In June, it was revealed that Safari in iOS9 would support ad blocking. Last week, ad blocking on iOS became a reality.
This week, the iOS ad blocking apocalypse is in full swing and the victims aren’t just companies that rely on digital advertising to generate revenue.
One of the biggest barriers for customers about to use a checkout is forcing them to register their details first.
Presenting them with page after page of forms in which they need to fill out the most unnecessary of personal details is a quick way to send your customers to the exit, leaving many abandoned baskets and lowering your conversion.
Earlier today I looked at 30 UK retailers and which ones force their customers to register, now it’s time to turn our attention to the USA.
Detailed product information is essential for achieving conversions as customers obviously can’t touch the product so retailers need to provide all the relevant details through images, product descriptions, reviews and videos.
This is an easy enough task for simple product such as DVDs, books and some clothing items, but electronics and other technical products require a great deal more information.
The challenge is then to try and present all the relevant information in a clear and concise manner that doesn’t cause the reader to lose interest and go elsewhere.
A case in point is the Samsung 3D 51” plasma TV which retails at around £1,800. It’s not the sort of purchase that most people will make on a whim, so retailers have to provide detailed information to ensure customers are happy to part with their cash.
With this in mind, I browsed a number of ecommerce sites to see how they deal with product descriptions for this particular TV.
In my previous post about the world’s largest brands and their social media presence, I noticed that while tech companies dominated the stats, FMCGs were still clinging on to a couple of top spots.
With this in mind I thought I’d take a closer look at how top FMCG retailers are fairing on the world’s largest social networks.
As shoppers prepare to descend on their favorite stores this Friday as the holiday shopping season gets underway, retailers are preparing to greet them with deals that they hope will be too good to pass up.
Retailers are optimistic about their prospects this year, but they’re arguably going to have to work harder than ever if they want to maximize their sales. The reason? More and more consumers are deciding to shop from home on Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend, forcing retailers to hone their online and offline strategies.
This week we’re highlighting new movements into social with our weekly showcase of The Dachis Group’s Social Business Index.
Our focus is on three well-known brands – a Spanish fashion brand, everyone’s favorite German car company and a popular nationwide department store.
We also take a glimpse at the top twenty brands on the Social Business Index, a real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their performance in the social space, to see how the biggest brands in social are faring. A new addition back into the charts is Facebook as it jumped 8 points to number 20.
I’ve been taking a look at the Sears website from a user experience perspective to see what the retailer does well online, and where it can improve.
I’ve highlighted some excellent features on the site that other online retailers could learn from, some relatively minor irritations that would annoy users, and problems that may make users abandon the site.
Overall, the site performs well and contains some excellent features, such as proactive use of live chat.
However, even with the best sites, there is always room for improvement…
The Federal Trade Commision has been breathing down the neck of online advertisers for months now. But under David C. Vladeck, the new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, it looks like the investigation into behavioral targeting tactics online may take a more emotional shift.
Congress has been mulling an opt-in bill that would require all advertisers online to ask consumers every time they try to use their data. But now Vladeck seems to be proposing a new measure for proper advertising online which is something of a dignity index.
Sears, one of the largest e-tailers in the US, has just relaunched the websites for two of its online brands, Kmart.com and Sears.com, and has introduced an interesting new multi-search feature.
This means that shoppers at either of the relaunched websites can search on one site and receive product results across both of them. Sears has also added tabs at the top of each page that allow users to quickly access any of the company’s six e-commerce sites.
Sears Holding is reorganizing its on and offline channels under an ambitious new initiative dubbed ShopYourWay. The program intends to integrate the scope of the goods and services the retail conglomerate provides across a panoply of channels, including in-store, online, mobile, electronic kiosks, even PDAs.
ShopYourWay has launched on Sears.com, and will soon be introduced to Kmart.com. When that happens, the full range of Sears products will be available to shoppers on Kmart, and vice-versa. Such cross-merchandising will increase the options available to consumers. Shoppers on Sears property LandsEnd.com, for example, will be able to view apparel from other Sears brands.