In today's highly competitive market, an online presence is essential for every company's success and growth. A high ranking in search engine results not only brings targeted traffic and increases conversions, but also establishes a business as an authority in a particular industry.

When expanding into international markets, it is critical to understand that English is not used by the majority of Internet users -- only 28.7 percent of the entire Web population uses English. Chinese is the Internet's second largest language, spoken by 321 million online users whose numbers have grown by 894 percent in the last eight years. Spanish, as the third most popular language on the Web, represents 131 million online users who are located not only in Spain, but also in Mexico, most of Central and South America, and a significant portion of the United States. Japanese, French, Portuguese and German are currently among the top 10 languages spoken by millions of Internet users around the world.

In order to speak to foreign audiences, translating content is a necessity, but translation is not enough. Localization into chosen languages is the first step of a multilingual marketing strategy that can substantially increase the number of potential clients. Every language has its own nuances that have to be taken into consideration when targeting users from different cultures. What people refer to as a "cellphone" in American English is called a "handy" in German, a "mobile" in UK English and a "GSM" in Belgium. These language distinctions influence Internet searches carried out by users of different nationalities and cultures, who use a variety of key phrases to look for the same service or product.

Source taken from Orad Elkayam ( E-Commerce Times )

To be a serious player in the online retailing market, you need to follow the industry's bible—the Top 500 Guide®. With 436 pages, the 2009 Edition of the Top 500 Guide® is the only authoritative ranking and the most comprehensive analysis of America's 500 largest e-retailers based on annual sales on the web. From the publishers of Internet Retailer, the leading information provider for the e-retailing industry, this all new Top 500 Guide® contains the very latest competitive data on the leaders of web-based retailing, the industry's sales growth driver.

The 2009 Edition of the Guide completely updates the comprehensive marketing and operating data and online sales information on each Top 500 e-retailer, which is the basis of our proprietary rankings. This edition once again expands the detailed profiles of each e-retailing business in the rankings that are written by our editors. We also added sections for social networking and shopping comparison site affiliations, site search features and functions and mobile commerce applications. An entirely revamped front section contains even more detailed stories and charts that examine in-depth the Internet and mobile commerce trends that are reshaping the retailing industry's future.

This edition also provides expanded and compelling profiles on each of America's 500 biggest web merchants—the trailblazers who have made e-retailing the fastest growing segment of U.S. retailing. Researched and written by our staff editors, each profile details the corporate strategies and the merchandising and marketing tactics used by each e-retailer to gain a leadership position in the Internet retailing industry. Compiled after more than six months worth of research, the Top 500 Guide® provides valuable competitive information on each of the 500 biggest retail web businesses—data not available from any other source.

Because we base pricing on a high-volume sales model, all this valuable data can be yours for the single copy price of just $65 plus FedEx shipping. Order your copy now, and the Top 500 Guide® will be sent to you via FedEx 3-day air (orders may take 24 - 48 hours to process).

source : http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/

The you tube video you see below explains in brief to why more importance should be given while designing the above mentioned key pages in any e commerce merchant website; no matter what the size (or) turn over of the company is.

" I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him." ~Booker T. Washington

Hey Guys. Every one says that the success of any sales (or) marketing team is not just the work of any individual, but the whole team.

Some times, it fails to be true.

What do we do when we have a co-worker who always tries to dominate you fearing that we would go way past him... It's pretty common now a days. When some one gets into a new job, they feel so excited and want to give it their best shot. But, due to some reason, may be lack of skill or due to the fact that they are lazy; they do not give 100% @ their job and try to over power their team mates to be on top of the food chain..

Its the human psychology by default. What do we do when we come across a self centered guy in work ?

Step 1 : Stop all personal talks with the guy.

Step 2 : Make sure you do your job to the best. Make a strong statement by being much more competitive in work. ( Like good quality in work, more sales, work effort, what ever we can do to out perform them).

In most cases, they are guys who just sit in their desk having lots & lots of coffee pretending as if they are working hard for the growth of the company. ha ha ha...

Step 3 : Maintain a report on your good performance & approach your management seeking for a much better role in responsibility and take home pay..

Guys, please remember that its highly professional and nothing personal.

Hey Guys, I just came across a gadget sold by Amazon named kindle 2. Check out the video below to know more. I think its a must have gadget for book worms. It also has a cool feature which can read out loud a book for you if you are like me. I often fell drowsy after just 10-15 minutes of reading a book.

The 100 online retailers profiled in this issue offer many lessons on how to inspire, inform and serve web site shoppers—and also how to reach out beyond e-commerce sites to connect with consumers.
By Don Davis

Apparel & Accessories AmericanApparel.net AE.com Anthropologie.com Athleta.com Avelle.com Bluefly.com Cusp.com DesignByHumans.com EddieBauer.com Gap.com Karmaloop.com LandsEnd.com Levi.com MartinAndOsa.com NikeiD.com NineWest.com Roxy.com shoeline.com UnderArmour.com Undergear.com Vans.com WetSeal.com Zappos.com Books/Film/Music Blockbuster.com Borders.com Chapters.indigo.ca iTunes.com Popcuts.com Scholastic.com Computers/Electronics BestBuy.com CableOrganizer.com CDW.com Crutchfield.com Garmin.com RitzInteractive.com Flowers/Gifts/Jewelry BlueNile.com Delight.com Goldspeed.com JTVWatches.com OrganicBouquet.com ThinkGeek.com Food/Drug Avon.com CVS.com DunkinDonuts.com EsteeLauder.com FragranceNet.com Godiva.com iGourmet.com KingArthurFlour.com MyMMs.com Scentiments.com StilaCosmetics.com Ulta.com Walgreens.com Housewares/ Home Furnishings CSNStores.com LandofNod.com MaxFurniture.com SmithAndNoble.com Mass Merchants/ Department Stores Amazon.com Buy.com ElderLuxe.com Meijer.com Overstock.com QVC.com SkyMall.com Walmart.com Specialty/Non-Apparel ActionEnvelope.com Beckett.com Diapers.com DrsFosterSmith.com eBags.com Expressionery.com EyeBuyDirect.com FatBrainToys.com Fathead.com Faucet.com Gaiam.com Gardeners.com LionBrandYarn.com MoMAstore.org MusicNotes.com Muttropolis.com Novica.com Oakley.com Organize.com PetsUnited SamAsh.com Staples.com Sweetwater.com Timbuk2.com ToolKing.com VistaPrint.com Zazzle.com Sporting Goods GanderMtn.com Journeys.com Nascar.com Orvis.com RunningWarehouse.com Skis.com TheNorthFace.com

If there is a single lesson to be distilled from the pages that follow it’s this: e-commerce success is not just about having a great web site anymore. It’s about taking maximum advantage of the Internet to connect with consumers wherever they are, and whenever they are ready to consider a retailer’s message.

Time and again in the 100 profiles of leading online retailers in this issue there are examples of innovations that go beyond the primary web site. Retailers are beginning to sell through mobile phones and television sets, offer useful mini-applications called widgets that consumers download to their computers, and reach consumers through the social networking sites that have become part of the everyday lives of millions.

Some of the retailers highlighted in our 10th annual recognition of e-commerce leaders also illustrate how web sites can be part of forging personal relationships with consumers that often involve communication by phone, e-mail or even in person in stores.

To be sure, there are also plenty of innovations on the web sites themselves, making the sites ever more stunning to look at, easier to use and more informative.

Just check out the Shop by Outfit section of MartinAndOsa.com, where models come to life, twirling and posing in the casual but trendy styles of the new brand from American Eagle Inc., and stroll off the page when the shopper is ready to move on. Go to MaxFurniture.com where shoppers can pan through lifestyle photographs with a computer mouse and zoom in by moving a slider. Or visit Oakley.com to see how the world looks through different types of sunglass lenses, or the Virtual Cymbal Room at SamAsh.com where shoppers can drag the cymbals that interest them into a box and compare their sounds by clicking on each image in turn.

Every feature of e-commerce sites is being enhanced. Search results no longer just provide a list of products. BabyAge.com includes thumbnail images of products on its results pages and Avon.com includes customer reviews.

Many sites allow visitors to filter products by price, color or brand. But at LandofNod.com shoppers can choose a child’s personality type (The Adventurer, Not So Mad Scientist, etc.) to see appropriate toy suggestions, and at Diapers.com parents can filter by a baby’s age or due date. At LandsEnd.com, consumers can see just shirts of a certain sleeve length and at ActionEnvelope.com all envelopes of a certain color or style.

Video is an increasingly common feature on retail sites, and it’s proving to be an effective selling tool. Shoeline.com added 100 videos that show how a shoe looks on a model’s foot and boosted conversion rates on those products by 40%; PetsUnited reports a 50% increase in conversion on the 1,200 products that have videos on three of its sites. Tool King has created a separate site, ToolKing.tv, to house its many instructional videos.

Create your own

More retailers are offering personalization options, such as trading card site Beckett.com where a shopper can create his own home page, drawing on elements of the site, much as he would create a customized home page on MyYahoo or iGoogle. Zazzle.com, which specializes in customized products, has created an innovative partnership with wedding products retailer TheKnot.com that lets visitors customize the stamps they put on their wedding announcements or invitations.

Information of all kinds abounds. For instance, DrsFosterSmith.com provides 3,000 articles and 150 videos on pet-related topics. The newly launched Borders.com site features exclusive video interviews with authors.

Spanish speakers can shop in their own language for practically all the products at BestBuy.com, and the company has noted consumers coming into stores with printouts taken from the Spanish section of the site to show store employees. A Spanish-language section of Walgreens.com offers health information and lets visitors renew prescriptions, see weekly specials and view a store locator.

Speaking of an innovative store locator, CVS.com lets visitors select a route they plan to travel and then see the CVS drugstores along the way.

Consumers have their say

Those are all creative ways retailers are pushing out information. But it’s no longer a one-way street. Increasingly, consumers are having their say on e-commerce sites, making those sites more attractive to others by sharing insights and information and by creating new types of communities that are only possible with the advent of the Internet.

At bookseller Chapter.Indigo.ca customers review books, and other visitors can filter reviews based on the reviewer’s own reading list, selecting reviewers with similar tastes. Avon.com highlights reviews from 500 customers whose commentaries the retailer considers particularly helpful. Ritz Interactive, which operates RitzCamera.com and other e-commerce sites, notes the percentage of reviews that come from different types of users, such as professional photographers versus beginners.

Pet supplies retailer Muttropolis.com has its own social network where consumers can share photos and videos of their pets, and at Gardeners.com consumers post photos of their gardens. The Bragging Board at sporting goods retailer GanderMtn.com lets consumers illustrate with photos tales of their hunting and fishing exploits.

Popcuts.com introduces new music and rewards consumers who are early buyers of tunes that turn into hits. The site, developed by three University of California at Berkeley graduate students, brings to the Internet the thrill young people get when they’re the first to discover a hot new band—only now they’re introducing their find to the world.

Shoppers also like to get their friends’ opinions before making a purchase, and more e-commerce sites offer that option. At WetSeal.com a consumer can craft an outfit and share it with friends. EyeBuyDirect makes it even more personal: A consumer can upload her photo, try on various eyeglass frames in a virtual community called the Wall of Frame, and get feedback from other community members.

Fun is a good way to draw consumers to an e-commerce site, as AmericanApparel.net demonstrated with its second annual Halloween costume contest, and Bluefly.com with its pre-election Fashion Decision 2008 polls on such pressing issues as whether Sarah Palin or Joe Biden wore the hipper sunglasses.

At the same time, much of the innovation is taking place beyond the retailer’s own web site, as e-retailers go where consumers are. For tens of millions of shoppers that means online social networks. Apparel retailer Undergear.com invested this year in creating its own pages on Facebook and MySpace, a gallery on photo-sharing site Flickr, and a channel on YouTube. Discounter Buy.com and women’s surfing apparel retailer Roxy.com got big responses from videos they posted on YouTube.

Beyond the site

Going beyond the web site also means connecting with consumers through other devices, notably the mobile phone. Amazon.com and QVC.com are among the leaders in enabling customers to make purchases through text messages from their mobile phones. Recognizing that text messaging has become a primary means of communication among the young, American Eagle Outfitters lets site visitors text friends encouraging them to check out products on the apparel site.

Another way retailers are reaching out beyond their web sites is through desktop widgets, small single-purpose applications that consumers can place on their own computers. Meijer, the Midwestern grocery and general merchandise chain, created the Meijer Mealbox widget that lets shoppers create shopping lists—and then automatically receive coupons for items on their list.

This year saw some initial steps toward making the television remote control a new shopping device.

DVD rental specialist Netflix signed deals with several manufacturers to create devices that will allow consumers to rent movies from Netflix.com for viewing on their TV sets. Among the suppliers tying up with Netflix is digital video recorder manufacturer TiVo, which is also part of an even more ambitious trial with Amazon. In the test, consumers can make purchases through Amazon of products that appear in TV shows or movies. While initially viewers have to wait until the end of the show to make the purchase, the plan is for a consumer eventually to be able to pause the show, make the purchase at Amazon, and then resume viewing.

While many of these advances involve high technology, several of the online retailers featured in this year’s Hot 100 are making better use of their human capital to forge closer bonds with customers.

The personal touch

For instance, electronics retailer Crutchfield.com has created a Personal Advisors service that lets customers sign up for access to an individual customer service agent. Musical instruments retailer SamAsh.com encourages the professional musicians that staff its call centers to write articles for the site and include their e-mail addresses so customers can follow up directly with the authors.

Skis.com features 1,000 videos of employees trying out new skis and giving their reviews—and makes those reviews available to customers in two of its bricks-and-mortar stores. Borders encourages store employees to review books they like and highlights on Borders.com those associates deemed experts in a field.

Ultimately, every retail sale involves one consumer deciding to make a purchase from one retailer. The online retailers highlighted in this year’s Hot 100 offer many lessons on how to inspire and inform shoppers so that they will want to click the Buy button, and also how retailers can reach out beyond the bounds of e-commerce sites to introduce themselves to consumers, offer convenient ways to shop and deepen customer loyalty.

Gomez performance testing methodology

Measurements were taken once per hour from 10 data center locations with standard 10 Mbps connections to the Internet. Measurements were calculated 24 hours a day for one week in early November. The Hot 100 listings display the following metrics:

Response time Measured in seconds, the response time is the total end-to-end time required to fully download a home page and its entire image, Flash, style sheets, JavaScript and other HTML components. All successful measurements are averaged to generate the final result.

Availability Availability is the percentage of times a home page is successfully downloaded. All successful measurements are divided into the total measurements to calculate availability.

Consistency rating Based on standard deviation of the test response time and the test availability, the consistency rating is a quality ranking labeled excellent, good, fair or poor. An initial consistency score is generated as the product of the response time standard deviation and availability.

Source : Same as published in IR

Hey Guys, This is for all you Marketing and sales guys out there. I just came across the story of Bill Crutch field. I think this would add spark to your careers.


Bill : "I wanted to add a stereo to an old Porsche I was restoring, but I couldn't find a local retailer or a mail order company to provide one. I thought there must be other automobile enthusiasts facing the same problem, so I decided to create my own mail order car stereo business.

At first it was a one-man, home-based operation. I wrote and designed the catalog, stocked my basement with merchandise, shipped the orders, paid the bills and answered the phone – all the while holding down another full-time job. I almost didn't make it through the first year.
Then I trusted my customers to steer the business in the right direction

They told me they needed more information, so I made room in the catalog for a detailed story about car stereos and installation techniques. With this solution, I may have invented what the mail order industry now calls the magalog—a cross between a magazine and a catalog.

With that, the business took off, and a few years later, we expanded our offering to include home audio and video gear. We approached each new product category with the same emphasis on providing helpful information and the same fanatical commitment to customer relationships. As the business grew, I did something even more important. I created a powerful organizational culture that truly honors our employees, customers and business partners.

Crutchfield has grown tremendously since those early days. But, we haven't forgotten what made us successful. "





source : http://www.crutchfield.com/App/OurStory/History.aspx