SmallBusinessNewz

Social Networks Will Become Marketplaces

For the last few years I’ve been promoting the idea that social networks are like outposts, in many respects, best suited to point the way to your hub or main content site. While I still believe this to be a fundamentally sound way to view social media use, I see a future that contains a shift in this thinking as well.

Google Checkout No More. Google Wallet Takes Over.

Google announced that it is dropping Google Checkout, and will be transitioning it to its newer product Google Wallet. Google Wallet was first announced back in May, and was officially launched in September. You can read more about Google Wallet itself here and here.

New APIs from Payvment May Help You Do Business on Facebook

Payvment, a company that operators a social commerce platform for businesses to sell goods though Facebook has some new APIs available via a new developer program called Open Payvment. Do you view Facebook as a good place to set up shop? Tell us what you think. 

E-Commerce More Competitive in the U.S. Than a Year Ago

Good news for small e-commerce businesses: a new report from comScore finds that the top 25 online retailers account for a smaller percentage of total online sales than they did a year ago. This is U.S. data. Are your e-commerce sales up? Let us know in the comments. The firm has put out its Q2 U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending report. 

Offline Retail Vs. Online Retail

Although online shopping has seemingly taken the world by storm, offline shopping is still very significant. In fact, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) recently conducted a study that showed some slightly surprising information regarding consumer behavior offline.

Shopping Cart Abandonment - Seller's Fault or Consumer Behavior?

Shopping cart abandonment is a problem that continues to plague e-commerce sites. It's certainly a topic we've discussed at SmallBusinessNewz in the past. How do you keep people from leaving without buying? Tell us about your strategy.

Study Looks at Small Business International Expansion

Shipwire has revealed the results of an interesting study on small business online retailer trends in global expansion. The firm found that international orders grew 11% from 2008 to 2009 to reach 20% of total orders. Shipwire analyzed aggregate customer shipping data for a two-year period.According to Shipwire, 9% of total orders were international, and 20% were international in 2009. These numbers represent shipments to non-US addresses and include international shipping methods for US warehouses and non-US carriers overseas.

A Way to Get Facebook Fans to Actually Buy

As you've probably figured out by now, there a lot of reasons social media, and Facebook in particular can be beneficial to a small business. Engaging with customers, building loyalty, and driving traffic to your site come immediately to mind. You may or may not have figured out by now that you can list products right on Facebook to drive sales as well.

Don't Waste Your Customers' Time with Your Site

If you've ever analyzed your website's bounce rate, you may have found problems with people leaving before they get through the buying process. Have you noticed that a lot of people left your site at the point where they have to fill out a form? This may be because you're asking for too much information.

More Options Arise for Selling Goods Through Facebook

Facebook is becoming much more than just a social network. It has already become an important business tool for lots of small businesses, and not just in the marketing capacity. Businesses are increasingly selling their products from Facebook, and why not? Your most loyal fans are there, they follow your updates, and you can list your products right there.