Where are Online Retailers Focusing their Dollars?

The client I currently work with at Rosetta is a very large retailer and of course has been impacted by the economic downturn – hell, who hasn’t been?  Dollars are scarce and projects of all sizes are being evaluated and re-evaluated to ensure they will impact the bottom-line.

I have been spending more time over at shop.org, following the Strategy & Innovation 09 Forum that the National Retail Foundation (parent of shop.org) puts on each year.  Given the economic challenges that retailers are facing, this article on shop.org really caught my eye – Focusing Ecommerce Investing: Smartly Stretching Your Ecommerce Dollars While Still Innovating for Differentiation . It was a discussion with panelist from eBags, Patagonia and Bluefly.

Some similarities I found in each panelist’s comments about their focus -
- filtered navigation (guided navigation is different and somewhat specific to Endeca)
- SEO landing pages (marketing) and SEO in general
- better product content – descriptions, images, videos, make shopping exciting
- increase product lines
- reviews both online and across channels

eCommerce Scams

I am still shocked that after all the resources that people can reach on the internet that they still fall victim to scams.  I frequently read theconsumerist.org and once or twice a week they have an article about someone getting ripped off.  My first reaction is a “aw man, that’s stinks” but then you read into the story you think “wow, what an idiot”.  Maybe that is because I have been actively buying stuff on eBay since September of 2000 and using online retailers even longer than that.

I have been “ripped off” once through eBay.  I bought a pair of speakers for my 1991 Saturn SL1.  They were way underpriced, the feedback on the seller was iffy and there wasn’t very much of it.  But for $35 I was WILLING to take the risk – the retail price was over $150.  I completed the transaction through eBay’s website and paid via PayPal (with Credit Card).  Speakers arrived – one was blown, it sounded like high pitched fuzz.  My fault – that’s on me.  I lost $35 – no real harm here.  I could have went after the seller – but for $35, the cost to ship the bad ones back, etc – I’ll eat the $35, live and learn.