Taiwan shoppers are following global retail customer trends by shopping online via mobile devices. The Taipei Times reported that smartphone and tablet purchases are outpacing computer-based sales. Online sales made through PCs only increased 1.3 percent between 2012 and 2013, according to the latest data from Taiwan's Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute, as reported by the news publication.

While computer sales increased only slightly, purchases via mobile devices saw a massive surge in comparison. This sector of online shopping grew by 365 percent to become a much more formidable aspect of the retail industry in Taiwan. Mobile sales only came to about $152 per person (up from just $33 per person the previous year) compared to computer sales, which reached only about $575 per person in 2013, but the massive increase indicates a strong trend toward mobile shopping.

According to a report released in February by Digital Strategy Consulting, 68 percent of shoppers across the globe have made purchases on their mobile devices, and 60 percent rely on smartphones and tablets as their primary means of accessing the Internet. For this reason, online retailers may want to invest in ecommerce software that can function smoothly across any platform. Having a solid point of sale that is easy to navigate regardless of the device it's being used on can help drive sales.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014 at 11:07 am .

Buying clothing online can be a risky venture, as the products may not match their descriptions exactly, and this often results in consumers returning goods to online merchants. The rate of online returns of clothing ranges between 20 and 50 percent of purchases, according to various news sources, including the New York Daily Post. This highlights a need to provide better and more accurate information to shoppers. Reducing the rate of returns can help improve the customer experience and keep retail inventory management in line.

Consumers commonly return clothes due to poor fit, which can be traced back to a lack of transparency about the items. The Washington Post reported that technological options may be able to improve consumers' ability to get a more accurate idea of how clothing will fit before they buy. This has the potential to leave more customers satisfied in their purchases the first time around, scaling down the rate of returns.

Even with the best efforts and intentions, it's still likely that some shoppers will need to return or exchange items they purchase online. Retailers may be able to keep these customers coming back if they have solid return policies and easy-to-navigate ecommerce software to streamline the process. Online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos.com, for instance, includes a return shipping label with every purchase that makes it easy to box items up and send them back if they don't fit. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014 at 9:44 am .

Getting customers to visit your ecommerce website is only a small part of the battle, but converting a site visit to a sale takes more effort. There are a number of options for improving the customer experience of your online store, and each has its own advantages. 

Optimized content
With more consumers using mobile devices to browse online retail stores, it has become increasingly important for ecommerce sites to be functional and intuitive across all channels. Business 2 Community pointed out that shoppers may arrive on individual product pages and not necessarily the main website, which makes it essential to have optimized product pages that will be easy to navigate whether a customer is looking at it on a smartphone, tablet or computer screen.

Enhanced details
Adding more detail to your site, from more in-depth product descriptions to better photos of products, can help turn window shoppers into paying customers. Practical Ecommerce suggested including videos that show off products in a visually appealing way to give customers a better feel for items they might want to buy. You may also want to consider ecommerce software that creates more transparency when it comes to the point of sale. 

Streamlined point of sale
Many customers have abandoned their shopping carts when they found a retailer's POS software to be lacking. Streamlining the experience by eliminating redundancy can go a long way to reassure customers about their decision to make a purchase. According to Business 2 Community, having forms for both billing and shipping addresses can be a hindrance if customers have to fill out the same information twice. Offering an option to automatically copy the information from one to the other can be a good place to start. It's also important to make the checkout page of your site easy to read, featuring important details such as shipping options, payment selection and security information.

Shipping and payment options
Giving buyers options can make all the difference when it comes to completing a sale. A recent EConsultancy survey revealed that 50 percent of online shoppers have abandoned their carts because the delivery options weren't good enough. The survey also looked into what options consumers prefer. Fixed delivery dates ranked highest at 31 percent, while next-day delivery and in-store pickup rounded out the top three services shoppers want from online retailers.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, April 1st, 2014 at 10:00 am .

Small ecommerce businesses can reach a global audience when they leverage social media, which can help them garner attention for a wider customer base and drive sales. Marketing a brand through social media channels can prove effective at bringing in new customers, and using social ecommerce sites may be useful as well. 

Social ecommerce sites, such as Etsy and Zulily, give small businesses a unique outlet to sell their wares with setups that rival popular social sites like Pinterest and Instagram, according to Business 2 Community. Online retailers can take advantage of the social discovery aspect of sites like these to reach new consumers around the world. Ideally, retailers will want to bring these customers to their own sites, which means it will be key to have an intuitive point of sale that improves the shopping experience. Good POS software can help convert site visitors to completed sales.

When it comes to using social media in other ways, The Huffington Post suggested that engaging the audience involves more than posting relevant content. Responding to consumers and starting conversations about products and services can help bolster a brand's online presence. It's also important for retailers to do more than advertise their products, and adopt the 80/20 rule, the source pointed out. Roughly 80 percent of the content being posted should revolve around the overall interests of the target audience, while only 20 percent should focus on the brand itself, helping turn a business into a leader in its niche.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 31st, 2014 at 12:18 pm .

Optimizing ecommerce software for mobile use will prove to be useful as mobile shopping grows more popular. A recent ShopVisible survey found that mobile traffic accounted for 30 percent of all online retail traffic in 2013, and this will likely remain a strong component of the retail experience.

To take advantage of this trend, retailers should ensure that their websites are designed to be viewed on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. According to OuterBox, an ecommerce Web design company, 96 percent of smartphone users have looked up information on products with their devices, and another 65 percent have made at least one purchase a month using their smartphones. This makes it all the more important to ensure POS software is easy to use on mobile devices to encourage more of these purchases.

Having a mobile-optimized site is not all retailers can do to drive up online sales. Mobile advertising is another key area of focus. Gartner, Inc. recently predicted that the mobile ad industry will bring in $180 billion this year, increasing by nearly $5 billion from 2013. According to Business 2 Community, video ads for mobile devices will be a big part of this growth.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 31st, 2014 at 11:25 am .

Engaging consumers online to drive up sales is nothing new, but the latest retail customer intelligence revealed that the social media sector of retail marketing is growing and changing. Experian Marketing Services recently released a report that highlighted the growing importance of social media when it came to marketing, and Pinterest appeared to be growing more prominent.

"While search still dominates, social media is becoming a significant source of traffic across the Internet as consumers increasingly use sites like Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube more as discovery platforms," Bill Tancer, Experian Marketing Services' general manager of global research, explained. "… For retailers, all eyes are on Pinterest."

Overall, consumer traffic to ecommerce stores via social media sites jumped from 6.59 percent in March 2013 to 7.72 percent in March 2014. The main driver of this increase is Pinterest, a site where retailers and consumers can post, share and save photos of merchandise. The report found that 64 percent of retailers include Pinterest in their marketing emails, making it the social media site with the largest year-over-year increase in use by retailers.

Pinterest has been operating for about four years, but it is still relatively new compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter which have been around for 10 and eight years respectively. Retailers can use the site to advertise new products, highlight trends and encourage brand loyalty.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Saturday, March 29th, 2014 at 9:57 am .

The overall retail market has seen moderate increases in month-over-month sales, but retailers that target teenage shoppers are not doing so well, according to the latest retail customer intelligence. The New York Times reported that sales have been dropping for many teen apparel stores lately, due to fashion trend lulls as well as a shift in interest among this age group. A recent Thomas Reuters survey of retail analysts predicted a decline of 6.4 percent in sales by the fourth quarter, making it clear that retailers will want to develop new marketing strategies to bring customers in and make sales.

Where are teens shopping?
A recent survey conducted by StageofLife.com found that only 37 percent of high school and college students went shopping more than twice a month, and the majority (77.5 percent) preferred visiting brick-and-mortar locations to online shopping. However, this demographic may not have the spending power needed to bolster the sector. The NY Times pointed to high unemployment rates among teens, and the survey confirmed this. Only 27 percent of respondents used funds earned at jobs to shop, while 10 percent didn't have jobs or money to spend. 

How can you best market to this demographic?
Social media may prove to be the most useful tool in getting a sense of teenage retail customer trends, but retailers will want to look beyond typical outlets like Facebook and Twitter to reach this consumer group. Teens are less likely to be engaged on Facebook than older adults, as a marketing agency director explained to The Guardian that teenagers prefer more simplistic, direct forms of online communication. Connected apps like Instagram, SnapChat and WhatsApp may prove more lucrative platforms to engage this group

What else can you do to improve the shopping experience?
The current teenage population has grown up surrounded by technology, so having modern ecommerce software is a must. It may be worthwhile to consider adapting the point of sale systems in-store to improve the shopping experience. According to Sap, 30 percent of retailers are planning to upgrade their POS software in 2014.

Omnichannel strategies that allow shoppers to seamlessly switch between mobile, online and in-store shopping may also prove attractive to younger customers. SAP suggested that creating a consistent brand experience can take a while, and it may be better for retailers to approach integrating the shopping experience one step at a time for a more fluid transition.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, March 28th, 2014 at 6:54 pm .

The luxury retail sector has a new and growing consumer base – young urban males, or "Yummies." Researchers from HSBC recently looked into this demographic to learn more about who they are and what they're buying, and ecommerce retailers may want to take note.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the report detailed a few reasons for a surge in luxury sales among urban men in their 20s, but the primary factor seemed to be that they are getting married later in life. This means that more of their income is disposable, giving them the opportunity to make more purchases for themselves. 

Part of the reason they aim for luxury items is because they have an inherent need to establish their social status. Business Insider indicated that a big part of this is following trends, and much of this is done through social media. Yummies are finding out about the hottest new products from sites like Twitter and Instagram, highlighting the need for retailers to have a strong online marketing presence to attract shoppers.

Retailers that want to capitalize on this market can look into ecommerce software to expand their omnichannel offerings, making them more accessible to this digitally driven group of consumers.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 27th, 2014 at 8:32 am .

The National Retail Federation recently approached the Senate about finding a safer way to conduct secure transactions. Security is important for both your business and your customers, but even if you have the most advanced and secure ecommerce software, hackers might be able to find a way into your POS system and access consumers' credit card information. One of the most promising ways of preventing this is creating a more secure payment system, starting with credit cards themselves.

There has been a push for PIN-based credit card systems that add an extra layer of security for consumers and retailers alike. Since this would involve costly upgrades for banks and retailers, it has been met with some opposition. However, the NRF's appeal to the Senate may help push this strategy into a reality.

"Protecting all cards with a PIN instead of a signature is the single most important fraud protection step that could be taken quickly," Mallory Duncan, the NRF's senior vice president and general counsel, told the Senate.

The problem with signature-based cards is that it is very easy for hackers to steal and duplicate the information, which not only threatens consumers but can also prove detrimental to businesses. The recent data breach at Target, for instance, cost the company $61 million, including covering customer losses and investigating the attack, according to Reuters. Finding a way to avoid data breaches like this in the future would be advantageous to all retailers. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 27th, 2014 at 7:05 am .

When you're first entering the ecommerce marketplace, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by all the options available for retailers. Having the right ecommerce software will enhance the shopping experience from website navigation to the point of sale, but what should you be looking for?

Omnichannel strategies are growing more integral to businesses as technology becomes a larger part of the shopping process, so software that offers mobile support can be a smart choice. Practical Ecommerce suggested investigating the various mobile-optimized themes available from providers. You may also be able to see the platform at work if a provider has a public list of its clients. Explore their sites to determine if the provider can give you what you need.

Marketing is a big part of successful ecommerce business, and search engine optimization plays a major role in a strong marketing strategy. Finding a provider that can offer SEO initiatives will be a key component as well, according to Retail Online Integration. Make sure your provider can deliver on a claim by checking out how other clients rank on search engines. The source suggested finding an ecommerce software company that has clients listed in the first few pages, which you can find by using Google's PageRank.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, March 27th, 2014 at 5:44 am .