Creating an International Retail Ecommerce Plan : Defining the Pros, Cons and 10 Steps to Start Planning

The UK & the US are very strong markets from an online trading point of view: the US is second in the world, and the UK third in the world in retail sales according to Emarketer. That’s a wonderful position to be in, but also means they are fairly saturated, with a high-level of competition from local and international competitors. One of the big opportunity areas for small/medium e-commerce businesses is therefore in international sales. While international sales are vital for UK-based pureplays like ASOS, Wiggle and Zalando and many of the big online pureplays take selling overseas hugely seriously, it’s still a relatively untapped market. For example, it’s more common for continental European retailers to focus cross-border than for UK businesses to do so. And yet, the US & UK’s…

What your e-commerce store needs to boost conversions

The average eCommerce conversion rate on desktop is still less than 10 percent on average according to our Smart Insights compilation of larger retailers and it can be lower for smaller retailers - just 1.4% according to a 2015 Ecommerce KPI study carried published on Moz. So, the reality for marketers working for retailers is that it takes far more than a great product offered at the right price to convince consumers to buy. Why? Because online shoppers are getting savvy and they no longer simply want to browse eCommerce stores; they want to have a great experience whilst doing so. Given this need to improve experiences, we’ve seen a huge rise in interest in improving UX design over the past few years. To help our members, Smart Insights have a regularly updated guide that recommends ideas for testing retail UX design based on different…

How to engage your customers to boost your conversion rate

Poor conversion is a major concern for eCommerce businesses. Have you been struggling to get customers to make a purchase? This new infographic shows some of the factors that could influence consumers’ purchase decisions and how you could capitalize on these factors through testing new approaches.

Build engagement with your customers

A higher engagement rate can have a significant impact on your conversion rate. The more you engage with your customers, the more likely they are to purchase your products. Maybe you could offer loyalty programs or discounts that would compel them to make more purchases. You could also offer demos, free trials, and coupon codes to engage potential customers initially. Your landing page or website design could also be affecting how users engage with your site. Make improvements by adding high-quality and attractive images that would immediately grab their attention.

Focus on building…

These trends will shape the ecommerce industry this year

Ecommerce business is on the rise, as online shopping is predicted to increase by 45% in 2016 in the U.S - see the latest ecommerce growth statistics. To stay ahead of the game or to grow your online business, you need to benchmark against the latest growth rates, both for overall business in a category for specific devices and then implement marketing strategies and tactics that work to achieve business goals. For example, year-on-year e-retail sales continue to grow with online sales up to 10% in January 2016 according to the United States Custora Pulse Ecommerce benchmark. So your online trading volumes could be 5% up YoY, but you are actually going backwards compared to the competition. We thought this infographic was a nice summary list of the top trends that will enable any e-Commerce business to grow in 2016 and beyond. Beacons, big data…

Techniques to optimise your ecommerce sites for higher conversions and increased social media engagement

Creating an ecommerce website from scratch can be daunting. The task of creating, populating and launching the site is one thing, but launching it in such a competitive space is another. To begin with, you’re probably not going to compete with a 163 million page site like Amazon. This ecommerce giant has taken years of nurturing and development to get to where it is today and consistently dominates the online space. Instead, you need to start small; find methods of harnessing the small pool of users available to you and capitalise on any quick win opportunities out there. Here are 5 ecommerce tips to help you get started with:

1- Be conversion led from the get-go

Striking the balance between being design-focused and being conversion-focused is a tricky consideration to get right for any ecommerce…

Consumer online shopping behaviours: How do Consumers select a supplier?

Following on from our first post summarising the 'UK Consumer Empower Survey Report' from the BIS, we are extending its findings in this second post to share how the UK population choose a supplier when purchasing an item over £100 and how they search for information. We're highlighting this research since it's a high quality piece of research commissioned by the UK government and surveyed by GfK NOP based on a quantitative survey amongst a representative sample of the UK population (6,024 interviews were conducted with adults aged 16+). It covers a range of sectors relevant to Smart Insights members including: purchases (Furniture, home furnishings or building materials, Computers, Home electronics, Car, van, motorbike) and services (Electricity, Internet, Mobile phone network, Car insurance and Bank accounts.  The research reviews decision making for purchase amongst 5 consumer segments introduced in our previous post.…

The challenges and changes shaping the etailing environment

E-commerce sales growth continues to soar with forecasts projecting even bigger numbers for the future. All seems rosy in the world of online commerce. So why are analysts concluding that 'retailers have their work cut out for them' in the coming years? According to eMarketer's latest forecasts, worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales will increase by 20.1% this year to reach a whopping $1.5 trillion. Forrester estimates that US online retail sales alone will total $294 billion by the end of the year, and will grow to $414 billion by 2018. These are some mind-boggling numbers, but then there are powerful forces driving them, and these forces will define the future of retailing . For instance, rapidly expanding online and mobile user bases in emerging markets are super-charging sales. This year, for the first time, consumers in Asia-Pacific will spend more on e-commerce purchases than those in…

Understanding the Irish online: the E-Commerce Marketer's secret weapon

Irish online habits have changed a lot in a very short amount of time. In some respects the Irish demographic is very representative of typical EU online behaviour but in others it is quite distinct. This particular profile of Irish internet users should give companies and marketers some clear ideas of the approaches to take when selling in the Irish market online. One of the most significant statistics in regards to the internet in Ireland is the penetration of broadband services across the country. According to Eurostat, 81% of Irish homes had broadband access in 2014. That is well above the EU average and means that more than 3 million people in Ireland are online. Irish Internet users also spend more time on the internet than the EU average.…

The latest Ecommerce facts about shopper behaviour to inform retail strategies in 2015

We enjoyed the interesting + useful Ecommerce factoids and commentaries from digital agency Blueleaf. So we got in touch to share the learnings contained. If you would like to see the remainder of the series, you can sign-up to Gossip. Enjoy, please Tweet the facts you fancy and Merry Christmas!

Day 1 - Christmas commerce fact for 8th December:

Shoppers spend 30% more per order, when free shipping is included. Source: Wharton

UX Director Chris Jones explains, 'Take a long, hard look at your shipping costs. Could you trial free shipping to see if there’s an uplift in sales that would more than cover the cost? Do you at least offer free shipping over a certain basket amount? It’s something that customers feel very strongly about, especially on high…

5 common failings for a small business Ecommerce store launch

Launching an online store usually requires plenty of effort and initial expense. Often small business owners and developers make the same mistakes which arise since the ecommerce development process is not yet effective. Ignoring these inefficiencies can be detrimental to the business and result in spending on fixing related issues. . For success, a web store owner needs to define a project launch plan with a clear marketing strategy. Remember, you create a website not for yourself, but for prospective customers, so take into consideration all of their preferences. Many customers don’t want to spend their precious time on understanding how to use a website, and they will probably go elsewhere - so your ecommerce functionality is crucial!

Here are some critical online business mistakes to avoid:

1. Poor design and functionality The importance of a memorable and modern design is a significant element…