July 10, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team

Book selling giant, Barnes & Noble, finally jumped on board with other retailers who have expanded their m-commerce (mobile commerce) efforts with the addition of an iPhone app. Now they can be even more competitive in the space offering their customers another way to connect and shop on their mobile phone. They have been doing very well with their normal mobile commerce site but the app will offer a richer, faster customer experience because many of the features and design elements are stored on the iPhone and therefore it does not require constant downloads from the servers. Early reports say that the overall speed makes it vary comparable to shopping online on your home computer.

iPhone apps make a lot of great features possible that a normal mobile commerce site could not accommodate. One of the most amazing parts of the Barnes & Noble app is the ability to take a picture of a book cover, import it from your cell phone to the app, and it will quickly return product details, editorial reviews and customer ratings. If you are an existing customer that shops online, you will have the added perk of having everything easily synced up from their back end to your account. All of these enhancements will make it a very popular must download for iPhone users who love Barnes & Noble. As more and more cell phone users adapt to using smart phones with app capabilities, it will become a must for retailers to have a mobile presence in addition to your traditional online storefront.

July 09, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team

Internet.com, a popular eCommerce tool, and DevX.com, a popular application development site, combined efforts to release a list of the top 10 most popular eBooks in June. Of the ten eBooks, 3 stand out as resources online merchants can use to maximize profitability, production, and efficiency:

Best Practices for Developing a Web Site

Bulidng and designing websites have become a very simplified process for almost anyone, but building a quality web site is another story. While templates, FrontPage, Apple’s iWeb, and even social networks make it a cinch for any Internet user to create a site overnight, making a site that follows proper coding standards, is well designed, and search engine friendly takes time and knowledge. You can download this ebook for free to learn about the best practices in web design and development.

What to Expect from Tech in 2009

Internet.com sums up this eBook best in one sentence: Internet.com’s experts take a look at the vendors, devices, products, and trends that shape the tech industry as they head into one of the toughest economies since the invention of the transistor.&quote; download this eBook to see what’s ahead for open source software, Microsoft, virtualization, mobile devices, and more.

Developing a Content Management System Strategy

As a shopping cart owner, you may want to build relevant content around your products for both your customers and search engines. Finding or creating the right content management system is the first step you will need to take to build out content. This eBook is geared toward a reader with a strong knowledge of backend code and web development, but is still something that a novice coder could learn a lot from. You can download it for free and decide for yourself.

If you choose to download any of the above eBooks, you may need an Internet.com membership. Membership is free and a helpful tool to add to your eCommerce arsenal.

July 08, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team

Michael Jackson Memorabilia has always been popular online, but after his recent death the amount of merchandise being sold dramatically increased. As of July 5th there were roughly 50,000 items being sold on online giant Ebay. Many of the items being sold on the Internet are not very rare and sellers are exploiting the consumers who are fans and upset about the recent death. The price of items are also inflated because of all of the hype. Overtime the chaos should calm down and prices will drop. Some of the items for sale are also mass produced which makes them more sentimental than valuable. A similar case occurred following the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and the hype and prices eventually came down.

If you want to shop online and purchase memorabilia or other items in honor of a favorite celebrity that recently passed, then you should follow a few rules before you buy. First it is recommend to do as much research as possible to find out if the prices are temporarily inflated from prior to the celebrity’s death. Determining the authenticity of the item is also critical but can be very tough to do. Autographed items can usually be verified by a third-party who specializes in the subject. Outside of that you need to really look closely at the pictures online and ask the seller as many questions as possible to figure out where the item originated from. This can help give you reassurance that they are professional and if they do not have much of a story then you should consider not buying the item. If at all possible, go through a reputable dealer who has a history selling memorabilia with a solid reputation.