Virtual Merchant Today

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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,... More

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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... More

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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.... More

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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... More

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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... More