A few weeks ago a few friends and I went out to grab some Margaritas on a Friday evening. I was prepared to spend $20 to $30 on the Margaritas, Queso dip and my Enchiladas. Three or Four ritas later, and a full belly, we received our bill. $15. Excuse me? I had at least three ritas, and dinner. The week before, my friend had purchased a Groupon to said Mexican restaurant for $45, but only had cost her $18. She was nice enough to use this towards our entire bill. What a steal! We received a $27 discount with the pre-paid Groupon. How had I missed this fenomenon?
Thus, began my obsession with the Groupon. I went home that evening and signed up on Groupon.com to receive emails with the latest Groupon in my area. The signup was nothing more than entering my email address at the top of the page to received daily ‘deals’. The idea behind Groupon, is that a business determines how many coupons they would need to sell to make it worth their while and provide this number to Groupon. Let’s say they would need to sell 100 coupons to make this deal happen. An email is then sent out to everyone who has signed up on Groupon.com with the deal of the day in their city, and once 100 people have purchased the Groupon, the deal is on. 100 people have to purchase the Groupon that day to make the deal happen. If not enough people purchase the Groupon to make the deal, the deal is canceled and there is no charge to the people that purchased the Groupon.
Groupon.com started in November of 2008 out of the Chicago based site, ThePoint.com. The Point is a platform that focuses on collective action, which ties into the concept of building a Group of people to purchase at discounted rates. Groupon focuses on local businesses and features local charities. They pride themselves on offering “too good to be true” experience and deals. Groupons are now offered in more than 150 cities around the world and have just recently acquired Japan’s Qpod Inc. and Russia’s Darberry Inc. as part of its international expansion.
Although Groupon is working on a patenting their idea, many others sites have started to join the group discount bandwagon. Here are just a few of the sites competing;
8Coupons – This site lists the top 8 deals in a specific city.
Buywithme – Almost identical to Groupon, but with a smaller number of cities represented.
Woot – Does not require a ‘group’ to purchase, but just offers daily deals on one product.
Livingsocial – Offers 1 Day Deals for wide range of cities in the US
Steepandcheap – Focuses on outdoor gear with 1 Deal a Day format.
Last Thursday Groupon hit a milestone when they their first nationwide Groupon for the Gap, with a $25 price for a $50 Groupon. The Gap Groupons started selling at an average of 10 Groupons per second! As of right now, this is Groupon’s bestselling deal. The deal was so big, Groupon’s site crashed at the end of the day on Thursday. With the success of the Gap Groupon, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more nationwide deals popping up on Groupon. If you haven’t already signed up to receive a daily deal day, visit Groupon to start saving.
Where do you shop for 1 Day Deals?
The human body was not designed to sit still in front of a computer for 12 hours a day. Yet, that is what most of us do on a daily basis. We sit still and move our fingers from the keyboard to the mouse, and answer our phones. It is almost impossible to get around the amount of time you sit still at your desk, and the little movement that your body makes.
This can ultimately cause poor circulation, joint pain, cramping, and potentially swelling.
How can you work your way around this sedentary type of work? Here are a few ways of keeping active, in a non-active environment.
- Stretch
- Arms: Roll your wrists 10 times in each direction a couple times during the day.
- Feet: Move your ankles and roll them a couple times during the day to prevent “pins and needles”.
- Calves: Flex your calf muscles by pointing your toes.
- Back + Shoulders: Roll your shoulders back 10 times a couple times during the day.
- Neck: Slowly move your head front to back and side to side (be cautious).
- Posture
- Consistently check your posture during the day
- Are you sitting up straight?
- Are your legs crossed? (uncross them)
- Are your feet flat on the floor?
- Is your monitor at eye height? (you should not be looking up or down)
- Make sure you are using a chair that is ergonomically designed and adjusted for your height. Alternatively, you can use a stability ball instead of a chair.
- Consistently check your posture during the day
- Down time
- Use any time that you do not have to be looking at the computer to get up and walk around. Get up from your desk at least once an hour.
- Eating + Drinking
- Make sure you are getting up from your computer during lunch (and maybe dinner).
- Drink plenty of water during the day. This will also help with getting up from your desk at least once an hour.
- Aerobic Activity (Non-Desk Exercise)
- Walk briskly for 10 minutes 3 times a day. This is simple to break down. Take 10 minutes mid-morning, 10 minutes after lunch and 10 minutes in the late afternoon. This will help increase circulation and will also give you a little break from the computer screen.
- Spend some time on the weekends and in the evenings walking or doing some light jogging for 30 to 45 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week.
If you need some more ideas on how to stay active at your desk, or just want to mix up your routine, check out this video.
Staying active is a vital part of our lives that can be easily neglected by the demands of our jobs. Take time during the day to think about moving. This will help you feel better, both physically and mentally. Taking the time to move can help cleanse your mind and release stress. Try doing some of these deskercises over the course of this next week and see how you feel!
Over the past week every other headline seems to be about privacy online. Google and Facebook have both been making headlines about questionable security practices. Each of these online giants touches our lives on a daily basis and it is important to stay on top of their security practices.
Google has many countries across the world are in an up roar about “accidental collection” of personal information from the public Wi-Fi Networks. Many countries, including the US, have started an investigation to whether or not they breached data protection and computer hacking laws. Google is claiming they overlooked this problem and that they did not use the gathered information for any other purpose then to improve services. Look for more headlines regarding Google’s oversight and how they will be correcting their privacy issues.
Facebook has been topping the headlines with their privacy settings issues that affect all of their 400 million users. So, what is going on with Mark Zuckerberg and all of his friends at Facebook? They have been receiving a lot of heat for their lack of privacy and bulky privacy settings page. The current privacy settings are defaulted to public, and you have to navigate your way through about 170 different granular settings to make the switch to having a more private setting. Facebook users have been voicing their concerns for months about the default privacy settings and awkward granular privacy settings page. Finally, Facebook has listened to the users and will be making significant changes to their privacy. The changes will include;
- Sharing
- One page of privacy settings that will have a default privacy setting, along with separate levels of privacy.
- Granular controls are still available to use, but do not have to be used.
- Basic Directory Information
- Less publically available information.
- Only necessary information for people to find you on the site.
- Platforms
- Control over what applications (Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc) and sites have access to your information.
You can read more about the updated privacy settings on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg also posted a nice blog and video today reviewing the changes to the privacy settings. These new privacy controls will start taking effect gradually over the next few weeks, so you won’t see them right away. If you are interested in changing your privacy settings, you can log into your Facebook account, go to Account, and select privacy settings.
How Does Your E-Store Compare?
Like many operators of online stores, I am constantly looking at our conversion rate. How did our sales this week affect our conversion rate for the month?
Did our site updates make a difference in our conversion rates? It is the figure that is always being analyzed.
My first encounter with conversion rates happened way before I become involved with e-commerce. I had just started working at a popular clothing store, and I was told by my manager on duty to make sure that I walked around the ‘head sensor’ when coming in and out of the store. Intrigued by all the employees walking sideways out the front door, I asked why it was so important that we all looked silly walking in and out of the store. I was told that little head counter was the source of my manager’s quarter bonus. She explained to me that the number of sales we have per day are divided by the number of heads that head counter detects, which equals our daily conversion rate.
When I started working with e-commerce sites, my first question was, ‘what should our conversion rate be?’ I think every person working with an e-commerce site has that thought, followed by ‘who has the best conversion rate?’
What should our conversion rate be?
Conversion rates are broken down by the industry in which you categorize site. To help see where you should be, Fireclick offers a great breakdown of industry conversion rates by Global, First Time Visitors and Repeat Visitors. They have industries broken down by Fashion and Apparel, Electronics, Catalog, Specialty, Outdoor and Sports, and finally Software. You can compare what the conversion rates are for this week, last week and see any % changes, along with a graph chart shown by week, month, or yearly.
Who is on top?
The Nielson Company collects data on the top ranking e-commerce sites by conversion rates. These conversion rates can be a little shocking when you are currently working to improve your conversion rate from 2.5% to 3%. Typically, these high ranking sites are catalog and subscription sites, and have abnormally high conversion rates.
Top 10 Online Retailers Based on Conversion Rate – Jan. 2010 (Min 500K Unique Visitors)
| eCommerce Site | Industry | Conversion Rate (%) |
| Schwan’s | Food | 45.80 |
| Amway Global | Beauty / Bath & Body / For The Home | 27.80 |
| Keurig | Coffee | 27.10 |
| vitacost.com | Vitamins & Supplements | 24.40 |
| 1800petmeds.com | Pet Medicine | 24.20 |
| Roamans | Woman’s Plus Size Clothing | 20.60 |
| DrsFosterSmith.com | Pet Medicine | 20.50 |
| Woman Within | Woman’s Plus Size Clothing | 19.10 |
| ProFlowers | Florist | 18.90 |
| Snapfish | Digital Photo Printing / Sharing Service | 17.40 |
Fireclick offers weekly average conversion rates that are an average of all industries, and will typically be more consistant with rates of non-subscription and catalog sites. These averages can be very helpful while comparing your conversion rates to averages. You can take your comparison one step further and look at the average conversion for keywords, emails and affiliates.
| Conversion Rates | This Week | Last Week |
| Global | 4.30% | 4.10% |
| First Time Visitors | 5.50% | 5.50% |
| Repeat Visitors | 3.00% | 2.80% |
| Marketing Conversion Rates | This Week | Last Week |
| Keywords | 3.30% | 3.20% |
| Emails | 3.70% | 3.40% |
| Affiliates | 7.60% | 7.80% |
Now that you have an idea what your industry average conversion rates are and who is on top, make sure your conversion rate is accurate, and compare your site!
The ever changing world of e-commerce is always exciting! No, really, it is. There are constantly new and innovative ways to create a better shopping experience for your customers, ideas on how to increase your conversion rates, and ultimate how to make your e-commerce site better.
There are a few different ways that we have found to keep up with e-commerce.
During the day I need the ‘extra’ noise, and podcasts are the answer to my prayers. Podcasts and audiobooks seem to be a constant on my itunes, but let’s face it, free podcasts are better for the budget. Shawna Fennell hosts a weekly podcast, eCom Experts. The eCom Experts is fairly new, debuting in November of 2009. She is very enjoyable to listen to and breaks down theories and ideas, so they are easy to understand. Subscribe to eCom Experts to hear her weekly podcast.
This blog is a must if you are involved in any way with e-commerce. Linda Bustos authors this awarding winning blog with the idea of helping e-commerce sites in every aspect of their business. You can find information on marketing, technical, and the latest trends in the e-commerce world. In addition to writing on the blog, Linda also has guest writes, to mix up the flavor. There are daily posts, and I have found them very relevant to our everyday operations of our e-commerce sites.
I know – it is a little broad. Avanish is the author of Occam’s Razor Blog, the best-selling book Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, and the new book, Web Analytics 2.0. He has also hosted analytics webinars, and is very involved with analytics education. He has his finger on the pulse of analytics! Following him on twitter, and keeping up with his publications can be very helpful.
These are my favorite three ways to keep up with e-commerce. Let us know where you find your update to date e-commerce information! I would love to expand this list.
I love getting coupons. The thought that I could save money on anything gets me very excited. Call me crazy, but I am that person that keeps a plastic bag full of coupons in my purse and a folder in my e-mail box entitled “coupons”. Just in case I am near a Chick-fil-a, I can use that coupon for the free chicken sandwich that they e-mailed me last week, or if I decide that I cannot live without a new jacket from J.Crew. I have a coupon code ready to be used for just about any occasion. To keep up with my love affair with coupons, I will freely give my e-mail address to just about any organization. Therefore, I receive an enormous amount of e-mails from a wide range of companies on weekly basis.
This past year the world of e-mail marketing has truly taken on a life of its own. The top three trends over the past year have to do with frequency, quality and social media.
Frequency
The frequency of e-mail marketing has sky rocketed in the past year. The once a month e-mail blast has developed into a very precise weekly, or some times daily e-mail with the upcoming sale dates, coupon code, or new product arrival information. Every occasion is proceeded with an e-mail marketing campaign. E-mails from J.Crew have almost become a staple in my inbox. They have developed an almost daily e-mail marketing campaign, mainly targeting sales due to the current economic climate.
Quality
Each of these e-mail marketing campaigns are designed with brilliant images, targeted information, and are tested in all e-mail formats. Direct links, and specific questions are being answered in the e-mail. Pottery Barn has consistently raised the bar with their quality of e-mail campaigns. Rotating images, nearest store locations, direct links to sale items, and catchy subject lines make Pottery Barn one of the better e-mail marketers.
Social Media Presence
The abundance of Twitter and Facebook Fanpages was not unnoticed in the e-mail marketing world. The footer of all most all of these e-mail campaigns you will find a “Follow us on Twitter” and a “Become our Fan on FaceBook”, along with a small incentive to do so. Land’s End made a big push this holiday season by sending out an e-mail campaign letting their customers know that if they signed up to become a Facebook Fan of the Land’s End Facebook Fanpage, they would be registered for a drawing of 3 $500 Land’s End gift cards.
As we begin 2010 review your e-mail campaign strategies, and evaluate the trends of 2009. Are your e-mail campaigns matching up with the competition?
