Sep
29
2014
September 29th, 2014 by Elma Jane

If  your retail business products sells only in-store, then you’re falling behind. Consumers in the digital age expect options when they shop, and if you’re not offering those choices, your customers may pass you by for a more tech-savvy competitor. Consumers go into stores, evaluate products and buy online, or research online and go into the store for purchase. The two worlds have merged, if you’re not covering both spectrums, you’re missing out.

Recent research by UPS showing 40 percent of today’s shoppers use a combination of online and in-store interactions to complete their purchases. The days of physical stores being separated from online shopping are over. They’re no longer channels that are happening on their own. The UPS survey found that a large chunk of online shoppers cross channels during their shopping path. Be present on both channels and take advantage of that.

It’s not always possible or economic for an online-only retailer to open up a physical storefront, but existing brick-and-mortar stores or wholesalers can easily introduce an e-commerce component to their sales to expand their customer reach. Online sales help reach consumers that may not otherwise be able to purchase your products. Even if your company’s main focus is creating a personalized in-store experience, there are still ways to capture the online shopper market. In addition to giving consumers a way to research your products before coming in-store to purchase your offerings, you can offer people a way to conveniently buy items they already know they want.

For all the advantages a multi-channel sales strategy can give a retailer, there are still some challenges to this approach. Managing inventory versus cash flow and ensuring even demand on both channels have been company’s two greatest challenges in balancing in-store and online sales. Creating demand is how companies set themselves apart from competition. The secret sauce. The challenge is making sure that retail operations have a turnover ratio that works for the shipping schedules from the main warehouse. This isn’t a problem for e-commerce businesses, because product can be packaged and shipped as fast as it gets produced. But an omnichannel company has to take retail and e-commerce into account when stocking a warehouse.

There are a few different strategies retailers can use to help keep their sales operations well-balanced. Offering different items online versus in-store, to avoid inventory competition (i.e., selling seasonal or discontinued items online and current items in-store). Requiring a minimum order for online purchases or grouping products together rather than selling them individually to make e-commerce more worth your while.

The best way to balance a multi-channel sales strategy is to take a unified view of consumers online and offline by connecting their on- and offline behaviors via technology. Some of the retailers questions have is how to connect a person offline with what they buy online, how to recognize who they are in the store and know what they look at on your website, because people are switching back and forth. Link behaviors online with a unique ID through email or a mobile app, since 66% of customers use smartphones in-store.

Even if your business can’t actually sell and ship products via e-commerce,it’s still important to be in tune and up-to-date with the way customers want to interact with you on the Web. People are on the go, researching on phones and tablets. If you’re not savvy to what’s happening out there and don’t have the best-in-class SEO, you’ll miss out. You still need to engage in the digital world, even if it’s not always obvious.

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jun
20
2014
June 20th, 2014 by Elma Jane

A recent survey said, 82 percent of e-commerce merchants who currently do not employ a consumer authentication solution are afraid that such solutions will scare off online shoppers, but with more and more fraud expected to migrate online in the coming years, the payments industry needs to do a better job of informing merchants why authentication in the card-not-present realm is crucial to data security.

While a majority of payment service companies employ some type of 3-D Secure online authentication, and most large merchants do likewise, the rest of the merchant population, especially in North America, apparently do not. 55 percent of merchants surveyed, a majority of which are U.S.-based, do not use online authentication, noting that North America is the only world region where less than half of merchants use the technology. The reason so many U.S. merchants eschew consumer authentication is they see it as a sales killer.

The main reason appears to be fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about how consumer authentication will impact sales conversion and user experience, 43 percent of merchant respondents are FUD-preoccupied, with 20 percent concerned about the effect of the technology on sales conversion, 13 percent worried about changing the user experience and 10 percent simply want nothing to do with consumer authentication. Beyond the FUD concerns, there is also a very real perception with merchants and service providers that integration is long and difficult, adding that 21 percent of merchants who do not employ authentication, citing the time and/or cost of integration as the barrier.

End to FUD

The solution to merchant adoption of some form of 3-D Secure technology is apparently education. Many FUD concerns are related to a hangover effect caused by bad experiences with previous iterations of consumer authentication. But the report provides evidence that the FUD factor can be overcome because of the happiness factor that authentication-using merchants express. 81 percent of merchant respondents showing satisfaction with the solutions they have employed.

The report said nearly half of merchants surveyed said authentication had no effect on sales conversion, either positive or negative; however, almost 20 percent believe it has had a positive effect on sales. The positive result seems to be related to merchants who use authentication selectively, on specific transactions rather than on all of them. Additionally, the technology results in many merchants experiencing lower numbers of chargebacks. Amongst merchants, 59 percent overall say the authentication program brought a decrease in chargebacks and this is true for more than half of merchants from each geographic region.

FYI on FUD

The adoption is very low because not many people understand it. Online verification does retard the checkout process as a second screen pops up that consumers must navigate in order to proceed with the purchase. However, these barriers can be overcome with education and simply getting people comfortable with the technology. If we had this solution from day one on all e-commerce sites today nobody would be complaining because people would be used to doing it. It is a question of achieving ubiquity rather than taking a piecemeal approach to implementation. It is a matter of if you do it at one place or every place. If you have to do it at only one location that makes that site really secure. If all sites ask the same question, you get used to it.

Consumer authentication is also something that requires buy-in from issuers, acquirers and merchants. It is a participation solution where the issuer and the acquirer have to be participating in it. If you are an e-commerce site and you are certified with Verified by Visa the card brands proprietary version of 3-D Secure, if the card issuer has not embraced that, then the security will not happen.

Increasing number and frequency of breaches is slowly eroding consumers’ trust in the safety of e-commerce It’s not good for the whole ecosystem. At some point people will come back ­­­­­­­­and say, this is too risky to do online transactions with cards. Before that point is reached, businesses should improve their online defenses, and consumer authentication is central to that defense. With the U.S. payments infrastructure in the process of transitioning to the Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) chip card standard at the physical POS, fraud in the United States will sharpen its focus on the less secure online channel. EMV will do a lot of good in terms of card present security, but it does not do anything for card-not-present environments. So how are we going to contain the online fraud? We have to go to a 3-D Secure type solution

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jan
29
2014
January 29th, 2014 by Elma Jane

More than 60 percent of online shoppers returned or exchanged at least one item. About 95 percent of customers will go back to an online merchant and make additional purchases after a positive return or exchange experience, making managing the process important for e-commerce success.

Exchanges and returns will shortly be a hot topic for online retailers as Christmas gift recipients contact sellers in the wake of an exceptional holiday selling season. These Christmas gift recipients will want to exchange and return unwanted gifts, items that are wrong size, or even items that may have been damaged in transit.

Returns and exchanges are important for building long term customer relationships, with some 95 percent of shoppers going back to online merchants that have offered a good exchange or return experience in the past, according to data from Endicia, an electronic postage solution provider. Conversely, about 85 percent of consumers will not return to an online shop after a poor return or exchange experience, again according to Endicia.

What follows are tips for offering a better exchange or return experience for online shoppers.

Create an Opportunity

Returns and exchanges are also an opportunity to make additional sales. As mentioned above, about 95 percent of shoppers will return to an online store and make an additional purchase after a positive return or exchange experience.

Similarly, about 45 percent of shoppers will actually recommend an ecommerce merchant, again according to Endicia, after a positive return experience, meaning that taking care of an existing customers could lead to new customers too.

Consider sending each shopper who returns or exchanges an item a follow-up email, asking for feedback about the experience. Identify ways to improve the return process, and business in general will improve too.

Know the Cost of Returning

A guitarist for a popular party and event band recently ordered a new guitar strap from a merchant on the Amazon marketplace. Unfortunately, there was an error in the shipment, and the merchant apparently sent a shorter strap than expected. When this guitarist contacted the seller about an exchange, he was told that a new strap would be shipped that day and that he could simply keep the smaller strap.

This solution was great for the customer, who did not have to repackage the strap or arrange for a carrier to pick it up. He was generally happy with the experience. This was probably also better for the merchant, who might have simply been able to order a new guitar strap from its distributor for about the same cost has having the strap returned.

To make this sort of business decision, it is important to understand the real cost of managing a customer return, including the cost of the shipping and the labor necessary for processing the return once it arrives back at the seller’s warehouse. If it cost as much or nearly as much to return the item as it would to simply purchase another one wholesale, consider letting the customer just keep it, saving everyone involved time and expense.

Provide Return Instructions or a Return Label in Every Order

Shoppers don’t want to wait for return labels. In fact, about 62 percent of online shoppers want a return label included in the initial shipment, according to Endicia. Including a return label is not difficult, and many online sellers may find that the ability to do so is either built directly into the retailer’s ecommerce platform or is available via an extension to the ecommerce platform.

A second option may be to offer shoppers a simple, self-service way to print a return label from your site. This self-service option does not require the customer to contact the shipper to get authorization or wait for an emailed label. According to the Endicia data, about 61 percent of shoppers will be happy with an easy way to print return or exchange labels.

State Return and Exchange Policies Clearly

Let customers know exactly what to expect from the return and exchange process. Post clear, simple-to-understand policies on a page of the site specifically designated for returns or shipping policies.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Internet Payment Gateway, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Jan
29
2014
January 29th, 2014 by Elma Jane

Ecommerce and mobile-based e-commerce have grown significantly this year. Cyber Monday ecommerce sales, as an example, reached $1.735 billion originating from desktop and laptop devices, according to comScore. Even Black Friday, which is better known for brick-and-mortar retail sales, saw online spending reach $1.198 billion in the United States, again according to comScore. Mobile online spending may also have grown, as some reports indicate that mobile-based site traffic was up 55 percent around Thanksgiving.

Many ecommerce merchants are enjoying a robust holiday selling season even as some brick-and-mortar stores are seeing relatively flat Christmas sales. To ensure continued growth and success, Internet retailers may want to challenge their businesses to improve in several areas in 2014.

Retailers, however, should not rest on their current success, but rather should challenge their businesses to improve in several areas, including free shipping offers, mobile optimization, personalization, data driven decision making, and cross channel sales.

Offer Free, Two-Day Shipping

The first challenge for online sellers in 2014 may be to find ways to offer free, two-day shipping to all or most shoppers. While it is likely there will still be minimum purchase and maximum weight requirements and restrictions, online shoppers are going to expect faster free shipping options thanks, in part, to the growth in services like Amazon Prime and ShopRunner.

Consider order fulfillment services, distributed warehouses, drop shipping, or even partnerships with other retailers to help meet this challenge.

Offer Personalization and Customization

Personalization and customization could be a significant competitive advantage in 2014.

Challenge your business to finally begin offering personalization and customization both onsite and in marketing. The easiest place to start may be with email marketing. Work to segment email marketing campaigns so that they address customers by name and with relevant products and offers that are based on an individual’s or group of shoppers’ stated preferences or on-site behavior.

Taking on this challenge means that the retailer’s marketing department will need to collect meaningful information about what interests shoppers and organize separate, custom campaigns around those interests.

Put Mobile Design and Marketing First

In November, IBM reported that mobile devices accounted for 31 percent of U.S. ecommerce-related web traffic around the Thanksgiving holiday this year, and that 17 percent of ecommerce transactions came from smartphones or tablets. On average, tablet users spent more than $126.00 per order, and smartphone users spent about $106 per order.

This data shows that mobile e commerce is not simply a novelty, but rather a must have for 2014.

If an e-commerce business is not optimized for mobile sales, 2014 is the year to take on that challenge, including offering a responsive design and mobile friendly payment options.

Sell Seamlessly Across Channels, Devices

Try to think of every way that a shopper might interact with an online store, and then make all of those touch points work together in 2014.

Retailers online or in physical stores need to offer shoppers a seamless, cross channel shopping experience that makes buying things easier for the customer. To continue to enjoy success in 2014, consider offering shoppers the ability to share orders across devices, applications, and even marketplaces.

In practice, this might mean that items added to a cart in an online store show up in the cart for the retailer’s iPhone app too. Or that a customer’s order history displayed on a retailer’s site shows orders placed on-site and via a marketplace like Amazon or eBay.

Use Big Data for Big Information

In 2014, find sources of good, usable Big Data, and put the resulting big information to use.

As an example consider, Weather Trends International, a Big Data company that uses historical weather information and advanced data processing to accurately predict weather 11 months in advance. This sort of Big Data information could show a snowboard and ski retailer what sort of winter major ski resorts are likely to have next year, and could inform purchasing and inventory choices.

Similarly, knowing that a particular region is going to have a warmer than normal July and August might impact how, where, and when a clothing retailer promotes shorts or bikinis on Facebook or AdWords.

Big Data is a popular trend in business and in marketing. The concept can mean different things to different businesses. For ecommerce, retailers should seek to use Big Data to gather big information, if you will, that may be used to make better buying and selling decisions.

Posted in Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,