With mixed views about Christmas and concerns over the VAT rise in January, retailers will be keen to maximise their post-Christmas sales which is start climbing from mid-November and usually peak in the first two weeks of December.

I believe that the internet will be the saving grace for many retailers this year, as more people shun the high street in search of the best deals. I think that the price sensitivity displayed by consumers is fuelling greater demand for solutions which helps retailers make sure their products appear first when consumers carry out product searches online.

The product feed is essentially the online alternative to instore merchandising. It’s all very well having a presence but if it doesn’t do the job of pulling in the sales, it’s pretty useless. Retailers really should invest in their product feeds as they would in the high street store and it is a shame to think that many retailers will miss out on valuable sales this Christmas due to inaccuracies in their product feed data, which could mean either poor search rankings or being omitted from searches all together.

The good news is that there is still time for retailers to get their product feeds in check, as with solutions like Feed Manager™, information can be updated and pumped out across the web in a matter of days.

One the initial preparatory work is done, the product feeds can be automatically updated so that they match the requirements of each individual product feed site. Retailers will be astounded at the difference a few minor tweaks to their product feeds can have on their sales figures, something which I’m sure most would welcome at this time of year.

In a local shop this week I noticed that Christmas items are already on sale, this is no different for the internet. With lifestyles getting busier and even more hectic many people will be turning to the internet to do their Christmas shopping this year. Not only are they in the comfort of their own home but they can compare prices without trailing through many shops.

With the recession not a distant memory, people are still watching their cash flow and with Christmas being one of the most expensive times of the year product price comparison is going to be big. However, the problem I often find is that many retailers have the information available to update their product feeds, but simply didn’t have the ‘thing’ that could feed this information out to the web and where it needed to go.

Automated ‘intelligent’ product display feeds are consistently proving to save retailers and agencies days or weeks of management and development time to set up and maintain listings on product listing sites and help get products in front of more online shoppers quickly and effectively.

It is a shame to think that many retailers will miss out on valuable sales this Christmas due to inaccuracies in their product feed data, which could mean either poor search rankings, reviews or being omitted from searches all together.

The good news is that there is still time for retailers to get their product feeds in check, as with solutions like Feed Manager, information can be updated and pumped out across the web in a matter of days.

This ties in with our understanding of the ever increasing importance of product reviews in supporting the rankings for relevance in Google’s Shopping and natural results. Google already pulls in reviews from a number of shopping comparison sites and its own Checkout ecommerce offering, and it is easy to appreciate why it wants to extend the range of reviews it can pick up and use to provide as much information to the potential shopper as possible.

We always stress to clients that positive reviews from ecommerce transactions are highly beneficial to conveying trust and convincing new potential customers to engage. Google’s growing emphasis on reviews within their product listings means that estores must continue to refine and improve the quality of their product listings – not just to Google’s Merchant Centre, but to all websites where the client products are listed – a theme we have touched on several times in recent weeks.

A retailer we have been working closely with for the past month or so has seen visits to their site increase by 50% in just one month alone, simply by reviewing and amending their product listings to ensure they match all the requirements set out by the sites that they provide their products to, thus minimising the likelihood of rejection and boosting their visibility.

In fact, the results delivered to date already indicate that the system they implemented to manage this process has already provided them with a significant return on their investment, making it a very profitable and effective means of capitalising on the lucrative Christmas trading period.

After the internal marketing team recognised the need to review the way their product listings were working on the web, they enlisted our help to ensure their product feed strategy was working to it full potential.
We implemented a system which brought their various product output feeds together and ensured they were repackaged for the specific requirements of each output site, be it, Google, Affiliates, shopping comparison websites and so on.

Since implementing Feed Manager™ in June 2010, the client has seen sales revenues grow strongly across all channels, with visitor numbers continuing to climb even during the relatively quiet summer period.

Even by my standards, the results have been literally astounding. But it proves why sometimes, it is far better to outsource specific functions than to lose many more valuable in-house hours. The mass of product listing sites and differing requirements can be challenging for many internal departments to manage in addition to their existing responsibilities.

The great thing about product feed strategies is that the ROI is clear and more than repays the initial investment in outsourcing the function to a specialist provider.

As I’ve said many times before, the problem I often find in my line of work is that many retailers have all the information available to update their product feeds, but simply didn’t have the ‘thing’ that could feed this information out to the web and where it needed to go.

Automated ‘intelligent’ product display feeds are proven to save retailers and agencies days or weeks of management and development time to set up and maintain listings on product comparison sites and help get products in front of more online shoppers quickly and effectively.

So with all this talk of booming online sales, ask yourself if your products are performing to the optimum. And if not, I highly recommend you do something about it, and fast.

With the recession still affecting IT spend across the board, many retailers and marketers have had to clamp down on external spending, particularly when it comes to developmental projects and there is a tendency for people to view anything to do with boosting online sales as likely to be one of these hugely expensive and timely projects they desperately have to avoid.

Unfortunately for many it is a catch 22 situation as they clearly realise that online sales are one of the most cost-efficient sales channels and really want to raise their visibility in time for Christmas, but are too scared to explore the possibilities because they fear it will cost too much.

The good news for retailers is that product listing strategies are incredibly cost effective (and we are talking only a few hundred pounds a month on average) and can be implemented and working in just 48 hours. For those who have taken the time to explore boosting online sales through better product feed management, the results have been well worth the investment.

Inkntoneruk decided to explore how improved product listings could help make his site more profitable in 2008. Despite operating in a competitive market with wafer-thin margins, the solution he opted for (Feed Manager) was able to make subtle but significant changes to the way their products were listed online and most importantly, manage any price changes instantly. As a result, Inkntoneruk now generate up to 75% of their overall business turnover online and founder Steve Hari says he is now making a lot more money from the site as a result of focussing on finding a solution to improve the effectiveness of their product listings.

And It’s not just small retailers and brands that are reaping the benefits, Signet have also experienced a tremendous rise in online sales thanks to a greater focus on improving their product listings, so much so that the investment in product feed management seems almost laughable in comparison to the increased revenue they’ve got as a result, but I’ll talk about this more in a future blog.

The market is now flooded with price comparison and product listing sites but we are finding that many of the listings don’t have the correct price or stock availability, which can be damaging for the brand when they fail to deliver what the customer is expecting. Couple this with the fact that sites like Amazon have a very strict policy when it comes to listings and protecting their customer’s experience, brands could be putting themselves in a very vulnerable position if their product feeds aren’t kept up to date.

Automated ‘intelligent’ product display feeds are proven to save retailers and agencies days or weeks of management and development time to set up and maintain listings on product comparison sites and help get products in front of more online shoppers quickly and effectively. For retailers and marketers alike, a failure to keep stock levels up to date online is something which can cost retailers dearly when it comes to reputation and credibility. It is also one of the key areas that marketing agencies already offering product feed services tend to fall down on.

The problem I often find in my line of work is that many retailers had the information available to update their product feeds, but simply didn’t have the ‘thing’ that could feed this information out to the web and where it needed to go. Often, I find that marketing agencies are none the wiser either.

Logan Tod’s Annual Online Shopping Index has revealed that the public intend to do 23 per cent more shopping online in the run up to Christmas 2010. Stock availability will be a critical issue for many retailers over this period and so agencies need to take note. Providing their customers with an outsourced solution like Feed Manager will ensure marketing agencies can help their clients get their listing processes in order now so that their online product display matches the real picture in the warehouse and that customers are not left disappointed.

*http://www.internetretailing.net/2010/06/growth-in-online-shopping-at-its-fastest-for-two-years/

** http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/retailonlineshopper.html

We’ve been saying for a while that things are bubbling under with the GMC. Affiliate listings are being purged, product submissions being reviewed (we think) much more closely and a lot more detailed checks are being done on product entries.

The latest changes have just been announced to Electronics product submissions, where starting in the first months of 2011, they are making some changes to how products in the Electronics category may appear in Google Product Search. In order to aid the user search, Google are stating that suppliers of data then include at least two of the following three unique product identifiers: MPN, Brand, and EAN.

While these attributes will not be required for the feed to process correctly, if you don’t include them, chances are that your products will not show often/(if at all).

So, forewarned is forearmed. Get that data into your product database now and included in your submissions now. Natch, Feed Manager is already submitting this if it exists for any client and the longer your products are submitted including the data, the better the long term benefits to your listing.

They quote a recent e-commerce consumer survey carried out by Webcredible which revealed that almost one third (28 per cent) of online shoppers are most likely to be persuaded to make an online purchase by the reputation of the retailer.

We agree that inclusion of surveys and reviews are an essential part of listing products on price comparison websites. Not only do they provide a strong level of reassurance to potential purchasers, they are often picked up by Google to support natural rankings. Google’s own checkout reviews feature heavily in their product listings, and help support their rankings as well.

To find out more on deploying any shopping comparison site survey scripts, get in touch.

We have seen that Google has recently been picking up a number of feedback articles and posts made by purchasers of goods online, and including them in its natural rankings.  Assuming (of course) that these posts are favourable, there are two main benefits of implementing surveys:

1.  The store strength on the relevant shopping comparison website is enhanced, thereby stimulating confidence and credibility in the minds of the users

2.  Google may index the review, and thereby improve the organic (natural search position ranking) of the store – a small contribution perhaps to overall ranking, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Either or both of these effects can only improve an eccommerce store’s results from its online marketing budgets using this pay per click medium.

Taking this further again, PriceGrabber has recently (10 September 2009) announced a new traffic partnership deal with http://www.reviewcentre.com/ – a leader in consumer generated product reviews.

This partnership enables PriceGrabber to drive even more qualified referrals, across its multiple product categories .

The first phase is now live and PriceRunner listings can be seen integrated alongside other powerful product reviews.

This is an interesting development, and gives PriceRunner a feature which does offer a differential against its competitors.  We’re definitely in favour of this move, and we look forward to seeing how this changes the levels of activity seen by our clients.

Since Microsoft had acquired Ciao earlier in 2009, we have been expecting development of their pay per click reporting systems, and this is the first major change we have seen.

It’s a much easier system to use than the previous version, with more comprehensive menus, and better visibility of all pay per click activities.  From their official release, these are the new features

We’ll be investigating some of the drill down capabilities as the data on the accounts comes through over the next few weeks, and see whether that is reaching the levels of other shopping comparison channels.

• Overview of clicks per shop
• Illustrative charts of clicks per shop
• Click progression per category, timeframe and placement
• Independent update of master data
• Individual and exportable reports in different standard formats (daily, weekly, monthly or yearly)

Anything of general interest will be posted up here in due course.