Five by Five

We were asked to contribute to the latest in the IAB’s vertical handbook series: retail. With a focus on what makes a good online shopping basket experience, our top tips are below. You can download the handbook here.

Shopping basket drop-off can be avoided by learning from the benchmark leaders: Amazon, Carphone Warehouse and Figleaves. What they do is simply make it easy for you to buy, change your mind, save it for later and come back, and compile wish lists which others can buy for you. What makes a good shopping basket experience?

1. Clear product descriptions and price information so users are reassured that what they wanted to buy has magically found its way to their basket.

2. Images to re-enforce the product description because people think visually too, especially when it comes to color choices.

3. Easy removal, amendment or addition of items because they’re allowed to change their minds.

4. Clear navigation to proceed to purchase or back to similar products, back to home, or a new search as these are users’ typical next steps.

5. Clear labeling of the basket during the entire shopping experience so the user can see what’s in it at any time.

6. Ability to save.

Web to account for 40% of all UK retail sales by 2020

As marketers and media companies try to better utilize online video advertising to communicate with consumers, research is starting to identify what works and what doesn’t creatively. Our November 2006 Beyond The Click^® demonstrated the power of online video campaigns in their ability to positively move all branding metrics compared to overall MarketNorms^®. With more data, we begin to see a wider range and variance in effectiveness. While video norms in general are positive, there are some dramatic differences in the results of the most memorable and least memorable video campaigns.

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Bumper year for online Christmas shopping
Christmas shoppers flocked to the internet in 2006 with retail giants John Lewis and Tesco witnessing online sales up 60% and 30% on 2005

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http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/30918/
Bumper+year+for+online+Christmas+shopping.html

Online advertising is increasingly attracting the big spenders, with the FMCG and Entertainment sectors planning significant increases in online spend over the next two years, according to a new advertising survey.

The findings, from trade organisation European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), indicates that advertisers are diverting spend from TV and print media to online.

The EIAA Marketers’ Internet Ad Barometer reveals that 42% of those questioned already spend over 5% of their media budgets online and 74% of all those surveyed regard the internet as a vital component of their advertising strategy.

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Netimperative - FMCG brands shifting adspend online- research

Christmas battlefield for etail vs high street

The warning to etailers from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) last week, to improve their delivery services or risk consumer backlash (NMA 02.11.06), has come at a sensitive time for online retailers, with Christmas less than two months away.

Online retailers offer best value on consumer electronics

Online retailers offer customers the best value when it comes to consumer electronics, according to the latest report from Which?.

High street retailers fail to exploit the power of search

LONDON - A web marketing firm has warned that high-street retailers are failing to exploit the potential of search engines such as Google in the build-up to the pre-Christmas shopping spree.

One Quarter of Consumer Electronics Purchases Researched Online

Of the $32.5 billion spent on CE products purchased in the last six months, 77 percent were influenced by online research.