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Marketing & Advertising
A Primer on Multichannel Marketing
April 20, 2017 • Gagan Mehra
Multichannel marketing is the practice of engaging with consumers across different channels, such as websites, mobile apps, brick-and-mortar stores, mail order catalogs, and even promotional events. Why Multichannel Marketing? Retailers typically have ...
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Conversion
Getting Started with Real-time Product Targeting
March 29, 2017 • Gagan Mehra
Product targeting has been practiced for years in the online retail world, where segments of customers are targeted with products based on their preferences and purchase history. This has evolved ...
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Business
Why Adopt Conversational Commerce?
February 26, 2017 • Gagan Mehra
New methods of engaging consumers are launched frequently. Few are successful. Conversational commerce, however, has gained widespread adoption in a short period. Conversational commerce enables transactions via instant messaging tools, such ...
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Marketing & Advertising
Real-time Pricing Affordable for Smaller Merchants
January 22, 2017 • Gagan Mehra
Most retailers change product prices infrequently. But larger companies, such as Amazon, Jet, and Sears, continually adjust prices in real time. Now smaller merchants can also benefit from real-time pricing and promotions.
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Conversion
Does Visual Search Improve Ecommerce Conversions?
December 9, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
Last month I addressed the rise of visual search for ecommerce. Many larger merchants now offer the feature as part of their mobile app. This holiday season gave me an opportunity to test the ...
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Design & Development
Visual Search for Ecommerce Going Mainstream
November 8, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
Back in 2006, a company named Like.com enabled consumers to upload a photo to search for products. Like.com was popular as a price comparison site, but visual search did not ...
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Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in India: Marketplaces, Cash on Delivery Dominate
June 21, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
India is the second most populated country in the world with a large, educated workforce. It is a robust market for selling online. Ecommerce started in India in the late ...
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Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Taiwan: Thriving Market, Huge Mobile
May 12, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
Taiwan might be a small island but it is big on ecommerce. Taiwan is among the world leaders in terms of ecommerce penetration — the percentage of residents that have ...
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Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Australia: Cross-border Shopping Common
April 7, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
According to National Australia Bank, online retail spending in Australia increased by 10 percent, to $17.6 billion, in 2015. This compares to roughly $562 billion for China, the country with ...
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Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in South Korea: Aggressive Discounting, Rewards
March 9, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
South Korea is the seventh largest retail ecommerce market in the world and the third largest in Asia Pacific, after China and Japan. It boasts the fastest Internet speeds in ...
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Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Japan: Marketplaces Dominate
February 23, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
Amazon is no longer the world’s largest ecommerce site in terms of number of visitors. That position now belongs to Taobao, the online marketplace, from China. Ecommerce is growing quickly ...
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Business
8 Low-cost IoT Vendors for Retailers
February 2, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
In “‘Internet of Things’ Helping Ecommerce Merchants,” I explained how IoT could make smaller retailers more efficient and save money. This post takes IoT a step further, by listing affordable ...
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Conversion
5 Signs of Conversion Leaks on Ecommerce Sites
January 26, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
Conversion is critical for ecommerce merchants. Most retailers hover around a 2 percent conversion rate. Many of the techniques to improve conversion focus on the checkout flow. While checkout should be ...
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Conversion
10 Surprising Mistakes on Large Ecommerce Sites
January 7, 2016 • Gagan Mehra
Most people start their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving Day. I am no different. I also started the shopping ritual before Thanksgiving Day this past year. I prefer shopping online and ...
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Business
Jet vs. Amazon: A Quick Comparison
October 20, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
Jet launched a few months back, claiming that it will be the Amazon killer. Jet’s original model was similar to Costco, where consumers must pay a membership fee to shop ...
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Business
‘Internet of Things’ Helping Ecommerce Merchants
October 8, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
The adoption of Internet of Things has grown in the retail world since I last wrote about it in December 2013. While larger companies are benefitting from this technology, many ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
8 Obstacles to Drone Delivery, for Ecommerce
September 4, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
The military has used drones for years, for a variety of missions. Now ecommerce retailers are evaluating their use. Consumer research firm eDigitalResearch conducted a survey that found that 33 percent ...
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Business
Language Translation for Ecommerce: Good and Bad Examples
August 20, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
This is the fourth installment in a 4-part series on language translation for ecommerce sites, following “Language Translation Tools for Ecommerce Sites,” “5 Keys for Building a Global Ecommerce Site,”
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Business
Language Translation: Machines vs. Humans
July 15, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
This is my third article in a series on operating an ecommerce business in multiple countries. In “Language Translation Tools for Ecommerce Sites,” I reviewed various translation platforms and services.
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Business
5 Keys for Building a Global Ecommerce Site
July 7, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
In “Language Translation Tools for Ecommerce Sites,” my post in June, I described translation tools for different types of ecommerce platforms. But building a global site often requires more than ...
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Business
Language Translation Tools for Ecommerce Sites
June 16, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
The Internet has made it easier to sell products and services worldwide. But easy access without an engaging customer experience cannot guarantee sales. Presenting site content in a local language ...
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Technical SEO
10 Ways to Increase Ecommerce Site Speed
May 5, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
The download speed of ecommerce sites has greatly improved over the years because of the wider availability of faster Internet service. But many retailers still struggle with making their sites ...
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Schools & Resources
8 Common Responsive Design Mistakes
February 10, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
A mobile-optimized website is a must-have for ecommerce merchants. To achieve this, many use responsive design, which makes a site render well across multiple devices. I addressed the basics of ...
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Business
Apple Pay Adoption Continues; Looming Concerns?
February 4, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
Apple recently announced record-breaking sales for its 2014 fiscal year. Among the numbers for iPhones and iPads, the company also offered thoughts about the growth of Apple Pay, the mobile ...
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Design & Development
Wearable Devices to Impact Ecommerce?
January 14, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
The annual Consumer Electronics Show just wrapped up. This year’s focus was on wearable devices. Several new devices were launched at the show. These included new watches, headsets, motion sensors,
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Business
101 Ways to Use Data, for Ecommerce
November 25, 2014 • Gagan Mehra
Data can be extremely important to ecommerce merchants, as it helps them understand their customers better and generate more revenue. There are many ways a merchant can use data in ...
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Business
5 Ways Smaller Ecommerce Retailers Can Beat Large Ones
November 5, 2014 • Gagan Mehra
Smaller retailers that compete solely on price against large ones, like Amazon, almost always lose. But there are other ways that small retailers can beat Amazon and other large competitors. Here ...
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Business
Explaining Apple Pay: Pros, Cons
October 5, 2014 • Gagan Mehra
Apple Pay is a new payment service announced by Apple on Sept. 9, with a launch date of Oct. 20. The service works with Apple iPhone 6 phones, using near ...
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Marketing & Advertising
5 Growth Hacking Success Stories, for Ecommerce Merchants
August 5, 2014 • Gagan Mehra
Many retailers focus on growing web traffic and then exposing it to a variety of techniques to convert those visitors into paying customers. “Growth hacking” is a recent term to describe ...
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Business
Improving Online Customer Service with Technology
July 22, 2014 • Gagan Mehra
Many articles have addressed online customer service and the associated best practices to optimize the experience, reduce costs, and increase loyalty. This post will focus on how technology can improve ...