E-Commerce
E-Commerce
E-commerce, short for ‘electronic commerce,’ entails the trading in products or services using computer networks such as the Internet.
E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.
Below you’ll find a bunch of our posts related to e-commerce. Some of the topics that our company bloggers cover include magento e-commerce, and the best ecommerce sites that are currently active on the web. Because e-commerce is a wide and expansive field that is constantly growing, our team is constantly on the go to cover all the latest and greatest news associated with e-commerce.
Since Hara Partners is an e-commerce solutions company, all of the e-commerce going-ons in the world are of the most maximal concern to us. Some of the topics that we covered in the past include Asian e-commerce, mobile e-commerce platforms, and e-commerce trends.
For your information, we’ve also listed some of the common types of e-commerce platforms below:
On-premise E-commerce software usually requires initial one time purchase investment in terms of licensing fees. Also, it implies extra costs related to hardware and installation services as well as data migration and on-going maintenance fees that are usually charged on a yearly basis for software updates and support. Some examples of typical on premise E-commerce platforms are Hybris, Sanna Commerce, Oorjit, and IBM WebSphere.
Software as a Service (SaaS)- is a cloud based delivery model in which applications are hosted and managed in a service provider’s datacenter, paid for on a subscription basis and accessed via a browser over an internet connection. Two examples of typical SaaS E-commerce solutions are Shopify and Demandware.
Open source e-Commerce is a free of charge platform that doesn’t imply licenses fee. Furthermore, open source users are also responsible for installing, maintaining, securing and configuring the software on their own servers. In order to set up an open source platform, basic technical expertise is required in the areas of web design and development. Software products that are distributed as open source are generally free, and users can access and modify the source code. Three examples of typical open source E-commerce platforms are PrestaShop, osCommerce, Magento and Thelia.
How to Become an E-commerce Analyst
An e-commerce analyst is similar to a market analyst, except he or she looks specifically at transactions that occur on the Internet and researches ways to improve on existing sales goals.
A successful e-commerce analyst leverages data about the users he services to improve the conversion rate of the companies he works for.
Potential e-commerce analysts will need to know how to use analytics software and Excel, and the right communication skills to articulate the results of your data.
Step 1
Determine whether you have the right prerequisites for becoming an e-commerce analyst. A bachelor’s degree in market research, statistics or other related fields is usually required. Candidates should also have strong mathematical and analytical skills. Good communication is highly desired because the ability to interpret and communicate results are essential.
Step 2
Get certified through a reputable source as an e-commerce analyst, or someone familiar with analytics software. The Marketing Research Association offers a certification that must be reviewed every two years. For a small fee, the applicant is granted access to an exam that tests his knowledge of e-commerce with a certificate awarded upon successful completion.
Step 3
Fill out an application for the job you desire, and include a cover letter. The CV should include blurbs that highlight your experience interpreting large amounts of data. Your resume should include examples where you have used Excel or analytics programs such as Google Analytics to discover important facts about customer behavior. You should also list your familiarity with e-commerce engines like PayPal, Amazon and eBay on your resume.
Step 4
Negotiate your pay after you get a job offer and think about your future possibilities. Nationwide, the number of market research analysts is expected to grow as much as 41 percent by the year 2020. As more data becomes available, companies have an increasing demand for workers to interpret it into something useful. The top ten percent of market research analysts earned more than $100,000 per year, with the lowest ten percent earning just above $30,000. The median pay for a market research analyst working in the information sector is $70,000.
How to Use Vsnap to Increase Online Sales
How to Use Vsnap To Increase Online Sales
Have you ever heard of Vsnap? No? Well, Vsnap is a genius idea.
Vsnap works as a video messaging tool for eCommerce. It lets retailers and sales people connect with their buyers through sending quick video messages. It works similarly like Facetime and Vine to establish a human connection between retailers and customers.
How Does Vsnap Work?
You can follow these easy steps to increase your online sales using Vsnap.
Firstly, you record a short video message on the web or on Apple’s mobile operating system IOS. IOS is mainly found on IPhones. These video messages should last about 60 seconds or less. Then, you share your video message via twitter or private email to the recipient. You can customize your email by adding the company logo, changing the font and editing in general. Customers can view these video messages no matter what type of device they possess. They do not even have to download anything to see your messages. This is a huge advantage because it is extremely easy for customers to view your video messages. It also makes Vsnap universal. Salespeople can also activate real-time alerts. A real time alert sends you a notification of when your customer has seen your Vsnap. It also lets you see if they act upon the attached documents or links that you have sent them.
What are the advantages of using Vsnap?
Vsnap creates a sense of individual connection between salespeople and buyers. This knocks down the cold cooperate wall, to establish a sense of human connection. Hence, Vsnap makes customers feel special and ensures them that your business cares about them. You do not receive a human connection via email or letter. Therefore, Vsnap is a much more personalized form of communication.
It is the perfect tool for people who have Face Blindness. Sufferers of Face Blindness cannot recognize faces – even the faces of their dearest family members. Vsnap helps these people put an image – a distorted image, nonetheless – to a name which they could not place via the written word of email or letter. To find out more about Face Blindness, go to: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-blindness-when-everyone-is-a-stranger-20-03-2012/
The increase of sales can be huge for online businesses. An established human connection promotes a sense of friendliness and encourages your customers to trust you. Vsnap is a really useful tool to have. Many businesses have had a great experience using Vsnap. They have seen a great increase in online sales and have developed friendlier relationships with their customers. Vsnap users include online career school Penn Foster and Boston-based, women’s fashion line Zoora. Penn Foster wants to be successful in online schooling; therefore, the personalization of video messaging is crucial. Vsnap is useful for smaller businesses like Zoora as it creates a personal touch between retailer and customer. It also helps them stand-out from their competitors who do not communicate with their customers through video messaging. If your business does not use Vsnap already, you should definitely consider it.
Vsnap loves to meet new customers and help you email like a person, not a robot. You can buy Vsnap for $33 a month. This fee gets you unlimited Vsnaps and allows you to customize emails. Hara Partners had the pleasure of hosting CEO of Vsnap, Dave McLaughlin at our November eCommerce meet-up: http://www.meetup.com/New-York-eCommerce-Meetup/events/215279532/ He gave us great examples of how short videos increase customer satisfaction and sales. Vsnap really is the perfect video messaging tool for eCommerce as it can increase close rates by as much as 34%. If you would like more information about how to get Vsnap, contact us at: http://www.harapartners.com/contact-us/
How to Use Social Media To Attract Customers
How To Attract Customers Using Social Media
The popularity of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram grows by the day. On average, Facebook has 600 million active users every month. If you do the math, it gains roughly 600,000 new users every day. The figures are so huge, it is almost unimaginable. No wonder marketers want to attract their customer base utilizing Facebook! It has a massive user-base.
So, how do you attract your customer base via social media?
For starters, sign up to create a page. It will ask for your company’s name, and ask you to provide a brief description containing what kind of service you provide, and work you do. It is best to keep this concise. Because social media users have short attention spans, and prefer to flick through short posts, pictures or tweets. So, the chances are that anything too long will not even attract them to read it in the first place. Secondly, you need users to “like” your page. The more likes you get, the more attention is drawn to your site. Ultimately, you have a greater chance of gaining customers, and your business being successful.
The Don’ts
You do not want your site to be too clinical and visually unfriendly. A plain site will not attract any attention in the chaotic popularity of social media sites. And social media users do not go on these sites with the intention of reading boring business pages. So your profile really has to stand-out. If it does not, social media will swallow your business up and reduce your chances of gaining new custom.
The Do’s
Create company logos. Users relate to creativity, and symbols are eye-catching. Especially on Instagram with its reliance of users’ obsession with images, and photographs. Customize your page with creative tools, such as logos to show customers that you are engaging with the community of shoppers. It is an easy way to add a personalized touch, and show that you are not some unreachable authority. You rely on their custom. Therefore, connection with your loyal buyers is essential in order to gain the trust of your new customers. Also, short posts about new products, and special offers will pique customers’ attention. But, make sure to include pictures to make your posts more visually enticing. Utilizing social media allows you to target a wider variety of customers, and will really boost the popularity of your business.
Many businesses have created social media pages and have generated greater revenue. For example, fashion brands such as Burberry excel on social media sites like Instagram. Burberry does not solely post photographs of their clothes, but backstage photographs of their catwalk shows. Similarly, restaurants can promote the quality of their food by posting pictures. If you can make your products look good online, customers are more likely to be attracted to your business.
If you do not have a social media page already – what are you waiting for? Boost your customer base now!
If you want more information about how to create a social media page, here is a link to the Twitter help site: https://business.twitter.com/basics/create-a-profile-for-your-business?location=na&lang=en
And here is a link to the Facebook business help page: https://www.facebook.com/business
Switching to Magento from Another E-commerce Platform?
Switching to Magento from Another E-commerce Platform?
If you’re currently thinking of switching to another e-commerce platform, you may have second doubts about it being Magento. On our blog, and the blogs of other Magento companies, the argument will clearly be in favor for it. But what are some of the arguments in favor of Magento being the ultimate e-commerce platform?
Feature Functionality
Magento’s core merchandising and SEO features easily surpass its competitors. It features more than 1800 templates you can leverage for your user interface, and you can create your own theme and user experience.
Magento’s continuously expanding features (Mobile HTML 5 support, RMA, customer groups and segmentation, plus many others) offers an ongoing value for your investment that you don’t get from the competitors. Magento’s committed product road map also introduces new advanced features every few months that merchants can take advantage of.
Superior Integration Options
Magento provides not only a pre-built API that can be integrated into virtually any ERP or order management solution, but its open source base also allows you to leverage database based integrations and other design patterns.
SEO-Friendly
Clean URLs, meta data, Google Analytics and Google Base integration, and clean code make Magento a website optimizer’s dream.
Multi‐Site Capability
You can run several stores on the same installation of Magento. This really helps businesses focus on niche websites and steers them away from cluttered one‐stop‐shop solutions.
Easy Import/Export of Data
Magento makes data sorting and management easy, and allows you to sort by categories that can be customized.
Price
If you’re a small merchant looking for a low-cost turnkey SaaS solution, at $15 per month Magento Go is priced far less than competitors such as Shopify and Big Commerce.
For any merchant making more than $500,000 in online business, Magento Enterprise can also save you big bucks, lowering your total 3-year costs which include the labor costs associated with maintaining your website.
Five Reasons Web Stores are the Future for B2B
While anyone can start a web store these days and sell their products directly to customers online, the benefits among for B2B owners in particular are sometimes overlooked. Below we’ve outlined five reasons why web stores are the future for B2B specifically.
1) Rising Sales
Owners of B2B companies can surely reap the benefits of sales much more directly, but there’s still a great deal of opportunity for B2B eCommerce as well.
In 2013, B2B eCommerce sales reached $559 billion, which was more than twice the size of B2C eCommerce sales.
2) Simplicity
Web stores can also be used as online order entry tools for customer service and sales reps.
For example, k-eCommerce has a Sales Portal, which can be used on the road by sales reps and synchronizes back to Microsoft Dynamics.
3) Customers
Even if you don’t have the clout of a company like Amazon, you are still likely to gain customers who are interested in the potential of eCommerce.
Even if they’re not asking for it, they’re ready to stop scanning orders or emailing your sales team. They want to reorder with a click, make orders on the fly and upload big ones as a .CSV.
4) Mobile
No matter how you’re taking orders, it needs to be easy to do on a mobile device. That means it should be simple, responsive and functional.
Whether orders are being entered by clients or sales reps, this is a critical piece of an omni-channel strategy.
5) Personalization
Finally, personalization is a new trend in the eCommerce world. Rather than focusing on promoting a specific product line, this change places focus on each unique customer.
Personalization features within k-eCommerce includes custom catalogs per user. B2B marketers are increasingly turning to web site personalization to provide content that is specifically geared towards individual buyers, largely segmented by industry, department, function or role.
Google Analytics – why you should use it
Question: What’s the best way to analyze, understand, and optimize your web traffic?
Answer: Google Analytics.
Why? Here’s why.
Google Analytics is used by 6,620 of the 10,000 most popular websites, as ranked by BuiltWith (August 2013). Another figure puts it at around 5,000. That’s over five thousand sites using Google Analytics to report a spike or drop in site traffic, and adjusting their tactics as required. If you need or want to drive more traffic to your site – because who would want a drop in numbers? – Google Analytics will show you cleanly and clearly where you’re going wrong, and what your visitors want.
It breaks down the daily traffic in a handy graph, and a pie chart displaying where traffic comes from (email, Google+, or a direct hit – and no, you can’t eat it), and where it’s located (India, Canada, the States), along with the average length of time each IP spends on the site, along with how many active visitors there are on the site at any given time – at a glance, you can see what works, what doesn’t, and what might need to be adjusted.
Running Google Analytics on your website will enable you to take advantage of how long your visitors are on your site and where they are from, plus what they’re looking at. For example, you may wish to implement a Mandarin/Cantonese language translation for your Chinese visitors to enable easier navigation, and as a result they may spend a little more time there, thus perhaps recommending your site via word of mouth.
And with all the different ways in today’s world of connecting with people, old-fashioned recommendation can be the most powerful. Be those guys.
Is a Career in eCommerce Right for You?
A career in eCommerce isn’t for everyone. While the online marketplace has become the status quo for both buyers and sellers, working within the industry itself is not everyone’s preference. Certain people will want to have a face-to-face interaction with customers which is entirely absent in eCommerce.
On the other hand, a career in eCommerce can be rewarding not only fiscally, but in terms of what you can add to your resume and overall knowledge base.
Here are some of the main pros of starting a career in eCommerce.
Great Long-Term Global Growth Outlook
The total market for eCommerce is over $1 trillion and is predicted to grow at 17% per year. The eCommerce market in China alone delivers sales of $1 billion.
This is a no-brainer: people are constantly buying products online. The global market will only continue to grow, and with a larger market, you’ll have more jobs. This is something to consider in your next job search.
A Boost to Your Marketing Acumen
Anyone who sits around browsing data for sales in eCommerce for even an hour will probably learn a great deal about who’s buying which particular products. If you’re working a day job which will allows you actually analyze these trends, you’re really on solid ground in terms of being able to study the average customer. Once again, without any face-to-face interaction with the customer himself, you can learn how groups of buyers operate, and this is an essential skill for any kind of business.
Improvements to All Areas of Life
Let’s face it: if you know about webstores and the tools it takes to keep them running, you can probably be very useful in assisting other people with you learned in eCommerce. From helping your neighbor with a yard sale to helping a friend or relative set up a website, you have a great deal of insight into all matters regarding sales and technology—the two main components of eCommerce.
Help Desk Ultimate 3.0 Makes Happy Customers
Help Desk Ultimate 3.0 Makes Happy Customers
Good customer service plays a vital role to any business. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, a dissatisfied customer will tell 9 out of 15 people about their bad experience. On the contrary, an effort to reduce the customer defection rate can increase profits by 95%. This is where Magento Extension ‘Help Desk Ultimate 3.0’ comes in.
Why Magento is the Best E-Commerce Solution
The best e-commerce solution lets you customize everything from your website’s design to your storefront’s interface and background processes. This allows you to create an online store that looks and works exactly the way you want it to, while aking your life easier by simplifying your e-commerce business.
Why Magento?
Magento is the most flexible full-featured e-commerce solution available to all types of businesses. Since it’s an open-source software, you can use it as-is out of the box, tweak it with slight changes or completely tailor it to your business’s needs.
The software offers endless customizations through thousands of plug-ins and extensions available in the Magento community, from third-party sources or even your own developers. And because it’s so flexible, Magento is fully scalable to grow and change as your business does.
Whether you need basic e-commerce features for your online store or advanced options to accommodate growth, Magento has a solution for your business.
A Cost-Effective E-Commerce Solution
E-Commerce business owners who use Magento praise the software’s cost-effectiveness. You no longer have to pay for monthly subscriptions like with other e-commerce software choices, which typically limits things like the number of products, users and transactions available to you.
From free versions of the software to free and paid plug-ins and extensions, Magento can get your online store up and running at little to no cost.
Magento offers different types of solutions to fit your business. For many small businesses, Magento Community can be a great way to get started with the software. This free version of Magento is fully supported by a community of Magento users who can help you modify the software for your business. You can also host this open-source software on your own server, giving you more choices to fit your Web-hosting budget and control your back-end processes.