Mobile..."IZE" Your E-Commerce Storefront

Many ecommerce merchants have asked MerchantAdvantage about the benefits of having your ecommerce storefront accessible on mobile devices.  MerchantAdvantage believes that every ecommerce merchant should list their products on mobile devices because of:

• the advent of improved mobile interfaces and devices to accomodate shopping
• trends in consumer behaviour patterns, and
• flat pricing by mobile technology providers to surf the Web.

Apple's iPhone led the way to providing a user friendly shopping experience on a small mobile device.  This included being able to locate products, compare prices of products, and buy products.  Because Apple's iPhone appealed primarily to a 15-35 year old demographic, this led to a pattern of increased usage by "younger" people to "mobile shop." An article from USA Today, titled Shop By Phone Gets New Meaning, confirmed these findings.  And here is another article, First Data's McCarthy Examines MCommerce Trends, from industry experts Mobile Banker, August 2008, which speaks to why they believe that "...everything is in place...finally..." for mobile commerce to explode in 2009.

Just this week, Practical E-Commerce wrote an article on new open source mobile commerce platforms referencing Nielson's, which stated that 9 million Americans have already made a purchase from a mobile device and that 50% of the 250 million odd mobile handset users in the USA are willing to make a purchase. Can you feel the trend?

While the mobile shopping experience is far from perfect, youth today expect to be able to "do it all" from their mobile device including buying anything at any time they want. And the marketplace is catching up because this is the demographic whom all companies and ecommerce merchants must reach to drive sales and increase brand exposure into the future.

Soon after the iPhone release in 2007, every major mobile device company upgraded their interfaces to compete with Apple to ensure that customers can virtually do whatever they want using their mobile devices.  The most recent announcement came from T-Mobile and Google. For November 2008, T-Mobile and Google are launching a new 3G/JavaFX mobile device to compete directly with Apple.  This new mobile device's shopping experience will be powered by Amazon and offer consumers a complete shopping experience from one of the best and largest e-retailers in the USA. Information on this new launch can be found by <<<CLICKING HERE>>>.

T-Mobile and Google had a soft launch of the product in New York two weeks ago and are launching their new offering first in Europe, where adoption of such technologies is quicker than the USA.  Introduction of the new "Google/T-Mobile Andoid, JavaFX Phone" will reach the USA 1st quarter 2009. MerchantAdvantage believes that all ecommerce merchants should realize that mobile shopping is becoming a part of our culture and stay ahead of this trend so they can be more competitive.

These mobile shopping experiences include the ability to instantly buy a gift or product, compare prices while shopping at one store or anywhere where they want, download coupons, take a picture of a product - share it with a friend - and then purchase it, and receive special offers from companies they like shopping from and trust. 

Further evidence of the proliferation of mobile shopping is evidenceed by wireless carriers building out the national infrastructure for mobile commerce and their continued flat pricing to surf the Web.  Internet Retailer reports that, by the end of 2009, 51.9% of merchants expect to operate their own m-commerce site for users of wireless devices and 57.1% also expect to design and maintain pages on social networks that give shoppers options to download digital coupons, upload videos, and participate in blogs or forums.  These m-commerce sites would be in addtion to working with shopping portals as Amazon, which also can get an ecommerce merchants products in front of consumers.

“We are seeing a fundamental shift in how retailers are deploying new web technology and that trend is going to accelerate over the next year,” says Evan Gerber, principal consultant, user experience, with Molecular Inc., an e-commerce consulting and web design firm.

“Web shopping isn’t about creating the best desktop experience on a hard-wired personal computer any more. The retailers that make best use of emerging technologies such as mobile commerce and social networking are the ones that will build the best brand recognition and create the most diverse means for shoppers to complete a transaction.”

The whole concept of mobile shopping is intuitive but the execution can be complicated. For instance:

1. How does an ecommerce merchant list/feed their products to Amazon easily so there products can subsequently get listed on the new T-Mobile/Google mobile device?
2. How does an e-commerce merchant list their product catalog into other supported mobile shopping networks and syndicated comparison shopping engines to ensure that a consumer can find their products and brand on any mobile device?
3. How does an ecommerce merchant create their own user-friendly, mobile Web Store that a consumer can go to directly and navigate through easily, and finally...
4. How does an ecommerce merchant update their product catalog and inventory management across all of these channels when a sale on a mobile device occurs?

There are answers to help ecommerce merchants "Mobile...IZE" their ecommerce storefront and excellent companies to initiate an mcommerce (mobile commerce) strategy.

MerchantAdvantage is one company that helps by:

1. supporting mobile shopping technologies that set up mobile commerce storefronts
2. supporting Amazon, and
3. feeding product catalog feeds, cost-effectively to over 150 comparison shopping engines, coupon sites, and other maketing channels that support both online ecommerce and mobile commerce

mShopper and mPoria are examples of excellent companies, whom MerchantAdvantage works with, to set up a mobile storefront in less than 24 hours from a clean data feed.  MerchantAdvantage also is glad to put any ecommerce merchant in touch with a myriad of other companies to accomplish all that an ecommerce merchant needs to leverage the growing mobile commerce space and we recommend that you start today to stay competitive.

While I disagree with Bill Mirabito below who says that "mobile technology is not ready for actual transactions/mobile checkout", because I find it is and getting better every month, I do encourage all readers of this post to check out the following Webinar hosted by eTaildTail friends at ElasticPath.

The Webinar is free and will give you valuable insights into the best use of mobile shopping technology for the holidays.  And, when you are done with the Webinar, give me a call and I would me more than happy to go into further details of how MerchantAdvantage and our many mobile strategic relationships can help you reach customers this holiday season via their mobile devices.

Holiday Wish List for Mobile Commerce: Free Webinar: October 23rd, 2008 @ 9am PT/12pm ET

Guest Panelist: Bill Mirabito, Founder & Principal Consultant, B2C Partners

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to register for this free Webinar from our friends at ElasticPath.

Retailers love growing store traffic and improving the brand experience, but mobile devices are rarely part of the equation. Present-day technology isn’t ready for mobile checkout. However, today’s cell phones can be used by in-store consumers as an effective “kiosk on the hip.” In this session, Bill Mirabito will outline how mobile technology can help retailers drive cross-channel sales this holiday season.

In this webinar, you will learn how to:

• Engage in-store consumers and get them to register their device
• Deliver enhanced product information to consumers in the aisle
• Direct shoppers to alternate store locations with available inventory
• Create wish lists in store and share gift registries for holiday shopping
• Personalize recommendations and promotions for cross-channel consumers

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to register for this free Webinar from our friends at ElasticPath.

- Chip Arndt

"Free Shipping" For The Holidays: Not So Fast

The economy is "bust", the "bailouts" are upon us, and who cares who fault it is. So what do e-commerce merchants do for the Holiday Season to get sales?

In the past "Free Shipping" worked wonders, but now e-commerce merchants have to think twice about absorbing this cost, as margins on products sold shrink.

I am no expert so I instead turn to friends of eTaildTail who are experts. 

Here is some great advice for e-commerce merchants who willl battle with the dilemma of how to "entice" customers withoiut providing free shipping and get away with it, during the holiday shopping season.

This is an important read!

-- Chip Arndt

From: Natalia Zumeda, Advertising Age

No Such Thing as Free Shipping?

Facing Rising Costs, Online Retailers Likely to Attach Strings to Holiday Promos

"Retailers counting on online shopping to buoy sales in a tight economy are wrestling with a big problem: free shipping.

Shipping discounts, which have become a mainstay of the holiday season, are being carefully analyzed by retailers as they weigh the benefits against the mounting costs. Transportation costs have skyrocketed in the last year, with diesel prices rising 50% year over year. In response, fuel surcharges applied by UPS and FedEx have more than doubled to 10.5% for ground packages and 34.5% for air packages..."

<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article.

Microsoft Shopping, Live Search Cashback, JellyFish, Live Search Updates and Ciao.com Purchase Too

Microsoft is doing its best to gain market share in the area of comparison shopping engines and online shopping.  I personally think they are doing a great job.  The marketplace will see some great benefits for both the consumer and the online e-commerce merchant in months ahead; I think the marketplace is rooting for Microsoft.  Do we really want our whole online world to be Google?

In the past 12 months Microsoft has:

1. acquired Jellyfish.com in 2007, a unique online comparison shopping portal that combines "smack daddy" daily specials with cash back options that the e-commerce merchant passes on to the shopper
2. utilized the "cashback mechanism" of JellyFish.com for their larger Microsoft shopping portal
3. Microsoft now has two shopping engines; MSN Shopping and Live Search Cashback.  Live Search Cashback offers up to 40% cash back to consumers on any purchase -- an amazing and bold move and one that really benefits the consumers and the online e-commerce merchant; Microsoft pays 100% of the cash back refund to consumers on behalf of the merchant
4. bought Ciao.com, one of the most dominant comparison shopping engines in all of Europe, with a new subsidiary in the USA (www.Ciao.com), to solidify market share and product shopping awareness globally.

Commenting on MSN Shopping, Mark Deruyter, program manager lead at Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Shopping, stated: “We have great content on MSN Shopping and we wanted users to be more engaged and to reward them.” A new animated web page will feature changeable “storefronts” that can be adapted to fit seasonal shopping and specific categories, such as jewelry, Deruyter told conference attendees.

The home page will include a spinning wheel with a range of credit points enabling frequent shopper program members to “spin to win” up to 50 credits each day. Credits can be redeemed for discounts. “We’re trying to get the customer to come back,” Deruyter said.

Commenting on Live Search Cashback, Jennifer Stark, MSN Product Specialist, added: “Consumers and Advertisers are getting more of an economic value from Live Search Cashback.  It is a win-win situation for everyone.”

I am sure Microsoft has big plans ahead to take Google head on in search and by fortifying online shopping, which also serves up many ad campaigns, this just may be their first major, successful move -- "knight takes pawn D5" - Google, your move.

For all e-commerce merchants reading this please note that you should definately work with Microsoft's: Live Search Cashback, MSN Shopping, and Live Search as listing your products with them is FREE.

So, any sales leads you get are also FREE.  So why not list your products with them and get some possible sales leads and definately get some good SEO for your Webstore? 

Need to reach them?  Contact MerchantAdvantage and we can get you there.

-- Chip Arndt

PS If you want to work with all of Microsoft's comparison shopping engines quickly, cost-effectively, and seamlessly, including Ciao.com in the USA or Europe, check out MerchantAdvantage. For only $145 a month, and no other fees, MerchantAdvantage can list, optimize, and analyze your product catalog feeds to any and all Microsoft related shopping sites and 150+ other comparison shopping engines.  Where else can you market to possibly over 20 million unique visitors per month for $145 a month?  Check us out.

And don't forget....

and

AOL Shopping and New Gift Card Program Powered by Gifts.com

I always like to see comparison shopping engines try to provide more value to both the consumer and online merchants when listing products with a comparison shopping engine.  Over the past six months, heading into the 2008 holiday shopping season, comparison shopping engines have been doing their best to take advantage of the ongoing growth and ease of online shopping.

Since July 2008, AOL has done an excellent job of working with Gifts.com to provide great ideas for shoppers that allow shoppers to use a gift card program.

AOL Shopping’s gift card program appeals both to shoppers and merchants, said Sally Henry, director, AOL Shopping. “Users can use the cards universally and buy from any given retailer,” she said.

Just another method that shows that large media companies are trying hard to leverage the growing trend of online shopping and mobile shopping.

If you are an online merchant, shouldn't you consider listing your products on these shopping comparison engines? 

I think you should and, at the very least, sign up for 4 free comparison shopping engines, yes FREE. And then once you know more about comparison shopping engines, and how they can work for you, you can try over 150 others that work on either a pay-per-click model or commission based model. It is really a no-brainer. 

The free ones are: Google Product Search (see prior post), theFind.com, MSN LiveSearch, and Microsoft Cashback.  The latter two you can set up with one feed or email MerchantAdvantage and we can help you set up all of your marketing campaigns.

Happy marketing!

-- Chip Arndt

Google Product Base Builds By Accepting Other Shopping Feeds To Google Base

Google Product Base, a shopping comparison engine, has not grown as fast as Google is used to growing so Google Product Base is now accepting data feeds that are formatted for Shopping.com and Shopzilla.com, as well as Google Base, in hopes of getting more e-commerce merchants to sign up with Google Product Base.

Google states: "...take advantage of this option when you register your data feed in your account. Select the type of feed you're registering and then chose from a drop-down list of feed formats. We'll automatically format your feeds for proper integration and uploading into Google Product Search."

Google says existing Google Product Search providers should continue submitting feeds in the Google Base format to take advantage of optional and custom attributes.

Here is a small caveat. Eventhough there are over 150 comparison shopping engines in the marketplace, Google is only accepting feeds formatted for Shopping.com and Shopzilla.com and their own Google Base format, not any comparison shopping engine.

Here is what they suggest, from their Website:

• Please include unique URLs for the items in your feed.
• Please submit your Shopping.com feed as either a .csv or .txt file, as we do not currently support .xls and .xml formatted Shopping.com feeds.
• Note: We will automatically detect your file's delimiter.

 

• Please submit your Shopzilla feed as a tab-delimited text file (.txt).
• Note: This is the same format as the Shopzilla-specified file format.

Here is more information regarding data feed submission in general using Google Base. <<<CLICK HERE>>> for that information.

-- Chip Arndt