E-Commerce

With the holiday shopping season nearly upon us, it’s time to evaluate your marketing plan and make sure you’re prepared for what’s to come. Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, offers the following to tips on ensuring your holiday marketing plans are up to snuff in a new best practices report. 1. Be ready for shoppers early in the season. One-third of consumers surveyed after last year’s holiday season said they started shopping online earlier than in 2004, up 6 percent from a similar survey held after that holiday season, according to the report. Some Shop.org members revealed that free

Before my official post for the week starts, let me thank all of you who added your comments to this site, as well as those who e-mailed me privately. Your encouragement and feedback was much appreciated, and it’s nice to get the first Catalog Success blog off to a good start.

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Great, you’re back … O.K., now on to this week’s topics: 1) my own goals for this blog, and 2) my response to a

Forty percent of online consumers would abandon a transaction when experiencing problems on an e-commerce Web site, according to a recent survey by online customer experience management solutions provider TeaLeaf and market research firm Harris Interactive. Nearly one-third of those consumers would turn to a competitor while 7 percent would abandon the endeavor entirely, the survey revealed. The top problems that online consumers said would cause them to turn to competitors are, * Incorrect information or lack of adequate information on a Web site, cited by 41 percent of respondents; * Difficulty navigating the Web site, cited by 37 percent; * Inability to complete

When it comes to integrating creative between the three primary marketing channels – catalog, Web and retail – much has been said about presenting a consistent image across all channels. But doing so isn’t always so easy. As Carol Worthington-Levy, partner and director at San Rafael, Calif.-based consultancy LENSER, pointed during a session at the recent New England Mail Order Association conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., multichannel marketers should enroll their creative people in “taking a role in the actual selling process.” She offered the following points and tips to marketers looking for ways to achieve multichannel consistency: Leverage your branding across all media that sells

9 ways to get your site search-ready for the holidays. The clock is ticking. Holiday shopping season is just around the corner. More customers will turn to your Web site than ever before. That means it’s time to tune it up for maximum search engine visibility. Here are nine traffic-building tips that’ll make your site sing “Happy Holidays” long after the season is done. 1. Link Building Links are the currency of search engines. Improving the quantity and quality of your inbound links will pay dividends. Add a handful of links from high-PageRank, relevant sites and you’ll see an impact within weeks. (PageRank

Take the road less traveled. Cataloging, by its very nature implies acquiring customers via renting lists. For some, that’s prospecting in a nutshell. But most catalogers eventually go beyond lists as a means to not only grow the business, but also to combat limited list universes, or as part of an overall expansion into multichannel marketing. But which directions make sense for your business? There are so many traditional choices, such as co-op databases, inserts, space ads, solo mailings, television or radio advertising. Compound that dilemma with the influx of newer online methods, such as paid search, Amazon.com, eBay and

In the rapidly evolving world of multichannel marketing, the print catalog’s role isn’t only changing on the consumer side. Consider how business postcard printer Modern Postcard, which for years provided its postcards to many business-to-business (B-to-B) marketers, has evolved into a cataloger: In mid-September, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based Modern Postcard rolled out a 24-page, 10.375-inch-by-8-inch B-to-B catalog that mailed to about 200,000 prospects (80 percent) and existing customers (20 percent). “We felt that our product and service offerings were amenable to the catalog channel, and we saw the creation of a catalog as a unique means for us to differentiate ourselves, elevate our brand and continue

Turbocharge your cart with ‘payments.” In e-commerce, add a fifth “P” to the traditional four Ps of marketing — product, pricing, promotion and placement: payments. Catalogers can see real incremental sales improvement by offering customers and prospects additional ways to pay. I’ve devoted this article to review PayPal, Bill Me Later and Google Checkout. Adding some or all of these payment methods to your site can significantly lift Web sales. A 2004 CyberSource study shows that merchants offering four payment options, such as credit cards, gift certificates, e-checks and PayPal, get 20 percent higher conversion than those offering just credit cards.

Fueled by the increased proliferation of broadband, one-third of American households have made an online purchase, according to several recent reports. With that in mind, Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, discussed essential things catalogers should have on their Web sites during a session at last week’s New England Mail Order Association conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 1. Product comparison: “People want to compare different products, categories and brands side by side,” Freedman pointed out. 2. Customer reviews of products, because “other customers do read them,” she said. 3. Seasonal promotions: Use a calendar that mirrors customers’ behaviors and reflects outside influences, Freedman said. Let

Much has changed in catalog retailing over the past five years. But as Michelle Farabaugh, a partner with catalog consultancy LENSER, sees it, there’ll be more change over the next five years than the past 30. She offered points and noted some key issues catalogers should be on the lookout for during a session at last week’s New England Mail Order Association conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): “Because search is so important,” she said, “it’s critical once we get customers to the site that they can acutally find what they’re looking for and we can find what they need and