Amazon granted a stalking patent

December 14, 2011

Amazon have just had their “stalking” patent granted in the US. Back in 2007 they submitted a patent for a mobile device to track your movements, predict based on where you’ve been where you’re likely to go next, and then send you adverts for shops,… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Amazon, Ecommerce, Marketing, Mobile | 5 Comments 

Planning for Christmas: 2011 Holiday Marketing Guide

October 11, 2011

Driving through through my home town of Thatcham yesterday I was a but surprised to see the council workers busily erecting Christmas lights and decorations onto the side of street lights. It’s still early October and Christmas seems a long way off,… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Selling Tips | 14 Comments 

“Google Trusted Stores” launched as pilot program

October 3, 2011

Google have announced a pilot of “Google Trusted Stores” program to give shoppers reassurance when buying on the Internet. The program allows buyers to shop with confidence across the web in the knowledge that they’ll receive reliable, on-time… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Customer Service, Ecommerce, Marketing, Selling Tips | 11 Comments 

Harry Potter and the magic of marketing

June 27, 2011

John Hayes is the EMEA Business Development Executive for iContact, who offer email marketing and social media tools to enable small and medium sized businesses to collect data, build community and effectively engage with their clients. You can sign… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Social Media, Web Design | 2 Comments 

Free email marketing service from iContact

April 14, 2011

There’s on inescapable fact of selling online and that’s that there is a cost involved. There are fees to sell on marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon, or have your own website there’s hosting, software and if you’re serious about your business… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Ecommerce, Facebook, Featured, Marketing, Social Media | 6 Comments 

Get a $5 coupon for “liking” AliExpress on Facebook

April 8, 2011

If you want to give AliExpress a try then there’s apparently a free $5 coupon when you spend $25 available. All you have to do to get a coupon is to “Like” the AliExpress Facebook page and then post a request for a coupon on their wall. There… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Facebook, Marketing | 9 Comments 

Alibaba’s CEO resigns over fraudulent suppliers

February 21, 2011

David Wu, the CEO of Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba.com, has resigned after an investigation into fraudulent merchants operating on the site. The investigation found that in 2009 and 2010, 2,326 (around 1%) of Alibaba’s ID-verified China Gold… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Marketing, News | 19 Comments 

How not to sell a lipstick

February 20, 2011

I’ve been hanging around eBay UK’s home page for once (trying to catch the ad for Tesco Direct that is annoying people on Seller Central), and spotted an ad for Max Factor Lip Finity – which appears to promise that it won’t vanish with my first cup… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under eBay.co.uk, Ecommerce, Facebook, Marketing | Comments Off 

Notice of a problem

February 15, 2011

I went to get some keys cut yesterday. Here’s the notice that the shop had up (I tried to get a picture but the man frowned at me): Please ask the price of keys before you request to have them cut. If you do not ask the price and the keys are cut,… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Customer Service, Ecommerce, Marketing | 16 Comments 

Google to build catalogue data for products

January 10, 2011

Google are to follow in the footsteps of Amazon and eBay and start to build catalogue data for Google shopping product pages. Google’s product pages consolidate all the information and images that they have about a particular product and what… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Internet, Marketing | 5 Comments 

Play myHermes door to door Christmas delivery game

November 26, 2010

If you fancy a little Christmas fun then myHermes couriers have a cute door to door delivery game to play. The aim of the game is to collect parcels and then deliver them to open doors in the shortest time possible. The faster you make your… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Marketing | 4 Comments 

10 ways to increase your average order size

October 11, 2010

We all want to sell more. There are two ways to do it: get more customers, or sell more to the ones we’ve got. For most of us, the latter option is much, much easier: traffic costs, one way or another, so whether you’re paying eBay or Google or just… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Selling Tips, Web Design | 21 Comments 

How to write an effective About Me page

September 20, 2010

There’s one page I always look at when I’m buying on eBay – and it’s not the seller’s feedback: it’s their About Me page. I’ve always loved Me pages, because they’re one of the best ways to figure out exactly what you’re dealing with. But lately,… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Selling Tips | 16 Comments 

Advertising Standards to cover merchants’ own websites

September 7, 2010

The Advertising Standards Authority has announced that its online remit is to be extended. From 1st March 2011, the ASA will cover marketing on companies own websites and on non-paid-for sites like Twitter and Facebook. Currently, it only covers… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing | 3 Comments 

Some surprising numbers about emailing your customers

September 7, 2010

How often is too often? Many of us worry about emailing our customers too frequently: will they think it’s spam? But maybe we’re worrying unnecessarily. For about a year now (in fact, since I started), I’ve been sending out a monthly email… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing | 7 Comments 

5 things to think about before you buy a domain name

August 31, 2010

Previously on 24 TameBay: How not to pick a domain name How to pick a domain name .com or .co.uk? People will argue about this, but here are my thoughts: .co.uk is fine if all your customers are UK based, and always will be…. Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Internet, Marketing, SEO | 5 Comments 

How to pick a domain name

August 30, 2010

Yesterday we looked at how not to pick a domain name; today, I’d like to be a bit more positive. Before we start, let me say that this post will have some examples of things that I consider to be bad ideas. Some of them will resemble the branding of… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Internet, Marketing, SEO | 2 Comments 

How not to choose a domain name

August 29, 2010

If you were anywhere near the internet last week, you probably saw the admirable Messrs. Ferreth and Jobs, and their website… ferrethandjobs.com. Ahem. They join a venerable tradition on the net: who can forget whorepresents.com, penisland.net… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Internet, Marketing | Comments Off 

Fair Weather Fans

August 17, 2010

Spotted on Facebook: It doesn’t work like that. Some people only buy the product when it’s on promotion; some people only want to enter the competition; some people are going to take your freebie and run. It’s the *other* people you’re… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Social Media | 14 Comments 

Who will market to the marketers?

August 10, 2010

There are some things you read that have such an impact, you never forget them. The short story “Let’s go to Golgotha” is one such for me. In a future where backwards time-travel is possible, tourists can visit historical events. Those visiting… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing | Comments Off 

ChannelAdvisor launch mobile optimised web shops

August 5, 2010

If you want buyers to purchase from you on their smart phone such as an iPhone or Google Android then you need a mobile optimised website. According to the IMRG 25% of consumers have said if they cannot browse their preferred retailers website via… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Marketing | Comments Off 

@earlybird cashes in to earn for Twitter

July 11, 2010

Despite a $1.1 billion valuation, social networking site Twitter has yet to feature any obvious monetisation. This is about to change. Twitter has announced a new account of its own, @earlybird, which will feature “special time-bound deals,… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Social Media | 3 Comments 

Using voucher codes to bring shoppers to your website

February 25, 2010

I was shopping online this morning. I got to the checkout, quite happy with the €30 total of my shopping basket, and then I stopped: there, just above the “pay us now” button, was a small box labelled “discount voucher?” It hadn’t occurred… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing | 31 Comments 

PayPal survey: why shoppers abandon their shopping

June 24, 2009

photo credit: avlxyzPayPal have published the results of their second annual Checkout Abandonment Survey, looking at why website buyers don’t complete purchases. Just like last year’s survey, an excessive shipping fee was the number one reason for… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Marketing, Paypal, Selling Tips, Web Design | 8 Comments 

Amazon, Etsy, eBay and the eCommerce Land Grab

July 25, 2008

With much doom and gloom pervading comment about eBay, it’s easy to forget that ecommerce is still a frontier. The IMRG forecasts year on year ecommerce growth (in Britain, Europe, America and Asia) all the way to 2012. And even the very real threat… Read more

Written by Dan Wilson · Filed Under Amazon, Ecommerce, Featured, Marketing | 22 Comments