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July 2014

Top 10 Changes in the Rise of Mobile E-Commerce

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mobile e-commerce
mobile e-commerce

As mobile phones become more readily available and the wonderful world of 4G and wifi expand even further, the demand for mobile e-commerce is going to explode. In recent years, research has shown that the mobile e-commerce market is increasing steadily and not projected to stop anytime soon.

In a sample size of more than 70 million consumers, 100 online retailers and $10 billion in transaction revenue…studies have shown that:

1. The mobile e-commerce market is now worth more than $40 billion.

That means that the value has doubled from 2012.

In 2010, it was only worth 2 billion and now, it’s projected to hit above $50 billion by the end of the year.

2. In the first quarter of this year, there were $12 billion in mobile e-commerce transactions.

For comparison, in 2010 only 3% of online store visits were from mobile devices.

3.  37% of all online store visits are from mobile devices.

4. While Apple dominated the mobile scene for a while, over the last two years iPhone shares have dropped from 75% to 54%.

Most of the difference went to Samsung devices, which now make up about 31% of sales.

5. Tablets are becoming the next big thing. Currently, tablets drive 25% of all sales.

6. This does not mean that desktops are becoming irrelevant! 76% of consumers are still purchasing from desktops.

7. 33% of purchases are direct purchases, while 27% of sales come from email marketing that direct to a web store.

8. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a website using a mobile device after successfully purchasing from a desktop.

9. More mobile purchases occur on the weekends!

10. The trend of mobile e-commerce is projected to increase universally for all goods.

If you have questions or comments about mobile e-commerce, please let us know below!

source: custora e-commerce pulse

E-Commerce and Social Media

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Social media has revolutionized the way that we communicate. But now, it’s revolutionizing the way that we shop. In recent studies by Unicommerce, social media has been proven to spread brand awareness and increase sales. The majority of order from social media is from Facebook. Other contenders include Vimeo and Youtube. From the data, user reviews, question & answer, and exclusive offers are the top reasons why people prefer social commerce.

71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals.
78% of consumers agreed that a company’s social media has affected their purchases.
40% of social media users have purchased an item after seeing it or favoriting it on a social media outlet.

 

Socializing E-Commerce
Socializing E-Commerce

 

Influence of Social Media on Sales
Influence of Social Media on Sales

 

From these results, we can conclude that brands and businesses need to step up their social media game in order to optimize their sales.

If you have questions or comments about the way that social media affects commerce, please leave a comment below.

 

5 Tips Against E-Commerce Fraud

One of the most important aspects of having an E-Commerce business is the prevention of fraud. E-Commerce Fraud prevention will make your business stronger, more reliable, and all in all better. Here are five tips from thehostingnews.com on what you could do today to optimize your fraud protection.

1. Address verification service (AVS) – This automatically starts verifying the address the customer provides to the address provided by the credit card issuing bank.

2. Fraud prevention software – This will detect malware driven transactions, phishing attacks, and other criminal activities. The key is prevention!

3. Require CVC2 and CVV2 verification – The 3-digit security code on the back of a credit or debit should be requested in addition to the expiration date. This extra security measure can eliminate fraud since it was less likely for a cyber criminal to have both the card number and the 3-digit code.

4. Note country of origin – Check the customer IP address! If your business is primarily based in the US and you see traffic that originates from other countries, this could be a sign of fraud.

5. Always verify – If you have any issues or suspicious, always contact the consumer.

Fraud prevention is not just about good technology, it also relies on good business practices. Make sure to educate your consumers about online security.

If you have any questions, comments, or additional tips on how to prevent fraud, please comment below!

 

The World Cup of E-commerce

The 2014 World Cup Finals are approaching, but have you considered a winning game plan for the world of ecommerce? Similar to all the top soccer teams (I’m looking at you Germany and Netherlands), all successful merchants need to focus on staying relevant in the field, putting together the best team, customer satisfaction, and going for the goal. The following infographic is from The eTailing Group’s 14th Annual merchant Survey. It provides insight into how future retailers plan to take home the trophy in their e-commerce initiatives.

42% of Merchants made “significant” investments in Mobile Optimization

30% of merchants made “signiciant investments in omnichannel integration

The Top Strategies that deliver ROI are sales (98%), Email (94%), Promotions (93%) and Keyword Search (92%)

93% of Merchants have adapted strategies to combat cart abandonment

92% of Merchants have streamlined checkout

 

E-Commerce World Cup - Be Ready to Play
E-Commerce World Cup – Be Ready to Play

 

In 2014, merchants spent significant investments on improving their strategy to adapt to the changing market. The majority of merchants realized the significance of mobile optimization since in recent times, mobile devices have dominated the technological scene. Merchants also stress the importance of marketing, as 5 out of top 10 significant retailer investments are in marketing.

 

E-Commerce World Cup - Shoot for the Goal
E-Commerce World Cup – Shoot for the Goal

 

98% of Merchants ranked sales/ specials/ outlets as the most valuable strategy in sales. Following closely behind are using email as a merchandising vehicle, seasonal promotions, and keyword onsite search. 79% of Merchants agree that “what’s new” is a power onsite tactic and 78% agree that “top sellers”, “top rated” and “visual searches” are also effective.

 

E-commerce World Cup - Keep the Fans Happy
E-commerce World Cup – Keep the Fans Happy

 

As teams rely on fans for advancement, Merchants also need their customers. Since 2013, there has been significant improvement in the realization for promotions. 97% of Merchants also use analytics to test what works and what doesn’t. 95% of Merchants focus on exceptional customer service and there has also been an increase in improving minimizing cart abandonment and streamlining checkout.

 

E-Commerce World Cup - Shoot for the Goal
E-Commerce World Cup – Shoot for the Goal

 

With all that’s said and done, keep in mind these four things that will help you score.

1. Upsales and cross sells get the assist on product pages

2. Personalization delivers.

3. Online mobile shopping is paving the way for the future.

4. Merchandising matters.

Questions? Comments? Who are you rooting for in the final game? Let us know.

 

 

 

Magento Go: Migrate from Go to Magento Community with Openxcell

magento go

Migrate from Magento Go to Magento Community with Openxcell

With the recent declaration made by eBay enterprise of shutting down Magento Go on February 1, 2015, online enterprises that are currently running on Magento Go will have to consider transferring to another hosted services.

Openxcell is offering to quickly re-launch the online enterprises through a smooth transition of all the data to a Magento Community platform.

With regard to the reason behind this major decision of closing Magento Go, Magento marketing head Craig Peasley stated, “The company is making these cuts to focus on the two Magento ecommerce software products that are having success. Its Magento Enterprise and Community Edition offerings, which target bigger and/or more sophisticated online sellers than Magento Go and ProStores did.”

“In this quest of choosing and changing over to a better platform, it is evident that potential online enterprises will be closely prioritising ease in transformation, and Openxcell is determined to offer a smooth going process for merchants who are planning to shift to Magento Community pertaining to better future prospects.” Says Jayneel Patel, the CEO of Openxcell Technolabs. He further stated,”By availing the shift to Magento Community through openxcell’s migration service, online merchants can expect high level of customization in designing and coding, which certainly did not fall in place with the Magento Go platform.”

Along with the benefits of custom magento development, there are numerous other aspects that will come in as added advantages. Magento Community is known for developing a large number of added extensions, both free and paid, which would allow the potential merchants to avail critical extensions for Payment and Shipping that would ease out the following functionalities. Online enterprises will be able to host without any limitations on the Magento Community platform, which in a way would best meet their expectations and requirements altogether. Merchants would also be able to acquire unlimited space in the server and bandwidth. Moreover, Magento EC will only demand a one time development cost, which would widely simplify the hosting process.

Kroger and E-Commerce Retailer Vitacost Announce Merger

Vitacost

 

The Kroger Co. and Vitacost.com, a leading online retailer of healthy living products, today announced a definitive merger agreement under which Kroger will purchase all outstanding shares of Vitacost.com for $8.00 per share in cash, or approximately $280 million. The terms of the agreement were approved unanimously by both companies.

The purchase price represents a premium of 51% to Vitacost.com’s closing share price on Feb. 19, 2014, the day before a major Vitacost.com shareholder publicly asked the company to evaluate strategic alternatives. The terms of the agreement were unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. Kroger Chief Executive Rodney McMullen said the grocer plans to add some of its own natural and organic foods, sold under the Simple Truth brand, to Vitacost’s website, which currently offers more than 45,000 products to about 2.3 million active customers.

About Kroger: Kroger, one of the world’s largest retailers, employs more than 375,000 associates who serve customers in 2,640 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Harris Teeter, Jay C, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s.  The company also operates 786 convenience stores, 320 fine jewelry stores, 1,240 supermarket fuel centers and 38 food processing plants in the U.S.  Recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in America, Kroger supports hunger relief, breast cancer awareness, the military and their families, and more than 30,000 schools and grassroots organizations. Kroger contributes food and funds equal to 200 million meals a year through more than 80 Feeding America food bank partners.

About Vitacost.com, Inc: Vitacost.com, Inc. is a leading online retailer of health and wellness products, including dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs and other botanicals, amino acids and metabolites, as well as cosmetics, organic body and personal care products, pet products, sports nutrition and health foods. Vitacost.com, Inc. sells these products directly to consumers through its website, www.vitacost.com. Vitacost.com, Inc. strives to offer its customers the broadest selection of healthy living products, while providing superior customer service and timely and accurate delivery.

NetSuite Webinar Series Launched by MorganFranklin Consulting

morganfranklin consulting

NetSuite Webinar Series Launched by MorganFranklin Consulting

A new semi-monthly, on-demand NetSuite Top Tips webinar series was launched on July 1st, 2014 through MorganFranklin Consulting. MorganFranklin is a leading consulting and technology solutions company, and an official implementation partner of NetSuite. Many of Morgan Franklin’s experts are set to host segments, which will be released on the first and the third tuesday of each month.

 There will be a total of 8 NetSuite Top Tips installments, focused on maximizing NetSuite investments. These segments will provide guidance in  Change Management, Project Planning, Maximizing Reporting Capabilities, Data Conversion, Transaction Processing, Database Migration Strategy & Field-Level Security, Workflow Routing & User Interface Customization, and SuiteScript Limitations. 

“For businesses that are considering a NetSuite implementation, or have already completed the process, the webinar assists organizations in obtaining the most out of their investments,” said Elmer Nasser, a director in MorganFranklin’s Information Management & Technology department. “NetSuite offers a wealth of solutions to help businesses consolidate existing systems, eliminate IT maintenance costs, and make better business decisions . In order to maximize on their  investment, and deliver on strategic plans, organizations must extract the full value from their NetSuite investments. Through this, we will raise awareness of the possibilities that can be unlocked in NetSuite.”

Features include change management, transaction processing and project planning, which ensures business user engagement and establishes a partnership between IT and the business are essential steps in project planning and business process improvement.

The webinar is available at: http://www.morganfranklin.com/NetSuiteWebinars

To learn more, visit: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2027872

About NetSuite:

NetSuite was named the world’s fastest-growing financial management system in 2012 and is considered the No. 1 cloud business software suite. Netsuite equips partners with a one-stop business management suite for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)/financials, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and e-commerce.

Publicis Buys e-Commerce Firm Crown Partners

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crown

Publicis Buys e-Commerce Firm Crown Partners

Publicis Groupe will be acquiring e-business consulting firm Crown Partners, continuing its move into the growing digital marketing space only less than two months after abandoning its $35 billion merger with fellow advertising giant Omnicom Group.

The acquisition of Crown, whose technology is used by enterprise clients to improve online customer experiences, will help Razorfish bolster its e-commerce business, a major focus point for the agency over the last few years.  

According to research firm eMarketer, business-to-consumer e-commerce sales worldwide are expected to rise to $2.36 trillion in 2017. As mobile devices have transformed consumer behavior, brands have a greater need to manage customer experiences across multiple channels, Mr. Stein.

The digital shop lost part of its Microsoft account in late April and has seen a handful of top executives, including former Chief Executive Bob Lord, leave over the last year. Even so, Razorfish Global CEO Pete Stein maintains that “business is very healthy.”

“One of the biggest trends we’ve seen over the last five years is technology platforms are playing a bigger and bigger role in this transformation,” said Mr. Stein. “It can be a huge enabler in helping clients go to market differently but also transform the way they deliver products and services.”

As part of the deal, Crown will join Razorfish’s technology platform services.  Crown and Razorfish both already have partnerships with hybris, an e-commerce platform owned by SAP, and Adobe.

Crown has more than 150 employees and counts Land’s End, Keurig-Green Mountain and GlaxoSmithKline as clients. The company has posted a 40% annualized revenue growth rate since it was founded in 2001, though Crown Chief Executive Richard Hearn said the firm is growing faster than that right now.

Mr. Hearn said technology has played a bigger part in front office operations to boost revenues in the last three to five years.

Publicis has built a strong presence in digital advertising in recent years through aggressive dealmaking, including its $530 million acquisition of Razorfish from Microsoft in 2009. While Publicis has bought a long list of digital ad firms, it has been ramping up its e-commerce buys.

Publicis acquired Beijing-based Longtuo in 2012 and Bangalore-based Neev in 2013, both of which became a part of Razorfish’s network.