E-Commerce

The holidays are over, but retailers’ websites need to operate optimally throughout the year for maximum revenue. SmartBear's AlertSite checks how retailers’ websites perform with respect to availability and response times, two critical elements I hope retailers have on their list of New Year's resolutions. So far, while there's always room for improvement, I like what I'm seeing in terms of site availability for many of the retailers. For response times, I hope many listen up and heed the warnings.

Target has debuted six brands that will be available exclusively online. The one-stop shop is not taking its e-commerce site Target.com for granted. While continuing to draw people into its physical stores with sales and other incentives, the retailer acknowledges the need to change as shoppers' habits change. Target divisional merchandise manager Theresa Schmidt recognizes that consumers are going online more often to shop from the comfort of their own homes, and the need to not only draw new consumers to its online site but also retain existing online consumers...

Voxware, a provider of voice solutions, yesterday released research highlighting why consumers return items purchased online or by phone and how their experiences with the return process affect their future purchase intentions with retailers.  Highlights from the survey, which collected responses from 600 consumers, include the following:

In December, American Apparel achieved the highest sales month for its online business in the company's history, besting December 2011's sales by 59 percent. The company, which both manufactures and distributes merchandise and operates retail stores, had moved its multisite e-commerce operations to Oracle's ATG Web Commerce in October. American Apparel is using the platform, a component of Oracle Commerce, to operate multiple integrated e-commerce sites for different customer groups and geographic regions. The retailer is using the solution to present customers with personalized content and customized search options, helping to accelerate selections by presenting items that the shopper prefers.

Even though digital sales at Finish Line were up a healthy 25 percent in last year's third quarter, they might have been as much as $3 million higher. After going live with a new e-commerce platform on Nov. 19, the athletic footwear and apparel retailer noted poor customer experiences and lower-than-expected online conversion rates. The issues were severe enough that after only three weeks, Finish Line reverted to its legacy online technology, which had been running in parallel with the new system as a standard safety precaution.

"When we started there were not a lot of female-founded [online] consumer retail companies," Gilt Groupe Co-Founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson told the Financial Times. Gilt, of course, is huge now, and in addition to revolutionizing online shopping, FT is suggesting that the company has also provided a much-needed model for MBA students and other women headed into the business of fashion. "There now seems to be a path to follow," says Christina Wallaceof, co-founder of newly launched e-commerce site Quincey Apparel, which she founded with Harvard Business School classmate Alex Nel.

Online retailers must design sites that work well and look great on tablets as those devices emerge as a favorite for online shoppers. Designing for tablets include adaptive layouts, touch-sensitive navigation, great images and graphics, and fast load times. Some 25 percent of American's now own and use a tablet computer like Apple iPad, Google Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy Note, Amazon Kindle, and Microsoft Surface, according to an August 2012 report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. 

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported the final 2012 holiday season retail e-commerce spending totals. $42.3 billion was spent online during the November-December holiday shopping season, marking a 14 percent increase from 2011. The latter portion of the season saw several days with particularly strong growth, including Free Shipping Day on Monday, Dec. 17 (up 76 percent to $1.013 billion) and Christmas Day (up 36 percent to $288 million), but they couldn't make up for the spending growth shortfall earlier in the month. 

While Times Square was preparing to drop a ball and Kimye was preparing to drop a bomb on New Year's Eve, Gap was finalizing the details of its acquisition of specialty retailer Intermix. WWD reports that the deal, which fueled some rumors and speculation last month, closed on Dec. 31 to the tune of $130 million. The partnership should aid both brands: Intermix can use Gap's massive reach to grow its own retail and e-tail presence, while Gap can benefit from Intermix's expertise in the contemporary luxury market. But most exciting: Gap also intends to beef up Intermix's website with some innovative-sounding improvements.

Google's new bid-based Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are designed to be a richer advertising experience that increase clickthrough rates by including additional product information (e.g., product image, price and merchant name) without requiring additional keywords or text to be added by retailers.

 With the new Google Shopping, online merchants will also benefit from the ability to manage their feed advertising as well as the increased control over which products and categories to focus their ads on.