Archive for the ‘ecommerce trends’ Category

Martin + Osa Launches Shop-By-Outfit + Video

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Martin + Osa ModelsOur VP of Innovation, Jason Billingsley has a key eye for new ecommerce trends and will be presenting a full hour’s worth of innovations in a webinar 9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next. It’s happening June 19th so mark your calendars.

Jason tipped me off about a new website launched in April for Martin + Osa, a spin-off of American Eagle Outfitters, that has built a full-motion video merchandising area called “Shop by Outfit.”

M+O stylists have put outfits together that customers can buy all at once, and the outfits are shown on real models that move around as you view the page. You can zoom in by rolling over an image, and the model does a 360 degree spin so you get a feel for what the outfit looks like (well, on the perfect model anyway).

If you click to refine your outfit results to just “Moonlight,” “Seashore” or “Sunshine,” (which I don’t see serving much purpose), the girls whose outfits don’t fit your criteria gingerly walk out of the scene.

Martin and Osa Shop By Look

Shopping by outfit can save a shopper time as traditionally, one would need to navigate to different categories and add items individually. And by choosing from pre-selected sets, the fashionably clueless get some ideas of how to dress.

Shoppers can also build their own outfits using “Layer Your Own Look,” which turns traditional site navigation on its head - essentially you can shop multiple categories without leaving a page, and see how items “work” together. Looks can be saved for a future visit or added to the shopping bag for checkout.

More and more fashion retailers are adding some form of “shop by look” merchandising. Other stores include Rampage, Lacoste and Arden B (a quick search for “shop by look” in Google gives you more examples). When you click on a look, you see all the items listed individually on the same page, so you can check off the items you want. The problem with this is you navigate away from the look unless you’re savvy enough to open a new tab or window to hold your place. Martin + Osa smartly uses AJAX to show detail without navigating away from the page:

Look Detail

Item Detail 1

Product details can be viewed by switching tabs. The tabs may be too subtle here to notice, but it does help pack more information in a smaller space.

Item detail 2

M+O also provides detailed product images that show extreme close-up views of fabrics, pockets and other item details.

For most online merchants, this type of rich media investment simply is too expensive to implement. But as more and more large retailers add video and Flash applications to their e-stores, customers are going to become more spoiled and will expect to see 360 degree product views, products in context (clothing on people) and very detailed product images. This is reasonably easy to implement for any retailer using static images. Though this is also not cheap, it’s far less expensive than what M+O has done.

It’s also important for any retailer who does use a “shop by look” approach to allow customers to see cross-sell detail information without clicking away from the look page.

A side note: as I mentioned in my interview with Rich Page, American Eagle has one of my favorite navigation menus in terms of design, placement and usability. I’m happy to see Martin + Osa doing the same.

M+O Navigation

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next
Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Social Shopping Reviews Roundup: 2008 Update

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Social ShoppingIt was only one year ago my first Get Elastic post went live, how quickly the year has gone! The post was the Social Shopping Roundup and it showcased many social shopping start-ups from social bookmarking or “wishlisting,” to deals and coupon sharing communities and social comparison engines.

According to Hitwise analyst, Heather Dougherty “The Social Shopping category is still small, receiving less than 1% of the total market share of US visits, but there has been significant growth.” (Source)

Scott Hurff of CSE Strategies puts it into perspective - MySpace receives about 2% of Internet traffic. So for every 2 hits on MySpace (or Facebook), someone’s checking out a social shopping site. Of the social shopping sites, Kaboodle appears to be the Google in terms of market share:

  • Kaboodle 68%

  • Buzzillions 8.23% (Ratings and Reviews, Comparison Shopping)
  • ThisNext 7.23%
  • ShopWiki 6.89%
  • Stylehive 5.18%

With the exception of Buzzillions, the top 5 are “social bookmarking” sites. There are no doubt countless other sites where consumers can bookmark and share products, deals and coupons, read ratings and reviews and find deals - and perhaps as many Facebook applications. We don’t need a comprehensive list of players in this space. Rather, this year’s roundup focuses on social shopping sites that address key trends in ecommerce like video / widget marketing, live chat, email / RSS, user-generated merchandising or offer a twist on traditional comparison shopping.

Video / Widget Marketing

Qoof Logo

Qoof.com

Qoof provides product video widgets for etailers and content publishers (affiliates) to bring an interactive experience to product descriptions. The Flash-based widget can be embedded on the etailer’s website or on the affiliate site. Transactions can actually be completed through the widget which eliminates the need for a shopping cart, or the customer can be directed to the online store to purchase. You can check out the Widget Showcase with examples from Ice.com, Drugstore.com and more.

Qoof Widget - Ice.com

What early adopters of this product may enjoy is the ability to stand out from other affiliate offers. Product video is growing in popularity, and it won’t be long before most sites offer some kind of video complement to product images. You may also be more attractive to affiliates who are looking for multi-media content to boost their own conversions.

Whether customers like it or not is a different story. To be honest, there are not a lot of ecommerce widgets out there so I have my fingers crossed that there will be more interesting things being done with portable video content by this time next year, with more data on its effectiveness.

How to get involved: See Qoof.com’s Etailer Page.

(more…)

9 Ecommerce Innovations: What’s Now & What’s Next
Free webinar: June 19th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Jason Billingsley, VP Innovation, Elastic Path Software
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Browsing Usability: Overstock Blows Amazon Away

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

CheckboxIt excites me to know end to praise a usability innovation from an online retailer that is NOT Amazon. Hooray!

I noticed a filtered navigation design on Overstock that is really interesting. It combines search with filtered navigation - here’s what I mean:

Say you’re checking out the “Rings” category. You’re presented with a number of ways to narrow your results: Category, Metal, Size, Price and Stone.

Overstock Rings Category

But if you’re looking for say, a cocktail ring - this could include a variety of gemstones and metals, could be at any number of price points and would depend on what size you are looking for. Rather than looking at ALL items in the “Rings” category, you can hone in on just the cocktail rings by searching for “cocktail.”

Cocktail Rings

(more…)

The Key to PPC for Online Retailers
Free webinar: May 15th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Ryan Gibson, Director of Marketing, The Rimm-Kaufman Group
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Earth Day Marketing: E-Tailers Seeing Green

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Earth Day EcommerceToday is Earth Day, and for weeks online retailers have been jumping on the green wagon in their marketing efforts, taking advantage of their eco-friendly and sustainable products and projects.

More than ever, retailers are adopting a Wayne Gretzky “skate to where the puck is” marketing strategy. As consumers become more conscious of environmental issues, more and more marketing messages will contain green references and themes. Many feel that encouraging people to consume more in celebration of Earth Day is a bit ironic and counter-productive. But the shift towards eco-friendliness has encouraged many companies to source and sell green products in response to consumer demand. So getting the word out about the availability of green alternatives is especially fitting for this time of year.

The following is a sampling of Earth Day emails and on-site promotions from some of the top online retailers. You can read more about Earth Day email trends at RetailEmail.Blogspot.com, and more about holiday and event marketing from our Holiday Marketing Webinar.

EvoGear

Earth Day Email from Evo Gear

(more…)

The Key to PPC for Online Retailers
Free webinar: May 15th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Ryan Gibson, Director of Marketing, The Rimm-Kaufman Group
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Losing Customers at the Register: 12 Checkout Blunders

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Losing Customers at Checkout

This is a guest post from Justin Palmer of Palmer Web Marketing. We’re really excited to have him share his expertise with us here on Get Elastic, as his tips and tricks are always very valuable to online retailers. You’ll learn a thing or ten from his 25 Ways Series and more. If you subscribe to Get Elastic, you want to subscribe to Justin’s feed too.

Losing Customers at the Register: 12 Checkout Blunders

We’ve all heard the adage, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” For many e-tailers, both large and small, the weakest link lies in the checkout process. Mistakes at this critical juncture are costly and unnecessary. Below, I’ve gathered 12 of the most common mistakes I see with checkouts.

1. Unfriendly Credit Card Errors

Getting your credit card declined is always an embarrassing situation, even online. How gracefully does your checkout handle these errors? Unfortunately, website error messages tend to be written by programmers, who don’t always consider the needs of customers.

When handling these errors, suggest a probable solution. If the error is due to an invalid CVV code, show customers a picture of where the code can be found on the card. Is the error due to a billing address mismatch? Suggest having the customer check their credit card statement to ensure their billing address matches. Most importantly, display your customer service contact information where customers can get additional help.

2. Login

Many customers detest the thought of having to remember another username and password. In addition to this concern, you risk returning customers not being able to remember their login information on a subsequent purchase. Sure, you may have a password lookup feature, but what if their email isn’t working or is inaccessible at the moment? For these reasons, offer your customers a guest checkout option that doesn’t require account creation. After the order, you can always ask if they want to create an account for next time.

3. Default Credit Card Type Selected

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Now I consider myself fairly experienced with placing online orders, since I work in the eCommerce industry. Yet I don’t know how many times I’ve entered my Mastercard number with the default Visa card option pre-selected, causing my card to be declined. In their hurry to complete a task, people tend to skip fields that are already populated with data. For this reason, require your customers to choose their credit card type. Better yet, automatically detect the credit card type based on the number (see Paypal’s checkout for an example of this).

4. Cancel Buttons

I always chuckle when I see a “Cancel” button juxtaposed next to the “Submit Order” button. Don’t make it too easy for your customers to abandon their order. A cancel button is the equivalent to asking “Are you really sure you want to buy it?”

5. Up-selling or Cross-selling

There’s a time and place for cross-selling, but it’s too risky at checkout. Too many options can send a customer into a paradox of choice, leading to an abandoned cart. In general, once someone has moved past the shopping cart, it’s time to stop marketing and close the sale.

6. Disclaimers, Explanations, and Warnings

Recently, I reviewed an eCommerce site for an online gift store. Right before clicking the “Finalize Order” button, I was casually informed my “IP address is being recorded for security purposes.” Now honestly, is that disclaimer really necessary? While it may deter fraudsters, (though I doubt it), such needless information will only raise red flags in minds of privacy conscious customers. Other needless disclaimers include “Clicking order button more than once will result in double charges” (maybe you should fix this issue rather than explain it!) or “Products subject to availability” (maybe you should display accurate inventory online!?) As a general rule, keep disclaimers on a need-to-know basis. If it causes visitors to second guess their purchase decision, remove it.

7. Insecure Page Errors

This is possibly one of the most preventable checkout mistakes that arises due to technical issues with secure pages (https://) containing non-secure elements (http:// images, javascript files, etc.). When this happens, some browsers such as Internet Explorer, love to warn customers that “this page contains insecure elements.” When you’re about to enter your personal payment info, this is not a comforting message. To prevent this, make sure you run through your own checkout frequently, with your browser set to display these warnings.

8. Only One Payment Type

Don’t you hate when you don’t have cash and a store doesn’t take credit cards? Many customers feel a similar frustration when a site only takes credit. Alternative payment forms have become almost an expectation these days, with Paypal, e-Checks, BillMeLater, and Google Checkout leading the way. Adding an additional payment method can go a long way in preventing abandoned shopping carts.

9. Dead End Receipt Pages

It’s a shame so many shopping sessions end on the receipt page. Rather than wasting your order confirmation page with a conclusive “Thanks for ordering!” message, why not continue to engage your customers? Consider adding a tell-a-friend form, displaying customer service FAQs, or asking customers to complete a survey.

10. Hiding Additional Charges

Nobody likes surprise charges at the last minute. Make sure that all shipping related charges and taxes are displayed early and often.

11. No Prominent 1-800 Number

People like buying from people, so customers always like to know someone is immediately reachable if they have a problem. While not every customer who sees your 1-800 number will call, just having one creates a sense of trust.

12. Product Stockouts

Oh by the way, it’s out of stock! Surprisingly, a disturbing amount of online checkouts wait until the customer has initiated the buying process before informing them about stockouts. Product availability should always be visible on the product pages and the shopping cart. Any later than that, you’re going to anger your customers.
Avoiding mistakes on your checkout is eCommerce 101. Don’t just take my word for it though, test these suggestions for yourself. With tools such as Google’s Website Optimizer, performing A/B tests on your checkout are surprisingly easy and inexpensive.

About Justin Palmer

Justin Palmer writes the Palmer Web Marketing blog, which covers topics such as eCommerce, SEO, and website usability. Palmer Web Marketing also offers personalized SEO recommendations and eCommerce Site Review services.

Original post by Linda Bustos

Bare It All Online for Male Shoppers

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Male Shopper
…all your products on one page, that is.

The Wall Street Journal recently said of male shoppers:

“This group is a retailer’s dream: When shopping online, they spend more, make snap decisions — and return less stuff.”

The article cites research that suggests men shop in cyberspace just like they do in the physical world - they want to get in and out the door fast. Women on the other hand will browse, click, compare, browse some more - just for fun - then end up buying something in a physical store.

Enter Web 2.0

To facilitate the boys’ need for speed, Neiman Marcus has added features to its tie shop that show more product - faster. And I mean fast, go try it out yourself it’s like watching Indy cars (not sure how usable it is as it’s hard to control).

Tie Shop

Neiman Marcus has also enlarges images when you roll over thumbnails, as we’re seeing more and more. This saves clicks and time.

Tie Rollover Enlargement

American Eagle Outfitters “gets it” too. The AE site allows you to mouseover the product category from individual product pages. For example “View All Shorts” (notice the scroll bar?)

AE view all shorts

From the WSJ article: “Neimanmarcus.com now gives shoppers a way to view 52 ties at once in its new Tie Shop, instead of having to look at them nine at a time.”

The 1.0 Solution

Maybe you don’t have the development resources that Neiman Marcus or American Eagle Outfitters has. No worries, there’s always the “View All” link.

As easy as it is to do, many sites don’t offer a simple view all link. Hey I may have a pony tail but I hate clicking on page numbers as much as any man. It’s a simple usability feature that could help make the shopping experience better for men and women - without having to implement fancy Web 2.0.

Web Analytics for Online Retailers: Technology Use & Satisfaction 2008
Free webinar: April 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Eric T. Peterson, CEO, Web Analytics Demystified
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Webinar Recap: Effective Merchandising: What Sells?

Friday, March 14th, 2008

MerchandisingWe just wrapped up our webinar on merchandising (cross-selling and up-selling) with Mike Svatek of Baynote.

This was an incredible session and I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of catching the replay which will be posted within the next few days. The replay will walk you through all of the screenshots used in the presentation - I’ll only be using select screenshots for this recap.

Mike chose the king of cross-selling Amazon to illustrate the concepts in the webinar, sharing an impressive statistic:

35% of Amazon Sales come from cross-sells & recommendations
Venturebeat
(Dec 06)

How does Amazon do this?

Merchandising Based on Intent

First-Time Visitors - Pre-Intent

If Amazon has no information on you (your first visit, you are not logged in or your cache and cookies are cleared) you’ll see default merchandising (pre-intent) within a number of merchandising zones, what Mike refers to as a shotgun approach:

Amazon Merchandizing Zones

(more…)

Web Analytics for Online Retailers: Technology Use & Satisfaction 2008
Free webinar: April 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Eric T. Peterson, CEO, Web Analytics Demystified
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Video Valets: An Ecommerce Trend?

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

Like Vitaman’s Nikki, American Eagle Outfitters is giving a “human” touch to its merchandising. AE has snagged video-blogging vixen iJustine as a spokeswoman for its Spring Break events in Cancun. And you can find her ooh-ing and aah-ing products within an interactive Spring Break packing guide.

iJustine Spring Break

Unlike Nikki, iJustine gushes about goodies for both girls and guys when you rollover certain items.

AE Polos

But like the Vitaman valet, she is very enthusiastic in romancing the products:

Guys, trust me. Throw on a polo and a smile and you’ll have every girl’s attention. They’re so great looking and so easy to wear with anything. If you don’t pack some polos, you might as well stay home.

Whether having a human describe products is something customers want to see - I don’t know. Perhaps for high school / college types who’d rather watch the movie than read the book - watching a product description is preferred?

But really, this concept isn’t new. We have the choice to read the newspaper, or watch an attractive anchor read it to us. Why wouldn’t that also apply to ecommerce?

Video is Here to Stay

It certainly takes a lot of time and money to build interactive Flash-based applications. But if you don’t want to go that route, you can still add a human element by adding video content to product pages, like Tiger Direct:

This video sold me on this camcorder, which I purchased immediately along with a bunch of accessories. I found Arno to be knowledgeable, friendly and humorous. Plus this video actually showed me how close you can zoom in with this camera - try describing that with text! With absolutely no background knowledge of camcorders, it really helped to have a virtual salesperson to turn to. Plus it’s nice to refer to the demo to learn how to use the camera when I get it rather than relying on the package black and white insert.

I expect to see a lot more video merchandising (with real people) popping up in the future.

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing & Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Webinar Recap: What’s Your Brand Personality?

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Brand Personality

We promised a celebrity-inspired session and our own Jason Billingsley and Carolyn Gardner of Sitebrand delivered with “Jon Stewart or Oprah: What’s Your Brand Personality.”

Jason and Carolyn matched 4 well-known celebs to 4 consumer-mindsets that you should know.

4 Consumer Mindsets

Celebrity personalities

  • Competitive (Jon Stewart)

  • Spontaneous (Steve Colbert)
  • Methodical (Dr. Phil)
  • Humanistic (Oprah)

Some characteristics of each:

(more…)

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing & Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Webinar Recap: What’s Your Website Personality?

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Brand Personality

We promised a celebrity-inspired session and our own Jason Billingsley and Carolyn Gardner of Sitebrand delivered with “Jon Stewart or Oprah: What’s Your Website Personality.”

Jason and Carolyn matched 4 well-known celebs to 4 consumer-mindsets that you should know.

4 Consumer Mindsets

Celebrity personalities

  • Competitive (Jon Stewart)

  • Spontaneous (Steve Colbert)
  • Methodical (Dr. Phil)
  • Humanistic (Oprah)

Some characteristics of each:

(more…)

Web Analytics for Online Retailers: Technology Use & Satisfaction 2008
Free webinar: April 17th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Eric T. Peterson, CEO, Web Analytics Demystified
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

American Eagle Features Products on the Fly

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

American Eagle Outfitters recently AJAX-ed up its web design including its navigation menu. What’s different about AE’s flyout menu that’s different from Office Max’ and Eddie Bauer’s navigation redesign is that it actually merchandises within the flyout. Here’s what I mean:

American Eagle Outfitters Redesign Navigation

When you roll over a section in the horizontal menu, a sub-menu appears with some featured items. In the example above, you see one featured Clearance item from each category: men’s, women’s and aerie.

Navigation Close-Up

This technique allows you to show more content without a click. Clicking away from a page means another click if you want to go back. But flyouts give the user a faster peek at what’s behind the menu buttons. And if you accidentally roll over a menu item, you may be enticed by that 50% off offer you otherwise would not be aware of.

The downsides of AJAX-y menus are they cover up content, can be finicky and require steady mouse control to operate properly. Or worse, they can appear when you don’t expect them too when you mouse a bit too close to the hot-spot. Not everyone will find this a usability improvement.

I noticed when you click on the Clearance button you get different featured items. I think it would be better to keep the same items as in the flyout, because a customer may click out of habit, and wonder where that green camisole disappeared to. You want to minimize the “whoa, what happened?” factor, especially when you’re introducing Web 2.0 coolness that may involve a learning curve. (Even for technosavvy Millennials like the AE customer. It just might be mom or grandma picking out a gift).

American Eagle Clearance Landing Page

Text in the red box doesn’t need to change after you click on Clearance. If a customer clicks on Clearance, he/she understands it’s the clearance section, you don’t have to restate the obvious. When it comes to online copy - less is more.

All-in-all, it’s a pretty neat idea. What do you think about merchandising within navigation? Love it? Hate it?

PS: If you’re interested in merchandising tips and trends, be sure to sign up today for our upcoming webinar: Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing & Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

How To Ask For Customer Reviews - Nicely.

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

Customer ReviewsKelly Mooney from Resource Interactive recently shared an email her friend received from apparel retailer Boden.

Soliciting customer reviews is a challenge because you want to tread carefully in asking for them. Including an incentive with your request is a good strategy, but some experts advise against offering discounts on future purchases. Jay Shaffer from Power Reviews recommends offering a chance to win something, rather than a $ or % discount which may serve as paid user reviews.

Boden uses this strategy in follow-up emails after a customer has made a purchase.

Boden Email

(click to enlarge image)

Here’s what I believe Boden does well:

  • Good subject line. Review your Boden order and enter our prize draw. The subject line communicates exactly what is being asked for, with an incentive to encourage click through. Using the store name in the subject line indicates this is not a “thank-you-for-your-order-that-you-didn’t-make-please-enter-your-credit-card-information-again-to-avoid-deleting-your-account” spam scam.
  • Opening the email copy with a “A big hearty thank you” sets a warm tone, and the choice of font sizes add character to the message.
  • “Did you know that underneath my ginger head of hair lurks two unusually large ears, which are all the better for listening with?” This is a fantastic intro. The reader gets a humorous image of the writer of the email, while communicating that the sender of the email is personable and genuinely interested in customer feedback.
  • “…starting with a chance to win $200 to spend at Boden…” That ain’t a bad prize at all. The link to the terms and conditions is also a good idea.
  • “…it takes no time at all…” Reassuring the customer that this is not a labor-intensive task. We know that time is a huge deterrent for signing up for anything or contributing to anything.
  • The personal signature is a nice touch. It’s coming from a real person, Boden founder Johnnie Boden.
  • Images of purchased products and links to where to write a review is great usability and looks nice too.

Boden also solicits customer feedback from its website for a crack at a $500 spree.

Boden Feedback Survey

Do we give you satisfaction?

We know the Rolling Stones couldn’t get any – but that’s probably because they weren’t shopping at Boden.

We’d really love to know what you think of our website. Please help us improve our service by taking this quick 10-minute survey.

And as a thank you we’ll enter you into a free prize draw to win $500 of Boden clothes.

Thanks very much for your time.

The page links through to a survey customers can do right on the website, using a tool from eCustomerOpinions. Again, Boden injects personality into its web copy, and adds the personal touch from the head of the company. Including the average length of time to complete the survey is another best-practice.

In fact, there’s a lot of light-hearted information about Johnnie Boden on the site. It’s nice to see a family business branded in such a friendly way. There is consistency between web copy and email communication. This warm and fuzzy email might appear less authentic if the website wasn’t the same way.

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing &amp Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Brookstone Promotes Smart Clocks in Smart Email

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

We touched upon leap year marketing last week, just one example of how you can work promotions around special days of the year. I found this great email example from Brookstone for Daylight Savings. Not only does Brookstone choose appropriate products to promote, the email acts as a public service announcement. Let’s take a closer look:

Brookstone Daylight Savings Email

There’s a number of things Brookstone does very well:

(more…)

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing & Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

Leap Year Marketing - Inspiration From Online Retailers

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Leap Year MarketingIn January, Jason Billingsley and I presented a webinar on holiday and special event marketing for online retailers. We also have a number of blog posts related to the topic.

There truly is much opportunity to get creative with special event promotions. Today happens to be February 29, the only day that comes around only once in 4 years. It ain’t no Valentine’s Day, but many creative e-tailers are taking advantage of leap year with $29 deals, 29% off sales and other offers - some using jumping or frogs in imagery. (My favorite is the Container Store’s “Leap year happens every 4 years. Filing your taxes doesn’t. Get organized today!”)

A&E / History Channel

Leap Year - AE History Channel

Aeropostale

Leap Year - Aeropostale

Bluefly

Leap Year - Bluefly

(more…)

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing & Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos

User-Generated Products Drive Etsy Community

Monday, February 25th, 2008

etsy logoWe social media marketing types toss around buzzwords like “user generated content” all the time. But Etsy is a unique ecommerce-slash-social-shopping-network that has truly made “user generated products” its hallmark. Selling only handmade items from different crafters around the world, Etsy is like eBay minus the auction.

In this electronic press release, Etsy sellers talk about the site, and how they enjoy connecting personally with their customers through the community, and with other sellers.

The site itself has a number of amazing Web 2.0 features like shop by color and a home page that shows you a live feed of new items as they are added - a bit like YouTube’s home page that shows currently viewed videos.

The Treasury is like Polyvore, where users create “sets” that others can browse and buy from - or user-generated cross-selling.

And the community can participate in forums, live chat, “Teams” (special interest groups) and even Virtual Labs where you can join live workshops and classes or get tips on setting up and marketing your Etsy shop.

If you sell handmade items through your own website, you may consider tapping into this marketplace if you haven’t already.

PS, the electronic press release is a great way to make you stand out. When someone’s getting barraged by pitches daily, giving them a video to look at and post gives you a nice advantage.

Effective Online Merchandising: What Sells?
Free webinar: March 13th, 2008, 9am PT/12pm ET
Guest Panelist: Mike Svatek, Director, Marketing & Product Management, Baynote
Register to Attend

Original post by Linda Bustos