Virtual Merchant Today
News, views and how-tos on selling smarter online
Learning from Someone Else’s Mistakes
I'm a big proponent of "transferrable skills" and learning from all kinds of other businesses. But it still gives me an extra happy moment when I find an example from our very own industry, that doesn't need any translating or wondering which parts apply and which parts don't. Today is one of those days: PracticalEcommerce.com featured candle vendor Black & Light Co. I first spotted Blac... Read More
Comments (0)I'm about... a stargazer lily sorry. Is that enough?
1-800-Flowers has this new online shopping gadget that's genius. It's called The Apologizer, and it helps guys figure out what flowers to buy for their offended sweethearts. Would-be-apologists first choose their style (pre- or post-wrongdoing), then select their transgression. 1-800-Flowers then rates it on the offensiveness scale and recommends the perfect flower arrangement to get the erring sw... Read More
Comments (0)The @earlybird Gets the Deal
Twitter will now offer time-sensitive deals on products and events. A journalist's work is never done. In the "Social Media 101" feature in the July issue of Gifts & Decorative Accessories, I reported that "Advertising on Twitter is so new that it's still being tested by only a handful of large brands." That was true "at press time", as we say in the trade. But befo... Read More
Comments (1)Cell-atron
Shopatron is adding mobile commerce to its offerings at no additional cost. Shopatron is probably best known to the gift industry as the e-commerce provider that gave manufacturers a way to sell online without cutting retailers out of the loop. Now Shopatron is set to change the game again, launching mobile commerce for 610 of it's over 800 clients by the end of the month, according to Internet Re... Read More
Comments (0)A Picture Worth A Thousand Keywords?
Searchers snap a picture with their cellphones, then automatically search for the thing they’ve photographed. Sounds like science fiction? Now it’s shopping fact. Of course, it’s not just for shopping. Google Goggles, the visual search tool for smart phones that run on Google’s Android operating system, can recognize and provide information about landmarks, wine labels, barcodes and book titles,... Read More
Comments (0)Paging Mom and Pop
Big Internet businesses are discovering what Main Street already knew: what mom and pop lack in size they make up in quantity. Here are some online tools courting local business customers. According to MediaPost, Google renamed its tool for local businesses Google Places. Local business owners can submit data about their businesses for free, to be displayed on Google.com and Google Maps. For $25... Read More
Comments (0)In Good Company
Independent retailers are often, well, independent — tooting their own horn to the beat of their own drummer and avoiding malls, chains, brand names and other forms of group think. But there’s something to be said for teaming up with likeminded individuals — especially if that gets your store above the background buzz caused by the name recognition of big competitors with big advertising budgets.... Read More
Comments (0)Choose Your Own Email Adventure
One of the top reasons customers opt out of retailers’ email lists is that they get too many emails. But how many is too many varies from customer to customer. How to decide how often to mail? Simple: let the customer do it. According to DMNews, some 35 percent of retailers let subscribers reduce the number of messages they got in 2009. That’s more than twice as many as 2008’s 16 percent, but ther... Read More
Comments (0)You're Invited!
How do you create excitement and exclusivity online, when a click of a button seems to find any product any time? One way is with invitation-only, limited-time events. One successful example of the technique is Totsy.com, which also practices niche marketing, targeting moms with diaper bags, maternity clothes and strollers, according to the Associated Press. To make sure customers buy now, rath... Read More
Comments (0)Cop Out, Cash Cow, or Both?
New e-tailer ThoughtfulGuy.com, brought to our attention by The Digitel Charleston, isn’t just another shopping site. For one thing, you can’t actually browse any products. Users must sign up or sign in to use the service, then answer a list of questions about their prospective recipient (any woman in their life, from girlfriend to mother-in-law) and her taste, as well as her age, occupation, and... Read More
Comments (1)On-store, in-line?
It seems counter-intuitive: If the advantage of online shopping is that you can save gas and skip crowds, and the advantage of in-store shopping is that you can see the product in person, why would anyone shop online, in-store? But increasingly they do, according to eMarketer.com. One reason is the other big advantage of in-store shopping: help from a sales associate. “Said Grau, “Retail professi... Read More
Comments (0)Just in Time for Consumers, Too
A survey of online retailers’ delivery options by multichannel logistics specialist iForce found that less than 10 percent of retailers offer customers the option of choosing between a.m. and p.m. delivery slots and even fewer, only 6.9 percent, offer evening deliveries. Although the study focused on the U.K., the issues apply to U.S. retailers as well. The company also found that shipping cost... Read More
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