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Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for June 2011

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the June 2011 installment of “Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas.”

Protect Your Site Against Fraud

“Be sure your site is taking the necessary precautions to protect against fraudulent charges. As ecommerce grows, so does the number of crooks trying to take advantage. Your customer is generally not on the hook for a stolen card, and the giant credit card companies don’t care much because they just collect from the merchant — you. In the end, the merchant will lose out.”

Tim Burns
Owner
MinnesotaWorkwear

Find Your Voice

“How do you distinguish yourself from thousands of website competitors? Do it by finding your voice. Your voice is your company’s unique spin on selling products. Focus on what you do well, and make sure you communicate this to your customers via your website’s design, layout, words and images. Your website will make a lot more sense to your customers and you will individualize your content, which is great for customer acquisition and conversion rates.”

Carlos D. Rivera
Web Administrator
Haddrell’s Point

Video: An Inexpensive Way to Advertise

“For paid advertising, video seems to be a great way to generate traffic. Keywords are less expensive than on search engines Google and Bing. Plus the general public’s appetite for a quick bite of information or entertainment appears to be insatiable.”

Dean Blakeslee
Co-owner
BestFriends General Store

Offer Guest Checkout Option

“Many consumers will not purchase through a website if it requires them to register first. Be sure to offer the option to check out as a guest. Customers will utilize the guest checkout feature so they don’t have to set up an account. And, by not requiring a login to place an order, you will almost certainly improve your conversion rate. Also, websites that don’t require a login to comment will see a dramatic increase in comments.”

Nicole Damoulianos
Director of Operations
Profit Sense Innovations

Make Your Retail Site Part of Your Media Plan

“Retail sites have become media venues, where retailers are publishers and brands are advertisers in plain sight of shoppers. Eighty percent of shoppers begin their searches on retail websites, which makes your website your front line of consumer engagement.

“Engage shoppers in their path to purchase — where they’re researching, comparing products, or ideally, purchasing. Become a media vehicle by placing value on virtual shelf space. Retailers and manufacturers work together in the brick-and-mortar world for premium shelf space, and you can bring this same experience online.”

CEO
John Federman
Searchandise

Spruce Up Your Pitch

“The summer is a bit slow for many ecommerce merchants. Use this time to check your web pages for typos and grammar issues, and to spruce up your pitch. We actually make it a process to review four web pages every week.”

Jamie Salvatori
Owner
Vat19.com

Deliver Consistent Messaging Across All Channels

“It is no longer good enough to just provide a standalone online store, and then have it operate in a silo alongside physical stores, telephone sales and print catalogues. To truly deliver ‘commerce anywhere,’ ensure all of your product details and materials are shared across all channels in a uniform way, providing customers with consistent messaging and information regardless of which channel they choose at a given time.”

Carsten Thoma
President
hybris U.S.

Accept Multiple Forms of Payment

“I often hear ecommerce merchants complain that American Express fees are too high. Then why don’t they stop accepting all credit cards? Imagine all the money they’d save.

“I am kidding, of course. It makes sense to accept as many forms of payment as possible. Make it easy for customers to give you their money.”

Luis Hernandez, Jr.
Chief Executive Motorhead
The Motor Bookstore

Make Live Chat a Dedicated Channel

“If possible, have agents dedicated just to live chat versus handling both phone and live chat. Agents can more efficiently and effectively conduct multiple live chats simultaneously if that is their focus.”

Steve Castro-Miller
President and CEO
Bold Software

Offer Contest Giveaways to Generate Interest

“Seek out community forums and blogs and offer users free products — not for reviews, which may result in conflicts of interest — but for contests giveaways. This is a legitimate and relatively inexpensive way of generating interest and building valuable SEO back links.”

Mike Eckler
Owner
eCommerceAngles.com

Kate Monteith
Kate Monteith
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