Posts Tagged ‘website shop’

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The value of online customer service

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

As IMRG recently reported that there are now 150,000 online retail businesses in the UK employing some 600,000 people, it’s clear that the level of competition has reached an all time high. Many ecommerce businesses complain that their business is driven by price, but a recent report from StellaService in the US says that online shoppers will pay a premium of 10.7% for great service (and they put a monetary value on that service of $17.3billion in the US market).

So if you are a small ecommerce shop, what are the best ways to grab a share of that added value available to online retailers?

  • Speed of Delivery The report says that the leading factor for great customer service is speed of delivery. Our experience shows that small ecommerce websites can often beat the larger online players with speed of delivery. Not to mention any names, but how often are you kept waiting 5-7 days by a major online retailer?. So if you know that you can deliver quickly, then make it clear on your website as it clearly matters to consumers and could be the difference between a sale or no sale.
  • Customer Interaction Another important element in customer service is the way you/your staff deal with customers over the phone or via email. Again this is an area where small website shops can provide a better experience. Would you prefer to talk to call centre or someone in a who really cares about and knows their products?

Large ecommerce websites like Ocado in the UK and Zappos in the US know all about customer service, but as the StellaService report points out, a bigger share of online spend is also possible for small website shops who ‘improve basic service practices and policies that matter most to online consumers’.

Ocado and Zappos know all about customer service

Ocado and Zappos know all about customer service

 

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Tiger Commerce launches iPhone app for etailers on the move

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

We’re really delighted to announce the launch of our iPhone app - free to all Tiger Commerce software users. This new app - mCommerce - enables shop owners to access and respond to real-time data relating to their online retail operation - all through their iPhone.

Tiger Commerce is the first UK ecommerce platform to launch an iPhone app to complement its browser based online shop software. mCommerce facilitates order tracking and on the move updates, allowing shop owners to stay in touch with new orders and new customer registrations, as well as  historical shop data - without needing to access a laptop or computer. Tiger Commerce clients can also use mCommerce to log into their shop’s Google Analytics account for up to date analysis on shop visitor data.

Tiger Commerce Launch M-commerce

Tiger Commerce Launch mCommerce

A few quotes from a couple of Tiger clients who are already using the mCommerce app:

“I run a couple of ecommerce websites. The new mCommerce app is perfect for me; it means I can easily stay in touch with orders coming into my shops at any time and wherever I happen to be. A brilliant and really useful add on to the Tiger Commerce service” Jamie Smith, www.squadronleader.co.uk

“We love Tiger’s i-Phone app, my co-directors and I all have other work commitments in addition to our Begolden online shop, and this allows us to easily keep track of what is happening in our shop. We really like the fact that we can access all our order management data without having to be in the office or near a computer ” Bobby Adams, www.begolden.co.uk

The new, free-to-download Tiger Commerce app, mCommerce is available now at the Apple Store for all Tiger Commerce website shop owners.

 

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How to Reduce Returns from your Online Customers

Friday, March 19th, 2010

A survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has shown that over 60% of consumers are less likely to return goods they buy online compared to those they buy offline. It seems that many consumers may not be aware that they have the automatic right to a 7 day cooling off period for products brought online. Perhaps the most important factor is the inconvenience of returning items bought online, especially as it’s only really the larger ecommerce websites that make it easy to return items (with returns postage labels & packaging etc).

However, as more and more of retail shifts away from offline to online, it is likely that more consumers will use the Returns option for online goods if they are not happy. With that in mind here are some tips to reduce Returns:

- Make sure your product descriptions communicate effectively; any vagueness on colour, size, specification etc is likely to result in higher returns.

- Use good photos (from different angles) and videos to demo the product, if appropriate.

Use Good Photos from Different Angles

Use Good Photos from Different Angles

- For technical products, provide links to manufacturer’s brochures/websites for further information.

- Enable the product comparison functionality, if your ecommerce website has this. Tiger Commerce provides this useful feature as standard in its ecommerce website software - allowing shoppers to compare a breakdown of the key features of  several products side by side on the page.  This way, they are able to make better selections.

Product Comparison Functionality

Product Comparison Functionality

- Ensure that your packaging is up to scratch for items that could be damaged in the delivery process.

- Make your Returns policy accessible and easy to use. More customers may return items, but having experienced great Returns service, they may also be more likely to come back and make further purchases that do meet their needs.

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Sell your products with eBay and Tiger Commerce

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Recommended reading if you’re interested in setting up an eBay business is on the Startups site (www.startups.co.uk).  Click here to go to the relevant article. This is a very practical article, up to date and full of tips. (By the way, keep in touch with the Startups site and their email newsletters for loads of useful insight into making your business dream a reality).

Debenhams is in the news this week for opening dedicated shops within eBay and Amazon to sit alongside their freestanding website shops. The idea behind this move is to open up Debenhams to a much broader online marketplace.  Tiger Commerce is a fantastic website shop solution if you want to benefit both from the direct online sales channel (your own online shop) and the eBay marketing network. Tiger is integrated with eBay meaning you can easily upload your existing product catalogue from your online shop to eBay ie. you don’t have to create separate product listings for your eBay sales. Make the most of trading online with your own ecommerce website shop combined with eBay sales!

Tiger is integrated with eBay

Tiger is integrated with eBay

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Optimism for online sales in Q4 and beyond

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Tiger attended two important events in October - Internet Retailing and eCommerce expo - both held in London - to gauge sentiment in the market amongst suppliers and clients in the ecommerce sector. We came back with our optimisim reinforced by the general buzz and positive encounters at both events.

By the way, if you are in ecommerce and have an ecommerce website we do recommend you attend these conferences next year. eCommerce expo has 2 events - one in the North (in May) and one in London (in October) and both are free (www.ecommerceexpo.co.uk). This event is targeted at SMEs and startups. Internet Retailing (www.screenevents.co.uk) costs you around £100 and is targeted at the more established players, but still worth the £100 if you want to grab some leading edge ideas.

Anyway, coming back to the main point of this post. That is that more than once at these events did we hear the sentiment that Q4 will be a strong period for ecommerce. Whilst online shopping growth has slowed this year in line with reduced consumer spending, the lead up to Christmas is nonetheless expected to boost the figures as consumers take advantage of the convenience, choice and competitive pricing of online. The cloud on the horizon is really the postal strikes, although many consumers understand that this won’t affect the bigger online retailers.

Also, whilst IMRG’s (www.imrg.org) September ecommerce data showed that growth for the month was only(!) 8%, they still think that the whole of 2009 will show a 15% increase over online sales in 2008. That’s not bad for a recessionary period. There was clear evidence from the conference seminars/presentions at eCommerce expo and Internet Retailing (companies such as John Lewis, Reebok, Google, House of Fraser, Liberty, Evans, Zappos and others) that optimism for 2010 is still very much the message.

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Alternatives for etailers during the postal strike

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Apologies from the team at Tiger for not posting for a few weeks. It’s been a busy time commercially for us (watch out for a major news announcement soon…..)

However, we know that top of the agenda for website shop owners at the moment is most probably the postal strike. With that in mind, we strongly recommend that you take a look at the IMRG site which has practical advice for e-Retailers during the postal strike. Well worth a read.

Within that article there is mention of Collect+ which is a new service launched by Home Delivery Network and PayPoint. This allows parcels to be delivered to and collected from retailers within the PayPoint payment network (convenience stores, petrol stations etc). Go to their site www.collectplus.co.uk for info on how this could be a viable alternative to Royal Mail for your deliveries. 

Also, consult www.parcel2go.com the online parcel delivery service that uses carriers such as UPS, CityLink, DHL and others. They have just launched a Light offering to suit smaller businesses that ship up to 500 parcels a week. The site is very busy obviously at the moment (takes a while to load), but worth taking the time to take a look.

One thing you should remember is to make sure you use your home page and delivery pages to reinforce the message of reliable delivery and alert customers to the postal alternatives that you have lined up. Manage customer expectations via email and regular updates.   

ecommerce websites have been here before (remember the 2007 postal strike?) and there was no long term negative impact to online shopping. We’ll come through again, but we’re not so sure about the Royal Mail……

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Sell More Online this Christmas

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Christmas really is just around the corner and no doubt you’ve been stocking up in preparation for the season.  

 

The great news for etailers is that consumers at Christmas turn to the web to avoid the hassle of the High Street; in 2008 a third of all shoppers did more than HALF of their Christmas shopping online and a significant number avoided the High Street altogether. Although, more shoppers this Christmas will be looking for competitive pricing, the good news is that they are more likely than ever to turn to the internet to  source the best deals, widest choice and greatest shopping convenience.

 

The season starts early – the peak online shopping weekend last year was end of November – with consumers purchasing early so that deliveries reach them in time. So the message from us is don’t delay, you need to start getting your website shop ready for Christmas NOW.

 

 

Here’s our list of tips to make the most of the peak shopping season:

 

1.         Decorate your Shop!

Make sure your ecommerce website has a seasonal feel. The Oxford Street Xmas lights are switched on 3rd November this year, so target October to launch your shop’s Christmas makeover. Inject a little Christmas cheer by purchasing one of our design packages for a seasonal shop banner, home page image and component box tops. Prices start at £39.99 in our Services Shop.

 

2.         Set up Gift Categories

Make it easy for shoppers to find gift ideas by setting up gift categories, ‘gifts for him/for her’ etc. Use the ‘Featured Products’ facility to display your top gift ideas. Create a Content page reached via the top navigation menu to showcase your products in a ‘mini online brochure’. Consider getting this page professionally designed to optimise this feature. Our Content page designs cost just £299.99.

 

Gift Ideas

Gift Ideas

 

3.         Review your Delivery Charges/Deadlines

Your Xmas delivery options, charges and deadlines should be displayed very clearly on your home page. As with last Christmas, we believe that free (or minimal delivery charges) will play a significant role in delivering online conversions. You can use the ‘Free delivery’ message within your on and offline communications to drive traffic to your website shop.  

 

4.         Upgrade your Product Pages

Fine tune your product pages so that they are relevant for the Christmas market. Compelling descriptions and great images go a long way to turning visitors into customers. Read our blog post on optimising product descriptions to get more tips.

 

5.         Put in place some great Xmas Promotions

Put together some enticing promotions/offers for the season. Buy 2 get one free, free gifts with purchase etc. Make the most of upselling opportunities – use the Related Products feature to promote accessories or alternative product options.

 

6.         Get Email Marketing

Your Tiger Commerce ecommerce website has an email marketing feature so now’s the time to use it to encourage repeat buying during the Xmas season. A current favourite email marketing promotional technique used by leading etailers is to offer one day deep price cuts on certain products – “25% off Christmas Gifts for 24 hours only” If you want help in setting up a professional and impactful Xmas email marketing campaign, take a look at our email marketing template design service.  

 

7.         Use Pay Per Click to bring in customers

Consider using Pay Per Click marketing to gain page1 visibility for your products in the search engines. Search engine traffic increases significantly during the run up to Christmas – from early October onwards. So now is the time to get a profitable return from Pay Per Click. We have recently revised our PPC packages to deliver you a cost efficient service, even for budgets below £500/month.  Not only will we take the hassle out of setting up a PPC campaign, but our PPC team who spend all day, every day managing client PPC campaigns, know all the ‘tricks of the trade’ when it comes to optimising your budgets. 

 

8.         Reduce your payment processing charges

If you are looking to reduce your payment processing charges, or need a new payment solution provider, we have an exclusive deal for all Tiger website shop clients. PayPoint.net, our strategic payments partner, are offering 2 months FREE payment processing. Sign up now  and you could end up paying nothing for your Christmas payment processing. PayPoint.net has a payment solution for all types of online business.

 

PayPoint - 2 Months Free Payment Processing

PayPoint - 2 Months Free Payment Processing

 

We know it’s too early to say….but, wishing you all a busy & profitable festive season…….

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August online sales increase by 16%

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

After a couple of months of slightly less upbeat online sales data, it’s great to see that IMRG (industry body for ecommerce) have come out with a bullish statement on the latest sales data for August - see below. With the Xmas season soon to kick in this is all good news for website shops. Make sure your ecommerce website is ready for the anticipated uplift in sales…..

UK shoppers spent £3.8 billion online in August 2009, which is 16% higher than in August 2008, new figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveal. Month on month sales fell by 10% in August, “closely in line with seasonal trends seen in previous years”.

The Index shows that nearly all sectors have seen a dip in month-on-month growth, with only the footwear, gifts and electrical sectors showing a small monthly rise in spending. Sales of shoes online rose by 3%, which the researchers suggest is down to families refreshing school uniforms for the new year.

The beers, wines & spirits and lingerie sectors have seen decreasing growth throughout 2009, with alcohol sales showing negative year-on-year growth in five out of the last six months. The lingerie sector has also continued to see negative growth each month — a sign that consumers are cutting back on luxury items as the recession bites.

The clothing sector, while experiencing a dip in sales against July, has continued to perform well throughout the year. Fashion retailers are ahead of the game in terms of performance, say the researchers, and improvements to the online customer experience, combined with competitive pricing and better returns policies, have increased the number of visits to the sites that are being converted into sales. All of this has contributed to higher than average year on year growth rates for this sector.

“The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveal a 16% year on year growth for online spending, ahead of our 12% forecasts for the second half of the year,” says Mike Petevinos, head of consulting for retail for Capgemini UK. “The key drivers of this growth are clothing, accessories and electricals. Consumers continue to see the benefits of greater choice, price competitiveness and convenience from buying online in these sectors.

“It is no coincidence that in these sectors retailers are making the greatest strides to improve their online offer, with improved visuals, enhanced product information, more convenient delivery and return models and an increasing use of web 2.0 techniques.”

And IMRG’s Tina Spooner adds “The continued annual growth in the online retail market is evidence that this medium is withstanding the challenges of the economic downturn and the retailers that continue to expand and improve their online presence will no doubt reap the benefits during the festive trading period.”

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Free shipping will play important role in Xmas online sales

Friday, September 18th, 2009

 

Research from Experian CheetahMail has highlighted the effectiveness of Free Shipping offers in email marketing. In a survey conducted by them, 70% of ecommerce respondents said that transaction rates of free shipping emails were higher than without such an offer while 47% experienced higher order values. 

With this further evidence that free shipping is a proven sales driver for ecommerce websites and with news from Google that Xmas shopping online has already started (we’re not even in October yet!), we’re recommending to all our website shop owners that they consider using Free shipping as a promotional tool to increase conversions this Christmas.

Free Shipping As A Promotional Tool

Free Shipping As A Promotional Tool

- Offer free shipping via email marketing and consider combining alongside other discounts/promos for maximum impact.

- Make free shipping available for a limited period only to create a sense of urgency and improve response rates. Don’t fall into the trap of sending out marketing emails every week with offers of free shipping as this will dilute effectiveness.

- Integrate your free shipping message in your Pay per Click adverts and other on or offline marketing. 

- Make sure you make your free shipping message highly visible on your ecommerce website (unless you are making it available via restricted voucher code only)

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Product Reviews more important than ever to drive conversions

Friday, August 21st, 2009

We’re constantly reminding our website shop clients to make sure they feature customer generated product reviews and service testimonials on their online shops. When there are so many unfamiliar companies selling products out there on the net, a good assortment of customer reviews and testimonials is a great source of reassurance for online shoppers.

Customer Generated Product Reviews

Customer Generated Product Reviews

Research conducted for Feefo which is an outsourced online customer feedback forum (clients include Thomas Pink & Charles Tyrwhitt) has confirmed the importance of product reviews. Over half of those polled said they are more likely to buy from websites carrying independent product (53%) and service (51%) reviews from past customers. Another survey by Bazaarvoice found that product reviews can increase conversions by 20% and push up order values by 15-30%.  

With this in mind, a few tips for you on product reviews:

- Include some of the less favourable reviews you get as well as the good ones (maybe showing how you addressed the less favourable ones) because this is more credible than a list of reviews that only say how wonderful the product/your service is.

- Make sure your ecommerce website software has a product review feature that allows customers to easily give you their feedback and also shows those customer reviews prominently on the relevant product pages. It’s also helpful for website shop owners to have a filtering facility for all reviews they receive before publication. Try to have at least 4/5 reviews per product.

eCommerce Software Product Review

eCommerce Software Product Review

- Include a selection of testimonials on your home page or via a prominent link from the home page. Testimonials that talk about your service (delivery, customer care etc) are just as important as product reviews especially when there’s loads of competition out there selling the same products as you.

- Incorporate expert reviews from the media or any magazines that your product or website shop has been featured in. These are very powerful, so make use of any PR channels open to you. Also if your business has won any awards, always show these on your website.

- Encourage your customers to give you feedback (via customer surveys) or via a forum/blog. You could ask for feedback via email or include an insert in your delivery package. You might consider an incentive for these reviews (automatic entry to a competition, for example).

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