Ecommerce & Web Marketing Research: January 1 - 10 2005

Would you like to receive regular email updates of my ecommerce and marketing research, plus news of additions to the site? Subscribe today for free via the form in the right hand column of this page!

Return to research index

January 8 2005

Gift certificates - opportunity knocks.

According to the National Retail Federation, gift certificates have become increasingly popular over the last few years, losing the stigma of being a thoughtless gift. A survey carried out last year showed that just over 50 percent of those surveyed would like to receive a gift card.

Other key findings

• 74.3 percent of consumers said they would purchase a gift card in 2004.
  
• approximately $17.34 billion was on gift cards last holiday season
  
• The average gift card purchaser would have bought 3.38 cards during 2004, totaling $108.28.

I haven't carried out much research on gift card applications in an ecommerce environment, but these sorts of stats lead me to believe that even small businesses could greatly benefit from offering gift-cards via their online stores - both the physical and virtual varieties. Stay tuned for a full article on the how, why and wheres relating to gift certificates!

Checks decline, electronic payments boom

A Federal Reserve survey has shown that electronic payment transactions in the USA have exceeded check payments for the first time.

The average decline in check payments over the 3 years period works out to be 4.3%. The average annual increase in electronic payment has been 13.2%.

Read the 2004 Federal Reserve Payments Study (PDF)

January 6 2005

Vonage hits 400,000 VOIP lines

Vonage has exceeded 400,000 subscribers on its VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) network, doubling its subscriber base in less than six months since reaching the 200,000  mark. The company ended 2004 with more than 390,000 lines in service having added 115,000 lines in Q4 2004 alone.

Learn more about VOIP.

Aussie "money mules" and online fraud.

This isn't a great reflection on Australia and it's limited to a few individuals, but I was saddened to see some Australian students have been arrested in connection with Russians engaged in online fraud. The Russians have been utilizing these students as "money mules". 

They are paid to transfer money from Internet bank accounts into their own accounts. The money is then withdrawn and sent to overseas crime syndicates.

Money mules? Dumb asses is probably more appropriate

Read more

Anti-spam - free trial offer! Sick of spam/virus email clogging your inbox? You never have to look at these emails again. Simple to set up and use with your current email address!

January 5 2005

GuruNet goes from premium to free

GuruNet has launched Answers.com, a free mega-encyclopedia service. Up until now, GuruNet had been charging subscription fees; but due to reported slow subscriber growth, the company has turned to contextual ads to generate revenue - a sign of things to come for other premium content providers perhaps? I took a trip out to GuruNet today and was very impressed by the speed, layout and quality of content. A great resource to bookmark.

Online holiday shopping sales up 25%

According to a report from Nielsen Netratings, online shopping generated over $23 billion during the 2004 holiday season (not including travel), a 25% increase over the 2003 holiday season.

The categories with the biggest slice of revenue were:

- Clothing/apparel
- Toys/video games
- Consumer electronics

The fastest growing categories were:

-Jewelry
-Flowers
-Computer hardware.

Read the full report (PDF)

January 1 2005

Disaster and the online community

It's early January 1 here in Australia. It's very quiet. Peaceful. Another year has rolled round and I sit here contemplating the previous 12 months and the time ahead. While I make personal and business plans for the coming year, the horror of the recent/ongoing tsunami disaster in Asia haunts me - as do the other calamities of recent years.

It's not just the heart wrenching images, video and reports I've read over recent days that bother me. It's the global implications. Anyway, what has impressed me greatly is the online community's response to this disaster. So many web sites have sprung up with information and charities have harnessed the power of the web to gather donations in volumes never before achieved. This is the web at it's best. Congratulations to all who have done your bit to raise awareness and funding!

If you haven't yet donated, here's a list of some organizations you can assist:

AmeriCares
Action Against Hunger
ADRA International
Association for India's Development
CARE
Catholic Relief Services
Christian Children's Fund
Concern Worldwide
Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders
Food for the Hungry, Inc
International Aid
Crescent Societies
International Medical Corps
International Rescue Committee
Islamic Relief Worldwide
Lutheran World Relief
MAP International
Mercy Corps
Network for Good
Operation Blessing International
Operation USA
Oxfam
Plan USA
Project Concern International
Salvation Army
Save the Children USA
UNICEF
U.N. World Food Programme
USAID
World Concern
World Relief
World Vision

I can't vouch for any of the above organizations aside from World Vision, so please check to see how your donation will be distributed i.e. the percentage that will actually get to people in need. Remember that by donating, you'll also free up other funds for these organizations to continue their other various projects - this latest disaster has really stretched resources.

Even if you can't afford to donate, even publishing a list like the one above on your web site can get you involved in helping others. Feel free to copy it.

Minimizing fraud/eliminating chargebacks

Online fraud cost Ecommerce in the USA a reported 2.6 billion dollars in 2004 and no doubt 2005 won't be much better. If you've ever felt the financial sting of a chargeback, then my updated article on minimizing credit card fraud may interest you. It contains a number of strategies for manually reviewing processed orders, plus information on 3rd party screening services that guarantee you'll never have to tolerate chargeback losses again!

Anti-phishing toolbar released

It also doubles as a phishing/scam reporting and blocking tool. As scam sites are added to their database, these site will be blocked for the entire toolbar community. The toolbar also blocks deceptive URL's and forces navigation control bars to be displayed in all windows, including popups, revealing the location of the content.

I've just started using the toolbar and it appears to co-exist quite peacefully with Google and Yahoo toolbars. This is a great concept, my only concern being that if it became very popular, owners of new ecommerce sites may find themselves at a disadvantage. As the bar displays the age of the site, this may discourage some security conscious surfers from engaging in transactions if the site is new.

Learn more about the Netcraft toolbar.

Return to research index

Free ecommerce magazines! Totally free Internet industry print magazines! No obligation to buy, no shipping fees, no hidden conditions - delivered to your door! Dozens of free magazine subscriptions! NEW!! - Visit our web templates store Great designs for your site. Professional design, also logo templates and flash intros. Compatible with FrontPage, Dreamweaver and Photoshop. Download a template today! Autoresponder software guide/reviews An all-in-one mailing list manager and autoresponder software solutions review. Ecommerce - The Internet's best shopping carts & web marketing solutions Powerful, easy to implement shopping cart with full web marketing modules, including affiliate program functionality. Our review includes free & low cost carts & ecommerce solutions. Looking for tools for writing/creating a web  development or marketing proposal?

Home