E-Commerce

As per my headline, for this issue of Catalog Success: The Corner View, I hand my pen — um, keyboard — over to Catalog Success E-Commerce Insights columnist Alan Rimm-Kaufman. Alan heads the Rimm-Kaufman Group, an online agency providing large-scale paid search bid management and Web site testing services, and was formerly a marketing executive with the Crutchfield catalog of consumer electronics. I leave the stage to Alan, who starts with a potential scenario followed by nine predictions for the future of the catalog/multichannel business as it affects you. Scene: A bar at a conference hotel during a marketing trade show. Bill:

Familiarity with the types of products offered by a company or brand has proven to be a key influencer in driving traffic to your Web site. Such was the finding of the 2007 edition of the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index conducted by ForeSee Results. The survey used the methodologies of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, and is based on the responses of more than 11,000 online shoppers. Here are some of its findings. * 78 percent of respondents said familiarity with the types of products offered by the company or brand led to satisfaction when visiting a Web site; followed by promotional

When preparing their next offers, multichannel marketers may want to take a second look at the value of free shipping. Its appeal to consumers appears to be growing. Such was the finding of the seventh annual Post-Holiday Customer Insight survey conducted by Decision Direct Research, the marketing research division of the list company the Millard Group. Of the 73,000 consumers who completed the recent survey, 61 percent said free shipping spurred them to shop from catalogs, and 53 percent indicated free shipping was the driving force in getting them to shop on a Web site. Here are some more noteworthy findings of the survey:

Many B-to-B catalogers are looking for ways to increase their online businesses. Most are currently spending significantly on some form of paid online advertising, improving their organic search efforts and improving their conversions of site visits to orders.
Another idea you might want to consider is starting a new company online. If you believe every successful endeavor starts with a consideration of your potential market and products, consider examining the following points.
* Take a look at your 10 best-selling products and ask yourself, “Could any of these become a stand-alone business?” Examine how your products might serve a new market if they

This article assumes that insights gained from Web testing lead to effective print catalog presentations. That is our “Big Assumption.” If you disagree, skip to the next article. No hard feelings; see you next month. Still reading? Good. There are two decent reasons to accept this Big Assumption. First, the Web is so prevalent that the demographics of Web shoppers are pretty much the same as the demographics of all direct shoppers, making the Big Assumption reasonable. Second, the Web offers catalogers their first chance to do real testing. While many catalogers think they’ve been testing for years, they really haven’t been

Recently, I found myself in the middle of a discussion about how long it took to actually place an order on a particular cataloger’s Web site. Granted, this particular company admits it’s not on the cutting edge of online selling. But the result was an eye-opener. Knowing the product number, it still took me 22 clicks to buy an item on its Web site. Would anyone really put up with that? It actually surprised me how many customers did.
We, of course, began a search of this company’s competitors’ sites and found the same product could be ordered with far fewer clicks in

With many Web options available, overseas expansion for multichannel marketers might not be as daunting as it once was. John Lazarchic, vice president of e-commerce for multichannel pet supplies retailer PETCO, laid out a multistep plan to attract business from foreign customers during a Feb. 13 session at the eTail conference in Palm Desert, Calif. 1. Choose a comparison shopping engine and marketplace site, because … * they capture large audiences; * when used effectively, they can significantly impact traffic and sales; * you compete with the many online businesses that compete on price, and they’re all most likely using such search engines; and

In a recent mystery shopping study conducted by the e-tailing group, TV home-shopping marketer QVC captured the top spot. The consulting firm ranked 100 Web sites based on a perfect score of 100, gauging such factors as the site’s key pages, the overall presence and execution of merchandising, and customer-service tactics. Here are some of the more noteworthy findings of the report: * QVC captured the top spot with a score of 86.5; * the average score was 67.9; * 40 percent of the sites earned index ratings greater than 70, 44 percent of the sites were in the 60 to 70 range and

When I attend industry conferences, I do quite a lot of cherry-picking. After all, there’s quite a lot of information spread around, but not a lot of it’s relevant to catalogers and multichannel marketers. So for this week’s edition of The Corner View, I took it upon myself to attend many sessions from the eTail Conference, held Feb. 11-14 in Palm Desert, Calif., and whittle down these experiences into the top 10 ideas, tips, points and company activities I took in during the event. I only attended sessions with panels that included catalog/multichannel marketers. The most noteworthy subjects they discussed included exploring

For many, South Florida, particularly Miami, evokes pleasing thoughts of palm trees, cold drinks and fun in the sun. But for multichannel marketers, the city raises a red flag. According to a survey of 318 online merchants by CyberSource, a provider of electronic payment, risk and security management solutions, Miami is the highest-risk area for online fraud in the U.S. Orders from this city have the highest probability of being fraudulent. With 10 percent of the vote, Miami edged New York (8 percent), which held the top spot the previous two years. Here are some other noteworthy findings of the survey: * Other