E-Commerce

Four years ago, eyeing a niche for upscale designer room furniture and decor for children’s bedrooms, three business veterans with decidedly different backgrounds joined forces to launch the Koo Koo Bears Kids catalog/online business. During a session at last week’s NEMOA conference in Cambridge, Mass., one of the principals, Joe Mediate, shared the lessons he learned in starting up the company and steering it on the road to success. 1. Pool diverse backgrounds. Mediate, with 23 years of experience in the computer business, was approached by two women for the start-up: One with a background in retail merchandising, the other with experience working with Helen

In a recent survey by the Performics performance marketing unit of DoubleClick, most respondents said that customers turned to search engines earlier in the purchase process than in years past. Although the shift indicates a significant shift in shopping behavior, there wasn’t a notable shift in buying behavior, according to companies queried in the Performics 50 Index. Some of the most noteworthy findings include the following: 4 total sales from search engine marketing programs grew as search spend increased 4 total Q4 revenue attributed directly to search increased by 43 percent over Q4 2005 4 overall search-attributed sales for all of 2006 increased by

Reflecting on his past experiences as a database marketing executive with the Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer and Nordstrom catalogs, Kevin Hillstrom, president of Seattle-based MineThatData, discussed ways he learned to adapt company business models to maximize multiple channels during a presentation at last week’s NEMOA conference, held in Cambridge, Mass. While with Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer, “we brought their channels together to come up with a single solution,” he said, noting how Nordstom “basically ended” the old business model of having the catalog function as a viable sales contributor. Instead, it would serve to promote store and Web traffic. “We saw customers were behaving differently,

And trust builds businesses! You can flood your prospects with advertising they don’t want, or you can provide them with insights, information and know-how they can really use. Tips are the bridge that connects prospects to you. By solving their problems and improving their lives, you’ll earn their trust. And trust turns browsers into believers and believers into buyers. —LifeTips, (617) 886-9001, www.lifetips.com

Writing this issue of The Corner View from Cambridge, Mass., during the Spring NEMOA conference this week, I found myself reflecting on the types of people who attend this conference, as well as the types of people in this industry today. Although the catalog business has undergone much consolidation over the years, which has stripped some companies of their entrepreneurial spirit, when you come to a NEMOA, it reinforces the industry’s ages-old character. NEMOA people are warm, caring, entrepreneurial and very social. They share a unique passion for the catalog business. In many respects, they’re indicative of the traditional cataloger. But guess what? They’re

Research shows that most people say they trust the content in e-mails they’ve signed up to receive. The challenge, though, is to build an opt-in list of loyal customers so you can convert those eyeballs into sales and keep them buying. GOT Corp., a Montreal-based e-mail service provider, offers several suggestions in its new white paper, “Growing Opt-In Lists: Turning Web Browsers into Buyers.” • Place multiple opt-in locations on your site. Too many marketers make the mistake of limiting opt-in requests to the home page, the whitepaper states. Include e-mail registration and opt-in requests on every page and at every potential customer interaction

Many of the most successful Web marketers use site search applications known as “searchandising,” which customizes their search and navigation with merchandising. A new research report from Aberdeen Group for e-commerce software provider Mercado Software shows that online retailers that use searchandising tools can boost sales, conversion rates and average order values. Here are four tips from the report, “Web Site Search: Revenue in the Results,” to help catalogers and other online marketers achieve the best results possible using searchandising applications. 1. Customize, it pays off. A whopping 86 percent of companies who achieved moderate to extensive customization to fit their products or

People love to save money and coupons help them save even more, whether they are shopping in a store, from a catalog or online. Coupons have always been part of the Internet shopping experience, but not all online shoppers have been able to easily find and use them. Below are 10 ways to increase sales with online coupons: 1. Don’t limit your audience. When creating coupons for the first time, merchants sometimes forget to offer coupons appealing to a wide audience. One of the most common mistakes is creating a coupon valid only for a specific product or product category. In limiting the product range,

Can a cataloger ever go overboard in trying to build its brand and drive sales? Actually, yes, particularly when using e-mails as a marketing strategy. Send too many e-mails to your target market and you could hurt the brand and ultimately lose customers by hitting an “exposure ceiling.” In his recent whitepaper, “The Email Exposure Ceiling,” Sundeep Kapur, director of customer service and e-commerce solutions for customized software solutions provider NRC eCommerce, says that because e-mail is a more personal means of communication than a print or radio advertising, people want to control what is sent to their inbox. If they feel a

Web sites can be a key marketing tool for almost every type of business. From flash pages and music to video and pop up cursor messages, Web site design and structure options are limitless. But have too many marketers lost site of the fundamental marketing mission sites serve? Have bells and whistles replaced message and branding? The answer is too often — yes. Sites should serve as a way of introducing, supporting and building loyalty for your business. A site can no longer be just a corporate brochure or shopping flyer; it must be a tool to brand you. To achieve