E-Commerce on Twitter? Really?
Can Twitter really generate revenue in an e-commerce way? Well, Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief executive, is saying it can. The New York Times Business Blog ran a small piece about Mr. Costolo’s announcement at the recent Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference in Aspen. How exactly can Twitter make it work? Ina Steiner of EcommerceBytes Blog is curious about the details: “With a limit of 140 characters and no shopping cart, how could merchants use Twitter as a platform?” she asks. We’re curious too. And so are others.
Join the emerging discussion at EcommerceBytes Blog.
Selling England by the Pound
Wow, we say, and Wow again. Online sales in Britain are up a whopping 19 percent from last year–and appear to still be rising–with June’s figures showing a 21 percent rise. Says David Smith, chief marketing and communications officer at IMRG, who conducted the survey:
The rise in June of 21 percent is actually the strongest year-on-year growth recorded in the index since January, so online is really booming. The modern retail market is dictated by what the consumer wants, and online is becoming ever-more central to our shopping behaviour. Both Sports Direct and SuperDry have released figures recently showing their ecommerce sales have doubled in the space of a year from around 4 percent to 8 percent of total revenue. These results clearly demonstrate the potential for multichannel retailers.
That last line in particular is worth investigation. Read the full story at internetretailing.net.
In Through the… In Door?
And last for today, this thought-provoking story about search engine deciphering from an angle you might not have considered. “Many marketers start their conversion optimization efforts by looking at the behavior of a visitor once they arrive on a website,” writes Aaron Bradley on Search Engine Land. “Which buttons are effective in attracting clicks? What type of product images encourage cart additions?”
However, Bradley suggests taking a different view–and it’s an interesting one. “[N]ot all traffic to a website is created equal, and these individual sources must be taken into account when crafting strategies to increase conversions.” That’s right: he’s suggesting having a look at where your traffic is coming from. Huh. If you’re wondering, why didn’t I think of that? you’re not alone.
Get the details here at searchengineland.com.
