After you’ve prepared your Web site for the search engines and carefully registered with them, your thoughts now should turn to promotion. Your first question is probably “How can I make a big impact on the Net—fast?”
After you have the consumers‘ attention, you have to bring them to your site. So, your next challenge is to give shoppers a reason to come to your store in the first place—then give them a reason to return. To attract visitors to your site, you have to promote not only your products or services [...]
Enabling the Web server to deliver dynamic content. The Apache Web server can be configured to handle a number of these so-called dynamic page technologies, including PHP and JSP.
Loading and storing any programs (or scripts) which need to be executed when a Web page is processed. Typically these programs are associated with Web forms and [...]
No one type of firewall that has been discussed can meet the needs of every situation. It is often a good idea to have several levels of defense against attack from outside your network. It is easy to segment your network so that it does not appear as one entity to the Internet. You can [...]
Unfortunately, if you have a large investment in application software that was written (or compiled) for a Windows platform or NetWare’s native servers, you will need to purchase new versions of your existing software or purchase new software. If you have internally developed applications for which you have the source code, you might need to [...]
Aqua Studio
Aqua Studio is a flourishing, one city web design firm founded and staffed with seasoned professionals, many of whom had left larger consultancies. Aqua Studio focused on design excellence and found a niche working on boutique projects under the radar of larger global web services firms. Aqua Studio weathered the economic downturn in part [...]
How important is e-Retailing for various classes of products? Which high street retailers are going to be most affected by the growth of e-Shopping? Can some products be sold just as effectively by e-Retail as by conventional retail? Are some products unsuitable for e-Retailing? Michael de Kare-Silver has developed the `ES‘ (e-Shopping) test aimed at [...]
We will examine the arguments for and against global branding. The decision whether to standardize or adapt the brand by varying the marketing mix elements is a major one for any organization operating outside its home environment. Standardization through global branding allows the organization to maintain a consistent image and identity throughout the world. It [...]
Translations
Thai dry cleaner: ‘Drop your trousers here for best results.’
Sign in a Hong Kong tailor: ‘Ladies may have a fit upstairs.’
Moscow guide to a Russian Orthodox monastery: ‘You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists and writers are buried daily, except Thursdays.
Spanish sports shop called ‘The Athlete’s Foot’.
French dress [...]
To develop a plan for managing inbound e-mail, the best approach is to consider the typical stages in which an e-mail is received and responded to.
The five stages are as follows.
Stage 1: Customer defines support query
The first stage starts before the customer has even sent the e-mail since, if we are concerned with reducing cost, [...]
How we choose, internalize, process, and store information has an effect on how we learn and use information. Customers ultimately make purchase decisions based on bits of information. People select the information they deem important or relevant and ignore the rest. Then the information is simplified and stored in the brain. We transform concepts as [...]
Many websites have products that people can’t find. It is clear that a big gap exists between how online stores are organized and how customers want to shop for products. This results in unsuccessful searches and abandoned shopping carts. Shoppers give up when they can’t find, what they are looking for easily and quickly.
Most websites [...]
Markets and customers affect website organization, design, and navigation models. The blurring of channels and complexity of choices makes it a science to match up the right sales channel with the right market for the right customer. Channels are still evolving, but niche websites make it possible to target customers with specific products.
The marketplace and [...]
Selectability is a term coined to represent the increasing complexity in selecting merchandise. Issues at the shelf include sizing, compatibility, language, technical information, and brand clarity. Selection is a process of elimination.
The wine merchant has first categorized them into whites and reds. If the consumer wants a red wine, for instance, he can immediately eliminate [...]
While each store is unique, consumers use some natural biological patterns to move through a store. The direction they turn upon entering a store, how they approach an aisle, or how long it takes them to notice merchandise after they walk into a shop are more a function of human nature than cognizant behavior. Harnessing [...]
Managing Multiple Stores and Shelves
In the process of selling through one channel, it’s important to consider all the other selling motions. At any given time, customers can have access to any one of the stores—whether they are physical, virtual, or in print. Multiple channels spawn additional stores, and the proliferation creates a variety of ways [...]
A few years ago, retailers, in an effort to rectify some major retail issues, devised a new way of evaluating merchandise and streamlining the supply chain. The foundation for category management depends on cooperation and sharing between manufacturers and retailers. In the past, buyers were responsible for entire categories but were still managing each SKU [...]
Shopping is not always about choice. It is often the process of elimination. Signage can help narrow down the selections and serves two purposes. First, it’s directional and helps shoppers find their way through the store. Next, it separates a variety of products into logical categories. The same ability is available online. Virtual signs can [...]
It’s fairly common for business-to-business (B-to-B) catalogs to be published annually or semiannually due to seasonality, production expense, and the production lead time. Smaller flyers often supplement the larger catalog and may be mailed monthly or quarterly. The larger books tend to be organized as reference catalogs, line listing a variety of products. Because they [...]
Merchandising helps consumers make product selections and guides them through the store. Retail merchandisers use any combination of the following fixtures:
Signage—outside signage, directional signage, category signage
Floor graphics—directional, product specific
Spinners—rotating free-standing racks holding a specific product or entire category
Shelving—standard shelving; custom-made usually for a specific brand or category
Shelf talkers—small signs or animated graphics promoting a brand [...]
