Everest Software Names MerchantAdvantage Top Data Feed Management Software Tool

I just wanted to thank Ryan Brown, Everest Software, for the accolade and recommendation from the recent Internet Retailer 2008 show in Chicago to utilize MerchantAdvantage and our cost-effective, Channel Management with Chanalytics Professional and Lite products.

We work hard at MerchantAdvatage to provide the best value for small to mid-sized businesses to manage their product catalog data feeds to ecommerce and mobile commerce comparison shopping engines, affiliate sites -- as Commission Junction and LinkShare -- and over 150 other shopping destination sites and marketplaces -- as Amazon, Become.com, buySAFE bonded shopping network, eBay!, FindGifts.com, Gifts.com, Google Product Search, JellyFish, Like.com, Microsoft Cashback, myCoupons.com, mPoria.com, mShopper.com, Pricegrabber, Pronto, Shop.com, Shopzilla, Smarter, SortPrice, theFind.com, Underbid, Yahoo!Shopping, and many, many others -- without charging any listing, set up or transaction fees or revenue share.

Here is the full review of MerchantAdvantage and other recommendations from Ryan Brown and Everest Software.

"MerchantAdvantage facilitates the marketing of your products through online shopping sites, coupon sites and mobile commerce sites..."

Chip Arndt
Co-Founder|EVP
MerchantAdvantage, LLC

Online Shopping, E-Commerce Sales Increase Because of "Perceived" US Recession

eTaildTail friends over at Marketing Vox have an interesting study that mirrors the correlation I hypothesized about 6 months ago of the increase in fuel prices, and the credit crunch, to an increase in internet and mobile shopping. 

In those comments, I stated that people still like to buy/consume and, while they have less money to spend due to stagnant wages and high gas prices, would turn to internet e-commerce and mobile shopping as a means to buy products to save money and avoid spending money on gas to buy products at brick and mortar stores. Furthermore, I stated that once they start to shop online, or via mobile commerce, they would also be introduced to price savings, and other offers, that they were of unaware of before.  In turn, this would lead to increased loyalty to the online and mobile shopping experience into the future from new online shoppers.

It seems that my thoughts now have some credibility in statistics.  The great news for small to mid-sized e-commerce merchants is that a whole new group of people are learning how powerful, cost-effective, and easy online and mobile shopping is and existing online shoppers are still shopping.

What Does This Mean For the Future of Online and Mobile Shoppping?

My next hypothesis, and you can hold me to this, is that as many new online shoppers will shop online because of:

1. adverse economic conditions
2. flat pricing plans to surf online from mobile carriers
3. better shopping interfaces by e-commerce storefronts,
4. better "shopping experiences" from shopping destination portals as Amazon, eBay, Like.com, mShopper.com, mPoria.com, PriceGrabber, Shop.com, Shopzilla, and many others, and
5. ongoing better pricing, special offers, reduced shipping costs, and other incentives from the e-commerce merchant.

New and "old" online shoppers will become more enamored with online and mobile shopping and continue to use these channels/avenues to buy products than ever before, even after the US economy rebounds. 

This, in turn, will result in driving more online sales into the future and help to exceed Wall Street expectations of 13-15% year-over-year growth in online and mobile shopping.  I am still targeting 20% - 25% year-to-year growth into 2015.

We will see!

-- Chip Arndt

From Marketing Vox:

"One-third (33 percent) of online US adults are more likely to shop online, rather than at a store, because of high gas prices, according to a Harris Interactive study conducted for iCongo - writes MarketingCharts.

Some highlights from the study:

Incentives

Consumers give various other reasons they would be more likely to shop online as opposed to a physical store:

• 57 percent cite free shipping.
• 55 percent cite lower prices.
• 61 percent cite the ability to shop at any time.

If a store were..."

Please <<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article from Marketing Vox.

CyberSource, mPoria Partner To Accelerate M-Commerce

Well as the eTaildTail community knows, I am a big fan of mobile commerce especially as our mobile devices become more user friendly to surfing online and the telephony/wireless companies as T-Mobile, ATT&T, Verizon (Vodafone), Sprint and others provide us with value packages to surf online for as long as we want. I believe this will equate to many more poeople shopping, comparing prices, and recommending products to friends via their mobile devices.

So, if you are an online merchant and want to stay ahead of the curve invest in a mobile storefront. Believe me it is easy, affordable, and you will have a leg up on your compeititon.  If you want more information on my past commentary on the mobile industry and why a mobile commerce storefront is important you can start by reading this short blog entry <<<CLICK HERE>>>.

Our friends over at mPoria are making some good strides in the industry and I wanted to share their latest success with you in partneting with publicly traded CyberSource, a renowned payment solutions provider.

CyberSource offering mPoria's GoMobile!™ M-Commerce Solution to its network of online merchants

"MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and SEATTLE, Wash. – CyberSource Corporation (NASDAQ: CYBS) and mPoria Inc. have announced a strategic channel partnership in which CyberSource will offer mPoria's GoMobile!™ m-commerce technology to its network of online merchants. 

GoMobile! enables merchants to quickly and cost-effectively build and launch a mobile shopping site, giving retailers access to more than 250 million wireless subscribers nationwide.  Site set-up is simple and requires no in-house development expertise. Once live on the GoMobile! Service, a merchant can offer consumers the ability to shop on the mobile Internet using their cellphone. mPoria's service supports the majority of both feature and smartphones offered by leading U.S. carriers.

“Significant advances have been made in the wireless industry and we believe the time is right for merchants to expand to m-commerce,” said Michael Walsh, CyberSource senior vice president, worldwide sales...." (more) after the jump

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to read the rest of the press release. It is excellent and informative and will help you learn more about mobile commerce and the benefits for online merchants to have a mobile commerce presence.

-- Chip