E-Commerce

A survey released this week by multichannel research and strategy firm the e-tailing group shows that 54 percent of the 1,300 consumers polled plan to research products online before purchasing from any channel. Other data gift-purchasing behavior revealed by the survey: * 54 percent of consumers search directly for a specific item at a merchant site where they like to shop; * 44 percent comparison shop three sites before making a final purchase decision; * 39 percent browse multiple brick-and-mortar stores prior to completing a purchase; * Of those consumers who plan to purchase 20 or more gifts online this holiday season, 77

Successful catalogers know that putting the right offers in front of the right customers at the right times will result in strong sales. But the online affiliates putting your offers on their sites may not. Following are eight strategies your online affiliates should be using in order to maximize their contributions to your holiday sales offered by affiliate network Performics and multichannel strategy and research firm the e-tailing group. 1. Centralize and prominently position free shipping offers. Potential shoppers flock to these, the authors write. 2. Create a sense of urgency. Your affiliates should remind shoppers of the number of days until Christmas. 3. Inspire impulse

About 35 percent of consumers will buy holiday gifts online this year, up from 33 percent last year, according to a survey of 5,000 U.S. households released last week by business research and analysis firm The Conference Board. Even more revealing, a separate survey of 1,000 adult consumers with Internet access released last week by comparison shopping toolbar company Vendio, shows that 78 percent of consumers plan to shop for holiday gifts online this year. The surveys revealed the following about consumer spending: From The Conference Board survey: * U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $449 on gifts during the

A good Web analytics platform can tell you a lot about how consumers act while they’re on your site, but how can you leverage that data to improve sales? The key is to view customer conversion not as a single numerical result at the end of the purchase cycle, but as an elongated process with many smaller conversions along the way, said Pinny Gniwisch, vice president of marketing at online jewelry merchant Ice.com during a session at the recent Mid Market eTail conference in San Francisco. “We look at each section of the site as a number, or percent of the monetary value that the

Looking for some quick ideas to bolster your Web site or online holiday shopping initiatives? Jay Shaffer, vice president of marketing at home furnishings merchant DirectlyHome.com, offered several of them in a session at the recent Mid Market eTail conference in San Francisco. • Cheap market research is just a coffeehouse away. “Every six weeks or so, I’ll go into a Starbucks and find a soccer mom who hasn’t had an adult conversation in a year and offer her a coffee gift card for 15 minutes of her time,” Shaffer said. He then shows her three pages on the DirectlyHome Web site: the home page,

The first key to successful testing online is to take a full commitment to the process, said Stephen Cheng, marketing manager at online bookseller Alibris, in his session at last month’s Mid Market eTail conference in San Francisco. “Accept the fact that you will have duds, ideas that just don’t work when you test them,” Cheng said. Following are his tips for a better online testing process. 1. Establish a cross-functional team suited to the task. A Web site test shouldn’t be run just by the marketing team or the IT person responsible for the site, Cheng said. Both departments should be involved, as well

Regularly ask for feedback from your customers regarding your Web site. Invest in some kind of analytics to pay attention to where your customers run into problems on your site. Look at search logs. • Which searches return no results? • Where are your entry and exit pages? We do Web usability studies before any major Web enhancement. —Melissa Rothchild, senior director of marketing communications, B-to-B accounting products catalog CPA2Biz

A panel of marketing executives at multichannel merchants addressed the dual challenge of deciding to outsource and finding the right service firm during a session at last week’s Mid Market eTail conference in San Francisco. Following are their tips: * Learn from the best merchants. “While I try to find out about great solutions from other merchants at conferences and events, often the best resources are top 100 or top 500 lists that are published in magazines,” said Adrienne Hartman, director of the Internet for footwear merchant Shoemall.com and a former Internet manager at Lands’ End. “I’ll browse through a top merchant list and find

Consumers will use the Internet for about 29 percent of their shopping this year, according to a recently released National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGResearch. This includes both browsing and buying behavior. These shoppers are expected to spend an average of $791 on holiday shopping. Other data revealed by the survey: * 47.1 percent of consumers plan to make at least one purchase online this year; * 88.7 percent regularly or occasionally examine products online before purchasing in a store; * 23.6 percent start their product research on Google; * 7.2 percent start their research on Yahoo!; * 5.5 percent start their research

Looking for tips from the top? Three chief executives from online and multichannel merchants fired out ways to increase profitability by creating a unique multichannel experience through personalization, at last week’s Mid Market eTail conference in San Francisco. On hand were: Hannes Blum, CEO of online bookseller Abebooks.com; Josef Mandelbaum, president/CEO of greeting card marketer AG Interactive; and Mike Stamn, CEO of multichannel auto supplies merchant The Eastwood Co. Following are their recommendations: 1. Organize customer information to provide better personalization. Eastwood produces multiple catalogs, sends different messages and provides separate offers depending on whether the targeted customer is a consumer, a small business or