Internet Marketing Articles by Web Profits

Is Ecommerce The Future Of Buying?

As time goes on, more and more of us become more open to buying online. Even people who were very resistant to it are now jumping in and giving it a go.

But will there ever come a day when ecommerce becomes the main way that we all make our purchases?

Despite the fact that internet shopping has become more popular as time has gone by, it’s a long jump from that to it becoming the main way to shop. Some would argue that the future of buying is here already, since so many of us do use the internet for buying whatever it is we need.

But even though internet marketing is attracting our attention like never before, is it really in a position to take the top spot against more traditional shopping?

When it comes down to it there are certain things that we would simply go out and buy, rather than getting them online. The one factor which does become a problem in many cases is postage. Depending on the item we don’t always like to pay postage when we buy online. But having said that there are companies which don’t impose a postage charge – and they must experience a higher volume of orders as a result.

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NASDAQ’s Internet Index – Is It Worth Paying Attention To?

Back in November 2007, NASDAQ decided to create an index of the top one hundred companies that were involved in providing services and/or goods on the internet. But has it made enough of a splash – or are there still plenty of people who still haven’t even heard of it, one year on?

There is no questioning the fact that this was a good idea, at least in part. But like all good ideas it does have its drawbacks as well, not least of which is that the very nature of it means it really only applies in the US. Still, within that area it does have its place and perhaps we should expect a new index such as this one to take some time in establishing itself.

So what does this index tell us? Well in short, it tells us how the top one hundred internet companies that are concerned with internet marketing or other similar services are performing against each other. But since this only applies in that one country we have no way of figuring out how internet businesses are doing as a whole.

But maybe it will pave the way for a more global view of the internet market in the future. Most people would agree that while the high street suffers in times of hardship and recession, the internet never really seems to have many problems. Cheaper prices and the absence of queues and other hassles are indicative of every single online business, and that means people are more likely, not less likely, to flock to the internet when money is tight.

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Is E-Commerce Truly Recession Proof?

The current economic climate is very troubling for almost everyone. If you are working for someone else you will be concerned about your job security and about the likelihood of having no wage rises for the foreseeable future. And if you are working for yourself you will no doubt be spending more time than ever trying to figure out how to cut costs wherever you can and attract more customers to keep your business healthy – even if that means reducing prices to a certain degree.

We’ve often been told that internet marketing businesses are safer from such economic woes than standard brick-and-mortar ones. And there are certainly more and more cases of local businesses – and even well known names – shutting down because they are no longer able to trade profitably.

But during all this upheaval are internet based businesses really untouchable? Can they really ride out any kind of recession with no issues or problems at all? After all it seems hard to believe that when other businesses are falling left, right and centre, e-commerce companies are staying exactly as they were before.

In truth there will be e-commerce businesses that fall by the wayside during this time, but they tend not to be noticed quite as much as more traditional businesses are. You would certainly spot the difference if a shop you walked past every day suddenly closed down, and yet unless you bought stock from a website continually you probably wouldn’t notice if it went the same way.

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Are Your Postage Charges Putting Off Customers?

How many times have you visited a website, seen something that you liked for a few dollars, popped it into your basket… and then discovered that the postage charge effectively doubles the price of the item you want?

This isn’t uncommon online and while postage charges often benefit those who are ordering multiple items from the same website they do tend to sting people who are only looking to buy one thing. That’s why it pays to keep an eye on what you are charging your own customers to buy items from you, because if you get the balance wrong you could end up sending people elsewhere to buy what they want.

Of course it isn’t always as simple as that. While your website marketing may benefit from promoting low postage costs you need to ensure that you won’t lose money by offering rock bottom postage prices. Some companies offer free carriage on everything you buy, but they are few and far between and they tend to be huge in nature – not a small business that is selling perhaps fifty or sixty items a week or less.

The idea of course is that by offering low or free postage you will attract more people to buy from you, but if you aren’t getting the footfall to your website in the first place it could effectively wipe out all your profits in one fell swoop. Think about the type of goods you sell as well; if you are selling temporary tattoos then your postage costs will always be very low, since they will all go in standard envelopes or small postal bags that don’t cost much to mail out. And bigger orders will bring in more profit to cover the slightly higher mailing costs.

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