Start Me Up! A profile of Shoply
Launched last year, Shoply is a social shopping site which provides a marketplace for small brands and local business looking to sell online.
I've been asking CEO Liad Shababo about Shoply...
Useful e-commerce trends: the promo strip
This post highlights a simple, useful feature that's crept onto most of the UK's largest e-commerce sites over the last couple of years, with no real coverage.
"The promo strip" is not new, but has slowly caught on to the point it's almost standard for high street retailers, yet still fairly rare on smaller sites.
It's a very useful addition from both the customer perspective (quickly informative without being overbearing) and from the brand perspective (conversion orientated without being overbearing!).
There are 12 examples below, including variations on the central idea.
The Four Seasons site is beautiful, but not for disabled users
The press release announcing Four Season’s new site states that it was "thoughtfully designed...to deliver an immersive and effortless experience tailored to every user".
But shouldn't that include disabled users?
The Four Seasons site review focusing on web usability highlighted some important shortcomings in terms of the booking process and other areas, and briefly mentioned some of the accessibility issues.
Here we take a closer look at some of these and the actions that should have been taken to truly make the site available and usable to every user.
Users see 15% increase in revenue when using Ecwid Facebook app
Platform-neutral e-commerce widget Ecwid has revealed that its users see an increase of 15% in revenue when implementing its Facebook application.
The company analysed 2,000 user accounts and found that in the month following the implementation of an Ecwid Facebook store, an additional 15% of sales was generated from the application.
How brands lost the Super Bowl race for the second screen
Here in New York last week, digital media and advertising commentators were all talking about the role that digital and in particular, social media, was going to play during the Super Bowl TV ad breaks. With advertisers paying about $3.5 million for a slot, this has been another record year for TV ad revenue and the show was the most watched TV event in American History.
Sunday night was going to be #Hashtag-Heaven, we were told – or at least a #FacebookFrenzy, with brands falling over themselves to drive people off their 47 inch flatscreens and onto their other devices – the so-called ‘second screen’. So you’d think that the ad execs would have thought the web in all its forms - mobile, tablet and laptop - would be the place to go make sure they extended the reach and level of audience engagement worthy of such an expensive commodity.
You’d be wrong.
Experience an augmented Valentine's Day with Starbucks
Yesterday Starbucks launched their new Valentine's augmented reality (AR) cups. It's quite a clever way to get customers to not only drink their morning coffee but to buy one for a loved one.
All you need to do is download the app from Starbucks and you can "experience your valentine" as the heart on the side of the cup comes to life.
Amazon overtakes HMV as UK's top entertainment retailer
Amazon is now the UK’s number one entertainment retailer in terms of market share, according to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
The company took 22.4% of the market for videos, games and music in the 12 weeks ending December 26 2011, while HMV had a 17.5% share.
Does your email marketing need a new prescription?
Being an email marketer, it’s funny how often you bump into something that makes you think of work! A little while ago after visiting the doctor, I received an email about ordering repeat prescriptions.
So far, so good you’d think. Some good targeting going on there.
But when I gave it a read, what struck me were all the missed opportunities. For example, the email ‘from address’ was totally unrecognisable, and there was litte in the way of clever personalisation that you often see in the private sector.
What’s more, it’s the only email (indeed, the only communication of all types) I’ve had from them in the last 18 months or so. It was an interesting message to kick off our e-relationship.
Why be a stranger?
StuffPal allows users to swap books, DVDs and games via Facebook app
Continuing our covering of the collaborative consumption trend, we’ve found another example in the form of StuffPal.
This Facebook app from Los Angeles-based Loconuts is designed to facilitate the sharing of books, DVDs and video games among friends.
Why retailers need to embrace mobile internet in stores
It's natural that some retailers will feel threatened by the growing use of mobile in store, but the answer is to embrace this trend and use it to enhance the in-store experience.
Retailers can do this by providing apps and mobile optimised sites, but also by offering wi-fi to customers.
According to an On Device Research (ODR) survey of mobile users, 60% of respondents have used the mobile internet while in stores, while 78% would use free wi-fi in stores if offered it.
The use of smartphones by consumers is growing, and many are now using them to compare prices, and search the web for product reviews.
So how can retailers adapt and use this customer behaviour to their advantage?
