Software switch advised for e-commerce success

A new report from Gartner has advised online retailers to make greater use of open source, commercial or off-the-shelf software to focus their budgets on the areas that matter.

The research company claims that too much money is spent on custom web development for functions that could be easily addressed by standard software.

It states that large e-commerce retailers could save up to 35 per cent of their ongoing maintenance and license costs by using software instead of custom development for functions such as shopping cart management.

For small retailers, this figure could be anything up to 25 per cent.

Gene Alvarez, research vice-president at Gartner, said web retailers should ask web specialists to concentrate on "developing rich internet shopping capabilities or [improving] site design for search engine optimisation so that the site can rank higher in a Google-based search".

E-commerce retailers could also save money by using Magento hosting for their websites. The software is open source, which means that it is free to use, although Magento has also recently announced the launch of a paid-for enterprise edition of its solution for those requiring more features.

Source : http://www.globalgold.co.uk/web-hosting-news/custom-web-hosting/software-switch-advised-for-ecommerce-success-19165017.html

Ecommerce Solutions For Online Businesses

Ecommerce solutions are designed to act as the interface between online businesses and the consumer. By providing a connection with the consumer, the ecommerce application within your website is a fundamental aspect of your online business, and it can really make or break your reputation. Finding the right ecommerce solution for your business is utterly essential, and it must be both easy to use and secure for customers to feel safe handing over their details. With identity theft and credit card fraud on the increase, it is crucial that your ecommerce solution is trustworthy and secure, which can make it quite difficult to find the right one that fits within your budget. Nevertheless, the emphasis should be placed more on the quality, usability and extent of features offered by any given package, and your decision should be based on finding the right application for your precise needs.

Ecommerce solutions are available in plentiful supply online, and it can often be a somewhat difficult task to figure which solution actually works best for you. In order to give yourself the best possible chance of selecting an appropriate application, it is important to weigh up and consider exactly what it is you require from your ecommerce application. If you are just starting out in business, or have very basic ecommerce needs, it might be a good idea to opt for an online payment processor. With these online programmes, you can implement code into your website and use free checkout services that could provide exactly what you’re looking for. On the downside, many of these services works as psuedo-banks and it can be quite difficult to resolve issues with them. Additionally, withdrawing money from your online merchant account can be both an expensive and lengthy process; hence the drawbacks of these free online programmes. If you require a basic solution, perhaps for accepting payments from one source for one type of product, one of these free-set up online solutions might be perfect for your needs. If, however, you’re requirements encompass an entire catalogue of products with variable shipping costs, and requiring a multitude of payment options, it is perhaps better to consider a more advanced solution for your website and your business.

Looking for an ecommerce solution for your business can be particularly difficult, given that most providers tend to offer subjective advice in favour of their own solutions. It is important to try to consider exactly what you require, and what you’re looking for, as well as to weigh up the options of each application you consider before committing yourself. Don’t let price guide you as to your selection, because in comparison to quality, price does not reflect what you get for your money. It is more important to find a solution that is fitted to your needs, regardless of price. So long as the ecommerce solution is within your price range, and provides the features that you require for your business, it is best to part with several hundred extra if it means finding the perfect solution for your business.

Source:- qifenglou.info/

Microsoft's Latest Ad Buy

Microsoft today announced that it is purchasing Rapt, an advertising technology company specializing in sophisticated analytical tools. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Today's is the latest in a frenzied string of acquisitions by Microsoft and other Internet heavyweights looking to expand the reach and technology underlying their online advertising businesses. Most recently, Microsoft purchased YaData, an Israeli company specializing in behavioral targeting technology.

The Rapt buy is about helping well-funded Web publishers manage their advertising efforts with premium analytics and campaign planning features. Microsoft will fold Rapt's technology into its Atlas Publisher Suite (APS). Atlas is one of the brands Microsoft acquired through its purchase of aQuantive.

Consistently, Web publishers say that they want to focus on driving ad sales by improving their content and their users' experience, but that is only a small part of the equation, said Scott Howe, general manager of Microsoft's APS.

"Selling online advertising if you're a publisher is hard, and it's getting more complex as time goes on," Howe said.

Where many publishers need help is in the technical aspects of managing ad sales, such as pricing, forecasting and selling remnant inventory.

Rapt's Yield Advisor product, which Microsoft will begin promoting to publishers as soon as the deal closes, offers predictive tools for sites to plan ad sales around future-looking inventory estimates.

Pricing analytics are designed to help sales teams determine the optimal rates to charge advertisers, aimed at minimizing the amount of unsold inventory.

Microsoft expects the purchase to round out its suite of offerings for publishers.

"As a result of this acquisition, we feel like we have no gaps," Howe told InternetNews.com. "We can partner with the publisher very narrowly or very broadly."

The announcement comes just a day after Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced its first ad product following the close of the DoubleClick acquisition -- also a service for publishers to manage their ad inventories and sell remnant space on their sites.

In their latest ad moves, Microsoft and Google are both courting publishers. The principal difference is that Google's Ad Manager, a free, hosted service, is intended for small companies with marginal sales staffs, while Microsoft's acquisition of Rapt is geared for high-end publishers with large content networks and sales staffs. Among Rapt's clients are The New York Times Company, Fox Interactive Media, Yahoo and Microsoft itself.

source:- internetnews.com/

Magento: The Zimbra of Ecommerce?

Magento is a new open source ecommerce platform that aims to handle all aspects of building and maintaining an ecommerce site including shopping carts, shipping, product reviews, and much more. The company looks to play in the “professional open source” space, offering its code base to developers that want to build their own plugins or create customized versions of the software. Magento seems to be off to a good start with more than 10,000 downloads in the two weeks since first being released, according to the company.

Magento plans to make money by offering an enterprise edition, partnerships with third parties that want to integrate with the platform (for example, payment gateways), and a platform for companies to buy and sell components for the software. Other potential revenue streams include training, certifications, and consulting.

The approach Magento is taking to ecommerce software is very similar to the approach Zimbra successfully applied to email. Considering the $350 million pay-off Zimbra received from Yahoo earlier this week, Magento may be onto something as they go after one of the Web’s largest segments in ecommerce.

source:- mashable.com/