Entries from July 1, 2007 - August 1, 2007
E-Commerce Spending Could Hit $200 billion in 2007
New stats released yesterday by comScore show that e-commerce spending continues to rise. According to the report, e-commerce spending increased 19% to $47.5 billion in the second quarter, and reached $95 for the first half of the year. The report states that spending could reach $200 by the end of the year. Also, the report finds that the top selling product categories were video games, consoles and accessories; followed by sports and fitness and consumer electronics. Other big categories included jewelry, furniture and appliances; music, movies and videos; computer software, books and magazines.
Upcoming Webinar: Delivering Quality Leads to Platform Neutral Advertisers
In sorting through the myriad of local search options, advertisers are becoming less concerned with where leads are coming from, and more focused on quality. As such, marketers and media companies are increasingly tasked with finding the best venues for their small business advertisers, and tracking results across channels and delivering maximum ROI.
With so much at stake, local search publishers are evaluating every option for lead generation for their advertisers to combat the risk of losing business to a growing list of local and national competitors.
Please join host John Federman, CEO of eStara, and industry thought leaders Matt Booth of the Kelsey Group and Robyn Rose of Idearc Media, for a free Webinar on August 16 at 1:00pm EST titled “Delivering Quality Leads to Platform Neutral Advertisers” to learn more about local search trends and best practices for delivering leads to local advertisers. Click here to register.
eStara
in Pay Per Call, Click to Call, Call Tracking, Trends, Random, Click to Chat, Save & Send, Audio Clips
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Online PC Retailers Add New Features
The Wall Street Journal today looks at some new ways that online PC retailers are enhancing their sites to connect with online consumers.
eStara
eStara
in Click to Call, Trends
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News Round Up
Lots of news today in the world of eStara, so we wanted to give you a brief round up of what's going on:
First, today we announced a new partnership with e-commerce company Idea Forest to power Click to Call on JoAnn.com, a top retail destination for sewing and scrapbooking supplies.
Also, iMedia Connection has published a new byline from John Federman titled “Drive Automotive Sales Across Channels” that makes the case for incorporating click to call technology into your automotive web experience to increase conversions and take greater advantage of high value leads.
Finally, eStara partner Krillion today announced that it would be adding high-definition televisions to its local search results. As with Krillion's other categories, eStara Click to Call will play a role in connecting prospective buyers with sellers. Here's a run down from the Kelsey Group and Greg Sterling.
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in Click to Call, Random
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Company
Jeremy Nedelka of 1to1 Media responds to a new report published by IHL Consulting Group that finds spending on self-service machines is up and expected to grow another 18% next year. The report, which covers in-store self-service options, states that retailers and other businesses are finding that self-service kiosks can significantly increase customer loyalty, as well as customer satisfaction. Seems like some pretty compelling data, but as Nedelka points out, "Does replacing personal service to create added convenience hurt the customer experience instead of helping it?"
Whether online or offline, self-service does pose a great opportunity to cut costs and improve service efficiency. But ultimately, consumers will transact with whatever options are available to them. Finding the right balance between self-service and assisted service is not only a matter of gauging cost, but opportunity. In certain sales situations, not offering human assistance can put the business at a disadvantage when it comes to leveraging cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
For example, on any given day, a cashier at my local Safeway may have the insight to tell me that cornflakes are "buy 2 get one 1 free." Without that person being there to inform me of this, I may not have noticed the promotion and only bought one box of cereal. That's the kind of information most offline self-service kiosks don't provide.
Online, thanks to advanced personalization features, it's definitely easier to present consumers with relevant cross-sells and up-sells without human involvement. But sometimes, even in the online world, there's no replacement for human interaction for sealing the deal and cross-selling customers, which is why proactive service is becoming so popular.
So what if online customers transition to the phone? In those situations, the best way to cross-sell is to have insight into customer's buying behavior. Just as the Safeway clerk can see that I'm buying cornflakes and suggest the "buy 2 get 1" deal, contact center agents should be able to see current online session data, and customer history, to present relevant suggestions.