ITQ Solutions Blog

Ecommerce website: expertise is better than size

Posted by John Stoddart on 27-Apr-2015 09:30:00

As an operator of an e-commerce store, you must often ask yourself the question 'Would I prefer to be huge or expert?'.

I'm sure that Jeff Bezos has problems but it must be quite good being in charge of a business like Amazon.  But for most of us, we can't ever expect to reach that size.  So, what can we do instead?  Should we go for size (and all that entails in terms of marketing and assiciated costs) or expertise?  When you have some dominant players, there is a threat that they can just cut and cut prices to undermine everyone else and effectively kill off any more competition.

How can you survive and thrive in a market where the race to the bottom is always a threat?

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Topics: e-commerce

How do SME webstores attract more customers from the web?

Posted by John Stoddart on 20-Apr-2015 09:30:00

If you run a webstore then attracting customers is hugely important.  Visitors become customers.  So, what are your options to increase traffic?  Because if you increase traffic sufficiently then that will end up as higher sales (and higher profits).

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Topics: e-commerce

Tackling abandoned shopping carts in SME e-commerce

Posted by John Stoddart on 13-Apr-2015 09:30:00

abandon online shopping carts

Abandoned shopping carts is one of the major issues with operating an online e-commerce site.  You need to understand why customers who abandon shopping carts are walking away from the transaction.

It is both a lost opportunity and a revenue opportunity at the same time: when response rates are small, these possible customers have identified themselves as being almost ready to commit but have stopped at the last moment.

If we could understand who and why they abandon their shopping cart, we could actually start to resolve the issue and gently push them over the line.

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Topics: e-commerce

Which social media work best for online shopping

Posted by John Stoddart on 07-Apr-2015 09:30:00

Those that work in e-commerce and online shopping often wonder which social media channel works best and offers the highest Return on Investment (ROI).  We'll do a quick analysis here and offer some advice channel by channel.  We all wonder from time to time whether FaceBook is actually worth it, whether tweeting is a waste of time and just whether we need to add Pinterest or Instagram to an already busy schedule.

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Topics: e-commerce

Five great reasons for choosing Sellerdeck for e-commerce

Posted by John Stoddart on 30-Mar-2015 09:30:00

Sellerdeck software is long established in the e-commerce marketplace.  Previously under the Actinic banner, it has been around since 1996. 

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Topics: e-commerce

Should I integrate my ecommerce website platform to Xero?

Posted by John Stoddart on 23-Mar-2015 09:30:00

The simple answer is... it depends.

Generally speaking, it depends on what size you are now and how professional you want to be.

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Topics: e-commerce

Why Magento is the right e-commerce platform (for me)

Posted by John Stoddart on 16-Mar-2015 09:30:00

There are many e-commerce platforms available but the popularity of the Magento platform is increasing day by day.  Many online businesses are migrating rapidly to Magento due to its rich feature and powerful inbuilt functionality.  But why?

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Topics: e-commerce

Customer service: No 1 reason to integrate an e-commerce platform

Posted by John Stoddart on 09-Mar-2015 09:30:00

One of the most common (and the one that drives the highest value) reasons for an ERP integration project with Magento is to automate the data transfer process.  Automating data transfer between systems - typically using the APIs of each system - brings tremendous benefits in terms of speed and accuracy (once the links are established).

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Topics: e-commerce

The e-commerce owner's guide to moving a single purchase customer into a frequent purchaser

Posted by John Stoddart on 02-Mar-2015 14:00:00

In this blog, we will take a look at what can be done to transform a single purchaser into a returning customer.  This is a very important activity for ecommerce websites and involves the use of marketing tools and content marketing.

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Topics: e-commerce

6 actions to combat e-commerce customer indifference

Posted by John Stoddart on 23-Feb-2015 09:30:00

Customers are critical to any business but especially for online commerce.  But, knowing customers are so important, how do we ensure that customers don't become indifferent to us?  In a world where competition is fierce and the customer seems to have all the options, what can you do to keep customers interested in you?

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Topics: e-commerce