Blog

I was prompted by a discussion on LinkedIn regarding the use of Open Source e-commerce software – as opposed to licensed Software. Screen Pages we used to design/build clients on Licensed Software and now we do so on Open Source. We don’t believe in creating our own proprietary platform – I did this in my [Read more]

E-consultancy research shows that 78.6% of Facebook users didn’t yet follow any brands on Facebook, leaving 21.3% who did. Females are more likely to follow brands on Facebook than males (24% vs 18%). The most common reason for doing so was to be notified of special offers (70%). Other reasons included shopping (38%), to be [Read more]

Screen Pages has added video to the Wallace Sacks e-commerce website. Video content on shopping sites increases engagement and enhances the shopping experience – ultimately improving website conversion ratios. Wallace Sacks has expanded rapidly over the past few years and is now a leading online retailer of linens (bed linens, sheets, towels etc) as well [Read more]

Mark Zuckerberg says “social commerce is the next area to really blow up”. According to Wired: Social Commerce, building “a social layer on top of online commerce”, “turning products into conversations”, is attracting big funding, big buzz and generating big revenue. If you’re not there yet, online retailers need to understand what’s emerging and plan [Read more]

Excellent article by Matthew Tod (wise one, indeed) regarding e-commerce website growth rates for major retailers, with comparisons to their offline performance and an assessment of typical drivers of growth. Here’s a summary: Argos +38.0% Debenhams +88.5% House of Fraser +120.0% John Lewis +42.0% M&S +25.0% Mothercare +10.2% Next +8.7% Shop Direct +23.4% SuperGroup +243.3% [Read more]

Screen Pages has studied 15 of its clients’ christmas trading and has compiled the following statistics. For the month of December 2010, 80% of the retailers grew sales YOY and 40% grew at more than 30%. The average sales growth was 14%. -80% managed to increase visitors, 26% increased visitors by 50%. Overall visitors to [Read more]

Experian/IMRG have just published the list of top online retailers for November 2010. We obviousy missed the last few months? Brands/retailers that Screen Pages’ clients seek to emulate or cite as peers – being niche brands selling to ABCs – include: 5 – Next 6 – Marks & Spencer (up 1) 9 – John Lewis [Read more]

Small businesses in the vanguard of internet use are raising their profile and attracting new customers but the majority are still selling in the physical world, a study for Google finds, reported by the Telegraph. – 65% of the businesses were investing in natural search and 62% in online advertising so customers could find their [Read more]

The internet is worth £100bn annually to the UK economy, comprising 7.2% of the gross domestic product, which is expected to reach 10% within five years, according to a survey commissioned by Google. The share is also likely to grow to 10% by 2015, putting the internet’s contribution on a par with the financial sector. [Read more]