Handelskraft - The E-Commerce and Online Marketing Blog

Why should B2B marketers adopt video? [5 Reading Tips]

15. August 2016by Sara Herrera 0

Video is increasingly gaining ground among marketers and soon will conquer the Internet. The richness of video allows marketers to fully connect with their audiences because the image in motion has a special power to engage, generate empathy and make people identify with others. The video’s impact has been felt especially in the B2C sphere, where consumer-oriented services like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and, more recently, Pinterest are the trailblazers in the adoption of video. However, which role is video going to play in B2B contexts?

Some facts suggest video might have a decisive role in B2B. Below it is explained why:

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(1 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce Reading Tips of the Week

Integrating PIM systems: When is it worth for online retailers? – Interview with PIM providers SAP Hybris, Akeneo and CONTENTSERV [Part 1]

9. August 20169. August 2016by Sara Herrera 1

arahan - Fotolia / dotSource — arahan – Fotolia / dotSource

As we stated in several articles over the past few months, Product Information Management (PIM) systems are the ultimate strategic tool to make the most out of a digital business. They are a must in cross-channel scenarios, make the difference in B2B complex product catalogues and are responsible for the increasing personalisation of all ranges of products and services, among other things.

It is important that online shops, both B2C and B2B, are aware of the existence of easy-to-use and cutting-edge PIM systems, their advantages as well as which elements can be used to detect if a PIM is needed.

As we know this is a complex topic that attracts a lot of attention, Handelskraft has brought together three experts of well-known and unique PIM system vendors in the market: Christian Rohr, Senior Product Marketing Manager at SAP Hybris, Frédéric de Gombert, CEO of Akeneo and Alexander Garkisch, Business Development & Strategic Marketing Manager at CONTENTSERV, have asked them about the real potential of PIM, how companies can benefit from it and how retailers can make the best choice.

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(1 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce Interviews

3D printing on the way to consolidation [5 Reading Tips]

8. August 2016by Sara Herrera 0

3D printing (3DP) is a term well known by the industry. It emerged strongly as a boom a few years ago when it seemed like 3DP was going to have the same big impact on our lives as the email had at the expense of letters. Even Deloitte stated in 2012 that 3DP was going to disrupt manufacturing. However, 3DP has left the foreground and enjoys an apparent stillness as it is not clear what its real potential is.

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(3 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce Reading Tips of the Week

The online cross-border trade is still an outstanding issue [5 Reading Tips]

1. August 2016by Sara Herrera 0

Source: nanisimova - Fotolia — Source: nanisimova – Fotolia

Although Internet has generated many opportunities for both, companies and consumers, only 15% of consumers buy online from another EU country and 8% of companies sell cross-border. What are the reasons?

According to the 2015 Flash Eurobarometer “Companies engaged in online activities”, 51 per cent of the group of companies that sell, used to sell or tried to sell online to other European countries said that delivery costs are too high, while 38% don’t know the rules which have to be followed.

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(3 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce Reading Tips of the Week

Smartly hunting mobile moments to attract connected travellers

26. July 201626. July 2016by Sara Herrera 0

Source: cristianbalate - Fotolia — Source: cristianbalate – Fotolia

The smartphone has become an extension of our bodies. It is always travelling with us. No matter where it goes, people always find a place for it: in their pocket, in their handbag or even carried by hand. For this reason, the smartphone becomes an essential trip companion when individuals are going on holidays. The entire customer life cycle is influenced by the power of the smartphone. Everyone is becoming a connected traveller.

Are the airlines, travel platforms, and also online travel agencies (OTAs) aware of it and acting accordingly to gain new customers and to stand out from the crowd? Are they implementing features and promoting campaigns to win the mobile piece of the cake?

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(3 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce

Puuh, I cannot decide, help me to choose! [5 Reading Tips]

25. July 201627. July 2016by Sara Herrera 2

Retailers are increasingly striving to offer a wide assortment of products and services online. They organise their long and varied product lists by categories and enable filters to guide shoppers on their trip towards their desired product or service. However, in this spiralling dynamic focused on prices and big assortments, e-retailers have left something essential behind: the shopper’s feeling against such amount of information.

Shoppers have passed from the initial enthusiasm of having a completely new world of possibilities to feeling overwhelmed with such amount of similar products to choose from. They get lost, feel paralysed and don’t complete the purchase.

In order to respond to this new challenge, a new wave of personalisation features as well as new perspectives around this cutting-edge topic are hitting the net, offering the connected and technological shopper a more individualised experience that meets their needs much better. To do so, it is fundamental to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and, of course, to put them at the centre of every subsequent strategy, what means in the end, to do need-based business. But how?

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(3 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce Reading Tips of the Week

“Pokémon GO” makes Augmented Reality (AR) become Mainstream [5 Reading Tips]

18. July 2016by Sara Herrera 0

Source: golekduwek - Fotolia — Source: golekduwek – Fotolia

After having seen the global fever caused by the release of the videogame “Pokémon GO” for Android and iOS last week, one could become conscious about the great potential of AR technology and to what extent digitalisation has taken root in our daily lives.

Nintendo has been able to put together a wide range of available technologies already integrated in the smartphone, like GPS and cameras, aiming to use the smartphone as the master key that seamlessly links the real world with the virtual world.

The result is well-known. The fact of bringing AR to a mass audience and giving them the opportunity to familiarise with its functioning and to experiment while playing, will have crucial future implications for the development of this promising technology.

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(2 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce Reading Tips of the Week

Euro 2016: the winners and losers of the digital landscape

12. July 2016by Sara Herrera 0

After 31 days and 51 matches, Portugal has been the squad who won glory and the hard-fought European championship. Accompanied by thousands of fans at the stadiums and millions more around the globe, viral video campaigns, world trending topics and sounded memes the main event of 2016’s summer is over. Parallel, unexpected brands won the battle in the internet, getting more notoriety than their competitors and standing out the crowd with their eye-catching online actions.

Still excited of the exciting finale of the UEFA Euro 2016, it is time to take stock of the fierce competition, both in the grass and the Internet, and determine which brands and retailers have been the Iceland and Wales squads of the tournament, which ones have fulfilled the expectations, like Portugal and France, and which ones have failed in their strategy resoundingly, like Spain or England.

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(2 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)

E-Commerce