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eBusiness Strategy
Our new blog network has gone live! This is so exciting and will enhance the way that readers can interact with our analysts. Here’s what Cliff Condon, the project manager, has to say about it: Hey everyone. Here it is – Forrester’s new blog network. We made some change to improve...
US and Western European online retail will grow double digit year-on-year over the next five years
Forrester has just released its US Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014 and Western European Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014....
Online shoppers in the US do not just spend dollars at home
By Zia Daniell Wigder Last year we wrote a couple of reports that highlighted cross-border online shoppers in Europe, where some 29% of online shoppers had purchased from another country. What’s interesting, however, is that 26% of online shoppers in......
Online shoppers in the US do not just spend dollars at home
Last year we wrote a couple of reports that highlighted cross-border online shoppers in Europe, where some 29% of online shoppers had purchased from another country....
The Multichannel Opportunity Represented By The iPad
By Brian K. Walker Much ink and pixels have already been spilled in celebration or punditry of Apple’s latest splashy consumer device, the iPad, and so I am sorry to subject you to yet another. But there is an interesting......
The Multichannel Opportunity Represented By The iPad
Much ink and pixels have already been spilled in celebration or punditry of Apple’s latest splashy consumer device, the iPad, and so I am sorry to subject you to yet another. But there is an interesting angle which the introduction of this device hints at which I have not yet...
eCP's blog
Tap Into $14 Billion Worth of Mother’s Day Sales
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 9th, 2010. Last year, Americans spent a total of $14.1 billion dollars on their moms. For some mothers, it’s a practical gift like house wares or gardening tools. For others, nothing beats a day at the spa and some special (and much deserved)...
Email Segmentation: Tips to Improve Conversion
According to Internet Retailer, 4 of the top 20 websites grossing between $25MM & $100MM online send out 20 or more emails per month in 2009. This seems counter-intuitive as sending a mass email to your entire list will surely burn leads. How is it done? Related posts:Time is the EnemyValentine’s...
Prepare now for the second largest retail season Valentine’s Day 2010: Sunday, February 14 Valentine’s Day, while often overshadowed by its gargantuan cousin the Christmas Season, is the second largest retail season of the year. Luckily, this holiday comes just in time to give a bump in sales after December’s spending frenzy comes...
New Year’s Eve 2009: Reflections of a Blue Moon
Illuminated by the light of a blue moon, we can take time out to reflect on the past as we plan for a successful 2010 personally, professionally and as a society. Related posts:Boost Holiday SalesDespite Economic Downturn, Outlook for ECommerce in 2009 Still BrightGearing Up For Christmas 2009...
Site Speed and Your Bottom Line
Increase sales over 12% with faster loading pages Google has recently announced that they may start using site speed in ranking a website. How quick does your site load? Is it under a minute, a minute, too late! Users are becoming impatient with slow loading sites. If your site is slow,...
Gil Levy, Founder: Presentation on ERP Integration In Fashion
GCS Software has selected ECommerce Partners as their preferred e-commerce vendor for their Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP Software. ERP software is used to integrate the data and processes of an organization into one single system. Gil Levy, Founder and Managing Director of ECP gave a presentation to 60 clients...
Ecommerce Journal
Update: Problems with Genius Funds? The company gives explanation
In February a popular online investment company Genius Funds was banned by the British Columbia Securities Commission to trade in any securities in B.C. The executive director of the BCSC issued a temporary order against the company. The order also banned Genius Funds from engaging in any investor relations activities...
CSM reports more than $400, 000 pure profit
Today online investment project CSM has announced that its stock traders have completed the new trade which generated over $400,000 pure profit. As usual the company openly publishes performance report where one can learn all the details. Along with Brokerage account statement the clients of CSM can see intraday chart. The...
Euro Nano Investment opens another call center for Chinese clients
Euro Nano Investment has announced launch of a new call center. Now all the investors speaking Chinese can easily get answers to all their questions in their native language. Also the company has announced about new help page that was designed to help investors in their work with the support...
Internet and e-commerce industry in Zimbabwe
Today we are to talk about the country named as “Dzimba dza mabwe” by its inhabitants. In English it sounds like "great house of stone”. Located in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, has English as one of three official languages; it is the country Internet and e-commerce level of progress...
Facebook under pressure to adopt “panic button” to call the police
Facebook is being pressed by the UK officials to adopt a “panic button” after a teenager was killed by a man she was communicating with on the social networking website. Along with other social networks Facebook is being lobbied by the British child protection agencies so that they adopt a one-click...
DNS system is insecure and "can stop any time”? Storm in the cup of tea?
This week addressing the Government Advisory Committee meeting Rod Beckstrom, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers stated that more concerted efforts are needed to protect the DNS because it is under more attacks, is fragile and vulnerable, and "can stop any time." Beckstrom touched upon DNS abuse...
eCommerce and Entrepreneurship Blog
If you are on the internet, you almost certainly use email. Email was one of the first applications of the internet, and remains (along with the web) one of the most widespread. Online Businesses use email too, for internal communication, customer service, marketing, and general use. So it makes sense...
The Impact of Social Media on the Earthquake in Chile
Now, while I must disclose I am the resident advocate for the adaptation of all things social media at the Gordian Project, arguing against the effectiveness of social media becomes difficult when horrible tragedies like the earthquake in Chile are brought to light via social networking. Like Haiti before it,...
The Expanding World of Online Video February 2010
Let’s start with ReelSEO and their article about the fight between online video ads vs. search ads. They predict that online videos ad revenue will grow from $734 million annually to $5.2 billion by the year 2014, an increase of seven times. When compared to search, which is only predicted to...
We received a communication from Google Apps this month that I was delighted to see. Google Apps is finally phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0. Hooray! People have been saying that IE6 is dying for quite a while, but it maintained its grip throughout 2009. Lots of admins have...
Engagement with the Local Community
My wife loves to watch the great American dream play itself out in arena’s such as American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and the like; anything that pulls at the heart strings of underdog to star. I’ve often wondered what that final night might feel like, contestants’ widdled...
Incomplete Evaluations Lead to Hasty Decisions
We live in a culture of information overload. If you’re reading this online (with certainty, you are) you understand that there are several programs or websites running in the background vying for your attention. This overload is a reality that forces each of us to constantly make hasty decisions about...
The Interspire Blog
The Interspire Shopping Cart 6.0 Roadmap
IntroductionLast week I posted the upcoming BigCommerce 6 feature list on the BigCommerce blog, so today we'll look at the features coming up in Interspire Shopping Cart 6.While some of the features are the same, other features only lend themselves to the BigCommerce product (such as setting DNS records) and...
Interspire Podcast #2: How to hire super stars and how to formulate your market
Length: 26:56Overview: A look into the strategies we use for recruiting the best people and tips to formulate your market when selling any sort of product.Description: In this, episode 2 of the Interspire podcast, I take a look at some of the strategies we've developed over the last 6 years...
Interspire Podcast #1: Our email marketing strategy for 250,000+ contacts
Length: 26:40Overview: A look into the strategies we've used to grow our various email lists to over 250,000 people.Description: In this, our first podcast in a series of many, I...
IntroductionAfter 3 months of development, 6 weeks in beta and dozens of resolved features and bugs, Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 is finally available for purchase and upgrade from our web site and client area.What's New?Where do I start? This is a major upgrade with a big focus on merchandising -...
Quick Update: Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 Coming Next Week
Hi everyone. Just a quick update to let you know that Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 will be available for download (for existing clients) and purchase (for new clients) next week. As you may know, we released the 5.5 beta about 4 weeks ago and we're just about ready for the...
Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 Beta Available to All Clients
Hi everyone. It was only a few weeks ago we released the beta for Interspire Email Marketer 6 (of which the final version has since been pushed live and upgraded to by thousands of clients in just over 3 weeks) and today I'm writing to let you know that we've...
Retailer Daily
‘The Daily Wrap:’ Staples, B&N, Costco
Staples Launches B2B Site Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of office supply retailer Staples, Inc., has launched a new web site, StaplesAdvantage.com, to address what the company calls customers’ growing demands for supplier consolidation and reduced procurement costs. Current and prospective customers can view the full scale of Staples Advantage’s products...
Williams-Sonoma Seeks Store Closures in Large Markets
Specialty retailer Williams-Sonoma intends to shutter an undisclosed number of stores in large, multi-store markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, Williams-Sonoma CFO Sharon McCollam told attendees of an investor conference the retailer’s goal is optimizing cost per square foot rather than simply reducing store footprint....
Minority Growth Represents Retail Opportunity
The increasing percentage of the U.S. demographic profile represented by ethnic minorities presents an opportunity to retailers, according to The Nielsen Company. In particular, retailers who sell CPG products and/or engage in mobile retailing can benefit from shifting U.S. demographics....
Google Throws Retail Inventory into the Local Mix
Google has introduced a new application that lets mobile users search local retailers’ inventory to see if a particular item is in stock. Only a handful of stores are participating; Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn among others, but even this limited number adds a new twist to the...
St. Patrick’s Day Set to Be Greener in 2010
American consumers are feeling more festive about St. Patrick’s Day this year than they did last year, according to the results of a recent National Retail Federation (NRF) survey conducted by BIGResearch....
‘The Daily Wrap:’ Amazon, Sears, Gymboree
Amazon Confirms 1-Click Patent Following a four-year re-examination, the U.S. Patent Office is confirming online retailer Amazon.com’s patent on its single-click purchase technology. The patent, set to expire in 2017, has been challenged by multiple parties since it was initially filed in 1997. Source: TechFlash...
Check Out Blog
Wow, it’s been a while and needing some updates.. I got a lot to cover, so meaning it’s Check-out, lets get into the Express lane for some simple and quick updates. Last week you local Walmart store overhauled their PC selection. Depending on your local store Netbooks from $298, Laptops...
This is it... Only 12 days (or less) left before Christmas. Still got time to buy online from walmart.com. We've made it easier for you this year to insure the item(s) your buying will/can arrive on time. Here's an example of the table you'll see while shopping.How much shopping did you do...
Ok, so I have seen a bunch of questions out in the blog world asking if Walmart is REALLY offering a $50 gift card with the purchase of XBOX360 Elite. The answer is YES. And I've heard some of your concerns about games not being restocked that are on our...
This week's Wii offer was one way we are trying to help our customers this holiday season. The values just don't stop there...starting this Sunday you will be able to get a $50 gift card with the purchase of the Xbox 360 Elite. This offer will be valid Dec 13-19,...
Even in these economic times, we see how important it is for Santa, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends to be able to give the perfect gift. We also know that A LOT of wish lists today -- for all ages -- include a...
Zhu Zhu Hamsters Top Gift Lists for Kids
I normally follow fashion but I also love being "in the know" when it comes to the hottest, must-have gifts for kids (I'm a newlywed and not a mom yet, but I adore the many munchkins in my life). This year I heard that Zhu Zhu hamsters are one of...
Practical eCommerce Podcasts
Web marketing specialist Claudiu Murariu advises, "When performing A/B tests make sure especially of two things: to have statistically significant results and to choose the right success metric for your campaign (which can be revenue, profit, orders, average order value, CTR, or other important metrics)." ...
John Panyavorachart of VevoCart
John Panyavorachart is co-founder and CEO of Vevo Systems, an ecommerce software company based in Bangkok, Thailand that developed VevoCart,an online shopping cart. In this "Cart of the Week" supplement, Panyavorachart talks about how his ecommerce education and career began in the U.S., and how he eventually returned...
Keep Information Consistent Across All Selling Channels
To ensure cross-channel consistency, SKUs, prices and product information should be the same online and in-store so they can be treated exactly the same from a fulfillment and service perspective. The result is less work, higher customer satisfaction and a reduced need to develop separate staff or procedures for online...
Ease the Pain of Tax Season with Online Incentives
Advertising specialist Mike Sprouse says take advantage of tax time. "March is the height of tax season, which makes it the perfect time for financial services marketers to target consumers filing their taxes online with great deals and special promotions. During tax season, people are looking for online incentives that...
Social marketing is important and time consuming. If you are serious about it, make a specific plan, commit to being regularly active on the social site, and make your profile dynamic. But, if you can’t perform social marketing well yourself, hire an expert or delegate it to someone who can....
Take advantage of the free comparison shopping sites available. For instance, Google Product Search is a staple of any shopping channel strategy, theFind has a free program to enhance merchant visibility, Sortprice has a Facebook store application for merchants, and Oodle is for merchants who also have a physical store....
Retail eCommerce Blog - Online Retail Marketing | eCommerce SEO Tips by Mobius
Google Suggestions for Top Online Retailers
Today, I was typing in the names of top online apparel retailers in the Google search box and surprisingly, some interesting suggestions came up. I’d like to show the screen shots of my search exercise, but before showing it let me tell you something about Google suggestions. Google puts a...
Meta Description and Keywords: Useful or Obsolete?
I am often asked by our clients and others about the significance of Meta descriptions and keywords in on-page optimization. Many SEO professionals say that they are almost close to obsolete as they are not considered by search engines to rank websites on search engine result pages. Here’s my view on...
SEO Keyword Research Tools are not only Useful, but are Powerful too
SEO keyword research is a mundane and familiar term for people who work with SEO campaigns, but many of us just jump in with both feet without understanding the meticulous process of selecting the best and relevant keywords, so we eventually end-up committing keyword research mistakes that breaks the whole...
SEO Copywriting for Apparel – What’s the Right Approach!!
I love fashion…I love clothes but when it comes to writing about apparel and accessories, it is a tough one. I have written about a host of hard category products like cameras, camcorders, televisions, you name it. It is a breeze, as you have a lot of information on their...
Sell the Vision of Looking Good, and not Apparel
From Helen of Troy, the paragon of feminine perfection to the sizzling Angelina Jolie and from Adonis, the best example of male beauty to the irresistible Mel Gibson, the world has always valued beauty. If that wasn’t the case, fashion would have been an obsolete term. In today’s world, the drive...
Twitter, a Preferred Social Media Outlet for Top Online Retailers
A couple of years ago, if you had asked what twitter meant, you would have been called a bird brain. Excuse the pun, but don’t they teach at elementary school that birds twitter, dogs bark and so on!! And if you ask folks what twitter means now, some might still...
AuctionBytes Blog by Ina Steiner
eBay Sellers React to Unpaid Item Assistant for Deadbeats
Sellers are reacting to eBay s announcement regarding a process for dealing with deadbeat bidders and buyers. The company told sellers on March 10th it would be making the Unpaid Item (UPI ......
eBay Lifts Ban on Teachers Manuals?
eBay banned the sale of teachers manuals on its marketplace in 2006, which was a big blow to parents who home-schooled their children. Amazon.com also bans teachers manuals - according to its ......
Amazon Pushes Back as States Attempt to Tax Online Shopping
Hungry for revenue, states around the country would like to collect sales tax from residents who shop online, including from sites such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com, and they are introducing - and ......
eBay Promotes Coupon from PowerSeller Eforcity
eBay is working with PowerSeller Eforcity to offer a coupon-based promotion, which runs from March 5 - 15. The coupon is for 20%-off select items offered on eBay; shoppers must use the Buy It Now ......
eBay Reveals It Conducted a Test of All Stores in Core
Sellers who are wondering what impact eBay s pending changes will have on their own business may want to check their October sales data. In a podcast interview with AuctionBytes on Friday ......
Netpreneur Blog - Making a Living on the Web in Australia
How to use social media and Web 2.0 in event management
On 21 January 2010 I delivered a presentation to the Adelaide chapter of Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The presentation was entitled ‘ How to use social media and other Web 2.0 tools in event management’. The presentation contained a case study of an event...
The secret to making money in your sleep - 7 steps
I’ve recently been talking to a local businessman who is interested in transforming his existing business into a ‘internet marketing’ business. He has developed some great experience in retail circles over his career and he wants to ‘productise’ his knowledge and sell it via the web. He asked me for my...
New Australian SaaS shopping cart product - BigCommerce
I am a big fan of Interspire’s Email Marketer software. This Australian-based company has just released a new subscription-based Software-as-a-Service shopping cart system called BigCommerce. SaaS is the future of the web and the guys at Interspire have done a great job converting their existing product, Interspire Shopping Cart, into...
How to Rank Number One on Google
I’ve recently started delivering training to small groups of website owners about how to take their websites to Number One on Google. Here’s the presentation slides that I have been using: How To Rank No 1 On Google View more presentations from Clayton Wehner. Related posts:Action List: Use Slideshare to share your Powerpoint...
Calls to Action: How to Motivate Your Website Visitors Out of Inactivity
Firstly, what is a call to action? Well it is the action, response or activity you most want visitors to your website to take. You should have a desired call to action for every page on your website. Depending on your site you may just want people to make contact with...
Action List: Add your URL to local directories
One way to increase the findability of your website is to submit it to local directory websites. Most directories offer a free listing service and it is relatively easy and quick to add your site. I recommend doing this manually, rather than using one of the many auto-submission tools that...
Digital Money
[Dave Birch] Wow. The feedback that I've been getting about the Consult Hyperion Digital Money Forum is fantastic. I'd like to claim all the credit, but I just can't. So for those of you who weren't able to join us,......
[Dave Birch] Ugo Bechis is the head of SEPA payments at UBI Banca and the chairman of the board of the Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes (EAPS). This is a pan-European debit card "scheme of schemes" that aims, rather like......
Could that competition come from the Feds themselves? What if the Feds decided that it was desirable to have a national debit scheme for the US, much like the ECB wants a pan-European "third scheme" in Europe? What if the Feds were to decide to get more involved in retail...
[Dave Birch] if you have a few minutes to spare, you might enjoy this YouTube video of Douglas Rushkoff talking in New York in November 2009. He says that the "operating system for money is obsolete" and gives a rabble-rousing......
[Dave Birch] Britain's Tory party has said that a future conservative government may replace the "Pay As Your Earn" (PAYE) income tax collection system -- whereby employers deduct tax at source and send it to the government -- with some......
B. Off (old Fawlty Towers reference)
[Dave Birch] I'm against the idea of the Post Office-based "People's Bank", although I understand why many people who haven't really thought about it find it so attractive: there's an anti-bank backlash, and people are looking for a sort-of-vague communitarian......
The Ecommerce Blog
Open Source Firewall Appliance Round 2
A few years ago I blogged about using the Untangle firewall to replace a Sonicwall or similar firewall appliance. Since then, Untangle has come a long way. I would like to revisit the untangle appliance as it has undergone numerous improvements, and in my opinion is now a fully capable replacement...
Business seasonality, and search trends for your marketing
Chances are if you are an online retailer your have some seasonality to your business. This mainly depends on the type of products you sell, and the general type of people that purchase your products. As a B2B’ish industry we see major volume decreases near every holiday. Where does your business...
MySQL 5.1 now supported on Cpanel / WHM
Just found out this morning that MySQL 5.1 is now officially supported on cpanel. MySQL 5.1 offers some major improvements in some areas to MySQL 5.0. MySQL 5.1 was released over a year ago and it’s been a long wait for those cpanel users needing 5.1 features. Upgrading is not as...
Having a SUNny day without Microsoft
If you’re another person who is constantly fed up with Microsoft products and the cost that comes with them, you’re not alone. I still stand by my recommendation of avoiding Microsoft products before you become their slave, but I must admit, there’s still a number of them that I use. Since...
Framework for a Good Product Page
I was inspired by the Anatomy of a Usable Website, and decided to make a similar guide for a product page. I had previously written a post regarding product descriptions, which still apply here as well. Download the full PDF version » This is meant to be a framework for creating an...
Could your ecommerce site kill somebody
I was recently looking at Google Maps for some route information to find a driving time near my hometown in Colorado. Google Suggested that I drive over a pass called Schofield pass. While this could be just any old pass, but it’s not. Schofield Pass is one of the most dangerous roads...
E-Commerce Law
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 8, 2010
Apparently, the Internet is among the 237 individuals and organizations who have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Nearly four out of every five people in the world believe that Internet access is a fundamental right. Each weekend, E-Commerce Law Briefs provides a brief summary and commentary on recent......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 1, 2010
The White House has released a summary of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, which includes an expansion of a classified Internet monitoring system called Einstein. In what we're sure is unrelated news, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of a "rapidly expanding" threat of cyberterrorism. Amidst......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 22, 2010
Last week, Microsoft sent a DMCA notice to Network Solutions complaining about cryptome.org, a website which "welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and secret governance -- open, secret and classified documents --......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 15, 2010
Google has donated $2 million to Wikipedia. Though Wikipedia has been criticized for uneven quality and reliability, a 2005 study concluded that it was just as reliable as Encyclopedia Britannica. In a statement announcing the donations, Google co-founder Sergey Brin called Wikipedia “one of the greatest triumphs of the Internet…this......
E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 8, 2010
Facebook is getting new competition from a familiar source. With Buzz, Google has entered the social networking space. Florida's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee says that judges should not be Facebook "friends" with attorneys who may appear before them. "When judges 'friend' lawyers who may appear before them, the committee said,......
Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids» Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids News
Photos of the Re-Wrapping of Anonymous Man
The re-wrapping of the mummy of the Anonymous Man was carried out in early February by the team from the Brooklyn Museum. We saw some of the live coverage of the re-wrapping here on Talking Pyramids. Today they’ve released the batch of photos from the fourth day of the re-wrapping...
Friday Photo: Making Way for the GEM at Giza
Work is underway at Giza to complete the Grand Egyptian Museum by 2012 This week we return once again to the Giza plateau with this recent observation. Talking Pyramids reader and explorer Leszek Zadlo snapped this photo of some large earth moving trucks on the south-west corner of the plateau....
Deciphering the Pyramid Texts of Behenu
Following on from Thursday’s post I’d like to focus a bit more on the Pyramid Texts found in Queen Behenu’s recently discovered burial chamber. Offering texts on the north wall of the Unas sarcophagus chamber. Photo by Helmut Satzinger. I’ve been investigating the particular way in which the Pyramid Texts are arranged...
Astronaut Sends Pyramid Photo via Twitter
Astronaut Soichi Noguchi is currently flying through space aboard the International Space Station and he is using Twitter to communicate with us Earthlings. He goes by the name: @Astro_Soichi He has just posted a photo of the pyramids at Dahshur. The Red pyramid and the Bent pyramid can easily...
Friday Photo: Pyramid Texts – Unas Blue
The Pyramid Texts were first discovered in 1880 inside the Pyamid of Unas by Gaston Maspero. Unas was the first pyramid to be inscribed with the famous corpus of texts and of the inscribed pyramids, Unas is considered to contain the most complete form of the texts. Maspero published...
Burial Chamber with Pyramid Texts Discovered
Pyramid Texts from the north wall A burial chamber containing a pink granite sarcophagus with a black basalt lid has been discovered at South Saqqara by a French archaeological mission. Although badly damaged, the walls are covered in texts which contain the name of the tomb’s owner, ‘Behenu’, thought to...
ColderICE eCommerce Video Blog
The Smythe Files: Randy from Buy.com Drops In For eCommerce Talk
Who’s that guy with the reflective shades? Is he a cop? Nope, but he will give you a ticket if you move too slow with your delivery times, LOL. This guy is Randy Smythe and I need to introduce him to some in our audience and reacquaint him to others....
Is There a Hidden Fee Increase For eBay Sellers Coming?!?
Hey folks this is a guest post by a BRILLIANT business and eBay consultant named Jon Miller. I have known Jon for years now and he is a person I respect highly. Jon sent me an email about his findings on eBay’s announcements from January. I asked him if he...
So What Are People Buying Online These Days?
What a buyer is getting online vs. what they are buying in store is very telling. There are serious differences in what is and is not a great fit for online consumer purchase. The folks at Permuto Discoveries (http://www.permuto.com/blog/) took the data from the U.S. Census Bureau and made this...
Important IRS Dates: The Taxman Cometh and Taketh Away…Dammit!
March 16, 2010 Deadline for corporate tax returns (Forms 1120, 1120A, and 1120S), or to request automatic 6-month extension of time to file (Form 7004). Final deadline to file an amended corporate tax return (Form 1120X) for tax year 2006 and still claim a tax refund. April 15, 2010 Deadline to file...
WOW – The "Un-Official" Atlanta eBay On Location After Party!!!
The Aftermath: eCommerce Merchants Atlanta After Party Welcome to HOTLANTA! What you heard is true, we know how to throw parties in this city. Take a break from the mundane and spend some time hanging out and having a few drinks with the "eCommerce Rock Stars". This is the HOTTEST ecommerce party...
There Comes a Time When You Get Tired Of Fooling Around w/ Windows…
There is a song on one of my most favorite albums by my favorite artist Prince. Oh yeah, I am a huge Prince fan going way way back…but he has a song called “Forever In My Life”. The first line in that jam goes “There comes a time in every...
Blue Acorn eCommerce Consulting
Bring ‘Em Back with Online Loyalty Programs
As every business owner knows, the best customer is a repeat customer. A customer who visits your site and makes a purchase every week, or even every couple of months, is immeasurably more valuable than a casual, “one-off” customer who places one order and is never heard from again. Even...
3 Ways to Use Your Facebook Fan Base for Marketing Research
One of the big, obvious differences between eCommerce enterprises and traditional bricks and mortar set-ups is this: the bricks & mortar shops can “see” their customers, talk to them, and develop a stronger profile on them. Sure, if you’re an eCommerce company with strong analytics, you can analyze keywords, bounce...
War, the Long Tail SKU Search Domination
For mortal ecommerce merchants involved in search marketing- on a budget- this means adroitly picking the right search terms and channels to market your wares and then fully vesting them to ensure their don’t just appear in those search results but appear, appear and reappear yet again not only across...
How to Use Twitter Effectively – What Twitter Type are You?
Back in December, I wrote this post about Twitter. A lot has happened to this Internet microblogging company in the ten months since then, including its recent reception of 100 million dollars in funding and its valuation at one billion dollars. This past June, 44.5 million worldwide visitors checked out...
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words—but with the rising popularity of multimedia on the web, a high-impact video can be worth a whole lot more than that. According to a study by ComScore, more than 168 million American web shoppers watched online videos during September of 2009, representing...
Hitting a Moving Target: Tips for Success in Mobile Marketing
If you could get your hands on footage of 10 of your target consumers right now, 9 of them would probably be on the move. In today’s fast-paced, frenzied world, a majority of buyers are relying on their cell phones and hand-held devices as a primary means of receiving information. So...
ComparisonEngines
Omniture/Adobe sent an apology for the email they sent me yesterday: Dear Brian, We apologize for an automated email you received earlier today created and sent from Marketing on behalf of your Omniture Account Development Manager. This message was sent to you in error. Please accept our sincere apology, as this is not...
The Sears Marketplace Screw Up
Sears Marketplace recently formerly announced the launch of its marketplace. Overnight, Sears Marketplace had 10m items available from over 1500 sellers, according to the website. When I saw the number, I knew that they didn’t yet have 1500 direct seller relationships, but rather syndicated content from one or more...
Just got the email below from someone at Adobe/Omniture. The subject line is ‘Are you who you say you are?’ which sounds spammy to me. And the colloquial ‘Hey Brian’ opening just seemed completely unprofessional coming from Adobe/Omniture. And then the statement ’since you haven’t opened any of the...
Shopzilla Q4 2009 Results – with calculations for year over year Revenue and Profit
All my numbers were gathered from public earnings releases on Scripps and Scripps Network Interactive. I was careful to double check my numbers, but I found some discrepancies in the releases which I can’t explain. Remember, I’m not a financial analyst. If you’d like the raw numbers I...
I’ve had lots of great conversations about data feeds in the last 24 hours. Advertisers (merchants) and publishers (affiliates) recognize the value of data feeds, but it seems they’re just getting going. If merchants are submitting data feeds to CJ, Linkshare, ShareASale, or Google Affiliate Network, the feeds...
@ Affiliate Summit West – Data Feeds
If you’re not at the conference, check out the #asw10 on twitter. So far, so good. I was here 2 years back and wasn’t that impressed. This conference seems to be much more professional, organized. Love that the first two sessions I’ve attended have already mentioned...
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Shopify Street Fighter 4 Tournament!
At Shopify we’re all pretty competitive, and are serious about settling differences in a professional way. This is why we decided to start out first (annual?) Shopify Street Fighter 4 Tournament. We’re playing a double elimination-style tournament using Challonge!, and you can see the live bracket by clicking on the image...
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