Coaching For Success
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Online Shopping On Track To Reach Record Levels Over Christmas
Dec 18th
Despite how bad the global economy has been, internet business owners are hoping that sales over the Christmas period will help take their business and the economy out of the depression they’ve been in.
In the period leading up to Christmas, sales have been brisk, giving business owners hope for a turnaround in their fortunes over the upcoming Christmas shopping season. According to comScore, online business owners have no cause for concern because they’re predicting online sales will break all previous records.
Spending Reaching Pre-Recession Levels
Consumer spending has begun to pick up this year and that fact is borne out by the numbers recorded so far this year. Let’s look at some of the figures to get an idea of what’s going on:
- The research by comScore shows that shoppers in the US spent more than 9 billion dollars over the first 3 weeks in November, which represents an increase of 13 percent over the same period in 2009.
- comScore anticipates spending to exceed 32 billion dollars by the end of December, which would surpass the total set over the same period in 2007 before the recession set in.
- The total amount spent in 2010 up to and including the month of October was almost 110 billion dollars, which represents an increase of 9 percent over the same period in 2009.
Online Consumer Spending On The Rise
A separate report produced by MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse shows that consumer spending in general is on the rise, with online spending showing particularly strong signs of significant growth. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers from this report:
- Internet sales for the early part of November showed an increase of 11.4 percent over the same period the previous year
- August and September showed very strong growth of from 7 to 8 percent over those same months from the prior year
- Online spending over the Christmas shopping season looks set to be on a par with the best results ever recorded in 2007, which is a dramatic recovery considering the doom and gloom of the past couple of years
One very important point to note for online internet business owners is that, according to the people polled for comScore’s report, 33 percent of online shoppers claimed they would only purchase goods online during the Christmas shopping season if shipping was free.
The main thing to take from both of these reports for online retailers is the fact that consumer confidence appears to be almost back to where it was during the pre-recession era and, as a result, so are sales.
A UK internet business coach can work with you to take advantage of these trends and of the impending Christmas shopping season.
Mobile Devices Will Take Centre Stage This Shopping Season
Dec 2nd
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again, since its importance bears repeating many times over, but if your internet business doesn’t have a mobile version of your web site, you could be missing the boat even while it’s still sitting at the dock on the eve of the end-of-year shopping frenzy.
Impressive Numbers
An IDC survey of smartphone users found that about half of those polled planned on using their phones to do price comparisons when doing their shopping while 32 percent said they would use their devices to check online reviews to help with their buying decisions.
Another survey by Yahoo! showed that the purchases of two-thirds of mobile users will be influenced by their mobile devices. And yet another survey by Luth Research showed that if retailers have a mobile version of their site they’ll attract the business of around 51 percent of consumers.
Internet v Mobile Internet
When consumers are in the heat of doing their Christmas shopping and are using their mobile devices to check for products or prices online, they only have so much time they’re willing to devote to these tasks. If your main web site has a lot of images and animation and is generally very busy, it may take an inordinate amount of time to load on a mobile device, by which time your visitors may well be long gone and winding up their purchases at a competitor’s site.
All the more reason to devote time and energy and, if necessary, expense to designing and creating a more streamlined version of your web site, stripping out any unnecessary features and providing users with the basic information they need for use on mobile devices.
Massive Mobile Contribution Expected
According to IDC, in the U.S. alone, it’s expected that retailers will make about $450 billion dollars, and mobile devices are expected to play a part in about $127 billion of that. The number of consumers actually making purchases with a smartphone is expected to be low, but a massive number of users will be indulging in many other online activities, which result in purchases.
This should send a clear message to retailers, and that message is that mobile e-commerce has arrived.
If your internet business is already set up for mobile e-commerce, you’ll have a distinct advantage over other online retailers. If not, contact a UK internet business coach, who will set your business up to take full advantage of the mobile boom.
10 Tips To Boost Sales This Shopping Season
Nov 30th
If you’re an e-commerce internet business owner, you may be practically foaming at the mouth at the prospect of what should be – and hopefully will be – the most profitable shopping season of the year. But, the big question is, “Is your web site ready to handle what all online retailers hope will be a huge rush to their virtual stores?”.
Prospects Are Looking Good
Things on the online shopping front are already looking up, since, according to comScore, over $9 billion has been spent during the first 3 weeks or so of this end-of-year shopping season, representing an increase of over 13 percent over the previous year. This is all well and good but amounts to nothing if your web site isn’t ready to take advantage of this annual opportunity.
Testing, Testing, Testing
Testing the various functions and features of your web site is what’s needed to make sure all the creases in your processes are ironed out and that you’re fully prepared to grab your slice of the virtual seasonal shopping pie.
Here are 10 areas you should check and test to be sure you’re as prepared as you can be.
1. Ad campaigns.
Check all your campaigns on all channels and verify they’re using your latest promotional material and that they’re keyword optimised and targeted to the right audience.
2. Landing pages.
Your customers will be caught up in the usual shopping frenzy at this time and won’t have time to search around your site for what they need, so make sure what they want is prominently displayed. Make sure all links are working correctly within your site and that links from such things as ads and e-mails end up taking the customer to the correct page. If you offer free shipping in an ad, make sure to repeat the offer as soon as possible on your landing page, with your “add to cart” and “checkout” buttons prominently displayed.
3. Contact information.
Your phone number should be displayed on each page of your site and should be easy to find. If you offer live chat, you can respond to user queries without them even leaving your site, increasing your chances of converting them to a customer. If not, give them an e-mail address and be sure to respond as soon as possible.
4. Shopping Cart.
It’s vital your shopping cart is fully functional, so test it with a few purchases using various payment methods.
5. Shipping Policies.
If you offer free shipping, your customers will love you for it and that offer should be set up to catch the eye instantly. But, it’s not strictly necessary; what is a necessity is that shipping information should be clear and concise.
6. Social Media Campaigns.
Social media is set to be the biggest boon to online businesses in a long time, so making sure your campaigns are in order and that you’re carefully monitoring your accounts is essential.
7. Return Policies.
Customers pay close attention to return policies before committing to a purchase, so make sure yours are clear and easy to find. Free return shipping will increase consumer confidence, so make it a point to offer that.
8. E-mail.
Check that your e-mail campaigns are working correctly and are optimised for maximum impact. Make sure to send a thank-you e-mail to a customer immediately after they’ve made a purchase. That email should also include customer contact information for any questions the customer may have, as well as an up-sell or cross-sell opportunity, an option to sign up for a newsletter, rewards club, etc.
9. Affiliates Should Have The Latest Information.
Your affiliates should be aware of your latest promotions and armed with all the tools necessary to promote your products and services. This would be an opportune time to offer your best affiliates an incentive to help boost sales even further.
10. Discount Codes.
Discounts are expected by online shoppers and should be active and highly visible. Verify you can deliver on the promise of your discounts before publishing them on any social platforms and risking them going viral.
Make Sure Everything’s Working
Now you’ve done your testing and made some tweaks, have some employees, friends, co-workers and family check your web site and go through the steps involved in the sales process to make sure everything is working properly.
With the biggest shopping season of the year coming up, it’s essential that your web site and all the processes connected with your internet business are in good working order, so don’t underestimate the importance of covering all the above tips.
If you need help checking the processes of your internet business, including your web site, enlist the services of a UK internet business coach, who will make sure your business is in perfect working order for the upcoming shopping season.
Mobile Apps That Will Help Increase Your Productivity
Nov 29th
For internet business owners, the hope is that the next few weeks will be the busiest shopping season of the year. In fact, if the forecasts are correct (and online retailers certainly hope they are), this will be the biggest shopping season since the recession started.
Tools Of The Trade
With all this activity, which means managing inventories, fulfilling orders, etc., everyone involved in e-commerce internet business will be stretched to the limit. Fortunately there are some wonderful tools out there to help mitigate the time crunch.
Here are some of the best.
1. Sugar Mobile For iPhone
To make life easier for the busy merchant on the go, SugarCRM, which supplies an extremely popular customer relationship management suite, recently introduced a new option to access the suite from the iPhone. It allows for extensive customisation, providing for a specialised mobile CRM experience that is available anywhere, even at the Christmas table.
2. Zendesk For Mobile
Customer support can differentiate one company from another and can mean the difference between retaining a customer for life or never hearing from them again. By providing apps for all the major mobile platforms, Zendesk has made it possible for companies to create, track and respond to support tickets while on the go.
3. Mzinga Mobile Apps
Having established itself as a major player in the social software sphere (Ford and Amazon are two of its customers), Mzinga has made its CRM suite, known as OmniSocial, available as customisable apps for the Blackberry and iPhone, and provides both external, customer-facing solutions as well as internal solutions.
4. Jive Mobile 4.5
Customer-support communities powered by Jive have become extremely popular with businesses, which use them to increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs. These customer service social networks are now available for all major mobile platforms as Jive Mobile 4.5, providing a set of apps which can be both internally and externally facing.
5. Roambi Mobile ES3
This is a mobile application focused on business intelligence data, including analytics. It’s currently available for Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and provides various views of data, including a pie view and a trends view, in addition to 4 other types of views. Thus, your vital business data can be available to you at all times in various formats.
These are some of the better tools available to internet business owners to try to better manage what they hope will be a hectic schedule over the next few weeks.
For help and advice on using these tools and others to help better manage your resources, consult a UK internet business coach, who will bring a wealth of knowledge to maximise the use of your time and resources.
The Use Of Mobile Phones For Christmas Shopping Is On The Way Up
Nov 17th
The end of the year is upon us, and, as an internet business owner, this will hopefully be the busiest and most successful time of the year for your business. But, is your business ready to take advantage of the increasing number of mobile consumers? If not, recent findings published in the U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing, conducted for The Mobile Marketing Association, provide more proof of the increasing popularity of mobile marketing, and may make you re-think the way you and your business look at mobile marketing.
Numbers Are On The Rise
According to the survey, 59 percent of mobile consumers intend to do their shopping and plan their end of year parties through their mobile phones. And that’s just online use of the phones, and is a massive increase from 2009, when only 29 percent used their phones for the same purposes.
64 percent of the people intending to use their phones to help them with their shopping plan on checking for presents on their phones before making the trip to the stores. Only 12 percent of users said their actions would be taken as a result of seeing ads in a newspaper or on a billboard or television. So, what’s the main use of mobile phones going to be? The two most popular responses were to find the places a particular gift is being sold and then do price comparisons.
More Key Findings
Among the other key findings from the survey are the following:
- The demographic groups found to be the most likely to make use of their phones for Christmas shopping and planning parties to any great extent are adults aged 25-34, Asians and Hispanics
- Christmas shoppers thought their mobile phones would be most helpful when shopping for music, books, movies and consumer electronics
- Of all shoppers using their mobile phones, Asians and Hispanics were the most likely to use their phones to shop for toys and games
- When it comes to making actual purchases with their mobile phones, fully 13 percent expect to do so over Christmas and the New Year
What Can We Deduce From These Findings?
The fact that the use of mobile phones for everything in our day-to-day lives is increasing at a rapid pace cannot be denied. And the fact that so many people are planning to make use of their phones at some phase or other of the buying cycle during the upcoming shopping season makes it obvious how important it is to have an online mobile presence in order to take advantage of these ever-increasing numbers. As impressive as these numbers are for this year, the numbers are expected to increase even more impressively for next year.
But, for this year, with shoppers being pressed for time as they always are around this time of the year and with the economy being tight, the circumstances are right for shoppers to rely on their phones more so than usual to hunt for bargains, seek out just the right present and as the fastest way to track down a particular shop. This reliance on mobile phones means that marketers, merchants and brands can maximise their use of the mobile channel to reach consumers to take advantage of the opportunities available over this hectic shopping season.
If you have a mobile version of your web site up and running already, your internet business will be well-positioned to take advantage of the frenzied activity about to take place on mobile phones. If not, it’s not too late to talk to a UK internet business coach, who’ll be happy to help with all your online mobile application needs.
