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Useful Facebook Tabs for Ecommerce Retailers

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Retailer’s are finding a lot of ways to use Facebook these days for presenting products and offers to their fan base. I’ve seen some really nice implementations over time and wanted to post a few links to tabs you might want to consider for your Facebook fan page.

Not all of these are free apps, yet if they fit your needs and budget, they could be more than worth the investment.

ShopTab

This application was developed by Shop Tab LLC. and enables you to add a store to your Facebook fan page. Your products are presented and when a purchase is initiated, the customer is take directly to your site to complete the order.

This application also provides an automated data feed feature (much like Google Base) for quickly updating the content on the ShopTab. To do this, simply log into the ShopTab admin and under the data feed tab you’ll be able to schedule weekly updates as needed.

Example Store: The Tackle Box

On YouTube: Sample YouTube Video

Shop Now Tab

Developed by Payvment, Inc., this option boasts features like easy setup (under 15 minutes), product management, admin interface built into Facebook, integrated payment / revenue system, integrated order management, as well as marketing and promotion options to name a few.

Example Stores: Payvment Sample Store, Game Intern
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Helpful Ecommerce Holiday Tips and Strategies

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With the holidays revving up I thought I would bring back a few older articles I wrote which tend to get buried beneath the rest of the articles here. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’ve provided links to them below.

Complete Ecommerce Holiday Checklist
This article provides a checklist of 10 items you need to consider while preparing your store for the holidays. From technical considerations to social media and even simple navigational tweaks that help drive sales; this list covers them all.

Top 10 Days for Sending Out Holiday Emails
Quick listing of the top ten days for sending out emails. A handy reference for planning some of your email promotional and follow-up campaigns. These days are traditionally big days, so you also may want to consider testing other days when email volumes are lighter (possibly better ensuring your message doesn’t get hidden under a stack of other emails!)

Thanksgiving Signals Black Friday
This article provides information on what Black Friday is and how it started. It also provides a little information on a similar online ‘holiday’ called Cyber Monday. Links are provided in the article to help you gather more info on each and determine how you can use them to boost your sales.

Six Promotional Ideas You Can Use for Cyber Monday
10 ideas and strategies to get your brain stirring about how you can take advantage of the Cyber Monday craze, driving more visitors to your site, and increasing your slice of pie during the holiday shopping frenzy.

10 Ecommerce Shipping Best Practices
It’s no surprise that shoppers like free shipping. It’s a buzz term that gets shoppers excited and puts stars in their eyes. But did you know that during the holidays, shoppers put free shipping very high on their list of ‘what makes them want to buy?’

It’s true. A lot of buying decisions are made during the holidays based on the availability of free shipping or not. Shoppers even go so far as to search for ‘free shipping’ offers across the internet.

In this article you’ll learn ten best practices to help you fine tune your shipping and win more customers this holiday season (and throughout the year.)

Get Your Mobile Feet Wet by Using QR Codes

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qrcode

If you’ve been entertaining dreams of taking your website mobile, but weren’t sure where to start, consider getting your feet wet with QR Codes.

In the simplest terms, QR Codes are the 21st century version of the bar code. Standing for “Quick Response,”  these two-dimension pieces of matrix code are programmed to be used at high speeds.

QR codes got their start in the manufacturing industry, where users would point, scan, select and move on. Soon, retailers and other businesses caught on to the QR trend and began using them on everything from magazine ads and business cards to candy wrappers and store windows.

You may be wondering:  How would I scan one of these codes if I don’t have a trusty scanner like I see at the store?

I’m happy to say that if you have a mobile phone with a camera and a QR reader application, then you’ve got yourself a scanner.

Creating and using QR Codes is extremely easy.  All you need is a QR Code Generator. I’m personally a fan of Kaywa.com (http://qrcode.kaywa.com); however, if you search for QR Code Generator in your favorite search engine you will likely find one that suits your needs.

Once you’ve arrived at your QR Code Generator page, decide what you want the eventual QR code to point to. Do you want to point people to your website? Maybe your phone number? Perhaps a text message? Whatever you choose, include that information and then choose the size of code you want. The code you see above is a size L; there are smaller sizes and an extra large size available.

After you’ve indicated the size and destination of your code, select the Generate button. You’ll see code that you can then plug into a website, blog, or other documents.

You can also save the image (right click > Save As) to use the QR code on a business card or other print out.

Now that you’ve created the QR code, how can you use it to go mobile?

Remember, I said we’re just getting our feet wet. These codes won’t magically produce a mobile app for you. What they will do is help act as an extra calling card or marketing tool for potential customers who can’t make a purchase right that very instant.

As an e-commerce retailer, consider adding QR Codes to specific pages or products on your site (for example: discounted merchandise, new products, a “Don’t want to miss this!” product or page). Again, think of QR codes as an electronic flier that your customer can have handy on their mobile phone.

If you want to test if your codes are working, consider creating a special URL on your site for QR Code related items. Anyone that arrives at that page did so through a QR code.

This might be a little new fandangled for most people, but QR codes are quickly becoming the next big thing according to many industry experts.