Online Experts Trend Alert for 2009

With 2008 now behind us, we decided to start 2009 by putting all our online experts in one room.

They survived each other, and the result is our top picks for the hottest online trends for the year ahead…

 
The Immense Power of Reviews

Once the realm of only the big-budget, high-volume websites, 2008 saw customer review functionality gaining momentum, although the majority of etailers are yet to ride the review wave.On the other hand, consumers have been very quick to pick up on this trend, looking for reviews to gain confidence before they purchase, and embracing the opportunity to share their opinion.

Despite the popularity, the technology for managing reviews had simply been too expensive for the majority of online retailers.

2008 saw more website platforms offering lower-cost or free functionality for managing online reviews, including the eCommerce platform Magento that a growing number of Exceed clients are now on.

We expect 2009 will be the year that this ‘early-adopter’ functionality goes mainstream in a big way, with a rapid uptake by all sizes of eCommerce sites world-wide.

Don’t get left behind, watch this 3 minute screencast to see how review functionality works.
  
The Social Media Debate

The question of how to make money through social networks, such as Facebook, will continue to cause global head-scratching. So far, members of social sites appear to want to communicate, more than they want to shop.

There’s no arguing the power of word-of-mouth marketing – but just because information gained through social networks may be more trusted, does not necessarily mean purchases will result.

We expect to see more and more services and technology appear in 2009 to better measure and harness the potential power of marketing and selling on social networks.
 
International Sales Come Closer

With shipping companies offering more support, and more affordable international shipping options, we predict global sales will become less of a dream and more of a reality for many NZ retailers online.

As competition heats up online, we’re expecting 2009 will see more forward-thinking retailers actively targeting international customers.
 
Better Than Free Shipping

There is no question free shipping is a proven, successful method of reducing friction in the buying process. With so many online stores having jumped on the ‘free shipping’ bandwagon in 2008, a growing number of consumers now expect shipping at no charge.

However, the question remains, would other shipping options provide similar benefits without the costs? For some business models, free shipping may be causing more harm to your profits than you think.

FREE TIP ALERT Businesses are finding creative ways to meet consumer’s expectations without breaking the bank. One method is to charge shipping for lower value orders, but then tempting customers with a free shipping offer that’s easy for them to achieve. So if a company’s average order value is $40 for example, they would offer free shipping on orders $45 or more.

FREE TIP ALERT Another effective technique is to offer free shipping on all orders, but use additional proven methods of increasing the average order value. One highly successful method is ‘up-sell’ and ‘cross-sell’ (2 more Magento strengths).

Websites have seen large increases in average order value by offering up-sell and cross-sell options while visitors are viewing products as well as during check-out (just like your local dairy does to great effect with a counter packed full of cheap treats!).

Consumers get free shipping, you sell more product, everyone wins.

Whatever you plan to try in the year ahead, the free shipping debate certainly won’t be going away and we expect to see more online retailers coming up with creative ways to incentivise consumers in exchange for free shipping.
 
Onwards and Upwards

No matter what 2009 brings to the online industry, we know it’ll be a year of exciting developments. The team at Exceed Online looks forward to taking the journey with you.