By checking the “remember me” box when logging into a website, so much more is retained than just a username and a password. At this point in time, frequent online shoppers understand that. They understand that the ease of eCommerce doesn’t come to full fruition until they’ve created an account and logged in. Without registration, return visitors will need to re-enter their credit card, billing and shipping information every single time they go to make a purchase. The formal term for...

Crowdsourcing comes in all shapes and sizes. Individuals and businesses alike solicit support for everything from developing the world’s best hoodie to restoring an historic movie theater. But when crowdsourcing is big, it can be really big. Take the Pebble e-Paper smartwatch, for example. On Kickstarter, one of the world’s biggest funding platforms, the goal was to raise $100,000. When all was said and done, it raked in more than $10 million. Clearly, the benefits of crowdsourcing are limitless. Crowdsourcing, however,...

A common side effect of a fast-growing business is an increase in online properties, sometimes referred to as web sprawl, which is essentially the over-creation of tangential brand websites. What starts out as one website developed for a product launch, a sub-brand or a marketing campaign, can quickly spiral out of control into multiple, difficult-to-manage web entities like country-specific sites, partner portals, customer support sites and blogs. Although these sites can be considered necessary additions for a growing business, problems arise...

Online retail has been on a tear. According to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, retail eCommerce sales for the third quarter of 2013 hit a staggering $67 billion, an increase of 17.5 percent from Q3 2012. During the same period, total retail sales increased at a modest 4.7 percent. So as online sales channels continue to push profits, eCommerce executives are scrambling to keep up with the unprecedented growth. Many are looking to replatform their current software to accommodate both...

A recent survey conducted by Load Impact, a company that produces a cloud-based, on-demand load testing tool, revealed that eCommerce sites “are some of the worst performing as a category even though availability and performance directly impact their bottom line.” For those in the eCommerce business, the statement is sure to cut to the quick, but at the same time, it should also be a statement that will inspire positive changes in the community.   The survey’s findings, which don’t just...

Omni-channel retailing became one of the biggest buzzwords of 2013, and its popularity among business owners will only continue to increase. Essentially, those that adopt it will thrive while those that don't will, inevitably, wither on the vine. Despite its sometimes intimidating ways, omni-channel retailing is being better understood by the eCommerce community as a whole. Business owners are becoming more familiar with what it entails and what degree of adoption is appropriate for their businesses. No matter the level of...

Eating better and exercising more are no brainers when it comes to new resolutions for the New Year. But setting resolutions just because the calendar year changed isn’t always a good idea. Individuals – and businesses – must ensure that they’re making changes for the right reasons. For some retailers, a disappointing holiday shopping season has them reassessing their focus and executing on their own New Year’s resolutions. For some of those retailers, new initiatives include replatforming their current eCommerce solution,...

Returns are so commonplace that some shoppers today don’t feel the need to try on clothing or test drive electronics. In fact, retailers have made the returns process so simple that many consumers consider returning multiple items as part of the decision-making process.   According to an article posted on DailyFinance.com, industry estimates put consumer returns each year at about $264 billion – about 9 percent of total sales. And although there are many reasons that could justify a return, many happen...

From Jan. 12 through Jan. 15, 2014, about 30,000 people will be in attendance at the National Retail Federation’s annual exposition – Retail's Big Show. The event, which takes place at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, began more than 100 years ago and was once focused solely on brick-and-mortar retailing. This year, however, it might prove difficult to avoid talk of online retail.   In fact, Rick J. Caruso’s keynote speech, “Reimagining Main Street – How Brick and Mortar...

For all of you Jeopardy junkies out there – you know who you are: The title of this blog could be an answer for a Jeopardy clue something along the lines of: “The future of customer engagement depends on this super computer.” And although Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter probably could have answered correctly, the majority of Americans might not know what IBM’s question-answering computer has been up to since beating the two out on the game show’s ultimate tournament of...