Chat Up Your Customers
Compared with the bustle of a brick-and-mortar retail store, the Web page of an online merchant seems silent and impersonal. Convenient, yes, and great for comparison shopping, but what about human interaction? Is there anybody out there? Maybe there should be -- and live chat could offer the answer...
Big Changes in Small Payments
In a perfect world, all of your customers would be able to pay for their purchases with credit cards, but if you sell small-ticket items such music downloads, newspaper articles, trading cards, fonts and so on, that isn't feasible...
Experts Speak about Improving Sales Conversions, Part 2
In Part One , we focused on a slew of basic tips to help you convert browsers into buyers on your Web site. Now, in the tightly competitive world of e-commerce, this begs the question: How am I doing? If you're wondering how your sales conversion rate stacks up to your e-commerce peers, Aberdeen Group analyst Kent Allen has fresh research...
Chat Up Your Customers
Compared with the bustle of a brick-and-mortar retail store, the Web page of an online merchant seems silent and impersonal. Convenient, yes, and great for comparison shopping, but what about human interaction? Is there anybody out there? Maybe there should be -- and live chat could offer the answer...
Web Analytics, Who's Mining the Store?
At this point in the evolution of e-commerce, virtually all online businesses have some form of Web analytics package. These applications, which allow you to track your shoppers' on-site behavior, are used by mom-and-pop e-commerce operations as well as Fortune 500 companies...
On-Site Search for Fun and Profit
As the co-founder of an e-business with a big inventory, John Bresee knew that implementing a robust search tool was critically important. Shoppers at Bresee's site, Backcountry , can browse among page after page of outdoor gear...
What Women Want Online - Part II
In part one of this series , E-Commerce Guide spoke with Kelly Mooney about the research report she co-authored, "What Women Want." Mooney is a lead partner in Resource Interactive, which conducts extensive research into how online merchants can best reach female shoppers...
Comparison Shopping Engines: An E-Tailers Guide
As online merchants seek to draw as many eyeballs as possible to their wares, more e-tailers than ever are entering their products in comparison shopping engines. Many merchants agree the potential revenues from using these engines is substantial...
The State of E-Commerce: Online Shopping Trends
In a wide-ranging study examining the current e-commerce marketplace, comScore Networks looked at a diverse set of shoppers' behaviors and attitudes. Entitled "The Ascent of the Precision Shopping Machine," the new study tracked factors like the effect of broadband usage, shopping differences between new and experienced Net users, and trends that point to e-commerce's future...
Ten Tips for Getting Customers to Up the Order
You could call Lauren Freedman a site doctor. As president of the E-Tailing Group , a Chicago-based e-commerce consultancy, a wide array of online merchants seek her advice. E-commerce executives from companies like Crate and Barrel, Circuit City, the Discovery Channel and others ask her how they can increase the dollar amount of their average orders...
