Tips, Plus Why it’s Never Too Early to Plan for Q4 E-commerce

 

It’s never to early to get ready ASAP for Q4 online sales. Why? A study of e-commerce released in 2012 covering from Nov. 24 to Dec. 24, 2011, discloses some secrets you might need to know.

MerchantTribe.com reports shoppers are buying more items daily in the holiday shopping season, but the size of the typical order soon decreases significantly. That’s the conclusion from studying data from merchants using MerchantTribe shopping cart software – for books, clothing, electronics, software, and sporting goods.

“We were surprised by the significant change in how much is spent per-order over the season,” said Marcus McConnell, founder of MerchantTribe.

“That seemed to defy the conventional wisdom that shoppers are as influenced by price at the beginning of the season than at the end,” Mr. McConnell added. “Perhaps shoppers purchase gifts for more important recipients first. Or maybe they wait for harder to shop for friends and family members and they’ve exhausted their budgets.”

He provides another important conclusion: “Either way, they become more cost conscious the closer to Christmas they shop.”

More details from the study:

• Customers placed more online orders as the season progressed, peaking on December 20.
• Merchants made the highest amount of revenue per day shortly after Thanksgiving.
• Customers spent significantly more per online order at the beginning of the season than at the end.
• Conversion rates rose throughout the season, but dropped off around December 20.

To attract more cost-conscious buyers late in the selling season, Mr. McConnell’s suggests:

1. Bundle your sale items.
2. On minimum orders, offer discount shipping rates.
3. Create late-breaking affordable groups.
4. Because conversion rates increase when shoppers stop comparing prices, but conversions decrease about Dec. 20, consider increasing shipping rates to offset the smaller orders.

For more, Website Magazine published a informative article: Merchant’s Marketing Guide to Christmas in July. It provides excellent reminders about promotions, keywords, e-mail, social media and mobile advertising.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are related resources:

• Timely for Q4 Sales: Latest Trends in E-mail Marketing
• How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit
• 10 Best Marketing Tips for Growth Even on a Tight Budget

“E-commerce businesses, even e-commerce specialists, have yet to realize that the WWW is first and foremost an emotional experience. Few websites reflect this important priority.”

-Grant Fairley

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit

 

Yes, it’s become important for small businesses to capitalize on cyber strategies for profit.

Small and even regional retailers should be cognizant of three realities:

1. Potential customers probably think that national chains have easier-to-shop Web sites.
2. Big retailers have lower prices.
3. Until a national Internet sales tax is passed, many consumers will prefer to shop online.

So, with all retailers depending so heavily on Q4 sales to stay in the black and record numbers of shoppers continuing to buy online each Cyber Monday, year-round cyber strategies are increasingly important.

Nonetheless, a cursory search on the Internet in every sector shows many small retailers and professional service firms, especially law firms, don’t have a strong Web presence.

Many suffer from the following:

• Many have only simple landing pages
• Most don’t have social media acumen
• Even those with Web sites are difficult to navigate
• Poor SEO – search engine optimization

By comparison, large companies have terrific e-commerce sites and display good judgment in social media.

It’s important to understand how marketing has developed in the digital age.

True, traditional media is important. But it’s vital to do something about online consumer trends. A McKinsey study indicates more than four out of five Americans use the Internet to search for information or to buy products.

The Internet has given them more control over their spending with reviews, enhanced abilities for comparison shopping and for moving from an advertiser’s monologue to a dialogue with prospective customers.

Small businesses must create a marketing strategy for a strong presence on Google, which has a 66 percent market share in the U.S. and 90 percent worldwide.

So understand Google’s reasoning for best Web site rankings, and learn the 14 strategies to rock on Google.

However, in my experience, strategies for optimizing your Web site’s presence on Google also work on Bing and Yahoo.

Expertise in mobile marketing is becoming increasingly valuable for small businesses. Use of smartphones by shoppers is becoming widespread. So make sure your site is compatible for mobile marketing.

Facebook pros and cons

Not to mention the impact of social media playing a role. There are 11 ways to make money on Facebook. However, beware that Facebook can cannibalize and make losers out of small business Web sites.

Further, there are 8 tools to optimize sales with social media, but beware of a red flag.

So, small businesspeople should remember that the key to internet dominance is to think integration.

That often doesn’t include advertising with daily deal sites. They don’t work for substantial numbers of small businesses. Beware of daily deal sites and pricing principles – what’s sustainable and what isn’t.

Meanwhile, the evolving Internet also means it’s important to take safeguards to protect your brand’s image. Poor customer reviews and public relations can kill a company. So understand the best practices to optimize your brand and manage your Web reputation.

Success in sales depends on trust.

To build trust with Internet users, here are three key reminders:

1.       Be transparent. List a description of your business including contact information, products, services, location and the names of company principals. That includes your telephone ID numbers for when you make outgoing calls, and disclosing your customer-service policies.

2.       Privacy policies are necessary. If you sell online, take every security precaution, respect customer contact preferences, and don’t share customer information.

3.       Develop an online media kit. An online media kit is helpful to dialogue with advertisers, clients, customers, journalists and prospects. To make it easy for Internet users to learn about your business, explain your company using the five Ws – who, what, where, when, why and how.

Depending on your sector, there are probably other principles to heed and utilize, but these are the basics for on how small businesses can capitalize on cyber strategies for profit.

From the Coach’s Corner, here’s another resource link: Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

-Peter F. Drucker

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

16 Safety Tips for Retail Therapy – Holiday Shopping Online, and Bricks & Mortar

 

If you want to be safe while shopping — for your retail therapy – have fun but beware. For starters beware that most small businesses make you vulnerable to credit card fraud, ID theft.

For business owners, that’s why I’ve asked the question about cyber security: Is your business prepared with precautions and response philosophy?

As a consumer, personally, I’m not a fan of mobile shopping. This year, as this portal as warned numerous times,  phishing attacks and malware are skyrocketing. Android malware surged almost 500 percent the latter half of 2011, and new cybercrime serves as warning to take defensive precautions.

The data is not a surprise. Indeed, on this portal our mobile-banking warnings about security proved prophetic.

But if you must, remember these mobile-shopping tips:   

1. ‎Don’t make any purchases using WIFI. (It’s worth noting the most-read Biz Coach column all-time:  Using Starbucks’ WIFI? Security Pro Issues Warning and Security Checklist.)
2. Be careful in downloading payment applications. Use authentic store apps.
3. Only use secure sites. Sites aren’t secure if you if the URL starts with “ http://.”
4. Think twice before you click on anything.

Tips for shopping on your computer:

1. Be careful to use only authentic Web sites. Cyber criminals are misspelling Web site names to trick users.
2. As in Tip No. 3 for mobile shopping, only use sites that start with https://, and don’t shop via email.
3. Never give your Social Security number.
4. Use your computer to check your checking account, credit card and debit statements.
5. Protect your computer by installing all the regular updates from your antivirus and malware software, Windows, Java and Adobe.
6. Only use strong passwords. Note this article, a Lesson about Passwords after Theft of 16,000+ UCLA Patient Records, which is applicable for shopping, too.
7. Only buy gift cards from the original retailer. Don’t buy them on Craigslist or eBay.

Basics in scam-free shopping:

1. Walmart and other retailers are using a throwback – layaway plans. They’re usually legitimate, but be careful to stay current with your payments. Otherwise, you’ll lose your money and your purchased item.
2. Check the fine print on big-ticket purchases – policies on check returns, rain checks, restocking fees and warranties.
3. Know your rights before purchasing memberships in dance, diet, dating, gym, and martial arts schools.
4. For tickets to events, it’s best to use authorized ticket sellers.
5. Gift cards can be tricky. Read the fine print to make sure the card’s value isn’t reduced if you don’t use it right away. Make sure you know the signs the store won’t be going out of business.

From the Coach’s Corner, for more security, see McAfee’s Twelve Scams of Christmas list.

“Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.”
-Plato

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

5 Free Tools to Operate, Market Your Business

 

Are you on a really tight budget, but need to run and market your business? 

Ordinarily, I’m big on appearances – creating professional first impressions. But some free tools can suffice well. 

Whether you’re a startup or established company needing services that work well but your budget is tight, you might wish to consider five free services: 

• Organization of tasks
• Email newsletters
• Manage your social media
• Spy on your competitors
• Distribute Internet press releases 

Yes, the services also offer paid plans with bells and whistles without the companies’ logos, but the free services are easy-to-use and work well. 

Here are five unsolicited suggestions: 

1. Wunderlist, www.wunderlist.com, can help you get organized in every phase. You can create separate lists, and within your lists you can prioritize your responsibilities. You can use it just about anywhere on your Android, iPad, iPhone, Mac and PC. What’s more, you can share your lists with anyone. This also means you can see how your employees are prioritizing their work, and get valuable input from your mentor.
2. Mailchimp, www.mailchimp.com, is an e-mail sender. Moreover, you can customize your approach with Mailchimp’s designs, and get a simple analysis of your customers. You can leverage your social media, too. “With MailChimp’s Forever Free plan, you can send 12,000 emails a month to a list of up to 2,000 subscribers, but there are a few features that are only available to users with paid accounts,” according to Mailchimp’s Web site.
3. Hootsuite, www.hootsuite.com, will help you with your social networking. Hootsuite will build, monitor, engage and analyze your social activities.
4. KeywordSpy, www.keywordspy.com, will check out your competitors on their use of key words in marketing their Web sites. This will give you ideas on search engine marketing and optimization. It helps to eliminate the guessing on keywords.
5. PRlog, www.prlog.org, is a search engine press release service that will distribute your messages online and will provide an authoritative link to your site. You can designate categories and key words. You can insert your logo and picture. In your press release, you can insert as many as three links to your site. PRlog.org will display your contact information and business profile, and provides an online pressroom of your releases. Almost immediately, your press releases are published on Bing News. It’s also respected by Google. For a nominal charge, PRLog.org provides a premium service. (Note: This portal has benefitted from PRlog.org as a search-engine optimization tool.) 

From the Coach’s Corner, here are more resource links: 

• Checklist: 14 Strategies to Rock on Google 
• Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study 
• Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation 
• Need PR, But No Budget? Here’s How to Leverage News Media 

“In marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last.” 

-John Romero

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

Enthusiasm Prevails in 2010 Q4 Plans of Internet Marketers

 

Oct. 22, 2010 

 

Almost two-thirds of respondents in an Internet marketing study forecast healthy double-digit percentage increases this holiday season, according to a Website Magazine report on the Shop.org 2010 eHoliday Study.

This year 63.3 percent anticipate 15 percent or higher increases in sales. That compares to 45.8 percent of responding marketers last year.

BIGresearch conducted the study for Shop.org.

Website Magazine reported other salient data:   

• 40 percent of online retailers will begin holiday marketing by Halloween, and another 40 percent will begin by November 1 
• 84.5 percent will offer free shipping at some point during the holiday season
• 72.5 percent have increased their Facebook presence for the holidays
• 54.9 percent have enhanced or invested in product pages for cross-selling during the holidays
• 54.9 percent have optimized site search features to maximize holiday sales
• 52.9 percent have invested in customer ratings and reviews platforms in advance of the holidays
• 43.1 percent will increase their presence on Twitter this holiday season

The magazine also reports 32.2 percent of shoppers will shop online.

Here’s why:

• 35.1 percent – 24-hour convenience
• 33.1 percent – easy price comparisons
• 30.8 percent – lack of crowds

So, consider what your competitors might be planning, and strategize what’s best for you.

For other marketing insights, you might wish to review this site’s Marketing/Sales and Tech business-coaching columns. You’ll find more than 130.