Tag Archives: eCommerce

Why Your Business Needs a Mobile Commerce Strategy Now

Remember when people debated whether e-commerce was for real? When the media scoffed at the idea of being able to “just point and click for great deals?”

Today, e-commerce is a massive industry. In the U.S. alone, online spending reached nearly $130 billion in 2009. Like e-commerce before it, mobile commerce is on the cusp of becoming a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s time for merchants to take notice and seize the opportunity.

M-commerce by the Numbers

 

 

 

 

At PayPal, when we look at our merchants’ numbers, we’re seeing the impact of mobile commerce jump:

  • Our mobile transactions show dramatic growth, increasing nearly six-fold, from $25 million in 2008 to $141 million in 2009.
  • We expect to close out 2010 with over $500 million in mobile payment volume, and more than 5 million members regularly using PayPal from mobile devices.

But we’re just a slice of the overall m-commerce pie:

From point of sale offerings, to mobile shopping apps and enhanced mobile web experiences, it seems like companies both big and small are trying to capitalize on what mobile commerce promises consumers.

Though much attention has been paid to how consumers are adopting a mobile shopping experience, little consideration has been paid to how merchants can get in the game. In my years helping merchants of every size enable sales on the “third screen” (with televisions and computers as the first and second screens), a few things have held true in most of the successes I’ve seen.

Mobile Browsing vs. Mobile Shopping

The numbers speak for themselves, so it’s fair to say that consumers are rapidly adopting mobile shopping as a way to buy physical and digital goods. This rapid adoption rate means customers are starting to expect that their favorite retailers will have a mobile presence, making mobile commerce both an opportunity and an imperative for merchants.

Realizing measurable gains from engaging with these tech savvy shoppers means understanding what motivates them to complete a mobile purchase. Consider the difference between “mobile browsing” and “mobile shopping.” Applications and websites that allow customers to view the latest fashions are great for brand awareness, and maybe even getting them in the physical store, but without a mobile-specific checkout experience, they don’t yield actual sales. I call that mobile browsing because making the purchase is secondary to just looking at the item for a price tag.

Mobile shopping on the other hand, offers consumers the chance to buy something in a checkout experience catered to a mobile device and perhaps most importantly, reduces the amount of clicks it takes to finalize the purchase. This is particularly important in the context of mobile web browsers, where cutting back on content and minimizing the number of clicks is vital to keeping shoppers engaged.

I spend a lot of time on my phone checking out how retailers are taking their online stores mobile. I’ll log onto a retailer’s mobile website which allows me to look at all the merchandise I want. Content loads quickly and after a pleasant and easy browsing experience, I decide to go ahead and make the purchase.

As is all too common with mobile shopping, I’m taken to a third-party checkout site that is not catered to a mobile browser. Instead of making a couple of clicks, I find myself scrolling, re-entering sensitive information, resizing the screen, ultimately getting frustrated and abandoning the purchase.

 

 

 

As a retailer, it’s critical that your mobile customer has the same level of convenience that they would have if they were shopping on their laptop with a checkout experience that’s designed for the device.

A number of retailers have successfully brought easy shopping experiences to mobile platforms. Buy.com, for example, has tailored their mobile website for intuitive shopping and quick checkout. While developing a mobile shopping experience is more art than science, layouts with large buttons, minimal text, little scrolling and a fast checkout have proven key to conversion.

The Mobile Web vs. Native Apps

Much has been made of whether the future lies in mobile applications or the mobile web. Both apps and browsers offer compelling characteristics that, in the context of mobile commerce, can draw in shoppers.

Mobile apps are like your neighborhood produce store. You walk inside the doors looking for specific items. They also typically let users tap into their phone’s full potential. For example, a native app might integrate with a phone’s camera, voice recorder, contacts or other features. And for shoppers looking for a richer, more advanced interface, applications typically win out over the mobile web because they are designed specifically for that handset’s hardware and operating system.

Overall, native apps offer a tailored shopping experience that’s well delivered but limited.

The mobile web on the other hand is a like a huge shopping mall with seemingly limitless stores and tons of options all under one giant roof. It’s not as constricted or fragmented as shopping on disparate mobile apps but the experience isn’t as tailored as the specialty store.

Unlike device-specific native apps though, the mobile web has enormous flexibility and, usually, much larger reach. Customers don’t need to download robust programs from app stores to their handset in order to begin shopping. Instead, all they have to do is type in a web address in their mobile browser to start spending their digital dollars. Much of the time mobile sites serve as stripped-down versions of regular websites and serve a utilitarian purpose: selling goods and services.

The mobile web offers what native apps lack and vice versa. And just as in the real world, there’s room for both. As long as there is an easy way for consumers to shop from their mobile devices, both apps and browsers serve a purpose for retailers.

Get Ready: The Holidays are Coming

With the biggest shopping season of the year just weeks away, now is the time for retailers to look to the mobile channel to boost sales and meet their customers where they want to be met.

Last year, PayPal saw mobile payments on Black Friday rise about 650% compared to 2008. This year, the holiday season will be a pivotal time for retailers to capitalize on the mobile opportunity as the market really becomes mainstream.

Right now, merchants from small businesses all the way to the largest companies in the world are finalizing their strategies for the holidays. They’re thinking about how many MP3 players to keep in stock and how to get feet in the door, and which demographics they should be targeting once the doors fly open on Black Friday. But maybe this year, the smart merchants will think back to the 1990s –- to the birth of e-commerce — and decide to act on the opportunity that mobile commerce opens up, and to change the relationship with their customers once again. E-commerce drove sales, but also more importantly it changed merchants’ relationship with their customers. And mobile commerce has the potential to do it all over again.

via mashable.com

 

What Google’s Nexus One Can Teach Us about E-Commerce

The Nexus One might be Google’s most extraordinary flop yet.

The phone itself was great, with excellent hardware and functionality, but the e-commerce strategy Google attempted to employ failed miserably, with their online store closing less than eight months after opening.

But as with any great success or failure, a lot can be learned by studying what they did. There’s plenty to study too, given the intense media coverage the Nexus One got from the time it was announced until after the store closed last month.

Here are some important lessons Google has offered through their own process of trial and error.

Excellent Customer Service at Launch is Vital

When the Nexus One (N1) came out, Google only offered customer support online, primarily through their user forums and online knowledge base. There was no phone number or other contact method available. It was the same system they offered for most of their products, and it seemed to be working fine, so they figured, “Why change it?”

But most of those products didn’t cost $530.

When you’re using a free app, or even one that costs $50-$100 per year, you may be content with only email tech support or live chat. But you’re going to shell out 10 times that amount, you want the ability to talk to a live person.

Besides, what are you supposed to do if your phone breaks down? You don’t want to wait two or three days for someone to get back to you by e-mail or in the forums. You want to call somebody and take care of the problem right now.

They tried to fix the problem and deliver phone service a month later, but it was too late. A lot of potential customers had already bought a different phone or lost faith in the N1.

And who knows how many millions it cost them?

A Big Brand Doesn’t Solve Everything

The N1 was released in the beginning of January of 2010. At that time, the first really big, mainstream Android-based phones (the Motorola Droid and the HTC Eris) had only been out for two months.

Sure, there had been other phones running on Android prior to that, but they hadn’t gained much market share. Your average smartphone consumer still hadn’t heard of Android.

Google seemed to believe it didn’t matter. They assumed the strength of the Google brand would be enough to make the sale, that people would buy something just because it was from Google.

But it wasn’t true. In the early days, Android was still a relatively techie platform and most people weren’t even aware Google had anything to do with it.

Without the name recognition Android now has, they were fighting an uphill battle. Combined with their poor initial customer service and support strategy, it was just too much doubt for a lot of consumers to overcome.

You Shouldn’t Revolutionize Everything

Always the revolutionary company, Google openly claimed they wanted to reinvent the way cell phones are sold.

They wanted to eliminate distributors. They wanted to end the tyranny of long-term contracts. They wanted to bring cell phones directly to the consumer.

There was only one problem: without subsidies from carriers, the unlocked version of the phone was over $500. There was only one mobile carrier in the U.S., T-Mobile, that offered any kind of discount.

And that made the phone look expensive.

We don’t view smartphones as being worth $500+, because we rarely pay that much for them. We’re used to signing contracts with carriers and getting subsidies, which make the phones much cheaper.

What Google was trying to do was definitely revolutionary, but the problem was the customer couldn’t find a benefit. In fact, from the view of many customers, the new system was inferior to the old one. They were having to pay a lot more for the phone.

What about Other Expensive Smartphones?

I’m sure some will argue that the unsubsidized price of the N1 couldn’t have hurt its sales that much. After all, the original iPhone was priced at $499 or $599, depending on the storage capacity. And that sold just fine.

The big difference here comes down to reputation.

Google obviously has as much name recognition as Apple (probably more in some circles), but they’d been associated with a hardware release before. Sure, they had hundreds of millions of users worldwide, but those were users of free and low-cost products.

Apple, on the other hand, had a proven track record of both hardware and software releases. They had a fan base that was used to paying premium prices for their products and had no problem doing so. Apple was able to leverage this to overcome the high initial price of the iPhone.

The other thing Apple had going for it with the original iPhone was how revolutionary it was. Previous touch screen phones hadn’t worked very well, and none of them had the functionality of the iPhone. Plus, it looked and felt like a premium product, which helped it justify the higher price tag.

The Nexus One, while a great phone, didn’t have the name recognition and wasn’t that revolutionary. It had the best hardware of any Android phone released to date, but besides being more powerful, the overall package just wasn’t that different from the Android phones already out there..

What Could They Have Done Differently?

There are a number of things Google could have done differently that would have greatly increased the chances for success of the N1.

The first would have been building up more recognition for the Android platform prior to trying such a radical strategy. With more name recognition, the N1 would have been starting from a much stronger position and would have had an easier time gaining market share.

A better-thought-out customer service strategy also would have been a big help. Google has a long history of offering primarily web-based support, but that doesn’t carry over well to such an expensive product, as they found out. If they’d offered phone support from day one, they likely would have had more success.

They should’ve also paid more attention to the pricing preferences of their customers. Sure, most people would prefer an unlocked phone, but only a tiny fraction of them are willing to pay double or triple for their phone to get it. If they’d offered partnerships with mobile carriers from the beginning, things might have turned out quite differently.

Is Google Doomed for Failure with Cell Phones?

I don’t think so.

If there’s anything we’ve come to expect from Google, it’s that they learn from their failures as much as anyone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make another attempt in the future with a revised sales startegy that addresses the issues covered here. Maybe they’ll even attempt to revolutionize a different part of the industry.

But what do you think?

Have other insights into what Google could have done to make their online N1 store more successful? Anything else they did wrong? Are there features you’d like to see?

via blog.kissmetrics.com

Facebook Encourages Ecommerce; App-Makers Respond | Practical eCommerce

Facebook designates Fan pages for businesses to engage users. And to help these businesses, Facebook now provides a series of resource guides for Fan page development and Facebook Ads development. It has also greatly improved the Fan page analytics component (called Insights), and it has created a series of plugins for businesses to use on their own websites.

Milyoni (pronounced “million eye”), based in Calif., takes this integration of social media and ecommerce very seriously. It has built an all-inclusive, six-part Facebook platform called Conversational Commerce. The platform allows consumers to complete a purchase without leaving Facebook. And for ecommerce merchants, the platform merchandises their products, markets them to Facebook users, completes sale transactions and otherwise manages the entire process in a manner similar to a freestanding ecommerce site. It’s all done within Conversational Commerce’s six components: iFanStore, Social Engagement, Flexible Fulfillment, Opportunity Mapping, Merchant Dashboard, and Instant Showcase.

Conversational Commerce by Milyoni.

Conversational Commerce by Milyoni.

iFanStore

iFanStore is the core component of a larger, six-part platform from Milyoni called Conversational Commerce. Rather than pass users off to another website, it is a shopping cart that operates completely within Facebook. Transactions are processed through PayPal, Authorize.Net, or most any other payment gateway, according to the company.

Aside from the fact it resides inside a Facebook fan page, iFanStore functions just like any other shopping cart. It manages catalog uploads, offers detailed product management, order management, shipping and tax calculations, payment processing and reporting. It also supports digital downloads such as music or video.

Social Engagement

The company clearly understands how social media and ecommerce should be intertwined. “It is not about shopping. People don’t go to Facebook to shop. A conversation begins by engaging your fan base and offering up opportunities to purchase contextually relevant items,” said Dean Alms, Milyoni’s vice president of strategy and marketing. “When your favorite NBA basketball team advances in the finals; it’s great to share your jubilation online with other fans and it might be the right time to buy a new hat or t-shirt to celebrate the win.”

That is where Milyoni’s Social Engagement component comes into play. It allows merchants to engage their Fan base and promote products via Wall posts, which fans can then comment on, Like and share.

Here are two examples of ways these posts appear.

Example 1 of Milyoni's Social Engagement wall post.

Example 1 of Milyoni’s Social Engagement wall post.

Example 2 of Milyoni's Social Engagement wall post.

Example 2 of Milyoni’s Social Engagement wall post.

Flexible Fulfillment

Another Milyoni component, Flexible Fulfillment, is a defined set of interfaces that allow merchants to integrate the iFanStore with their existing backend systems. This ranges from the ability for merchants to manually upload their catalogs and receive email notifications for orders, to complete integration via custom APIs.

Opportunity Mapping

Available in the fourth quarter of 2010, Milyoni’s Opportunity Mapping™ will be a social network application that leverages the power of Facebook’s Open Graph to tap into fan profile data and create relevant, custom offers.

Merchant Dashboard

Merchant Dashboard is Milyoni’s administrative console that provides a comprehensive set of analytics to help merchants acquire Fans, promote products and monitor engagement levels.

Screen capture of Milyoni's iFanStore Manager.

Screen capture of Milyoni’s iFanStore Manager.

Instant Showcase

Another soon to-be-released component, called Instant Showcase, adds a new twist to the Facebook commerce buying experience in that it will allow users to purchase select products directly from the fan page Wall. Merchants will be able to select up to five products from their store catalog and post them to their Walls. Users can flip through the products, select one and submit payment without ever leaving their wall. Milyoni expects to deploy Instant Showcase in September 2010.

Cost

At about $1,000 per year, Milyoni’s platform is affordable for smaller online retailers, and the company has a number of such merchants in its portfolio. The price includes activation, monthly hosting and transaction fees. It will also help with setup and training for new merchant customers.

Better to Upload an Entire Catalog or Just Special Offers?

Not everyone agrees that uploading an entire catalog into Facebook is the wisest course of action. Alex Bernstein, managing partner with NorthSocial, a west-coast company that makes Facebook Fan page apps, is one such person. “Social media presents a great opportunity to sell products, but, as any merchant knows, there is a lot that goes into getting someone to make a purchase,” he says. “Simply moving an ecommerce cart into Facebook is not enough to spike sales.”

Bernstein suggests that making the product shareable is a key factor, as well as is having an entertaining, heart-warming, and engaging fan page where the brand interacts with fans. He also says that not all products are as well suited to a social network environment as others. “Big ticket items like cars, for example, or commodity products. Those don’t fare as well,” he adds.

Bernstein encourages merchants to think about using Facebook as a place to highlight certain products and showcase new ones. That is exactly how one smaller merchant utilizes the Milyoni platform. Cowgirl Creamery, an organic cheese business located north of San Francisco, offers weekly cheese deals to its customers via its iFanStore rather than using it to upload the entire product catalog. They post the offer to the Wall along with a question or comment to get the conversation started.

Cowgirl Creamery's Facebook store.

Cowgirl Creamery’s Facebook store.

“Word of Mouth endorsements have always been our most effective marketing tool. Milyoni brought this advantage to Facebook to open new markets and sell our premium cheeses to new customers,” said Sue Conley, CEO of Cowgirl Creamery.

“Since the Conversational Commerce platform was deployed, Cowgirl Creamery has nearly doubled their fan base and increased their word of mouth marketing impact accordingly,” says Dean Alms. “In a very short period of time, dozens of new customers have bought through their Facebook store and they are reaching customers that they would have never been able to reach otherwise.”

Summary

Facebook members may not be rushing to interact with businesses. But ecommerce merchants should still have a presence there. The sheer immensity of the network mandates it. And as social commerce continues to mature and gain mainstream acceptance, merchants will benefit from it.

via practicalecommerce.com

Eight Copywriting Rules for Increasing Conversion | Practical eCommerce

When merchants talk about ecommerce conversion, it usually centers on design, button placement and ease of checkout. The process, though, actually starts the second someone lands on any web page. This is why textual content is so important.

Here are eight rules for using text on your ecommerce site that eliminate confusion, welcome your new visitors and otherwise answer all questions about your products.

1. Don’t Assume Customers Understand Your Products

Product descriptions and supporting pages–like Frequently Asked Questions and customer service details–are highly important. Not only does word choice help define rankings in search engines, it can help teach visitors about products and how to use them. Oft-used terms are always new to someone. Many new Internet users still post on sites asking what LOL (Laughing Out Loud) means.

2. Define Acronyms and Initialisms

Assuming that everyone knows what these types of abbreviations mean can increase frustration amongst those not-in-the-know. Even if the visitor has heard the term repeatedly, he may not know what it actually means. An acronym uses the first letter of each word in a term or company name, but is pronounced as a word (e.g. ROM for “Read-Only Memory”). An initialism also uses the first letter of each word, but each letter is pronounced on it’s own (e.g. FAQ).

3. Spell Out Organization Names and Specialized Terms

Upon first mention, organizations and terms should be spelled out, with the abbreviation in parenthesis. This is the rule most newspapers and online magazines follow, so visitors will be used to this method. Each subsequent mention (in the same section) can then use the abbreviation, such as:

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Visitors may still not know what the words actually mean. So, if the definition is short and easy to understand, put it right after the term(s) in parenthesis, or define it in the following line, or by using indents, which can help break up lengthy text. An example of this is:

  • Two Read-Only Memory (ROM) chips prevent system data from being mistakenly overwritten. (ROM does not allow for writing to the memory.)

Also, when explaining specialized terms, remember:

  • If the term or process needs to be defined in detail, link a pop-up, a separate page, or tag full descriptions at the bottom of the page. Use layman’s terms, always.
  • If words are still too technical, use examples that relate to everyday life.
  • For lengthy details, section headers make it easier to read. Remember, you should always list the most important factors first.
  • If consumers can’t find what they need, savvy users will search across the web. This greatly reduces the chance of conversion.

Screen capture from Crutchfield.com, using tabs to provide extremely detailed product information.

Screen capture from Crutchfield.com, using tabs to provide extremely detailed product information.

4. Remember the Search Engines

Search engines crawl ecommerce pages, so your terms used should reflect common search terms as well as address all shopper concerns.

5. Address Common Questions

Always take into account common questions your shoppers ask. If the same question has been asked more than once, chances are you need to address it on the site. For every one shopper who contacts you (via phone or email), you can assume at least 20 others didn’t reach out. This is because technology makes running an online search quicker than phoning, or emailing and waiting for an answer.

6. Go Beyond the Manufacturer’s Content

Manufacturer-supplied content is not enough. Chances are your competitors also use this verbiage, so you need to expand and offer more details. This especially helps shoppers who’ve already navigated brand web sites.

7. Publish Customer Feedback

Customer comments (reviews and testimonials) are part of the content. People rely on word-of-mouth just as much as they do technical specifications, product descriptions and pictures.

8. Use a Blog

Still need to explain with lots of pictures and additional text? Blog about it. Many companies use blogs to share information and drive traffic into their online stores. And, done right, it works.

Summary

These eight suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. But, using these ideas as a foundation will convert more visitors into actual customers.

via practicalecommerce.com

How Online Shoppers Make Their Purchasing Decisions

Hi all, I’m Stacy General, online personal shopper for PayPal.  A recent study by The Nielsen Company provides some interesting insights on how online shoppers are making their purchasing decisions.  According to the survey, one-third of global Internet users and half of North Americans mainly shop at online-only retailers.  Based on these findings, it looks like more Internet users are embracing the convenience of online shopping, which is great news for us, especially as we continue to provide you all with a safe and easy shopping environment.

 The study also revealed that online shoppers rely greatly on the reviews of their peers when making shopping decisions.  Nearly 60 percent of online shoppers said they consult reviews prior to purchasing consumer electronics and 40 percent of online shoppers claimed that they would not even buy electronics without seeking reviews about the product online first.  It appears that the e-commerce community is eager to share their thoughts on products, especially if it’s a negative one – more than 41 percent of global shoppers say that they would be more likely to share a negative opinion on a product via Twitter or by writing a review online.

Here at PayPal, it is encouraging to see this growth and solidarity among the global online community.  As a leader in online payments, we’re constantly searching for new ways to host a safe and easy shopping experience, which is obviously critical since it looks like an increasing amount of shopping is done online.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on where online shopping is going and how you participate – what websites do you read for reviews before making that next online purchase?

via thepaypalblog.com