Toluu

Practical eCommerce Articles

Articles, resources, strategy and a community for internet retailers, online business owners and ecommerce developers.

Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman: Marketing in a Down EconomyToday

Many ecommerce merchants rely on email marketing to communicate with their customers. Constant Contact is, perhaps, the largest self-service email marketing firm and Practical eCommerce recently spoke with Constant Contact’s CEO, Gail Goodman, about the slow economy, email marketing, and how merchants should respond to it. PeC: With the economy slowing down, how should merchants be looking at email marketing right now? Goodman:What we're really recommending is that the number one thing businesses can do to make sure they come through this economic downturn is hang on to their customers, and if you haven't started building your customer list both online and offline, this is a great time to start because communicating with your customers...

Advertising in Recession Leads to Competitive AdvantageToday

Economic anxiety and a lack of insight have prompted some online retailers to slash their advertising budgets. However, when fewer of your competitors are investing in advertising, you can step up and command a market, improving sales now and in the long term. In a notable study that is still taught in MBA schools, McGraw-Hill and the American Business Press analyzed the advertising habits of 600 companies during the 1981-to-1982 recession and the subsequent three years. The study found that by 1985 sales for companies that aggressively advertised during the recession had risen 256 percent over their ad-cutting competitors and peers. The more aggressive companies had dominated the market, captured more customers, and retained those cust...

SEO: Buying Links is Risky BusinessYesterday

Garnering inbound links from websites with good PageRank is a mainstay of search engine optimization. Links are like votes for a given website in the eyes of search engines, and their number and quality have much to do with determining the outcome of search engine results. That’s why – as long as links matter to search engines – you’ll see them being bought and sold. A new service called InLinks.com matches advertisers (e.g. link purchasers) with bloggers (e.g. link providers) who get paid to have links added to their blog content. The website says, “InLinks allows you to purchase links within the content area on web pages. You search for instances of your top keywords and replace those static keywords with a hyperlink back to your we...

6 Quick Tips to Capture Those Holiday Sales NowDecember 1

Holiday shopping is well underway this year, which means many consumers have already begun looking for those special gifts. And many consumers worried about economic conditions save time and money by purchasing their gifts online, rather than traveling to a traditional brick and mortar location. Despite this, some retailers may still be having trouble coaxing online shoppers through virtual checkout lines. But knowing when consumers are ready to buy makes it easier for retailers to do just that. To turn your browser into cold hard cash, consider these tips. 1. Free Shipping–Online sales peak the week before Christmas. Holiday shoppers are waiting for retailers to offer last minute sales. Offering free shipping or another last minute v...

Cart of the Week: Mountain Commerce Emphasizes Search Engine FriendlinessNovember 28

Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this ongoing “Cart Of The Week” feature, we profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart, asking about its strengths and weaknesses. For this installment, we asked Taunia Kipp, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer at Mountain Media, a hosted shopping cart, to explain the benefits of her company’s cart. We then asked Palen Conway for his evaluation of it. Conway is COO of Georgiamills.com, a retailer of area rugs that switched to Mountain Commerce seven years ago. PeC: Please provide some general background on the cart. Kipp: In 1998, while working to implement content management and ecommerce systems for Mountain Media’s clients, the deve...