Recommended Practices for Handling eCommerce Returns
Today’s consumer is connected, informed, and has more options for shopping than they can evaluate. The power is in their hands, and (among other demands) they expect to be allowed to return products that they find unsatisfactory.
Managing product returns is complex enough in a traditional brick & mortar retail store. Handling returns for eCommerce purchases can be even more daunting.
We’ve compiled some recommended practices for handling eCommerce returns to help you develop a returns management strategy that works for your business and your customers.
What We’re Reading: Admired Retailers, SMB Retail Growth, Product Information
Sometimes I have a running theme for the content I share in What We’re Reading. Sometimes, like this week. I don’t. These are just three articles that have a good message, and I think they are worth reading. I hope you enjoy.
How Merchants Can Prepare for the 2015 Back-to-School Shopping Season
Back-to-school (BTS) and back-to-college (BTC) shopping is the second biggest retail event for merchants, behind winter holidays. Back-to-school shopping is no longer the one-day spree of stocking up.
Today’s consumers are specific about what they want, and they will take the time to find it.
Retailers have an opportunity to capitalize on this attitude shift. If you don’t capitalize on that opportunity–to get the most out of the back-to-school market–you’re missing out.
It’s not even summer yet, but merchants should begin their preparation for 2015 back to school shopping now. The school shopping season can start as early as June, and it peaks in August. Prepare early to give yourself a better chance to compete successfully.
We’ve created below a list of things that you should be thinking about this next month or two. They’ll help you prepare for the 2015 back-to-school shopping season. (more…)
The Top 3 Magento Search Extensions For Your Webstore
Friction is the bane of sales and marketing. A smart merchant should always be reducing friction in the checkout flow, in signup forms, and in navigation (just to name a few). As simple as it sounds, the easier you make it for your customer to do the desired action, the more customers will do it.
If a customer coming to your site wants to find black boots, you better make it easy for him to do so. This is where Magento search extensions come into play.
With a Magento search extension, your customer can easily ask for and receive the product he or she wants to buy. Getting the visitor to the page they’re looking for is just one step closer to getting them to buy. In fact, according to a study by eConsultancy, the conversion rate of visitors who used site search was 1.8x higher than the site average.
This post will cover some common features you should find in a search extension, and the top three Magento search extensions for your webstore. (more…)
What We’re Reading: Data’s Importance in Retail
We recently released our Product Information Management solution, because we saw so many merchants struggling with their product data. As retail morphs into eCommerce and marketplace selling and mobile selling and… (must I continue?) …one thing stands out as critically important: data.
It’s not just product data, either. It’s all data!
If you want to successfully grow, you need to have the people, processes, and systems in place to manage data. It’s the only way to utilize that data in ways that help you differentiate. Data can be an asset if used properly, but it can be a liability if it doesn’t get love.
This week, we’re reading about data (big and small) and how merchants/retailers need to organize around managing it.
