E-Commerce roundup #2 (April 2015)

It’s been a long time since we posted the first e-commerce roundup, and now it’s time to realize there is a great deal of new stuff happened in the last few weeks. We offer you to take a closer look at the latest e-commerce news and tips to make sure you’re doing well with your enterprise. And even if you ARE doing well, you’re up to making it even more successful.

Shopping cart abandonment and ways to prevent it

ClickZ introduces us to quite shocking statistics of how abandoned shopping carts affect the yearly revenue of many retailers. Thus, more than 70 percent of all the shopping carts are abandoned by consumers, which results in a revenue loss equal to $18 billion a year. To solve this problem, the author of the article emphasizes the need for using cart reminder programs that can bring shoppers back to finally buy a product. She also offers seven main tips for the most efficient use of cart reminder programs to turn your loss into a huge benefit.

Shopping cart abandonment and ways to prevent it

Read the whole article about the shopping cart abandonment issue and the tips for successful cart reminders

Facebook bought the shopping search engine TheFind to get closer to e-commerce

According to Fortune.com, the famous social network has acquired TheFind – a free comparison shopping engine – in another attempt to bring itself closer to e-commerce than ever before. Despite the last year’s annual income of $12.6 billion acquired only from advertising sources, Facebook still intends to increase this figure by integrating search and e-commerce features into its service.

Facebook bought the shopping search engine TheFind to get closer to e-commerce

Read more about the deal between Facebook and TheFind in this article

Google’s mobile algorithm update: mobile-friendliness comes into trend

Volusion’s official blog has announced that after Google updates its mobile algorithm, the priority in displaying search results will be given to mobile-friendly websites, which can embarrass some unprepared online store owners. It means that after its launch on April 21 those sites that are not adapted for mobile view are basically doomed to fall from the top positions in Google search results. To prevent this, Volusion recommends adjusting your e-commerce store for mobile devices by updating your website design template or, in case if you work on Volusion’s own platform, creating a separate mobile version of your online store using Volusion Mobile Commerce.

Google’s mobile algorithm update

More about Google’s mobile algorithm update and how to keep up with it

The number of ratings as a crucial element in any product list

The Baymard Institute research group has conducted the study which allows to come to a better understanding of consumer’s perception of customer ratings on e-commerce sites. Their main findings concern the fact that shoppers tend to choose a product on the basis of the number of user reviews rather than its average rating. The reason of such a tendency lies in the idea that when users don’t have enough experience with the product use they can only pin their hopes on the opinions of other people about this product to decide on its purchase. However, the research results differ among younger and older respondents. Although younger users tend to trust the products with numerous reviews even with lower overall rating, older audience, on the other hand, would find it more trustworthy to prefer 5-star products with few or no reviews at all.

The number of ratings as a crucial element in any product list

The detailed review of the Baymard Institute research group findings

Get more profit from subscription services

Darryl Adie from E-Consultancy shares his thoughts about the benefits of offering shopping subscriptions to your customers. Basically, with the help of subscription marketing any retailer can effectively attract customers and contribute to recurring order placement on its website. Regardless of the type of goods you’re selling, the ability to provide shoppers with the most convenient purchase environment, especially on regular basis, is the way to increase your sales revenues.

Get more profit from subscription services

Read about other opportunities you can have with subscription services

Winter is coming: get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday today

Practical Ecommerce draws our attention to Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2015 which require the whole set of previous planning if you’re really interested in making a huge profit of Christmas sales. According to the article, you should start preparing for big sales beforehand as winter holidays tend to bring about 30 percent of annual retailer’s revenue. Following the six useful recommendations you can become the best-selling ecommerce owner of the year.

Winter is coming: get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday today

Get to know these steps to be prepared for Black Monday and Cyber Monday 2015

Amazon Webstore Closure

Small Business Trends reports that Amazon wants to close its ecommerce platform on July 1, 2016.  The company’s early announcement is explained by the need for letting its existing ecommerce customers switch to another equivalent platform before the actual closure of Webstore. Moreover, Amazon provides the service related companies with the information on how to safely transfer data from one ecommerce platform to another.

Amazon Webstore Closure

Topic related article with profound insights on possible reasons of Amazon Webstore shut-down

Businesses on Messenger: the easiest way to keep in touch with the customers

According to the recent F8 presentation, Facebook has developed a feature for their Messenger that allows business owners to easily communicate with their customers right trough the app. Now businesses can provide all the relevant information about the status of an order by sending a direct message to their client via Facebook Messenger. As for the customers, they themselves can anytime modify their orders, track their location and shipping process. An additional option enables customers to ask retailers any questions concerning the order. The resulting interaction between businesses and customers is reflected in a separate Messenger conversation.

Businesses on Messenger

More about Business on Messengers here

Nostalgia as a power to attract consumers

Greg Wise from Hubspot writes in his blog about how the skill of evoking nostalgic feelings in people can increase your ecommerce sales. Nostalgia is always represented by warm and positive memories from the people’s past, so if you’re able to figure out what period is the most appealing for your audience, then you’re probably up to come with the best marketing campaign ever. It may include, for instance, changing the style of your website, logo or product appearance. The most important thing is, however, to understand what particular age group is interested in your products.

Nostalgia as a power to attract consumers

Read more about how knowledge of nostalgia power can stimulate your sales.