July 28, 2010
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Posted by
Cam Stevenson ·
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In the lull before starting full development on the next iteration of CommerceLive, I thought it would be useful to share some observations I've gathered over the course of the development process.
I'm also going to tie this in with my observations from the Internet Retailer conference last month (cleverly covering off a request from our Marketing folks).
My general, high level starting assertion is that the e-commerce domain is far more complicated (in all respects) than any other technology area (I'm comparing it to other areas that I've been deeply involved in over the course of my car...
July 23, 2010
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Posted by
Melany Gallant ·
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Some fashion magazines are using multi-media and mobile technologies to create additional opportunities to help advertisers reach consumers via Web and mobile platforms. According to a recent article by Lauren Indvik at Mashable.com, fashion magazines lost nearly a quarter of their ad pages in 2009. In response, some fashion magazines are looking to use Web and mobile offerings to update their business model, making it more relevant to how advertisers want to reach consumers.
Indvik provides some great examples of how some leading fashion magazines are embracing digital offerings to attrac...
July 16, 2010
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Posted by
Antonella Pannizzo ·
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Social tools have become an important part of a retailer’s online strategy. It’s an exciting new way to engage customers. For the consumer it’s a way to share their online experiences. The Facebook ‘Like’ button has proven to be a popular tool with sites like Levis, who were one of the first to implement the button to their product pages. A recent eMarketer post "Online Merchants Love Facebook’s 'Like’ ", states:
35% of online marketers responsible for social marketing or ecommerce have already implemented Facebook’s “like” plug-in, and another third plan to do so.
Researc...
July 8, 2010
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Posted by
Wanda Cadigan ·
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After the July 4th long weekend, many retailers turn their thoughts to the Back-to-School season. And Back-to-School is big business. According to a NRF study, last year’s Back-to-School holiday spending total was $47.5 billion, second only to Winter Holiday spending category. Over at the Google Retail Blog they have posted some interesting statistics on when consumers begin their Back-to-School shopping research. Approximately 50% of those who research Back-to-School purchases will do so in the time period between now and the end of July.
Furthermore the Google Retail blog h...
July 6, 2010
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Posted by
Wanda Cadigan ·
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User generated ratings and reviews are extremely important in e-commerce. Empowering consumers to make more informed choices by providing access to others feedback is generally accepted as a very good business practice.
And now businesses can extend the value of that user generated content beyond the confines of their own sites, via integration with search engines. Back in April, Bazaarvoice partnered with Google to enable its 800 customers to display ratings & reviews from their websites in Google search results (both natural and PPC). Now Bing has announced that it’s getting in on th...
July 2, 2010
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Posted by
Antonella Pannizzo ·
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The rapid adoption of location based services such as Foursquare, Gowalla, etc, provides indication that both users and businesses see the potential benefits of such services, specifically around loyalty.A new site launched recently called Topguest, gives you real reward points from some of your favorite travel reward programs. Topguest works with sites like Foursquare, Google Latitude, Google Buzz, Gowalla, Loopt, Brightkite and Yelp to reward your geo–check in. For instance, if you check in to a hotel, rent a car or board a plane you can earn points from their respective loyalty programs....
June 23, 2010
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Posted by
Melany Gallant ·
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Offering a ratings and review system on your e-commerce site can be an effective way to get your customers to champion your brand. It also offers you the opportunity to actively engage those customers in dialogue about what they like, and what they dislike, about your products and services. For SEO purposes, ratings and reviews also keep your web content fresh and can help generate conversions. Over on SmashingMagazine.com, Rung András discusses (with some great examples) how adding user feedback to your e-commerce site is an effective way to facilitate customer engagement, build brand loya...
June 21, 2010
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Posted by
Donna Remillard ·
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I remember thinking at IRCE last year, that despite the economic climate, retailers were generally upbeat, especially when it came to e-Commerce. Comparison really puts things in perspective for you … this year felt like full steam ahead, everything looks great!
The show boasted:
6400 Attendees
175 Speakers
418 Exhibitors
While every keynote and session I attended revealed informative and thought provoking insight, a few themes continuously popped to the forefront throughout the show:
ContentThere was lots of talk about ‘Connected Content’ this year. Whether it’s on-site or o...
June 15, 2010
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Posted by
Melany Gallant ·
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According to a recent study by trendwatching.com, interacting with others online using web-based and mobile devices isn't turning us into isolated, "anti-social zombies" that many sociologists and pundits proclaimed and predicted. Rather these tools are providing opportunities for richer connections both online and in the real world. Dubbing it "mass mingling" trendwatching.com states, Thanks to the online revolution, hundreds of millions are now actively searching for, finding, connecting/signaling, and staying in touch with likeminded souls in the virtual world. Cons...
June 8, 2010
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Posted by
Cam Stevenson ·
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Last week in our weekly 1 on 1 meeting, CommerceLive Lead Developer, Tasneem Saleem, made the comment “I know we’re not going to be able to build everything we want ourselves, and that’s not my goal. My goal is to have the framework in place so that others can extend the solution as easily as we can.” I wrote this down when Tas said it, because I thought she captured very nicely the spirit of what we’ve been trying to do. Based on my own recent experiences as well as observing some of the contributions made by other great developers outside of the CommerceLive team here at Cactus, I’d sa...
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