Interesting times!

Well, Google (through Google Commerce Search) became a direct competitor in our neighborhood. Welcome

Rather than talking a whole lot on how the Google product is a “1.0” and pointing out all its limitations (like some of our fellow bloggers have done), I’d like to say something else – our customers are smart, and so is Google.

Nobody expects a “1.0” to provide the same coverage as do products that are out there 5, 6, 8 or more years. However, a newcomer has the advantage of bringing a new point of view and learning from other people’s mistakes. This is why we at Celebros are not quick to judge but rather look to learn.

For clients looking to make an immediate investment the choice is clear. Our products and services provide a complete answer to your needs and are proven through numerous deployments. In the longer run however – clients are looking at Google’s doings with interest and so are we!

‘Tis the Season to Be Social

Two months till black Friday, three months till Christmas morning, that time of year when shoppers are in the giving spirit, throwing caution to the wind, and pushing their credit card limits to the max…or at least that is the goal.   And they certainly do not like going at it alone.

This Christmas is about Social Shopping. The e-tail world has been introduced to a new level of social interaction amongst customers. The wind blowing from social nets is hitting online stores, calling for online retailers to incorporate a social dimension to their online search!  Trust us, we’re not making this stuff up.

The results are in.  An E-tailing Group study reveals that 67% of online shoppers buy more when friends give a nod.  Customers enjoy getting approval on their purchases and knowing what’s popular.  A shopper searching today doesn’t want yesterday’s style—she wants what’s hot right now. With Social Shopping technology, you can help out your customers figure out what to buy and help out your business by knowing what to stock.  Even Santa needs a little help every now and then… Some tools that were introduced this year help retailers do just that – make shopping a social experience:

• Social Search Cloud provides customers with a cloud of popular searches, products, and brands of choice, revealing the community taste  immediately as you enter the online store.
• Social Sort, gives customers the ability to arrange search results by social feedback, including top sellers, ratings, reviews, popularity, and more.
• Share with Friends permits customers to refer products they find to their friends via e-mail and social networks. Shoppers sitting miles away can now shop together and exchange impressions at the click of a mouse.

Customers no longer feel they are shopping alone and gain confidence with their product choices, making that extra click to the checkout page. 

On the retailer side, advanced reporting lets the retailer get a head start on analyzing product popularity and identifying trend leaders, essentially  reading shopper vibes and voicing shopper buzz as it forms!

Of course, it goes without saying, none of the optimum online search essentials should be left behind.  As we noted in a previous blog of ours last year (155 Sleeps Away – Get Ready to Sell) there is a list of basic action items that an etailer should consider in the months leading to the Christmas season.  Just to jog your memory a bit, some of the mentioned items in the link above include sprucing up your UI, adding an auto complete solution to your search box,  suggesting cross-sell items based on your customers’ product choices, and adding more refinement options to further zero in your customers on the products they seek.  If your customers can’t find the products you are stocking, they cannot purchase them.

Lastly, it is important to remember, as mentioned in Latitude blog, that the success of online Christmas shopping will impact shoppers activity and likeliness to come back to your site.  So if you follow the checklist above and let Santa be social, you are in for a good new year of repeat business

Managing your time and your merchandise

Welcome back to our Sales Team. Internet World 2008, according to all was a big success. Lots of interest in our site search & navigation solutions, especially the newer products like Cross-Sell and Traffic Builder. I’ve been nudging them for a picture the past few days, so hopefully I’ll have one soon to post here.

On a not so related topic, someone sent me the following series of stats from a 2007 Aberdeen Group study regarding online retailers:

• 38% derive customer analytics data from site search activity, 31% personalize site search base on the purchase histories of unique customers or segments of customers
• 41% say they spend very little time managing research
• Amongst best in class 17% have staff dedicated to managing search results, and 33% spend more than 5 hours per week fine tuning search

What do we learn from all that? That not all retailers are using their time most effectively. That for many it really does pay to have someone else manage their merchandise. Hmmm, can you think of someone who can do that at a reasonable fee?……