In our last blog post, we looked at which regions present the greatest growth opportunities for online retailers seeking international expansion in 2015 – but what about the rest of the world? Every ecommerce company has its own agenda, which makes certain geographies more suitable than others. Product categories, demographics in existing markets, channels, budget and infrastructure are just a few of the influencing factors when businesses decide to widen their reach, and these variables … [Read more...]
Where are the ecommerce growth markets in 2015?
One of the biggest challenges for any ecommerce retailer is deciding where to grow your business; the virtual world of online shopping breaks down traditional barriers to entry, but having no set strategy for development can make establishing your own path a daunting task. Entering any new market has its unique hurdles to traverse – legislation, taxation, currency, language and cultural trends, to name a few – but one of the biggest considerations is whether there’s an appetite for ecommerce … [Read more...]
Xiaomi Now Worlds Most Valuable Tech Start Up
Xiaomi Corp has become the most valuable technology start up in the world, with a recent investment raising its value to over $46billion. Xiaomi founder, Lei Jun, confirmed the investment on his Chinese blog page on Monday, writing that ‘This round of funding is an affirmation of Xiaomi’s achievements in more than four years of business and a prelude to a new stage of development’. The investors list includes Russian investment firm DST Global, All-Stars Investment Ltd and Yunfeng Capital – … [Read more...]
U.S. Pre-Christmas Online Spending Up 15% This Year
U.S. Pre-Christmas spending has jumped up 15% this year compared to 2014, according stats released yesterday by comScore. From Nov 21 to Dec 21, $48.3 billion has been spent online and the last full week (Dec 15-21) really took things up a notch, with an 18% growth in online purchases. It really was a whopper of a week for sales, opening with $1.07billion on the Monday and ‘winding down’ with $926 million spent on Free Shipping Day (Thursday, Dec 18). Gian Fulgoni, comScore Chairman … [Read more...]
Amazon Launches 1 hour Delivery Service
I’m starting to feel like an Amazon sales rep, with all of the articles I’ve written about the company in the past month. But in reality, it’s simply an indicator just how much the ecommerce giant is pushing itself to the forefront of consumer news. Just yesterday, the company announced yet another new service improvement...and here I am beginning another Amazon post – again. If the big guys in the A-Towers are reading, a bit of commission wouldn’t go amiss lads... (hint, hint!) Anyway, back to … [Read more...]
Google Adwords Launches ‘Store Visits’ Metric
Google yesterday announced the launch of its new ‘Store Visits’ metric which will be an additional feature to the Estimated Total Conversions function developed last year. eCommerce is a vastly growing industry, yet around 95% of transactions still occur in store, and the gap in analysis between online browsing and in-store purchase has become a massive issue for retailers in measuring the success of their online activity. There is often a large discrepancy between a stores online traffic and … [Read more...]
FedEx Acquire Returns Specialist Genco
FedEx has further increased its foothold in the ecommerce sector with the acquisition of returns company Genco. The merging of these two logistic giants is a massive step forward for FedEx and will enable the firm to provide both a delivery and returns service to its ecommerce customers. With 1.6billion in annual revenue, an employee count of over 11,000 and over 130 operations, Genco is a considered a market leader in reverse logistics - according to a statement by FedEx. Chairman and CEO … [Read more...]
Google Might Launch Its Own ‘Buy Now’ Button
Google is upping the stakes in its ecommerce war against the Amazon jungle of new features. Following the release of Amazons ‘buy now’ button, Google is now working on its own instant buy button which will allow shoppers to search for products and purchase them with just one click. Oh and guess how those products will be delivered? Only with Googles free 2 day shipping via their Amazon-Prime replicate service, of course. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has previously described Amazon as ‘Googles … [Read more...]
Amazon Sellers Face Bankruptcy After Technical Glitch
Amazon had its very own happy hour last Friday, when a technical glitch reduced thousands of product prices to just 1p. From 7-8pm, software firm Repricer Express went completely haywire – leaving many small businesses high and dry in the run up to Christmas. The software provider is used by third party sellers to ensure their prices are the cheapest in the market and claims to be 'trusted by more than 2,025 happy Amazon sellers across eight international markets'; however in this instance it’s … [Read more...]
Amazon Reveals New ‘Make An Offer’ Feature
Have you ever been to a market? A real life one? Most people have, and many people enjoy a good old bartering exchange whilst they’re there. I still remember haggling on the price of a goldfish when I was 8 years old; I got it down to half price with a free bowl thrown in and I thought I was deadly. Turns out I actually was ‘deadly’ – since I overfed it and it died. Anyway, moving swiftly back to 2015 (where’s that DeLorean when you need it?), Everyone loves a good bargain, and Amazon has … [Read more...]