As the USPS announcement to partner with Amazon to offer Sunday deliveries made headlines, two additional news items flew below the general public’s radar. The first was in regard to major revenue losses for the 2013 fiscal year – the seventh year running.   “The U.S. Postal Service ended the 2013 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013) with a net loss of $5 billion,” explained a press release found on the USPS newsroom website. “This marks the 7th...

Some might say that an eCommerce website is only as good as the added functionality it delivers to online shoppers. While consumers can be enticed by a modern, clean layout with pithy tag lines and professional photography, it’s the functionality that they’ll truly fall in love with.   So whether value-added features come into play before an overall site is designed or if they’re included incrementally, the key is to consider the options and the benefits that they bring to the...

When you visit Tealium’s About Us page, you’ll quickly discover that the company is no stranger to receiving accolades. In addition to being honored by Red Herring as one of the top 100 technology companies in North America for 2013, it was also named the market leader in enterprise tag management by Econsultancy, a U.K.-based research firm. Proof in the pudding comes in the form of record sales announced just last month.   “During the third quarter ending Sept. 30, Tealium...

Since it was founded in 2001, Newegg.com has been heading on a growth path. Based on its nearly $1 billion in sales in 2004, Newegg found itself on the Internet Retailer magazine’s list of the Internet’s Top 10 retailers in 2005. And just four short years later, it was listed as No. 234 on America’s Largest Private Companies list, published by Forbes. In 2012, it reported more than $2.7 billion in revenue – a substantial jump from its debut appearance on...

Every time someone purchases an iPhone, it seems like a newer, more powerful version is released just moments afterward. Over the past six years, eight versions of the iPhone have been introduced to the market, leaving so many smartphone users with new-version envy.   The question circling the minds of these not-so-outdated smartphone users then is: Is it worth it to upgrade? Often times, however, the answer is no – especially if the phone is still relatively new. According to NBC...

The countdown to Black Friday is in full effect. With less than one month before the year’s biggest shopping day, retailers are calling for all hands on deck to ensure that the day is a huge sales success. But despite the full-blown focus that some businesses place on Black Friday, many might not know how it got its start – or if it’s still as powerful for sales as it once was.   According to BlackFriday.com, the term Black Friday was...

Manufacturing in the United States is, to some degree, still the backbone of our nation. Countries around the world aspire to achieve our level of quality and innovation. The rub, however, is that some U.S. manufacturers have been slow to embrace the benefits that come from developing equally innovative eCommerce websites.   When it comes to online interactions with customers and clients, manufacturers are much the same as other retail entities. Their products need to be showcased in the best light...

Working off of consumer-wide shopping statistics and customer-engagement best practices is a sound method for launching an eCommerce marketing campaign. But as most businesses owners know, no two companies or industries are alike. What might work for a clothing retailer, might not find traction for a lawn care provider. Therefore, businesses will have to look within to discover how their own customers are attracted and retained.   And as far as best practices are concerned, IBM reminded business owners in a...

Whether you’re taking public transportation, at a family gathering, or shopping at a mall, there will, undoubtedly, be individuals who are buried in their mobile devices. Distracted from the world around them, smartphones and tablets are a growing outlet for consumers to get quick answers to their daily, hourly or by-the-minute queries.   And as mobile platforms gain in sophistication and ease of use, those same consumers will lean on those devices even further to buy goods. But for most, this...

With a population of 142.5 million, the eCommerce opportunities in Russia are vast and for the majority, are fairly untapped. According to the CIA World FactBook, the country has experienced major changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union, “moving from a globally-isolated, centrally-planned economy to a more market-based and globally-integrated economy.”   Furthermore, because the cost of living is quite low in Russia, expendable income for the middle and upper class is somewhat larger than those in many other markets....