This weekly blog covers highlights from the ecommerce industry in the previous week. We will search news articles, press releases, and blogs, as well as other media outlets to obtain what we feel is the most important information in ecommerce from the previous week; making this a one stop shop to get all of your ecommerce information to keep you in the know.
FOUR OMNICHANNEL MARKETING TRENDS FOR 2016
http://www.fourthsource.com/ecommerce/four-omnichannel-marketing-trends-2016-20269
My Take: Kamal makes some interesting points in this article and is a very good read. One point that is very intriguing is that Kamal sees an increase in Flash sales; expanding these flash sales for many companies outside of just a Black Friday or Cyber Monday. He also suggests that finding ways to make money off this might be difficult, but it also might be a great way to gather data and new customers to then grow them as repeat customers (which relates to his 4th trend).
UPS REPORTS $16.1B IN Q4 REVENUE
http://postandparcel.info/70866/news/ups-reports-16-1bn-q4-revenue/
My Take: This is the 4th consecutive quarter that UPS has exceeded financial expectations. This should come as no surprise as ecommerce had significant growth in the Q4 and both UPS and FedEx seem to grow as ecommerce grows. Fuel prices have decreased tremendously over the last several months and the fuel surcharge has slowly followed, but not at the same pace. It would be interesting to see how much profit is made from the fuel surcharge. The last time gas prices were this low, UPS and FedEx did not have a fuel surcharge.
HERE’S THE PROBLEM WITH TRENDY E-COMMERCE BUSINESSES
http://fortune.com/2016/02/01/amazon-groupon-online-shopping-ecommerce/
My Take: It seems that trendy ecommerce businesses pop up all the time, from daily deal sites, to bid sites, to flash sales and even the monthly subscription model. There will always be the trendy new way to sell products or services, but most importantly a continued focus on service, quality and price will always lead to longevity. This has been the main focus for Amazon and has been a critical part to their success.
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