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Last month, I told you that Google is putting additional efforts into instructing publishers of the benefits of  Google’s video sitemaps.  It is nice to see that Google is also running some PPC ads to promote Video SEO.  Since the start of ReelSEO, I’ve been a proponent of video sitemaps and I have always felt [...]

It’s the weekend and so we here at ReelSEO want to wind down and take it easy. Something came across our desk late Friday that talked about 5min.com and Answers.com teaming up. The deal is that 1,000 questions on Answers.com have been done up as videos. So I thought, what better way to relax than [...]

Last week, we held our second ReelSEO webinar event titled, “Dive Into HTML5 Video – Learn From The Masters.” The webinar was a great success and we had more than 1100 attendees join us for the first hour with more than 500 remaining online past the hour as we extended the Q&A session an additional [...]

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for another Viral Video Marketing Round Up. This week we saw some truly exceptional viral stories, and I’m looking forward to discussing them and breaking down what helped them get so popular. Without further ado, let’s begin: Viral Wedding Last year, around this time, we saw the JK [...]

I interview Justin Foster, host of the 2010 Video Commerce Summit held in Seattle this past week. Justin talks with me about the reasons for the growth of video in e-commerce, the challenges to overcome, some key issues of discussion and debate, and projections for where the technology and human behavior around video will lead [...]

One in four high street shoppers who leaves a store empty-handed completes their purchase on the internet instead.

That’s the findings of new research carried out by retail consultancy Envirosell and RichRelevance. Researchers quizzed shoppers coming out of London shops including Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Primark and BhS, and find that almost half left a shop without buying.

But of those who didn’t buy, a quarter planned to go online to continue shopping for the product.

A similar survey in New York produced identical results in this area.

But the two differed in that New Yorkers were more likely to go onto the internet to research products. A third of London shoppers said they did research items online. But 85% of New Yorkers said they had already compared prices online before going to the store.

Envirosell founder and chief executive Paco Underhill said: “Retailers in the UK are starting to face the same challenges as their US counterparts. In the 20th century, marketers and merchandisers determined what the consumer would buy. The growth of the Internet has meant that the consumer is now not only more empowered, but often three or four steps ahead.”

David Seinger, chief executive of RichRelevance, which provides dynamic e-commerce personalisation, said: “In the last few years, consumers have drastically changed the way they shop.

“Multichannel retailing is still in its infancy, but retailers need to ensure that they can accommodate complex customer behaviour no matter where customers interact with them – whether online, in store, via a mobile app or over a phone.”

Related news

1. Big freeze saw shoppers switch high street purchasing online
2. High street ‘tax’ makes goods 31% more expensive than online
3. eBay: Online sales could save the traditional high street

Online retailers are among the finalists in the National Business Awards, announced this week.

Naked Wines, which sells UK consumers wines direct from the vineyard, has been shortlisted in the Orange Innovation Award while Cheapflights, the airline ticket company, is shortlisted both for Business Link Growth Strategy of the Year and for the 3i Private Business of the Year.

Online short-term finance company Wonga.com is listed in the BlackBerry Customer Focus Award category.

A spokeswoman for Naked Wines said the company was “chuffed” to appear on the list just 18 months after launch.

Meanwhile e-commerce supplier companies also appear in the shortlists.

Internet marketing company e-mphasis is listed for the Excellence in Marketing award, hosting company Racklisted is shortlisted for employer of the year. Nick Ogden, chief executive of voice payment company Voice Commerce is shortlisted for Entrepreneur of the Year, along with Warren Cowan of Greenlight and Marcus Simmons of online and advertising company iKnow-UK.

Make it Cheaper, the comparison website for businesses is listed in the Santander small to medium sized business of the year category, along with multichannel car hire firm Easi-Drive. Retail Decisions, the payment and fraud solutions company, is shortlisted in the Grant Thornton Mid-Cap Business of the Year category.

Elsewhere the Internet Watch Foundation is listed in the Better Regulation Award.

Related news

1. British retailers get four of six spots in Etailer of the Year shortlist
2. Asos picks up four gongs at first Ecommerce Awards
3. Voice payments company reports customer growth

by Kara Trivunovic

These days, everyone is looking for a great bargain, and why not? The world of online shopping has made it easier than ever to comparison shop. Plus, it’s immediate and completely accessible. Even in shaky economic times, consumers are looking to spend – they just want to get more for their money. Factor in the rise of member-based, limited-time, designer sales sites, and shoppers are in virtual shopping heaven. Confessions of an online shopaholic may just be the next box office hit!

Retailers have seen success in offering exclusive designer sales for years, much like how H&M experienced overnight successes when designers such as Jimmy Choo, Comme Des Garçons and Stella McCartney ran their exclusive sales in conjunction with the store. Shoppers are desperate for the latest designers but at knock off prices. And, if they don’t have to face the crowds of men and women sifting through racks and piles – then even better. Imagine being able to pick through all those amazing offers from the comfort of you couch. Sign me up!

Online shopping and e-commerce is a proven and successful channel for driving revenue for many retailers and isn’t fading any time soon, but how can retailers offer the same kind of bargain deals on only a select number of garments? Well, when they’re gone, they’re gone and the customers know it. They have to act fast to get the latest deal. Talk about creating urgency within your marketing message. What’s even more evolutionary is that the sense of urgency isn’t just a one time and done instance, rather companies like Hautelook, Gilt Groupe, Ideeli and Rue La La (to name a few) have turned it into an entire business model. It gives “while supplies last” a whole new meaning (and sense of urgency).

Previously, retailers of this nature have been challenged by serious lag times in email distribution, which directly impacted customer satisfaction. For example, if the sales alert arrived to the inbox for some customers at 10am and for others at 11am or 12pm – some of the much desired inventory could already be gone, limiting the equality for consumers to gain access to the inventory. Some of these retailers have found a way to get these offers and sales notices to their clients faster, which means more real-time traffic to the site, and greater customer satisfaction, leveraging burst email technology. This method of email distribution enables companies to deliver millions of emails within a five-minute time frame, providing customers an equal opportunity to enter these limited-time sales events.

Hautelook is one such sample sales site that is taking advantage of this technology. A US-based fashion site that hosts up to 12 sales daily lasting 48-72 hours each, Hautelook recently deployed burst technology to manage all of its 60-80% off designer merchandise sales. Each of the 2+ million customers receive a unique and personalised email, based on their shopping behavior and email preferences, and that experience is delivered for each of them within the same 5-minute window. This gives customers equal access to the website’s sales.

In order to achieve this level of speed, volume and personalisation, HauteLook had to migrate from an outsourced email service provider to a dedicated email solution from StrongMail that could directly connect to their customer databases. This direct connection eliminates the need to pull the lists and import them into their email system prior to sending a campaign. Instead, the email campaign is dynamically generated on the fly using the latest customer data to ensure relevancy and streamline the entire process.

Going with a dedicated solution also ensures that HauteLook always has the technical resources required to send this volume of customised messages in the required timeframe. Because most email service providers have their clients running on a shared email infrastructure, there’s no guarantee that sufficient resources will be available if other clients are sending high-volume campaigns at the same time. HauteLook’s dedicated solution solves this problem, while also providing the scalability to accommodate their rapid growth.

The necessity for such technology came at the demand of the consumer, which further proves that the brands no longer control or drive the marketing experience. Consumers know there has been a massive swing in power here, and they are taking full advantage (as well they should). Heed what your customers are saying – they are saying it for a reason. Had Hautelook not taken their customer feedback seriously and subsequently found a solution to support the need – they might not have become the 2+ million member strong retailer they are today.

So what does all of this mean? It goes beyond burst technology and the ability to deliver email quickly. This is about fielding, evaluating and applying consumer insights and feedback. They know you can do it and expect that you do. As the consumer gets more and more sophisticated in the ways of email messaging and online marketing capabilities, the programmes and experiences we offer them must correlate – otherwise it will be the marketer that gets left behind and your customers may just go riding off in to the sunset with a competitor.

Kara Trivunovic is senior director, strategic services at StrongMail

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I understand why entertainment giant Disney bought social game developer Playdom. I also understand that sometimes it’s better to buy than build, and this is probably one of those times [...]

Peter Friedman Chairman & CEO LiveWorld Inc.

Q2 2010 search spending up 159% year over year

Speaker: Paul Verna, eMarketer Senior Analyst What: The Evolving Online Video Landscape When: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 1 PM ET To listen and watch playback of the Webinar, click here. You can view [...]

Mark and I are still putting the finishing touches on a video interview we hope to share very soon, and he noticed something interesting when uploading a test version to YouTube:  The time limit has been increased.  He was able to easily upload a 13-minute edit without any problems.  A quick check of Google News [...]

Last week there were reports that the Old Spice viral marketing campaign was a failure because sales had dropped 7%.  I called shenanigans on that conclusion in a post you can read here. Now this week there’s a rash of stories about how the Old Spice campaign is a success because it has increased sales.  [...]

We tend to write about video marketing, news, and tips.  But every now and then it’s good to take a short break and just enjoy a fun video.  And last night I stumbled upon a video that I just had to share.  It had 8,000 views, having been uploaded on the 25th of this month.  [...]

Christian Robinson, managing director of online gift seller Firebox.com, is stepping down after 10 years. Taking over the role is Paul Zimmerman, previously head of business development at Play.com.

Robinson is moving to work with his wife, Tiffany London, on her designer maternity label Tiffany Rose and will also stay on the Firebox board in an advisory role.

Robinson said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed the past 10 years helping build the Firebox.com business and feel very lucky to have had the privilege of working alongside such a talented team. I am confident that now is the right time to appoint a successor to help lead our business through its next phase of growth and am delighted that Paul has accepted our offer to join the company as our new MD.

“Paul is the perfect fit for us and his wealth of experience within e-commerce will be invaluable to Firebox.com and help accelerate our growth even further.”

Zimmerman, whose 11 years e-commerce experience also includes four years as head of Amazon.com’s music business unit, said: “I have been a customer and a huge fan of Firebox for many years – it’s such a fun, dynamic brand that is truly passionate about its customers. I am looking forward to working with the Firebox team and developing the brand as it continues to thrive.”

Michael Smith and Tom Boardman founded Firebox.com in 1998. It now sells via catalogue and online, and has moved out of its core market of toys for boys to focus on homewares and a broader gift market. That paid off when the company posted record results in the year to January 31 2010, with sales revenue of £12.7m and £1m profit before tax.

Michael Acton Smith, co-founder and chairman of Firebox, said: “Christian has been much more than a colleague over the years – he’s effectively been the third founder of Firebox and also a great friend to Tom and myself. His role will not be an easy one to fill, yet I believe Paul’s experience at two of the UK’s largest and most well known online retailers will be a fantastic asset to Firebox.”

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I interview Dr. BJ Fogg, Director of Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab, on what insights he has to share on the opportunities and challenges with effective video in e-commerce.  Dr. Fogg also discusses (what I admittedly characterize) the problem mentality of basing success models for Internet video based on how “viral” they may go, rather [...]

Past Times says it has seen its despatch rate rise by at least 300% since introducing a new carrier management solution.

The company, which sells gifts inspired by the past, says automating the process has cut down on errors as well as increasing the speed at which parcels are sent out.

Adrian Spence, head of e-commerce at the company, said: “The despatch rate has increased dramatically from our old manual process by at least 300% and any shipping errors have been eliminated.”

Past Times has introduced a new multi-carrier management platform from MetaPack which helps to manage their three carriers.

The platform sits between the company’s Venda order management system and their carriers, automatically translating orders into deliveries. At the same time it updates customers via email on the whereabouts of their goods.

“Being able to view the status of deliveries and tracking numbers in one system results in a better service to the customer who do contact us.”

As a result Past Times is now adding more delivery options for customers, as it looks to grow its e-commerce business.

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comScore has released the monthly report on who does what, where on the web, commonly referred to as the comScore Media Metrix. The report, as usual, looks at top web properties, ad networks and the changes in the traffic on those properties.While the travel sector scored highly, online games rose and teens jumped online with [...]

UK retailers who cannot handle the Christmas rise in demand for customer service risk losing their share of a market put at £5.5bn, according to software company Eptica.

That rise, says Eptica, which specialises in customer interaction solutions, could be by as much as 400% at a time when sales could potentially rise by 5% at the same time.

It points to the trend for contact centres to be inundated with customer enquiries in the run up to the festive season. The time taken answering many, similar, questions (FAQs) can lead to slow service and frustrated customers at what is the busiest season of the year for many retailers.

In the run up to Christmas, it says, retailers can see customer enquiries rise by four times, with more than twice as many inbound emails as usual. And the spike in customer enquiries can start building as early as September.

Eptica’s research shows that by reducing inbound FAQs and responding to customer enquiries more efficiently, retailers can increase sales by 5% on average.

Dee Roche, European marketing director at Eptica, said: “We looked at before and after scenarios at 280 organisations across a wide range of sectors and found a similar uplift in sales. This is achieved by businesses using increases in efficiency as an opportunity to redeploy customer service resources to sales conversion activity and on delivering high quality service and advice to help potential purchasers.

“These benefits can only be realised by diverting low value questions away from customer service agents.”

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