E-Commerce

In this month's edition of SmartBear Software's Retailer Web Performance Report Card, the website performances of Nike and Blockbuster are examined. The idea behind this column is to help retailers deliver a great online user experience for the purpose of positively impacting business performance. I hope that retailers are continuously monitoring quality in terms of website availability, performance and user experience. With the help of SmartBear's AlertSite, I've looked at website response times and availability percentages from April 1 to April 16. For better or worse, Nike and Blockbuster are our featured retailers this month.

Site speed has been associated with every business metric you care about: page views, bounce rate, conversions, customer satisfaction, return visits and revenue. These effects are felt at companies of all sizes, from online giants like Amazon.com to small e-commerce shops.

After releasing a barrage of new reports to help you understand attribution from multi-channel funnel reports, attribution modeling, and social data partners, Google realizes that site owners need to better understand customer journey from first visit through to conversion, no matter how long that takes. Google Analytics has launched a new tool, the Customer Journey to Online Purchase

I spend a good deal of time looking at websites that have been developed using responsive web design (RWD). Often, many of the websites using RWD are agency sites or personal blogs, and sometimes it seems like a RWD design might only be practical for the more creative type of website. However, this is simply not true. Every type of website can benefit from using RWD to allow web visitors to access the same site and content no matter what kind of device they're using.  

Amazon.com's Quidsi unit yesterday unveiled Look.com, a new site that's designed to sell children's apparel and footwear. It marks the latest move by Quidsi into the arena of family and home-oriented products, including Wag.com (pet products); Casa.com (home products) and Diapers.com (baby products). Look.com is selling an array of 40,000 products, segmented by age and gender. Brands such as Carter's, Joe's Jeans, Columbia Sportswear and others are represented. The move could have implications for another Seattle e-commerce retailer, Zulily.

Keaton Row, a recently launched startup, is shaking up the way corporate gals shop for fashion online. Founded by Harvard Business School grads Cheryl Han, 30, and Elenor Mak, 33, the site pairs busy professional women with personal stylists who curate customized looks for their clients. Through its team of now 200 stylists, Keaton Row is updating Avon-style direct sales for the Twitter generation. Paid on a commission basis, the stylists cultivate their own clients, often through social media, and do all of their business online.

Wayfair.com is one of those e-commerce companies that hasn't gotten large amounts of media attention, but has quietly been able to create a solid business around selling home goods and furniture online. Last year, the company, which was born from CSN Stores, raised $36 million in new funding and revealed that it's seeing $600 million in annual sales (and $2.5 billion in home furnishings sales to date).

E-commerce is quickly gaining traction as a quick and affordable entree to China's vast retail market, with U.S. brands Costco and Macy's both reportedly planning big new moves into the space. Their strategy reflects an emerging trend that has big Western chains circumventing the traditional retailing route into China, seeking to avoid the big costs and risks that have led to big losses and retreats for names like Best Buy and Home Depot. But the online strategy also carries its own risks.  

I'm no expert in the logistics behind comparison shopping engines (CSEs), but I am definitely an expert in using them. It's as simple as a Google search, and voila, you have a price comparison of the item you desire from sites all over the internet. It's just so darn convenient! Why would anyone want to take on a crowded mall when they could order all the same things, at more competitive rates, from the comfort of their home?

Women favor shopping online, and have a big influence over what men buy. The second annual SheSpeaks/Lippe Taylor Women's Buying Behavior Index surveyed 2,152 women over the past two months to get a pulse on buying habits and forecast purchasing trends of American women.