INFOGRAPHIC: How Amazon Stole Christmas

| Erin Lynch

With Christmas right around the corner, shoppers are making a mad dash to ensure all their holiday shopping is complete and shipped before next week. And while ecommerce merchants are pulling out all the stops to try to grab shopper’s attention and dollars, many, if not all, are finding it tough to compete with Amazon.

Online Retailers Celebrate a Holiday Season of Conversions

| Daniela Forte

Online retailers have a reason to celebrate this holiday season. This was a record-breaking season for many, according to this infographic from Monetate. Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, ecommerce sales were $5.2 billion, an increase of 16.5% over 2012. Black Friday saw $1.5 billion in online sales, while Cyber Monday saw $2 billion in online sales.

A Big Challenge for Online Businesses: Replatforming

| Daniela Forte

A big challenge for online businesses these days is replacing their backend system. According to this infographic by Monetate, for online merchants there are three reasons why they choose to replatform: the need to stay competitive, their existing platform falls short of promised capabilities and customer driven pressures.

The 12 Truths About Holiday Shopping

| Daniela Forte

With the rise of big data and social analytics this holiday season, it won’t be too difficult for Santa to figure out what his consumers want for the holidays, according to this infographic by McCann Truth Centra

How Ad Extensions Can Spice Up Your Marketing Experience

| Erin Lynch

As much as merchants would like to think that every customer is coming to the ecommerce page organically, more often than not, a search engine or ad are the reasons why they are shopping with you. Which is all the more reason why now, more than ever, it is imperative for merchants to have the perfect ad extension this holiday season.

2013 is the Year of Mobile Holiday Engagement

| Daniela Forte

Millions of consumers will use their smartphones as an integral part of their holiday shopping experience. According to this infographic from Sparked, winning the mobile commerce game is not simply about tactics during the holiday season. It’s about building relationships, loyalty, and mutual interactions throughout the year.

Great Customer Service Expected to Drive Customer Loyalty this Holiday

| Erin Lynch

Want to know how to capture the loyalty of a holiday shopper? It turns out it’s all about high-quality customer service, free shipping, and offering deals and discounts, according to a recent study by PriceGrabber. Read more to get a clear and focused snapshot on where the consumer will shop, how much they will spend, and what makes them continually come back this holiday season.

5 Ways Gift Cards Can Boost Sales

| Erin Lynch

For the past five years gift cards have been ranked as the number one most popular gift among shoppers. In fact, according to Shopatron, not only will the average shopper spend more than $150 on gift cards annually, but 72% of recipients become repeat customers. Here are five surefire ways you can harness the power of gift cards on your ecommerce site.