MarketLive

Our marketing experts will discuss key online and offline merchandising best practices and strategies.

Forward-thinking retailers have come to view online customer reviews as a key tool to help shoppers gain confidence in their purchases and drive conversions. Instead of being threatened by reviews, they embraced them, integrating them into their sites and social outposts and honing techniques to make them as authentic and useful to shoppers as possible. Here are a few ways to make sure your customer review program is best-of-breed:

History and academic research tells us there are four basic types of consumers: drivers, socializers, supporters and analyzers. The Greek philosopher Hippocrates was the first to document these "four humors." Every one of us have some of each type, but one is usually dominant and ends up influencing purchasing decisions. Understanding each type will help you interpret the limited information you receive — or don't receive — from prospects, and tailor the communications with them that ultimately lead to meaningful relationships.

Publishing content is a unique breed of marketing and promotion. Unlike traditional means such as banner ads, live events, offers, etc., content marketing isn't directly promotional. Rather, it's about coming up with content that informs, entertains or inspires your audience. So how exactly can you use content marketing to your advantage? Below are a few best practices and examples of what you can do to take your e-commerce content marketing to the next level:
 

Under an onslaught of innovation and pricing pressure from discount e-tailers, omnichannel retailers are looking for an edge. This is true coming into the holiday season, where research shows anywhere between 20 percent to 40 percent of annual revenue is generated. With that in mind, here are five tips to ensure retailer success this holiday season:

Rounding up the year's best tips to help you optimize your business.

MarketLive, an e-commerce platform provider, has released its annual online retailer survey and recommendations for the 2013 holiday retail season. Among the many report findings, MarketLive found that an overwhelming majority of holiday shoppers will respond to retailers’ promotions offering free shipping, and they will ultimately shop with the retailer who can guarantee an on-time delivery date and/or the best shopping experience. The survey sample included 1,000 consumer questionnaires. The report illustrates consumer survey results with tactical examples drawn from promotional campaigns by Nordstrom, Sport Chalet, Sephora, Lowe's, Home Depot, Pottery Barn, REI, Restoration Hardware, Amazon.com, Blue Nile and Francesca's.

Competing with an e-commerce Goliath like Amazon.com can be a daunting task, but specialty merchants have some distinct advantages, including the capacity to forge strong ties with shoppers through a brand community. Amazon's online warehouse of products offers little to unite customers around a common lifestyle or passion. By focusing on a particular product category, value proposition or audience, you can provide meaningful interaction and a shopping experience to connect your customers with other like-minded consumers.

Since launching in 1995, Amazon.com has expanded from selling books to offering just about every product imaginable, with revenues growing twice as fast as overall U.S. e-commerce. Virtually everything is presented and merchandised identically, like an online mega warehouse. Your opportunity to compete lies in stressing what makes your brand and products unique by forging personal connections with consumers and offering greater value. Amazon sells products; you can sell brand experiences.

MarketLive, a provider of multichannel commerce technology and services solutions, released the results of its fourth annual Mindset of a Multi-Channel Shopper survey. The report gives retailers timely insights into the rapidly changing arena of shopping online (including increasingly via mobile devices), as well as strategies to help merchants prioritize and improve return on investment as they head into the holidays, the most crucial time of the year for many businesses.