Sainsbury's launches its non-food range online
Sainsbury's launched it's latest online offering over the weekend, adding 4,500 products, including electricals, furniture and toys.
While rival supermarket retailer Tesco has been selling a wide range of products online for three years, Sainsbury's has been slow to get more of its product range online. I've been looking at the new range on the website...
Five reasons why consumers will reject news paywalls
Much has been said about newspapers looking more fondly at the possibility adding a paywall to their precious content so 'bloggers stop stealing it' and Google 'stops being a vampire'.
Almost all of the arguments centre around what the business side of this decision is. While that is important, the reaction of the public matters much more.
CAPTCHAs or conversions?
CAPTCHAs -- those computer-generated images commonly used with website forms that challenge users to prove they're human -- are a popular tool in the arsenal against web spam.
But when looked at from a cost-benefit analysis standpoint, do they help or hurt conversions?
Q&A: Loren Bendele on online couponing and the recession
As the recession barrels on, bargain businesses are seeing strong growth. One of those is the field of online coupons, which has seen tremendous expansion as consumers tighten their purse strings.
In the past few months of the economic downturn, searches for discounts and deals have risen online. Starting in January, 54% of consumers polled by ComScore classified online couponing sites as important to their shopping process. More than half of consumers say they are using coupons more often than even just a few months ago. 31% are using onilne coupon sites. That's an increase of 25% according to Hitwise. In July, searches for generic coupons were up 172% from the same time last year and searches for retailer-specific coupons increased 34%.
We caught up with Savings.com CEO Loren Bendele to discuss the coupon resurgence this year and where it's headed online.
Do publishing woes increase revenue at ad networks?
The overwhelming supply of display advertising online has had a downward effect on price. But new research shows that ad rates at ad networks has risen since the start of 2009.
Is that good news or bad for publishers? Well, it depends on how you look at it.
Email marketing: Listen to consumers. And hit send at lunchtime.
Whatever you do, don't forget to write. A variety of new ways to reach out to consumers have popped up online, but a new study has found that targeted email marketing is leading to more response from consumers during the recession.
US Email Trends and Benchmarks found that 53% of consumers made an offline purchase because of an email message in North America. In Europe, 37% made offline purchases as a result of email messaging. Meanwhile, 59% of consumers polled in the Asia Pacific region made an offline purchase because of an email.
Those numbers are getting higher in the recession and point to an important fact: marketers should be reaching out to willing, engaged consumers.
10 mindblowing augmented reality apps and videos
Augmented reality (AR) is an engaging way of combining live video with computer-generated data and visualisations. It is an area that has grabbed my attention lately, and it’s going to be a big deal.
Amazing things will happen in this space in the years to come, but what about today? Are there live applications out there already? Sure there are, although it is early days and many of these examples are alpha demos. Nevertheless, they truly shine a light on the possibilities with augmented reality.
I have collated a bunch of videos that highlight the opportunities with augmented reality. You will be able to use AR to create real-world applications that fulfil human needs in a way that still feels ever so slightly sci-fi. You can try out a number of these AR demos from your desktop if you have a printer and webcam.
I have to say that the possibilities for world-class mobile applications are really exciting, but the upside for brand marketers is also vast, as AR can improve on-pack promotions, point of sale, print and billboard advertising, and so on. And if you think this is all tomorrow's world, it isn't. Take a look at the Glasses Direct interactive video mirror, for an example of how augmented reality can play a role in helping improve your conversion rates today.
So sit back and tune into augmented reality. And have a think about what you might be able to do in this space...
P&O comes top of travel website usability study
Cross-channel ferry operator P&O is one of the most usable travel websites in the UK, according to a study of 18 leading sites, while the wooden spoon goes to Eurotunnel.
The eDigital Research Travel Benchmark report (registration required) surveyed mystery shoppers to provide ratings for first impressions, search, the booking process, and customer service.
Twitter officially reaches out to businesses with Twitter 101
There's a general consensus that Twitter will eventually implement some business model that involves the companies using Twitter for commercial purposes. But the road to monetization has been a long one for the popular microblogging company, largely by choice.
But in a definitive sign that Twitter has corporate users on its mind, the company yesterday launched a 'special guide' for businesses called Twitter 101.
Thinking outside the box and other bad advice
Earlier this month I opened CREATE 2009, a forum for academics and practitioners to share creative and innovative ideas for human computer interaction (HCI).
The conference's theme was ‘Creative inventions and innovations for everyday HCI’ so to start things off I outlined my four step approach to help designers find more creative solutions to their problems.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
