The “dog days of summer” is the time that retailers start preparing for the peak holiday shopping season.  Analyzing last year’s metrics is a reliable and specific method to help you reach this year’s goals.

Your metrics cover all disciplines you use to run your ecommerce business.  They are business “gold”.  Why capture data if you’re not going to learn from it?

Don’t miss the opportunity to use this data to have a great 2010 holiday season.

Here are tips for where to start, what to look at and how to use it.

• Study last year’s traffic, page loads, visits and hits.
• Analyze what worked and did not work, promotionally.
• Look at order flows and staff your distribution centers accordingly.
• Study customer service metrics so you can staff and train your Call Center correctly.
• Prepare for load testing on your servers.  Down time = lost customers.
• Tweak your marketing plan based on last year’s results and this year’s promotions and merchandise.
• Engage in A/B testing now. Engage in multi-variant testing of new site design concepts, features and functionality to get real data before locking down your holiday marketing calendar.
• Segment your customer base. Holiday shoppers are buying for others (mostly!).  Change the look-and-feel, products and promotions for the type of audience that is going to be buying during the holidays.
• Look at who shopped last year, how and when. This will help you determine how often to change the creative during your peak season.
• Finalize your holiday marketing plan and have back-up plans ready to implement if there are surprises in the numbers.

Bottom Line:  This season’s answers are in last season’s numbers. The key to increasing revenue and profit is understanding what happened in the past and adjusting accordingly to prepare for the future.

As margins tighten for online retailers, getting consumers to re-engage with abandoned shopping carts could be the difference between profits and losses.

According to a 2010 Experian CheetahMail benchmark study, online shopping carts are abandoned at a rate of 56.2 percent. Furthermore, 61.2 percent of all items placed in carts are left behind without purchase.

“If you’re running a multimillion or multibillion dollar company, that’s a lot of money to leave on the table,” says Bernardine Wu, CEO of e-commerce consultancy firm FitForCommerce. That’s why the likes of Walmart, Overstock.com and Nordstrom send their registered customers e-mail reminders about the items they left in their shopping carts.

Wu says flatly that any retailer not sending abandoned cart e-mails is behind the times. “This is no longer a nice to have — it’s becoming a must have,” she says.

Mobile coupons, social media, customer service, location and iAd are the top mobile commerce trends that retailers are focusing on in 2010 and will likely be part of the holiday mix.

Retailers are also quite infatuated with HTML5, which is going to shape the mobile commerce experience and expectations of consumers. According to FitForCommerce, retailers are expected to invest an average of $170,000 on their mobile sites this year.

“For those starting down the mobile path, the most important thing is to stay focused, and enter the channel based on metrics and data,” said Jill Dvorak, senior consultant on mobile commerce at FitForCommerce, Washington. “Just because this is a newer industry, do not fall into the trap that doing something is better than doing nothing.

“Know what you want to achieve, and then plan and execute, as you would any other marketing program,” she said “For retailers currently trying to grow their mobile channel, they should focus on a few things.”

First, retailers need to integrate mobile as a new channel within the organization.

Next, retailers should be sure… please visit mobilecommercedaily.com for the complete story

Historically, luxury brands have lagged behind other e-retail verticals, but many are taking new strides and closing the gap. Here are a few challenges and opportunities to keep an eye on: (Non-luxury webstores should heed our “lessons learned” as well!)

1. CONTENT & COMMERCE

Product content, of course, is critical – as much and as descriptive as possible – and little sass can’t hurt. Videos, visuals that are zoomable, multiple product views – all are now must-haves, especially for apparel and accessories. Don’t forget to show the INSIDE and BOTTOM of the handbag – it matters to us women!

Non-product content – especially editorial content – can be just as powerful in both informing and influencing a purchase. Going beyond the inclusion of magazine mentions, Tory Burch does a great job of writing their own editorial content from Tory, from her editors and from guest editors.

Include related articles, How-To’s, wish lists, and anything that creates buzz, shares perspective and information. Create interest in personalities, brands, and inspire participation and exploration. Even better, have shoppers participate by adding their own content – reviews, photos or stories.

2. BALANCING BRAND VS. EASE OF USE

The challenge for luxury brands has always been balancing the “specialness” of their brand with the “commonness” of standard usability and design practices that boost conversions. Think awesome video catwalks and beautiful flash images and navigation vs. difficulty in finding a product and a slow checkout process. Trying to incorporate standard best practices with the unique luxury experience your customers expect is a constant struggle.

Faceted (or guided) navigation and filtering can be done in a luxury setting. Jimmy Choo makes it easy to find products with guided navigation but doesn’t overwhelm us with dozens of options, the way a book or electronics site would.

Don’t let the results page “cheapen” the look of your site. Neiman Marcus uses a search filter that imitates the help of a sales associate and the way shoppers make selections.

Constant and clear communication with customers during their shopping experience is a must. Confirm that an item was added to the bag, as Gucci does, or keep her updated on her total, tax and shipping costs in her mini-cart.

Being clear when and where there are error messages can reduce abandonment. In Coach’s checkout, error messages are displayed at the field level. Note the estimated delivery date as well.

Shopping bag and Checkout are natural drop-off points, so here’s where you need to counter any reason to abandon. Many luxury retailers have found ways to stylishly stick to common standards and best practices. The Lord & Taylor bag is easy to delete and edit quantity, but also lets you change color and size without having to return to a product detail page.

3. LEVERAGE THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

If Customer Service is a distinguishing point for your retail stores or catalog, then don’t be shy about highlighting that online. Brooks Brothers puts “order tracking” front and center in the top navigation and also in the first bottom navigation column.

“Re-create” your flagship store online. Who wouldn’t feel a Willy Wonka sugar rush from the Dylan’s Candy Bar site? And what NYC woman doesn’t know the second floor of Bergdorf’s?

]]> http://www.ecommerceknowhow.com/blog/2010/07/21/author/cynthia-kounaris/luxury-ecommerce-3-most-critical-challenges-opportunities/feed 0 http://www.ecommerceknowhow.com/blog/2010/06/22/author/cynthia-kounaris/get-ready-for-tradeshow-season-and-come-back-a-winner http://www.ecommerceknowhow.com/blog/2010/06/22/author/cynthia-kounaris/get-ready-for-tradeshow-season-and-come-back-a-winner#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:35:13 +0000 Cynthia Kounaris http://www.ecommerceknowhow.com/blog/?p=194 IRCE is in ONE week! Luxury Interactive and eTail East are shortly after. NEMOA and Shop.Org’s Summit will be here before we know it! And there are many other opportunities to learn, all year round – regional shows, shows by vertical, user conferences, networking dinners and meetups -the list goes on!

Here are my tips on making the most out of these opportunities.

People attend events with one, some, or all of these goals:

1. Networking – Meet peers, build relationships, get re-acquainted.
2. Learning – Get data, advice and lessons learned from experts and peers.
3. Problem-Solving – Need something? Find something. Have a question? Get an answer.
4. Fun – Who turns down a trip to Vegas, or to Florida in the winter, right?

But sometimes you come away from a tradeshow overwhelmed, exhausted and confused.

Take some time to now to prepare, so you can get the most out of your next trip. Come home energized, educated and with a plan.

Networking is CRITICAL! Tradeshows are, by far, the best, most concentrated place to meet the people you should know. And to get honest opinions. (Note: more drinks = more honest opinions.)
The best places to network at a tradeshow are:

Sessions and Workshops.

• In smaller groups, you meet people who are interested in what you’re interested in. Probably a good basis for a conversation.

• Don’t you think you’d have something to share with the women sitting next to you at a Women in Ecommerce workshop or meetup?

• Take the opportunity to talk with the speakers and panelists afterward – that’s why they’re there.

• Don’t be shy – introduce yourself to speakers and other attendees.

Meals, Cocktail Hours and Parties

• Most people are open to exchanging ideas over a drink or a bite to eat. Warning: choose your lunch spot carefully. You’ll be there for the next 45 minutes. With no graceful exit.

• Nighttime Parties and Events – Always a must do. Again, great networking potential (and you need to kick back a little!) and it’s somehow different when you’re bonding over a ping pong game or on the dance floor. I’ve met many folks this way, who turned out to be strong players in my network… and good friends.

Learn. That is why you’re here (right?). And these events make it easy for you. Everything is right there. But check out the agenda ahead of time, prioritize, and set your strategy. Focus on what is most important to you or what you think you can’t find easily elsewhere.

• Sessions give you information and the speaker’s perspective. Get insight from the experts on cutting-edge technologies and practices, learn from their mistakes, and gather data that will help you meet your own business challenges.

• Workshops provide the “deep dive” into subjects that interest you. Get multiple perspectives from people with real-worldexperience. Put what you learn into an action plan that you can start on when you get back to your own “real world”. A good workshop is interactive, too, and facilitates back-and-forth with speakers as well as other attendees.

• Talk to the other attendees. Similar interests, similar challenges. Pick their brains for what works for them, what doesn’t, who they recommend (who they don’t).

• Leverage the experience of the vendors. They may be selling you something, but they are also sometimes the most knowledgeable because they see many successes and mistakes by your peers.

Solve your problems. You’ll rarely find so many people with the skills and the desire to help you, all in one place!

• Looking for an ecommerce solution or vendor? Take your pick. But do it in a smart way. Figure out what you need first, check who’s exhibiting, and map out your route.

• Do your homework. Understand your requirements. Bring a check list of what you need to find out and “tick off” your list in a quick chat with the vendor.

• Manage your time. It’s ok to say to an exhibitor that you just want the 5 minute reason why your business could use them. Then you can decide whether to dig deeper on the spot or at a later time.

Don’t forget to hydrate often and bring comfortable walking shoes, a stack of business cards, a plan, a good attitude … and stamina!  (And enjoy the boondoggle.)

Some of you wrote to tell us about your Checkout “war stories” and successes. We love that!

There’s no better way to learn than to see what does and doesn’t work in the field. Here are 3 we’re passing on to you.

1 Christina Callas, head of eCommerce for Lord & Taylor, shared more “Checkout lessons learned”
when she presented at Internet Retailer’s Web Design conference in February. She suggests
using defaults in drop-down menus, instead of “Choose One”, thereby saving a click. For
example, defaulting shipping options to “Standard 4-7 days” and defaulting the country to “United
States”.

2 Allow easy entry of multiple coupon codes or gift cards, assuming that is your business
strategy . Here, Victoria’s Secret allows 3 offer codes to be applied in one order. Best Buy makes
it easy to enter unlimited Gift Card numbers for redemption.

3 Parentgiving.com CEO, Keith Maddox, wrote us that they recently re-designed their checkout to
consolidate several steps into the first page of checkout. The delineations between sections on
this page are nicely clear-cut and the shading of the “log in” and “create an account” steps helps
distinguish them as optional, but encouraged.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. Is one really better? Is it just slightly better? Or does it just seem better? And is “slightly better” worth the cost?

Are you going to be able to live with the decision you are making? And what DOES the fine print say? Do you need to know or care?

When evaluating eCommerce providers and their solutions, you would be ill-advised to make a decision based on a quick look. You need to dig deeper to better understand what you need and to better assess who can provide it. You DO need to read the fine print. There’s a reason they say “the devil is in the details”. Most solutions will give you 80% of what you need. What about that remaining 20%? How important is it, how much is it worth? Are those things must-haves or can you live without them? You cannot answer these questions if you aren’t really “seeing” what these solutions do and how they do it.

Be rigorous in your analysis by first taking the time to define your requirements. Then, research the solutions that seem to map to your requirements. See their presentations, ask questions, understand their timelines and deliverables, contact their clients. Then, narrow your list down to two or three and dig a little deeper, still. Pay attention to what you don’t see — where are the gaps? What aren’t they telling you? Lastly, negotiate and select. Be as certain as you can that what you see IS what you get.

Fast forward two years.  I have put my Manolo Blahnik collection in storage (ok…not really) and have become one of “those” people who speak in acronyms.  Lately, I’ve seen that many of the retailers and brand manufacturers looking to make changes to or, in some cases, launch their eCommerce business are in the fashion space.  We seem to hear the same stories from these retailers.  They have outgrown their current platform (they didn’t really understand exactly what it was that they purchased two years ago); they do not really understand the providers in the market; they don’t really know what it is they need.

And those are the experienced fashion eRetailers!  What about established, successful brick-and mortar stores with years of retail experience who are looking to launch their online business?  Their stories are quite reminiscent of my own from a few years back: “I know all there is to know about retail… how different could this eCommerce stuff be?”  Fortunately for me, I was only changing careers, not spending a sizable amount of money on eCommerce technology.  Providers are making assumptions that they’re always selling their solution to a retailer who is savvy about webstores.   While the retailer may be very successful and smart, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they know every eCommerce acronym and buzzword.  I guarantee that there will be a minimum of three acronyms used during the first ten minutes of their sales pitch that require translation.   Don’t be afraid, my fellow fashionistas, to ask questions and get explanations.  Better yet, do your eCommerce research before you go shopping for a provider.  And throw out some acronyms and buzzwords of your own!  Let’s see if they know WWD or where ‘the tents’ are!

Count on yourself

That is even more true today. Gone are the days of someone working at General Motors until retirement. More than at any time in the past, you are in charge of your career. Today’s resume can have 5 jobs on it during a 15-year period without that necessarily sending up a red flag. We are in a much more fluid work environment and people must rely on themselves and their skills, rather than seniority. It is up to you to keep on top of the marketplace, to stay abreast of new trends, and to keep your skills current. Last but not least, you need to ‘advertise’ your talent – internally and externally.

Today’s tools make it easy

Building your brand gives you more weight within your company and also more credibility outside of it. Social networking is certainly a part of this. People promote themselves on LinkedIn, on Facebook, etc. They blog and speak at conferences. In FitBase, they contribute to the community by publishing articles and user or expert opinions on topics to share their experiences and show their acumen. Availing yourself of these opportunities lets you establish yourself as a recognized leader in your space. Not only will you have more value to your company but you will also have more career options, should you need them. There’s a great book by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson called “Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand” (learn more at reachcc.com). Bottom line, leverage all the tools available to you and you can better control your fate.

You shouldn’t try to implement an eCommerce solution without detailed business requirements, either.   You might end up with functionality you don’t need, with features you can’t manage and with critical functionality nowhere to be found.   And you might end up paying way too much money for way too little value.

No matter what eCommerce project you’re undertaking, thorough requirements are the cornerstone of success.  And we’re not talking about just a wish list of needed features and desired bells and whistles.  You’ll need business, functional and technical requirements.  Oh, you’re not done yet.  You’ll also need best practices, competitive analysis and prioritization.  Use cases.  Workflows.  This may seem like a great deal of work.  But we guarantee that NOT doing all this will cause a good deal of trouble and expense down the road.

As many of us have experienced firsthand, requirements left unaddressed now will come back to haunt you – and at what cost?  Will you have to go back and start from scratch?  That is very expensive – in time, lost opportunity costs and hard dollars.   Or will you do kludgey, quick-and-dirty patches that you will end up living with for far too long?   That will cause every enhancement, every new point solution, every additional integration to be two or three times as costly and problematic.

Earlier today, we gave a webinar with Elastic Path.  This one-hour session covered 10 Steps to Requirements Diligence, a way to ensure project success:

1. Align with Business Objectives
2. Know Relevant Best Practices
3. Perform Competitive Analysis
4. Define Functional Requirements in Detail
5. Prioritize and Time Phase Requirements
6. Document Use Cases
7. Diagram Workflow Designs
8. Apply Creative Design
9. Test and Adjust Requirements Again and Again
10. Keep Requirements Updated Always

Yes, there is a lot to think about and do.  But planning is always time and effort well-spent and a good way to avoid mistakes.  There’s a reason they say: Measure twice, cut once. 

The webinar replay and the results of two surveys taken during the presentation are now available here .