Ecommerce & Web Marketing Research: September 1 -10 2005

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September 10 2005

Kids and teens online

Today, 73.4% of teenagers between 12-17 and 39% of children age 3-11 use the Internet, according to eMarketer.

Children and teenagers currently constitute 18.8% of all Internet users in the USA. Teens account for 10.8%, while children 3-11 are at 8%.

Teen usage is growing rapidly, projected to rise to 87.3% in 2008; whereas the 3-11 year old demographic will show slower growth rates - to 43.7% in 2008

Read more of the eMarketer report

September 8 2005

Loyalty programs - online retailer statistics

In an article on Internet Retailer, quoting a Jupiter Research report, it states that 43% of online retailers expect to implement a loyalty program within the next 12 months.

In regards to retailers with loyalty programs already in place, the following is a breakdown of the kinds of programs they have in place.

Read the full article on Internet Retailer

Learn more about drop shipping Dropshipping - an effective & simpler way to make more from ecommerce!

Sponsored search links - top 5 industries

According to Nielsen Netratings, the top 5 industries in terms of number of sponsored search ads place are:

September 6 2005

Digital music downloads too restrictive?

I recently bought my partner an MP3 player and she was very excited by the prospect of having all her favorite tunes in her pocket. She did the right thing, coughed up some cash to buy some licensed tunes and guess what? They didn't work on the player due to DRM (digital rights management) restrictions. The site where she purchased them, a well known brand, was by no means clear on what could and couldn't be done with her purchases. In fact, it bordered on being misleading.

It definitely doesn't appear that we're alone in our experience and the Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a very interesting article on the subject, The Customer Is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music

I'm all for the music industry protecting their interests; but play it fair guys - at least be upfront with consumers in on-site promotional material. As always; caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).

September 5 2005

Paypal reduces micropayment fees

With the increased popularity of micropayments, i.e. ecommerce transactions under $10, transaction fees are a major issue for merchants; keeping many of them from providing products in this price range.

Paypal has announced new micropayment transaction fees for payments less than $2. The lower fees are at a rate of 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction; a saving 40 to 60 percent compared to the previous 2 percent plus 20 to 30 cents per transaction.

Shopping cart software Learn more about shopping carts or read our reviews of some the best shopping cart software around! Need to learn more about merchant accounts or payment processors? Try our ecommerce guides

September 4 2005

New article - Web marketing and senior citizens

Between 2005 and 2030, the senior market will increase to over 95 million people - 4 times the growth rate of the 18-59 age group for the same timeframe. The seniors of today are energetic, discerning, embracing the web and spending more cash online. View some statistics and pick up some tips on marketing to seniors.

September 3 2005

Small/medium biz email response times survey

A study recently carried out by BenchmarkPortal and sponsored by eGain Communications reveals that SMB (Small to Medium Business) email response times is rather concerning to say the least. The non-response rate was 51%! Other key findings include:

• 51% of small to medium businesses failed to respond at all, versus 41% for enterprises.

• 70% of SMB's failed to respond within 24 hours

• 79% of the businesses responded with inaccurate or incomplete answers. 

The survey was conducted with 147 SMB's in the USA and Canadian SMBs with annual revenues between $10M and $250M. It evaluated 5 industry sectors; eBusiness, Financial services, High technology, Retail, Travel and Hospitality.

Read more of the Email Customer Service report

Learn more about email etiquette for online business

September 2 2005

Online shoppers want personalized content, but..

Fearing the loss of personal details, fewer consumers wish to provide personal preference and demographic information in order to gain personalized content than last year, according to survey results released by ChoiceStream. 

6% fewer respondents this year stated that they were will to provide preference information, and 11% fewer are willing to provide demographic data in exchange for personalized content.

While overall 63% of respondents were concerned about the security of their personal information, 80% expressed strong interest in personalized content. When it came to purchasing music, 34 percent stated that they would have purchased more if they had found additional titles that they liked.

So, while the demand is there for personalized content, the trust factor still isn't - it's up to merchants to do all they can to give their prospective customers a sense of security. Achieve that - through guarantees, clear, simple and easily accessible policies, secure connections and a refined method of asking questions - and it will translate directly to increased revenues.

Read more of the  2nd-Annual Personalization Survey

The web helps and hinders in Katrina aftermath

It's hard not to be moved by the events over the last week after Hurricane Katrina. From the sanitized mainstream media reports to the emotional blogs of those on the scene or close by, there's been a flurry of information, disinformation, facts, rumors and lies.

Disaster brings out the best and the worst in people, and we've seen our share of both on the web over the days. Kudos to those people doing their best to help out and our prayers go out to all of you who have been affected.

What sickens me is that some scammers have used this opportunity to launch fake donation drives in order to garner credit card and payment services details. These people are no better than those in the stricken cities who are carrying out brutal crimes against their fellow survivors, and may the punishments fit the crimes.  

If you are genuinely eager to help out Hurricane Katrina victions, please be very wary of these donation scams - don't follow links in emails, go directly to the organization sites. If you want to give cash or volunteer your services, check out the FEMA site for reputable organizations.

2nd quarter ecommerce sales up 26%

The  Department of Commerce estimates U.S. retail ecommerce sales for the second quarter of 2005 was $21.1 billion, an increase of 7.2 percent over the first quarter of 2005.  The second quarter 2005 ecommerce estimate increased 26.0 percent from the second quarter of 2004 while total retail sales increased 8.4 percent in the same period. Ecommerce sales in the second quarter accounted for 2.2 percent of total retail sales.

Read the 2nd quarter retail ecommerce sales report.

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