Tag: shopping cart

It’s no secret that more consumers are turning to online shopping for the convenience it offers, but the truth is that online shopping is hardly without hassles. In fact, it can be a nightmare for merchants. While giant online merchants like Amazon and eBay have mastered the process of capturing an online sale, most ecommerce sites continue to limp through the process. Navigating the complex world of payments, including leveraging promotions effectively, automating subscription renewal and website optimization, the struggle for small to mid-sized merchants can seem unending. According to the latest research from Baymard Institute, the online shopping cart abandonment rates are as high as 67 percent—a startling percentage given that more consumers like to shop online, with online retail sales expected to grow between 9-12 percent in 2013.

Studies have shown that shopping cart abandonment rates increase when the payment complexities of the global marketplace come into play.  Language barriers, alternate payment types and currency issues all make up the reality of today’s online shopping experience. We took a comedic look at some of these challenges through the eyes of two budding entrepreneurs running their own e-lemonade stand.  Check out the short video clip here.

In the real world, there are many reasons why shoppers abandon their carts; below are three of the top reasons why shoppers close out before making that shiny new toy their own:

Lack of local currency or local payment types– ecommerce can be a great medium for businesses to open their doors online and offer goods and services worldwide. However, many businesses are leaving money on the table by alienating the global audience as they do not have the provisions to accept payments in multiple currencies and payment types. Businesses typically like customers to pay in the currency the business is comfortable accepting, not the currency the customer is interested in paying with. While it is understandable that trying to process payments from around the world in different currencies and payment types can be a logistical nightmare for merchants, it is actually a simple obstacle to address. The easiest way to overcome this is to integrate with a third-party payment platform that handles the complexities of payment on a merchant’s behalf so that the merchant can be more productive in fulfilling and processing orders rather than figuring out payments.

No local language, no thanks! – If customers can understand exactly what they are buying and being charged for, they will be more comfortable paying online. Unfortunately, most online payment platforms do not offer a fully localized checkout experience – including local languages and currencies leading to customer confusion and a high rate of cart abandonment.

No single-click buying – For returning shoppers, filling out personal information each time can be frustrating, especially if customers are using mobile devices. Single-click encourages shoppers to come back and easily purchase again; they don’t need to re-enter their information or even have a credit card handy.  Including a BuyNow button on any page, can go a long way in encouraging repeat buyers. (Think “I-tunes” buying on ecommerce sites.)

There are dozens of reasons why customers leave a website empty handed, but these simple tips, along with insight from this cute video about cart abandonment, can go a long way in increasing actual checkouts and ultimately, a merchant’s bottom line.

By Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO of BlueSnap

Even if you aren’t in the fast food industry, there is still a great deal that can be learned from its largest brands in terms of mobile marketing, as these companies have been some of the first to embrace this channel.

Both the advances and mistakes made by these brands offer important lessons.

Many of the largest companies in fast food have now introduced mobile marketing websites and mcommerce apps to help them to encourage customers to buy more, and shop more often. Examining their past strategies can be very helpful in assisting you with the creation of your company’s strategy or campaigns in the upcoming months.

Mobile marketing will be especially important throughout this holiday shopping season. With Thanksgiving right ahead, it is important to eliminate all of the quirks in your campaigns.

The official start to the holiday shopping season to begin at the end of this week, if you are hoping to use mobile commerce to help in your successes this year, then the time is now to avoid some of the most common mistakes.

Your presence for smartphone and tablet shoppers must be established to take part in this huge marketplace.

Last year, according to comScore, consumers spent 15 percent more on holiday shopping than they did the year before, bringing it to $37 billion. According to figures from the U.S. Census department, almost 51 percent of the American population widely used mobile commerce and the internet over their smartphones and tablets in 2011. It is expected that mobile commerce use and holiday shopping will come together significantly this year.

Therefore, it will be very important for you to have your mobile commerce campaign in order in time for the holiday shopping season to take off. That said, it isn’t just a matter a presence, anymore, but you need to get it right and avoid common mistakes, as well. Small errors have a way of rapidly snowballing so that they cause notable harm to potential sales. It is important to eliminate them as quickly as possible and not simply wait until Christmas Eve.

The following are some of the top mobile commerce mistakes that can be the most destructive to your campaign.

• Failing to draw attention to holiday discounts, deals, sales, and promotions. Almost every holiday shopper, particularly those using mobile commerce, are seeking for the best prices and savings opportunities on the gifts they are buying. If they don’t realize that you have something special to offer, it won’t take them long to move on to the competition.

• Failing to provide stock status and shipping information – the closer the date comes to December 25, the more vital this becomes. As things become more last minute, shoppers start to concentrate less on price and more on making sure that the gift will arrive on time.

• POS error messages – if a smartphone or tablet user is using a mobile commerce checkout, and he or she submits the wrong information or accidentally leaves a required field blank, make sure that the error message clearly states what was not correctly submitted. If the customer can’t tell, he or she may become frustrated and give up, abandoning the shopping cart and buying somewhere else, instead.