There is no doubt that the bar has been raised high by ecommerce giants for shorter delivery times and free delivery, and consumers now expect this from retailers large and small. This year’s Alibaba Singles Day smashed all previous records, hitting $1 billion in sales in just 85 seconds. In its first hour, sales figures reached almost $10 billion, with…
Industry Insights Blog
E-commerce is as much about the experience customers have to interact with your brand’s site as it is about the product and price. There are a lot of options for consumers shopping online. Creating an experience that prioritizes convenience, trust, familiarity, and efficiency is key to running a successful e-commerce business. Whether you are working on creating a new experience from…
Mobile payments have been thought to be on the cusp of widespread adoption for several years now. But most US consumers have responded to the technology with a noncommittal shrug. Here are four key trends you can expect out of mobile payments in 2019.
No. 1: Proximity Mobile Payment Growth Will Remain Tepid
Proximity mobile payments—those used at the point of sale—haven’t quite…
GDPR and PSD2 are two legal initialisms that have both generated a great deal of press coverage in recent months, but they are seldom considered together. There were around 122 billion non-cash payments in the European Union (EU) in 2016, with card payments accounting for 49% of all transactionsi and the trend is continuing: UK Finance recently reported that UK debit…
In November 2018, Germany’s first fine under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was imposed — and it was much lower than many expected. The favourable outcome of the proceedings for the defending company demonstrates that, with a proper defence strategy, GDPR infringements may not necessarily end in a worst-case scenario for companies.
In July 2018, Knuddels GmbH & Co. KG…
As retailers have been making last-ditch efforts to get consumers to open their wallets for the holidays, repeating Black Friday-type promotions, they have also been thinking ahead, to what’s coming in the new year. Among the many things on their minds are the wild cards that could pose risks to their business. For one, the sector is waiting to see what will…
Since the GDPR came into force in May 2018, all European data protection authorities have the power to issue fines for breaches of data privacy and non-compliance. But have they used them? This article explores the first seven months of GDPR enforcement. The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation was one of the most hotly anticipated developments the business…
The European Parliament has approved plans to make banks slash fees on cross-border euro payments between EU countries that are in the euro zone and those that are not. Currently, there is no difference for euro area residents or businesses if they carry out euro transactions in their own country or with another of the 19 euro area countries.
However, residents…
1. Know Your Audience And Their Interests
Know your audience and the social media channels where your consumer lives online.
Before you select influencers, you need to clearly define your target audience. Take some time to consider:
Who is your target market?
Determine demographics such as age, gender, education level, income, marital status, location and more.
What are their interests?
Are they interested in fashion and beauty,…
The days when brands used social platforms only for top-of-funnel hype are long gone. With two-thirds of users purchasing directly from social media posts at least once in the past year, platforms are quickly rolling out additional commerce features. And brands are buying in: 65% have adopted at least one commerce feature on Facebook and Instagram, a 5% jump from May, according…
Chances are, you may have heard about the 80-20 rule, or the Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle is named after Italian Economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1896 that 20% of the people in Italy owned 80% of the land. This principle has since been observed to be true in the areas of economics, software, business and many other areas.
The…
Instagram announced two significant milestones: the social channel reached 1 billion monthly users and it rolled out a platform called IGTV, a mobile-first, YouTube-esq, social experience curated to longer, vertical videos. It’s Instagram’s way of bringing brands closer to audiences and allowing people to discover them.
For the brand communicator, it’s more content to create. We’re in the story-tizing era, and 1 billion users…
Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer and owner of the Zara chain, faces growing competition from younger, online-only players like Boohoo.com and Missguided. Its rivals are churning out clothes at higher speeds – as little as one week from design to point of sale – refreshing their sites daily with hundreds of new items. In an attempt to keep its…
Influencer marketing is one of today’s most powerful branding and sales tools, but you can’t just partner with any Instagrammer and expect results. As influencer marketing grows as a discipline, the question arise like: What challenges can companies expect? What trends should they stay on top of? What is the smartest approach to making influence work? Joe Gagliese, Co-founder Managing…
Well, it really depends on the consumer.
When a consumer finds a product they like—the perfect shade of red lipstick or a pair of shoes they can wear all day without a fuss—they tend to become repeat customers. But a recent August 2018 survey from Morning Consult, which polled 2,202 US internet users, found that some consumers—particularly Gen Z and millennials—are not…
The influence of Gen Z—the first generation of true digital natives—is expanding. Long before the term “influencer” was coined, young people played that social role by creating and interpreting trends. Now a new generation of influencers has come on the scene. Members of Gen Z—loosely, people born from 1995 to 2010— are true digital natives: from earliest youth, they have been exposed…
International shoppers abandon carts for different reasons than local customers. In this article, we share 6 key actions that online retailers can take to improve the experience for cross-border shoppers and increase conversion rates.
Show prices in local currency
When Swedish shoppers visit an English retailer, it does them no good to see the price of an item in British Pounds. Showing…
Bpost and Zalando have been experimenting with with in-home delivery and in-home pickup in Belgium. And according to reports the companies have declared the test a success but there are still problems to solve before the service is rolled out across the board at any time. One of the problems identified were the numerous types of door that are currently…
Blockchain is poised to disrupt retail. It’s not just a buzzword. Blockchain technology may have an enormous impact on the retail industry and 2018 is shaping up to be a critical year. Top retailers have been exploring blockchain and a few are now moving forward with real-world uses for the technology (more on that below).
Blockchain is essentially an immutable, shared digital ledger…
Mastercard and Microsoft are joining forces to tackle the messy business of digital identity verification, vowing to kill off passwords and give people a secure, instant way to verify themselves online with whomever they want, whenever they want. To verify their identity online, people are still usually dependent on physical or digital proof managed by a central party, whether it’s…