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Hi everybody! My name is Matt and I’m an Online Communications Specialist here at Volusion.
Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster
your online success. Let me start by saying “Happy New Year!” I hope you survived
and thrived in the crazy ecommerce year that was 2010, and you’re looking forward to
a bright and profitable year for 2011. So now it’s time to look into my crystal ball
and share my five prophecies and predictions for 2011.
First, internationalization is going to become the norm. There’s already a ton of people
selling overseas, but it will really ramp up in 2011. Forrester reports that 75% of
surveyed marketing professionals are going to increase their ecommerce spending in Internet-developing
countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. I’m not saying that you’ll need
to launch a full site in Mandarin, but you might consider selling into other English-speaking
countries like Australia or Canada.
Number two, social commerce continues to dominate, but will really take off this year. We’ve
talked about Facebook and Twitter all year long, but Facebook is now hinting at plans
to launch their own eocommerce platform. And you also need to realize that customer reviews
and other conversations about your brand are taking place, so it’s important to listen,
monitor and engage. Then you’ll make sure you’re at the top of the bubble as social
commerce continues to grow.
Number three, retention will trump acquisition this year. Think about this as a matter of
economics: you already have a customer base that wants to buy from you; so it’s a lot
cheaper for you to market to your current customers than spend money on acquiring new
ones. So, ramp up your customer service and go the extra mile for your customers will
help retention and increase your overall sales.
Next, mobile will actually mature this year. We talked about m-commerce all year long in
2010, I will admit, but it didn’t take off as much as we thought it would. Most people
used their mobile devices as a research tool, but with the advent of more advanced platforms
and mobile payment processing, consumers will become more comfortable purchasing on their
phones. Thus, make sure your m-commerce site is up to par.
Last, my personal favorite, content finally takes its throne. We’ve been saying that
content is king for a while now, but it will really skyrocket this year. This means that
you need to spend more time on your blog to become and actual educational resource to
customers. In fact, eMarketer reports that spending on branded content has increased
by 100% since 2008, and will only continue to grow.
Hopefully these five predictions turn true so you can start working on your strategy
early in 2011. If you have any questions, we’re always happy to help. From me to you,
happy selling!