Three Trends Causing Huge Changes in Online Retail (Part 2)

Video Takes Over

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The video trend is evident just by looking at some of the largest online retailers today. Amazon, for example, incorporates both manufacturer videos and video reviews from consumers in its product pages, and Overstock has publicly stated its goal of including a video with every product it sells. According to eMarketer, 2010, retailers report higher conversion rates and fewer abandoned shopping carts when they add video to their sites.

There is also evidence that use of video correlates with customer satisfaction. According to recent research by ForeSee Results, etailers making extensive use of video were among the top-rated in customer satisfaction during the 2010 holiday shopping season. Ranked one, two, and three, Amazon, Netflix, and QVC all rely heavily on video to market and sell their wares.

An independent survey commissioned by Limelight Networks supports the idea that video is important to online shoppers. According to survey results, video product demonstrations and video reviews from customers were listed as extremely or very important features by 46% of survey respondents who reported making personal online purchases more than once a month. And of those listing video as important, a significant percentage said they spent more than $300, and up to $1,000 annually in select online shopping categories, with travel, clothing, and electronics generating the highest correlation between video importance and higher annual spend.

Put briefly, video is an important feature to many of the consumers who spend a larger amount of money online. This makes video a useful tool in wooing top shoppers.

After you read the information above, I want you to know that at http://bit.ly/jYxlNZ you will see a forceful example of what is happening with etail.

 

Amazon.com. Brilliant. Frightening. Ingenious.

If you have any curiosity about Amazon.com or you sell products through Amazon.com, you will want to spend time going through this slide show. It is frighteningly fascinating. I now believe that the trite phrase about being busy should be changed to "Busy as a Bezos."

Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire
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Building Online Profitability 101

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A lot of people today are starting an online business, but one of the first steps to your online business success is profitability.  Before starting an online business, you must first determine what online business can be profitable.  Do a business plan which includes the costs of administration, sales, and eventual shipping.

The reason Amazon and music downloading sites are so profitable is because there is little or no warehousing with many products and even less shipping costs.  Yes, you can build any type of online website you want to build, but the question remains, will it be profitable?   So make your plan and calculations.

Choose something which interests you.  You can be the expert.  It can be a small niche in that your website does not need to have geographic limits.  What you might consider odd-ball music can find a large market worldwide.  You just need to be the expert.

The website is your store.  Building a website that is user friendly is important, but it also need conversion architecture, i.e. the site must make the visitor want to buy or to take action.  And the site must be so intuitive that the visitor does not have to think to use it.

You can increase your sites profitability by adding links to services and products for which you can receive a commission.  You can also increased your profitability by using Google AdWords, links, and even banner advertising.  Another opportunity to improve profitability of your website is to become an affiliate marketer promoting other businesses on your website.

Determine the multiple ways you can make your site profitable before building your website.  All of these methods of making your site profitable can be included in the development of your website.   I will say that most first-time websites are not successful unless you deal with an experienced Internet and Digital Marketing Consultant who can save you from all the pitfalls.