This March, Building Keystones researched and published blog posts on our favorite e-commerce Twitter accounts, reducing churn with proper dunning techniques and the state of downloaded software vis-a-vis SaaS and apps.
We also kept an eye on the latest developments and insights in how software is sold and delivered online. The links below highlight some of the best articles that we’ve read this month. Use the Comments section below to share your favorite e-commerce articles and videos.
Alex Payne — How Not To Sell Software in 2012: Alex Payne, one of the original employees at Twitter, writes that in our day and age, software vendors need to simplify overly complicated sales processes so that purchasing software is as easy downloading an app.
This quote sums up his position, “Basically, if a given software package or service isn’t free/open, it should be as easy as humanly possible to try it, pay for it, and start using it in production. If it isn’t easy to get started with your product, I’m going to find another vendor.”
The post continues with a list of eight “Don’ts,” those companies that are getting it right, and those companies that are doing it wrong.
Internet Retailer – Amazon steps up competition in cloud services: Amazon is the acknowledged gold standard of online retailing. According to Internet Retailer, this e-commerce behemoth wants to occupy that same position in cloud based service offerings. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under Alex Payne, Amazon, Brian Walker, cloud services, conversion optimization, e-commerce advice, E-Commerce Times, Forrester Blogs, Internet Retailer, migration project, software vendors
In this week’s installment of E-commerce Eye Candy we have an infographic from Dribble by Kyle Anthony Miller highlighting the $572 billion that accompanied world wide e-commerce sales in 2010.
While that statistic, combined with J.P. Morgan predicting $963 billion in online sales by 2013, is encouraging for anyone in the e-commerce market, the more relevant piece of information here is the breakdown of sales into region, along with each region’s estimated growth.
We consider it a truism that localized sites are appealing to international visitors, and that localized prices reduce abandonment.
So take your time, look over the valuable information below, and reflect on how you can better your business by decreasing abandonment and increasing your share of this growing online market. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under cart abandonment, global e-commerce, Infographic, online sales
The eulogies have been written: downloaded software is dead with the advent of tablets and smartphones. Apps are the future and we don’t need desktop computers anymore.
Well, let the naysayers howl because downloaded software is alive and kicking, and smartphones and tablets are actually adding to the software industry. So if you are a software developer pay attention to changes in the market. Take advantage of these changes in order to disrupt your own business before someone else does!
Best Buy: Check for Shipping
Ten years ago, people talked about the death of software in retail stores due to the emergence of affordable high speed internet access at home. TechCrunch even published a story on the death of packaged software (and inherently the rise of the digital download) as recently as November 2008. Although we can agree that retail boxed software is a declining market in 2012, it still isn’t dead as evidenced by Best Buy’s online store selling software where you can “Check Shipping and Availability.”
So if you don’t believe me that digital downloads are going to be around for a while, here’s my case for you: Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under Apps, Forrester, SaaS, Smartphones, Software Market, Tablets
