August 2, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The issue of taxation has often plagued ecommerce solutions, confusing even the various people who have made it their business to sort this whole thing out. As it stands now, shoppers on ecommerce solutions only have to pay sales tax if they buying from a company that has a physical location (referred to as a nexus) inside the state where the user is. In all other cases, they are supposed to remit a “use tax” to their state in lieu of the sales tax.

But nobody does.

For years states have been working on ways to close this loophole and get what’s rightfully theirs, but online retailers haven’t made it easy on them. For starters, as in most cases like this, Congress has been slow to react on a federal level, and without broader support, individual states found their abilities to enforce taxation difficult. Then came the recession – even before that, states wanted a slice of the ecommerce solution taxation cake – but the massive deficits racked up by states across the country made them even more desperate to get their hands on that revenue.

A new bill, called “The Mainstreet Fairness Act,” could create a more comprehensive, easy-to-handle solution for states, ecommerce solutions, and small businesses alike. One of the most contentious issues for small businesses has been the fact that online shoppers can come into a brick-and-mortar store, try out an item, then go online and find it at a significantly reduced price (eBay acquired a company called RedLaser with barcode scanning technology that does exactly this). So not only do the states lose out on tax revenue, but small businesses lose out on income as well. Representative Peter Welch, one of the bill’s champions in the House, had this to say:

“When a consumer can walk into a store, try out a product and then go home and buy it online without paying sales tax, Main Street businesses and downtowns lose.”

Not every ecommerce solution is dreading passage of this new law, either. Amazon, despite their latest California fiasco where they shuttered facilities there to prevent having to pay the appropriate taxes to that state, openly supports the law. In addition to leading a coalition of other online retailers who support it, Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global public policy wrote this in a letter to the politicians working on the law:

“Introduction of your bill returns the discussion of interstate collection of sales tax to Congress, which the Supreme Court says is the appropriate forum to resolve the issue. Amazon looks forward to working with you and your colleagues in Congress to help enact sales tax collection legislation.”

July 29, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Groupon may be all the rage for deal-a-day sites here in the States, but Snapdeal.com is the one making waves in India. The country of 1.21 billion loves the New Delhi-based deal-a-day site, which also offers a products and “getaways” page. The company announced today that it has raised $40 million in Series B funding from Bessemer Ventures and previous investors Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Partners. This is the largest single investment in an Indian Internet firm to date.

Snapdeal takes a bit of a different approach to the tried and true Groupon model. Instead of offering one deal, the site is offering daily deals to hyperlocal markets while also offering users vacation bargains and discounted prices on products such as jewelry and electronics.

The additional $40 million investment brings the total funding for the ecommerce solution to $52 million. The additional money comes hot on the heels of the $12 million investment that Nexus and IndoUS dropped into the company in January. While such rapid re-investment is rare, the growth that Snapdeal has experienced is just as surprising. In the past 6 months, the company has hired an additional 200 people, and the site’s user base has expanded from 1 million to 8 million people.

According to Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl, the ecommerce solution is adding new members at a rate of 1.5 million a month. The site offers deals in 50 of India’s largest cities and offers bargains from 10,000 brands and retailers throughout the country. The next logical step in the company’s growth is to go multinational, and Bahl seems optimistic about the potential for expansion into Southeast Asia. The company already has multinational companies like Pizza Hut, Levi’s, Nike, and Marriot on board.

Snapdeal is also getting a leg up on competitors by offering a mobile version of its site. According to Bahl, around 30 percent of all deals purchased from Snapdeal are generated from a mobile device. One problem the ecommerce solution has run into is employee retention, which is a countrywide issue within India. Bahl said the company is planning on spending some of the new funding on employee training, grooming, and incentives.

July 29, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

For those of us living life in four dimensions (time being the most often-overlooked dimension), buying 3D products may seem like a step backwards, but science and commerce have colluded to produce numerous 3D products for the unsuspecting masses to put in their shopping carts. If you too are intrigued by what the wonders of mulit-dimensional science have to offer you, then take a look at this quick run-down of great 3D products from Amazon.

First off is the top-selling 3D TV in Amazon’s roster, the Samsung UN55D8000. The fifty-five inch model was the best seller and it’s easy to see why. With 1080p HD resolution and two pairs of 3D glasses included, you are ready to rock and roll in 3D right out of the box. And it’s HUGE! That’s hard to beat.

Those of us who thought we could only afford two dimensions might want to put this next item into our shopping carts. VIZIO’s XVT3D474SV is less that half the cost of Samsung’s monster. While it does feature full LED backlighting, it’s only got a refresh rate of 480Hz. It makes up for this with the addition of built-in VIZIO apps.

If you decide to choose a Mitsubishi 3D TV, you’re going to need 3D glasses and maybe some other accessories in your shopping cart. Mitsubishi humbly offers you this “3D Starter Pack.” It includes 3D glasses, conversion cables, and even a disc of Disney 3D trailers so that you can see what all your hardware’s capabilities.

Whatever type of 3D TV you end up with (and Amazon has a ton to choose from), you will need to right glasses. The standard sets are usually fine, but the top-selling 3D glasses are Samsung SSG-3100GB 3D Active Glasses. Made especially for 2011 Samsung TV models, they are blazing a path for other 3D glasses. If you have a newer model Samsung 3D TV, then check these out. They might make the perfect addition to your shopping cart and your life.

An awesome 3D entertainment system is worthless without great stuff to play on it. While the Norse god of thunder is still rampaging his way through theaters in certain areas, you can beat the rush for this special Thor three-disc combo set by putting it into your shopping cart now! Including the Blu-Ray 3D and standard Blu-Ray versions, this bundle lets you see Chris Hemsworth in all his rock-hard chiseled glory.

Last but not least, 3D doesn’t have to be something you leave at home. You can even experience three dimensions when you are out experiencing the rest of the world. In the wake of sales numbers that didn’t quite live up to expectations, Nintendo has dropped the price of its latest portable gaming system, the Nintendo 3DS. Now available for $169 (almost $100 less than its original price) it’s a steal at this price! You can even get buy-one-get-one savings on select games.

July 28, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Has the world of online shopping become a bit too bland and two-dimensional for you? Ecommerce solution providers VirtualE and z3D both plan to change the online experience for shoppers around the world. The company is working on the development of an online shopping mall featuring 3D products and storefronts, complete with social interactions with other customers.

The new development from VirtualE is operating and licensing electronic malls to give online shoppers the sense of actually being “there.” VirtualE “e-malls,” as they call them, require users to download their proprietary software, which then lets them create a shopping avatar, peruse a 3D electronic mall, and meet up with friends while they’re checking out the digital storefronts. The result of all this interactive shopping is a more entertaining and fun shopping experience according to CEO Mark Stein.

“It makes for a more dynamic experience,” said Stein. “I compare it to the transition from black and white to color TV. Once color was possible, why would you want black and white?”

ZEDDD, another 3D ecommerce solution, is working with shoppers and companies to bring their product, called z3D, to market. “ZeDDD is working with a number of companies around the world to set up z3D malls and shops,” ZeDDD spokesperson Michael Hodges says. The company says it can provide a customized or template z3D application, and the software is free for shoppers and storeowners alike.

z3D sees the potential for 3D shopping to expand, potentially allowing entire virtual cities to develop where shops have established virtual addresses within the application. This new approach to shopping could also attract a new customer base, particularly amongst those who have been reluctant to purchase online in the past. 3D images of products provide a more hands on experience, and also allow users to get a feel for what they are actually buying.

In order to sell in 3D, businesses need to create digital 3D versions of their products. The investment is worth it according to ZEDD. Creating 3D renditions of products leads to a higher interest in products, and translates into higher sales for companies. Keep an eye out for more 3D ecommerce solutions!

July 28, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The push to eliminate boring static images on the web just gained some momentum! Pixazza, one of the premier interactive image/shopping experience providers on the web, has rebranded. Along with the new company name comes a new platform for advertisers and other clients. The ecommerce solution is now called Luminate, and will continue to provide interactive images that link shoppers to the items they see.

Interactive images work like this: the consumer lands on a page, showing a breathtaking shot of a woman hiking in the mountains. Say the person wants to buy the shirt they see the model wearing in the picture. This is where Luminate comes in. Using this ecommerce solution, publishers or advertisers can link the image to multiple similar products available on the web. So when the end-user clicks the Luminate icon on the image, they can purchase the product they are seeing. Luminate also allows clients to provide factual or interesting information about, for example, the mountains in the image.

The apps that Luminate offers aren’t just for online shopping. They also allow users to share notes about a particular portion of an image, accessible only by certain people. They can also view news about an event, read additional relevant content to what is featured in the image, or experience music or video related directly to the image.

Luminate allows clients to “engage consumers through beautiful online images. Luminate enables brand advertisers to deliver powerful brand impressions. We help direct response advertisers and ecommerce companies acquire new customers and generate additional transactions on a CPC (cost-per-click) basis.” The company currently “luminates” images at a rate of 30 billion images a year. The ecommerce solution currently claims to have around 150,000 users and 4,000 publishers. The company also has the backing of some heavy-weight investors, such as Google Ventures

For advertisers, the idea of interactive images means big bucks. Being able to strategically place an ad for a resort within a picture of a sandy beach allows the advertisers to tie a picture to an experience or product, and generate greater sales. This ecommerce solution is one to watch!

July 27, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

In the wake of Netflix’s gutsy decision to increase the prices on their streaming movies plus DVDs-by-mail combo package, their stock is down and a new contender has entered the ring (but will you be putting their digital movies into your shopping cart?). About two weeks ago Netflix, obviously still dealing with the logistics and added costs of physically shipping discs through the mail decided that if their subscribers were so married to the idea of getting DVDs in the mail, that they should be willing to pay a little extra cash every month for the privilege.

That being said, they bumped up the monthly cost for these services from $10 for unlimited streaming with DVDs to $8 for unlimited streaming and/or $8 for DVDs by mail. The result? A six dollar hike in overall price for past subscribers who had the combo package. No change for people who just had streaming, And a whole lot of abuse hurled at Netflix.

Facebook and Twitter exploded with rage, as they are wont to do when catastrophic news like this occurs. Many people claimed that this was the beginning of the end for Netflix, that the service was going downhill, and that they would be quitting forever. Some of them obviously made good on their promises, as cancellations are up and stock prices are down. Netflix took a ten percent hit in the stock market. Despite that fact, CEO Reed Hastings seemed upbeat and confident during a recent earnings call:

“We tried to be as straightforward as we could, and that has worked out very well for us. In terms of the customer support line, it was a very short amount of time that it exceeded our capacity there. And now, our service levels have returned to our normal great service levels.”

Walmart might have smelt some blood in the water, however, choosing this week to accent their newly Walmart-branded “Vudu” service. Having acquired the online streaming company some months ago, they made it official by slapping the Walmart name over everything and giving it plenty of social media attention. It’s not a Netflix-killer, though. Instead of operating on subscriptions, it uses an online shopping cart to manage movies.

The Walmart system features different tiers of movies, available for different periods of time. Users browse the list, choose their movies, and put them in an online shopping cart, right there inside of the Walmart ecommerce solution. At prices ranging from $2 to $6 depending on the release date and how long you want it, the model leaves a lot to be desired. The major selling point could be the availability of new releases, which is something that Netflix struggled with as well. Between Hulu, Apple TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and now Walmart, online movie watchers have a ton of options, but none to rule the all.

July 26, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

A recently launched ecommerce solution, Send The Trend, has just launched a new service dubbed My Style. The site is concentrated around the world of accessories! (OMG, yes i’m serious). Their new service, My Style, allows users to help their friends find the best additions to accentuate their wardrobe, while letting the user make money at the same time.

The company only deals with scarfs, sunglasses, necklaces, watches, etc. When you sign up for the service you take a survey which aims to have the site curate a list of accessories that you would like most. Every single one of the items is $30, so choose accordingly.

The site automatically charges your credit or debit card every month whether you decide to buy something or not. Until you cancel or skip, you’re paying $30 every month. The idea has gained popularity since those shady CD companies started doing it in the late 90’s. You better remember that between the 1st and 5th of each month you have to buy something or else you’re wasting $30. If you’re one of those people who is on top of their subscription game, then you can choose to skip this month (not pay) through the ecommerce solution.

Now, the new My Style service is actually kind of cool. What it allows the user to do is create their own page on the site that has all of their favorite styles. You can have the site add styles onto your page through their technical algorithm, or you can just upload them yourself.

Once your very own ecommerce solution is setup you are able to share it on Facebook, Twitter, and email. If somebody likes your style then every time they buy a product off of your page, you make $10 in store credit. Making 33% commission on a sale isn’t too bad huh? One problem is that there is a wait list right now to create a My Style page.

Send The Trend was co-founded by Divya Gugnani, Mariah Chase and Project Runway winner Christian Siriano. The company has received funding from Battery Ventures and Founder Collective.  The ecommerce solution has been seeing great growth after the couple months that it has been live.

While giving up 33% of the item’s selling price to the user, even though it is store credit, is still a pretty big margin, but the clothing business does have gigantic markups. For example, Nordstrom’s lingerie section has a price markup of 1600%. One has to only wonder how much Send The Trend pays for those oh-so-cute beaded bracelets.

July 26, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Most iPhone and Android users are familiar with how freemium App content works. First, the user downloads a game from their respective App Store, which they can then play for free. The number of features or levels available to the free user are intentionally limited, encouraging the in-app purchase of the full game. This model has been very successful for app and game developers, and a recent report shows that the average in-app purchase amongst 3.5 million users on both Android and iPhone iOS has reached $14.

Here are some even more surprising numbers: Of all the in-app revenue generated, approximately 51% of that revenue comes from in-app purchases of $20 or more. Despite this fact, the overwhelming majority of in-app purchases (71%) are actually coming in at the lower end of the spectrum, ranging from $10-$20. Purchases greater than $20 come in at only 13% of the total number of in-app purchases. What’s more, the highest end of in-app purchasing is in fact suprisingly high, roughly $50 a transaction.

This news reaffirms the suspicion that smartphone users are more inclined to add an app to their shopping cart if they feel they are getting content for free, even if it is a limited experience. It also shows that consumers are more likely to upgrade their freemium experience if they are first given a sample of what they are buying.

Flurry, the company conducting the research, notes that digital distribution of games is throwing the portable retail game category for a loop. The market that was once dominated by the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP is now being taken over by consumers who prefer to add digitally distributed games to their shopping cart. The revenue share of portable games on the iOS and Android platforms has risen from just 1 percent in 2008 to 34 percent in 2010. In turn, Nintendo’s market share in portable games went from 75 percent in 2008 to 57 percent in 2010.

Flurry also noted that games drive 75 percent of the revenue among the top 100-grossing iOS apps. 65% of the game revenue comes from free-to-play games, with in-app purchases driving the success of these titles.

July 25, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

It’s no secret that people love shopping online. Ecommerce solutions are convenient, often offer the best prices, and have immense selections – often far more than a brick and mortar store could support. These factors, helped by economic worries and high gas prices could end up boosting online sales for this year’s back to school season. Analysts are reporting that more parents and students may be turning to online stores to get their supplies and clothing instead of venturing out to local retailers.

It’s no secret that people love shopping online. It’s also no secret that the economy isn’t where we all wanted it to be. Even with all the bailouts and government support that big business has gotten in the past few years, the jobs haven’t come back in any great numbers. Spending power for the vast majority of Americans (read: not the rich) continues to plummet and shows little sign of returning. Shoppers have no choice but to cut out non-essential purchases and continually look for the best deals on the things that they can’t do without.

Enter the world of ecommerce solutions. One definite growth industry throughout the crazy ride that the economy has given us has been daily deals. Groupon and the TONS of daily deals clones that have sprung up in their wake took advantage of a definite consumer need: cheaper ways for people to actually get out and enjoy themselves without breaking the bank.
Analysts say that this deal-seeking behavior is here to stay. People don’t want to waste money paying full price when they can get a Groupon or other coupon and save some green (I say: who ever had money to waste in the first place?).

Between deal-seeking behaviors and high gas prices (shoot up right away, take forever to come back down) the National Retail Federation is making some sweeping pronouncements about the upcoming retail habits of shoppers. They expect 15.3% of consumers expect to increase the amount that they shop online for K-12 school supplies this year compared to other years. College shoppers will show a slight increase, with 18.8% expected to intensify online shopping efforts, but that’s up from the 18.2% from last year who did more online shopping. College shoppers are apparently already used to buying via ecommerce solutions to begin with. According to NRF president and CEO, Matthew Shay, this can be good for both retailers and consumers:

“Retailers understand consumers are extremely focused on value and are taking this opportunity to offer substantial savings on merchandise.”

July 22, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

PayPal, whose parent company is ecommerce giant eBay, recently announced a record quarter. In Q2, PayPal made $1 billion for the first time, passing 100 million active users. According to the release, a total of nine million merchants use PayPal around the world. Merchant services account for over two-thirds of operations and transactions. And following the recent trend, mobile payments are booming for the company. eBay said Paypal mobile payments will grow to more than $3 billion this year, compared to $750 million in 2010.

Great numbers from PayPal are offset a bit by less-than-stellar reports from eBay itself, who reported a drop in net income and lower-than-anticipated earnings. eBay has gone through a spree of acquisitions as of late, and those purchases are likely cutting into recent profit margins. The company purchased ecommerce solution GSI Commerce in March for $2.4 billion.

These strong numbers follow nicely with the recent announcement of a new PayPal/eBay product, the details of which are still under wraps. PayPal’s senior director recently unveiled a NFC (Near Field Communication) product, but eBay executives have been cautious when it comes to the new NFC ecommerce solution. eBay CEO Jeff Donahoe says “I don’t think that you’re going to see NFC with large merchants. You don’t want anything that has friction at point of sale.”

So what’s eBay’s new product? And when is it coming out? Well, even though details are scant at the moment, there are a few well-substantiated reports out there. CEO Donahue said eBay is looking to expand into in-store payment products, which the company is reportedly testing with retailers this year. The company plans to roll its new ecommerce solution out to more merchants in 2012, contingent upon the results of its testing. The products may include the ability to pay with wireless systems, such as NFC, or an alternative technology that eBay may be keeping under wraps.

Despite its apparent success and expansion, eBay continues to lose ground to its main competitor Amazon.com. The online marketplace wars continue, as Amazon is reportedly looking to expand in to NFC as well.

July 22, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Etsy, the online marketplace where buyers can add handmade goods to their shopping cart, has replaced their CEO. Former CTO Chad Dickerson, who has been with the company for three years, takes over from one-time CEO and founder Rob Kalin. Kalin had returned as CEO in 2009, but stepped down recently amidst trouble at the company.

Etsy has been growing fairly steadily over the last few years. A recent report from a private equity firm estimated that Etsy’s revenue could grow from $72 million to $201 million by the year 2016. The company reported an impressive $314 million in revenue this year, falling a bit short of its predicted number of $400 million. With that being said, customers and storefront owners have expressed concerns regarding the amount of effort necessary to maintain an Etsy storefront. The report also cited 80 percent of Etsy storefront owners as “having concerns about their Etsy experience”. Those who are running storefronts also claimed they are wary of Etsy’s technical limitations. The company likely took this data into account when selecting its former Chief Technology Officer as the new director of the company.

Additionally, while Etsy is the forerunner of “handcrafed” retail, the niche market accounts for only 1 percent of total retail sales in the US. Competition is expanding, and there are thousands of independent retailers from which consumers can add handmade crafts, jewelery and clothing to their shopping carts. comScore, which measures websites total hits, showed Etsy hovering at around 7.4 million monthly unique visitors worldwide in May 2011, a statistic that has failed to budge going back to December 2010.

Etsy started back in 2005, when Kalin, a college dropout, decided to start a site where crafty men and women could sell their creations online. Sellers list their items for a fee of $.20 each, and pay a 3.5% fee for every item sold. The company initially struggled to be profitable, and until 2007 had not turned a profit. Kalin had previously stepped down as CEO, only to return sometime later. The company is also famous for having used Twitter early on to promote sales and get more items into user shopping carts.

July 21, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Apple just unveiled the long-anticipated OSX Lion operating system, alongside a refreshed MacBook Air. The tech giant also mysteriously removed the option for consumers to add the popular white MacBook to their online shopping cart. It seems that recent rumors of the MacBook going the way of the dodo were in fact accurate, and the base model Macbook notebook has been replaced by an updated, faster Macbook Air.

The new OSX is a massive overhaul of the OSX operating system. The multi-touch gesture feature that made Snow Leopard so popular has been updated to include page and image zoom, and full-screen swiping. Lion also incorporates full-screen apps, which lets apps such as Preview or iPhoto to take over the entire screen, providing a more focused user experience.

Those OSX users who really enjoy the simplicity of Dashboard are in for a treat as well. “Mission Control” is Apple’s new feature that brings together full-screen apps, Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces into one feature that gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything that’s currently running on your system. Using three fingers to perform a single swipe on the trackpad, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. From there, you can see and access everything that’s open. Lion is available through the Mac App store as a digital download for $29, and will be available for purchase on a USB drive for $69.

The new Macbook Air brings a much needed update to the system, which has been infamously underpowered and sub-par. The new installment of the slim laptop brings Intel i5 and i7 processors into the mix, which greatly increases the speed and capabilities of the computer. Apple claims a 2.5x speed increase over the old Airs. Thunderbolt, Intel’s supercharged data transfer technology, has also been added to the Air’s hardware. While there are only currently a handful of Thunderbolt hard drives or monitors that users can add to their shopping carts, the technology is expected to become commonplace in the future.

Amidst all this good news, there was bound to be some sad news. The white Macbook, Apple’s base laptop model, was dropped from the line entirely. The Macbook accounted for 10% of total Apple sales, and was very popular amongst the younger generation of Apple users as an affordable compromise to the pricier Macbook Pro. Now, buyers looking to add an Apple notebook to their shopping cart have only two options: the new Macbook Air (starting at $999), or the Macbook Pro (starting at $1199).

July 21, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The world of mobile payments just got more interesting. Mobile ecommerce solution ISIS signed deals with three of the largest credit card companies Visa, American Express, and MasterCard. With Discover already backing the venture, ISIS is now the only mobile payment solution that supports all four major credit card companies. ISIS hopes that the new deal will help expand interest in NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile payment technology and help move consumers towards a more mobile shopping experience by the time it publicly launches in 2012.

ISIS is a joint venture between mobile service providers ATT, Verizon and T-Mobile. Its main competitor is Google Wallet, which offers a platform for mobile payment through service provider Sprint. MasterCard will continue to offer support through both ISIS and Google Wallet. Sprint is currently the only phone provider that offers a smartphone containing NFC technology, the Nexus S 4G. NFC technology allows consumers to use their mobile devices as forms of payment. By swiping the phone over an NFC scanner, the purchase is charged to their debit or credit card automatically, streamlining the purchasing process and potentially cutting back on credit card theft.

NFC technology is expected to become a major source of revenue for both credit card companies and the intermediaries that facilitate transactions. Getting credit card companies on board is a solid step in the right direction for ISIS and other mobile payment ecommerce solutions, but many obstacles lie in the way of progress towards card-less transactions. Replacing or supplementing old credit card machines with NFC scanners is expensive for retailers. Also, introducing NFC technology into phones and convincing consumers that it’s a worthwhile transition will be difficult.

Credit card companies have also recognized the increasing market for mobile payments, deal offers, online shopping and the general focus on the virtualization and streamlining of purchases. American Express recently teamed up with Facebook to bring deals to Facebook users, based on what they and their friends “like” on Facebook. In order to facilitate the switch to card-less payments and NFC transactions, analysts predict that credit card companies will need to offer incentives and promotions that will ease the transition.

July 19, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

It’s a fact: Consumers trying to add items to their shopping cart get frustrated when the webpage takes a long time to load. According to TagMan.com, providers of ecommerce solutions are concerned about the speed in which their web pages load, and are taking action to streamline their business pages. New survey data by global tag management leader TagMan (www.tagman.com) shows that 81% of respondents are concerned or very concerned about how quickly their page will load. In response to these concerns, nearly 60% say they’ve taken some steps to improve site speed, but are concerned and think they could do more to help their page.

One of the most helpful measures a webmaster can take in speeding up their web page is to optimize or remove third-party images, links and tags. Theses tags are often mismanaged and stored inefficiently, which translates into slower loading time for the web page. An alarming 71% of respondents to the survey say that they are aware of this step, but only 35% have taken the necessary action to assist with faster load times.

According to an Aberdeen Group report, every extra second a page takes to load can result in approximately a seven percent loss of conversions. Tests at Amazon revealed similar results, showing that every 100 ms increase in load time on Amazon.com decreased sales by 1%. Consumers using broadband to add items to their shopping cart are more impatient than dial up users.

Over time, the general speed of web pages have decreased as faster Internet connection have become more affordable and more common. In 2006, a study found that 40% of online shoppers feel that the most influential factor for them to revisit a site is whether the website will load quickly. Since a negative experience with an online shopping site is likely to fester into a general distaste for the company, having a faster loading web page is more likely to develop return customer relations. Therefore, faster loading web pages are more likely to lead to long term sales and ultimately more items in consumers’ online shopping carts.

July 19, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

MoboTap, a leading developer of web browsers for online devices, recently closed a ten million dollar Series A funding round. The round was led by Sequoia Capital. Kui Zhou, partner at Sequoia, will be joining the board at MoboTap. Matrix Partners, another venture capital investment company, also participated in the fundraising round. Their primary focus is early stage software and communications companies. This investment marks the first time that Sequoia has invested in a mobile browser.

Zhou had this to say about the targeted investment:

“According to IDC, for the first time more smartphones have been shipped than PCs, growing 74.4% to 302.6 million devices in 2010. Smartphones have changed the way people access the internet and Dolphin is transforming the way people browse on their smartphone and tablet devices.”

MoboTap’s flagship product is their alternative mobile browsing option: Dolphin. It’s currently only available on Android, but with about half a million Android phones purchased and activated through ecommerce solutions and brick and mortar stores, that’s a pretty strong consumer base. The app is available online through app marketplace ecommerce solutions. So far it has clocked over 8 million downloads. Half of those users do so on regular monthly basis. About 12.5 percent (that’s roughly 1 million) are regular daily users.

These numbers are way behind the usage numbers of the native Android browser, or other popular choices like Opera Mini or Firefox for mobile. However, the quality may be much higher. According to user feedback and related scores on app ecommerce solutions, Dolphin rates a 4.5 with just under 100,000 reviews. Opera Mini, on the other hand, sports 129,000 more reviews, that average out to a score of 4.3. Last but not least comes Firefox with only a third of the reviews that Dolphin has, and a 3.4 score.

MoboTap’s innovative technology, which handles gestures and has a number of features to aggregate and organize content may be the source of their success. A factor that could have been holding back more success could be their former “freemium” model. In their case, a free version was available with ads, or users could download an ad-free version through their phone’s ecommerce solution. In the wake of this new funding they’ve dropped that. Now anyone who wants the full featured Dolphin can have it.

At present their staff is split between San Fransisco and China. They say that they will use the influx of cash to expand operations (possibly to new types of phones) and roll out a version for iPhone.

July 19, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Dell CEO Michael Dell is looking to use Google+ style meet-ups to address customer service needs for the company. Ever since joining the new social networking service offered by Google, Dell has utilized the group video chat, deemed a “meet-up,” to connect with users. He recently posed this question on Google+: “I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with your Dell service and sale teams via video directly from Dell.com?”

This new idea seems to be a viable ecommerce solution for the company. The question received an overwhelming positive response from Dell’s group of connections on Google+. The idea of group video chat to solve customer service problems addresses a few key issues for Dell, who has fallen behind competitors as of late. Video chat would allow users to connect face-to-face with a person and would add a humanized feel to an increasingly automated and outsourced customer service experience.

Additionally, many customer service calls are concerning the same issue. Therefore, having a service representative talk to a small group of customers at the same time could make more economic sense for tech companies. Customers could also share screenshots or share their computer’s screen remotely with the customer service rep or demonstrate the problem. This ecommerce solution could potentially cut the cost of return shipping for repairs and other pricey issues.

Dell’s idea would also help increase the company’s public image, which has taken a hit as companies like Apple and HP continue to eat up market share. By introducing somewhat personalized and humanized customer service, Dell may look more technically advanced and user friendly than its competitors. The ecommerce solution to a complicated issue could easily translate into higher sales for the company.

The idea of launching a Google+ hangout directly from the Dell homepage is still far off. Google+ is currently invite-only and has not been opened up to businesses. There’s still no word as to when the social networking tool will be open to business interests, though the company is rumored to be looking into how such a setup would look.