MCM staff
Amazon extends its domination of ecommerce into the mobile platform, according to the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Holiday Retail Edition. In the survey, which was conducted of more than 6,200 consumers during the peak holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the online marketplace scored highest among 25 of the top mobile commerce companies.
While most, if not all, holiday ecommerce reporting ends after Cyber Monday, EQ4 2012 examines trends through Christmas Eve, including an analysis of key performance indicators such as conversion rates and average order values by device and inbound referrer.
The U.S. Postal Service ended the first three months of its 2013 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2012) with a net loss of $1.3 billion. Continued growth in Shipping and Package revenue (+4.7%) and increased efficiency helped mitigate but could not fully offset the financial effects of continued First-Class Mail volume declines and costs that are beyond Postal Service management control. As a result, the Postal Service recently announced it would move forward with accelerated cost-cutting actions necessary to help maintain liquidity because Congress has not passed comprehensive postal reform legislation.
ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its Full Year and Q4 2012 U.S. retail ecommerce sales estimates. For the full year, U.S. retail ecommerce sales reached $186.2 billion, an increase of 15%– the strongest annual growth rate since before the recession. Q4 2012 sales grew 14 percent year-over-year to $56.8 billion, marking the first ever $50 billion quarter.
Social Q & A connects shoppers to past customers through questions and answers. So how does it work? Products are for sale on an ecommerce site, according to this infographic by TurnToNetworks.com. Shoppers submit questions about the product. The questions are e-mailed to a selection of past customers who actually bought the product. Those customers return to the store site to answer the shopper questions. Answers are added to the product page and emailed to the shopper.
It’s never fun to see a customer take their business elsewhere, but it does happen. In this infographic from 360 Connext, you will learn a few simple techniques that will make it easier for your customer to give you, and your brand, a second chance.
Understanding how tablet shoppers differ from those on desktop and smartphone is an important first step for retailers, says Aaron Wadler, Founder and CEO of ShopPad. This infographic tracks online shopper activity across 3,500 tablet-optimized retailers in a wide range of industries, including apparel, consumer electronics, health and beauty, home goods, and jewelry between Nov. 25 and Dec. 25.
As online commerce has flourished, so have the security risks associated with it. With shoppers more anxious than ever about sharing personal information online, merchants must find a way to eliminate doubts and keep financial information secure. In this infographic, McAfee breaks down the benefits of trustmarks by the numbers and illustrate potential consequences of not having them on your site.
U.S. retail and consumer merger & acquisition (M&A) activity in 2012 was primarily driven by corporations spinning off businesses, private equity (PE) investment in retail, increased cross border activity and expansion into e-commerce, according to PwC’s US retail and consumer M&A insights 2012 Year in Review and 2013 Outlook report released today.
The National Retail Federation said that few, if any, merchants are expected to surcharge customers for using a credit card as theoretically allowed under a controversial proposed lawsuit settlement with Visa and MasterCard being debated in the courts.