US shoppers happier in online stores
Customer satisfaction with e-commerce sites improved for the second year in a row, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) released by the University of Michigan.
Online retail achieved a score of 83 on ACSI's 100 point scale, while offline retailers scored 74.4. The survey was carried out in conjunction with ForeSee Results.
69% of retailers shun e-commerce
Over two thirds of UK retailers are missing out on potential revenues by not offering their goods for sale online, according to a survey by Barclaycard.
The company said many retailers are reluctant to embrace e-commerce because of the perception that set up costs are too high and that a high level of technical know-how is needed.
Online sales rise on 'Black Friday'
Online spending rose by 42% on ‘Black Friday' - the day after Thanksgiving in the US - according to figures from analysis group comScore.
Total US online spending for the first 24 days of November reached $8.31bn, a 23% increase over the same period in 2005. Black Friday saw a 42% increase on 2005's figures.
Research reveals top 10 UK etailers
A new report has looked into the performance of the top 28 UK retailers as measured by traffic, and has found much room for improvement.
The research, carried out by Marketing Assistance Ltd on behalf of Blast Radius, looked at the whole online shopping experience, from from first visit to returning unwanted items.
Pink is the new black, search stats say
Pink technologies for girl gadget lovers are set to be hot-ticket gift items this Christmas, dominating a growing number of consumers' web searches for the colour.
Online marketing tracker Hitwise UK found mobile phones, games machines and handheld consoles were amongst the most searched-for pink products in November, with the pink version of LG's newly colourful range of Chocolate phones leading the pack.
Jeff Bezos talks about Amazon Web Services
Amazon's CEO wants to help you run your business, using the same technologies and operations that power Amazon.com.
In a great interview with Business Week, Jeff Bezos talks about the new services Amazon is offering to third party developers, providing computing power with its Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and its hosted storage service, Amazon S3.
Some snippets after the jump...
Amazon trials 'Clickriver' PPC ad platform
Amazon is testing a new advertising programme, Clickriver, which allows businesses to place sponsored links on Amazon.com next to search results and on product detail pages.
Amazon's Clickriver Ads, which appears to be a version of Adwords, was built by A9.com, a search technologies subsidiary of Amazon.
Amazon launches new question and answer site
Amazon is about to enter into competition with the likes of Yahoo! Answers and Microsoft Q&A with the launch of a new site, Askville, which allows users to have their queries answered by other community members.
The site is still at the testing stage at the moment, and participation is currently by invitation only, as well as only being available in the US and Canada.
Online safety scheme to get revamp
Word has reached us that the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) is preparing to re-launch its ‘Internet Shopping Is Safe’ scheme, which aims to reassure UK consumers about online security.
Amazon gives search engine a facelift
Amazon has scaled back its A9 search engine by canning personalised features and no longer requiring users to log in.
The etailer removed the functions late last week, with a spokesperson telling the Associated Press it was "shifting its priorities to areas where it can provide the greatest benefit for customers."
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
