We’ve all heard the quote, “good artists copy; great artists steal.” While this is not something to be taken literally, it’s an idea that has some credence in the world of marketing. There is nothing wrong with mirroring the efforts of those who have found success. A recent report from Digital IQ titled “Sportswear 2015” offers an intriguing look into how activewear, which did not suffer the same slump in sales as the apparel industry saw in 2014, is marketed on...

Binging and purging: it’s not just a food-related problem. In fact, shoppers are far more likely to buy more than they intend to keep than people with eating disorders who eat more than they intend to hold down. It might seem to be a disturbing and/or unsettling analogy, but for eCommerce companies, serial returners are creating a problem that is both disturbing and unsettling to their profits.Clear Returns, a U.K.-based company dealing in return intelligence platforms, has a constantly moving ticker...

For anyone who searches for eCommerce news on a daily basis, they would be hard-pressed to not have noticed a new theme that’s been emerging in the search results: India. Although articles about the U.S. industry typically dominate those results, news from India has been showing up more and more.   The success of Indian eCommerce has risen to such a degree that the country is now reconsidering its ban on foreign investments in its eCommerce sector. Amazon and eBay,...

Soon, all eyes will set their focus on Brazil as the largest South American country hosts two of the world’s biggest athletic events. Surely, the selection of Brazil as host for both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics is due to its position as one of the globe’s most promising emerging nations.   As such, Brazil offers opportunities for eCommerce companies wanting to expand their reach. With a population of just over 200 million, Brazil finds itself amongst the top...

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....

In today’s omni-channel environment, there are so many different buyer types coming in. Some want to buy online and pick up their purchases in-store. Some just want to window shop on a website, but potentially make final purchase decisions in a brick-and-mortar location. Still others want to comparison shop on their phones while perusing a store's racks.   One of the common themes facing retailers, however, is that there’s often a separation of inventory for in-store versus online. The challenge then...

As the global population continues to grow, opportunities for businesses in the eCommerce sector will also expand. To put that international growth into perspective, each and every day the planet grows by 220,000 people. Of the 7 billion, which is ticking upward by the second, 2 billion are in the middle class – the consumer class.   Those new consumers are from every corner of the globe, but no matter how remote their location, to stay competitive, eCommerce sites must reach...

It’s not all that uncommon for a shopper to cruise past an intriguing storefront and think, “I’m going to check them out online when I get home.” In fact, those same consumers might just pull out their smartphone right then and there to bookmark the website. But what happens when they’re a block or two away – or at home later that evening – only to discover that the store doesn’t offer online shopping?   As you can imagine, there are...

Online shoppers are much less forgiving than a web store owner might like – or realize, for that matter. And you can’t necessarily blame them. The reason that consumers choose to purchase items online is, after all, for the sheer convenience of it.   So no matter the issue, if it’s not easy for a shopper to make a purchase, they’ll exit out of your site and they might not ever return. According to the editors at Mashable.com, the following seven...

As a company integrates more and more e-commerce best practices into their e-tail site, usability, navigation and the overall consumer experience are bound to improve. And when these methods become the norm, sales are sure to pick up.   But that doesn’t mean that a company can then go on autopilot. There are constantly new elements to address that will further enhance an e-commerce business. And sometimes it’s the simple things that get overlooked when giving a website an overhaul.  ...