Gagan Mehra - Practical Ecommerce - Page 3 of 4

Articles by: Gagan Mehra

Gagan Mehra

Gagan Mehra

Gagan Mehra is managing director of Deloitte Digital, an international consulting firm. He is an expert in ecommerce and data. He has worked in multiple industries, across four continents, deploying various ecommerce solutions and in the process has solved many ecommerce and Big Data challenges.

He can be reached at gaganmehra@gmail.com, or on Twitter: @ga2n.

Business
Voice Commerce Ready for Prime Time?

June 27, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

The ability to use one’s voice to shop has been tried by a number of merchants, including Amazon, Ebay, and Domino’s Pizza. But it has not, to date, gained wide ...
Business
4 Successful Smaller Ecommerce Merchants

May 29, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Much attention is paid to the success of huge ecommerce companies, such as Amazon and Newegg. But there are many smaller ecommerce companies that prosper, too. They can inspire other ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Choose an Ecommerce Shipping Provider

April 29, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Many merchants struggle with the challenge of shipping goods in the fastest and cheapest manner. There are several variables that determine the best shipping provider for each order. These include ...
Marketing & Advertising
5 Ways to Increase Sales from Returning Customers

April 2, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Retailers spend millions of dollars every year on increasing sales from returning customers. They utilize loyalty programs, special campaigns, and personalized discounts — all presumably based on a customer’s lifetime ...
Business
10 Questions to Ask Ecommerce Payment Providers

March 11, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Accepting credit card payments is critical for ecommerce merchants. A payment provider should support a merchant’s payment needs, charge low fees, and scale as the business grows. Even though these ...
Conversion
How to Personalize Shopping on an Ecommerce Site

January 28, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Personalizing an ecommerce site refers to the process of altering its appearance or navigation to the interests of visitors. Personalization can greatly increase conversion rates and improve loyalty. Many large ...
Business
Big Data’s Impact on 2013 Holiday Sales

January 2, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

The holiday season has ended and the analysis has begun to understand what worked and what did not for ecommerce merchants. Cyber Monday became the biggest online shopping day in ...
Business
15 Online Shopping Pet Peeves

December 10, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Being an avid online shopper, I buy from many ecommerce sites. Most of these sites are helpful and effective. But there are some that have annoying features. Here are my top ...
Business
5 Ways Retailers Benefit from ‘Internet of Things’

December 4, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Most activity on the Internet depends on human interaction. Email, social media, blogs, video, online shopping — it all requires humans. But there’s another, separate use of the Internet that ...
Business
Roundup of Privacy Initiatives, Effect on Ecommerce Merchants

October 14, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

There has been much activity in the privacy space in the last few months, including changes that could impact how consumers shop and how retailers collaborate with their business partners.
Conversion
5 Unusual and Effective Ecommerce Pricing Strategies

September 23, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Most online retailers set pricing using the cost-plus or the value-based method. While these work well, there are several other ways to price products. Here I present five unusual and ...
Business
Improving Customer Service with Big Data

August 29, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Customer service is key for ecommerce businesses. If retailers could improve customer service while also reducing its cost, they would likely do it. Big data can help achieve this goal ...
Conversion
6 Benefits of Predictive Analytics for Online Retailers

July 30, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Predictive analytics is a process that uses machine learning to analyze data and make predictions. It has been used for a long time, though the adoption has been low because of the complexity and costs. With Big Data, both of these things are changing, as more affordable solutions are...
Business
5 Ways Big Data Can Help Retail Supply Chains

June 27, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

The supply chain is a critical component of a retailer's business. This article identifies fives ways in which big data can enhance a retailer's supply chain processes. 1. Real-time Delivery Management Tracking delivery of shipped goods has improved over the years. Big data helps impr...
Fraud Prevention
Using Big Data to Prevent Ecommerce Fraud

May 22, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

A recent report estimated the fraud cost for online retailers to be $3.5 billion or 0.9 percent of online revenue. To put it in different words, an online retailer loses, on average, $9,000 to fraud for every $1 million in revenue. This is a significant amount of fraud that, ideally, ...
Conversion
Using Omni-channel Personalization for Ecommerce

April 9, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

Many online retail sites use personalization features that are bundled with their ecommerce platforms or are enabled by integrating with a third-party vendor. These features often do the basic segmentation and targeting but do not incorporate data from all consumer interactions, such ...
Conversion
6 Uses of Big Data for Online Retailers

March 27, 2013 • Gagan Mehra

In "Understanding Big Data for Ecommerce," we provided a primer on the growth of data and its implications for ecommerce merchants. This article will add to that post by explaining Big Data in more detail and presenting its most common uses for ecommerce sites. There are many definitio...
Marketing & Advertising
5 Keys to Social Commerce Success

September 25, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

Many companies use social media sites to facilitate ecommerce sales. Some of them have attempted to sell products directly on Facebook. Others use social media to spur traffic and sales at their own ecommerce sites. The results of these collective efforts have been mixed. Some large...
Design & Development
The Case for Building a Mobile Ecommerce App

August 24, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

In "Getting Started with Responsive Web Design," my previous article, I stated that there are instances when building a separate mobile app can be beneficial for your ecommerce business. In this article, I will expand on that to present instances where building a mobile app is a good op...
Design & Development
Getting Started with Responsive Web Design

July 19, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

Responsive design was conceived a couple of years ago to allow users to view websites across all devices — computers, tablets and smartphones. Since then, large sites like Starbucks and Boston Globe have adopted responsive design. But adoption by the small business community has been lo...
Marketing & Advertising
Collaborative Consumption Can Help Your Ecommerce Business

June 21, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

"Collaborative consumption" refers to the matching of suppliers with consumers in a large-scale manner. It could involve bartering services, renting resources, selling products, and more. The Internet has greatly facilitated collaborative consumption, by offering online platforms for ...
Conversion
10 Ways to Evaluate Online Marketplaces

May 25, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

Online marketplaces have been around for a long time. The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com, is a marketplace. Many businesses sell their products on online marketplaces. Marketplaces, though, are not for everyone. This article lists ten reasons why they may — or may not — f...
Conversion
6 Ways to Increase Prices on Your Ecommerce Site

April 19, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

Pricing management is one of the most ignored processes for an ecommerce site. Most sites set the prices once and then largely forget about them. Though, the fact is that effective management of pricing can result in significant increase in profits. One way to do that is to increase pri...
Conversion
5 Techniques for Excellent Online Customer Service

March 20, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

Customer service is especially important in today's socially connected world as consumers can harm the image of a company with a single comment. In my experience advising leading ecommerce companies, the following techniques can help all merchants — large and small — offer excellent onl...
Business
10 Low-Budget Ways to Sell Internationally

February 23, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

In “10 Ideas to Grow Ecommerce Profits in 2012,” my previous article, I suggested that merchants expand into foreign markets to grow profits. In this article, I'll address how to do that without spending a lot of money. 1. Sell on Current Website, Ship from U.S. Your international cu...
Conversion
10 Ideas to Grow Ecommerce Profits in 2012

January 20, 2012 • Gagan Mehra

The 2011 holiday season was record breaking for online commerce. Sales hit a new high of $37 billion, according to comScore, the research firm. With the New Year, it is time to examine the key factors that have made your online store successful, and how to further grow your profits. Bel...
Business
The Changing Online-Payments Landscape

December 27, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

Most every ecommerce site accepts credit-card payments. But the type of cards that merchants accept can affect cart-abandonment rates, and many consumers expect payment options other than the four basic credit cards. Merchants that accommodate these new methods can increase sales. Th...
Design & Development
Selling on Multiple Devices: 7 Key Ecommerce Functions

November 21, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

This is the age of the always-connected customer. Having only an ecommerce website — accessible by a desktop or laptop computer — is not sufficient to maximize your sales. Today’s consumers use a variety of devices to research and purchase your products. A successful online business n...
Marketing & Advertising
5 Pointers for Using Facebook for Your Ecommerce Business

October 31, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

Many small retailers struggle with using Facebook to grow their business. Some have created Facebook pages, but are not seeing results. However, Facebook can work effectively for your business if it's used properly. Here are five pointers. 1. Make Sure Your Customers Use Facebook If...
Conversion
Solving the Free Shipping Dilemma

September 27, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

For many merchants, free shipping is an effective online promotion. During the last holiday season, large retailers like Walmart, Target and J.C. Penney offered free shipping for all items. Nordstrom also recently changed its policy to offer free shipping for all purchases. All of this ...

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