The Glimpse app mimics Pinterest in certain aspects − it’s about social discovery and very visual. Images and videos are instantly descriptive; it’s no wonder ecommerce has discovered the power of imagery in selling product.

TheFind works with Facebook and the Open Graph to incorporate Like data from across the Internet to create its images. The app matches products in TheFind’s database with user Likes. The result is a virtual store window with brands and products Liked by Facebook users and their friends.

TheFind claims the experience is personalized “…based on what you have Liked before, sorted by popularity and the latest trends. We include products, stores and brands in the experience and you can shop right from here.”

Users’ Facebook Timelines and newsfeeds will show their interactions with Glimpse. So, if you click a product image, it will show up in your Timeline, viewable to all. However you can hide or delete Glimpses so they’re not visible to all. Any product can be clicked, taking users to the retail site for purchase. Users can also create catalogs, which contain a collection of products, very much like Pinerest boards. Naturally, catalogs can be shared with friends.

Facebook also has a section called Trendsetters’ Likes, which is visible to everyone and includes picks from various brands and fashion bloggers that TheFind works with. In the future, this could develop into ads/or sponsored trends.

This is a social shopping experience that should work well for Facebook, retailers and brands. Facebook will ultimately come under pressure to make (more) money from ecommerce and this could just be the ticket.

This scenario of posting images of popular products and styles could develop into the model for social shopping on Facebook, or other social networks, as Glimpse will soon have its own iPad app. Additionally, some of the social capabilities of the Glimpse app will also make their way back to TheFind’s main site.

Glimpse works only with Facebook right now but TheFind says, “The technology powering Glimpse, however, allows easy assimilations of other social signals such as Tweets, Pins and +1s, which we might add in the future.”

Research by mobile analytics provider Flurry shows that “4 in every 5 mobile media minutes” is spent with apps versus a mobile browser. Since shopping apps are the rage these days, it is likely apps like Glimpse will be widely adopted by consumers. With mobile devices expected to outnumber laptops and computers, social shopping apps could become the new way to shop online.

The AlixPartners Home-Delivery Shopping Survey, which polled 1,000 adults nationwide between March 22 and 25, found that respondents were willing to wait at least five days for an ecommerce order to arrive if they got free shipping (75%) and some even said they would wait a full week (50%). Other consumers responded as follows:

• 12% said they’d wait only four days for an order that was shipped free
• 9% would wait up to three days
• 4% would wait up to two days

When asked why they don’t make online purchases, 36 percent of consumers said shipping costs were too high, especially for low cost orders. That means that shipping costs are the second most common reason preventing consumers from buying online, slightly behind the 37 percent who prefer to view, touch and feel an item before purchase.

The Home-Delivery Shopping Survey also found that free shipping has a stronger effect on consumers’ online shopping behaviors than having to pay sales taxes on Internet purchases.

• 59% said sales tax would reduce the likelihood of buying online
• 21% of respondents said having to pay sales tax would “greatly reduce” their online purchases
• 38% said it would “somewhat reduce” their purchases
• 41% of all respondents said it would have no effect on their online buying

The study also queried respondents about other reasons for not shopping online besides shipping and sales tax. Following are the reasons that consumers gave for not shopping online (percentage of consumers citing each reason among their top three reasons for not buying online):

• 20% said difficulty of returning an item
• 17% cited potential for purchases to be lost or damaged in transit
• 13% had concerns about getting the right item delivered
• 10% cited difficulty getting an item into the house once delivered
• 10% said delivery times are too long
• 3% said they can’t track items while in transit
• 3% said they needed but couldn’t get guaranteed weekend delivery

It appears that offering free shipping is a good incentive for getting more online sales; however, merchants need to calculate their break-even point, which is the point where the margin on an order equals the cost of shipping. You can calculate the break-even point by using a range of average shopping-cart values and then calculating both the average margin and the average cost of shipping for different cart sizes. This allows you to set a minimum order value where you can offer free shipping and still maintain a sufficient margin. CCD Consultants offers a break-even analysis (BEA) calculator that will calculate the break-even point for you and also explains the terms used for calculating the BEA.

Creating Brand Identity: Global Village Concerns provides a fundamental shift in the way that schools and non-profit organizations raise money. At the same time, it increases visibility and community support with its wealth of marketing and branding resources.

GVC’s team of world-class branding experts will first assess the organization’s needs, making suggestions to build their brand image through its B1self branding program. They also take the necessary steps to legally protect the brand’s identity.

B1self is about organizations expressing themselves, as well as uniting their entire community around a common cause.  Through CVC’s unique B1self branding program, the company creates a custom-designed B1selfShop.com online store for their clients. This can leverage the client’s brand much like the way that colleges and professional sports teams operate. As a result, schools and non-profits will be able to generate revenue and fuel community support through the B1self program.

The end result is a fundamental shift in the way schools and non-profits raise money. Through branding, expert marketing and social ecommerce, Global Village Concerns builds, organizes and activates the client’s existing community to rally around the cause, generating support and money for non-profits.

GVC can ignite a non-profit’s cause, creating excitement and commitment from its community base.  It requires very little effort from the non-profit itself or anyone in its community. There are no upfront costs for the B1self branding program. The program is free and the organization gets 20 percent back on all sales generated.

Here’s How It Works: Global Village Concerns will create a custom designed B1selfShop.com store around your cause.  Your community members can purchase directly or create a gift registry from your store.  With each sale, 20 percent of the retail purchase price goes back to support your cause. A sample of an online store is shown below.

Non-profits can get branding and raise money worldwide every day of the year, 24/7, with the B1selfbranding program. Schools and non-profits can raise funds from half-way around the world, and even while they sleep using the B1selfShop.com platform. Organizations save the extensive time and effort required for traditional fundraising and continue to collect revenue as sales are made from their online stores.

Global Village Concerns: 4350 Executive Drive, Suite 201
San Diego, CA 92121

Toll Free:  (888) 501-1577
Phone:  (858) 768-7444
Fax:  (858) 768-7460
Email: info@globalvillageconcerns.com

What Causes Shopping Cart Abandonment?

While there can be a number of causes for abandonment, including the size and color of the buttons or user-friendliness of the software, below are the major reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

• Anxiety over having chosen the right product
• Fear over the security of giving out credit card details
• Confusion about how to checkout
• Anxiety over not having found the best deal
• Website error
• Shopper didn’t have or like the payment options

The chart below from eMarketer gives a few more reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

As you can see, there are a number of reasons for cart abandonment, and it’s a persistent problem for web merchants. So, why not try to recover some of those shoppers who abandoned their carts? Only 16 percent of online merchants send shopping cart abandonment emails, yet cart recovery emails get higher conversion rates and ROI than regular email, giving merchants a good chance of saving sales at a fairly low cost.

Cart Recovery Missed Opportunity

The chart below from the Conversion Rate Optimization Report by eConsultancy shows that 54 percent of companies queried do not target cart abandoners vs. the 26 percent that do. Removing the 20 percent that said cart recovery is irrelevant, you get 68 percent percent that don’t and 32 percent that do.

Cart recovery can be one of the biggest missed opportunities in ecommerce optimization. To get the most from your retargeting efforts take a look at the four tips below.

 1.      Timing

Don’t delay. It‘s important to strike while the iron is hot. Your conversion rate can increase while the aborted sale is still top of mind.

SeeWhy research analyzed data from over 60,000 abandoned carts and found that 54 percent of all carts that are successfully recovered are won back within the first few hours after abandonment. An additional 10 percent can be recovered within 48 hours, and at the end of 7 days, 82 percent can be recovered.

Conversion rates for real-time recovery emails are 11 percent compared to 6 percent and 3 percent for 24 hours and 7 days, respectively. Open rates are also higher for real-time triggers:  60 percent vs. 55 percent after 24 hours and 50 percent after 7 days. Revenue per email is $11, $4, and $3, respectively.

Instant emails also reduce the risk that your customer converts before your batch of recovery emails are sent out for the day, saving the embarrassment of an irrelevant email, or angering the customer because they could have received a discount if they had not completed their purchase.

 2.      Manual Vs. Automated Recovery Methods

The Econsultancy research noticed a shift from manual recovery methods to automated methods from 2010 to 2011. That’s a good sign because software is smarter, faster and more accurate than doing it manually.

3.      Send Series of Emails

You can use a series of three emails, one in real-time, one after 24 hours and one after 7 days. Make the copy and creative of your emails slightly different to reflect different timing and to stagger offers. Your first email can be just a friendly reminder, while subsequent messages would offer special deals. Segment recipients who didn’t open the first email, opened but didn’t click, and opened and clicked, targeting them accordingly.

 4.      Segment and Test Different Creative

You can also trigger certain types of messages and offers depending on what was in the cart. For instance, high ticket items can afford a free shipping offer better than lower priced items. Some product categories may have a long sales cycle to purchase. In that case, reminders rather than discount offers are more effective. The more exclusive your product, the less you need to offer discounts.

In closing, it’s smart for web merchants to retarget shopping cart abandoners with cart recovery emails as conversion rates are high when you retarget early and strategically. Don’t let cart recovery be a missed opportunity for you.

Last week, Google introduced some new features in search results that make search more social and tie in with its Google+ social network. This latest change is called Search Plus Your World. The new features will display personal results in the SERPs, mostly from the Google+ network. Search Plus Your World is available to users who are signed in to Google and searching on https://www.google.com in English. The following features will now be integrated into your search results: People, Pages, and Profiles.

Google says it wants to enable its search engine to not only understand content, but also people and relationships, making it more social. Below is a brief description of the three new features.

1. Personal Results: Lets you find information that’s only relevant to you, such as Google+ photos and posts. You will see your own and those shared specifically with you.

2. Profiles in Search: Available in autocomplete and results, this feature enables you to immediately find people you’re interested in.

3. People and Pages: This helps you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic, enabling you to follow them with just a few clicks.

These results will contain data from the Google+ network rather than Facebook or Twitter. Google says the reason for this is due to their terms of service with social networks like Facebook and Twitter that do not allow them to crawl those networks deeply. However, Google is open to crawling other networks in the future. Below are some examples of what you can do with the new features.

Personal Results: Say you’re in the market for a big ticket item and want to know what experience others had with various brands. Of course, you can search the web; but who can you trust? That’s why most people prefer to learn what their friends think. Here’s what you can find with Search Plus Your World.

• Google+ posts. You can find relevant Google+ posts from friends talking about the car they just bought, or a home entertainment console. You’ll likely find links shared by your friend talking about their buying experience with various brands.
• Photos. You might find great photos of your friends’ car or some other product right in your search results page. You can also find your own private photos from Google+ and Picasa, based on captions, comments and album titles.

Google+ Profiles in Search: Google states in its blog: “Every day, there are hundreds of millions of searches for people. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the person you’re looking for. Once you do find him or her, there’s no quick way for you to actually interact. Starting today, you’ll have meaningful ways to connect with people instantly, right from the search results.”

When you type the first few letters of a person’s name, Google autocompletes it and displays their own search results page, which includes their Google+ profile page and “other relevant web results.” Once you’ve found the person you’re looking for, you can see every single web result for them, excluding others with the same name.

People & Pages: If you search for a topic like [music] or [soccer], you might see prominent people who frequently discuss this topic on Google+ appearing on the right-hand side of the results page. You can connect with them on Google+, strike up meaningful conversations and discover entire communities in ways that simply weren’t possible before.

Control: You can control your results on Google Plus Your World with a prominent new toggle in the upper right of the SERPs where you can see what your search results look like with or without personal content. By clicking the toggle, users can view search plus your world results or non-personalized results.

Security: Last, but not least, Google says it sets a high bar for Search Plus Your World when it comes to security and privacy by providing SSL encryption. Therefore, when you’re signed in to Google, your search results, including your private content, are protected by the same high standards of encryption as your Gmail messages.

Retailers may have heard about the increasing popularity of catalog apps for tablets, especially the iPad. For instance, Google Catalogs is a shopping app for tablet computers. It is currently available for the iPad and Android tablets, delivering virtual catalogs to shoppers from merchants such as Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Macy’s, Pottery Barn and more. Catalog shopping apps allow consumers to browse, shop and share their favorite brands while tracking items and sharing with friends on social networking sites.

Forrester Research released a recent survey showing that various retailers are using catalog technology. While only 9 percent of web shoppers own tablets at present, 20 percent of all mobile commerce sales originate on tablets. Forrester also reports that 60 percent of tablet owners have used their devices to browse and 40 percent prefer to use tablets even when a personal computer is handy.
Experts say there are three reasons contributing to the preference for tablets.

1. The tablet has a much larger screen, enabling shoppers to analyze products more closely so they can easily visualize a potential purchase before they buy. This functionality is not possible on the tiny smartphone screen.
2. The tablet’s thin design allows shoppers to travel and take their tablets no matter where they go, allowing them to shop anytime anywhere.
3. Tablet catalogs are more interactive then paper catalogs, and they provide retailers with a new way to advertise their products.

Since the iPad came out in April 2010, a number of catalog aggregator apps have launched, including Catalog Spree, Catalogue by TheFind, Coffee Table and Google Catalogs. Last month, Prestimedia introduced the CustomPad, an all new virtual catalog app. CustomPad enables users to shop either online or offline and offers the ability to purchase products directly from the app rather than switch back and forth from app to website.

TheFind’s catalog for the iPad includes popular stores like Crate & Barrel and Sephora. This app provides potential customers with individualized catalogs designed specifically for them based on their interests and previous purchase habits. In addition to the catalog aggregator apps, some retailers have created tablet catalogs of their own.

Will tablet catalogs become the next big thing? The DMA reports that marketers mailed 12.74 billion catalogs in 2010. That’s down from 19.44 million in 2006. According to a recent online survey by the Wharton business school and research firm Verde Group, catalogs account for a mere 1.4 percent of retail sales compared to 22 percent for web sales.

Experts say tablet catalogs are not going to replace paper catalogs any time soon. However, the cost of a tablet catalog for catalogers is minimal as they have all the creative elements currently in place for their print catalogs. Since the connection between an app and an ecommerce site is straightforward, aggregators are selling the idea to many retailers.

Who knows if consumers will adapt tablet-based catalogs or continue to prefer the good old-fashioned print versions? It remains to be seen. However, it can’t hurt to offer your customers and prospects a virtual catalog as part of your marketing effort. It extends your brand reach as well as customer relationships while providing the potential to increase sales.

Earlier this week, Amazon and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced an agreement to the effect that Amazon will voluntarily start collecting Indiana sales tax on web purchases January 1, 2014. However, there is a backlash from Indiana retailers who want Amazon to start collecting now. They oppose the deal because they believe Amazon has the capability to start collecting taxes now, and the delay continues to give unfair advantage to online retailers.

It is estimated uncollected online sales taxes in Indiana total $75 million a year. Of that estimated total, Amazon sales tax revenue would range from $20 to $25 million per year.

Currently, online retailers without a physical presence in the state do not have to collect sales tax on Internet purchases. As ecommerce has increased in recent years, the exemption from Internet sales taxes has come under fire by brick and mortar retailers in several states. In September, Amazon made an agreement to collect web sales taxes in California beginning September 2012.

Many elected officials and legislators believe the only answer to Internet sales tax problem is a federal solution that treats all retailers and all states alike. Amazon has made agreements or tax collection with several states so far. Some states have enacted legislation that requires large online retailers collect sales taxes. Amazon’s immediate solution was to stop dealing with those states. However, it now sees the handwriting on the wall and has been making agreements to collect taxes with various states individually.

Early last year, Illinois adopted a law requiring online retailers with a physical presence in Illinois to begin collecting sales taxes. Amazon avoided the issue by dropping its Illinois affiliates, which typically earn commissions for directing shoppers to an online store.

Amazon’s agreement with Indiana is similar to others it signed last year with California and Tennessee, where the retailer has agreed to proceed with plans to invest in new distribution facilities that would result in thousands of new jobs. Amazon has also been lobbying for federal legislation, but the effort could take until 2013 to get final legislation through.

Amazon currently collects sales tax in the state of Washington, where its headquarters is based; in Kansas and Kentucky, where it maintains distribution centers; in North Dakota; and in New York, where it is collecting sales tax while awaiting the result of a court case on a New York law requiring online retailers to collect sales tax if they get sales leads from in-state affiliate web sites such as blogs.

Another giant web-only retailer, Overstock.com recently proposed that states provide merchants with tax-collection software and to cover the cost of using it. The “Equity in Sales Tax Collection Act Bill” proposed by Overstock contends it would be more fair to retailers than the pending sales tax bills under consideration in Congress.

Overstock proposes that states provide the software that would automatically compute and report to the states the proper sales tax amounts of each retail transaction. Overstock suggests that states could provide such software to work with bricks-and-mortar store cash registers, point-of-sale systems and online billing programs. That would level the playing field among retailers by taking the sales tax collection responsibility away from store retailers rather than adding collection duties to web-only retailers.

Overstock’s proposal wants retailers relieved of liability for errors made in calculating sales tax, and it would allow retailers to retain at least 2 percent of the sales tax collected. The proposal also wants the states to reimburse the software  providers with a minimum of 3 percent of the amount of sales tax collected in each retail transaction.

With all this activity in legal agreements and proposed legislation, and with the big retailers that originally were adamant about not collecting Internet sales taxes making  proposals for sales tax collection, it won’t be long before sales taxes come to ecommerce.

One of the keys to maintaining a successful business is interaction with the consumer. Most of us rely on face to face interaction, and alas, it often fails as we are relying on a number of people on our team. This Christmas, I received a number of Christmas cards from clients, all of which were appreciated. But one stood out, the card from Brownfalconer. I include a picture of the card with this article.

What made this card stand out was that it created an interaction between the receiver and the giver. They have targeted the card very well; it is a real “toys for the boys” marketing campaign.

The lesson we can all learn from this card is that the more we interact with our consumer, the more we are likely to be top of mind in the consumer’s mind.

Take a look at your marketing strategy and ask yourself how you are using interaction to grow the awareness of your business. In today’s marketing environment, it needs to be more than “old fashioned customer service.” I am not knocking that, but it’s just that it normally does not make you stand out from the crowd.

Brownfalconer did it by creating a cut out Christmas card, an interaction that could take place without a human face to the business. Each consumer could take their own time to interact.

Think about your strategy for 2012 and think about the following points:

1. Are the team “day makers” and interacting with your customers or are they just serving and processing people?

2. Have you developed an interactive marketing campaign that allows your consumer to engage with your business at their leisure and in their own time?

3. Are you making it easy for the consumer to interact with your business?The more you can engage the consumer in 2012, the more successful your business will be.

Now excuse me while I get my scissors and cut out a car…

John Stanley of John Stanley Associates provides conference presentations, workshops and consultancy to the retail industry in 30 countries. He can be contacted at john@johnstanley.com.au.

TopTenWholesale’s newsroom has been publishing wholesale and retail news over the last six years, and our blog has been around since 2005. What articles do you think caught the attention of our readers over the last 12 months? To refresh your memory, below are the articles and highlights for our most popular stories of 2011.

Top Ten Flea Markets in the USA: This article covered the top ten flea markets in the US, from California to Texas to New York with many other states in between. Attending a flea market is a fun experience and most people find at least one good bargain. Maybe that’s why this article was the most popular piece ever. If you missed it, you may want to click the link and take a look.

Buying Liquidation Merchandise and Closeouts: Maybe due to the economy and people losing their jobs, this article was in high demand by those interested in buying overstocks, closeouts and customer-returned merchandise from major retail stores for reselling in stores, on eBay, at local flea markets and online. It’s a good business if you know how to attain low-cost inventory. This is a business where you can purchase for pennies on the dollar and sell at a profit with a little business acumen and sales experience.

Top Wholesale Predictions for 2011: We took a look at what would be the hot products of the year and shared the information with our audience. In 2011, the biggest draws were in electronics with digital products set to be big sellers. Yet, many non-tech products also made the grade. We’ll be writing another piece of predictions for 2011 once we have the data to make some predictions for this year.

Retailers Are Drop Shipping to Save Capital: As retailers felt the recession, they started looking for ways to increase sales without using too much capital. The perfect solution for many was to use drop shipping because this allowed them to take orders online without having to stock inventory. The fact they could ship directly from suppliers saved them money, too. With low overhead, zero investment, no warehousing and shipping to worry about, many retailers went this route in 2011.

A Mini Guide to SEO for Wholesale Suppliers: Last year, wholesale suppliers needed to allocate marketing dollars wisely. SEO remains one of the most successful and cost-effective online marketing tactics, so we decided to review the latest SEO techniques. Keyword research, title tags, meta descriptions, link building and on-page content optimization can go a long way toward gaining better rankings, traffic and conversions.

9 Tips for Preparing Your Website for Holiday Traffic: It’s smart for online merchants to start planning website improvements for year-end holiday traffic in July because if you’re unprepared, heavy traffic can temporarily shut down your site for hours or even days. Our 9 tips suggested what you might work on − things like easy navigation, wish lists, registry options, smart coupons, rewards, global payments, live chat and help desk options.

As Shoppers Move Online, Retailers Go Digital: It used to be that most people shopping for clothes, shoes, electronics or whatever went to local malls or neighborhood stores. However, now that the Internet is available 24/7, consumers have left the malls for online stores and virtual showrooms. That means brick and mortal retailers must be creative to keep their customers. TopTenWholesale tells these businesses how to upgrade their marketing strategy.

Priceless Pricing: While consumers have always been price sensitive, they seem to be more so today than ever before. Actually, the new Gen X and Y consumers are even more price sensitive than older consumers. John Stanley gives some advice on pricing strategies and examples of effective consumer pricing you can use to get more conversions.

7 Tips for Optimizing Images and Videos for Your Site: Whether you’re a supplier or a retailer, you’re likely to have a lot of product images and even videos on your site. These are digital assets that need to be optimized for top rankings, and if you’re not doing this, you’re leaving money on the table. We give you the top SEO tactics for optimizing your images and videos, which you can use to attract more traffic and conversions.

5 Tips for Creating Effective B2B Newsletters: Since email is one of the most popular online marketing strategies, all B2B marketers should take advantage of the power of email to enhance their image and sell more product. Email is a cost-effective way to nurture your customers and prospects by creating and maintaining relationships over time, namely throughout the long B2B sales cycle. Top Ten Wholesale gives you five important tips for creating effective B2B newsletters.

B2B Merchants Must Optimize for Mobile and Tablets: Smart B2B merchants will be optimizing their sites for mobile and tablet users since they will soon outnumber computers and laptops. More and more of your customers can now connect directly from their handheld devices, and that means your website must visually accommodate all these users. Top Ten Wholesale tells you how to minimize your site while maximizing your visibility in the SERPs.

Google Product Search Drives Merchant Sales: Google Product Search continues to be very important for online merchants because this price comparison shopping service helps drive customer traffic to merchant websites by displaying their products in the organic links. While not all online merchants use Google Product Search, it offers retailers the opportunity to display specific products in search results. Top Ten Wholesale tells you the benefits of Google Product Search and how to submit your product feed for display in search results.

If you are a retailer, now is the time to take advantage of the consumer couponing trend. Social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter can be key tools for merchants that want to connect with their customers and acquire new ones in a cost-effective way. Coupon sites like Groupon, Living Social and others have become very successful, sometimes at the expense of the very merchants providing discounts on their goods and services. Read on for tips that can help prevent that from happening to you.

Some retailers offer their own online deals, which can help protect their margins and focus on “problem” merchandise. However, the advantage of coupon sites is their wide reach to potential shoppers who may not be on the merchants’ contact list.

Why Do Consumers Like Daily Deals?
Research shows Daily Deals extend beyond merely saving consumers money; they provide a layer of emotional and social satisfaction for consumers such as:

• Sophistication: Daily Deals make consumers feel like they’re in on an exclusive secret because the daily deal sites require membership and consumers feel that they’re in the know.
• Empowerment: Consumers are empowered to do what they love more often because the daily deal allows them to indulge in more luxuries on a regular basis.
• Higher Perceived Value: Consumers felt these deals provided better value than coupons and other discounts because they are more meaningful, relevant and convenient.

Following are the implications based on what the consumers said:

• Daily Deals are here to stay because consumers love them. Therefore, they should be part of the discussion when brands are planning marketing initiatives.
• Daily Deals are enabling consumer to feel spontaneously indulgent, so brands should use them as a way to surprise and delight, while understanding how, where, when and how much.
• Daily Deals are about much more than short-term sales. They provide consumers with social and emotional benefits and therefore, brands need to take into account all the intangible benefits and not just look at dollars and cents.

Leveraging Coupon and Daily Deal Sites
Wouldn’t you like to learn more on how to leverage these coupon and daily deal sites to your benefit? First, it’s important take inventory of the requirements and your assets to ensure you are ready for this kind of promotion. You must determine if it’s consistent with your business plan, if the idea is relevant to your target audience, and if you have the staff to execute and deliver high volume orders without losing margin.

If it’s a go, you might want to offer a coupon or daily deal through a company like Groupon or Living Social. Concentrate on the tips below to ensure profitable sales with these promotional tools.

Provide a Compelling Offer: Get the attention of the coupon company first, and then the consumer. For instance, rumor has it that one coupon provider has more merchants competing for its offers than it can handle, so you might want to try several providers to close the best deal. PayPal, the payments division of eBay, plans to start offering daily deals in the first quarter of 2012, so that’s another option.

Offer something in your inventory that will drive significant sales volume. Make the offer profitable, both for your company and the coupon site, as some retailers and service providers have actually lost money on deals after the coupon site takes its commission. Focus on ways to encourage the new customers to come back for more and partner with key vendors on the margin consequences of the offer.

Prepare for High Volume Sales: First, make sure you have enough inventories to support the offer, especially in the initial rush. Secondly, make sure you have a trained staff to accommodate a rush of orders. Prepare for high-volume days to make a good impression on your new customers.

Collect Contact Information: A successful coupon promotion will drive a lot of new customers into your store or website. Be prepared to capture contact information such as names and email addresses. Then use this data to drive repeat business, long-term loyalty and higher-profit sales. It’s okay to work on a slim margin on a narrow offering, but only if you can get these bargain-hunters back on a regular basis.

There’s a lot to consider before stepping into online couponing, and the key is to have a plan and the necessary support in place before generating your coupon ideas. Make sure your product/service offer attracts sales and brings the coupon customers back so your venture into couponing delivers future sales and profitability.

As the 2011 holiday shopping season moves into its final weeks, research indicates ecommerce sales growth is greater than that of offline stores. Due to the increasing consumer preference for online shopping, major retail chains have been keeping their doors open 24 hours.

The U.S. Department of Commerce released early retail sales estimates for November that show total retail sales increased 6.7 percent in November. However, sales at non-store retailers increased at more than twice that rate (13.9 percent). The Commerce Department says ecommerce and mail-order sales make up over 75 percent of the non-store retailer subsector.

According to the Commerce Department, total retail sales increased 0.2 percent from October to November, whereas non-store retail sales grew 1.5 percent on a month-to-month basis. The November estimates show that physical stores are continuing to lose ground to ecommerce retailers during the decisive holiday sales period. Non-store retailer sales accounted for 8.7 percent of total adjusted retail sales in November, versus 8.2 percent in November 2010 and 7.8 percent in November 2009.

Early research data for December from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index show a continuing trend: store sales grew 2.9 percent year-over-year for the week ended Dec. 10th. In tracking web sales, comScore reports online sales increased 15.7 percent for the week ending Dec. 9th, compared to the same period last year. Additionally, Green Monday (the second Monday in December) experienced an overall sales increase of 19 percent compared with the same time period in 2010. ComScore estimates approximately 30 percent of all consumer electronics sales in the U.S. are currently purchased online, as online consumer electronics sales grew more than 15 percent during the third quarter versus the same time a year ago.

Best Buy reported its same-store sales of consumer electronics declined 4.8 percent during the third quarter ended Nov. 26, compared with the same quarter last year. The electronics retailer also reported that same-store sales (including BestBuy.com sales) increased almost 1 percent during the quarter. On its own, BestBuy.com revenue increased 20% percent year-over-year during Q3.

Because of the above trends, many store retailers have announced they will extend their hours to capture sales before Christmas. Sears announced most stores will stay open until midnight starting Wednesday (today) and lasting through Friday, December 23rd. Department store chain Macy’s said it will have 14 stores open 24 hours a day in the final days before Christmas and another 27 stores will be open until 2 a.m. On top of that, online-only retailer Amazon.com extended its deadline to qualify for its free super saver and standard shipping until Dec. 19th.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his delegation left for China, Japan and South Korea Sunday, December 4 to boost investment, trade and tourism in Los Angeles. The OnGreen Chinese Roadshow joined the Mayor’s delegation in China, as did Jason Prescott, CEO of TopTenWholesale/Manufacturer.com, who left Saturday to meet with Jiaozhou City leaders for executing a Memorandum of Understanding between Jiaozhou, Manufacturer.com and China Mart Los Angeles that will create jobs and foreign investment in Los Angeles.

The photo above shows Mayor Villaraigosa shaking hands at the China World Hotel in Beijing with the CEO of Z-Park (Zhongguancun Science Park) with Prescott and Nikhil Jain looking on at the far right. The group was en route to former treasury secretary Henry Paulson’s conference on urban sustainability.

When asked what TopTenWholesale.com and The ChinaMart Group has to gain from this trip, Prescott said, “Our Company has had a deep rooted interest in China for many years. Bringing some of the key relationships we have in many sectors to the attention of the city will further economic activity in Los Angeles at a time when job growth, foreign investment and tourism are at the forefront of everyone’s agenda.” Continuing, Prescott added, “We hope that by obtaining favorable conditions to expand in Los Angeles for the Chinese businesses and governments we represent will encourage them to invest in one of the world’s greatest and most diverse economies can easily be made.”

OnGreen Chinese Roadshow

Los Angeles-based OnGreen, the green technology business marketplace, selected a number of Los Angeles-based entrepreneurs, to participate in its road trip to China with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Companies in the roadshow include business-to-business global trade platform for sourcing manufacturers Manufacturer.com based in Los Angeles, wholesale sourcing platform TopTenWholesale based in Los Angeles, along with 350Green, a company designing a network of EV charging stations, BeiAng Technology, a developer of air purification technology; Cogent Energy Systems, which creates waste-to-energy technology; Eutricity, a building energy-optimization firm; and Bacterial Robotics/Pilus Energy, which develops electricity and biogas from waste technology. OnGreen’s road show and trip to China is co-hosted by the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. OnGreen is also backed by a number of Chinese investors.

The roadtrip’s goal is to match top U.S. companies with potential investors and partners from around the world. Companies must either be based in Los Angeles or have plans to establish business there to be eligible. Events will be held in Shanghai, Chongqing and Beijing.

Over the 11 day trip, the Mayor will visit Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai in China; Tokyo and Sendai in Japan; and Seoul in South Korea. He will speak to business and trade groups, host receptions for customers of the city’s port and airports, and meet with business and political leaders. “The future of Los Angeles is tied closely to our neighbors in the Pacific Rim,” said the Mayor. “We must leverage our assets in this global marketplace to create jobs here in Los Angeles,” he added.

The businessmen joining the mayor are an elite group including a former White House chief of staff, a former U.S. commerce secretary, a top official at an investment management firm, two top officials from a rapidly expanding fashion firm and the head of the U.S. pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

China’s market promises tremendous potential, and it will import a huge amount of goods over the next five years, with a value as high as 8 trillion dollars. Los Angeles has been playing the role of a bridge between China and the U.S., and plans to take advantage of this opportunity by further promoting its cooperation with China.

Mayor Villaraigosa’s visit to China will further strengthen the friendly relationship between Los Angeles and Chinese cities, promote bi-lateral and two-way trade and investment, while attracting more Chinese visitors to Los Angeles. “We are uniquely ready for continuing to grow trade, tourism and investment with China,” said the Mayor, “and have added three daily non-stop flights this year between Chinese cities and Los Angeles.”

For the most part, spending surged this year because of the three ecommerce billion-dollar sales days − Cyber Monday, which has proven to be the most lucrative day for U.S. ecommerce yet, along with the two days that followed, November 29th and November 30th. The only other billion-dollar day in the history of ecommerce was last year’s Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving.
For the week ending December 4th, ecommerce spending went over $5.80 billion, up 15 percent from the same week last year, comScore said. However, the potentially soft part of the holiday shopping season for online retailers is yet to come, according to Gian Fulgoni, comScore’s chairman.

“We are now entering the portion of the season when online retailers typically reduce their promotional activity as they attempt to restore their margins, which can sometimes contribute to temporary softness in spending growth rates,” said Fulgoni. “However, this will likely be immediately followed by an acceleration in the spending rate as we approach the middle of December, which is sure to bring us several more billion dollar online spending days,” he added.

High income consumers account for the growth in online holiday spending, with households that earn between $50,000 and $99,000 per year increasing their online spending the most, comScore said. The mid-income households are spending $175 per buyer, up nearly 20 percent from $146 at the same point last year. Households that earn more than $100,000 per year are spending $186 per buyer, up 16% percent from last year; whereas, households that earn less than $50,000 per year are spending $134 per buyer, down 1 percent from last year.

“We have seen some indications that mid-income Americans might be experiencing austerity fatigue,” said Fulgoni. “After spending the last couple of years increasing their personal savings in an effort to get their finances in order, some appear to have decided they are done with penny pinching and are increasing their spending by taking advantage of the many promotions and price discounts that online retailers have been offering in the first half of the holiday shopping season. The appeal of lower prices that can be found on the Internet is also undoubtedly a driver of the acceleration of the shift from in-store buying to ecommerce that we are witnessing among all income segments this season,” he concluded.

The number of households buying online has grown only modestly (3 percent) this holiday season to 119.7 million households, up from 116.2 million at this time last year. This is a departure from past years when the continuous increase in the number of online buyers drove growth; this year it is the 12 percent average increase in spend per buyer, said comScore.

Google’s Mobile Ads Blog revealed some interesting research that indicates tablets play the role of a third digital screen in consumers’ lives, filling the gap between desktops and smartphones. Because of questions about exactly how consumers use their tablets, Google explored tablet search trends to find the answers to a number of questions.

Following is the list of questions examined by Google on tablet use:

• What are the contrasts between tablet use, laptop use, and smartphone use and how are consumers engaging across these devices?
• What are the most common activities (playing games, searching, reading, etc.) that tablets are used for?
• What ads are most relevant and useful based on how people are using the devices?

Tablets Used for Entertainment, Laptops Used for Work

Google reported on a diary study that asked people to record every occasion when using a tablet over two-weeks. The study found that most consumers use their tablets for fun, entertainment and relaxation, while they use their desktops or laptops for work.

Since tablet devices are personal, 91 percent of the time that people used their tablets was for personal rather than work related activities. When consumers get a tablet, they move many of their entertainment activities from laptops and smartphones to this new device.

Tablets are quickly becoming a part of their owners’ daily routine. Google’s research found the most frequent tablet activities were checking email, playing games and social networking. Additionally, the researchers found people use tablets for shorter sessions during the week on things like social networking and email, while engaging in longer sessions on weekends for things like watching videos or TV movies.

Tablets are multi-tasking devices. The study reports at least 42 percent of activities occur while the user is doing another task or engaging with another entertainment medium. Of all the activities that people do on tablets, checking email, playing games, social networking and searching are used most frequently while watching TV. Many consumers also used their tablets to check email while eating, listening to music and even while cooking.

Tablets Are Used at Home More than on the Go

Unlike smartphones that go everywhere, and laptops that travel between work and home, few consumers take their tablets when they leave home. However, they will take their tablets on vacation or on work trips where they use them as a laptop replacement. A small number of users also take them on their commute. Interestingly, Google found that tablets are a one-person device, although some consumers share their tablet with family members.Tablets are mobile within the home, used frequently on the couch, in bed and in the kitchen.

Consumers Shop on Tablets

Consumers do a lot of window shopping on their tablets and are using them more and more to make purchases. In fact, tablets are a significant new way for people to shop this holiday season. Google also found that people are using their tablets for finding things in their local area, shopping (browsing and purchasing), and managing their finances.

Consumers Expect More Interactivity from Tablet Ads

Consumers will engage with useful, relevant and rich ads, using the handy touchscreen interface on tablets. However, they expect more interactivity from ads on tablets than they do from those on a desktop.

In conclusion, Google expects tablet ownership to continue to grow rapidly in 2012 and suspects that tablet usage may morph over time as smaller devices come to market.

A Shop.com Survey reports that half of online retailers plan special offers on Turkey Day. And over 90 percent of e-retailers will offer deals over the Black Friday holiday weekend, including discounts, coupons and free shipping.

A little over half of U.S. online retailers (51%) indicated they would tempt consumers on Thursday by offering special promotions good only on Thanksgiving Day, according to survey results released by Shop.org, the ecommerce branch of the National Retail Federal trade group. The report found nearly eight out of ten retailers will offer promotions on the first Monday after Thanksgiving, now known as Cyber Monday. Overall, 92.2 percent of online merchants will offer deals over Thanksgiving weekend, hoping to drive holiday sales as consumers enjoy turkey leftovers from the fridge.

The survey, conducted by BIGresearch for Shop.org, polled 1,685 consumers and 51 online retailers in September and October 2011. BIGresearch consumer insights director Pam Goodfellow said, “Consumers have come to expect the absolute best online holiday deals on Cyber Monday. Holiday shoppers love the idea of preparing for special online sales events as many begin scanning catalogs and retailers’ websites days in advance, marking gift items for their family, friends and even themselves.”

According to Shop.org, the specials on Cyber Monday will vary. For example, 45 percent of retailers will try to attract shoppers with coupons or percent-off deals, while nearly 38 percent will use limited-time discounts. On the other hand, 30 percent will offer free standard shipping, with unspecified conditions, while 15 percent plan to offer free gifts with purchases.

The Shop.org survey reports that employers will see a drop-off in productivity as the holiday shopping season heats up as 58 percent of consumers will shop from office computers this year.

Results from another survey by comparison shopping engine PriceGrabber.com polled 2,322 U.S. online consumers in September and October and found that only 12 percent of consumers plan to shop from work on Cyber Monday with 4 percent shopping from their mobile devices and 84 percent purchasing from home. While those consumers plan to shop early in the day, 33 percent plan to shop for gifts between 5 a.m. and 8:59 a.m., and another 29 percent hope to make purchases between 9 a.m. and 11:59 a.m. More men than women (36 percent vs. 31 percent) plan to shop in the morning.

“Our survey findings reveal that consumers are largely aware of the great deals and offers available on retailer sites on Cyber Monday, and we aren’t surprised to see them shop during the earlier part of the day or before arriving at work to take advantage of the great bargains before the best items are sold out,” said Graham Jones, general manager of PriceGrabber. “While most consumers plan to shop from a home computer on Cyber Monday, we expect mobile shopping to have an undeniable presence this year, allowing even busy commuters to make the most of what retailers are sure to offer.”

Thanksgiving Day is more than just tradition − it’s a time for reflection on what to be thankful for. And for U.S. Consumers, a time to shop. Happy Thanksgiving from all the staff at TopTenWholesale and Manufacturer.com!