. Ebay was present showcasing numerous offerings including the Magento platform, Paypal and GSI-Commerce.

STELLAService

Sam Collin of the rapidly growing customer service measurements and ratings provider STELLAService spoke about a recent deal with none other than Google in which the search engine monolith will be paying STELLAService to license its customer service ratings to include alongside product listings in Google Shopping. For those unfamiliar with STELLAService, it’s a company that tests and then rates the customer service performance of a variety of online retailers and businesses by stress testing more than 300 different elements of a customer’s online experience, and then seeing how companies from various industries stack up against one another.

ModCloth

ModCloth is continuing to push its unique social media strategy as it slowly takes over the world of online apparel retail. By leveraging all of the key social networks that aren’t just Facebook and Twitter, including Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram, the company is able to share their unique and fashionable products and interact with consumers through a variety of online touch points. But the real crux of ModCloth’s built-in social media strategy is the company’s ability to integrate user feedback and images into their business, sometimes going so far as to use pictures of customers modeling their products or allowing customers to write copy for a product by asking them questions like, “How would you describe this?”

Bongo International

This e-commerce platform helps brands expand their business to the global market. The platform deals with global logistics, duty and sales tax obstacles, as well as screens all international customers to prevent fraudulent orders. In fact, Bongo International boasts a 0.0 percent fraud rate since the company first launched in 2007, and also ships orders to almost anywhere in the world within five days. Merchants can choose from three different solutions, which typically work with all shopping platforms.

GoDataFeed

This e-commerce marketing software helps merchants increase their traffic and visibility on more than 70 comparison shopping sites and affiliate networks. The platform can be leveraged to automate datafeed submissions and optimize product listings. In fact, GoFeedData provides merchants with feed optimization tips, as well as offers an instant validation tool that tells users if their data needs to be adjusted before going live on shopping channels. Plus, GoDataFeed provides analytics, which track merchants’ best performing shopping sites and products, and measures a campaigns overall success.

Ecwid

E-commerce widget provider Ecwid has teamed up with popular website builder WIX to offer an e-commerce extension within the WIX App Market. While the app has only been live for about two weeks, it has already seen approximately 1,000 sign-ups in that period. The free app not only allows users to add a secure shopping cart to their WIX site, but to their Facebook Page and mobile site as well.

:: Did we miss your company or its news? Let us know below. ::

Feedvisor Takes the Rules out of Repricing

Allison Howen — Tue, 28 May 2013 16:45:00 GMT

Wouldn’t it be nice if your repricing solution took into consideration the amount of money that your customers are willing to spend for products? Well, that is exactly what Feedvisor does.

This self-learning repricing solution has launched Version 2.0 of its software for Amazon Marketplace Sellers. The update improves on the solution’s original algorithm by introducing machine learning technologies, as well as has added actionable analytics to the platform.

“This new version of our algorithm combines Big Data with machine learning. It looks at a much broader market environment and analyzes a considerably greater historical dataset than we’ve ever looked at before, to fine-tune prices and optimize profits,” said Victor Rosenman, founder and CEO of Feedvisor. “Our platform uses a closed-loop, learning algorithm. This means that with every sale that goes through our client’s account, continuous adjustments are being made that increase the accuracy of our solution for each specific product.”

The Feedvisor platform is completely automated, and can be leveraged to help online marketplace sellers to grow their sales and outperform the competition. This is because the platform doesn’t require sellers to set complicated pricing rules. Instead, the technology checks hundreds of competitive prices every hour and automatically sets prices based on numerous variables. That said, it is important to note that the pricing solution doesn’t just set prices at the cheapest number, but at the price that customers are willing to spend. In fact, the platform can reduce time spent on price management by up to 90 percent.

The new version of Feedvisor also introduces a suite of actionable analytics and alerts that deliver real-time business insights and add transparency to the repricing process. This is because online marketplace sellers are now able to see which items are not selling, which are not priced competitively, what products have seen a spike in sales and which items will soon run out of stock.

Drupal Commerce Sites Go Mobile

Amberly Dressler — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:40:00 GMT

In the next few years, smartphone commerce is expected to represent 9 percent of all e-commerce sales, according to Forrester Research’s U.S. Mobile Retail Forecast, 2012-2017. The need to create a branded mobile shopping experience to reach this growing market is a concern for today – if not yesterday.

With this in mind, Commerce Guys, creators of Drupal Commerce, announced the launch of its Commerce Mobile, which is a native cross-platform mobile app that brings engaging online shopping experiences to consumers on any mobile device. The company touts the native app’s ability to integrate quickly and seamlessly with established Drupal Commerce websites, creating one unified backend to eliminate the need for redundant maintenance.

“The migration to mobile Web browsing and mobile shopping is an undeniable facet of modern e-commerce, and consumers increasingly expect a great experience across platforms,” said Mike O’Connor, Commerce Guys founder and president, North America. “With Commerce Mobile we bring all of the functionality of established Drupal Commerce stores to mobile shoppers with full, ongoing support to ensure engagement and flexible functionality is not sacrificed on mobile platforms.”

The way it works is that Commerce Mobile connects the app’s functionality with existing e-commerce sites. Content from the site automatically adapts to suit the screen of mobile shoppers’ phones or tablets. The new app also connects user accounts so a customer’s cart and order history is synchronized between the two channels.

Other features of Commerce Mobile include:

Product browsing through taxonomy catalog or faceted search
Product displays with full attribute support
Shopping cart management and simple wish list to synchronize shopping carts
Login/account management and viewed products and search history browsing
Front-page dashboard with image slider for promoting deals, content or products
Forum-based support for the app

Terapeak Brings Sales Analytics to Magento Merchants

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Analytics platform provider Terapeak has released MySales, an application extension for Ebay's Magento solution.

Terapeak will provide Magento retailer insight into sales across across multiple channels in unified view, showing merchants just how well sales and merchandise are competing in popular marketplaces - including Ebay.

“We want our customers to have access to information and tools that will enable them to achieve greater visibility into their own sales performance," said Kevin North, President and CEO of Terapeak. "By having the ability to compare their activity across multiple channels, our customers can determine how and where they can diversify their business. MySales is a natural extension of the market intelligence that Terapeak currently provides to online merchants.”

The official launch of MySales will be at the Magento Imagine Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada from April 8 to April 11, 2013. Terapeak currently services more than 1.3 million online retailers.

New Navigation Options Come to CoreCommerce

Allison Howen — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT

A new software update from e-commerce platform CoreCommerce includes a combination of new features and integrations to help meet the growing needs of current customers.

Among the updates are two new types of navigation options, a drop down and mega menu, which can be accessed in the merchant’s admin area. The menu options allow them to customize how their navigation appears on their storefronts, which assists them in creating a more user-friendly environment. The mega menu option, for example, gives users the ability to use and organize images, code and text in addition to links, which can make it easier for consumers to find exactly what they are searching for on the site.

Moreover, CoreCommerce released updates to payment processors PayPal and Braintree. The new PayPal feature allows merchants who have multiple currencies enabled to choose which currency to send to PayPal, while the Braintree Blue and Orange integrations have been upgraded to give merchants the choice to process payments with authorize and capture or authorize only within their store’s admin area.

“Our community of fantastic merchants play a big role in deciding which features are most beneficial to add. We are dedicated to continually striving to make our software the very best in order to benefit our customers,” said CEO Matt DeLong.

It is also important to note that the Nivo Slider gallery has been updated to identify photo dimensions, as well as offers merchants the ability to add a background color to the slider. Additionally, CoreCommerce stores can create a custom message for purchases made with money orders, which will appear on a printer-friendly customer order receipt.

Lastly, CoreCommerce merchants using the QuickBooks integration should know that a purchase order column has been added to the account order history, which can be searched by using the purchase order number.

Consumers Will Buy From Email

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Mobile email is playing an important role in the success of e-commerce retailers’ marketing initiatives and new research from email marketing service Blue Hornet, a division of Digital River, shows just how much.

The 2013 Consumer Views of Email Marketing report from Blue Hornet reveals that 63 percent of consumers say they “may” buy from an email read on a mobile device. It’s not all good news however. The number who may unsubscribe due to poor mobile display exceeds 30 percent (see graph below) and it’s only increasing.

Mobile email design is obviously taking center stage, but what is really driving e-commerce activity? According to the survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, nearly 84 percent of consumers report discounts as the most important reasons for signing up to receive emails. Mobile devices are clearly becoming an integral part of the consumer e-commerce experience as 74.2 percent will redeem discounts by showing their mobile device to a cashier according to the research.

E-Commerce Sales Taxes in Focus

Allison Howen — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:30:00 GMT

There are a few reasons why consumers prefer shopping online rather than in-stores: 1) there are no lines or crowds when shopping online 2) it is cheaper and easier to comparison shop online 3) there is no sales tax when shopping online – or is there?

Over the past few years there has been legislation proposed in regard to online sales tax. While lawmakers claim that enforcing online sales tax could help balance state budgets and fund police, teachers or other needed programs, brick-and-mortar retailers have complained that the lack of sales tax on the ’Net has given online merchants an unfair advantage in the marketplace. However, with the Marketplace Fairness Act looming, merchants may have no choice but to charge sales tax and pay it back to the states soon…

What is Nexus?

Online retailers are currently required to collect sales tax from customers in their own states; however, Nexus, which is defined as having a significant physical presence in a state, determines whether an online retailer is also required to collect sales tax from out-of-state customers. According to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Quill vs. North Dakota, online retailers must collect sales tax from out-of-state customers only if the retailer has a physical presence within that customer’s state, which includes a temporary or permanent presence of property or people working in that state.

That being said, the definition of Nexus is often times inconsistent between states, which leaves many e-commerce retailers assuming that they don’t need to collect sales tax from out-of-state customers. However, this assumption may be wrong if a business employs anyone within a state or someone who physically enters a state to conduct business, if the business leases or owns any property in the state, or if the business participates in any trade shows that promote its products or service in the state.

Determining Sales Tax

If Nexus determines that your business must add on a sales tax charge for transactions in certain states, the next step is to establish which rate to charge, this is where things can get tricky, because the U.S. has more than 7,500 tax jurisdictions that each have their own exemptions and rules. This makes it very difficult for e-commerce merchants to keep up with sales tax rates on their own, which is why it is recommended that online retailers leverage shopping cart solutions that are programmed to automatically calculate sales tax rates, such as Accurate Tax, Avalara or Exactor, to name a few. That being said, the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act is aiming to simplify state sales tax laws, which will make it much easier for merchants to determine rates.

What is the Marketplace Fairness Act?

The proposed Marketplace Fairness Act will require online retailers, regardless of where they are located, to collect local tax on retail sales. It is important to note that this law actually aims to simplify the state tax codes in order to make compliance easier for remote (e-commerce) retailers, and has even been supported by e-commerce juggernaut Amazon, among many others. The reason why states must simplify their laws is that two Supreme Court rulings, including the aforementioned Quill vs. North Dakota, mention concern that collecting sales tax for multiple states is too difficult for remote retailers.

According to marketplacefairness.org, states that are seeking collection authority have two options for simplifying their sales tax laws:

1) The state can join 24 states that have already adopted the simplification measures of the Streamlined Sales Tax and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), which has been developed over an 11-year period by 44 states and more than 85 businesses.

2) The state can comply with five simplification mandates that are listed in the Marketplace Fairness Act bill. Directives include notifying retailers in advance of rate changes within a state, designating a single state organization to handle sales tax registrations, filing and audits, establishing a uniform sales tax base for the entire state, using destination sourcing to determine sales tax rates for out-of-state purchases and providing free software for managing sales tax compliance.

Online retailers will be required to collect sales tax on all sales shipped to the 22 states that are SSUTA members starting on the first day of the calendar quarter that is at least 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Marketplace Fairness Act. That said, small online retailers will not be required to participate in this tax program.

The Silver Lining for Small Businesses

The Small Seller Exception within the Marketplace Fairness Act states that an online retailer who made less than $1,000,000 in total remote sales in the U.S. within the preceding calendar year will be exempt from tax collecting requirements. It is important to note that remote sales are defined as sales to customers in states where the retailer does not have a physical presence (Nexus).

From Facebook Comments to E-Commerce Transactions with Soldsie

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:20:00 GMT

Social commerce has been dragging its virtual feet.

Sure, American Express and Twitter certainly have super high aspirations in this regard, but all those F-commerce solutions so highly touted a few years ago just aren't capturing the attention of Internet retailers like they used to (or maybe should).

The reason could be obvious - that social network users aren't in a buying frame of mind when they spend time there. Or it could be something else - like that existing solutions just don't make it easy enough for consumers to actually purchase on the network from the retail brands they follow. That seems to be the opportunity recognized by Soldsie, a startup launched last year that could be one to watch in the future for retailers.

Soldsie is rather unique in that it is a platform and application that lets shoppers buy something directly from a brand's Facebook page by simply typing in the word "sold" into the comments section. Once they do that, Soldsie then sends an email invoice of their order and they can checkout. Glam Grab Accessory Auction's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/glamgrab) is using Soldsie now. In a March 3rd update, it looks like the company generated two "sold" responses from its 20,000-plus following on a post which garned over 350 likes and 12 shares - not bad, not bad at all.

The Soldsie service is free for the first $700 in transactions; but merchants will need to pay a three percent transaction fee after that. Soldsie apparently just received a cool $1 million in seed funding from institutional investors including 500 Startups, e.ventures, and FundersClub, so at least the venture capitalists see the value.

But as an Internet retailer, is Soldsie something you'd consider?

Ecommerce Shipping Simplified with 3dCart/Endicia App

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:47:00 GMT

In the world of e-commerce, shipping is one of those essential elements to Web success. The more seamless you make order management and delivery for online shoppers, as well as for you as an Internet retailer, the better off everyone will be. Fortunately, there is no shortage of opportunities at the ready.

Case in point, ecommerce software provider 3dcart has announced an integration with postage technology solution Endicia, which empowers 3dcart's 16,000 customers to print USPS labels with prepaid postage directly from the administrative interface. Merchants will be able to customize logos, text, images and other brand elements using the solution.

“With the addition of Endicia Label Server integration, 3dcart gains a competitive advantage by being the only ecommerce solution to allow online retailers to print USPS, UPS, FEDEX and TNT shipping labels directly from the admin interface,” said 3dcart CTO Jimmy Rodriguez. “Shipping can be one of the most difficult tasks in ecommerce, especially for small stores with small staffs. Over the last few years, we’ve worked to take the heavy-lifting out of the process—and the Endicia integration is a huge step in the right direction.”

The Endicia Label Server app will cost $15.95/mo but 3dcart is offering a 60-day free trial for existing and new 3dcart merchants.

The Retailer with the Highest Showrooming Risk Is…

Allison Howen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:55:00 GMT

The momentum of mobile has made showrooming a growing threat to brick-and-mortar retailers. A new study, however, reveals that some retailers are at higher risk than others.

The Aisle to Amazon study from location analytics company Placed unsurprisingly identified Best Buy and Target as high-risk retailers when it comes to consumers viewing products offline and then making purchases online. That being said, Best Buy and Target are actually not the most at risk when it comes to showrooming. In fact, Bed Bath & Beyond, PetSmart and Toys ‘R’ Us all face greater risk, with Amazon shoppers being 27 percent more likely to visit Bed Bath & Beyond, 25 percent more likely to visit PetSmart and 21 percent more likely to visit Toys ‘R’ Us before making a purchase online.

“Amazon was the clear winner in e-commerce 1.0, and unless brick-and-mortar retailers shift from reactive to proactive, Amazon will win e-commerce 2.0 on the backs of offline retailers,” said David Shim, Founder and CEO at Placed. "All the attention to date has been on Target and Best Buy as the early victims of showrooming, but significantly more retailers are at risk. Retailers need to know that it’s not a question of if or when showrooming will impact their business, as an aisle to Amazon is already in their store.”

In an attempt to combat showrooming, both Best Buy and Target recently announced Amazon price-matching policies, but this isn’t the only way that brick-and-mortar retailers can combat Amazon shoppers. Other strategies include:

1. Selling exclusive products – retailers can take Amazon out of the equation by selling customizable products or products that are exclusive to their brand or a brick-and-mortar location.

2. Integrating online features offline – If consumers are already shopping in-stores with their mobile phones, why not make the process easier? One way merchants can do this is by posting QR codes next to items that will take consumers to product reviews when scanned. Moreover, merchants can launch location-based promotions on platforms like Foursquare, such as a coupon for 25 percent off an in-store purchase when someone checks-in. This allows consumers to participate with mobile, while also giving them an incentive to make an immediate purchase.

3. Maintaining great service – One of the biggest advantages brick-and-mortar merchants have over online retailers is their ability to provide excellent service to any customer that walks through the door. This is why merchants should make sure that every member on their staff has a good attitude and is educated about the products and services that are being sold.

5 Video Strategies for Merchants

Allison Howen — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:40:00 GMT

A strong video strategy can provide merchants with many benefits – from an increase in engagement and conversion rates to better placement within the SERPs.

The biggest challenge with video, however, is creating content that will engage consumers and entice them to hit the play button. While many merchants implement video on their sites, often times their video strategies are limited to product videos and demonstrations for specific items. Although these types of videos are definitely helpful, they aren’t very engaging and are rarely available for every product on an e-commerce website.

In order to harness the true power of video, merchants need to create a more robust and innovative strategy that not only showcases their products, but is also interactive and makes consumers want to hit play. Luckily, Website Magazine has compiled a list of five tactics that can help merchants revamp their current video strategy to get better results, check them out below:

Go Live

Brands that want to stay a step ahead of the competition should consider implementing a live video strategy. One way this can be done is with the Your BrandLive platform, which is a video communication software that uses live video and chat to create a unique customer to brand experience. In fact, brands can use the service to broadcast live video from any location and participate in real-time interactions with customers. Moreover, merchants can sell products during video sessions by uploading items into the Brandlive dashboard. By doing this, products are displayed across the bottom of the live video with titles, descriptions, images, prices and a call-to-action button for making a purchase.

That being said, merchants can also go live on Google+ with Google Hangouts. This feature can be used to video conference with up to ten people at a time, as well as live-stream a broadcast publicly onto Google+, YouTube and websites. This could come in handy when revealing a highly-anticipated product for the first time.

Start Advertising

According to comScore, U.S. consumers watched 11.3 billion online videos in December 2012, which proves that video advertising is a big business. Furthermore, video ads tend to be successful because consumers typically either have to choose to hit play in order to view the advertisement or have already decided to watch a video (meaning they are alert) when the advertisement is shown. Merchants can launch video advertisements through Google, as well as on video ad networks like BrightRoll, Live Rail or Adap.TV. Additionally, LinkedIn recently announced video ads on its self-serve platform, which could be a good place for B2B merchants to display their advertisements.

Promote User-Generated Reviews

Most merchants know how influential consumer reviews can be, so why not feature them in a unique way? Yes, we are talking about video reviews. In fact, there are a variety of platforms available that allow merchants to include user-generated video content on their site, including Bravo, Authntk and EXPO TV. These videos could even prove to be more valuable than written reviews, because it is easier to tell someone’s sentiment when you can watch them speak, which makes this type of user-generated content more personable, relatable and believable.

Get Social

It is important to use a multi-channel approach when implementing a video strategy. By maintaining a YouTube channel and cross-promoting that content on other social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, merchants have the ability to show their products to a wider audience. Moreover, merchants can use their social videos to create a variety of content outside of tutorials and demonstrations, such as entertaining spoofs or a behind the scenes look at a company.

Videos for Every Item

Just because you have updated your current video strategy to include some of the aforementioned tactics, doesn’t mean you should neglect adding or updating product videos/demonstrations on your site. After all, product videos are helpful to consumers who are on the verge of making a purchasing decision, which means having a video on every product page could potentially have a dramatic influence on conversion rates. That being said, creating videos is time consuming, which is why platforms like Treepodia can be very helpful to merchants. This is because Treepodia can be used to turn entire product catalogs into product videos. The platform does this with Image Reviving Technology, which brings still photos to life. Moreover, the videos are always kept up-to-date as the platform automatically generates new video versions to reflect changes in inventory and all videos are based on existing product images, descriptions, prices, user reviews and merchandising rules.

Start Promoting: Holiday Guide for Merchants

Allison Howen — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:20:00 GMT

The term “holiday” is defined as a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done. For merchants, however, holidays tend to increase the workload and (hopefully) sales, because holidays typically give consumers more free time (and a reason) to shop for themselves, for others and for festive products, in general.

In order to receive the benefits that holidays can bring in, merchants must first spend time creating a marketing plan for each special day. For example, popular holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Independence Day, require months of planning and robust marketing, including search advertisements, an email campaign and a social strategy. On the other hand, merchants may decide that email and social are suitable channels for promoting smaller holidays, like Grandparents’ Day or Groundhog Day.

To prepare the appropriate type of campaign for each holiday, merchants must first choose which special dates to acknowledge. Luckily, Website Magazine has compiled a list of holidays, complete with some strategic tips, to help merchants plan out their marketing initiatives. Check out the month-by-month breakdown of important dates below:

(Note: the dates are based on the 2013 calendar)

January

Merchants should use January not only to recuperate from last year’s busiest shopping season, but also as a time to start preparing for next year’s holiday shopping season. This is because December’s holiday campaigns are still top-of-mind, and should provide merchants with insights into what worked and what didn’t work. That being said, January also has some pretty important holidays that merchants can use to promote sales, such as New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Day.

January 1 – New Year’s Day

January 20 – Inauguration Day (Once every four years after the presidential election)

January 21 – Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January)

February

February hosts both popular holidays that require strong marketing, such as Valentine’s Day, as well as some quirky holidays, like Groundhog Day and Mardi Gras, that can be promoted with a strategic email and social campaign. Additionally, Leap Day occurs in February about every four years, which presents merchants with a unique opportunity to offer some exclusive sales. Lent also provides some clever marketing tactics, as those who observe Lent typically give up a personal vice during this time (from Feb. 13 through March 30). Perhaps you can encourage them through their journey by offering replacements.

February 2 – Groundhog Day

February 10 – Chinese New Year (The first day of the Chinese calendar)

February 12 – Lincoln’s Birthday

February 12 – Mardi Gras (The last day before Lent)

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

February 18 – Presidents’ Day (third Monday in February)

February 29 (2016) – Leap Day (typically every four years)

March

The most popular holiday in March is typically St. Patrick’s Day, however, in 2013, Easter also falls in this month, which means that merchants should plan their campaigns accordingly. Furthermore, March 20 is the first day of spring, which merchants can use as a way to promote new spring/summer items.

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day

March 20 – First Day of Spring (Spring Equinox)

March 25 – Passover Begins (starts on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan)

March 31 – Easter (first Sunday after or on the first full moon, after the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere)

April

April might start out as a joke, but merchants should take marketing campaigns during this month seriously. This is because Tax Day is April 15, which means that a good majority of consumers are going to have some extra spending money.

April 1 – April Fool's Day

April 2 – Passover Ends

April 15 – Tax Day

April 22 – Earth Day

May

Before the flowers begin to bloom in May, merchants should have their Mother’s Day campaigns running in full force – as this is one of the busiest shopping times of the season.

May 5 – Cinco de Mayo

May 12 – Mother’s Day (second Sunday of May)

May 27 – Memorial Day (last Monday in May)

June

With summer on everyone's mind, June is a great time to launch some “hot” Father’s Day deals.

June 16 – Father’s Day (third Sunday of June)

June 21 – First Day of Summer (Summer Solstice)

July

Independence Day is summer’s biggest holiday, which means that merchants should start launching their marketing campaigns for Fourth of July shortly after Father’s Day in order to receive the best results.

July 4 – Independence Day

August

Although August may be lacking big-name holidays, merchants should use this month to promote end-of-summer and back-to-school sales.

August 21 – Senior Citizens Day

September

Back-to-school sales typically run through the end of September, but there are a few notable holidays in this month that merchants can use within promotions, such as Labor Day and Patriot Day.

September 2 – Labor Day (first Monday in September)

September 8 – National Grandparents’ Day (first Sunday after Labor Day)

September 11 – Patriot Day

September 22 – First Day of Fall (Fall Equinox)

October

October is a time when merchants can launch spooky sales to capitalize on Halloween. They should also use this time to start preparing for the busiest shopping season of the year, which is right around the corner.

October 6 – Boss's Day

October 14 – Columbus Day (second Monday in October)

October 31 – Halloween

November

The busiest shopping season of the year officially kicks off on Thanksgiving every year, which means that merchants should start launching holiday-related search advertisements at the beginning of this month in order to see sales skyrocket on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

November 11 – Veterans’ Day

November 28 – Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November)

November 28 – First Day of Hanukkah (25th day of Kislev, according to the Hebrew calendar)

November 29 – Black Friday (first Friday after Thanksgiving)

November 30 – Small Business Saturday (first Saturday after Thanksgiving)

December

Holiday sales should be in full force by December 1, but merchants should continue their holiday marketing initiatives through Christmas, before switching to year-end sale campaigns.

December 2 – Cyber Monday (first Monday after Thanksgiving)

December 5 – Last Day of Hanukkah (Eight days after the start of Hanukkah)

December 7 – Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

December 21 – First Day of Winter (Winter Solstice)

December 24 – Christmas Eve

December 25 – Christmas

December 26 – Kwanzaa (until January 1st)

December 31 (New Year’s Eve)

Other Important Dates

While this list has more than 40 important dates on it, there are undoubtedly many other holidays that merchants can create marketing campaigns around – like National Hug Day (January 21), National Pancake Day (February 28) and Sweetest Day (the third Saturday in October). Moreover, merchants can create sales and promotions around dates that are special to their company, like an anniversary or founder’s birthday. By creating sales around specific dates, merchants can help increase traffic and conversions as it provides consumers with a sense of urgency. That being said, it is also important to not overdo or promote holidays too close together, because consumers won't pay attention to a "special holiday sale" if it occurs too frequently.

Humanizing E-Commerce with a Conversation Engine from Loopit

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT

Social shopping was all the rage several years ago. The digital dream was that like-minded consumers (shoppers) would organize themselves, discover products and shop online together, engaging with each other in the context of the merchant’s brand and exposing its products to an infinitely larger audience in the process.

While it definitely had its appeal for both merchants and consumers, the available technologies were pretty weak at the time and it never really worked as imagined. As a result, the industry somewhat lost their collective interest over time. Or did they? Merchants still want users to have an positive experience and so do shoppers (nothing really new there). But virtual change is afoot - some vendors are actually aiming to relive the social shopping dream (at least in part) by putting a greater emphasis on enabling consumers to engage in conversations more seamlessly.

RedStart Ventures (a venture foundry) last week launched LoopIt, a platform that enables users to poll specific members of their email address book or by posting their queries to Facebook in the hopes that their friends will join the conversation and lead them to better buying decisions. LoopIt essentially hopes to restore the human element to online shopping. Whether users are interested in publicizing their purchase considerations remains the big question.

One of the first retailers to deploy LoopIt is popular high-end fashion rental site Rent the Runway, which now offers the LoopIt conversation button for items available on its site, allowing members to poll their friends or fellow Rent the Runway style enthusiasts.

"LoopIt is the perfect resource for Rent the Runway members who have already organically formed a community that seeks outfit and styling tips from one another," said Jenn Hyman, CEO & Co-Founder of Rent The Runway. "With LoopIt, they will have an extended group of virtual stylists, including their own friends, as well as other fashion-forward members who also love to experiment with designer fashion. As a company that puts customer experience first, it is monumentally important for us to offer our members tools that will help create the most seamless and enjoyable experience possible."

10 Platforms for Obtaining Customer Feedback

Allison Howen — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:35:00 GMT

To keep an e-commerce store running at peak-performance, merchants need to pay attention not only to analytics, but also to customer feedback.

While analytics are a good starting point for figuring out which site elements need to be revamped or tested, customer feedback gets straight to the point by telling merchants exactly what a site visitor liked or disliked about their shopping experience. This type of insight can be used to quickly implement adjustments to a Web store in order to optimize the user experience.

There are many ways that merchants can obtain feedback from their customers, from social media to surveys and forums, which is why Website Magazine has compiled a list of platforms that merchants can leverage to gain insights into their customers’ shopping experiences.

Get Satisfaction

Merchants can use the Get Satisfaction platform to implement a more social shopping experience into their Web stores. This is because the platform can be used to obtain and respond to customer feedback regarding questions, problems, ideas and praise. Get Satisfaction can also be integrated directly into product pages with the E-Commerce Communities solution, which can help answer common customer questions and reduce shopping cart abandonment rates.

SuggestionBox

SuggestionBox enables merchants to put a virtual suggestion box on their website. Merchants simply need to add a few lines of code to their site in order to start capturing feedback in real-time. The platform offers the ability to organize feedback as well as group similar suggestions together so that one response can reach multiple customers. It is also important to note that merchants have the ability to choose which suggestions stay private or become public.

OpinionLab

This popular Voice of the Customer (VoC) platform is leveraged by more than half of the Fortune 50. It allows merchants to gain real-time feedback for a variety of channels, including websites, mobile sites, products and even brick-and-mortar stores. The platform’s opt-in, page-specific model helps capture feedback from consumers who are already engaged with a brand, which can help organizations pinpoint issues in real-time and take action quickly.

Kampyle

Merchants can use the Kampyle platform to learn which areas of their website customers are likely to run into trouble. This is because site visitors can submit feedback on a variety of issues – from broken links to reporting competitive prices seen on other websites. Additionally, the platform's feedback forms automatically prompt visitors to include their contact details and also provide a newsletter opt-in area, which enables visitors to easily subscribe to a merchant's email campaign.

UserVoice

Merchants can leverage the UserVoice Feedback solution to collect and manage their customers' input. The solution provides merchants with a forum where customer can both submit and vote on feedback and allows people to submit feedback without signing up for an account. Moreover, UserVoice’s search-as-you type functionality ensures that customers are able to find similar feedback to vote on instead of creating a duplicate entry on the same topic. The solution moderates content so that forums aren’t littered with spam or profanity, however, merchants also have the ability to turn on manual moderation in order to have complete control of content.

Zoho Discussions

Merchants can create their own customer support community with the Zoho Discussions platform, which offers rebranding tools so that users can customize their support community to stay consistent with a brand’s look and feel. Additionally, the platform enables merchants to set moderation guidelines, export data, use widgets to capture feedback from across the Web and organize discussions.

Usabilla

The Usabilla platform is unique because it not only provides merchants with consumer feedback, but also measures customer emotions. Merchants simply need to add a snippet of code to their site so that the feedback button is visible to visitors. The platform enables consumers to select and rate any item of a Web page by choosing one out of five emotions. Site visitors can also add comments to provide additional feedback if desired. Moreover, the platform provides merchants with a dashboard that includes a visual trendline in order to keep track of collected feedback over time.

Google Moderator

Google has a tool for everything, including obtaining feedback. The Google Moderator tool is free and allows users to create a forum about anything (e.g. site usability) and open it up for people to submit questions, votes, ideas or suggestions. For the best results, merchants should embed their Moderator page to their website.

iPerceptions

Merchants can leverage this platform to gain insights from customers through surveys and comment cards. Users can design their own surveys and control who receives the surveys. iPerceptions collects data such as location, IP address, operating system and browser type for each respondent, which makes it easy for merchants to analyze specific customer segments. Furthermore, the platform has the ability to collect feedback in more than 32 languages.

IdeaScale

IdeaScale enables merchants to foster a community by allowing customers to submit feedback, discuss and vote on ideas. The platform also offers a Facebook App so that the IdeaScale community can be integrated directly onto a merchant’s Facebook Page. Moreover, the platform comes with a profanity filter, a polling tool and a plethora of customizable features, including custom development, CSS and URL, as well as the ability to customize status tabs.

These are just a few of the 'Net's many available platforms for obtaining customer feedback. Let us know what platform or strategies your enterprise leverages in the comment section below.