eCommerce Blog

If your online store has a large inventory of products, it’s important to do everything you can as an eCommerce merchant to help customers find what they need from your site. Each customer shops differently, has unique needs and is coming to your store for a specific reason; one of the best ways to cater to customers on a personal basis is through faceted navigation and faceted search features.

Customers visiting your online store may or may not know what they're looking for, but it's safe to say that if you're lacking great search functionality, you're losing sales.

Many shoppers begin their online shopping session by typing into a site’s search box. The results they experience affect as much as half of the typical eCommerce company’s total sales. While shoppers who use site search comprise only 15-30% of visitors, site search users consistently convert 2x – 3x higher than shoppers[...]

Wish list offer retailers so many different ways of leading to a sale. Wish lists make it possible for people to come back to your site and find the products they want while also sending traffic through their friends and family who they share lists with.

In a nut shell here are three ways retailers can increase sales through wish lists.

Auto-delivery (otherwise known as automatic delivery or automatic shipping) is becoming increasingly popular with online retail stores that are looking to generate more money from individual customers. Not only do auto-delivery programs help to build a brand’s customer base, but because it streamlines shipping, auto-delivery makes businesses more effective — and more profitable.

By now, you’ve probably heard of the recent success of group coupon websites like Groupon and Living Social. The average Groupon has earned $8750 in revenue from roughly 350 sales. The average Groupon discount is roughly 56%, providing businesses with a convenient way to market and attract local customers by reaching out to them online.

Perhaps the greatest contributor to the smash success of a website like Groupon is its mass support in social media. Today, customers are looking for daily[...]

Have you ever worried about your website going down? Whether you run an online store or manage a blog, a downed site can mean lost traffic and business. While infrequent and short site outages are normal, some sites can go down for a much more malicious reason – a DDoS attack.

If you’ve ever been the target of a DDoS attack, or have witnessed one for yourself, you know exactly how debilitating it can be. But, what exactly is a DDoS attack, and how can you protect your website from it?

Let’s[...]

While most people tend to assume that the ads they see on Facebook don’t work, the reality is that, for many online businesses, they do. And not only do they just “work,” but they can be highly effective, making Facebook one of the top places businesses and brands go in order to generate leads and find new customers.

Want to increase visitors to your online store and make more sales without spending a penny extra on advertising?

Encouraging customer reviews is the way to do it.

Register for the following webinar, presented by Listrak!

Tuesday, June 28th at 1:00 PM EST!

Click here for further details and registration information.

The rise of social media has given marketers a new perspective—one that changes that discounts some of the wisdom of marketing’s old guard. In the past, businesses looked at marketing as a one-way communication channel to draw in potential customers. Now, savvy marketers are starting a dialogue with their audience—and feedback forms have replaced the less effective, unpredictable surveys of yore.

As online consumers, we’ve all seen free shipping offers from our favorite stores and brands. And, while we love these offers as consumers, as business owners it’s hard to imagine being able to offer shipping for free.

I am your ideal customer. I want exactly what you are selling. I only have to find you. If only Google made it that simple, right? Unfortunately, Google is needy. It needs you to make a search engine's job easy. You have to make it totally clear to Google that your page offers the information the user seeks, which means making your ecommerce site SEO-friendly.

You don't have to be a coffee drinker to appreciate the marketing strategies that grew Starbucks into a multibillion-dollar company since its founding in 1971. Once a small coffeehouse in Seattle, Washington, Starbucks now has over 27,600 locations all over the world, spanning 6 continents. It's a classic success story of a small business growing into a global household name, and represents the ambitions of millions of entrepreneurs everywhere.

Does packing boxes and printing shipping labels feel like it’s getting in the way of running your business?

It happens to nearly every company as they scale, facing a challenge of trying to hire more staff to handle a warehouse or potentially turning those operations over to a partner that focuses specifically on fulfillment operations.

It’s a critical juncture and one that can make a major difference for today’s costs and tomorrow’s growth. There are challenges to deciding to keep fulfillment[...]

Preparing for Cyber Monday’s Online Sales - 4 Ecommerce Tips for Merchants

Since its introduction in 2005, Cyber Monday has become the biggest day for online sales. Immediately following Black Friday, consumers are in “shopping mode” and want to continue purchasing any goods that couldn’t be acquired during Black Friday sales.  Online shopping during Cyber Monday helps fill this need to complete their yearly holiday purchasing.

So, with millions being spent online during Cyber Monday, online[...]

Customers can be apprehensive about shopping online, and for good reason. The number of reported scams, successful hacking attempts, and instances of credit card fraud is increasing every day. It's also not helpful to a small business that so many scam websites pop up, which makes it harder for customers to trust any website they're not closely familiar with.

It's right (and smart) for online customers to be cautious. But for small online business owners, it can be a struggle to keep up with[...]

Arguably one of the most important aspects of a website is its design. The look of your eCommerce website is often the first, and most lasting, impression that’s left on potential customers. Good web design can establish trust in the customer, and make the shopping experience user friendly — especially if it’s responsive and easy to navigate. 

What should your priorities be when setting up your online store? Ideally, you should give yourself the time and use the resources necessary to make sure that every aspect is optimized to near-perfection. With that said, some aspects are more valuable and deserving of your attention than others. If you do not get them right, nothing else you do with your store will matter.

Running an online business is hard work, but the possibilities for online marketing are limitless!

One of the most important considerations when choosing an eCommerce platform is the type of support that will be available to you. As a business owner, you're sure to have a lot on your plate, so quick access to useful help and resources can make all the difference. Shift4Shop maintains a robust technical support and customer service system that provides several methods for you to get the answers to your questions and report any emerging issues.

We've made support options available for all[...]