13th June RT @getelastic Do you think Groupon will survive without a customer retention strategy? http://www.getelastic.com/groupon-strategy/ >> NO!

A nice post from Get Elastic commenting on the possible Groupon IPO and the state of their business.  To my mind after the Linkedin IPO, there is such a lack of Internet IPO’s that people are jumping to be part of them regardless of the business.  I have mixed views on Groupon, they have done well to become the biggest brand and be very well known.  However speaking personally if I ever look at their site all it seems to offer is teeth whitening and massages.

Also despite all their success they are not making any money.  I think there is a future in this industry but I don’t think it is Groupon.  Currently I see Facebook Deals and their real time, local approach much more engaging to consumers, and much more mainstream, but time will tell

13th JuneThe first ever Rightmove Hack-a-thon|Rightmove Property Blog http://t.co/VW6i4LK > Congrats to Tom (Uni Friend) and all on the winning team

The property website Rightmove held an internal Hack a thon competition for its developers to propose new features and technologies for their website, and then the top 9 ideas were split between teams to design and build.

Firstly congratulations to the winning team and Tom (in the video) who was a housemate of mine at Surrey University.

Secondly though what a great concept.  I’m sure we’ve all had ideas to push our respective sites forward, be they niche and cool, or far reaching and functional, but there is never time to do everything.  This “Hack-A-Thon” gives everyone throughout the company chance to contribute, share their ideas and feel like they have the opportunity to make a difference to the business.  For the management team it is an invaluable source of ideas for the site from the people who know it best, your staff!  They can tell you what doesn’t work, what’s missing, and how to move it forward.

13th June – notonthehighstreet.com launches group gifting http://t.co/ucJOjFP > interesting concept, is it useful or a bit to complex/long to be used?

Not on the High Street have launched a group gifting system on their website, which is demonstrated in the attached video.  To use it, you decide what to buy, how much each of you want to pay for it, who is paying what, send out the invitations, and once the product has been fully paid it is bought and sent to the recipient with cards.

This is an interesting concept, but I just wonder whether it is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.  Sure its nicer for everyone to pay individually than one person pay and try and claim it back from the others, but by the time you’ve all agreed what you want to do, then set this all up, then all paid for it – wouldn’t it have been less hassle just to do it the old fashioned way!  Also if the gift is for an event and some people are in less of a rush to pay would it still be instock or if one decides not to buy what happens?  – though at the same time, good to see new ideas for payment and innovation.

13th June – RT @getelastic A/B and Multivariate Test Validity: Beware of Bad Data! http://bit.ly/kxbgPW

A good top line post of some tips when A/B testing, I would certainly agree with the first, sample size is key, as you will see all the metrics jumping up and down until you have enough traffic to give you statistical relevance and a high confidence level.

15th June – Net-a-Porter innovates with live feed of customer buys – http://www.internetretailing.net/2011/06/net-a-porter-innovates-with-live-feed-of-customer-buys/

A fun integration of add to bag / wishlist data against IP location on the Net a Porter Website.  This really shows more than anything else what a global playing field eCommerce is with add to bags popping up from all over the world.

15th June – RT @Econsultancy Starbucks’ Facebook page receives 12X more traffic than Starbucks.com #FODM

I just thought that this was a fun stat, I’m sure anyone would be envious of their 23 million fans, but on first glance it doesn’t look like they are doing a whole lot to leverage their Facebook page.  Although they post regularly it is in a very formal company tone of voice and (to me at least) doesn’t feel engaging, also I’m not sure what the purpose is of the facebook page.

15th June – RT @Econsultancy 92:1 marketing’s dirty little statistic http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7657-92-1-marketings-dirty-little-statistic-5

I found this post very believable, I can’t count the number of times that I have been followed by advertising, PPC or any form of acquisition marketing, but when I come to click, they either don’t sell it or worse never did!  Just as much effort should go into personalising the site for customers based on the route they entered and ensuring you meet their expectations.

16th June – RT BBCTech Facebook no-nos http://bbc.in/jI7WRR

In the week when a Juror was sentenced for contacting the accused through Facebook the BBC publishes a list of Facebook No No’s with some memorable examples.

16th June – RT DirectorsOfCOM The term ‘Average conversion rate’ is banded around the eCommerce industry so much these days, but are you… http://drct.co/WYn10

Conversion is such a eCommerce buzzword, even people who don’t work directly in eCommerce want to know “Whats the conversion of” – This is very frustrating as there a so many types of conversion metrics, and so places to apply it to – The landing page, the category, the products etc that you can never understand “the average conversion rate”  I believe you should focus on graphing your conversion and tracking its progress, look at the improvements you have made and strive to increase it further rather than worrying about other companies average!

16th June – RT @Econsultancy PR firms need to get hip to the new rules for reviews http://bit.ly/iwWKmn

This week Duke Nukem Forever broke the record for most delayed video game at 14 years and 41 days since its announcement.  Obviously expectations were high however the PR Company responsible for sending out review copies of the game publicly tweeted -

#AlwaysBetOnDuke too many went too far with their reviews…we r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom

They definitely shouldn’t have said that publicly and as a result have lost the contract, however this just goes to highlight what is probably the unspoken rule of review websites or magazines.  Flicking my thoughts to onsite reviews, I like Amazon’s take on this – They have a Amazon Vine program whereby they give out free review copies of products, the then clearly mark the review as such.  I think this challenges the reviewer in a very positive way to focus on functionality and features rather than just like or dislike.

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The blurb from the back cover

• Pay new employees $2000 to quit.
• Make customer service the responsibility of the entire company, not just a department.
• Focus on company culture as the #1 priority.
• Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business.
• Help employees grow both personally and professionally.
• Seek to change the world.
• Oh, and make money too.

Sound crazy? It’s all standard operating procedure at Zappos, the online retailer that’s doing over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually. After debuting as the highest-ranking newcomer in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list in 2009, Zappos was acquired by Amazon in a deal valued at over $1.2 billion on the day of closing.

In his first book, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business; through LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft for $265 million), Zappos, and more.

Tony shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success — and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own.

In the authors words

My Review

The book is part lifestory, part business lessons.  It is split into three sections

1 – Profits – In section 1 Tony Hsieh writes about his early life, his entrepreneurial spirit while young and at college, his first business Linkexchange and the beginnings of Zappos.

2 – Profits and Passion – This section starts as Tony takes a full time position at Zappos.  A time of the Dot Com crash, with funding hard to find survival is the number 1 priority but even in this climate, culture and purpose grow.  This chapter also documents Zappos’ Core Values, and what they mean to Tony Hsieh and those within Zappos.

3 – Profits, Passion and Purpose – Zappos has become a success, and in this section Tony writes about the process to which they were acquired by Amazon, the things he has done since, and the academic frameworks that Zappos actions could be compared to and why everyone is looking for Happiness!

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Service / Satisfaction or who wants to broaden their eCommerce knowledge.  The book is written in a easy to read voice, and is the tale of a real company, so is very ingrossing and not at all like a textbook!  Zappos have seemingly unparalleled openness about the inner workings of the company and even have a website http://www.deliveringhappiness.com/ companion to the book, with further reading, Zappos Core Values, and a how to for your business.

Also I was surprised that Zappos offer tours of their offices http://www.zapposinsights.com/main/experiences/tours/ I can’t imagine most offices wanting to open themselves for tours 12 times a week but it sounds like a fascinating and inspiring experience.

Delivering Happiness isn’t widely available in the UK – But you can usually find a New or Used copy on Amazon here

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Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh – Review

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6th June – SEO benefits of user reviews http://t.co/ckCZLlJ > With such choice online, reviews are the deciding point for me to purchase so essential!

As I said in the tweet buying any product which I am not familiar with reviews will be the deciding point for me, just last week I bought a set of Car Jumpleads which I know almost nothing about, so it was the reviews which both educated me on what to look for and which to buy.

As to their SEO benefit I think reviews can be a great way on often generic products to differentiate your page content from that of your competitors.  Also the reviews are likely to include a lot of the wording that you may be likely to search for but may not be in the product name.

6th June – ASOS adopts ‘summer hours’ policy for staff http://drct.co/VFSwK #in > interesting, being only Friday probably adds to culture and satisfaction for a minimal loss of output

Ok so I cheated on this one and used Deck.ly to extend over 140 characters.  I enjoyed reading the thoughts of the Directors of Opinion Panel.  I agree that allowing staff to leave early on a Friday is likely to be a big boost to moral, enhances ASOS’s culture, and makes them a place people want to work.

However, at the end of Autumn it will put a bit of a downer on things to have to work till close when they end this Summer scheme.  Also – Surely a web operation is 24-7, particularly in the Social spaces, Friday afternoon could be a key time for them to enagage with shoppers.

8th June – RT mrchrisaddison Google Ads sent me a message telling me they are the most effective form of advertising my website. They sent it by letter. Point defeated.

A humorous post by Comedian Chris Adddison, not a month goes by when I don’t get letters about Google Ads either!

8th June - Why a negative review may not be so bad after all – http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7622-why-a-negative-review-may-not-be-negative-at-all

A fairly standard argument here about what one person may dislike in a product or service may be exactly what another loves.  However illustrated well with the YouTube clip of the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain who firmly stand by their no mobile phone policy! – You Tube clip NSFW

9th June – RT retailweek In case you missed it earlier – 10 lessons to learn from @Asos http://bit.ly/k7wCqF

No let all your staff leave at 3pm isn’t on the list!  A sensible rounded list of some of the areas that ASOS have invested in early and seen dividends, including International, Mobile, Delivery and Engagement.

10th June – RT retailweek 50 websites to watch http://bit.ly/iqSuM9

A great list if you want some inspiration, ideas, and to see what is happening in the industry.  Each of the 50 companies is suggested by a etailer themselves, with a nice snippet of what they’re doing that makes the site number one for them.

10th June - Javari provides the best customer experience: study http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7635-javari-provides-the-best-customer-experience-study

As Graham Charlton writes, I too find Javari a bit uninspiring, perhaps its the beige colour scheme, however behind this they make their site incredibly simple to navigate and use and there’s a lot to be learnt from this.

10th June – Examples of Online Changing rooms – http://t.co/jmGr5zk H&M – Impressive that you can swivel the model for a back view

We’re seeing more and more online retailers, trying a changing room approach, This is a link to a Snow Patrol review of a couple, I think they do have a strong purpose in that you can see the length of a garment and the fit, but I’m torn whether a “changing room” approach, which does allow you to mix and match outfits really adds to conversion over a lifestyle shot model image.

10th June – Customer Reviews – Erasing authenticity: When correcting is corrupting http://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/2011/06/10/erasing-authenticity-when-correcting-is-corrupting/

The last tweet this week is for a Bazaarvoice Blog post, in response to Zappos (another Amazon company) announcing they would correct customer reviews for spelling and grammar, I am with Bazaarvoice that the customers complete review mistakes and all should be shown, otherwise you loose the authenticity and authority of that customers review.  Though I have seen some shockers for spelling and grammar in the past!

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This has led to Facebook becoming a much greater marketing arena for brands.  With many of the big brands having their own pages on Facebook, some even sell on facebook.  Some are really clever and look to leverage the power of social recommendations How Benefit Cosmetics gave their customers a voice on Facebook (and won a Shorty Award)

But that’s not what I wanted to write about today.  What I find really interesting is the reverse of this, using the Facebook API to pull data out of facebook and use it on a website.  A obvious example of this is the recent ability to have a Facebook comments function on your site.  As demonstrated here at Mashable http://mashable.com/2011/03/01/facebook-comments-plugin/ The advantage of Facebook comments is that it adds the social dimension to comments, you can quickly find any comments left by your friends, or you can read about who a commenter is easily which could add legitimacy to their post.

But what I find really interesting are the companies who are making their own technologies to utilise Facebook API data

A colleague showed me an example of this on Amazon.com -

By letting Amazon connect to my facebook account it can pull in all my friends information from their facebook profiles, Amazon then sorts this to give a page of Book, Movie and Music recommendations based upon all your friends, it also allows you to click on any individual and receive recommendations for them based upon their Facebook profile data

This gave me two lines of thoughts,

1 – There are endless possibilities

2 – If any of my friends are able to share my data is my data safe?

The Endless Possibilities

What Amazon is doing is fairly basic, they are just looking for common words in the facebook interests data to pull together those items as recommendations, then also related items based on their own recommendations algorithm.  I don’t believe that Amazon are able to see email addresses, but with the name and Birth date and location they must be able to make an intelligent guess at who that user is.  Indeed when you select a particular Facebook friend they ask whether you can match up the relevant wish list.

This seems a good compromise for data as finding your friends wish list would give you a good idea of what to buy that friend, whereas (if I’m anything to go by) their facebook interests may not have been updated since they joined facebook!

If any of my Friends are able to share my data is my data safe

It seems scary that at the click of one button I can export the data of 150+ friends out of facebook and off to an external site, now I trust Amazon but anyone can make a facebook app, request this information, and users will just blindly click it.  Trawling through the facebook privacy settings there is an option to set what data your friends can share.  I’ve set it to nothing, but I would rather receive a request to share data with an app as I would like to choose apps where my friends could see me rather than issue a blanket NO!

Summary

Facebook is just one example of a site with a database of users sharing their data with other companies, other examples include Android, Apple, and any social site.  Currently users will just click those annoying pop up screens so they can play a game not realising the data being shared but it will only take a few misuses of that data till people become more careful.

What is the future?  Do we want a personalised experience everywhere we go?  Is giving up our personal data too much for this?

Leave a comment if you have any views, or if you have seen any other examples of a site integrating with Facebook in a innovative way.

Further Reading

Amazon’s Facebook Integration Is The Future Of Commerce

Amazon Now Taps Into Facebook For Social Product Recommendations

Amazon + Facebook = A Perfect Storm of Recommendations

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Our Social Future? Amazon leading the way with Facebook Integration

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Boo Hoo is the story of Boo.com a online designer clothing store founded in 1998 by Ernst Malmsten, Kajsa Leander and Patrik Hedelin.  They set out to create a global fashion website launching simultaneously in several countries.  The book is written by Ernst Malmsten and is a facinating insider look at the Boo story from the idea’s conception through to the end.

I found that the book was a brilliant read and many of the lessons in the book or website designs are as useful now as they were 10 years ago.  10 years ago I wasn’t involved in eCommerce and can’t remember ever visiting Boo.com.  However when I consider today’s leading websites, few are as complex as Boo set out to be -

E.G. Boo aimed to launch with

• Free delivery and returns to all the countries they operated in
• Different prices for each territory
• 3D Product images
• A Fashion Magazine (again personalised for each country)
• Leading designer brands
• A Virtual Assistant
• Free returns

There are few websites today which try to do so much.  Ultimatly from reading the book I think that this was their downfall, the systems were so complex they never seemed ready to launch, should they have tried to launch in one country first, make a stable income then grow?  Or were they right to be bold?

The book naturally seems a little one sided, as it was written by one of the founders it is their view of the Boo story, while it seemed a in-depth expose of what happened it does also feel a little one sided in where blame is centred.  There are many headline grabbing lines and interesting stories – Boo burnt through $188 million dollars before it failed, when told there were security issues in their offices, they employed a team of ex Gurkha’s to protect the building.

All in all I would really recommend this to anyone interested in the Internet or eCommerce or just wants a good read!

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These last few weeks it has seemed like each has had a different social media story, centred around the consumer fighting back.  A prime example of this is the recent story (from econsultancy) of Paperchase selling a design which was allegedly plagiarised from an independent artist.  (Note – Since then Paperchase have stated they bought the design in good faith from an independent supplier).  The artist initially complained to Paperchase direct but to no avail, unable to fight it through the courts she used Twitter to bring attention to this and soon (once picked up by a famous figure) generated 1000′s of twitter posts and  emails directed to Paperchase.

Obviously companies should do all they can to operate fairly, but I do wonder how powerful Twitter is for complaining.  I would have never heard of ANY of the Twitter scandals if it wasn’t for eConsultancy or other Internet blogs!  Also it is only a story for a short space of time before the next story comes along! (more on this from eConsultancy)

That said once a celebrity gets behind something it could then spread like wildfire.  A couple of “Celebrities” that I follow I find often give quite frank and biased views about Products, Companies and people, surely it won’t be long before a twitter libel case!

The Map of the Internet

The above planet map from Experian Hitwise (found through Dave Chaffey’s SMART insights digital marketing blog) shows the relative amount of traffic that each site receives (sufficed to say this blog has not made it there yet!).  I’ve been enjoying the BBC show Virtual Revolution and thought that they used this diagram to great effect.  The point they made was that although anyone can set up a website and there is an unlimited amount of space on the Internet,  that isn’t how it happens – The web has one search engine (Google), one Social Network (Facebook), one video site (You Tube) and one book store (Amazon).  It seems its not just about having a good website, but also about marketing it well.

Shop the high street from your armchair with Google Streetview

According to Search Engine Land, Google are to expand their street view service to look inside stores.  They say “I received a tip from a New York retailer named Oh Nuts, that Google came to their store to take pictures for a new Google Maps product named “Google Store Views.” I was told that they took pictures of the inside of the store, every 6 feet, in all directions. They also took pictures of products.” See CCTV images of the Google photographer at Search Engine Land.

I’m not convinced by this, Any photos they take of displays and products will most likely be out of date by the time they are uploaded.  It could be a nice feature for iconic flagship stores to show off their fantastic architecture and displays, but generally I’m not sure why customers would use it.

Boots may partner with other retailers for in-store delivery service

IMRG posted this small news article, but one I thought could have interesting implications.  They report that Boots UK director of multichannel Tim Stacey said: “There are a lot of retailers with great offers, particularly in sectors such as fashion, which don’t have a good reach. We have over 2,600 stores and can reach many of the small towns where other retailers don’t have a presence. And it could also be another route to market for pure-play retailers who don’t have a store network.”

Obviously space could be an issue for this but it could be a very smart way for Boots to increase their footfall into stores, with many people working during the day and unable to accept parcels at home this could offer a solution to them.  For Boots this would bring more footfall to their branches, get their brand listed on other retailers sites, and I’m sure a large proportion of customers will go on to spend in Boots after collecting.

Multichannel retailers need Multichannel returns

Another post from eConsultancy, sometimes when I read eConsultancy I think their bloggers may be using it as their own “Social media” way of getting back at retailers.  However the posts are usually grounded in good theory.  In this post Graham Charlton tells the story of his faulty mobile phone that he cannot return to store despite the company having a large network of stores.  I think it is essential that all retailers forget the words Multi Channel and focus on Cross Channel.  A customer who wants to use more than one contact route, eg store and online should be considered a much more valuable customer, more likely to spend than one which only shops via one channel.  To this end if a customer wants to buy online and return in store, this should be made as easy as possible.  etailers with “Bricks & Mortar” stores have a fantastic advantage, their stores give them legitimacy and a more trusted brand than pureplay online retailers, so don’t loose your advantage by not having a joined up cross channel culture!

That’s all for this post… Now it’s over to you

If you have any opinions on any of the stories mentioned or have found other interesting etail related stories please leave a comment!

I’m currently reading – Boo Hoo $135 million, 18  months… a dot.com story from concept to catastrophe

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Laithwaites Wine

I must have read 3-4 reviews of the relaunched Laithwaites wine website so I thought I should check it out myself!  Internet Retailing highlighted the benefits of the ATG platform which allows Laithwaites to centrally manage sales across all their retail channels.

eConsultancy also posted a very in-depth review where they highlight the ease of shopping with the narrow by options, however while these are very good offering a range of matching options I am surprised Laithwaites don’t also use a drop down menu for basic categorisation as some customers may be overwhelmed by the left hand navigation and look for a more traditional categorisation.

Once on a product page there is plenty of information about the wine and even winemaker to help you make your choice, Bazaarvoice are providing customer reviews.  The reviews are helpful but as many are anonymous it is hard to trust them, once there are more reviews and you can see all the wines one reviewer has reviewed I’m sure this will be a much more powerful tool.

A / B Testing

So often changes are made to sites because it is thought to be the right thing to do, but I wonder how many etailers fairly A / B test these changes.  Have a look at this interesting post from the Get Elastic eCommerce Blog where they look at an A / B test of the colour attribute on a product page of the Official Olympic store.  Its easy to look at the results and think it is obvious why variant B is the most successful but it shows how important page design is, as all variants are commonly used on websites.  Page design can be a battle between brand identity and usability, A / B testing can be a powerful tool to quantify the value of changes.

The iPad

I still haven’t decided my opinion on the iPad.  I love the concept of having a Star Trek style pad, something roughly the size of an A4 notepad, but lighter.  I could see how it would be something very easy to use throughout the house, much more naturally portable than a laptop.  However it is limited by the Apple software and I just feel that personally I would probably spend the same or less on a laptop which would be more powerful.

However I think they will be highly successful as most users will already be familiar with the Iphone style interface, and if someone is thinking of buying a Netbook the iPad is a serious alternative.

What does the iPad mean for etailers?  I think it means that suddenly Apple have a great device for “mobile commerce”.  With a 10 inch screen rather than a 2 inch screen, unlike a iPhone, sites will naturally be very shoppable.  I can foresee users watching TV while randomly browsing shopping sites on their iPad, it could bring your webstore into the customers living room, rather than just being part of their office!

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Christmas day sales up by 29%

Econsultancy has commentated on an eDigital research survey which shows that Christmas day sales are up on last year by 29%.  Most interestingly over 75% of the people surveyed were online on Christmas day or Boxing day.  Read the full report and download the survey from Econsultancy here

Internetretailing.net also reported that Boxing day saw the most ever visitors to John Lewis’ site

Augmented Reality in etail

The web moves so quickly etailers are always looking for ways to differentiate their sites from the competition. Ian Jindal’s blog In No Particular order featured Zugara.

Zugara have created  software for a new type of fashion consumer.  “The Webcam Social Shopper.

and here it is in action on a American etailer’s site

When I saw this I really liked how well thought out the software was.  It makes a standard etail site a social shopping experience as the user is able to thumbs up or down a product, post pictures to their facebook, which will could have a viral effect on the site.  I am sceptical whether it would increase conversion, or how the quality of the user experience over a wide varied fashion retailers catalogue but I think it could really drive traffic to a site.

Enhancing your page with hover effects

The Get Elastic eCommerce Blog have posted “12 ways to enhance your online store with Javascript Hover effects.  I think this is an area which many sites are currently developing and can really improve a site’s usability.  Personally I like the use of hover over on product listing pages on swatches to make the thumbnail change colour, out of stock / promotional messaging – as it is a clear call to action to a customer and also obviously drop down menus.

I am a bit wary of using it to provide cross sell information etc as I feel when you hover over something what pops up should be expected by the customer and you don’t want to bombard them with hover overs.

Best of 2009

With the end of the year, and the end of the noughties invariably there are many “Top lists” from etail blogs, some of the ones I picked up on were

Get Elastic – Wrapping up 2009 – By just giving one top post per month this focuses you on some key website topics

Econsultancy – 24 eCommerce sites reviewed – A selection of the Website reviews that Econsultancy have written this year.

Finally

I hope you have found this issue of etail watch interesting, if you have thoughts on any of the above please leave a comment below.  Alternatively if there’s something you have read which I haven’t covered or a blog / news source you think I might enjoy please let me know (leave a comment or use the contact page)

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Last Delivery Dates

One of the big stories that most sites have picked up on this week is last order dates.  Last year Christmas Day was on a Thursday, this year a Friday.  Therefore this year the majority of etailers had a “free shipping” closing date of Friday 18th December.  Internet Retailing highlighted several retailers are offering a Christmas eve order and delivery within the M25.   This includes Amazon and Net a Porter who allows orders up to 10am Christmas Eve.  While I am sure these sites have received a fair amount of press for this, how many orders are they actually going to make with delivery charges of up to £19.50.  Neither site is advertising their delivery proposition strongly.  Infact on Net a Porter I struggled to find any mention of their Christmas delivery dates

eBuyer last delivery dates

IMRG was the first I saw mention eBuyer who are offering customers the opportunity to order up until 11pm 23rd December and have the item delivered anywhere in mainland UK next day (Christmas eve).  They are “so” confident that they can fufil this delivery promise that if they don’t they will get your shipping refunded and get shipping free on your next order.  They advertise this message prominently on their homepage, but I can’t help feel that if they did fail to meet this delivery customers would not be placated by free delivery!

The Snow Valley “The Snow Patrol blog” have put together a pie chart of delivery dates, from 155 retailers over half have a Christmas delivery deadline of 21st or 22nd December (Monday / Tuesday).  One interesting fact they note is that a lot of retailers are not putting delivery dates on their homepage or clearly through the site.  The delivery message can be used as a strong call to action and help conversion.

Personalised Greeting Cards

We all know the annoying Moonpig advert on the TV inviting you to log on and send a friend a personalised greetings card.  Moonpig have been very successful taking a turnover of £20.9 million in the year ending 30th April 2009 and profits of 6.7m (source Printweek).   IMRG reported this week that ASDA has taken personalised cards to the logical next step.  ASDA have partnered with Hallmark to offer personalised cards direct on the Asda website -  I think a great idea, buy your greeting card while you do your weekly shop, why go else where?  Currently the personalised cards area has a separate shopping basket to the rest of ASDA, if however in the future they are able to allow greetings cards to work in a common shopping basket this could be a really successful feature, as many customers will be happy to make a impulse purchase.

Top Lists

Coming up to the end of the year we’ll see many top lists on a range of subjects, as my last feature this week I have picked Econsultancy’s top 25 blog posts of 2009.  Econsultancy have given details of their top 25 posts of 2009, many are social media related which I thinks reflects the way that they have taken to social media as one of the first (that I saw) to have a twitterfall on their homepage, and now on each post.  Some articles I found interesting are -

How Amazon made $2.7bn with one small tweak - This post looks at the subject of product reviews and how to use them to increase sales.

12 brilliant 404 pages – This made me chuckle, good to see helpful and informative 404 pages, but perhaps worrying that they could be found!

Until next week

Have a Merry Christmas!  In the next week there are sure to be stories around when etailers Christmas sales start, the sales potential of the web on Christmas day (post turkey of course!).  If you have enjoyed reading this, please leave a comment with your views or feel free to suggest a story I’ve missed that you felt I should have included.

Post from: The Barsley Brief

This week in etail w/e 19/12/09 – Last Delivery Dates

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