In a recent study from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, almost all US Internet users research local products and services onilne first before making a purchase. Approximately 97 percent use online media for local shopping research, and of those 90 percent use search engines,  48 percent use Internet Yellow Pages, 24 percent use vertical sites, and 42 percent use comparison shopping sites. The report also showed that more than half of the people surveyed used an online coupon when shopping for products in the past year and almost 20 percent booked an appointment online somewhere other than a restaurant. As more and more people turn ...

Many retail sites will find that shoppers will come to visit their site, add items to their shopping cart, but then abandon the cart. According to a report from Experian, 61% of items left in an online shopping cart are not purchased. One way to try to bring back customers to these abandoned shopping carts is through a follow-up e-mail. A follow-up email can help remind the customer of the products they were interested in and could potentially reignite their interest. You can also attempt to include an incentive to encourage people to return to their purchase. Research found that email campaigns ...

Maintaining the consumers you may have gained over the holiday season can become difficult as the new year continues. Most sign up for emails in order to gain deals and coupons for their holiday shopping. Here are a few ways to keep those shoppers interested in your business long after the holidays are over. Entice subscribers to act. Ask them to fill out a survey about your services and provide an incentive for finishing the survey. It will help remind people of your business as well as give you some feedback on your company. Thank shoppers for their purchases and create promotions ...

Having an online storefront means you’re always open for business Unlike other months, December is a critical month for just about any retailer.  According to the U.S. Census bureau, retailers’ sales during this busy month account for 15-24% of their total annual sales.  Besides Black Friday, the busiest shopping time during the year is the weekend right before Christmas. Typically, the Saturday before Christmas represents $15 billion worth of sales for retailers. This year, the United States East Coast was badly hit by a snowstorm that brought some areas up to two feet of snow, dashing the hopes of many retailers. With ...

Keeping your current clientele happy can often be the easiest way to help your business grow in the next year. However, it is important to constantly keep in touch with your client base and know exactly what clients enjoy, want, and need from you in order to stay loyal to your company. An easy way to get direct responses to what your customers enjoy and need is to do an online survey. They are often the most efficient forms of feedback that also strengthens your relationship with your customers. You can not only see how you're doing from another perspective, but ...

Now that the holiday season is here, there will be plenty of people searching online for the perfect presents to get their friends and family. To help your site perform the best it possibly can, it is best to try to reduce shopper cart abandonment. These are generally people who you were able to draw to your Web site with marketing, but were discouraged in some way. According to the 8th Annual merchant Survey, conducted by PayPal and comScore, here are some of the reasons why shoppers abandoned their shopping cart. High shipping costs If the shipping on an item seems to double ...

It can be difficult to lure new customers to your business. You need to convince them that they need your product and services. It is easier to convince existing customers to use you more. They already know your company and what you have to offer — all you have to do is convince them to use you more. Customer history shows you about their preferences and attitudes and you can customize your marketing efforts for each person. By looking into your customers' sales history you can build loyalty and increase sales for your comment. Recommend products or services that ...

Even though it may seem like a bad decision to stay within your market to increase sales, it is often one of the easiest ways to grow your business. You already have an established business, regular customers, and have plenty of information about the area. They key is to know your customers' purchasing histories. Bulk Buying Discount Look at what your high sellers are during various points of the year. Offer bulk buying discounts for those items to entice higher sales. Even if they are only saving pennies at a time, customers respond positively to any kind of discount. Purchase Incentives If you want ...

When running your own E-commerce site, there are plenty of obstacles that can prevent visitors from actually purchasing something from your website. According to the Retail/ E-Commerce Industry Report Q2 2009 from iPerceptions, some of the top barriers to buying were: Didn't find what I wanted (34%) Website navigation/usability (13%) Too little product information (8%) A bad website design is an simple deterrent for customers. If visitors can't easy find your product and services on your website, then they are less likely to become customers. The experts at OneIMS will guide you through a variety of available options to develop and deploy powerful websites. For ...

Does the thought of creating a website for your business excite you, or does it keep you awake at night? For those who fall into the latter group, here's some news that might help you fall asleep quicker. According to an article in Business Week, not all companies should buy into the concept that your business will not flourish unless you have a full-blown website. Gasp! You've heard and been told otherwise. Well, let's differentiate between the types of businesses that stand to profit most from a full-fledged website. A complete website often involves multiple pages, sitemaps, flash, videos, links, and much ...

Ecommerce is defined as trade through the internet; that is buying and selling through the internet channel through online transaction packaging, electronic data interchange (EDI) etc. Today's scenario: 97.7% of all websites that has been evaluated are not being marketed correctly. In fact, the most common error they have found is related directly to the marketing aspects of a website. From poorly targeted content to sites unable to finish the sale. But the most revealing statistic is the fact that 94.1% of all websites evaluated, suffered from poor content. Most of these sites, which were aimed at creating more business or ...