Consumer Goods - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

We all know that customer ratings and reviews, or user generated content, help drive more traffic to a website, increase sales conversions, make merchandisers smarter and more.

But did you know that customer reviews are changing the way consumers shop and the way companies market their products?

Brett Hurt writes that this is a unique time in the history of advertising, because companies are literally using their customers’ word of mouth as a digital marketing asset to create entirely new forms of multichannel campaigns.

It seems that every day we read about the declining effectiveness of advertising. How viewers skip through the adverts, can switch off to the marketing noise, no longer respond to our messages.

Brands are increasingly looking at more diverse ways to engage consumers in their products, and I believe there is currently no better opportunity than the Nintendo Wii.

Jonathan Wall is the marketing director at Dabs.com, the online technology retailer bought by BT in 2006.

Here, we ask him about the company’s latest efforts around acquisition, conversion and retention, including a current project to digitise its print catalogues.

He also gives us some interesting thoughts on cashback affiliates and shopping comparison sites, as well as the good stuff IT manufacturers are doing to support retailers like Dabs.

US-based consumer electronics retailer Dyscern is a great case study of how to make serious money on online marketplaces like eBay.

The company, which started up only five years ago, is now sixth in Inc. Magazine’s list of America's fastest growing retailers and is reportedly the most rapidly expanding eBay Powerseller on the other side of the pond.

We spoke to Dyscern COO Bill Frischling about the pros and cons of eBay as an e-commerce channel for merchants, and how the firm is looking to ramp up its European sales.

Doritos, the tortilla corn crisp brand owned by PepsiCo, has launched a new online campaign to engage users with an interactive website, user generated content and strong links to social networking sites.

Historically, FMCG brands have been slow to embrace online marketing as they have struggled to deliver a compelling creative message and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Chris Shimojima was brought in to steer the online business of Nike in 2006 – a position in which he oversees the direct-to-consumer digital sales of Nike and its sister brands, such as Converse and Hurley.

He recently spoke at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst event about how the company was generating business online through its Nike+ community and Nike iD, its system that allows shoppers to create customised trainers online and in store.

After his speech, we asked Chris a few questions about Nike’s e-commerce strategy, internal structure and future social media plans. And why its website is 100% Flash.

Running the online business of a company like Nike can have its advantages, as we heard at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst event this week.

Disruptive e-commerce start-up Glasses Direct recently bagged £3m in funding to continue its assault on high street opticians, ramp up its staff and expand internationally. 

Here, we ask new marketing director Phil Gates about how it got on the map... 

Call me old fashioned if you will, but I still believe in the premise that when a customer places an order online, they should receive their goods within the timeframe highlighted by the retailer. Or better still, they should actually receive their order at all!

How about really stretching it and offering the customer the opportunity to choose a convenient delivery method and time?

In the past few years Pocket-lint  has grown to become one the UK's largest gadget sites, and we recently interviewed founder Stuart Miles to talk about his experiences in online publishing...