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Comment & Blogs

Each month IMRG publishes exclusive articles by leading industry thinkers on a range of topics of interest to e-retail professionals.

15 May 2013
“SOCIAL” – what does this mean in ecommerce?
Humans are social animals (well most of us); and shopping on the high street is a social activity (normally). We like the buzz of the crowd, the trip out with friends, and the trusted opinions and recommendations of our purchasing partners and shop assistants. But online, ecommerce can be a lonely activity.
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15 May 2013
Market Research through Social Media: Context is King!
Retailers are steadily coming to grips with how they, their brand, and their products, fit into today’s social world. Most are using social media to broadcast themselves: to attain a promotional presence in customers’ day-to-day lives, driving awareness of benefits and value. Others are more interactive through the channel: fostering a truly interactive community to respond to questions or feedback, and focus on customer service and engagement....more
01 May 2013
VAT considerations in cross-border expansion
Businesses are continuing to take advantage of the Internet to reach millions of new customers around the world which is great news for e-tailers. This expansion into new countries can bring added VAT complications which need to effectively managed but e-tailers should not disregard the potential for opportunities to arise in respect of VAT in these other countries.
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01 May 2013
Are consumers cross-border shopping to save money?
Cross-border shopping trends vary across the globe but in geographical terms this activity is particularly prevalent among Canadians living near the US border.
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25 April 2013
Tips for implementing a successful global payment strategy
Over the past few years, there has been a huge growth in international ecommerce. The Internet has certainly made it easier for merchants to extend the reach of their products and services into new regions, but with so many countries in the world and the vast array of different languages and cultural idiosyncrasies, accommodating each and every customer can be a lot harder than it initially appears.
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24 April 2013
Evolutions in mobile payments for the connected consumer
In recent years, most companies have had to consider what developments in e-commerce and mobile payments will mean for the future. The traditional concept of a sales channel is dead. We must now expect that increasingly sophisticated consumers will approach the purchase cycle simultaneously through multiple channels
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24 April 2013
It’s Europe's turn
E-commerce is booming in Europe and the trend is only going one way: upwards. In 2011, online turnover broke through the 200 billion euro barrier for the first time and growth rates look set to remain in the double-digits. But is this really a European phenomenon? It pays to take a closer look at what’s actually going on....more
24 April 2013
Smart strategies for increasing checkout conversion: A payments 101
For merchants, one of the most frustrating elements of selling online is cart abandonment, especially just before the transaction is due to take place. Time, money and effort dedicated in marketing and social media campaigns to attract potential customers need not be wasted by cart abandonment and therefore loss of sale....more
17 April 2013
What retailers can do to positively tackle the issue of consumers using mobile in-store
The use of mobile devices as part of the in-store shopping experience is growing rapidly and will, before too long, be part of typical consumer behaviour. So what should be the retailers response to this trend?...more
17 April 2013
Hug A Showroomer Today
When it comes to retail marketing, you’d be hard pressed to find a hotter topic than ‘showrooming’ right now. In one sense, this is a bit odd. You could argue that the behaviour’s existed for as long as there’s been brand and retail competition. Certainly Dixons.co.uk were on to it way back in 2009 with their famous ‘Now buy it at…’ poster campaign....more
17 April 2013
Retailers, are you ready for the mobile revolution?
According to Pew Research Center, close to 30% of adult mobile phone owners will use their device to look up product reviews or compare prices with other retailers. Comscore’s UK Digital Future in Focus Report saw growth rates of mobile digital commerce typically double or triple that of web and in the UK last year 20% smartphone users purchased a good or service on their device.
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17 April 2013
What retailers can do to positively tackle the issue of consumers using mobile in-store?
Most of us have done it by now. Gone into a store, tried on an item or checked out the price and then promptly bought it cheaper online using our mobile. There’s no denying that mobile has disrupted the retail sector.
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10 April 2013
Removing the fraudsters’ shield...
I don’t need to harp on about how important the online channel is to the retail market, you already know its value. Unfortunately there are other, less savoury parties, who also recognise the importance of the channel, because when legitimate business identifies an opportunity the criminal fraternity is not far behind – fraudsters are cashing in online....more
10 April 2013
The dangers of online fraud and the importance of security for ecommerce sites
The retail industry has always been a major target for fraud and now that there is now a continuous stream of retailers and customers migrating on to the internet, fraudsters are also entering into the more profitable online environment of etail – attracted by a growing number of targets....more
10 April 2013
Security v performance: a tug of war?
As security threats have evolved over the past ten years, online retailers have been under increasing pressure to protect digital properties without impacting performance levels, all on a budget....more
03 April 2013
Packaging – A Vital Element In The Supply Chain
How a parcel is received by a customer can either enhance or harm a company’s reputation. Key to this is ensuring the packaging is fit for purpose and there are four key considerations when deciding what packaging should be used. These are protection, environment, efficiencies and brand....more
03 April 2013
How can retailers turn the returns process into a positive customer experience?
The loss of tactile feedback by the customer when purchasing online has always needed to be balanced by a pleasant customer returns or refunds experience, which, if done well, helps ensure repeat sales and stronger brand loyalty....more
03 April 2013
iForce on...Reverse Logistics
Reverse logistics is effectively the new kid on the block that everyone is interested in; a potential new friend for those who haven’t quite realized how rewarding this new relationship could be. A new friendship such as this could open one’s eyes to so many different new ways of working - making something out of nothing - and when you really get to know and understand them, they can save and recoup you money....more
03 April 2013
How can deliveries become more sustainable and improve customer retention?
It's been widely acknowledged that the retail industry's adoption of delivery locker solutions is heralding huge advances in customer convenience. The option of having an item delivered for collection at a secure and convenient location, side-stepping the all too familiar frustrations of waiting in during rarely respected ‘delivery windows’, is a compelling one for consumers, and subsequently retailers too.
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28 March 2013
Are your web tags costing you sales?
Ecommerce, now more than 20 years old, offers consumers single-click ease of purchase and a range of real-time, customised offers based on online behavioural data garnered from various web tags. These tags operate in the invisible web of data that exists behind every ecommerce site, gathering valuable data and creating useful insights for every business unit of the company....more
25 March 2013
Big data is already a big part of your business
Organizations are increasingly embracing a data-driven culture, and the insights that can be extracted from data are playing a greater role in shaping both the strategic and tactical decisions of marketing teams and the broader business as a whole.
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20 March 2013
Understand Alternative Payments and the potential revenue opportunities
Across the globe 22% of online transactions are made using alternative payments (APs), equating to €165 billion in revenue. While more traditional eCommerce markets, such as the UK and the US, are still heavily reliant on card schemes, the use of alternative forms of payment to purchase online is on the rise....more
20 March 2013
Hybrid Mobile Payments Need Work
The subject of contactless payments were some of the hotter topics at both Mobile World Congress and CeBIT over the past few weeks, as software developers and smartphone manufacturers attempt to make purchasing goods with a smartphone as seamless and painless as possible....more
20 March 2013
Online Cash Consumers - a Rapidly Expanding Market
The British Retail Consortium’s recent report into High Street footfall* produced some stark, yet somewhat predictable, figures – January saw a 3.3% Year on Year decrease in customer footfall, the biggest drop since 2010. But the good news is that online retail is continuing to pick up – with an increase of almost 13% in the past year....more
20 March 2013
Are the days of cash numbered?
The technological advances of the past decade have changed our lives immeasurably. Electronic communications have come to shape today’s society – it is now possible to live your life almost entirely paper free if you choose to. Yet despite our passion for innovation, it appears that we have not yet shifted our attachment to paper money....more
15 March 2013
Retailers face making 132 deliveries and collections to successfully sell just 82 garments
This could be a wake-up call to look at ways of reducing environmental impact for sectors other than food and groceries. In sectors like clothing, garment return rates at their industry average of 25% have a huge impact in terms of unnecessary transportation: with an average 27% of those returned items exchanged for another size, retailers face making 132 deliveries and collections to successfully sell just 82 garments....more
12 March 2013
Shoppable Video: The Future of Ecommerce?
Some industry experts have been tipping shoppable video as 'the next big thing' in ecommerce. Here we take a look at why retailers may be interested in this new shoppable content and which retailers have already embraced video....more
27 February 2013
Internationalisation part I: why and how?
Internationalisation. This word may have been on many retailers’ roadmaps for a while, but in reality, few have yet to properly grasp what it means and make the most of the opportunity to sell in new markets....more
05 February 2013
How Out of Stock Triggered Emails Can Save the Sale
I was recently in the market for a bridesmaid’s dress. My friend was very non-bridezilla and let us choose whichever dress we wanted, as long as it was by a specific designer: Sue Wong. After some Google searches for Sue Wong dresses I found that Bluefly.com carries these dresses and at a much more reasonable price than anywhere else (except maybe Ebay)....more
01 February 2013
IMRG Borderless Trading Network
IMRG and EMOTA’s new Borderless Trading Network enables retailers in Europe, Latin America and around the world to win in the new trillion dollar global online shopping gold rush....more