Infographic: Ecommerce Trends to Watch in 2016

Fuel your Ecommerce strategy by staying up to date with the major industry trends!

We have compiled a list of some major game changing trends you can take advantage of this year:

Use Big Data and Predictive Analysis to gather even more information about your buyer personas and use the perks of advanced personalization technologies to gain competitive advantage.

You have probably heard Mobile is getting even bigger with the customers this year, so you might want to consider investing more in your Mobile Marketing Campaigns in 2016 as the industry’s mobile payment methods will diversify, mobile revenues will peak and mobile traffic will soon push past the 50% mark.

If you are a retailer, we recommend you to start blending Digital Tech, from iPads to Beacons, in your brick and mortar store to win your customers’ hearts, minds and wallets.

Investments in Customer Experience is predicted to be the No.1 priority for the major Ecommerce players, so we recommend you  to consider hiring more UX specialists and invest in training your Customer Support team to offer the best customer care on your specific market.

Looking at the technological aspects of the Ecommerce business, 2016 will bring an increased adoption of one-stop shop technology partnersonline shopping platforms that support all touch points: digital, traditional retail, enterprise technology.

We have gathered all the Top Ecommerce Trends to watch in 2016 in one Infographic that we hope will help you employ the best strategies and tactics to achieve your business goals this year.

Courtesy of: EuroITGroup
#wmcreative30 Sightsavers

WM Creative 30 years in business and the Sightsavers Challenge to celebrate #wmcreative30

This July marks 30 years in business for WM Creative, a Birmingham-based branding & design agency.

I am proud to say I have been part of the wmcreative team for the last ten years – bringing my digital expertise to meet client needs. I have seen the company evolve.

To mark this occasion and to give something meaningful back, managing director Paul Whitehouse is doing the #wmcreativee30 campaign for Sightsavers:

“I have decided fundraise for Sightsavers. Restoring sight is a gift I want to give.

Simply, I’m trying to raise £3000 for a fantastic charity called Sightsavers.

This will help them restore the sight of thirty children. My challenge is doing thirty 10K runs over a three month period. I am looking for all support I can get – all donations large or small are welcome, they are going to a great charity. Or you may want to join me in one of the runs, you’d be most welcome!”

Visit Sightsavers

Get involved

Donate now
JustGiving https://www.justgiving.com/wmcreative30

Text WCAA63 £2 / £5 / £10 to 70070 to donate now. eg WCAA63 £5 

Join in the conversation
Use the Hashtag #wmcreative30 on Twitter and Facebook to join in on the conversation.

Take part
If you would like to take part on one of the 10K runs:

Call WM Creative on:
0121 233 4845

Send an email to:
hello@wmcreative.com

Or send a message to @wearewmcreative

Why you shouldn't give a rats ass on the quantity of likes or followers on Facebook, Twitter & Google+?

Why you shouldn’t give a rats ass on the quantity of likes or followers on Facebook, Twitter or Google+?

We live in a vain world where numbers matter and are a symbol of status. Whether it is how many zeros are in your bank account; offering you a sense of security to how, many people are friends with you on your Facebook, the number of likes you have on your Like page, or the number of followers you have on Twitter.

In the late 1990’s business made a bee-line to get their businesses online because that was the craze at the time. The current day craze is Social Media. Of the many board rooms I have been in, up and down the country. the talk is, “we need to be on Facebook, our competitors are already using Facebook” or “our  competitors have more twitter followers than us, we need more followers, and we need them fast”.

Businesses know that Consumers make a snap shot decision about their business based on how many followers or likes they have. Ultimately this leads to whether the Consumer decides to make a purchase. There is pressure on businesses for this reason to have high number of likes and followers. Consumers use these figures as an indicator of popularity, good service & quality of product.

This gives rise to the wholesale purchase of likes and followers from shady websites to whom you pay a small fee to for followers. This works on a sliding scale, the more you pay ,the greater number of followers your money gets you.  Although this method may get you the much desired numbers beware of these likes and followers, which are mainly all dummy accounts that do not interact with you.  At the core of Social Media is interaction between your patrons. Dummy accounts are like people who do not hear or speak or spread the good word about your brand. Other than giving you a false image of popularity a purchased like or follower has no value whatsoever and is a cancer to social media.

Conversely a natural like or follower will be a real person and more inclined to  interact and spread the word about your product or brand to others.  Essentially this all boils down to the age old Quantity versus Quality argument.

So I put these two questions to you; would you rather have just a few hundred natural likes and followers who regularly interact with you, or thousands of purchased likes and followers who make you look popular but with little or no interaction?

Businesses should focus on getting natural likes and followers.  They need to add a bit of personality in their statuses, do regular interesting status updates, interact with their audience, and finally exercise a bit of patience and the followers will slowly grow.

Print Based Media vs. Digital Media

Print based media tends to be more costly than advertising through digital media offerings. Digital media may appear financially more viable at first but budgets can quickly get used up.

Argument for Print Based Media
Many printing houses offer very competitive prices for leaflets, and brochures. In my opinion print based media is an excellent way to get your message out locally. I say locally because with print based media you are responsible for its distribution,

An important fact that needs to be made is that many printing houses also offer 100% recycled paper so the argument that print based media is not green is highly questionable.

Argument for Digital Media
The ability to segment the market and to zero-in on your market is in my option the biggest advantage digital media has to offer. Once your marketing message is in digital form it is flexible enough to be displayed on various digital mediums, like TV, internet, mobile etc. The cost of reproducing your digital message costs noting, so the dissemination of information is a big plus.

Marketing Trends

Facebook
There are 500 million users on facebook, a social networking site which businesses are using to connect to their audience.

Twitter
Many businesses recognize that they must engage in dialogue with their market and communicate in real-time with business news and offers.

What are digital based media delivery mechanisms that directly rival print based media?

  • Social Media, Twitter & Facebook etc
  • Pay-Per-Click and Cost-Per-Click Advertising
  • Web Banner Advertising
  • TV & Radio Advertising

Conclusion
We are currently going through a recession and sp businesses and the Government are making cuts. Printed media is being affected by this too. Digital media is chosen over print based media because the perception is that it is financially more viable. In my experience I would say that you cannot and should not ever rule out print based media.

SMS text and chat shorthand and their meanings explained

For all those new to sms text shorthand and online chat; here is a handy little list of phrases and emotes, that is used as shorthand. Hope these are useful 😉

lol – laugh(ing) out loud/laugh on line/lots of laughs

brb – be right back/bathroom break

gtg/g2g – got to go

l8r or cul8r – (see you) later

lmao – laugh(ing) my ass/arse off.

rofl – rolling on floor laughing

sry – sorry

cya or cu – see you

ty – thank you

gg/gj – good game/good job

ttyl – talk to you later

bbl – be back later

thx – thanks

ihm – i hate myself

wombat – Waste of Money, Brains, and Time

n00b – A inexperienced and/or ignorant or unskilled person. Especially
used in computer games.

Emotes 🙂 or 🙂 = smile or laugh out loud

😀 or 😀 = Roll on floor laughing or LMAO

😛 = Stick tongue out or cheeky comment

🙁 or 🙁 = Sad or unhappy

^ ^ or ^__^ or ^^ an emoticon signifying happiness, especially used by
anime fans. “Chuckle marks”

>_< or >< an emoticon signifying frustration or embarrassment

>_> an emoticon used to indicate sarcasm or suspicion, sometimes used
with <_< to indicate shifty eyes

:O Used to express surprise or a sarcastic display of surprise.

:/ Used to express indifference.

:o) Used to express forum users who are ignorant and vain.

>:( Used to express strong anger or discontent.

>:D Used to express malicious joy.

>:) Used to express malicious contentment.

-__- disgusted, annoyed, etc.

^o^ laughing, cheerful, joyous, similar to ^^

^^__^^ Angel

(^_^) Happy face

[*_*] Scared, in awe

My Generation the who tribute band

Gary Charman, Terry Hill, Steve White, Gary Harper

I set off with two friends Chris Slater and Tracey Page to Stoney Stanton Leicester, a mere 40 minute’s journey, from the Jewellery Quarter. Stoney Stanton is a village in the district of Blaby.

My generation were playing in the Stoney Station Social Club, which is based in the very centre of Stoney Stanton, a rural village on the edge of Leicestershire.

My generation consists of

Gary Charman
Lead Vocals and guitar

Terry Hill
Lead guitar and backing vocals

Steve White
Bass Guitar and backing vocals

Gary Harper
Drums

My generation start playing at about 9:30 PM. I was very impressed with how well they sounded acoustically. They played my favourite Who song “My Generation” very well indeed.

I took my camera along with and managed to get some pictures of the band. The light levels were extremely poor so I had a rather difficult task taking shots.

You can see some of my images below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robabdul/sets/72157621337592928/

You can watch my Youtube video to get a feel for how My Generation sound like:

External Links:

MySpace Page
http://www.myspace.com/mygenerationuk