Is it true that online retailers have a better chance of beating the credit crunch than bricks & mortar owners? Or although online sales are still gowning are bargain hunting customers driving online prices so low their just isn’t any profit?
A recent report from ‘Foresee Results’ - Top 30 UK Online Retail Satisfaction Index has indicated that free delivery is a critical factor in the buying process a customer goes through when deciding who and where to buy from.
This serveice is currently only available in the America through TiVo a sort of SKY equivelent,it lets users easily buy products they see on television programs. When a featured product is shown, the user presses a button to purchase it, and Amazon takes care of the rest.
TiVo has joined forces with Amazon to create an interactive system that will let viewers buy products featured on TV shows simply by using their remote. TiVo Product Purchase will present options on the screen and give users the opportunity to order without interrupting the program.
So if your sat watching a chat show like Oprah and a guest is promoting a new book or DVD then and you decide you want it, then all you need to do is click a button on you remote and Amazon will wing your order to you without you even having to stop watching the show!
Some of teh big playes in America “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” and “The Colbert Report” are among the programs already on board.
There is currently nothing in place here in the UK for this service, but we’re sure if it is a sucess over in theStates then it’s just a matter of time before SKY, Virgin or BT start to roll it out!
Magento is a great new piece of open source eCommerce software, and they are soon to be releasing an update Version 1.1.
We here at NetInsight believe that Magento is the leading light in open source ecommerce and can’t wait for the new version to be released, they had added a number of new features to the already substantial list which just keeps pushing this great platform away from the competition.
Here’s what’s new:
1. Performance Improvements: Since the 1.0 release we have been working on improving the performance of Magento and the 1.1 release will see further gains (as much as 40% performance improvements in the catalog and sales modules).
2. Admin UI improvements: Changes will be made to only load data when necessary, improving the responsiveness of the Admin Panel.
3. Web Services API: A highly requested feature which will make integrating Magento with 3rd party software much easier. The API will be added for the catalog, customers and sales modules.
4. Virtual Products: These products which do not require shipping information and/or inventory management add to Magento’s product types by allowing for store owners to more easily create and manage products.
5. Customer Defined Product Options: This functionality will allow customers to define text, images, etc. for products.
6. Bundled Products: One of the most exciting features, this will allow store owners to create built to order products and will further extend the product options available in Magento.
7. Improved support for EU and Canadian taxes: The tax rules and functionalities for EU and Canadian taxes will be added to the Core, which should be especially exciting to the Magento community outside of the US.
Check out the video from two of the developers Yoav Kutner and Chris Marshall:
