Bridgeline

Analytics and eCommerce

Merchandising is a key component of online marketplace success. A feature-rich eCommerce solution has built-in merchandising tools to enhance the website experience so that it meets one of Gartner's criteria – it is "fun and rewarding" for the shopper.

Through the use of tactics such as coupons, featured product placements, pricing books, product reviews and ratings, as well as free shipping options, your customers can be optimally engaged throughout their shopping experience. The use of complementary product placement opens the door to up-sell without pressure, and your eCommerce solution should enable you to run specials and promotions around complementary items.

When analytics and eCommerce are deeply integrated, different pricing can be applied to different customers based on their user profiles. For example, visitors who are frequent shoppers may dynamically be shown lower prices for some or all products. Different buying groups (e.g., levels of site membership) can also be given special pricing.

Native integration of the eCommerce solution with analytics can significantly shrink the action chasm to compress cycle time for improving the shopping experience.

As you are reviewing the sales page, you can use drag-and-drop GUI controls and right-click menus to see how suggested improvements to sales pages would actually look on the screen before you post them live to the site.

In addition, once you go live with an updated page, you can track the performance of the revision, compare it with how the original page performed, and determine whether your improvements produced positive changes. Tight integration of eCommerce and analytics enables you to optimize orders from every sales page based on what's working and what's not, significantly improving revenues and maximizing website ROI.

Featuring research from

Customer-Centric Websites with Integrated Applications is published by Bridgeline. Editorial supplied by Bridgeline is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is © 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. All Gartner materials are used with Gartner's permission and in no way does the use or publication of Gartner research indicate Gartner's endorsement of Bridgeline's products and/or strategies. Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.