If there"s one time of year to kick your email campaign up a notch, it"s over the holidays. Email marketing is a tried-and-true way to advertise upcoming …
Four E-Commerce Mistakes You Need To Avoid This Holiday Season
If there"s one time of year to kick your email campaign up a notch, it"s over the holidays. Email marketing is a tried-and-true way to advertise upcoming …
Predicting future events isn’t easy, but Ken Burke, founder and CEO at MarketLive, outlines what he believes are the five most important developments taking shape in 2016 in ecommerce and mobile commerce as it relates to search and affiliate marketing. Pay close attention to the word “merchandising,” because it will become an important piece to search and affiliate marketing in 2016.
No. 1–Buy Anywhere – Today’s digital consumer wants to transact anywhere that is most convenient for them. Most transactions going forward are not going to be on the retailer’s desktop Web site — consumers will buy products from a variety of touchpoints, including directly via a banner ad, in a search engine, on a third-party affiliate site, via social media, or of course on a mobile device of any type. Once shoppers are ready to buy, nothing should stand in the way of a swift, smooth, and secure transaction, regardless of where it takes place. Full-fledged purchase functionality must be available across touchpoints that enables shoppers to “pick up where they left off” and transact with maximum efficiency.
No. 2–Merchandise Anywhere – Just as shoppers expect to be able to buy via any touchpoint, they also expect to access brand inventory regardless of where it resides — whether in the store where they’re currently browsing, in a warehouse, at a manufacturer’s drop-ship facility, or at another local outlet. While for most retailers, reconfiguring their infrastructure to enable this kind of nimble fulfillment is a steep challenge, it’s an essential move if they’re to keep up with consumers’ growing expectations for an array of fulfillment options to suit their budget and timing needs. By enabling “merchandise anywhere,” merchants can make “out of stock” disappointment a rarity, and instead find innovative ways to deliver what shoppers need, earning sales and trust. Search ads and third-party marketplace listings must be connected with these technologies to reflect accurate fulfillment options.
No. 3–Enhanced Digital Store Experience – The “buy anywhere” and “merchandise anywhere” trends will be manifested in a dramatic transformation of retail stores. Consumers increasingly expect physical locations to serve as digitally connected hubs where they can both see and try products and access the in-depth resources of the brand’s online offerings. Bringing mobile-based POS technology into the store is critical to a retailer’s success going forward, so that store associates can tap online assets such as detailed product specs, reviews, and buying guides to inform one-to-one selling interactions. And by integrating rich customer data into store associates’ online toolkits, they can provide retail shoppers with truly personalized in-store experience. Clienteling apps, social media integration, and mobile devices will all become part of the new intelligent in-store experience.
Real-time predictive promotions being served through search or affiliate channels could also be presented in-store via the mobile device. For example, if a shopper clicks an ad (via search or affiliate) or engages with a promotion with their mobile device, the retailer could then identify them when they are in-store and personalize the store experience to engage the individual shopper explicitly. Imagine clicking an ad on your mobile phone and then visiting a store and having the store associates be able to identify you and offer you the discount that you engaged with in the ad, bringing clienteling to the next level, and allowing affiliate credit for in-store purchases.
No. 4– Beyond Personalization to Prediction – While personalization has been part of the playbook since ecommerce came to life, predictive marketing and merchandising is quite new. This technology enables retailers to tap Big Data resources to identify shopping trends and patterns based on past behavior, with the speed to produce results within hours, not months. Marrying these insights with individual shoppers’ profiles helps merchants predict what the consumer will do next and customize the experience to a greater degree than ever thought possible. With predictive technologies, merchants can proactively offer the right products and offers at the right time in the right format to shoppers, winning sales and brand credibility as a result. Real-time predictive promotions and messaging could also be served through SEM and affiliate channels to drive significant engagement and personalization opportunities.
No. 5–Intelligent Merchandising – Merchants must be prepared to interact with shoppers multiple times prior to the first sale, while presenting a contiguous and unified brand story that anticipates their needs — and the standard must be even higher for existing customers who have a history of purchases and interactions with the brand that must inform every potential engagement. But this expectation from shoppers is difficult to meet for merchants who don’t have the time or the detailed data easily available to them to take their merchandising to an entirely new level. Now, however, they can let their commerce technology handle it for them, thanks to the advent of algorithmic merchandising. This sophisticated toolset is a self-learning system that uses the analytics from all brand touchpoints and determines the best merchandising strategy for individual shoppers, customizing the experience accordingly. Search or affiliate marketing can supply yet another layer of data about the shopper’s preferences which the retailer (or their technology) can effectively and predictively merchandise to further individualize the experience.
diamonds on web is seeking an Online Specialist/Manger to develop and manage our online presence including our Website, as well as online marketing campaigns, including SEO, SEM, and email.
MUST KNOW S E O we want to be number one on all are keywords.ON GOOGLE.
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Salary and bonus position.
Responsibilities Include
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Analytics and Reporting
Use Google Analytics to perform site analytics and reporting activities
Measure campaign effectiveness and provide analytical support for broader marketing programs Hiring Organization: diamonds on web
Predicting future events isn’t easy, but Ken Burke, founder and CEO at MarketLive, outlines what he believes are the five most important developments taking shape in 2016 in ecommerce and mobile commerce as it relates to search and affiliate marketing. Pay close attention to the word “merchandising,” because it will become an important piece to search and affiliate marketing in 2016.
No. 1–Buy Anywhere – Today’s digital consumer wants to transact anywhere that is most convenient for them. Most transactions going forward are not going to be on the retailer’s desktop Web site — consumers will buy products from a variety of touchpoints, including directly via a banner ad, in a search engine, on a third-party affiliate site, via social media, or of course on a mobile device of any type. Once shoppers are ready to buy, nothing should stand in the way of a swift, smooth, and secure transaction, regardless of where it takes place. Full-fledged purchase functionality must be available across touchpoints that enables shoppers to “pick up where they left off” and transact with maximum efficiency.
No. 2–Merchandise Anywhere – Just as shoppers expect to be able to buy via any touchpoint, they also expect to access brand inventory regardless of where it resides — whether in the store where they’re currently browsing, in a warehouse, at a manufacturer’s drop-ship facility, or at another local outlet. While for most retailers, reconfiguring their infrastructure to enable this kind of nimble fulfillment is a steep challenge, it’s an essential move if they’re to keep up with consumers’ growing expectations for an array of fulfillment options to suit their budget and timing needs. By enabling “merchandise anywhere,” merchants can make “out of stock” disappointment a rarity, and instead find innovative ways to deliver what shoppers need, earning sales and trust. Search ads and third-party marketplace listings must be connected with these technologies to reflect accurate fulfillment options.
No. 3–Enhanced Digital Store Experience – The “buy anywhere” and “merchandise anywhere” trends will be manifested in a dramatic transformation of retail stores. Consumers increasingly expect physical locations to serve as digitally connected hubs where they can both see and try products and access the in-depth resources of the brand’s online offerings. Bringing mobile-based POS technology into the store is critical to a retailer’s success going forward, so that store associates can tap online assets such as detailed product specs, reviews, and buying guides to inform one-to-one selling interactions. And by integrating rich customer data into store associates’ online toolkits, they can provide retail shoppers with truly personalized in-store experience. Clienteling apps, social media integration, and mobile devices will all become part of the new intelligent in-store experience.
Real-time predictive promotions being served through search or affiliate channels could also be presented in-store via the mobile device. For example, if a shopper clicks an ad (via search or affiliate) or engages with a promotion with their mobile device, the retailer could then identify them when they are in-store and personalize the store experience to engage the individual shopper explicitly. Imagine clicking an ad on your mobile phone and then visiting a store and having the store associates be able to identify you and offer you the discount that you engaged with in the ad, bringing clienteling to the next level, and allowing affiliate credit for in-store purchases.
No. 4– Beyond Personalization to Prediction – While personalization has been part of the playbook since ecommerce came to life, predictive marketing and merchandising is quite new. This technology enables retailers to tap Big Data resources to identify shopping trends and patterns based on past behavior, with the speed to produce results within hours, not months. Marrying these insights with individual shoppers’ profiles helps merchants predict what the consumer will do next and customize the experience to a greater degree than ever thought possible. With predictive technologies, merchants can proactively offer the right products and offers at the right time in the right format to shoppers, winning sales and brand credibility as a result. Real-time predictive promotions and messaging could also be served through SEM and affiliate channels to drive significant engagement and personalization opportunities.
No. 5–Intelligent Merchandising – Merchants must be prepared to interact with shoppers multiple times prior to the first sale, while presenting a contiguous and unified brand story that anticipates their needs — and the standard must be even higher for existing customers who have a history of purchases and interactions with the brand that must inform every potential engagement. But this expectation from shoppers is difficult to meet for merchants who don’t have the time or the detailed data easily available to them to take their merchandising to an entirely new level. Now, however, they can let their commerce technology handle it for them, thanks to the advent of algorithmic merchandising. This sophisticated toolset is a self-learning system that uses the analytics from all brand touchpoints and determines the best merchandising strategy for individual shoppers, customizing the experience accordingly. Search or affiliate marketing can supply yet another layer of data about the shopper’s preferences which the retailer (or their technology) can effectively and predictively merchandise to further individualize the experience.

Alibaba’s sales is only 5 percent of total retail in China and JD.com’s sales of electronics products represent about 2 percent to 5 percent of total electronics retail as well, according to Dangdang.com’s CEO Li Guoqing.
If you only looking at the Chinese ecommerce giants’ recent financial report, most of people would agree that the competition has settled because Alibaba alone has accounted for about 80 percent of the market share in online shopping sales. The combined sales from Alibaba and JD.com have close to about 90 percent of the Chinese online retail market.
However, at least one executive of a Chinese e-retailer thinks the position of those leaders is not secure. “The size of the business is not equal to competitive advantage and competitive threshold. The market will be settled only if the marketing leaders have some unique edges and generate difficult barriers to entry,” says Li Guoqing, cofounder and CEO of Dangdang.com, in a speech in One Thousand Ecommerce Professionals Seminar in China:
Alibaba’s sales only account for about 5% of retail sales of China and that is not a enough barrier to entry. At same time, JD.com’s electronics sales only represent 2% to 5% sales of electronics products in China. If some companies get a right new business model, there are still plenty of chances to beat those current leaders.
Li says people seldom know Vipshop, the number 4 internet retailer China 500, and Yhd.com, the number 7 internet retailer China 500, three years ago, but now they have become ecommerce leaders in their categories in China.
In other words, new horizons may be coming for niches within China’s ecommerce market in the same way that we see companies like Warby Parker and Zappos coming up in the USA. Keep on a lookout for these small well-branded niche companies in China, while you look past the big guys like Alibaba and JD.
Many years ago there were many retail and tech experts writing articles on how the brick-and-mortar shops are going to be hit and effected by the introduction of the internet and ecommerce – oh how they were right.
Recently we have seen many retail and tech experts writing about the shift from desktop to mobile (including us here) and how it will affect ecommerce and retail marketing – oh how they are being proved right.
Mobile-first means that you start the design and thought process for mobile first.
In business mobile-first is not exactly a new terminology. Google has been calling themselves a mobile-first company for several years now; however, it is not just businesses that are mobile-first now, the majority of people are too.
This is because our device preference to carry out many activities such as checking email, shopping, banking and looking at social media, has changed from the desktop to the smartphone.
Recommended for YouWebcast: Fishing with Spears: All About Account-Based Marketing
The old ecommerce marketing plan would have looked something like this…
So has the mobile-first revolution changed this ecommerce marketing plan? Have we seen the end of the ecommerce marketing email?
Well the first 3 stages are still pretty much in full swing however the email campaign stage is under threat, as the recent email stat figures from Experian Marketing Services do not make good reading for the marketing channel.
If you are a retailer then this is probably no surprise to you, as I am sure you have probably seen your engagement and response rates through email fall over the last few years.
Many brands and businesses in the ecommerce and retail world have turned their attention, like their consumers, to the mobile. SMS marketing has proved a big hit not only for retailers and ecommerce sites but their customers too – producing some amazing responses for retailers.
Mobile marketing shouldn’t scare you, it should excite you – and if you are new to the mobile marketing world, here are 5 tips on writing a successful marketing message.
However remember this 3 things and your mobile marketing adventure should be a fruitful one…
Make it personal. Make it relevant. Make it on time.
Original Post: Text Marketer
I am the Head of Design & Marketing at View full profile ›
Facebook continues to become more serious about ecommerce as it tries to pull in a higher percentage of search advertising budgets to the site. The company named Frank Lee to industry lead for ecommerce of global marketing solutions to lead a dedicated team based in Los Angeles that will support southern California businesses that want to leverage the company’s string of advertising options.
Internet use continues to move from the Web to mobile apps, but the consumer’s ability to make quick and easy transactions on smartphones still requires work. Too many checkout processes create friction, whether on the Facebook Newsfeed or elsewhere, Lee admits.
“Mobile conversions will improve within the next few years,” Lee says, “and measurement will evolve,” as search marketers think about how to get products in front of consumers in other ways, such as Facebook, and technology presents new options.
Invoca VP of business development Scott Hamilton’s vision to bridge the gap with automated commerce means storing payment credentials in the cloud. The approval process requires consumers to say “Google, approve payment through Google Pay or Apple Pay.” The consumer would see the words “payment approved” on the screen, or the person I in the call center would hear “payment approved.”
It will become easier for Facebook to improve on its ecommerce services because technically, its infrastructure mirrors an application on desktop — not just mobile.
In July reports began rolling out that Facebook would allow certain stores to sell their products directly through the social network with help from a buy button. “Shop Selection” is not the first time Facebook tried ecommerce. The company in 2011 allowed brands like Gamestop, Gap, JCPenney, and Nordstrom to open stores on the site, but all closed up shop within one year.
Initially, Lee will lead the new initiative from L.A., supporting search marketers and others through Facebook’s advertising products like Dynamic Product Ads, which work off a similar data feed as Google and Bing product ads.
At stake is the $82.4 billion marketers will spend this year on search advertising — rising to $134.46 billion by 2019, per eMarketer.
Despite similarities between social and search advertising, there are just as many differences. Search marketers need to turn their optimization focus from keyword selection and bid management to people, audience, and creative, per Lee. And, where they might have optimized headlines or descriptions once monthly, creative fatigue forces Facebook advertisers to optimize more frequently.
“You’re vying for attention between friends and family posts,” Lee says, because Facebook ads, “thumb stoppers,” literally stop social media users “in their tracks” from typing to pay attention to the advertisement.
Globally, e-commerce players have understood the potential of email marketing, with many using it to boost their sales and customer loyalty. With automated email marketing, bulk emails containing the latest news about bestsellers, new arrivals and deals can be sent to customers. This has been honed over the years to ensure that just the right content is shared with the right customers, and at the right time. In fact, a study in 2014 found that revenue from email has increased proportionately by 28 per cent in one year.
We at TargetingMantra studied multiple online stores across geographies to test their email marketing and noticed that e-stores in the US, Middle East, Southeast Asia and India, despite being in varying stages of maturity, are following some of the same rules and not making optimum use of email marketing.
The parameters studied were:
The need for relevant, personalised recommendations in each email you send to your customers cannot be stressed enough. The inbox is an individual’s personal space. Irrelevant banners with deals and promo codes that have nothing to do with the individual’s areas of interest will never work in a company’s favour.
Our studies revealed that most emails from e-commerce companies contain generic deals.
As you can see from the graph below, this trend is seen across geographies:
Clearly, personalisation is not given its due priority by most e-commerce players. In the Middle East, especially, a whopping 89 per cent of all emails sent by e-commerce companies to their customers comprise generic deals and offers. US e-stores fare somewhat better with 30 per cent emails dedicated to personalised and/or product-specific content, but there is still a long way to go to reap the full benefits of email marketing.
Do you pause to consider what your customers would like to see in their inbox before you send them emails?
E-shoppers across the world are voicing their annoyance at receiving deals and promo offers in their inbox that have nothing to do with their preferences. In our survey, 69 per cent of customers said that emails they received from e-commerce companies were mass marketing ones that they ignored. About 23 per cent of the customers said that they found marketing emails irritating and marked such emails as spam. A very small proportion (eight per cent) of customers felt that the emails they received were personalised to their taste.
Over 70 per cent of e-shoppers have expressed annoyance at their inbox being flooded with promotional ‘junk’. The one-size-fits-all mantra does not work here. You must ensure that each email you send is specifically tailored to your customers’ needs. Only this will make you stand out from the rest.
Personalisation is a simple tool that uses information gathered from multiple data points, and is useful in pleasing customers and ensuring a good ROI. It is, therefore, surprising that so many e-commerce players do not take this small but crucial element into consideration while sending emails to their customers.
We just saw that most of the emails sent by e-commerce companies are generic deals and banners, with hardly any personalisation. However, we went one step further and studied what percentage of these were purely deals and how many focussed on showing at least their new arrivals and bestsellers. The results were shocking!
Indian e-stores lead with 64 per cent emails dedicated solely to deals and offers. The online stores of the Middle East, which we saw earlier had least personalisation in their emails, focus more on product-specific newsletters and other content of interest, apart from deals.
The following pie-chart shows a comparison between emails from e-stores of the four regions:
We now understand that emails should contain personalised content and not generic deals and offers for all. Collecting data for personalisation is not all that difficult, but ought to be done meticulously. The following points should be kept in mind while engaging in email marketing:
To download the complete email marketing research report by TargetingMantra – click here
Paras Arora
Follow @pappe_it_is
Paras heads Product Marketing at www.TargetingMantra.com. He in an expert in Personalization and has consulted over 50 clients across the globe on conversion optimization, personalization and increasing customer loyalty. An expert in behavioral targeting, Paras focuses on helping clients in optimizing conversions and client engagement across all marketing channels including website, email, mobile, native apps and search. A serial entrepreneur from IIT-Guwahati and Indian School of Business, he loves to spend his time exploring and writing about new technologies.
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SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Aug 05, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — TrueShip (http://www.trueship.com), the leading provider of ecommerce shipping software and automated online product returns management solutions, has just released a new and improved ecommerce shipping guide.
The goal of the guide is to help users of ReadyShipper shipping software make the most of theire-tailing ventures by learning the ins and outs of fulfillment with the information that is provided to them in this step-by-step, 5,000 word guide.
As the ecommerce industry grows, experts are projecting that it will top the $1tn marker by 2017. With millions of online stores already populating the internet, shipping and convenient, automated returns have become the focal point for online retailers; and for the bargain savvy consumers that are seeking an exceptional online shopping experience.
TrueShip’s newest guide is designed to educate newcomers as well as fulfillment veterans, and enable them to better tackle their orders and get them out the door to their awaiting domestic or international customers.
In this updated and comprehensive guide, users will learn about:
-- Using marketable packaging.
-- Options for packaged goods.
-- Why less is more with fulfillment.
-- Breakdown of ecommerce shipping options.
-- Illustrated infographic on how shipping prices affect sales.
-- Comparison and contrast on whether or not to offer free shipping.
-- Illustrated infographic on the top shopping cart abandonment reasons and
how shipping cost plays a strong role.
-- Using real-time rates from carriers.
-- Offering flat rate shipping for customers.
-- Overview of ecommerce shipping options.
-- Determining your ecommerce shipping rates.
-- Understanding variances between carrier rates.
-- Options for padding profits with your shipping prices.
-- The pros and cons of using shipping insurance.
-- Understanding how tracking numbers work.
-- Customs forms and declarations.
-- Customs tariffs, taxes and duties.
-- Reducing costs of international shipping.
-- The low-down on shipping labels.
-- Pros and cons of using warehouse fulfillment centers.
-- Managing ecommerce returns with illustrated infographic.
“Online retailing is an exciting world, but you want to make sure that you are prepared before you set forth on this adventure,” explained Michael Lazar, Director of Online Marketing at TrueShip. “Our new and improved ecommerce shipping guide has been revamped to provide a wealth of information to retailers, so they can find answers to all of their shipping questions from one convenient source.”
The guide can be read in its entirety by visiting: http://www.trueshi p.com/articles/how-your-online-returns-policy-is-viewed-by-shoppers-w hy-automation-is-the-key.
A wide assortment of related guides and white papers can also be found at: http://www.trueship.com/blog.
About TrueShip
#ShipSmarter — TrueShip is the original architect of multi-carrier ecommerce shipping software. ReadyShipper shipping software integrates into the most widely used shopping carts and online marketplaces. It is an easy-to-use order fulfillment solution designed to save e-retailers time and money.
Start a 14-day trial of ReadyShipper shipping software by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyShipper.
About ReadyReturns
#ReturnsHappen — ReadyReturns is a customer-facing, plug-and-play, self-service online product returns software solution. It integrates into virtually any website without any programming. ReadyReturns lets customers make returns from a website by filling out a simple form and printing the return shipping label. E-retailers set the rules of the returns, including things like return shipping and restocking fees.
Start a 30-day trial of ReadyReturns by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyReturns.
Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEgwtCcwjYk
Press Contact
Michael Lazar
Director of Online Marketing
Tel: (877) 818-7447
Email: support@trueship.com
SOURCE: TrueShip
mailto:support@trueship.com
(C) 2015 Marketwire L.P. All rights reserved.
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Fashion and IT&C products, as well as books and teaching materials, were the most popular items on Romania’s e-commerce market in the first half of the year. Romanians also purchased home & deco products and cosmetics, according to an analysis of Romanian affiliate marketing network 2Parale.
Compared to the same period in 2014, Romanians spent more online on IT&C products in the first six months of 2015.
Between January and June, Romanians spent an average of RON 1,000 (EUR 225) on a tourism package, RON 630 (EUR 141) on an IT&C product, RON 220 (EUR 50) on a product from the home & deco sector, and RON 215 (EUR 48) for baby items.
Books and teaching materials, fashion, and insurance industries performed best in terms of number of online sales recorded within the platform.
In the first half of 2015, the largest acquisition made by a Romanian on the 2Parale platform amounted to some RON 33,000 (over EUR 7,400), almost double compared to the RON 17,000 ( some EUR 3,800) registered in the same period in 2014.
On average, a Romanian spent RON 160 (EUR 36) online, similar to the previous year.
Romanians like to make online purchases in the morning, between 7:00 and 12:00, according to 2Parale. They also make online shopping between 13:00 and 18:00.
In terms of days, most of the online purchases were made on Thursdays, followed closely by Wednesdays and Tuesdays.
Romanian mainly searched for dresses and smartphones in the first half of the year, according to Google Trends data. Compared to 2014, Romanians searched more products based on brands.
Performance marketing company 2Performant Network S.A. registered a turnover of some RON 3.68 million (EUR 828,000) in the first half of 2015, up 25% year-on-year. 2Performant Network owns 2Parale brand in Romania.
The 2parale platform had 450 clients in the first half of the year, 100 more than in the same period the previous year. Earlier this year, the company announced its expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, through the launch of the 2Performant platform in Bulgaria.
Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com
SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Jul 09, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — TrueShip’s (http://www.TrueShip.com) newest white paper is aimed at helping retailers understand that the start of the ecommerce holiday shopping season actually begins in July, long before Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
As retailers brace for the impending holiday rush, many are preparing well in advance, setting up their online storefronts to cater to early bird shoppers in a phenomenon that’s been coined: “Ecommerce Christmas in July.”
Juggernaut marketplaces like Amazon have recently gotten aboard the bandwagon, too, with their announcement of Prime Day — a marketplace-wide shopping event that caters to existing Prime customers and that aims to attract newcomers as well.
With online holiday shopping expected to exceed $60bn this year, the rush is already well underway for e-retailers. As stores stock their inventories and prepare their marketing plans, year-over-year statistics paint the real picture of just how healthy the sales can peak during the intensity of the heat and humidity in July.
TrueShip’s newest white paper offers a complete breakdown, and covers the following elements:
-- Online spending from 2009-2015.
-- Holiday shopping by the numbers.
-- The game-changing nature of mobile traffic.
-- Why desktops and laptops still convert more often.
-- How Cyber Monday will set new records (with illustrated infographic).
-- Where Amazon"s newly announced Prime Day fits into the puzzle.
-- Why Webrooming and showrooming will once again become shopping trends.
-- How social shopping will drive high referral values (with illustrated
infographic).
-- Why the shopping rush begins now, in July.
-- What stores can do to prepare for this rush (with illustrated
infographic).
“Retailers are bracing for what’s anticipated to be the healthiest online shopping season in history,” explained Michael Lazar, Director of Online Marketing at TrueShip. “Contrary to popular belief, however, that rush starts now; not on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.”
You can read TrueShip’s newest white Paper by visiting: http://www.tr ueship.com/blog/2015/07/09/an-ecommerce-christmas-in-july-the-holiday -shopping-rush-starts-now/#.VZ7gxkYY3QJ.
About TrueShip
#ShipSmarter – TrueShip is the original architect of multi-carrier ecommerce shipping software. ReadyShipper shipping software integrates into the most widely used shopping carts and online marketplaces. It is an easy-to-use order fulfillment solution designed to save e-retailers time and money.
Start a 14-day trial of ReadyShipper shipping software by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyShipper.
About ReadyReturns
#ReturnsHappen – ReadyReturns is a customer-facing, plug-and-play, self-service online product returns software solution. It integrates into virtually any website without any programming. ReadyReturns lets customers make returns from a website by filling out a simple form and printing the return shipping label. E-retailers set the rules of the returns, including things like return shipping and restocking fees.
Start a 30-day trial of ReadyReturns by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyReturns.
Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdohbNGDiFI
Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEgwtCcwjYk
Press Contact
Michael Lazar
Director of Online Marketing
Tel: (877) 818-7447
Email: support@trueship.com
SOURCE: TrueShip
mailto:support@trueship.com
(C) 2015 Marketwire L.P. All rights reserved.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ –(Marketwired – July 07, 2015) – TrueShip (http://www.TrueShip.com) has just released a brand new guide that reveals 17 ecommerce marketing tips and tools that you need now.
The expansive juggernaut that is the internet rakes in an estimated $1.5 million nearly every 30 seconds. In 2014, over $300bn was hauled in, setting a new annual record for US online sales. Experts are projecting that in 2015, sales will eclipse $345bn, marking the strongest year-over-year growth yet.
With millions of retailers competing in an increasingly crowded online space, a unique approach is necessary to break the mold and make one’s store stand out from the rest of the pack. As the leading provider of ecommerce shipping software, TrueShip routinely issues detailed guides that are designed to help its users earmark successes.
The newest guide by TrueShip delivers 17 ecommerce marketing tips and tools that everyone in this industry should be using, including:
-- Integrated FAQ pages that are self-learning.
-- Providing a multimedia shopping experience.
-- Utilizing multiple selling platforms.
-- Why email marketing is still very much alive.
-- The importance of the live chat option.
-- Donating products to gain blogger coverage.
-- Making checkout as fast and as easy as possible.
-- Cross-promoting products.
-- Cashing in on digital coupons.
-- Announcing sales and events to the press.
-- Price-matching to gain more conversions.
-- The benefits of integrated customer feedback models.
-- Long form content marketing and placement.
-- Social engagement and referral tactics.
-- Finding niche long tail keywords for content outreach.
-- Retargeting bounced users to improve conversions.
-- The value of a strong and automated returns policy.
-- Illustrated infographic of must-know ecommerce facts.
“A business is only as good as the tools that it can use to expand and generate revenue,” explained Michael Lazar, Director of Online Marketing at TrueShip. “In our new guide, we deliver 17 timeless ecommerce marketing tips and tools to help our users improve their conversion funnel.”
You can read TrueShip’s newest guide by visiting: http://www.trueship.com/blog/2015/07/07/17-ecommerce-marketing-tips-tools-you-need-now/#.VZx6YEYY3QI.
About TrueShip
#ShipSmarter — TrueShip is the original architect of multi-carrier ecommerce shipping software. ReadyShipper shipping software integrates into the most widely used shopping carts and online marketplaces. It is an easy-to-use order fulfillment solution designed to save e-retailers time and money.
Start a 14-day trial of ReadyShipper shipping software by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyShipper.
About ReadyReturns
#ReturnsHappen — ReadyReturns is a customer-facing, plug-and-play, self-service online product returns software solution. It integrates into virtually any website without any programming. ReadyReturns lets customers make returns from a website by filling out a simple form and printing the return shipping label. E-retailers set the rules of the returns, including things like return shipping and restocking fees.
Start a 30-day trial of ReadyReturns by visiting: http://www.TrueShip.com/products/ReadyReturns.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
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Sticky Web Media, a leading full-service digital marketing agency, has announced the availability of a new complimentary ebook designed to help ecommerce apparel companies experience success.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 24, 2015
Sticky Web Media has today announced the publication of a complimentary ebook designed to provide ecommerce apparel business owners with an in-depth understanding of the industry and to debunk myths that can easily derail success.
“At Sticky Web, we believe in giving our clients and potential clients more,” explains company founder Tony Tateossian. “I believe that every business owner should experience success, and this book is one way we help ensure that’s possible.”
Entitled 10 Secret Ingredients to Make Your Online Business Successful, the new book offers 100 pages filled with expert opinion and advice from successful ecommerce business owners and Internet marketing experts provided in a friendly, accessible format. Included in those pages are the top five myths that all too often lead to failure, including:
1. A strong market name will make up for the lack of a good website.
2. Blog writing is a waste of time and energy that could be better used elsewhere.
3. Affiliate marketing is too costly, and a team of experts offers better chances of success.
4. The only thing needed to improve SEO is using more keywords in the copy.
5. Ecommerce isn’t really necessary as long as a business can use wholesale.
“Ecommerce is booming,” Tateossian adds. “We brought together thought leaders and industry experts to create the single most important guide for business owners moving online and unsure of the ecommerce sector.”
10 Secret Ingredients to Make Your Online Business Successful contains essential steps to effective online business management, as well as information to help business owners understand the radical changes in customer relationship management created by social media. Without knowledge of how to use ecommerce successfully, businesses are at a significant disadvantage.
To learn more about Sticky Web Media’s services or to download the new ebook, visit http://www.StickyWebMedia.com.
About Sticky Web Media: Sticky Web Media began as an SEO company in 2009 and has transitioned to a full-service digital marketing agency today. The company offers a broad range of essential digital marketing services designed to help clients build success in the online and offline environment.
Contact: Tony Tateossian
Name: Sticky Web Media
Phone: (213) 377-5133
Web Address: http://www.StickyWebMedia.com
Email: Sales(at)StickyWebMedia(dot)com
Source: Tony Tateossian
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/StickyWebMedia/Free-eBook-to-Build-eCom/prweb12807358.htm
We’ve all heard digital marketers say, “You don’t need to sell advertising on your site, you can just take a percentage of a sale through affiliate marketing!”
While that may have rang true five years ago, affiliate marketing has changed dramatically — for the worse. Much of the action has now morphed into coupon affiliate sites like Coupon Craze and eBates. It boggles the mind why some of the biggest merchants in the world support these sites so wholeheartedly, because actually they’re paying them for sales they’ve already made.
The goal for all ecommerce marketers should be incremental sales growth, but that is hard to do when you’re paying twice for an incremental sale with these coupon affiliate sites.
Related: How Fusion Marketing Could Help Your Business
For the uninitiated: You know how when you’re checking out online, there’s always a field for a coupon code? Naturally, you’ve now learned to go online and search for coupons from the store. You might do it for shoes, electronics, or health products. (I do it for domain names.) You’re happy, because you saved money you otherwise would have spent.
If you’re the store owner, you see the predicament right away. There was a user who was about to purchase something at full price, and somehow they input a coupon code and cut in to your margin. Now you have to pay the affiliate site for something that they didn’t even refer, a commission to the broker, and offer a discount on the purchase. Ugh! It bums me out when I explain this to clients and see the dismay on their faces.
In a world where everything in affiliate marketing worked, a customer would be going on Coupon Craze to use it as a discovery platform. Today, it’s the opposite!
Sites like RetailMeNot say that they curate the best deals for their visitors, but they don’t. Affiliate sites should theoretically work like Groupon and drive incremental sales, but Groupon and Teambuy’s deals don’t scale into actual customer acquisition. Consumers and merchants are also starting to feel “daily deal fatigue” as well.
Related: The Secrets to Leveraging the Insatiable Consumer Appetite for Mobile Coupons
Marketers have become dependant on affiliate brokers like Commission Junction (now CJ Affiliate), LinkShare (now the Rakuten Marketing Network), and eBay to handle their affiliate sales. Instead of depending on brokers, how about showing affiliate publishers’ sales by giving them limited access or even screenshots to your Analytics campaigns? In the past you would get access to amazing sites that could increase your incremental sales and get your name out there by paying broker fees.
Times have changed. You won’t see any incremental sales today from paying brokers fees. I recommend directly calling the unique site or publisher you want for your partner. Make your own deal without going through a broker.
By cutting out the affiliate, you get to play with more resources. Reallocate the money you were spending for affiliate marketing to proven customer acquisition channels wherever your sales are good, and some of it exploring new acquisition channels.
In the meantime, build your own coupon page and optimize those pages to drive search traffic. It might cut a bit into your margins, but at least you won’t unnecessarily pay an affiliate marketer. For example, Felt Noir has begun using coupon codes that have good SEO results without utilizing any affiliate networks (Disclosure: I’m a partner with Felt Noir on this initiative).
Affiliate marketing is more dismal by the day, but you can still develop incremental sales by working to become independent of the current system. You can create a robust sales funnel that isn’t reliant on third parties while everyone else continues following the leader, chasing smaller and smaller ROIs.
Related: How Affiliate Marketing Can Work for Entrepreneurs
Affiliate marketing has been rapidly spreading its wings in the Indian e-commerce sector. Several online businesses like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon.in, Jabong have started their own Affiliate Programs or have partnered with Affiliate Networks to drive traffic and boost sales. However, 90% of online businesses have failed to achieve affiliate traffic and sales as expected through affiliate marketing. So what is it that you can do to inspire affiliate loyalty and maximize affiliate sales?
You must remember that winning affiliate loyalty isn’t really easy. At present, there are over thousands of merchant affiliate programmes in existence and your affiliates are spoilt for choice. To build loyalty among your affiliates and to keep them motivated throughout, you have to do something exemplary that will make you stand out from the crowd and bring new affiliates on board.
To make this easier, here’s my secret list of what I think you should be doing to pump up your affiliates and make them promote and sell your products faster than ever! Some of these techniques may require considerable amount of time and effort. However, it’s a wise investment because once you succeed in creating loyal affiliates; they will not only stick with your affiliate program but also promote it enthusiastically and recommend it to other top affiliates.
Attractive commissions: The biggest factor which drives affiliate motivation and loyalty is MONEY! Offer them the best commission vis-à-vis competitors and affiliates will insistently start promoting your products. However, you must also be intuitive and cognizant of their business model. Start giving increased commissions during predictably low shopping periods to keep them motivated and will encourage them to promote your brand more during that timeframe, ideally offsetting the sales dip.
You could also keep a standard commission rate for all and provide an increased commission to affiliates performing exceptionally well! This will get them eager to perform better and drive maximum sales!
Give-aways, vouchers and exclusive coupons: Turn up the excitement for your affiliates by providing them with attractive vouchers, give-aways and exclusive coupons. This will encourage them to initiate engaging activities like fun contests, photo caption challenges, quizzes & trivias and reward winners with these give-aways and voucher coupons. This will help them build engagement and increase traffic on their platform and subsequently direct more traffic to your brand, with at least 30% first time/unique customers.
Innovative branding strategies: Your affiliates are the ones who will be writing about you hence, ensure that they know your products really well, especially the significant ones. Share a consolidated Marketing Kit of these products listing down their benefits, positioning ideas, and the commission rate for selling them. This approach will make affiliates (especially content bloggers) understand your products and review it appropriately.
For example, if you are a travel website, then you can carefully select a handful of tier I blogger affiliates and ask them their top five favorite destinations. Then you can pick one of these five destinations and sponsor their entire trip to this place! This initiative will not only help you win affiliate loyalty for life but will simultaneously amplify content marketing and brand visibility.
Advanced payouts: What if nobody buys this product? What if my audience doesn’t like what I’m promoting and does not click on my affiliate link? I don’t want to wait for long to receive my commission.
Every affiliate goes through these thoughts. A great way to drive away negativity and build motivation to sell more is by facilitating affiliates with advanced payouts. You can always collaborate with third-party frameworks like Escrow and create individual affiliate accounts to provide express payments every time an order is placed.
Storefronts: Yes, you love your website. How about letting your affiliates have a mini version of your store? One of the best ways to motivate your affiliates and effectively reach out to their audience is by promoting storefronts. Through a storefront they can earn by showcasing your products without having to worry about creating them/managing inventory/shipping/tracking sales. Sounds like a win-win situation for both right?
For example, if you are a fashion blogger, you can dedicate a corner of your website to a personally curated compilation of your favourite clothes, accessories and footwear from all your favourite brands! Believe me, your audience will love it and start shopping instantly!
(Image Source: http://akanksharedhu.com/)
Let them know you care!!: Personally connect with them and turn your top affiliates into loyal friends. Always remember, having a bunch of affiliates will take you nowhere but a group of enthusiastic supporters will!
If you can’t make calls, reach out to them over live chats, through surveys, conduct quarterly get-togethers and networking sessions for them. In these meetings, talk about whSeveral online businesses like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon.in, Jabong have started their own Affiliate Programs or have partnered with Affiliate Networks to drive traffic and boost sales. at’s new with your company, update them with your new range of products, company vision and immediate and long-term marketing & sales objectives. This will help them gain insights and make them feel like an integral part of your brand.
Fashion brands for instance can host fashion shows to give affiliates a sneak peek of their new collection, Home decor brands can set up concept stores for affiliates to visit and personally experience the products that they will be selling.
Innovative Referral Programs: Another cool way to get your Affiliates charged up is through Innovative Referral Programs. This will save you the trouble of finding new affiliates and also keep your existing affiliates extremely happy.
Sample Affiliate Program:
We love having you as a part of our Affiliate Network;
But wait, here’s your chance to make more money with us!
Invite 10 more people and win 5% spike in your bounty!
Link Exchange: Lastly, build SEO and help your top affiliates attract more organic and editorial traffic by giving them back links. How do you do it? Promote them in your blogs, republish their articles on your website, and help them get more traffic through your page.
Motivating Affiliates is an on-going process and you have to constantly keep coming up with newer and innovative ideas to keep their spirits high and souls engaged! If you think that there’s anything that I’ve missed out on or if there’s anything that you’d like to add to my list feel free to comment below.
Facebook, Inc. (FB - Analyst Report) recently reported that it has acquired online shopping search engine TheFind Inc., based in California. The financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed.
TheFind, launched in 2006, has become a popular search engine for shoppers as it offers personalized search results and recommendations for its users, acting as a bridge between people and products. Facebook intends to tap the potential of the booming e-commerce market by incorporating the capabilities of TheFind in its advertising service.
Facebook will be leveraging TheFind’s technological expertise to make its ads more relevant and in tune with user requirements while simultaneously cutting down on ads that are no longer relevant to users.
On the other hand, TheFind will benefit from the phenomenal exposure of the platform, which will enable it to scale up and drive growth. However, the TheFind website will be pulled off as per the deal.
The social media giant has been eyeing the e-commerce market for a while. However, the company’s prior attempts like Facebook gifts, tie-up with retailers and direct shopping endeavors have not been fruitful.
In fact, the e-commerce market is dominated by key players like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN - Analyst Report), eBay Inc. (EBAY - Analyst Report) and more recently, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA - Analyst Report) is making itself felt. So adding to its existing capabilities to gradually edge into the space seems like a good idea.
This apart, Facebook has also launched a number of new features and applications for its platform. Launched last month, its Product Ads feature allows retailers and marketers to showcase their product catalogs to people efficiently. Facebook also launched a separate Ad manager app for iOS users.
Most recently, the company unveiled its latest tool called Topic Data which is designed to provide their marketing partners with more information about what their customers are talking about. This in turn will enable marketers to better advertise their products on Facebook and other channels.
The aforementioned acquisition will further boost Facebook’s ecommerce capabilities, supplementing its already-strong and growing advertising business.
In the last-reported fourth quarter results, the company’s advertising revenues soared 58% on a year over year basis to $3.7 billion. The growth was driven by increasing mobile engagement, higher number of marketers, continuing investment in new products and robust performance of its newsfeed ads. Furthermore, of the total advertising revenues, Mobile ad revenues surged 108% to $2.5 billion thus contributing around 69% of total ad revenues.
Recently, Facebook revealed that its active advertisers’ base achieved a milestone by crossing the 2 million mark. We believe that given the platform’s massive user base and access to personal information, the company is just getting started.
Though the news is a positive, it failed to impress this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s investors as shares slid 12 cents (0.15%) in the afterhours trading session on Friday.
This ever growing retail business operating in Prenton, Merseyside has a successful online store, as well as a local store. They specialise in selling and distributing tools, power tools, fixings and workwear.
They are looking for an enthusiastic E-Commerce and Marketing Manager to join their IT team on a full time basis. If you are successful in your application, you’ll be taking on a key role within their team, responsible for many aspects of their online presence and day to day running of all areas of E-Commerce.
Key Responsibilities:
- Development and implementation of international sales.
- Responsible for creating, managing and monitoring Google pay per click campaigns
- Responsible for identifying cost effective on-line marketing products
- Manage the product database using Excel, including formulas for various prices based on specific parameters.
- Overseeing listing, revising and managing products on eBay, Amazon and other platforms.
- Responsible for developing and implementing customer focussed web pages from innovation, development, design and implementation.
- Responsible for updating web pages using CMS within Magento
- Responsible for devising and managing social media adverts, email marketing and website scoping to monitor competitors.
- Responsible for customer satisfaction with on-line ordering, reviewing and updating website when required
- Respond to market research and develop marketing media including email marketing
- Responsible for managing the social media engagement such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
- Designing and monitoring the content of company blog
- Responsible for creating, managing and monitoring Google pay per click campaigns
- Responsible for identifying cost effective on-line marketing products
Essential:
- Experience in Microsoft Office especially Excel
- A thorough understanding of email marketing, SEO and PPC is essential.
- Experience using creative software such as Adobe Photoshop
- Can work in a team with strict specifications and deadlines
- Can prioritise work successfully
Desirable:
- Good qualifications in IT and English
- Experience using Magento and other web based platforms
- Experience in an office environment
- Experience using coding languages such as CSS, HTML, PHP and Javascript
- Good understanding of SEO
This position is a short commute from areas including Birkenhead, Liverpool and Bebington.
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