Life In Internet

We were pretty amazed to hear in a March Shop.org Webinar that, in a recent year, fully 20% of eBags’ site sales were transacted using alternate forms of payment (i.e. not credit or debit cards). Talk about acquisition and conversion potential — given the right placement within the site, great marketing, and a fair bit of internal operational support to implement and market these options to customers.

As an increasing area of focus for retailers, today we’re launching a brand new research study focused specifically on payments. We’ve partnered with Javelin Strategy & Research to explore which payment forms retailers currently offer their customers (and what they plan to offer in the future), how much usage various payment forms are getting at this point, the degree to which alternate payments influence customer acquisition, where payments fits into the overall development budget and priority list, and more.

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Every July, I am reminded how busy this time of year is for retailers – it’s the season of July sales, planning for the upcoming holiday season, launching fall merchandise, and, in tandem with the last, kicking off back to school.  The heat outside appears to be driving many US consumers into well air-conditioned malls, which might help retail a bit in this up and down year.  Our parent, NRF, and research partner BIGresearch, recently released findings and forecasts for the back to school (BTS) shopping season, noting that close to one third of consumers anticipated shopping online for this purpose, up from less than a quarter last year. 

BIGresearch generously provided Shop.org a more detailed analysis of those online shoppers to understand this segment in more detail.  Shop.org members can now download the full results, and herewith a couple of highlights: 

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Retailers seeking higher conversion rates must adopt an “innovation attitude” to guide them amid a fertile landscape for new ideas, advanced technology and customer behavior learnings.

So advised speaker after speaker at the Shop.org Merchandise Summit held earlier this month in sunny Huntington Beach, California. Despite the pleasant weather, attendees stayed focused in the conference rooms (strategically chosen for their lack of windows!). It’s clear there is a pressing need to optimize the use of both new and old technologies to create compelling customer experiences, especially in today’s socially connected marketplace.

It’s a marketplace that rewards rapid change and adoption of new channels. Consumers and business professionals research online – usually not on our own websites – and come armed with opinions, preferences and, perhaps more importantly, options. They want to do business across multiple channels, and even on the go. Chris McCann, President of 1-800-Flowers, advises retailers to expand to new channels in order to “Fish where the fish are.” For his company, those waters includes Facebook, mobile devices, email, the web and yes, even brick and mortar stores. Known for being a first mover, 1-800 Flowers had the first transaction via Facebook, but has since updated their store. They have also opened a mobile commerce offering, with limited SKUs and a log-in to access address book and payment options.

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Over my 11 plus years with NRF and Shop.org, I’ve had the opportunity to develop relationships with so many amazing and inspiring people in this great industry.  The decision to leave Shop.org and join an internet start-up is bittersweet. As anyone who leaves a great job for a new opportunity can attest, this new adventure is leaving me excited, yet anxious and nostalgic, and also hopeful.

To those who may be curious about how I came to this decision, the answer is pretty simple:  I’ve been surrounded by innovative, entrepreneurial people and companies for over a decade.  At Shop.org, I’ve had a front row seat to all the excitement of the digital retail industry.  It’s been fun and intellectually stimulating, and the growth of Shop.org is an enormous source of pride for me.  Now, I have an opportunity to jump into the game.  Thanks to a super supportive wife and family, I have the opportunity to scratch an itch and eliminate any regret later in life that I didn’t try something like this.

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We know it’s “only” July but holiday planning is a top focus for retailers now – and so it is also for us at Shop.org. We’re pleased to announce the arrival of the 2010 Shop.org Holiday Strategy & Planning Guide, now available for download by Shop.org Members. The holiday season is serious business in retail, so we’re here to support retailers as they put aside the soaring mercury outside and put in place plans for everything from marketing and promotions to merchandising, customer service and fulfillment.

The Guide draws from the 2009 eHoliday pre- and post-holiday surveys. This annual research, conducted in partnership with BIGresearch, explored what consumers and retailers expected before the season started, as well as what actually happened after the season ended. Additionally, we are able to draw examples of what retailers did from the annual Resource Interactive O.P.E.N. Watch Retail Edition. New this year, we are also pointing readers to other Shop.org resources, from Webinars and research to blog posts and press releases.

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Greetings

I wanted to write a quick note and thank all of the attendees, staff members, speakers, board members, content committee members, and everyone else that made the Shop.org 2010 Online Merchandising Workshop such a success.   I have been helping to direct content for over four years and according to most of the feedback we hit the nail on the head by providing content that is by the member and for the member.

Please check out our recap page that has a brief summary of the event along with links to the blog entries and many of the presentations.   If you came to the Workshop and you have not filled out the survey yet, please do as we ready every piece of feedback and use it to try and make every event the best it can possibly be.   If you missed the workshop, we hope to see you in Dallas for our Annual Summit as this is looking like the best one yet — of course everything is bigger in Texas!

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I’ve been excited to hear 1-800Flowers.com President Chris McCann speak at Shop.org’s Online Merchandising Workshop ever since I chatted with him about his Undercover Boss experience several months ago. And McCann didn’t disappoint.

During his keynote, McCann talked about some of his company’s philosophies on connecting with customers to ultimately increase sales and offered tips for every retailer to use in creating more powerful relationships with their best advocates.

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We’ve crossed that halfway mark in the calendar – which also means that we’ve just concluded our latest quarterly online sales flash survey. Conducted in partnership with Forrester Research, every quarter we ask retailers to (anonymously) indicate how their gross online sales grew for the past quarter compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

70 retailers participated in the Q2 survey, which was in the field from July 1 to 7, 2010. Shop.org Members can now download the results summary as well as the more detailed results overview. A few highlights:

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Online Merchandising Workshop attendees had a lot of spunk – and quite a bit of company – when they donned cowboy hats at tonight’s reception.

The tie-in? The hats were a shout-out for Shop.org’s Annual Summit this September in Dallas, and dozens of online retail execs got in the spirit. With speakers like Urban Outfitters CEO Glen Senk, Shoebuy.com CEO Scott Savits, and legendary online marketer Mitch Joel, it’s no wonder why attendees are already excited to head to the Lone Star State in a few months.

But with several great sessions lined up tomorrow on empowering the customer, mining product reviews, and leveraging online photography, attendees were clearly happy to hang out in Surf City for another 24 hours.

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Your website sucks.

Those were the three words by which Bryan Eisenberg started his keynote at this morning’s Online Merchandising Workshop. But after that sobering beginning, Eisenberg offered a bit of comfort. For starters, he said, don’t worry too much: everybody’s website sucks. None of us have unlimited resources to get everything right. Basically, you’re in good company. As if that’s any consolation.

However, your website needn’t suck as much as it does. In fact, he said, he’s learned 21 secrets that make sites suck less. Eisenberg’s rapid-fire session was filled with 21 tips and gobs of examples of companies who were doing at least some of it right. And after that introduction, it’s no wonder attendees paid attention – and why some people in their feedback forms ranked Bryan’s session a 6 on a scale of 1-5.

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