Recent reports conclude that Craigslist is expected to rake in $100 million in revenue this year. Kudos to CEO Craig Newmark for his innovative thinking and this very commendable 23 percent hike over last year’s estimated revenue.

In contrast, EConsultancy said the Newspaper Association of America is reporting that newspaper ad revenues are down by 29 percent. So what can newspapers and other online media properties, such as local and vertical directories, Internet Yellow Pages and classified sites do to protect their businesses, keep advertisers coming back and compete with the likes of Craigslist?

Media properties need to influence and enhance advertisers’ ability to immediately connect and engage with their browsers. They also need to provide innovative tools to help illustrate how their customers’ ad dollars are generating real leads and sales.

Let’s face it, we live in a “pay for performance” world right now. The days of disposable advertising dollars are long gone and advertisers – whether they are looking to rent a room, sell a house or publicize a job opening – are carefully choosing where to spend their money. However, according to Forrester Research, 76 percent of advertisers still have no way of determining their online advertising campaign ROI, and few are measuring campaigns across channels.

By implementing optimization services such as call tracking, text to speech technology, click to call and call recording, publishers can close the loop for advertisers by converting more leads, guaranteeing that no lead goes unanswered and proving campaign ROI. In fact, the ability to address the ROI factor alone can put a media company steps ahead of the competition.

These services also allow media properties’ advertisers to be immediately connected with potential customers at the point of peak interest and create a personal connection with consumers.

Yes, it’s true that we live in an overly-automated, fast-paced, now-or-never world, but the fact of the matter is that we – as humans – yearn for personal, trust-laden relationships. Without optimization services, media properties’ customers are just another advertiser with another product to sell. Services that help them interact with potential buyers make them stand apart from the crowd and provide proven ROI by converting more browsers to buyers.

Heading to the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Boston next week (June 15-18)? We’ve been busy gearing up for it, as we’ll be there for the full four days. Swing by our booth, #413, Monday through Thursday to learn more about ATG, our e-commerce applications, and what you can do today to improve your overall commerce experience online, in store, or in the call center.

Our own Bill Zujewski, Vice President, Product Marketing, will be speaking on Tuesday, June 16 at 2:00 pm during Track A: Managing Technology. Check out the panel presentation to get an inside look at technology options for online retailers and which options work best for specific retailers. You’ll get the pro / con breakdown of different approaches retailers can take as well as a peek into what works the best now, and what will continue to work in the future.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Though the government says consumers are reducing their spending, online retailers are reporting a year-over-year growth in sales for the first quarter of 2009. In fact, a majority of online merchants are predicting that the positive momentum will continue throughout the year.

These numbers were reported this week by Internet Retailer, as part of the publication’s new profitability and business development survey of 92 Web-only retailers, chain retailers, catalogers and consumer brand manufacturers.

This is more great news for e-commerce merchants and we’re glad to hear that a majority of online retailers are faring well in these difficult times. We are also encouraged to see that very few retailers are planning cuts to their technology theater of operations. As Gene Alvarez, vice president of e-commerce research at Gartner Inc., says in the Internet Retailer article, companies that continue to invest in their Web sites through tough economic times are best positioned and prepared to capitalize on the economic turnaround when it occurs.

As such, we wanted to provide a couple of tips to help online retailers continue this growth in sales and power through these shifting times. The time to be a little creative and try new tactics is now, so you are well prepared as we head closer toward the holiday season:

• Deploy automated recommendations: Personalized merchandising services help quickly lift revenue by recommending the most relevant products from the catalog to each shopper. If your recommendations engine understands your catalog and gives you the control to balance automation with your merchandising strategies, you can use it to personalize merchandising across the site and across channels. Why not automate and personalize your top-seller pages, a slot on your homepage, or even create new pages such as gift guides or “just for you” sections? Our data shows that customers who extend recommendations across their site and across channels have a much greater revenue impact than those who use them for cross-sells alone.
• Implement live help with click to call and click to chat: These technologies can help quickly and measurably increase conversions, reduce Web site abandonment, increase order values, and improve customer loyalty and contact center efficiency. A recent report from Forrester Research finds that firms that are successful in implementing interactive help features like click to call and click to chat are quick to move shoppers from the Web to the phone. The more you can do to make experiences satisfying and consistent across channels, the more new and repeat customers you will earn.
• Try re-marketing techniques: One of the most recent trends we’ve observed with our customers is the growing use of re-marketing or “winback” features that proactively ask site visitors to provide their e-mail address when their online behavior indicates they may potentially abandon a transaction. You can easily do this with a proactive rules engine that you control, so you can offer this “winback” feature only to select visitors who exhibit common signs of abandonment, such as hovering on a page for too long. You can then re-market to those who opt-in, providing links back to carts and reminders to complete orders.

Yesterday, Internet Retailer reported that Jo-Ann Stores, a long standing customer of ours, reported Web sales of $9.5 million for the first quarter of 2009. That translates to a nearly 16 percent increase in e-commerce revenue. Jo-Ann Stores sews up success by engaging its more than two million customers on the Web and giving them the ability to easily find and purchase the products that bring their creative inspirations to fruition.

Congratulations to Jo-Ann on its continued success.

Bazaarvoice, a long standing partner of ours, was recently awarded the top spot in Austin’s Best Places to Work. A third year veteran to this list, this year Austin Business Journal named Bazaarvoice the Best Place to Work in Central Texas in the medium-sized business category.

We’ve been teaming with Bazaarvoice for years to personalize shopping experiences by giving shoppers direct access to the user-generated ratings and reviews that are most relevant to them. Quick access to relevant content translates immediately to higher conversions online, and user-generated input, including reviews, can reach far beyond just the Web channel.

CEO and founder Brett Hurt prides himself on having a company with an exceptional entrepreneurial culture that thrives on mutually shared responsibilities at every level of the organization. This strategy is clearly working, as it encourages employee excellence, teamwork, and open communication for achieving the highest levels of effectiveness.

We tip our hats to Bazaarvoice and congratulate the company for its commitment and dedication to fostering an outstanding working environment.

Some of you may have noticed that Gartner’s analysts have begun posting interesting clips on YouTube recently – this week we found one entry particularly compelling. Gene Alvarez, a VP in the Gartner CRM research organization, is a recognized authority on retail and consumer packaged goods industry applications and practices; he’s also an international expert on e-commerce technologies. Earlier this year he released research on cost-cutting in e-commerce and this week he addressed the topic again, discussing the continued promise of e-commerce in these shifting times.

Here, Gene debunks the argument that e-tailers can cut costs by holding off on buying e-commerce software and services from vendors, instead letting their in-house development team handle building these tools. (This is certainly a topic we have also spoken out on quite a few times…the old “build vs. buy” debate…) He says those that build out e-commerce functionality like automated product recommendations features, click to call buttons, and site personalization capabilities are actually wasting internal resources that could be better spent elsewhere. We couldn’t agree more.

Related post: Would you build an ERP system? ok, well, how about an e-commerce platform?

There’s been much speculation over whether or not 2009 will see an increase in U.S. online retail sales. While early indications showed that e-commerce was up in Q1 and thus, likely to be up for the full year, analysts at eMarketer now forecast that online sales will be virtually flat in ’09 (before rebounding to double-digit growth from 2011 to 2013). This contrasts with predictions from Forrester, which previously stated they expect total U.S. online sales to increase 11 percent to $156.1 billion in 2009.

Regardless of whether these predictions turn out to be true or not, eMarketer’s Jeffrey Grau certainly makes the right point when he says “the current economic upheaval has weakened many traditional retailers, putting consumers’ wallets up for grabs…online retailers that can fill the void with superior customer service, rich product information and greater shopping conveniences have a chance to win new customers for life.” And the latest study from Forrester and Shop.org shows that e-tailers are taking this seriously. On Tuesday, the AP reported that about 70 percent of the retailers surveyed in that study are spending as much or more on Web operations this year than last, with many exploring social media tools as an added way to influence consumers.

eMarketer’s Grau notes: “Smart online retailers will take advantage of [consumers’] new behavior—and information needs. The new online consumer is independent and less likely to trust recommendations of a salesperson or be swayed by the emotional appeal of a TV ad.” In fact, many of ATG’s customers are looking to user-generated content such as reviews and blogs to play a critical role in driving branding, customer loyalty, and overtly influencing merchandising.

So the natural question of course is: what will win them over? Are these retailers making the right move by investing in the Web?

Sure, maybe we’re a little biased here, but think about it: no matter how much the economy improves in the near future and when the retail industry as a whole bounces back, consumer habits and expectations will have already shifted. There’s no doubt the Web will play a more important role than ever before. The companies that recognize this now are the ones who will continue to lead the pack. Sites need to differentiate themselves and better serve their customers with dynamic, personalized experiences if they expect to earn their share of consumer spending now and in the future. Some are experimenting by adding multimedia content and live chat to their Facebook pages or offering special deals and promotions via Twitter updates. Many are adding technologies like click to call to their sites, so they don’t miss out on opportunities to engage customers directly and help them complete transactions. Others are adding automated, predictive recommendations tools that serve up more relevant products to visitors wherever they shop online – on the Web store, iPhone appstore, third-party sites, or in-store kiosk applications. And in general, more businesses are realizing there are ways to incorporate personalization throughout a Web site, from introducing targeted cross-sells and up-sells at checkout, to leveraging customer history, referring appropriate sites, adwords used, Google search terms employed, or banner ads clicked, to serve up dynamic homepages that will suit the specific consumer’s needs.

The 70% of retailers who are maintaining their commitment to e-commerce this year (or better still, bolstering it) are doing exactly what they should be: exploring ways to make a bigger, better footprint on the Web and across channels by interacting with customers in ways that count. Those are the brands that will thrive.

We just came across this great Shop.org interview with Zia Daniell Wigder, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, and a leading expert on Web globalization. In this post Zia offers some key considerations for e-commerce businesses considering geographic expansion.

Specifically, Zia advises e-tailers to take a look at their internal factors prior to determining when and where to go global, such as measuring the amount of international traffic currently on the site, determining how strong the brand recognition is overseas, and identifying whether or not your organization has international staff that’s willing to play a role in this new venture.

Zia goes on to discuss how existing technologies in the US online retail space can prove advantageous as American companies consider overseas expansion. Features such as ratings, user reviews, and increasingly, recommendation engines are more commonly used on US retail sites, yet they do not tend to be as widely deployed in other markets. That’s a key differentiator for US-based e-tailers looking to distinguish their global offerings from those of local competitors.

The post also includes some amusing tidbits that any traveler can identify with (i.e., heading to a business meeting sans luggage), and some others that perhaps are not so frequently encountered (such as her unplanned stay at a Samarkand, Uzbekistan hotel, that formerly served as a “house of ill repute”).

For another take on this timely topic, you may like to view the Webinar that ATG recently hosted with internationalization experts from Deloitte and e2X.

Please share any of your own insights into or plans for e-globalization…of course, we’re always open to hearing any travel mishaps, as well!

For years the debate has continued on the question of “build vs. buy?” when it comes to e-commerce platforms. One of our main arguments for investing in an outsourced e-commerce platform been a very straightforward one: the options today are so sophisticated and mature, Web merchants can easily adopt a packaged application that takes care of core e-commerce functionality (and even offers a host of pretty cool multi-channel marketing capabilities), so their IT departments and Web teams can focus their efforts on fine-tuning other aspects of the Web and multi-channel customer experience and truly differentiate themselves from their competition.

It’s pretty rare for an e-tailer to speak candidly and publicly about their decision to move off an in-house platform. So we were eager to read Nick Lansley’s thoughts as he offered insight on Tesco’s recent decision to re-platform (full disclosure: They are moving to ATG).

Lansley, one of the founders behind Tesco’s online business, acknowledged his team has been able to stay ahead of competitors by continually developing e-commerce software with a certain amount of “special sauce” built into it, which others couldn’t copy for themselves. Yet his thinking behind the switch to an outsourced platform provider is captured quite succinctly with the following:

However, recently we had to think about our business. What are we doing? Are we here to provide customers with a convenient home delivery service? Or are we a computer software company?

Sure, we loved reading the complimentary things he had to say about ATG after that – but the main point that stuck with us is one that isn’t specific to us but instead applies to the bigger “build vs. buy” debate:

If you think we’ve been successful when we’ve been writing core systems, imagine what we can do when we’re freed from that job!

Simply put, Tesco realized it should focus its IT resources on enhancing the organization’s core competencies, rather than building core e-commerce functionality. Now that they can focus on the ‘sexy’ stuff instead (his words, not ours), they are in a fantastic position to keep growing and keep delighting their customers.

We’re looking forward to it!

InternetRetailer.com has an interesting story on recent findings from comScore, which point to staggering growth in mobile internet usage among U.S. consumers. Sure, it’s been widely reported that in Europe and Asia accessing the Internet via smartphones and other mobile devices is commonplace. This new data suggests that the U.S. is finally catching up – something that we regularly remind Web merchants they should be thinking about.

According to comScore, the number of people using mobile devices to access the Internet on a daily basis more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009, with 63.2 million people—29% of the U.S. population age 16 and over—accessing the Web on their mobile devices during the month of January 2009. 22.4 million, or 35%, went online on their mobile device on a daily basis—an increase of 107% over the 10.8 million who did so in January 2008.

Cross-channel capabilities have become critical to selling, and the growth in mobile use is a big part of that. The consumer buying cycle, once limited to a simple visit either in-store or on the Web, now typically spans interactions across multiple channels. A consumer may start on the Web, contact the call center for assistance, look up information on a mobile phone, and then buy in-store or back on the Web. As more and more U.S. consumers become accustomed to their phone as a primary device for emailing, social networking, blogging and absorbing multimedia content, it’s clear that m-commerce will rise, as well.