E-Commerce

If you’re not using Google’s Webmaster Central, you should start. Google Webmaster Central is a great bundle of free Google tools to help you understand how Google indexes your site. It’s essential to ranking well in Google’s natural rankings. And as a bonus of sorts, by fixing problems revealed by Webmaster Central, you often can improve your positioning on secondary engines, too. For starters, you need a Google account. Go to: https://www.google.com/accounts/newaccount. Next, go to (and bookmark) the Google Webmaster Central homepage: www.google.com/webmasters. The Help Center, blog and forums are worth monitoring. These resources provide valuable advice from Google and outsiders for successful

While many over the years have tried to break down Internet advertising to an exact science, the most effective method is still a combination of luck and guesswork, according to Taddy Hall and Robert Barocci from recently published their book, “The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from the Advertising Research Foundation” (Wiley 2007, ISBN: 978-0-470-05105-4, $29.95). There are a number of ways that catalogers and other multichannel merchants can succeed advertising on the Web. The book contains a bunch of them. Below are several excerpted from it. Create a balance between reaching the right people the right number of times with

In a session on the future of online retailing that he delivered during the recent Internet Retailer Conference in San Jose, Calif., Gary Briggs, chief marketing officer at eBay, outlined several key challenges to attendees, some of which his company has been acting on, some not. Below are some of his key points. 1. “Are we challenging each other to truly innovate, as opposed to mostly copying each other,” he asked. “At eBay, we need to drive more innovation in the auction platform to make the eBay brand stronger. Sameness doesn’t drive consumer demand.” 2. “Are we listening to consumers and the new ways

Online shoppers are more likely to return to Web sites and shop in stores of retailers that provide their complete product information online, according to a survey of online consumer product research habits released on June 5 by content integration services provider WebCollage. Below are some of the most noteworthy findings from the survey. * 91 percent of online shoppers polled said they felt it’s important or very important for retailers to provide complete product information online * 44 percent of respondents said they felt retail Web sites don’t have the most complete product information * 33 percent said they’re concerned that retailer product

Whether you’re an established cataloger needing to tweak your online presence or a relative newcomer, today’s Web holds nearly limitless potential for marketing and selling. In many respects, smaller companies are no longer dwarfed by their bigger counterparts when they effectively use today’s powerful Web 2.0 applications. Such tools as videos, podcasts, rich graphical presentations and other content-rich media applications help level the playing field by infusing fresh content to your site and in turn, feed search engines. Before jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, though, it’s helpful to take a step back and plan an online strategy. Here are some guidelines we use in

Speed is an often-overlooked component of Web site usability. Users perceive faster sites as more functional. Usable Web sites sell more. If a site responds quickly, users are less likely to abandon ship if they get confused. Case closed. Read on! Best-of-class organizations, such as Google, Craigslist and Amazon.com, deliberately strive for site speed. Regardless of your size, your Web team can and should do the same. There’s no “magic bullet” to speed up your site, however. Speed comes from implementing many simple changes. Here are four broad strategies and 24 tactics to speed up your site. Strategy 1: Manage for Speed

Catalogers’ Updates PetSmart: The multichannel pet supplies retailer in late April sold its State Line Tack equine assets to PetsUnited, a holding company for a Web-based marketer of pet and equine products, including Dog.com, Fish.com and Horse.com. PetsUnited plans to move the State Line Tack online and catalog business from Brockport, N.Y., to its Hazelton, Pa., facility by July. Cutter & Buck: This apparel cataloger/designer in April agreed to be acquired by the Sweden-based New Wave Group AB, a designer/marketer of assorted apparel lines for the corporate promotional and consumer retail markets in Europe. Under New Wave Group’s ownership, Cutter & Buck

For many years, the recency/frequency/monetary value (RFM) formula has been the cornerstone of catalog circulation plan segmentation. But what if this is no longer true? What if recent customers actually respond to your catalog mailings at a lower rate than older customers, frequent customers at an even lower rate, and higher spending customers even lower? No, I’m not kidding. This is happening right now and you may not be aware of it. A brief review of the age-old formula is in order. First, recency. It’s been the most powerful predictor of the likelihood of a customer placing another order. For example, for one typical

An impromptu trip from Denmark to England started it all. It was the summer of 1973, and while traveling in Denmark, Grant Dowse and Pegge Kirschner decided to take a road trip to England. To make the car comfortable enough to camp in, they bought, among other things, a cotton flannel sheet. They eventually brought the sheet home with them, and later ordered a similar item from an American mail order company. But it wound up being a synthetic version of the English flannel sheet they’d purchased in Europe. That transaction inspired them to launch their own mail order business. Married three years

Throughout my years covering this business, I’ve often had to elaborate to friends or family members on just what market I cover — or for that matter, what I do for a living. I’d try to explain and it would take them a little while to understand both what the catalog market is and what I do. “Catalog what? What’s yer catalog?” “No, no. I’m with a magazine that follows the catalog business. Y’know, L.L. Bean or Lands’ End. Or, surely you’ve heard of the old Sears Wish Book?” “Ohhhh! You work for Sears. Nice! Are you in the appliance department?” “Ughhh …” In the past, it wasn’t always