As I’ve said time and time again, I’ve learned a lot about the eCommerce industry since I started working at shotfarm. I used to think it was relatively straightforward to design a website, but I now realize there’s a lot to consider. To say implementing an eCommerce website can be complicated would be an understatement. Obviously, designing and merchandising a site is an important and time consuming part of creating an engaging customer experience, but I strongly believe that equipping a site with the tools to make a visitor’s experience with that content as quick and interactive as possible is important as well. One of the things a company can do to dramatically improve a potential customer’s experience is to enable Content Delivery Networks. A Content Delivery Network (commonly called a CDN) is a powerful tool for speeding website performance, and I think it is important for those who work in the eCommerce industry to be aware of their capabilities.

Net Tuts defines a CDN as “a network of computers with each system placed at different points with the same data on each. When someone accesses the network, they can access the file on the system nearest them or the one with less current load. This results in better lower latency and file download duration.” (Nettutsplus.com) Basically, a supplier of CDN technology places servers in many different locations around the world and puts identical copies of all of your content on every one of those servers. When a customer loads a webpage or clicks on an image, the content is called from the server in the closest location to the point where it’s needed, enabling much faster load times.

So what are the advantages to CDN-enabled image delivery? When combined with an Image Hosting service (via a viewer), a CDN can dramatically speed up the time it takes for an image to load and zoom on a product page. To put things in perspective, a typical image is delivered from a data center to a computer at about 250 megabits per second. If a website uses a world-class CDN, the image is delivered at 1000 megabits per second– four times faster! This improves user experience and overall usability of the site. Amazon did a test back in 2007 that showed that for every 100ms increase in load time, sales would decrease 1% (cited here). Imagine how much higher today’s web consumer’s standards are!

As I’m sure you can guess, a detailed discussion of Content Delivery Networks gets very technical and relatively complicated. My goal for this post was to introduce all of you to an important concept that could make a huge difference on your eCommerce site. We here at shotfarm recognize the impact a Content Delivery Network can have on a website, so we’ve included it as an optional feature for the Simple Image Hosting service we just launched this week (see the map of our data centers below). We’ve made also it extremely easy to implement–you literally just click a button and we turn it on with your Simple Image Hosting package. If you’re considering utilizing our service (or even if you aren’t), I encourage you to consider adding CDN-enabled delivery to your site. The benefits definitely outweigh the costs.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I speak to quite a few different manufacturers and retailers every day about their current methods and different business processes, and one thing that I’ve noticed recently is the increase of retailers that are utilizing drop shipping. According to a study from university professors W. K. Chiang and Y. Feng online retailers utilizing drop shipping may earn 5.18 percent more than their competitors who inventory everything.

As with any business model drop shipping is not without its disadvantages as well. Below I’ll address the benefits and shortcomings of drop shipping to help you make a more informed decision about whether drop shipping is right for your business.

ADVANTAGES:

Warehousing
With no inventory there is obviously no warehousing or inventory-carrying costs. This is a nice advantage to the business owner that runs the entire show themselves or has a small team without a great deal of space to warehouse the products themselves. Utilizing drop shipping can speed up the process of getting your business up and running without having to worry about where you’re going to store all of the items.

Shipping
Many of the retailers I deal with sell some pretty large items. As you can imagine, these items are extremely expensive to store and ship. Utilizing a drop shipping company or sending these items straight from the manufacturer is a great way to cut down on shipping and return costs.

Product Offering
Another great advantage of drop shipping is the ability for retailers to create a broader product offering without risking too much financially. Without the need to invest, process goods and store the items retailers are able to offer new products and see how well they perform without too much financial exposure.

DISADVANTAGES:

Processing
According to Dropship.com, many retailers work with more than one product supplier, and with each of these suppliers come a different method of data, order processing, account setup and billing. As you can imagine the organization of this process can get a little tricky when trying to deal with each of the suppliers’ different processes. You’ll really need to have your process streamlined in order to fulfill your orders in a timely manner.

Smaller Profit Margins
When utilizing drop shipping you’re usually not buying in bulk. Buying each of these products one at a time is usually going to result in a higher cost than if you were to buy the item in bulk and warehouse it. Combine that with the need to stay competitive on price for your end consumer and margin will most likely be slimmer on each product.

Customer Service
You will have no control over which shipper your suppliers are using. This obviously creates a few extra steps when sorting out the details of the shipping process to the end consumer. You will be trusting your suppliers to get the products to your customers quickly, so it’s always a good idea to research what shipping methods they use before you decide to work with them.

The above list is a good place to start when deciding whether drop shipping is right for your business. There are also a few good articles that I’ve found that provide additional insight on drop shipping (check them out here and here). There’s also the option of a hybrid approach of warehousing some inventory and utilizing drop shipping for additional items you’d like to carry. Whatever approach you decide to go with, make sure you do your homework!

With eCommerce platforms becoming more user friendly for retailers you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to customize your site with plugins. Plugins can help your site in many ways, including conversion rate, connecting with visitors, customer management, and overall efficiency.

No two business are the same so it is important to use plugins that make smart business sense for your company. Here are a few that can take your business from mainstream to top-notch.

Live Chat – This plugin is great to answer any quick questions your customers may have and much easier than having to pick up the phone call in. If you sit at a desk all day this plugin is very easy to manage. Check out: OGG Chat, olark, and LiveChat.

Instant Coupons – Coupon plugins are great for two reasons: converting visitors to customers and capturing email addresses. Check out: Instant Coupon App, MailChimp, and Group Buying Site.

Image Hosting – Keep your customers happy with faster loading times and rich media features like deep zoom, 360-spin and color swatching with this easy media hosting and management tool. Check out: shotfarm’s Simple Image Hosting for eCommerce plugin.

Social Share – Reward your loyal customers who are spreading the word about your brand through social media. If a customer shares your company to their social group, give them a coupon! Check out: Spring Metrics, Social Share App, and North Social.

Shipping/Order Management – Keeping track of orders and shipments can be a real headache for small retailers, so make your life easier with these plugins that keep you organized and reduce time spent on shipping. Check out: Ordoro, SPS Commerce, and webgility.

Analytics – You can analyze every tiny movement on your site now, but the key is to make sure you’re analyzing the data that is relevant to your business and customers. Check out: Google Analytics, Omniture, and SproutSocial (Social Media Analytics).

Customer Feedback – Make it super easy for customers to give you feedback on your business and use that information to make changes to your site. Check out: SurveyMonkey, Kissinsights, and WebEngage.

Email Marketing – Let customers opt in to get emails from your company. It is particularly important to use a service that lets them opt out – nothing is worse then unwanted emails everyday (also, it’s illegal not to!). Check out: MailChimp, Constant Contact, and iContact.

Product Reviews – Give shoppers confidence by letting customers review your products. Not only will this give the products more creditability but will also reduce returns because their expectations will be set. Check out: Kampyle, Yotpo, and Google Rich Snippits.

Shopping Comparison – If you sell products that are similar in nature, let customers look at their choices side by side rather then having to hop back and forth between pages. Check out: Google Product Search, PriceGrabber, and BizRate.

The best part about plugins that most of them have a small, monthly, no-contract fee and some are even free!

I’ve learned a ton while working at shotfarm. I can readily explain Rich Media Hosting, Digital Asset Management, and our Product Content Network to anyone who asks. I also feel like I could navigate the system in my sleep (and seriously, I do have dreams about it).

While working at shotfarm, I’ve been asked many questions about the system’s functionality and many of the same ones crop up over and over again. Shotfarm is specifically designed for retailers and manufacturers who already have a working relationship, yes, but there are a lot of other business situations where you might need to find or distribute images outside shotfarm’s core user types. I’ve decided to address some quick shotfarm workarounds for these situations because I know they’re a common occurrence and want to help you get optimal use out of our site. Streamlining your workflow is our top priority even if parts of it fall outside the tools we currently have built today. I’ve outlined some of the more frequently asked questions regarding exceptions below.

1. Can I use shotfarm to share my images with creative agencies and magazines who need my images?

Yes, absolutely, and they don’t even have to be approved for an account! It’s super easy, too. Just add the images you’d like to share with them to a LightBox, click on “LightBox Actions”, and click “Share”. Shotfarm will direct you to a page that asks for the e-mail address of the person you’re looking to send the images to. There’s also a place to type a personal message if you want (much like an e-mail). Do this, and click “Send”, and you’re good to go! The person you’re e-mailing will receive an attachment so they can download the respective images. They’ll just have to give us their email address so we can save the LightBox for them permanently.

Remember, sending a LightBox is always a better option when you’re working with someone who doesn’t need long-term access to your library, like the media. You don’t really want to give them permanent permissions to download all of your images anyway – just send them what they need right now!

2. Your system says I can’t send invites to generic e-mail domains (i.e. @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, etc), and many of my contacts have e-mail addresses with these domains. What should I do?

Good news! Our system now lets you send invites to any e-mail addresses. Our account managers will reach out to anyone who is invited and help them get set up with an account manually. So you really just need to send the invite and you’re good to go!

3. I’m a manufacturer, and we utilize sales reps to distribute our products to retailers. Can my sales reps utilize shotfarm too?

Yes! We can set them up with a Distributor account and grant them permission to your assets. From there, they can download your assets, share LightBoxes with retailers, and invite retailers to shotfarm, too. It’s important to note, however, that sales reps can not grant permission to the retailers they invite to download assets. Our account reps stay on top of this and will help retailers get connected with their respective manufacturers, but it also helps if you communicate with your reps so you know to grant permissions to retailers when you need to. (And of course, manufacturers can pre-grant permissions to any company through the invitation tool!)

4. I’m a retailer, and I’d like to request permission to download a manufacturer’s assets, but I don’t have the contact info of anyone at the company. How do I do this?

Reach out to your account rep at shotfarm.com (or, if you don’t remember who they are, to help@shotfarm.com). We’d be happy to help you get connected with your vendors. That’s what we’re here for!

Soon enough we’ll have usergroups and special functionality for each of these circumstances, but until then, I hope this information helps you get the most out of your shotfarm experience. We want to make things as easy as possible for all of you. It’s my hope that soon you’ll all be on the system so much that you’ll be having dreams about it, too!

You can’t have a conversation about retail these days without someone mentioning Pinterest. At eTail West 2012, it was on every presenter’s slides and every attendee’s lips – to the point of complete oversaturation. But this fad can back up the hype: from December to March, Pinterest increased its unique visitors from 7.5MM to more than 18MM and retailers and brands are finding new ways of using it every day to drive traffic and sales. In fact, Pinterest is now driving more traffic to eCommerce sites than Google+!

If you haven’t leveraged this new tool to support your brand yet, it’s time to jump on the wagon. Here are just a few suggestions to help you get started, culled from some of the retail and business world’s most tapped-in sources.

1. Make sure you have a match. Pinterest’s demographics are nearly 80% female with most users focusing their attention on recipes, home décor, apparel and DIY ideas. If your business sells commercial water filters, it’s unlikely you’ll find your audience on Pinterest. If, on the other hand, you sell products appealing to this demographic–well, you may just have hit a gold mine.

2. Add a Pin-It button. Not only is word-of-mouth one of the most powerful marketing tools available to retailers, it also lets your customers do a lot of work for you. Make it easy for customers on your site to pin your products by adding a Pin-It button on your product pages, like eBay, Amazon and Sephora have done. You can get the code for the Pin-It button here: http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/

3. Name your price. When you pin your own products, be sure to include your website url and the price, which will be displayed in the corner of the thumbnail image. That way customers coming to your site to view the product are even further qualified as potential buyers.

4. Make sure your boards are themed and fill them. Creating themed boards lets customers follow topics they’re interested in. Nordstrom has created individual boards for Spring fashion trends like Graphic Prints and Nautical Vibes. A full board gives customers more ideas, more options and you more ways to make a sale! (Extra tip: be sure to use keywords in your board title and description – they’ll be used as part of your Pinterest URL.)

5. Pin more than just your products. Pinterest pretty clearly discourages blatant self-promotion and frankly, customers can see right through self-serving marketing. It’s all about lifestyle – which is really something you want to create your brand around anyway. Pin products, places and aesthetics that align with your philosophies and ideals and you’ll find your content becomes much more relevant to potential customers. West Elm, for example, created an inspiration board around Urban Backyards + Outdoor Spaces that features almost no West Elm products.

6. Check out competitors and what people are pinning from competitors. You can never know too much about your competitors. Enough said.

7. Create content just for Pinterest. Give your customers and followers a reason to use the Pinterest channel specifically. You can run contests or offers and even tie your physical store presence with your online presence by offering special promotions.

8. Use good photography. With the volume of content added to Pinterest every minute, you have just a glance to capture their attention. (If you need help with photography, contact us here…) Mashable offers a fantastic article dedicated entirely to optimizing Pinterest images that you can read here.

9. Time your pins and encourage employees to repin. Think about high traffic times for Pinterest users – generally during lunch or in the evening – and consider timing your pins then, if possible, for maximum exposure. Engage your employees and encourage them to repin and help you spread the word throughout their networks, too.

10. Track your visits. Measurement is always the key to a successful campaign! Click here for an entire article on how easy it is to track inbound Pinterest traffic using Google Analytics.

Here are a few of our source articles to help you further form your approach:

“9 Tips: Boost your Business with Pinterest”

“14 Tips for How to Use Pinterest for Business”

“Retailers: What’s your Pinterest Strategy?” (Offers great examples of how some major retailers are using Pinterest)

We think Pinterest offers a unique and powerful way to stay in front of your customers and it’s still in its infancy. Stay tuned for more tips and please share your own Pinterest strategies and successes with us!

Product images and image management has been the majority of what I’ve dealt with on a daily basis at shotfarm thus far, but with the impending launch of our new Digital Asset Management tools I’ve begun to focus increasingly on another tool that is becoming essential for both retailers and manufacturers: video.

Video is now a necessary tool for driving brand awareness, engagement and more sales. The more I learn about the importance of video the more I’ve realized that, like most everything else, having a well-defined strategy for implementation is essential for success.

Consumers are now searching for more information online than ever before. Whether you’re a manufacturer or a retailer, video is becoming a mainstream tool to fill in the gaps of product images and product spec. sheets. Rich media is helping to engage customers like never before, and video is an important new tool that should be utilized by anyone looking to sell more.

Build Consumer Confidence

It may be easy to think of a product video as a pure selling tool, but educating your audience is just as, if not more, important. According to a study conducted by Invodo (you can download the whole study here), 37% of their participants said they spend more than 3 minutes watching product videos that educate them on the product they’re intending to purchase on a retailer or manufacturer website. Also, 30 percent spend more than 3 minutes watching if the video includes a demo.

That same study also reported that site visitors watch videos 60 percent of the time they find them. As I mentioned above, consumers are looking for more information than ever before to build confidence in their purchase. By utilizing these types of videos you’ll be able to build that buying confidence at your eCommerce site and not somewhere else. Chances are if they leave and find the information elsewhere, they’re not coming back to purchase.

A few great websites that do a great job of building consumer confidence through video are Zappos.com and Skis.com.

I’ve definitely bought shoes that look good in pictures but then look weird when I’m actually wearing them. It’s a big part of the challenge of selling online. Zappos has understood this challenge and combated it with not only outlining the different features of a shoe with their product video, but also showing individuals wearing the product.

Skis are obviously a very different product from shoes. Skis.com has done a great job of understanding what is important to their consumers when they’re seeking more information regarding these products. If you’re a skier you definitely know that East coast skiing differs greatly from West Coast skiing. Skis.com uses video to outline not only the specifications of different skis, but also to review how they perform on different terrain.

Each of these businesses have realized what information is important to their end consumer. Although what specific information is important might differ the end goal is the same, to build consumer confidence. The more consumer confidence each of these companies can build the more likely the conversion to a sale. Making sure customers know exactly what they’re getting also greatly decreases the risk or return, a very costly process for a retailer.

Capture Analytics

Depending on your business model and what you sell, different information may be applicable to your target audience. Tracking the analytics of your videos is a great way to see which of your videos are getting the most hits and what types of information your audience is seeking out in particular. Tracking this valuable information is not only important to developing a content creation strategy but can also be used to influence other marketing and sales decisions as well.

Go Mobile

As you are creating and/or executing your plan to utilize video, it is important to keep mobile platforms in mind as well. Invodo reports that nearly half (49 percent) of all smartphone users have watched a product video within the last 3 months, with that number even higher for tablet users (61 percent) Before you being with video make sure that you have a video player that can support Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platform. Watch out for Flash!

Do a Good Job

According to those surveyed by Invodo 53 percent preferred videos with a professional look, and 47 percent said professional videos are more likely to lead to a purchase.

If you can see the importance of utilizing video as a tool you should also understand the importance of doing a professional job. If you’re going to shoot your own videos take the time to research techniques and tips to make sure you do a great job with the production of your video. Take a look at spending some money on a branded viewer. Not only will this add additional credibility to your video but also help unify your brand experience.

Currently there is no across-the-board standard when it comes to naming product image files. This makes it incredibly difficult to determine at a glance what product your images relate to. Coming up with a consistent naming convention will not only save you time and frustration internally, but will make you a favorite among your resellers if they can easily identify your files and get them up on their site quickly.

The goal when coming up with a naming convention is that it should be well-defined, easily applied to all products in your line and easily understood by those not intimately familiar with your product line. Here are a few guidelines to help you get organized:

1. Be Consistent
This is THE single most important rule when it comes to naming your files. If the naming convention you use is not consistent throughout all of your files it can be confusing for your colleagues and resellers and can result in misinterpretation.

2. Avoid Special Characters
Don’t use special characters, such as, . \ / : ? * < > | “, these characters are often used for shortcuts for various operating systems and can confuse the system when being used in a file name.

3. Include a Date
If you manufacture products that change often, a date included in the naming convention will be very useful in library management. You can include the full date, such as YYYY_MM_DD or YYYYMMDD, but even just the season or year can help.

4. Use Serialization
If you have multiple images of the same product it is a very good idea to add numbers at the end to differentiate between images. Either mark the main image “main” or “01”.

5. Include Image Angle
This is very useful if you have very specific angles shots of each product. Some examples would be, front, back, right, left, side, bottom, top, etc.

6. Include The Purpose Of The File (if needed)
If the image is suppose to be used for a specific reason like the thumbnail image, make sure that is labeled correctly in the file name. If your resellers need specific information to differentiate images make sure it is easily accessible in the file name.

7. Use Underscores Instead Of Spaces Or Periods
Periods should only be used to begin the file type at the end of the file name. Spaces can translate into “%20” when transferred over the internet.

8. Try to stay under 25 characters
Twitter may allow 140 characters, but when it comes to image file names try to keep it to 25 characters or less.

9. Use Leading Zeros
Use zeros as placeholders if your collection has a high number of assets. For example, if the collection has 857 assets that need numbering, use zeros like shotfarm001.jpg or shotfarm012.jpg, not shotfarm1.jpg or shotfarm12.jpg. This will make file management much easier and will maintain correct order when viewing files inside folders.

10. Avoid Using Internal Lingo
Refrain from using internal company lingo that your resellers may not understand when going through your library.

11. Use all lowercase lettering
Some operating systems are case sensitive so by using all lower case lettering you will prevent this issues for some users.

We understand that different companies have different needs, but we’ve found that in many cases using brand_modelnumber.jpg as a naming convention works for everyone involved. And if you’re overwhelmed by the thought of going back and renaming all of your files, consider starting with your next photoshoot – and be sure you communicate your wishes to your photographer in advance!

You also don’t need to worry too much whether your naming convention works exactly for every one of your resellers. The key is that they’ll be able to identify the product; then they can always rename the images easily themselves as long as they know what they are. At shotfarm we even go one step further and offer retailers the ability to download your images with their specific internal naming convention.

By making a consistent, organized, and understandable naming convention you will be able to save a ton of time and headaches for both you and your resellers. Trust us – it’s worth it!

Working at shotfarm has exposed me to many trends in the eCommerce industry. I can readily talk about rich media hosting, 360 spin technology, and digital asset management with any of my customers. This newfound passion for technology has really made me start to appreciate the time and work that goes into creating an effective eCommerce site.

I’ve recently become very interested in the marketing behind an effective eCommerce site as well. One of the most imperative things a retailer can do to increase traffic to their site is improve their Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SearchEngine.com does a great job of defining SEO. The website states it is the it is “the process of getting traffic from the “free”, “organic”, “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines”. All major search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) use algorithms to rank websites based on certain content. If a company uses it correctly it can really capitalize on sales without spending a lot (if anything at all) on paid advertising. Search engine optimization can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it, but it’s benefits should definitely be taken advantage of. I’ve included three tips below that should be your absolute starting point when developing your search engine optimization strategy:

1) Make sure your URL aids the SEO process.

URLs are one of the first thing a potential customer sees before visiting your site, so it’s very important to make sure your URL relates to the concept of your site. Include targeted keywords in your URL if possible, so when users search these keywords, your website is more likely to pop up. For example, shotfarm offers Rich Media Hosting, so an ideal URL to maximize SEO would include those keywords, like http://www.shotfarm.com/check-it-out/shotfarm-rich-media-hosting/. It’s also useful use a full product name for each product page and to include a category for the page (i.e. www.callawaygolf.com/clubs/RAZRX).

2) USE RELEVANT KEYWORDS.

I’ve researched this topic a lot in the past week, and all of the articles I read stressed the use of utilizing valuable keywords and phrases (hence the use of capital letters above). It’s important to make sure you’re conveying the correct message to your customers through the keywords they search you by. Let’s use shotfarm for an example again. Our site can take the place of any “digital asset management system” for a retailer or manufacturer, so we should definitely include this as a targeted phrase when planning our search engine optimization strategy. However, asset management (without the word digital) is typically associated with wealth management, so it would not be beneficial to include this phrase in marketing efforts. Another example: a retailer who sells bass guitars should consider utilizing the phrase “bass guitars” across their site as opposed to the word “bass” so they don’t appear in search results for people looking to learn more about the fish.

3) Start a blog and comment on other blogs.

Blogs are a GREAT way to improve your SEO while simultaneously building your brand through your own writing. Make sure your blog is industry specific and includes relevant SEO keywords. Plus, blogging is fun! Learning more about your industry by reading and writing relevant blogs will enhance your company’s search engine optimization as well as your industry knowledge. It’s basically a win-win situation.
I hope these tips provide helpful information for you to maximize your company’s SEO. If you’re interested in learning more about the best way to utilize SEO for your business, I’ve recommended two articles that you can read here and here. They outline additional tips and best practices that I think you’ll find very helpful. Search engine optimization is a relevant and useful tool for ANY company with an online presence, and I strongly believe maximizing your SEO potential will lead to increased revenue and sales down the road.

We spent most of this month’s eTail West conference manning our booth and talking to retailers and brands about the challenges they face in gathering and delivering quality product content, but on the last morning, we were able to slip away to watch Guy Kawasaki deliver his keynote speech. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Guy is an Apple veteran who later founded VC firm Garage Technology Ventures and is a bit of an idol for those of us in the startup world.

Guy led us through what he’s deemed the Four Pillars of Enchantment and how we as brands or retailers can enchant our customers with the specific goal of building and reinforcing impactful social media efforts.

The Four Pillars of Enchantment are:

• Achieve Likability
• Achieve trustworthiness
• Do something DICEE (Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering, Elegant)
• Enchant Employees first

To get us closer to these four pillars, Guy elaborated on 8 specific tactics that we can use to becoming more enchanting for our customers.

Remove the speed bumps – How many times have we implemented something that gets in the way of our customers because it provides more value for us, the vendors? Guy’s example called out the Captcha, which, admittedly, even real live humans struggle to decipher. Don’t put these roadblocks in your customers’ way or you’ll just become a headache.

Provide value – This ties in with the first tactic…put your customers’ needs first. Yes, they’d like to see promotions from you, but you need to engage them on a much deeper level if you expect them to become regular visitors. Give them a reason to come to you regularly, but don’t kill yourself trying to generate unique content. Aggregating interesting content in a single place can be just as compelling for someone who wants to follow a particular subject – just take Guy’s new company Alltop.com as an example. Become the go-to source for something.

Engage Fast – Anything you put out into the social media world will inevitably be a flash among millions of other pieces of content. You have to take advantage of the precious time that your content has someone’s attention. This is usually the first two hours after posting, so make sure to be ready to respond to anyone who engages with you in that window.

Engage Flat – You never know how valuable any individual member of your community might be. Every user has the power to share your content with any number of connections and you may find that someone with a small but passionate circle is a more powerful evangelist for you than someone with more followers who aren’t interested in what you have to say.

Plant Many Seeds – As quickly as the world moves these days, it make take a few seeds to get one to grow into a real conversation. Don’t stop at just one – and pay attention to what works so that you keep planting better and better seeds.

Provide Social Proof – Guy referenced Apple’s white earbuds as social proof that demonstrated to the world just how many people were buying their products. Do you have social proof you can put out to help cement your brand or products in the market?

Build an Ecosystem (Shotfarm, anyone??) – And let others help you make it grow. Offer webinars and APIs that let others engage with your community and spread the word.

Do What it Takes – You certainly wouldn’t expect to see Sir Richard Branson on his knees, polishing anyone’s shoes. But great businessmen know that companies are built by pleasing one customer at a time – and it’s worth it to do whatever it takes to make them happy. Branson knew that turning Guy into a Virgin Airlines customer was worth a little labor on his part.

To learn more, check out Guy’s new book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions..

I’m pretty sure Amazon knows what they’re doing. There’s no one who comes close to competing, so we think it’s a good idea to always keep an eye on their strategies and standards to see how they might apply to the rest of the eCommerce world. Just take a look at the strict requirements they have for product images. Sure, many of these rules were implemented for consistency’s sake, but they had to decide what they wanted to be consistent to, first. We’re betting their preferred formats indicate the kind of images that provide more information to consumers and higher sales for vendors.

Here are some of their product image requirements:

Propping and Additional Objects – Props that are not included with the purchase can not be in the image – only if a prop helps demonstrate the product use is one allowed. Amazon does encourage models to display clothing in the main image, however.

Image Quality – Images being uploaded can not be blurry or pixilated. These two effects can happen from upsizing images to look larger. As well, it is recommend to avoid aggressively compressing the file before sending it. The product must be true to color with a pure white (R:225 G:225 B:225) background.

White Background – Even if the images are photographed against a white backdrop, you will have to remove the background via retouching to be pure white. No environments are allowed in the main images either.

Drop Shadows – Are only allowed if they are in light color and blends well with the background. The drop shadow can not prevent the product from filling up at least 85% of the image space.

Borders for White Cover Art – Cover images must have a border so it doesn’t disappear against the white Amazon background. It can be a very narrow (3-4 pixel) border in a medium grey.

Frame Fill and Cropping – Cover art must fill 100% of the image and all other products must cover 85% of the image. Amazon will not accept a main image that is a cropped zoomed in view of the product.

Packaging – Most products should be shown outside their packaging. Images for books, DVD’s, and CD’s should be of the front cover art not the whole case, this does not include collector editions with special packaging. If a product is visually ambiguous it should be photographed in the packaging.

Text, Graphics, and Inset Images – Main images should not include any additional text or graphics. However, the alternate images can include them to demonstrate the product, dimensions, or how the product is used.

Allow Customer Images – The tips above all help feature the product with its best foot forward, but one tip Amazon doesn’t publicize on its site is something it does quietly on its own: let customers upload their own pictures of products. It’s true that few customers have the time or ability to generate studio-quality images like yours, but that can actually work in your favor. In the same way that customers provide written product reviews, they can use images to convey a visual product review; details about size, color, construction and quality all become apparent in a candid customer image. That provides validity in the minds of other customers and can be a huge tool in making a buying decision.

Side note: If you want to start selling products online but don’t know where to start, Amazon is a great first step in the process. Amazon.com is a safe and simple option to start moving more products to the online community. This inexpensive route will give your company the ability to reach customers all over the world without making a big technology commitment.

If you’re ready to start selling on Amazon, or simply want to follow their lead for image standards, we can help. At shotfarm we offer a full range of services that will help get your product images ready for Amazon or any other e-commerce platform, including removing backgrounds, adding shadows, color matching and swatching and more. For more information about our professional and creative services please contact us at services@shotfarm.com.

It’s amazing how many different ways there are to sell a product. It used to be the traditional brick and mortar store was pretty much the only way a person could buy something. Then came telephone orders. Next, eCommerce sites started to become popular. Now, there are even more options. I’ve become sort of fascinated with all of the different ways to sell a product. It’s amazing to me how many different vehicles a company can use to put their product on the market and consequently generate more revenue. One of the up and coming trends I recently discovered is fCommerce. That’s right folks, Facebook has it’s own type of commerce. I was surprised too (maybe Facebook really is going to take over the world….). I was intrigued, so I decided to look into fCommerce further.I figured it was going to be the next big thing. After all, isn’t everything Facebook does wildly popular and successful?

As it turns out, I was wrong (I rarely admit I’m wrong, so you should pay attention when I do). I found more criticism out there for fCommerce than praise. The first critique I came across (from an article on Mashable, click here to read it), was that companies weren’t seeing the return on investment they expected. Initially, this actually really surprised me. I understand that most people are used to visiting eCommerce sites to buy product online, but there are SO MANY people on Facebook. If a large company could convert even 10% of their fans on Facebook to paying fCommerce customers, I would think it would be worth it. When I started thinking about my personal online experiences, though, I changed my mind. I’m all for Facebook promotions (I mean, who doesn’t love getting discounts), but if I see a promotion on a Facebook page, I’m more apt to click the link to the participating company’s website than to try to find a way to buy it directly from Facebook. This is just what I’m used too, and frankly, when it comes to buying products, I trust eCommerce sites more. My gut tells me I’m not alone, and I’m guessing this a big part of why companies aren’t seeing the ROI they’re looking for. Users are used to seeing promotions on Facebook, not actually buying products.

Another article on retailtouchpoints.com stated that “68% of retailers surveyed said if Facebook no longer existed, there would be no negative effect on 2011 web sales”. So, it’s not just consumers who aren’t embracing fCommerce, retailers aren’t either. This is kind of an issue. If neither consumers NOR retailers believe in Facebook as an outlet to buy/sell things, who’s going to put the effort into expanding the platform? This is definitely something to think about.
Before I conclude, I do want to say that almost every article I read admitted that fCommerce is really still in its infancy. It does have huge potential, especially with such a large user base. If a company could efficiently attract a lot of followers to their Facebook page and then convert most of them to paying customers, their revenues could potentially increase dramatically. If retailers and Facebook users alike start to embrace this trend, it could literally explode (much like the rest of Facebook did). So I definitely don’t think it’s right to totally dismiss fCommerce yet. It’ll be interesting to see if (and how) this trend develops in the future.

U.S. eCommerce sales grew 14% from 2010 to 2011 hitting over 200 billion for the first time. This growth doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon according the technology and market research firm Forrester. They are forecasting the U.S. eCommerce sales to reach $327 billion by the year 2016.

It was reported last year that 167 million consumers – 53% of the U.S. population – purchased at least one thing online. Forrester predicts that this number will grow to 56% of the population by 2016 and that the average yearly spending per person will increase from $1,207 in 2011 to $1,786.

One thing that really stands out in the Forrester data is how much consumer confidence has increased over time. In a 2001 study they found only 3 of the 30 retail categories reported over 20% of their sales came from online channels. That number jumped to 8 categories in 2011 and is predicted to reach 14 by 2016.

It is easier then ever for customers to shop online now thanks to the improvements in mobile and tablet technology. With technology dramatically improving retailers need to make sure their online channels are compatible with these devices.

What is your company doing to prepare for this increase in online sales?

Purchase the full Forrester report by clicking here.

The basic upload process is still the same, but when you get to the file selection page, now you can drag files together or one at a time into the upload queue. The upload also won’t start until you click the Start button, so you can double check to make sure you’ve selected all the files you want before it gets off and running. Plus, the new uploader gives you an upload progress bar on each individual file and the job as a whole, so you always know where you stand.

You’ll see the new interface in both the Single Product Uploader and the Manifest Uploader. Just remember that the types of files you upload in each one (individual files vs. zips) still stays the same.

We think you’re going to love it, but we want to hear directly from you – so let us know how your next upload goes!

There are a few things that really blow my mind these days. Quantum physics, string theory and songs that are getting passed off as music “hits” these days are all things that I’ll probably never understand. One thing that baffles my mind time after time, though, is poor customer service. Whether it be in person, on the phone or online, poor customer service is something that I thought would have died a long time ago. I’ve found quite a few articles that stress the issues of customer service and I encourage you to give them a read:

The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service

Enhance Your Customer Experience

Customer Service Plays a Crucial Role in Determining Business Performance

We can all agree that the economy hasn’t been the greatest as of late. How can some businesses continue to not recognizing poor customer service as something they need to change?

A team member of mine was talking about a previous bad experience he had at a business around town and told us he heard somewhere that if you have a bad experience you tell 10-20 people, if you have a good experience you really don’t tell anyone.

It really got me thinking, and it’s completely true. There’s a big box store right by my house and I literally dread going in there. In fact, I’ll walk about 2 miles completely out of my way to go somewhere else to get the things I need just to avoid this place. I’ll go without so I don’t have to enter this building! Why do I avoid this place like the plague, you may ask? Dreadful customer service.

The first time I entered this store I was looking for just a simple birthday card and some dish soap. Pretty standard things I’d say. I was ready to pay and the scanner didn’t work for the soap. There was no price tag on the soap, so the cashier woman asked the lady behind the other counter *who was eating Doritos* if she would price check it for her. Dorito lady quickly shot me a dirty look because I must have inconvenienced her snack break, and told the woman that was ringing me up that she was on break so she couldn’t do it.

My cashier then picked up the phone loudspeaker and called another co-worker to the front. After about five minutes of waiting no one came to the front. It was an awkward silence that I’d never like to repeat again, both of us waiting for the other to make a move with the crunchy echo of Doritos being chomped from behind my shoulder. I broke and told her it was alright, I didn’t need the soap and to just ring up the card. She looked relieved like I should have just done that in the first place. I apologized for my soap habit, paid and left.

Being a glutton for punishment I decided to go back a few weeks later because my grill needed some new propane. I figured this one should be a slam dunk. Go to the counter, pay for the propane and get out. As I entered the store I felt a chill down my spine and I could have sworn I heard Doritos being chewed in between demonic laughs. I waited in line for about ten minutes and then told the cashier that I would like to buy a tank of propane. She informed me that it wasn’t her job and that I’d have to go wait in the customer service line for propane. Ok, no big deal – just a line mix up. I can handle that.

I went over to the other line and waited there for about 15 minutes. There was a man in front of me that was trying to return about 40 boxes of soda without a receipt. Come on guy, seriously? After a shouting match between soda man and the woman behind the counter he left and it was finally my turn. I could taste the deliciousness of my grilled food already. The end of this journey was near. I asked for my propane tank and was told that she’d have to track down the individual with the keys to the cage to get out the propane. I smiled and told her that I’d wait outside with my receipt.

After about 10 minutes of waiting I decided that I may have been forgotten about. I walked back in and as soon as I made eye contact with the customer service lady she got that panicked look on her face. She flashed me the “hold on one second” finger move, opened a drawer and pulled out the propane key. She came outside and opened the cage for me. She explained that she didn’t realize the key was in the drawer and that after she was told it was there she just forgot and started dealing with the other customers. I told her not to worry about it, grabbed my propane tank and ran as fast as I could away from that awful place. That was the last time I’ve been there.

As I look back to that experience and think about who I told it far exceeds 20. I even tell people I don’t know that move into the neighborhood. I can’t imagine how many people I’ve given a bad impression of this place. I’m don’t regret it at all either, I’m just trying to save lives.

In all seriousness, those were two poor customer service experiences that led to who knows how many individuals that decided not to shop at this place. The poor experience I had didn’t just end with me, I shouted it from the rooftops. If you’re not sure where you stand on this aspect of your business I highly encourage you to take a look a little deeper. If your customers aren’t happy they’re most likely telling a whole lot of people…

In our line of work, we see a lot of websites. Some are pretty amazing and some are…well, decidedly less so. But what’s really interesting is the disparity between the websites of retailers and manufacturers. To make a blatant generalization, it seems that across the board retailers are putting more effort into creating attractive, functional, informative and compelling websites while their manufacturer partners seem to stay focused on just the basic nuts and bolts.

I think it’s time for a wakeup call. Manufacturers, if you think consumers aren’t coming to your site looking for information and a way to buy, you are sorely mistaken. According to Forrester data, nearly one quarter of web shoppers are using a manufacturer’s website to research a potential purchase. And more than half of the visitors to your site intend to buy with the next 30 days. If you aren’t capitalizing on that intention, you’re missing a serious opportunity both for cementing your brand in their life and capturing additional sales.

These are also shoppers who care about brand more than price, so don’t tarnish your image in their minds by presenting a mediocre web experience. Here are a few tips from a Channel Intelligence study of the websites of some major brands, including HP, Lancôme and Post-It:

1. Build out comprehensive product descriptions and content.
63% of manufacturer site visitors came for product information. Descriptions are important, of course, but remember that images and videos can often give a customer a better sense of a product than words. Consider implementing a rich media solution that lets customers zoom or view alternate images.

2. Offer comparison tools and make it easy to find products.
As we mentioned, these are consumers who care about your brand. Make sure they’re aware of your full line of offerings by giving them ways to see like products or compare features. You’ll find it easier than you think to up-sell or cross-sell if you put it right in front of them.

3. Make it easy to buy.
Allowing customers to buy directly from your site is obviously the quickest way to close a sale, but if you aren’t ready to make the leap into eCommerce just yet, be sure you clearly point them in the direction of a purchase. Make it easy for them to find both online and offline retailers that sell the product they’re interested in – and go one step further by providing price comparisons and inventory levels, if possible.

These aren’t quick fixes that you can implement overnight, but a strong brand strategy should incorporate a plan to move toward these ideals. Your customers will thank you for it…in exactly the way you want them to. Read the entire study here.