Recently, I found two exceptional blogs with content that is rich with both clarity and how to information.  Copyblogger and the Kissmetrics blog are great resources.  Amazingly, between these two blogs and the archives (as well as services and/or tutorials), you can come away with so much in a short period of time.  In fact, thanks to Copyblogger, I learned and confirmed the two most important words for blogs: You and Because.  Moreover, the writers there are so good, I’ve improved my content strategy which will lead to more focused, understandable and helpful copy for folks in the e-commerce business.  But I still will have links as much with internet marketing experience out there that exceeds my own.

As e-commerce goes, we all need to keep up with all the internet provides for sales.  And surely, one way or the other, you will recognize when you are lagging behind.  There’s no real formula for how much time or money to put where, yet I can rely on advertising or direct mail budgets from days gone by to help curb what must be.  However, you need not think of cash in all instances to obtain publicity and organic search results with good copy writing; let alone good copy writing for product merchandising or what have you. 

The range of information for internet marketing and merchandizing between these two outfits is perfect for those assigned the jobs of getting the most site visits but as importantly, converting visits to sales.  You may not agree that these two sites are tops for help, yet if you are unaware, do yourself a favor and investigate.  Their content is mature to the point of making some things a scientific art.  Sometimes a classroom helps clear the mind of other distractions and one can absorb what has been mastered and tried and true; then eventually, the education well applied, converts to desired results with your own vision at the lead.

Incorporated in 1976 after being contracted by National Geographic educational products, Karol got started with library service (out and back) fulfillment (film previews for purchase consideration) as well as rentals.  Gradually as film became Beta II, then VHS, Karol began duplication and fulfillment, then CD and DVD duplication, printing, packaging and fulfillment.  Today, we can still handle print, duplication, packaging, mailing as well as our core service of product order or item fulfillment.  Today we are building shopping carts.  Whatever is next, we’ll take it on. 

Our primary product is service.  What value we have is helping clients sleep at night.  That’s right.  They don’t worry about the nitty-gritty, inventory security, data storage, sick days, payroll, building rent & maintenance and the like.  They don’t worry about manifests, forklifts, bills of lading, ladders and boxes.  They simply focus on selling more.

Our staff today has averaged 20 years (since our move to Wilkes-Barre PA in 1989).  And while I have been affiliated with Karol for 37 years and employed since 1982, our Vice President of Operations, Rob Costello, is the senior employee starting in 1978; and our Head CSR, Sue Davenport, since 1989.  So not only do all of us here do well by the client, the company has what is necessary to make good for employees.  It’s a simple ‘to serve’ formula all the way around actually.

We look forward to the fourth decade knowing that it is based on what we do today; not yesterday or tomorrow.  From customer service through order consignment to carriers, we have probably shipped or mailed, over 4,500,000 packages with many days exceeding 5,000.  That does not include handling returns, letter size flat and lumpy mail (we never kept count) or LTL shipments.

Our primary objective, to be sure, is to satisfy clients by satisfying their customers.  Meeting that objective is what makes Karol possible.  Being even is great too as we look forward to next year.

1.)    Blog first so as to reach other retailers with wholesale pricing (if possible)

2.)    Blog as much as possible; research your competitors activity and be where they are

3.)    Blog for publicity

4.)    Blog for innovation development and product result (how the product idea came about)

5.)    Publicity for any milestone (anniversary, unit sales, buyer profiles, etc.)

6.)    Publicity regarding clients who bought

7.)    Publicity to include product reviews

8.)    Google+ circles (appropriate)

9.)    Stumble Upon (appropriate categories)

10.) Facebook and/or Yahoo stores

Consider these in the order presented as a suggested path to internet marketing and sales promotion activity.  These can be done internally if not by ownership.  If there is a strategy to use paid internet advertising try concentrating locally at first.  A simple self made demographic will do: age, region, income, etc. will help make the best decisions for testing results. 

Remember, unless your product is already known, directing interested consumers to your web site has less to do with product name than subject and product benefits.  Keep mindful of the search word list as you write any copy for blog and publicity.  No need to be shy about product attributes but don’t belittle competitor products or pricing.

Having budgeted for PPC, etc., my advice is to use what’s available at no significant cost other than time.  Worry not about as to who will respond or likes your product.  Moreover, read comments good and bad, respond with courtesy and direct your efforts for sales probability not certainty. 

Always remember, Columbus sailed for the West Indies, not the Americas.  Yet he sailed nonetheless testing every nerve to realize all of his sailing skills, holding fast, and onto a surprise like no other.

The Most Important Stat You Will Probably See This Year

1.  Increase Conversion Rates

Specific keywords often tend to have a better conversion rate than general keywords. For example, consider the keywords below. Which one do you think leads to a higher conversion rate?

a.      HP
b.      HP Printers
c.       HP P1007

Generally, more specific keywords like “HP P1007″ tend to lead to a better conversion rate than general keywords like “HP.” This is because the online shoppers who are looking for specific models or products have already researched the product and now want to make a purchase. However, using more specific keywords can lead to fewer impressions. If your keywords are too specific, fewer people may end up searching for those terms. The trick is to find the right balance between being general enough to match what people are searching for, and specific enough to lead to conversions.

2.   Increase Average Order Value and Decrease Bounce Rates

Once you get a shopper to your site, the goal shifts to making them purchase as much as possible. Since the online shoppers have specific needs your landing pages must be designed to instantly provide personalized and relevant content. The customers can be encouraged to buy more products by creating product bundles, instead of selling them separately. For example a mobile phone can be sold with accessories like bluetooth, phone cover, micro SD card etc.

3   Differentiate your Business

With so many retailers entering the online e-commerce business you need to differentiate yourself from them. Asking simple questions to yourself such as

Why should a customer visit you?
Do you offer the lowest price?
Does your customer service set you apart?

will set your differential advantage and help you develop your USP. Every business needs to differentiate itself. As a small e-commerce business, you cannot hope to sell everything to everybody, so you need to make sure that your business stands for something specific in the minds of consumers. One way to differentiate your business is to solve at least one problem that customers face — especially a problem that no one else is solving.

By

Shovana Sahu

About Intentree

Intentree provides e-commerce optimization services using measurable & frugal usability, performance, security and functional techniques. To know more visit us @ www.intentree.com.

While physical shopping can provide an live-smile experience, some up-and-comer bricks and mortar retailers are using ‘robots’ to bring clothing to you.  If that doesn’t beat all.  From auto manufacturing does come the store associate.  Interaction with such automation likely is an experience in and of itself; yet how much of an experience does the customer actually have?  Remains to be determined fully.

And what interaction with a merchant won’t necessarily include ‘haggling’?  Since a purchase is personal, interaction is required and can be kept private more so on the internet than in a store.  And a web site serves best to include the customer in the process.  If this sounds strange, I ask myself the difference between an auction and negotiating?  Depending on the circumstances, buyers always want to believe they got a deal—that’s customer satisfaction as much as receiving the purchased item on time via e-commerce.

If a merchant sells ‘one shot’ purchases, it’s possible to stand ground on prices.  But if priced properly, there may be room.  Conversely in my experience, if it’s a revolving selection of items, then repeat customers are the objective for sure as we know.  Branding is a wonderful concept and obviously effective for any retailer; but once branded, the retailer had better deliver excellent customer service for it to mean anything. 

If it’s your store, if anything goes, it will be profits without customer determined pricing as well—a key element to customer satisfaction in my book.  Any successful business knows how low they can go to satisfy their customer.

Me inicié en twitter allá por el año 2008 (lo acabo de comprobar a través de When did you join Twitter), año en el cual twitter apenas tenía popularidad en España. Me registré únicamente por cuestiones laborales, ya que en aquel entonces trabajaba desarrollando aplicaciones para/relacionadas con redes sociales. Y a decir verdad, en aquel momento twitter no me cautivó. Tonto de mí, por aquel entonces no le ví utilidad alguna. Por decir algo en mi favor, bien es verdad que en aquel momento, la comunidad twittera era mucho más reducida que ahora (sobre todo en España), por lo que, evidentemente, el valor que la red me aportaba no era tan inmenso como lo puede ser ahora, ya que en una red de las características de twitter, el valor hacia el usuario crece exponencialmente con la cantidad (y calidad) de los twiteros.

Evidentemente, yo estaba equivocado. Twitter fue, es, y por el momento, parece que será, una red con un potencial tremendo tanto para comunicar como para estar informado. Yo no supe ver este potencial porque, acostumbrado a redes como Myspace, Tuenti o Facebook en aquel entonces, extrapolé lo que éstas me ofrecían a twitter y, como es evidente, me encontre con un entorno mucho más restringido para la interacción amigo-amigo (o, digamos, mejor, usuario-usuario).

Creo que este error es bastante común en los usuarios primerizos de twitter. Pero en el momento en el que ‘se abre el telón’ y te das cuenta de su verdadero potencial, todo cambia. Creo que esto le ha pasado a una gran cantidad de gente en los últimos años en España, que ha llevado a la red a alcanzar un número muy considerable de usuarios (Unos 5 millones y medio, a Junio de 2012). No existe político, periodista, deportista, empresa o cualquier personaje/entidad pública que no tenga cuenta en twitter. Es uno de los pilares fundamentales del community management ahora mismo. Y para los usuarios ‘normales’, una fuente inagotable de información de actualidad y de posible interacción con personas o entidades con quienes antes era más costoso interactuar. Ejemplos de esta interacción son, por ejemplo, los hashtags que ciertos programas de TV o radio crean para twittear en directo y poder intervenir en el programa a través de un tweet. Sencillo y gratis.

Es tal la relevancia que ha cobrado twitter en los últimos tiempos que hace un par de semanas leí que Twitter había sido mencionado/utilizado en el 50% de los anuncios de la superbowl, mientras que facebook fue únicamente mencionado en un 8%. Desde luego, que la mitad de los anuncios en el mayor escaparate comercial del año a nivel internacional mencionen twitter da una idea de su magnitud y cómo las propias marcas fomentan la interacción con sus consumidores a través de esta red. Todos conocemos casos de empresas que han atendido y solucionado problemas a sus usuarios con un único tweet. Incluso la propia policía utiliza twitter para interactuar con los ciudadanos, llegando incluso a haberse practicado detenciones por simples denuncias a través de twitter, como en el ‘sonado’ caso de las amenazas de muerte a la presentadora Eva Hache.

Y todo esto, para llegar a lo que verdaderamente quería escribir hoy: Parece que la familiarización con twitter va más allá de mera interacción escrita, y hoy leo que Twitter y American Express han llegado a un acuerdo para desarrollar un sistema de ‘pago por tweet’, de manera que, además de interacción verbal, twitter se puede terminar convirtiendo también en una red de interacción comercial.

Me parece una muy buena idea, toda vez que, atendiendo a lo que cuento en los primeros párrafos, buena parte de los usuarios estamos ya muy familiarizados con la plataforma, y nos sentimos cómodos interactuando a través de ella. De hecho, esta idea no es nueva, y desde hace ya tiempo otras redes sociales vienen caminando en la misma dirección. Además de otro posible trato con American Express como comenta la noticia que enlazo, Facebook está trabajando en un pequeño ‘Marketplace’ llamado Gifts donde poder vender y comprar productos.

Estas nuevas iniciativas de integrar el e-commerce con las redes sociales me parecen muy positivas tanto para consumidor, como para vendedor, como para las propias redes sociales:

- Las redes sociales tendrán una alternativa a sus modelos de negocio ‘tradicionales’ (es curioso hablar de algo como tradicional cuando sólo tiene unos pocos años de existencia) basados en la publicidad y el marketing. Facebook, en concreto, lleva tiempo creando bastante incertidumbre entre sus inversores en este aspecto, sobre todo después de su ‘fallida’ salida a bolsa, llegando a disminuir su valor a la mitad del valor de salida en poco más de tres meses. Así pues, esto podría suponer una nueva alternativa de monetización de las comunidades de usuarios dentro de las redes sociales, sin necesidad de tener que ofrecer servicios premium que parece que no dan resultado.

- Las empresas comercializadoras tendrán un espectro de clientes potenciales prácticamente insuperable. Estamos hablando de cientos de millones de usuarios en Twitter y miles de millones en Facebook. Las posibilidades tanto de alcance como de segmentación son muy altas, ya no sólo para la publicidad y el marketing sino también para el propio comercio.

- Los propios consumidores ya familiarizados con las redes sociales ganan en comodidad a la hora de comprar. Además, es sabido que buena parte de los consumidores basan mucho su decisión de compra en recomendaciones de otros usuarios, aspecto en el que las redes sociales podrían cumplir un papel crucial.

Veremos cómo evoluciona el e-commerce social en el futuro, y hasta dónde puede llegar la relevancia de twitter. Yo, de momento, no le veo techo.

2 of their key findings which stuck out for me are:

#1 – 90% of the conversations about brands are still happening offline vs a meagre 10% online (source: InTV how to harness the power of conversations).

In other words, offline WOM still prevails by far and this behaviour is unlikely to change anytime soon with face-to-face chats with spouses, relatives and friends remaining the #1 influencers on purchase decisions, not the social banter.

And -

#2 – Social media very seldomly directly leads to an online sale (ref. low conversion rates/direct referrals).

This is not to say however that social media hasn’t got a role to play – it may well trigger a conversation in the offline world with your loved and trusted ones, ultimately leading to a sale. So still worth investing into in order to influence/guide those offline conversations.

The problem for advertisers then becomes how to measure the true impact/ROI of social conversations on their sales – if at all possible. Any ideas, anyone?

Here are 7 simple ways to increase your website’s conversion rates immediately:

1.   Keep it Simple & Descriptive

Majority of the prospective customers use the internet to compare the available product options. Provide extensive product descriptions and images to help present the product better to the customer and get her to buy it immediately.

2. Easy and Secure Payment Options

Provide all possible payment options, including PayPal, all major credit cards and debit cards, cash on delivery. A third part verification seal such as an SSL certificate or a HackerSafe seal can be given on the page. Showing credibility indicators like McAfee Secure and TrustE badges can help convert the comparison shopper to a buyer.

3.   Allow Bookmarks

Allow customers to bookmark products for future purchase. Increase the cookie length and use a persistent shopping cart, which saves the contents of the cart for a number of days. Let the customer know on the cart summary page how long their cart details will be saved.

4.   Don’t Display Out of Stock Merchandise in the Product List

Hide a product/size/colour when the stock runs out or display the current quantity of items in stock on the product page. This will reduce any surprises for the customer when they reach the view cart page.

5.   No Hidden Costs

Reduce the shipping charges. Promotional messages like “Order for Rs 250 or more and get Free Shipping” can be shown to encourage quick purchase. Also mention the delivery time and the total costs so that there are no surprises at the time of receipt. You can also provide cash on delivery or cash back facility within 15 days if the product does not meet the customer’s expectations.

6.   Lucrative Discounts

Offer discounts on next purchase or give away free goodies with the product. One can also give quantity-based discounts such as 10% off or free shipping on orders over Rs 250.

7.   Follow Up

Reach out to the shoppers who have abandoned their carts and offer a better deal. Try sending them a follow-up email that includes a modest discount, or other incentive to return.

By
Shovana Sahu

About Intentree

Intentree provides e-commerce optimization services using measurable & frugal usability, performance, security and functional techniques. To know more visit us @ www.intentree.com.
To get a quick overview check out http://www.slideshare.net/intentree/intentree-introduction

● From 2011 to 2012, global ecommerce grew 21% to reach $1.2 trillion

● By 2016, ecommerce is projected to hit $1.5 trillion worldwide

● In North America, digital spending grew 14% to nearly $365 billion.  Next year it is expected to expand to over $400 billion

● The number of digital buyers in the US is expected to grow from 150 million last year to 175 million in 2016

● China is expected to see the greatest growth.  Ecommerce is projected 65% from 2012 to 2013 and the number of digital customers will rise by nearly 25%

What Does This Mean To You?

What does your ecommerce strategy look like?
Digital purchasing, mcommerce in particular, is rapidly changing and growing. Having a strategy is important, but making sure it’s scalable is equally important.  Things like mobile point of sale will have a dramatic affect on how your business operates.  The international adoption of digital purchasing may open new markets for your business as well.  While we can’t predict the changes that may occur, being nimble and being able to quickly pivot is something that could give your company a competitive advantage in the future. For more information on how to capitalize on ecommerce growth,  please contact your Sun Sentinel representative or:
Julie Otto
Research Manager
954.425.1158
jotto@sunsentinel.com

Source: Emarketer

1. Poor Web Design
   A good web design is essential to guide the visitors around the website. The visitors want to grasp as much information in minimum time. Have a few points to focus, keep them informative but concise.
2. Difficult Product Discovery
   People may come looking for a particular product or an article that they read or heard about. Product discovery should be made simple by providing a quick search option on the website.  
3.  Display of Out of Stock Merchandise in the Product List
   Hide a product/size/colour when the stock runs out or display the current quantity of     items in stock on the product page. This will reduce any surprises for the customer when they reach the view cart page.
4. Fear factor
   Majority of the Indian customers are reluctant to disclose their card details online. Showing security icons and credibility indicators like McAfee Secure and TrustE badges will assure them that all the online transactions with the website will be safe and reliable.
5. Complicated Checkout Process
   The checkout process should be simple and linear. Use simple form design and add descriptions to the form field labels. Use illustrations to enhance the descriptions (for example, an image of CVV number on a credit card).
   
6. Compulsory Registration
   Customers dislike registering for another account. Make registration optional after the checkout process.  For registration keep the customer email address as the username and ask them to input a password for the account creation.
7. Logistics and Courier Services
   In India, the logistics and courier services are very poor.  The online website companies should work to build up their own logistics team or tie up with the local courier services to provide improved reachability and on time delivery.

While not known with the likes of Henry Ford, for instance, W. Edwards Deming’s principles were the basis of Japan’s ability to master manufacturing.  While culturally Mr. Deming was an American, Japan on the other hand was culturally ready to leap into cost effective and quality manufacturing to spur the country’s growth after WWII.  American business at the time did not embrace his principles. 

Basically, when management manages from the floor and not the corner office, processes will improve and greater success ensues.  A manager ensures that ‘downstream wisdom’ is being applied throughout the order cycle.  For me, that’s it.  Basically, managers at Karol are physically part of the process.  The information obtained is used to configure the best of work environments to satisfy 98.99 percent of client customer order—and we ‘catch’ client errors as well.  (If the percentage is higher, the variables our clients want us to handle are fewer.)

Deming’s principles are applied to product and kit-to-ship assemblies as well.  Order fulfillment is logistics by any other name and as much to keep fees down to satisfy margins for e-commerce and multi-channel clients.  None of it is rocket science but science it is to complete assembly and when necessary, packaging (paperboard, shrink wrapping, etc.) successfully.   

I never did like referring to our operation as the back end, but rather the ‘downstream’ and never, never the outback.

Having been involved with Karol Media for 37 years now, I only look back if it’s relevant to do so.  And when it is relevant it’s about decision making.  And the result of those decisions.  We’ve changed yet our ‘product’ is service.  And we stick then to what we do best.  While we will make mistakes, these are rare.  This holds true for carriers as well; be it USPS, UPS or FedEx.  Bar coding used in fulfillment and order tracking reduces so many errors, that a typical mistake is packing the wrong SKU. 

Generally, however, in small fulfillment endeavors, products come to us without SKU numbers and Bar Codes.  We have applied bar codes when either we need these or a client’s customer needs these in a retail outlet.  These bar codes are not necessary to fulfill orders if the budget is not there.  And it is not unusual for printing and applying SKU numbers to product (kit) assemblies, with the finished product shrink wrapped or not.

Operations and fulfillment service is what we deliver and yet, whether out sourced or not, you stand to gain by updating yourself.  A standard resource for the topic is the Operations +Fulfillment section in MultiChannel Merchant.

Over a brief period of roughly ten years I have seen internet marketing develop in leaps and bounds and many of us today have become dependent on its capabilities.  Fortunately for many, portals offer scalability in the absence of other resources to attract visitors.  And we continue to use portals to help those looking for fulfillment services get to quick solutions to find the service quotations needed.  When the leads come in, we maintain the information through the lead’s decision making cycle. 

My particular experience included direct mail and catalogs to sell educational videos.  And that simply developed by a marketing principle still true today—introducing a new product to an existing customer. (We were already mailing order information for sponsored educational programming.)  Only way it is effective is to have the right data when the product is introduced.  From there you extracted information to form a lead template to apply to rented data bases and off you went.  Of course the marketplace can be fickle insomuch as who you believed would order something but did not.  Scratching one’s head was inevitable with the most diligent approach to data.  But having the data collected and stored with due diligence was a basic marketing how to.

As professional marketing associations have evolved to include internet or multichannel marketing, some old methods remain.  We know we can’t win every customer by the same means, but relying on one strategy just won’t work for the long haul.  A favorite resource of mine is the Direct Mail Association’s findings and educational forums while Multi-Channel Merchant helps to keep it in perspective.  Finding customers forever will be sometimes peanuts, sometimes shells.

A changing landscape

Demise of Retail Giants is a Salutary Tale for Businesses Everywhere

Retail giants like Comet, Jessops, Blockbuster and HMV have gone into administration and they will be followed by many more.

Survival of the fittest

A leading Retail Consultant on BBC2 recently commented that the reason for so many business failures in the sector, was “nothing to do with Decline as many would have us believe, but everything to do with Evolution”.  Survival of the fittest is a misnomer for Darwinian principles. The species that survive are not always the strongest, but they are always the most adaptable. Comet, HMV & Jessops failed to adapt to a fast-changing environment and paid the ultimate price.

Could it happen to you?

Their demise has become a case study for executives everywhere, begging the question could it happen to your company?  Business models are fundamentally changing, while most businesses continue on blindly as though it’s ok to continue like it’s business as usual.  Businesses are staring down the barrel of disruptive technologies, which are not only coming but have already arrived. All executives and business managers have a responsibility to ensure their business is prepared to not only ride, but rapidly embrace and profit from the changes.

Sherril Soliman

Follow Sherril on Twitter or Google+

There are plenty of bells and whistles out there, but order management today can be an art form as rarely can two systems, developed separately, and with different intentions, produce consistent results.   This holds true without enterprise software for sure, and mapping files is not every web designer’s cup of tea.  That is to say, getting basic data in the right fields can be a road block to automated order ‘management’ software unrelated to a particular shopping cart.

Hence, when the words ‘integration’ and ‘automation’ are used, it is often the case human intervention is necessary to make it all come together.  Sometimes it all appears seamless when in fact, it’s the experience of those who receive the data that overcomes all applicable software limitations.  The SQL is not without hitches, glitches, bugs, oversights and missed patches. 

Karol would not be the only fulfillment company to suggest making contact with all vendors before choosing a software-system strategy if outsourcing fulfillment is planned.  And it’s prudent to recognize a web site developer is not always prepared for the range of e-commerce concerns.  This consideration is a reality in the environment we call e-commerce today.

A good news for you if you are planning to go for baby products shopping at Hushbabies, visit Saverr.com and pick the deal – flat 30% discount on kids’ apparels, jackets, winter collection, cap and footwear purchase from Hushbabies.

The items valid for this offer are listed in the landing page and the discounted prices are shown there. if you find prices are not discounted then you can simply add items to cart and proceed to checkout. Discounts will apply there.

Source: Google Images

Maybe your customer are having hard time deciding, because they cannot find the thing they are looking for; include relevant keyword to products name, so it will be easier to find. Put on the website various pictures of your products with alternate views, so your customer can feel like they know what they are about to get. If the product is more complex, you can include a video to showcase it; but never forget to include product description with text and multimedia. Data such as price, stock availability, color, size should be clear and easy to find. Make sure, that if you say you have the product in stock that you really do, to avoid awkward situations.  Suggest your viewers an alternative or complementary products, upselling actually does work.  Post unbiased and unedited customers ratings and reviews. Visitors would be always glad to see how satisfy are other people with the product they are playing to buy.  If you give your customers the opportunity to save and share pages on your website, they may recommend it to their friends or come back and buy more from you.

There are some tactics how to reduce shopping cart abandonments as well.  One of them is to make the shopping cart always visible and accessible. Persistent shopping cart is important across, so the visitors can continue to shop while searching and looking through other products.  By showing taxes and shipping options, the ‘cart shock’ can be reduce, because your customers will know from the beginning how much they will pay for taxes and shipping, and would not be surprise at the checkout about the final price.  Updating the shopping cart without having to go back to product page will have the same result, because people often put more random things into the shopping cart and don’t realize the final price for all products.  You can also offer support to them, by answering your user question with “live help”, they probably would write an email to ask you one thing and complete the shopping after your replay, but to go to your competitor.

For addition information read “The $300 Million Button” by Jared Spool at User Interface Engineering or “Improving The Online Shopping Experience, Part 2: Guiding Customers Through The Buying Process” by Lyndon Cerejo at Smashing Magazine.

source: Google Images

When you understand your market it’s easy to create personas. Personas represent your target market and the actual user. Creating personas is considered as best practice in ‘user centered’ website, because it helps the company to better understand who their key customers segments are.  It also helps to improve the design of the website.

For a starting up e-commerce website is usually better to go for niche products compare to general.  The general market is hypercompetitive, over advertised and is there too much choice with too little time. On the other hand niche market allows entering with small marketing budget and surviving because niche product serves a specialized market and it increase the chance of success.  With Niche products you can stay above the crowd and face less competition as well as price your products higher.

Improving your customer buying experience is important because not all experiences satisfy your customers, and you could easily lost possible incomes. You can make the user experience better by creating customer confidence that the website is secure by clearly state the privacy, security and return policies as well as highlighting security to remind the information are safe. Do not forget to make the contact information visible to the user and display third party certifications and affiliation.  When user makes sure the website is secure, enhance the product fundability by for example mega menus, breadcrumb navigation or search box option. Many users find registrations annoying so keeping the registration short and optional. Simplify and minimize information the user has to input during check out. When the checkout starts allow registers users to log in and if they forget the account information makes it easy for them to make recover the forgotten account.

For addition information read “25 e-commerce mega menus dissected” by Matt Clarke at Econsultancy or “Improving The Online Shopping Experience, Part 1: Getting Customers To Your Products” by Lyndon Cerejo at Smashing Magazine.

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Visit Saverr.com and avail this deal and you will automatically be redirected to the landing page where all the products are listed on which this deal is applicable.

To find all latest offers and deals on Hushbabies products, you can simply check for Hushbabies coupon codes 2013 at Saverr.com and start saving on baby shopping.

Hence, I try to focus on current how-to’s and only touch on e-commerce industry analysis from respective publications, studies and reports. And in trying to stay focused, ElasticPath’s blog post regarding site strategy, etc. does well for smaller e-merchants.