E-Commerce

Solutions to the challenges brands face maintaining an effective digital content strategy in today’s omnichannel retail environment.

Even for top retailers, tackling web performance is like aiming at a constantly moving target. As soon as you've gotten a bead on one performance issue, a brand new challenge pops up. The silver lining here is that the impact of all this complexity can be mitigated with a thoughtful optimization strategy and a commitment to evolving this strategy to continue to meet future demands. Overall, there are a number of optimization techniques that site owners can implement to speed up their pages. Here are a few:

Yahoo showed its commitment to e-commerce on Thursday by launching what it calls a "completely reimagined, next generation" version of Yahoo Stores. The company is emphasizing how easy it is to set up a store, start accepting payments, and get found through its search engine optimization features. Yahoo Stores has been around for 16 years, and Amit Kumar, head of Yahoo Small Business, says the new Yahoo Stores draws upon what the company has learned from its millions of customers. 

OK, as a journalist, I’m not supposed to show any allegiance to a brand. I'm supposed to be unbiased and straightforward with just the facts, ma’am. And most of the time I am. But I’ve been reading a lot about the cool stuff online luxury retailer Net-A-Porter has been doing lately, and I can’t contain my excitement. Here are three reasons I think it's a great company:

eBay wants to lend you money. The online marketplace is stepping into the gap that's opened as commercial banks have become reluctant to lend to small business owners by beefing up its offer of lines of credit to users of its PayPal service. "It's going from a technology company to a financial services company," said Gil Luria, analyst at financial services and investment firm WedBush. eBay's PayPal, which it bought in 2002, has had an invitation-only pilot program for small business credit since last fall, but it recently launched the offer more broadly under the name PayPal Working Capital.

Amazon.com has a problem with its hugely successful Prime membership program — namely the program is hugely successful. The retailer recently raised the price of the annual subscription program, which offers free two-day delivery service to members along with other perks, from $79 to $99. But Prime is an expensive program to run and now Amazon is offering customers credits to wait longer for deliveries. According to CNET, Amazon is now offering a $1 credit toward an Amazon Instant Video for Prime members willing to wait five days to seven days to receive their shipment instead of the typical two.

Wal-Mart, in its latest bid to compete with nemesis Amazon.com, is rebuilding its website to further personalize the online shopping experience of each customer. Wal-Mart is rolling out a feature that will enable its website to show shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchase data. It will also customize Wal-Mart's homepage for each shopper based on the customer's location, local weather, and their search and purchase history. So if a new mom just bought a stroller or crib on Walmart.com, the revamped website might recommend diapers and car seats, too. 

Q: "When PLAs were free, our company was king. Now that they're paid, we can't figure out how to crack the code and get PLA visibility. Any best practices around getting the most out of PLAs?" — Jackie Eldridge,  director of social media and affiliate 
marketing, DollarDays.com

If you can't beat ’em, try, try again. That's the playbook being followed by Marc Lore, the former CEO of Diapers.com parent company Quidsi, which he sold to Amazon.com in 2011 amid increased competition from the Seattle retail giant. At one time, Diapers.com looked like it could become a long-term competitor to Amazon. But while Lore and co-founder Vinit Bharara made a fortune on the business, selling Quidsi to Amazon for $550 million, people who know Lore say he wants another crack at building a giant e-commerce company that stays independent for the long haul.

In line with its usual philosophy of extreme customer service, Zappos has introduced a new service that can help consumers track down any fashion item — even if the company doesn't sell it. Called Ask Zappos, the service provides a digital personal assistant who takes requests in the form of images and finds the exact item, while also providing links to some alternatives. Zappos has been testing the service since the beginning of June, but started promoting Ask Zappos on its mobile homepage last week.