Web Design

Etsy faced a backlash from angry sellers after announcing a major overhaul of its feedback system late last month, and this week it modified one of the more unpopular features of the system. Etsy

Online shoppers faced with buying a gift often don't know what they want to buy until they see a product that catches their fancy. That presents a challenge for online retailers, who must present shoppers with the right mix of products without knowing what they'll jump at. A variety of search and navigation tools can help guide your customers through the process of looking for a gift and zeroing in on the best options. Your job is to make this process as fast and easy and possible; consumers don't have time for endless, random browsing.

PROBLEM: International Military Antiques (IMA), a cross-channel retailer of military collectibles and antiques, needed to upgrade its web platform in order to handle an influx of traffic after the company was chosen to be featured on its own reality show, "Family Guns."

Your homepage — as much as you love it — is basically a glorified street sign. Consumers don't read it so much as glance at it in the hopes that it's clear where they should go. Its job is to get people out of there, into whatever it is they're looking for. And often what they're looking for on your site isn't your categories, deals, and certainly not news releases about you or your awards — it's your products.

I spend a good deal of time looking at websites that have been developed using responsive web design (RWD). Often, many of the websites using RWD are agency sites or personal blogs, and sometimes it seems like a RWD design might only be practical for the more creative type of website. However, this is simply not true. Every type of website can benefit from using RWD to allow web visitors to access the same site and content no matter what kind of device they're using.  

We're in the heart of the holiday shopping season and e-commerce companies still have the opportunity to make tweaks or upgrades to their websites that will help drive sales. Holiday shopping is expected to rise nearly 17 percent this season, and online retailers large and small want a competitive edge to capture as much revenue as possible.

One place where companies can find this edge is web performance.

With Google Catalogs and Facebook Gifts, it's evident the e-commerce industry is seeing an influx of industry leaders vying for a piece of the pie. It's also clear that a more dynamic, informative and interactive shopping experience is required long before consumers walk through a retailer's front door. Additionally, today's mobile shopper isn't just looking at your offering; their ability to find the best price is only a few touches away.

Following a trial run with custom-produced videos on its site a few years ago that yielded favorable results, Allenhurst, N.J.-based Heavenly Treasures realized that the medium was an effective sales driver. The problem was that the cross-channel retailer of fine jewelry didn’t have the resources in-house to optimize the technology.

Kent Deverell, CEO of Fluid, chats with Retail Online Integration at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 

HTML5 is a hot topic these days, with the media claiming that it will one day replace Flash altogether. Well, tell that to Ikea. The Swedish retailer — along with its agency, BBDO — has just rolled out a new site to Russian consumers that's built on Flash, not HTML5.