Online Marketing

I've always thought of ladies with bags covered in designer logos as walking advertisements. However, I understand and appreciate the high-quality materials and level of craftsmanship that comes with the premium price tag. Being one who is drawn to deals and always wanting a bargain, I turn to flash-sale sites to look for designer goods. Recently, I visited Gilt.com, a flash-sale site that offers lower prices on luxury brands, and found the perfect bag for spring. I definitely felt guilty for coveting a tote that was equal to two round-trip tickets to the Caribbean. 

The No. 1 goal for online retailers is to consistently deliver engaging website experiences. In order to accomplish this, marketers must execute multiple test campaigns simultaneously to discover which offers, messages and presentations create a winning formula. 

Brands including Amazon.com, Zappos.com and Victoria's Secret were among those mentioned as most admired by a panel of leading retail marketing and e-commerce executives during the FOCUS 2012: Trends in Digital Media — E-tail & Retail half-day conference presented by the Retail Marketing Society on May 9 in New York City.

FOCUS 2012: Trends in Digital Media — E-tail & Retail, a half-day conference presented by the Retail Marketing Society yesterday in New York City, featured a panel of retail marketing executives discussing best practices around how to monetize the digital consumer experience. A key topic that panelists universally agreed on was the importance of data to retailers and how, when used correctly, it can help create a personalized experience for consumers.

Magazine publishers are rapidly getting serious about ecommerce. Earlier this month, Time Out New York, a weekly print and digital magazine covering entertainment in New York City,began selling event tickets through its website and iOS apps. And last week, Time Inc.-owned Real Simple magazine released a mobile gift guide that allows users to shop directly from the app. The next day, Elle magazine launched a shoppable trend guide on Facebook that encouraged users to make purchases on advertisers’ websites.

Amazon.com drew flak on Thursday after it was accused of and later confirmed inflating its Amazon Prime video catalog. The retailer acknowledged to Fast Company that it counts each individual TV episode as a show, leading to just one long-running TV series representing a large part of its catalog. A roster of 17,000 titles claimed by Amazon amounted to 1,875 titles, all but 150 of which were movies. Netflix, Amazon's main competitor in subscriptions, consciously avoids mentioning numbers partly out of honesty. 

Zappos.com has announced the launch of the new fashion and celebrity weekly web series "The Trend" by Zappos Couture. The new web series, which airs every Monday on the Zappos Couture website and lives on the "Trends" tab, will feature unique and exclusive interviews with designers, A-list celebrities, and fashion icons-content that viewers will not find anywhere else.

Celerant Command is real-time software that manages all areas of sporting goods dealers with one fully integrated system.

Using tools from MicroStrategy, Celerant is now building on its experience with data mining applications to expand the value of data access and processing through data warehousing.

Retailers must leverage mobility to stay competitive.