E-Commerce Blog

Each month, Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the May 2009 installment.

Optimize Comparison Shopping Engine Feeds

“Start inexpensively with Google Base. When the feed is optimized well, the results can show up on the first page of Google within hours (over months with SEO) and conversions are easier since the traffic is qualified for ‘shopping’.”

Manjula Higginbotham
Support Manager
AmeriCommerce Shopping Cart Software
Americommerce.com

The Evolution of the Payment Provider

“With the status of the financial market, the standard payment service provider tries to provide innovative solutions. A preferred option is …

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Ten Great New Ecommerce Ideas for May 2009

Last week, Amazon.com announced quarterly sales of $4.89 billion, up 18 percent from the first quarter of 2009. While many factors contributed to the company’s strong quarter and more than $1.14 billion gross profit, Amazon executives pointed to strict inventory management and better than expected Kindle related sales.

“We worked well with vendors in terms of getting vendor savings…working with them to ship in bulk to the nearest [Amazon] facility,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said when asked how his company had managed to keep operating expenses in check.

The company had relatively low total operating expenses of $904 million on the aforementioned $4.89 billion in sales from the quarter.

Bezos also praised Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Kindle-re…

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Article marketing has been around since the beginning of the Internet, seemingly. It is practically free (if you write the articles yourself); it builds trust; and it attracts customers and influences people while they are in the process of making a buying decision.

The Proof is in the Numbers

According to Adfusion in a March 2009 report, “67% of people between the ages of 18 and 24, and 56% of those making at least $75,000 per year, say they are ‘very likely’ or ’somewhat likely’ to read and act upon article-based advertising.”

So, why don’t more ecommerce storeowners use articles to promote the marketplace and influence buyers? I am not sure, but I suspect that many folks believe that it doesn’t really fit their business model. If…

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Link Article Marketing to Purchase-Related Keywords

Print advertising is a waning media vehicle. It has become less effective in the post-interruption era. However, in spite of this decline, printed display advertising and classifieds can still provide a solid return on investment (ROI) for some ecommerce merchants willing and able to measure and optimize their print campaigns.

I must confess a certain affinity for printed media. As someone who spends many hours each day working and reading on a computer, I find a sort of nostalgic comfort in flipping through the glossy pages of a magazine, or in feeling the inky lightness of newsprint. Yet I also understand that it has become increasing difficult to be heard in a marketplace where print advertisers tout seemingly unending tag lines to w…

Source:
Ecommerce Know-How: Four Ways to Measure Print Advertising Effectiveness

Event and movie tickets earned average orders of $252.14 in March 2009, topping a list of online retail categories, according to a new report.

The report from Nielsen Online via MarketingCharts.com showed that the ticket category outpaced its closest competitor category, computer hardware, by more than $63 per average order. Automotive-related products and consumer electronics each generated slightly more than $120 on a typical order, while child and baby care items, sporting goods, home and garden products, office supplies, and food products all hovered near $75 in revenue for a customary order.

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Chart of the Week: Top Online Retail Categories for March 2009