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leorej
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Posts by leorej
2012 – The Year of eBusiness, Mobile Commerce and APIs
Mar 2nd
Recently, I came across a very interesting 2012 predictions piece from Brian Walker, a leading industry influencer in the e-Commerce space. After a record-breaking year for e-Commerce, it was great to read about what will come next in this industry. We’ve summarized some of the article’s highlights below to see what’s on tap for 2012.
• Can eBusiness stand the heat and share the love?
In 2012, CEOs across various industries will realize the importance of implementing e-Commerce strategies. With year-over-year numbers ranging from more than 15 percent to more than 25 percent, leveraging e-Commerce technology will clearly be a top priority this year. But, with this opportunity comes added pressure and new challenges. Brian notes that new e-Commerce strategies will not only bring in additional cash, they will also create new responsibilities. Educating senior leadership, setting a technology direction and planning a transformation roadmap will be critical to implementing a successful and organized e-Commerce strategy.
• Mobile commerce is ready for its close-up.
We’ve seen countless reports that predict that mobile commerce will hit record numbers in 2012, but how will this impact the overall e-Commerce industry? As mobile computing devices gain share, and consumers become more comfortable purchasing from these new platforms, e-Business leaders will significantly raise investments in mobile commerce, tripling or quadrupling budgets to add or redo sites and apps.
• APIs, APIs, Oh My.
This year, Brian forecasts that application programming interfaces (APIs) will become a key topic for business leaders eager to increase flexibility of their technology platforms and applications. Along with the rise of mobile commerce comes the desire to add new customer touch points, which will accelerate investment in APIs. According to Brian, “this trend will drive a lot of business to commerce services providers and third-party API management companies to help develop and manage APIs that will be used internally and increasingly externally.”
What is the best part about Brian’s predictions? According to his piece, 2012 will be another great year for e-Commerce, with more organizations than ever implementing e-Commerce into their business strategies. In order to increase revenue streams and truly capitalize on this flourishing industry, it will be essential for vendors to provide a seamless payment process across various channels. This year, Plimus will continue to evolve its offerings and provide the flexible payment options consumers demand.
Did You Get What You Wanted for Valentine’s Day this Year?
Feb 21st
What did your sweetheart get you for Valentine’s Day this year? The gift you absolutely wanted—a virtual good?
Last week, Plimus released the results of its Plimus Virtual Valentine’s Day survey, which highlighted consumers’ behaviors toward giving their valentines online gifts and what, if any, barriers prevented them from doing so
The “Plimus Virtual Valentine’s Day” survey found:
• 43 percent of consumers wanted a digital gift this Valentine’s Day
• Nearly half of respondents indicated they would like to receive an electronic greeting card for Valentine’s Day
• One in five survey participants planned to purchase social media game credits for their Valentine this year
• Two out of three consumers said they would be more willing to purchase a virtual good for Valentine’s Day if the order page was intuitive and required limited personal information
Sales of virtual goods have increased consistently year-over-year as virtual goods and services become more abundant and consumers’ access to them has become easier and more frictionless. In fact, consumers said they would prefer a virtual good from their significant other for Valentine’s Day rather than a traditional gift such as chocolate, flowers or stationery.
Survey respondents indicated that, too often, they cannot complete a virtual purchase due to bothersome order pages and the large amount of personal data required to complete the purchase. For every three buyers, two indicated they would not complete the purchase — leaving their partner without a gift this Valentine’s Day.
We want everyone to get the gifts they want, and we ensure that all transactions purchased through our vendors are safe, secure, frictionless and intuitive for the end-user.
So tell us, what did you get this year?
Plimus Program Promotes Quality of Online Vendors
Jan 30th
Plimus has expanded its quality assurance measures with an expanded program designed to increase the levels of transparency and accountability of vendors using the Plimus e-Commerce platform. This program carefully analyzes the business practices and market offerings of digital products and online marketing vendors.
In the press release, our CEO, Hagai Tal, said, “Payment processing is really just a long line of trust: each player in the chain must trust those both up- and downstream in order to agree to complete a transaction. As a leader in the industry, we are continually seeking to firm up our processes to ensure with 100 percent confidence that consumers are being handled properly, and that there’s nothing misleading going on at any stage of the game. This program is necessary for the long-term health and stability of the whole industry and for the continued success of the many excellent vendors selling their products through Plimus.”
Our quality assurance program reviews vendors’ business practices and transaction histories to ensure that the products and services sold through the Plimus platform meet strict business and industry standards. Accounts are selected in cooperation with Plimus partner card association underwriters and payment processors, and we work to complete the reviews within 30 days.
For more than a decade, Plimus built a strong industry reputation based on our leadership of the virtual payments industry. The integrity of the industry requires that vendors, affiliates and payment platforms alike focus on the quality of the products sold online. Plimus’ ongoing quality programs meet these needs and set new standards for quality in the industry.
B2C Marketing Predicts Continued Increase in Shopping Cart Abandonment in 2012
Jan 27th
Turning browsers into buyers has always been a focus for Plimus. We work closely with our vendors to ensure their sites are consumer friendly with a quick and easy payments processor for buyers to complete their purchase. As you may recall, Plimus’ customizable processing platform allows vendors to combine unique selling features such as single-click purchasing and repeat customer features with customizable order pages that create a seamless checkout process. By enabling an easy, simple solution, vendors will consistently improve sales closure rates.
However, a recent article by Charles Nicolls of B2C Marketing, “Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate Set To Rise in 2012,”caught our attention. In the piece, Nicolls discusses how the shopping cart abandonment rate has risen to an all-time high of 72 percent in 2011. Furthermore, he predicts this rate will continue to grow this year and explains the methodology behind his predictions.
Despite online sellers’ efforts to simplify checkout processes, the addition of new security features and the implementation of new payment methods, shopping cart abandonment rates have steadily increased during the past three years.
So why do we see an increase in un-purchased goods and services in shopping carts?
According to Nicolls, the answer can be found by dissecting the diverse characteristics of consumers who abandon their carts versus those who don’t. As consumers become savvier online, they are more aware of different sites or techniques to find the lowest price available. No longer will they simply purchase from the first website they visit; instead, they will want to compare prices for the best deal.
The result … lots of full shopping carts left in the virtual aisle.
It will be interesting to see if Nicolls’ hypothesis holds true. As I mentioned above, we’ll continue our corporate charter by providing the customizable Plimus Marketplace to our customers, helping them increase their revenue. Let us know if we can help you!
Report: New Research on Virtual Goods
Nov 16th
A recent report from the analyst firm Juniper Research forecasts that virtual goods purchased via a mobile platform will total $4.6 billion in 2016. According to the report, the increased use of social gaming is largely due to the rise in smartphone and tablet adoption. As consumers continue to replace feature phones with smartphones, virtual goods bought from mobile social media services will increase from $3 billion this year to nearly $5 billion worldwide in 2016.
The Juniper report states that most social media services have not yet been able to monetize their offerings effectively. So, while many social media sites are popular with U.S. consumers, it remains a challenge for these sites to make a profit from those who use their platform. Simply, they need to make sure the consumers are more than just casual visitors to their site, but that they are consistently upselling them with value-added goods and services.
Looking globally, Juniper analysts reported strong sales of virtual goods through mobile media services in Japan and China, stating the firm expects this growth to expand to the United States. By adopting monetization models that cater to mobile offerings, social media services can increase revenue per user and sustain profitable revenue models.
An open architecture is key to a successful monetization model. Today’s online commerce happens anyplace, anytime and anywhere. It’s social and it’s virtual. A profitable online sales model cannot be constrained by platform, technology or location. Here at Plimus, we feel that all organizations, not just mobile social media services, require a frictionless, simple and open solution that facilitates a move toward a business model that increases ROI and takes advantage of the increase in virtual goods spending forecast by Juniper Research.
What do you think? What monetization models will have the greatest impact on increased virtual goods and services sales?
Additional information on the Juniper report can be found in the article, “Report: Social Virtual Goods Via Mobile to Reach $4.6B in 2016,” in Mobile Payments Today.
Making Strides
Nov 11th
What better way to bond with your co-workers than for all of you to get up early on a Saturday morning, put on pink-trimmed shirts and accessories, and walk 5 km in downtown San Jose? Well, that’s exactly what Team Plimus did on Saturday, October 28th when several Plimus employees joined in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.
It’s like the universe knew that we were not so sure about committing to a work event that required arriving at 8am, so the weather gods blessed us with a spectacular sunny morning – just cool enough that you didn’t get too hot walking and warm enough that you didn’t need to wear a coat – that made getting up early completely worth it. There was a grand stand at the event where speakers motivated us and music rev’d us up as we walked the 5km route around San Jose’s downtown Guadalupe Park and Trail.
Team Plimus consisted of 19 walkers – 9 employees, 5 spouses, 8 children, and 1 dog (our most favorite Plimus pooch, Cashew). Thank you to those walkers and to the Plimus employees, friends and family who helped us raise $1,095.00 (not including matching funds) in the fight against breast cancer.
Tablets Impact eCommerce
Jul 29th
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/tablets-give-e-commerce-a-real-world-feel/
I’m an avid iPad user. I was given the device as a gift – it’s not something I ever would have bought for myself. However, after having it for the past six months, I realize that it would be hard for me to survive without it. I’ve become very depend on its accessibility and ease of use. It’s one of those devices you didn’t know you needed until you got one. Now I could not imagine not having one.
Yet, this blog is not about the iPad – it’s about how the surge of mobile tablets has impacted e-Commerce.
I recently read an article by Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times, “Tablets Give E-Commerce a Real-World Feel,” the link is above this post. It covered a recent Forrester Research report on how the increase of tablets in the market have influenced a rise in mobile e-Commerce sales. The survey found that only 9 percent of shoppers own a tablet; however, sales from tablets already account for 20 percent of mobile e-Commerce. Additionally, more than half of tablet owners (60 percent) have used their personal device to shop. For a decade the focus has been on commerce moving to the handheld mobile handset. Perhaps tablets are the ultimate mobile device we didn’t expect.
Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester analyst with solid insights, discussed the results as reported in NY Times article. She states, “‘Everyone thinks that mobile phones and mobile commerce are the next big things, and I think what this data shows is it’s probably actually tablets, … We have always capped e-commerce at 10 to 15 percent of total retail sales, but this potentially has the capability of really expanding e-commerce much beyond that.’” This is really exciting stuff for the digital commerce space as the possibilities for offline vendors to increase sales improves.
It is all about the experience. Always was – still is. Consumers want the same buying experience when making purchases online as they do inside brick and mortar stores. There is an emotional response consumers’ feel when being able to browse the store, see and touch the goods available for purchase. Often time, consumers do not make online purchases because they do not receive similar satisfaction offline shopping provides.
Tablets have created the most brick and mortar-like online experience for e-Commerce, offering more than traditional smartphones or computers. For example, tablets allow consumers to browse digital catalogues and view photos with high-resolution graphics. And speaking from experience, the quality of the experience means everything!
Some additional statistics uncovered from the study include:
- 80 percent of shoppers whom use their tables for online shopping, use it in their living room in their homes
- 40 percent of tablet owners use their tablets instead of their personal computers when available
It will be interesting to see how the continued growth of the tablet market impacts e-Commerce. I’m sure my hunch is the same as yours … continued success for online merchants.
