E-Commerce

The key to getting shoppers to notice your online videos is to get as much mileage out of them as possible. That means thinking beyond product pages. Sure, they're the logical place for your videos, but there are many more ways to place videos in front of consumers’ eyeballs — at the beginning of the shopping process, in the middle and after browsers become buyers.

Pinterest, and specifically the act of "pinning," is driving people into stores and influencing purchase decisions. Recent data distributed by Vision Critical and highlighted in the Harvard Business Review found that 21 percent of Pinterest users had bought an item in a store after pinning, repinning or liking the item on the site. Vision Critical describes this as part of a wider phenomenon it calls "reverse showrooming," in which consumers search or browse products online and then enter the physical shop to make a final purchase.

Even in an age of Twitter posts and Instagram photos, email is still the way marketers reach the hearts — and wallets — of consumers. And that's why retailers are up in arms about Google's latest tweak to Gmail. Over the summer, the internet behemoth gradually introduced a new inbox with an assortment of folders for different types of messages, including a main inbox and ones for social networking alerts, e-commerce promotions, updates from businesses like banks and mailing list messages.

As the United States’ largest specialty apparel chain, Gap needs to keep the shelves well stocked at its 2,425 U.S. stores and 3,100 worldwide. That means keeping a lot of in-store inventory. At the same time, the company needs enough inventory in its e-commerce fulfillment channel to meet that growing demand. To bridge those two inventory sources, Gap came up with a solution, known as Ship From Store, at the end of 2012 and implemented it into its e-commerce system. Ship From Store lets online shoppers buy directly from store inventory.

JustFab, known for its engaging and personalized online shopping experience, today announced the opening of a 3,000 square-foot flagship store in Los Angeles. JustFab is the first fashion subscription e-commerce company to open a retail store. Launched in 2010 as a web-only fashion brand offering women's footwear, JustFab has since expanded into multiple international markets and new product categories. Now, with over 33 million members worldwide through a portfolio of lifestyle fashion brands including JustFab, FabKids, ShoeDazzle and Fabletics, co-CEOs Adam Goldenberg and Don Ressler are taking the company into traditional retail, upending the typical growth strategy most brands follow.

Amazon.com has written and rewritten the rules of e-commerce since the late 1990s, and muscled more than a few traditional retailers into an early grave. Times have changed, however. Retailers large and small now have access to strategies and solutions that leverage their brick-and-mortar locations to fuel their e-commerce storefronts while increasing foot traffic at the same time. Better yet, the technology is available in the cloud, meaning lower capital expenditures and faster results.

Just as video didn't kill the radio star, the internet won't kill the shopping mall any time soon. The shopping habits of Generation Y show why. Buying almost anything online may be as much second nature as texting for many in the first generation to have grown up with e-commerce, but the millennials still do most of their shopping in stores, especially those that keep their offerings fresh and make the experience social, according to research from the Urban Land Institute.

Stein Mart today announced the launch of its online store. Stein Mart is one of the first off-price retailers to extend its offering of current season, brand name fashion apparel for women and men, as well as accessories, linens and home décor at everyday discount prices through an online store. "We're excited to announce that we are in the e-commerce business and happy to be able to serve our customers who like to shop online," said Jay Stein, CEO. "As we learn more and grow this business, we anticipate that this channel will rapidly become our largest flagship 'store'."

There are so many different shopping cart providers today, how do you know what to look for when selecting one? The answer ultimately lies in knowing which software will adapt and grow with your business best. As I see it, there are five absolutely critical things that must be considered when setting up an online store and selecting an online shopping cart:

You're hired! Ivanka Trump has hired Kate Spade e-commerce bigwig Johanna Murphy as chief marketing officer and head of digital for her self-named apparel and accessories brand. Murphy will be charged with creating a web and mobile experience that will bring Ivanka Trump's fashion line, which up to now has been a wholesale business, direct to consumers. She will also be tasked with coming up with digital integrations if and when the brand opens its own stand-alone shops.