E-commerce

by Claudia Bruemmer Research shows that Chinese manufacturers plan to increase exports worldwide despite the pricing pressures. According to a survey conducted by Global Sources, growth projections are currently moderate, but respondents plan aggressive marketing efforts and hope to obtain substantial revenue growth by increasing global exports. The Global Sources survey included the mainland’s primary export centers of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, along with suppliers from Jiangsu and Shandong …

What should merchants do in case of cyber attack? According to security experts, they should disable their site as soon as they realize they are undergoing a hacking attack. It’s better to shut down an ecommerce site right away and put protections in place than to deny the problem and keep the site going since you can risk further damage.

It’s time to prepare for consumers hitting the malls during the holiday season. A great way for sellers to get theirs is to display goods at the mall. While mall space can be expensive, here’s an idea: why not set up a temporary kiosk for the holiday season? Buy4Store provides its Cart Concept, which helps sellers set up kiosks in local malls.

Wholesale liquidator Via Trading Corporation, a five-time Inc. 5000 honoree, has identified a trend over the last year showing that consumer goods liquidation operators saw a significant increase in the number of consumers starting their own small businesses reselling products on the secondary retail market. Via Trading believes this offers hope of financial freedom in the continuing economic downturn.

An online study conducted by ROI Research for performance marketing firm Performics in September and October 2011 found men are more likely than women to conduct social shopping activities online. This includes activities like product information and review information research, product comparisons, product availability check and store information retrieval via social networks, shopping sites and deal sites like Groupon and Living Social.

Did you know that less than 20 percent of the top retailers have dotMobi sites? While many leading retailers provide mobile commerce websites, few offer sites with mobile versions of every ecommerce site page. Another problem is the lack of redirects to mobile pages within these sites, which spells opportunity loss when it comes to converting customers during the holiday season and beyond.

Both B2B and B2C merchants have a lot to gain by making their sites user friendly for tablet customers. Did you know 26 million adults in the U.S. are using tablet computers? Forrester Research estimates that number will go up to 50.7 million in 2012 and reach 82.1 million by 2015. Forrester also reported at least 20 million of the 24.1 million new tablets sold this year will be iPads.

Google Wallet was released in September, and the company has recently added more merchants and expanded its features. For instance, users can now get automatic rewards, expanded and exclusive offers, and partnerships with a number of major merchants. You can watch a video showing the look of amazement as shoppers try out Google Wallet on the Google Mobile Blog.

Business-to-business marketing is growing at a rapid pace, but B2B marketers have many challenges to face. What are these challenges? The answer comes from the Marketing Sherpa 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, which surveyed B2B marketers about marketing barriers and top challenges to success. Facing these challenges in today’s market makes it more important than ever for wholesalers and manufacturers to identify these obstacles within their own organizations and develop solutions that will keep them competitive.

There are many factors to consider in product selection for resale. You might be selecting products to sell in a retail store, on eBay or at swap meets. Either way, product selection takes informed decision making. The choices are boundless, and the task can be complicated if you’ve never done it before. For instance, there has to be a demand for your product, and it must be profitable and something you have an interest in and know something about. Before committing to any products, there are factors to consider when making product selections.

The number of people accessing the mobile web is growing rapidly and is expected to overtake the PC as the most popular way to surf online by 2015. Mobile search is also growing at a fast pace, with Google estimating 40 percent of local searches are done on mobile right now, while Microsoft says 53 percent of its searches are mobile.

Demonstrating your products with video can boost online sales. It’s fun, entertaining and accessible for viewers and merchants alike. Videos are a big aid to making purchasing decisions, and they can be fairly easy to create. As a result, many web merchants are making product videos to increase conversions. Video can also give your site more visibility in search results. However, some online videos leave a lot to be desired. Below are some tips for making effective product videos.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law on September 23rd that requires large online retailers to collect sales tax from state residents starting September 15, 2012; notwithstanding preemption by any new federal law. The California law covers retailers making $500,000 or more a year in online sales to California residents.

fter nearly four months of testing, Google Wallet launched September 19th, providing mobile payment access to a select group of people. Initially, it has only a handful of merchant and retail partners, and has only one handset enabled with its Near Field Communication (NFC) system − the Sprint Nexus S. However, users will be able to affix a sticker to their phones making them NFC-enabled. Future Android handsets will have an embeded NFC chip.

With big expectations for the coming holiday season, savvy retailers and brand managers are getting their mobile sites ready for the onslaught of holiday traffic; and, for good reason. Google projected 15 percent of all searches will be made on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and these queries will be made from mobile devices. Google also estimates 44 percent of all December searches for last-minute gifts and store locations will be done on smartphones and tablets. But that’s not all.