SmallBusinessNewz - eCommerce

Free Shipping Day May Bring You a Sales Boost

Chris Crum — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:39:15 -0500

December 17th is National Free Shipping Day in the U.S. That means that on that day, consumers all over the country are going to be looking for great deals with free shipping options.

While, if you can swing it, free shipping is always an attractive offering to customers, it would probably be a good idea to at least try it out on that day for a potential boost in business.

Hitwise Declares "Hunt Is On" For Discounts

Doug Caverly — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:59:28 -0500

More evidence has surfaced to indicate that small business owners who want searchers to wind up at their sites should consider breaking out terms like "free shipping" and "coupon." Hitwise took a look at how searches for these terms tend to increase dramatically around the holidays.

21 Stats to Keep in Mind This Holiday Season

Chris Crum — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:43:36 -0500

Deloitte released the results of a new survey looking at holiday retail spending and trends. Social media, mobile phones, and online reviews are playing increasingly big parts in the lives and shopping habits of consumers.

Eight Percent Increase In Online Holiday Sales Predicted

Doug Caverly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:55:57 -0500

There's fresh good news - and unfortunately, a little fresh bad news, too - with regards to the 2009 holiday season. It looks like online sales will increase, but consumers will be focused on low prices and thus perhaps put small businesses up against big retailers.

What You Can Learn from Amazon to Increase Holiday Sales

Chris Crum — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:11:25 -0400

There is a reason Amazon is widely known as one of the biggest retailers online (if not the biggest). The company knows what it's doing.

Amazon has appeared in headlines recently for a number of reasons, and a fair amount of them are related to different things the company has been doing to increase its sales as the holiday season approaches. While as a small business, you don't likely have the clout that Amazon does, they do employ strategies that you can learn from in order to potentially increase your own sales.

1. Mobile Payments

eBay iPhone App A Cash Machine

Doug Caverly — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:01:03 -0400

If you've given up on eBay and/or not embraced the mobile market, it may be time to rethink those decisions. It seems that consumers have bought over $400 million worth of stuff from eBay this year using an iPhone app.

Google Asks Small Biz Owners To Support Net Neutrality

Doug Caverly — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:14:40 -0400

Google, while big, has long appeared to have a soft spot in its heart for small businesses. Now, the search giant with a market cap of about $175 billion is calling on you to join the network neutrality fight for its sake and your own.

Holiday Spending Will be Online

Chris Crum — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:57:19 -0400

Burst Media released some findings from a survey this week, indicating that 85.3% of respondents will shop online this holiday season. This is in line with research from Nielsen who recently found that a good chunk of holiday spending would take place online.

Additional findings from Bust Media include:

Google Offers Retail Tips in These Videos

Chris Crum — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:22:55 -0400

You may recall that earlier this year it was announced that Google was co-sponsoring a UK business tips channel on YouTube called "Survival of the Fastest." The channel was designed to be a valuable resource for "bite-sized insights to help your business."

Yahoo Alters Search Experience

Doug Caverly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:57:00 -0400

Some small business owners could, if you woke them up from a sound sleep in the middle of the night, immediately tell you their site's ranking for different terms on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. But today, even people who aren't that obsessive might want to check in with one engine, since Yahoo's revised its search experience.

This is more of a look-and-feel adjustment than a straight-up rankings change; if you used to be number one for "ornamental pooper scoopers," anyone who searches for that term should still see your site at the topmost center spot.

Two Seconds Declared "Threshold" For Page Responses

Doug Caverly — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:09:44 -0400

Unless you know of an easy way to dose everyone in America with Ritalin, it may be time to take a close look at how quickly your website loads. A new study has indicated that consumers are very impatient and more ready than ever to abandon eCommerce sites.

Customers Already Shopping for Holidays

Chris Crum — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:23:21 -0400

It's never too early to start planning for the holidays. Google has shared some results from a survey of consumers, which found that while 86% of them are planning to shop for the upcoming holiday season, many of them are already starting.

The survey found:

Have You Heard About These Things?

Chris Crum — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:04:52 -0400

As I do from time to time, I'd like to point SmallBusinessNewz readers to some noteworthy topics from the past week, which I have covered at WebProNews, but would also just as easily fit into our scope of discussion over here.

Tips for Getting Found in Real-Time Searches

The Importance of Engagement on the Web

Chris Crum — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:05:14 -0400

I wrote an article for WebProNews this week about why today's content is still relevant to tomorrow's real-time searches, and why the "shareability" of your content is so important. Essentially, the easier you make it to share your content, the more it will be shared (if it is worth sharing), and just because time passes, that doesn't mean that your content is no longer relevant.

Could Product Image Sizes Be Costing You Sales?

Chris Crum — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:51:39 -0400

Google is requesting that users of Google Base submit the largest images they have of products. They prefer images at least 300x300 pixels, but they do acknowledge that a small image is better than no image at all.

PayPal Apologizes For Worldwide Outage

Doug Caverly — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:57:28 -0400

A rather significant breakdown occurred yesterday, and unfortunately, it may have affected many small businesses. PayPal has admitted that it experienced a "service interruption" on a global scale.

Firefox Compatibility Becomes More Important Than Ever

Doug Caverly — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:04:31 -0400

We've talked before about making websites compatible with Google Chrome, and that remains an important goal. But today, let's discuss an even more basic step - ensuring Firefox compatibility - because Firefox has reached the billion-download mark.

According to the latest Net Applications data, Firefox has an overall market share of about 22.39 percent. That's far too significant a portion of the population to ignore, and if you cater to a techie sort of crowd, it's likely that your business's site receives even more Firefox traffic.

Google Puts Online Stores Within Easy Reach

Doug Caverly — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:03:11 -0400

Running a small business can be complicated, but Google's trying to make running an online store literally as easy as one, two, three. Basically, if you can manage a spreadsheet, you can now start an online store.

Thanks to a new Google Checkout store gadget, "No complicated coding or technical tasks are required. You can get your first online store up-and-running in under five minutes," according to a Google Checkout APIs page.

Social is a Key Element of Effective eCommerce Marketing

Chris Crum — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:35:17 -0400

Consultancy firm Hill & Knowlton has shared findings from an interesting report on social media and eCommerce. The report was based on a survey of more than 600 adults in the US.

"Online retailing is being profoundly impacted by the integration of social media into what historically has been a transactional experience," says Joshua Reynolds, worldwide technology practice director, Hill & Knowlton and co-author of the report.

Here are some findings:

Positive Holiday Predictions Issued

Doug Caverly — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:50:27 -0400

The holiday season is a relatively long ways off; small businesses need to navigate their way through the back-to-school rush, Halloween, and Thanksgiving (at least) first. Still, we thought you'd like to know that a new report makes some positive predictions concerning December 2009.

Get Your Customers to "Buy Now."

Chris Crum — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:48:19 -0400

We talked recently about getting your products in Google shopping searches. You don't have to be a Google Checkout user for this, but if you are a Google Checkout user, Google is now providing a "Buy Now" button that could prove to be a much needed call-to-action for users.

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates May Be Easy To Cut

Doug Caverly — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:49:25 -0400

Many small businesses are really, really close to making a lot more money, according to the results of some new studies. But the significant problem of shopping cart abandonment has consumers essentially snatching back the cash at the last moment.

Getting Your Products in Google Shopping Searches

Chris Crum — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:22:54 -0400

Google has a helpful video up on its Google Webamster Central YouTube channel about Google Product Search for webmasters. The video covers areas like benefits and background, best practices when submitting info, frequently asked questions, and healing pain points.

No Site Search? You May Be Missing Out on Sales

Chris Crum — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:19:14 -0400

If you are selling any number of goods online, you really need to have a search function on your site. If the user cannot easily find what they are looking for, without spending too much time on it, that is not a positive user experience.

Companies Still Confident In Online Retail Operations

Doug Caverly — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:27:27 -0400

The recession's caused a lot of small businesses to, in Star Trek parlance, "raise shields." But just as Captains Kirk, Picard, and Sisko (never mind the others) wouldn't usually then order the engines shut off, it seems that small businesses are sticking with their online retail plans.

Amazon Gives Businesses More Payment Options

Chris Crum — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:48:15 -0400

If you are an eCommerce business and you use one of twenty-five popular shopping cart solutions for your checkout process, you may have a new payment option for your customers. Amazon announced today that its Amazon Payments solutions are now available on platforms like CardinalCommerce, Miva Merchant, Magento, ShopVisible, Mercantec, and Zoovy.

Internet Sales Tax Bills Might Mean Big Things For Small Biz

Doug Caverly — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:58:34 -0400

One of the more interesting things about buying products on the Internet may soon cease to exist. Legislators are expected to introduce bills that would create an Internet sales tax, making it less advantageous for consumers to order things online and save a few bucks.

Are You Listed in Google Base?

Chris Crum — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:39:51 -0400

Google Base is one more tool from Google that can help you get the most out of your marketing efforts. If you sell products online, this is not only a good way to get your product listed in a product search engine, but it has added benefits for visibility as well.

I've discussed in the past why you should not overlook other Google search engines when looking to rank well. I did not talk about Google Base though. As Ryan Frank points out, getting listed in Google Base means getting listed in:

5 Common eCommerce Mistakes That Prevent Conversions

Chris Crum — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:19:43 -0400

Mike McDonald at WebProNews recently spoke with Khalid Saleh of Invesp Consulting who discusses some things eCommerce site owners should keep in mind when looking to improve their conversions. This is a video that all eCommerce site owners should watch.

What to Consider When Starting a Web Site

Chris Crum — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:25:43 -0400

You may find it hard to believe, but there are a lot of businesses out there that have yet to build an online presence. These businesses should really reconsider this for a plethora of reasons.