September – Top 5 Ecommerce News Stories

Here’s our top five stories that stood out this month in the world of ecommerce news.

August & September were very busy times in the world of eCommerce news media, as many technology changes were afoot. To say nothing of adaptations to mobile algorithms by Google, that have sent many online retailers and digital marketers into spin.

So, we’ve collected the top five stories over the last couple of weeks to give you a look at what has been happening in eCommerce news:

1. Linnworks introduce new price plans to include 24/7 support

http://tamebay.com/2016/09/linnworks-introduce-new-price-plans-to-include-247-support.html

Linnworks say they have listened to consumer demand and worked hard to simplify the pricing structure for customers. Now, only three plans are available: Free, Professional and Corporate. Asa result, making it easy to identify the right one for your business.

Linnworks are to change their price plans from Tuesday 13th September, although existing customers will have up until January 16th 2017, before they are required to move over to the new pricing plans. Linnworks tell us that their analysis means around 35%-40% of their customers will see a price decrease. The flip side is that others will see no change or an actual increase in the fees that they pay.

However, it seems a lot of their existing customers are unhappy with the new higher price bands, as echoed by the comments of many customers responding to the article.

2. Amazon Fresh expands to 190 new postcodes

http://tamebay.com/2016/09/amazon-fresh-expands-to-190-new-postcodes.html

Amazon Fresh is growing rapidly, just as we would expect. Amazon never roll out a new service lightly and usually assess the market, along with their own capabilities before investing a lot of money into a venture. Many UK shoppers have enjoyed buying household essentials in bulk such as washing powder and kitchen roll for years on Amazon but now, the Amazon Fresh is making all types of groceries easily accessible and with Amazon’s incredible delivery reputation, it makes sense that they’d corner this market easily.

Since Amazon Fresh launched in June this year it has already doubled its delivery areas. And now it will be expanding into south and south west London into 190 new postcodes including Brixton, Leatherhead, Richmond and Croydon. The Amazon Fresh service is Amazon’s grocery division available to Amazon prime members.
Ajay Kavan, Vice President of AmazonFresh says: “We’ve been delighted with the positive response we’ve had from customers across London with our convenient delivery options, vast selection and low prices regularly cited as reasons for using AmazonFresh. We are excited about bringing the service to even more Prime Members in more parts of London and look forward to hearing their feedback as we continue to further improve AmazonFresh as we rollout to new areas.”

Amazon have said they intend to take two per cent of the groceries market in the UK.

3. Google Shares Tips for Mobile eCommerce

http://searchengineland.com/google-shares-tips-using-amp-ecommerce-257291

It’s not breaking news as such but it is essential for all eRetailers as Google have shared the tips we need to build out on eCommerce pages and to use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) effectively.The faster a page, the higher the online conversions and so this development could be a game changer for those who enjoy the majority of sales through mobile.

Google said, “AMP is a natural fit for e-commerce because AMP makes webpages fast, and fast pages help with purchase conversions.”
Google provided examples of how to build out your e-commerce site using AMP. That means from the home page all the way down to the purchase phase, which technically will take the user off AMP and onto HTML or Progressive Web App (PWA), which would offer a better user experience for the user.

4. Google Punishes Pop Up Pundits

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/126976-SEO-Google’s-Mobile-Update-to-Impact-Interstitials-Pop-ups

Another key note from Google in order to keep eCommerce ticking over organically. Of course, PPC will eliminate the problems you have with reaching the top of the search engines, but it’s not cheap or profitable as a good organic ranking.

Keeping abreast of planned changes means your company will not get a penalty for SEO practice by Google. So, it gives you ample opportunity to make changes before the algorithm rolls out.

This change, again, focuses on mobile search which highlights just how much Google are investing into mobile shopping online. Mobile purchases have just overtaken those on a PC and so it is worth not only optimising your website but the whole mobile consumer journey. Our advice, say no to pop ups and please don’t overdo the advertising. Indeed, there’s nothing worse than opening a website on a mobile device, only to face a screen full of a BMW and no obvious way to remove the ad. It’s good that Google are now recognising how frustrating for the consumer this is. However, you must make sure you follow the guidelines too in order to keep your organic rankings in tact.

The update planned for January 2017 is being positioned as part two of Google’s “mobile-friendly update,” dubbed “Mobilegeddon” by the search community, that made waves in the spring of 2015. Part two targets intrusive interstitials that make it difficult for users to access the content they expect to see.

5. Online retail sales high since November 2014.

http://ecommercenews.eu/ecommerce-uk-highest-growth-since-november-2014/

Ending on a high note, this new delighted us! It really doesn’t need any explaining but if you’d like more information here it is:

Online retail sales in the United Kingdom increased by 18.7 percent in July, compared to the same period last year. That’s the strongest performance since November 2014. The month-on-month performance of the British ecommerce industry remained flat from the previous month, the growth decreased by 0.4 percent.