Shoddy Product Descriptions Hound Walmart
Think you can slap up a mediocre product description and no one will notice? Think again. Gamers have targeted Walmart for ridicule after the e-commerce giant published a shoddy product description of Diablo III. The original description touted the much-anticipated computer game as a "strategy video game" that revolves around an "interesting plot." Come on people. Part of the plot involves killing somebody's zombie wife and then snatching fuzzy boots...read more >>
Costco Plans E-Commerce Makeover
Do profitable brick-and-mortar stores need e-commerce? Costco Wholesale thinks so. The country's second-largest retailer has announced plans to overhaul its e-commerce operations, according to a recent report in the Seattle Times. Costco.com already does $2 billion in online sales, but feels like it's falling behind competitors like Amazon and Walmart. "The stakes are very high. The growth of e-tail is far sharper than the growth of retail in general,...read more >>
Macy’s Explores the Lure of Themed Content
Macy's has reached into the annals of department store history with a recent promotion. Their Brazil-themed marketing push, which officially debuted April 22, mirrors decades-old department store promotions that sought to pull customers in with food, music, and a select set of products tied to a distant land. In Macy's case, that means store-in-store areas dubbed "O Mercado, The Market at Macy's" and a themed landing page on their site. (You can...read more >>
Dell’s Damien Cummings: Joining the Swarm
It's been three years since Dell Swarm launched in Singapore. We think Dell's foray into social commerce has huge potential. But are there plans to launch the group buying concept in the US? Is the company planning to add more robust product information? I recently caught up with Damien Cummings, Dell's online director for Asia, to answer these questions and more. But first, a little background about the concept. As this promotional video shows,...read more >>
How Viral Was My Video: Why Ads Without Content Aren’t Enough
Brands often fight for awareness as much as sales. The rare truly viral commercial video has taken on Golden Fleece status. To give your ad, blog, or video of photogenic cats using your products its own momentum is the stuff marketers' dreams are made of. But even the most forwarded video or flashiest campaign may not get you the results you want if you don't back it up with expertly made content. At AdAge, marketing consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin...read more >>
Utilizing Consumer Generated Testimonials
Over at Video Commerce, Grant Crowell talks with VideoGenie CEO Justin Nassiri about the growing benefits of user-generated video testimonials. Together, the pair delivers five reasons why this type of video can build better customer relations. The first thing Nassiri points out is that video testimonials can attract the attention of a consumer quickly. He says that most users spend only 5-10 seconds on a website before making a decision to stay...read more >>
Weekly Content Critique: It’s a Baby Miracle
A Baby Carrier Miracle, that is. (I'm surrounded by talk of babies and baby products lately, it's getting to me.) I read a lot about product video--how badly consumers want it and how badly some people want to give it to them, for instance--but I don't see many good product videos. Sure, Zappos and Amazon have tens of thousands of videos about shoes and backpacks in which a brogrammer narrates what is essentially an animated video montage. Frankly,...read more >>
Amazon and eBay Pin Hopes on Pinterest
The marketing world has been quick to fall under the spell of picture-perfect Pinterest (it's "Facebook without the whining," coos Copyblogger). Amazon and eBay have also begun to show their love, but in a much more prosaic way. They've added Pinterest share buttons to their product pages. As we've reported, the social media darling of the moment doesn't have the merchandising capabilities to turn pinners into shoppers. But its gorgeous imagery can...read more >>
Content Merchandising Roundup #13
Below is a summary of the week's most interesting content merchandising-related posts from Content Ping as well as from other blogs and news sites. Happy reading. FROM CONTENT PING: Content Syndication Series This week, our content syndication series wraps up with answers to frequently asked questions about syndication. E-COMMERCE: Most Shoppers Research Online Before Buying in Stores Four out of five consumers go online to research products before...read more >>
An Introduction to Content Syndication
If you're a regular reader of Content Ping, you know the value of creating concise, compelling, and accurate product information. Content26 has produced well over 1 million product descriptions for nearly 600 manufacturers, and if we know nothing else from our experience, we know this: good content sells! But content isn't always enough. If you have multiple channels that sell your products, you also need to get the word out by distributing that...read more >>