Visualsoft Blog

UK sees boom in mCommerce usage

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:41:34 +0000

Reports have shown that UK sales via mobile devices have grown from 0.4% of total e-retail sales to 5.3% in just two short years.

The popularity of shopping online through mCommerce has grown at a rapid pace, and it was reported to have finally broke through the 5% barrier of total e-retail sales last week for the first time.

According to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, the mobile commerce market has also increased by 254% year-on-year in March 2012 and achieved average growth of a staggering 300% for the first quarter alone. The research also highlighted the increase in mobile conversion rates, which reached 1.4% during the first three months of 2012. This conversion rate represents the ratio of customers which go on to make a purchase on their mCommerce devices after visiting the store’s site.

Mobile conversion rates – which represent the proportion of customers who go on to make a purchase after visiting a retail site – reached 1.4 per cent in the first three months of this year, compared to 0.7 per cent in the same period in 2011.

Overall online sales reached a value of £5.8 billion in March 2012, which equates to spending of £114 per person and marks a year-on-year rise of 14 per cent for the e-retail sector.

Industry association IMRG highlighted a number of factors that contributed to the strong performance during the month, including the sunny start to spring, which was linked to a 23% month-on-month increase in clothing sales.

Andy Mulcahy, head of communications at IMRG, said confidence in mobile channels is “obviously growing” but stressed the importance of increasing sales conversion rates.

He also revealed that the expansion of the e-retail market as a whole is in line with the organisation’s forecast for the year.

The Head of Retail and Technology at Capgemini, Chris Webster, also added: “It is very interesting to have the growing significance of m-commerce confirmed and [this] should encourage retailers to factor in mobile devices to their total retail strategy.

“The growth rate is important, but so too is the conversion rate; mobile customer experience must be improved to harness its potential.”

Here at Visualsoft we offer a number of multi-channel services, including eCommerce, mCommerce, Amazon and eBay integration.

For more information on how to get your business online with mCommerce, and get strong conversion rates through best practice techniques, contact us today.

Visualsoft to attend eCommerce Expo Manchester

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:20:58 +0000

Visualsoft is pleased to announce our attendance at the eCommerce Expo and TFM&A Manchester event, which will be held on 30th May 2012 at the prestigious Manchester Central.

eCommerce Expo Manchester is the ideal place to learn about what’s new in the world of eCommerce, gathering the latest information from the industry’s top suppliers and educators. TFM&A Manchester aims to show visitors that creating or enhancing a marketing strategy to complement your online store doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming. The TFM&A education programme showcases the tools and techniques that can revitalise your business or marketing campaign in just one day.

Visualsoft will be sponsoring the eCommerce theatre at the event, which will host a number of eCommerce seminars throughout the day. Included in the schedule will be a 30 minute session on improving conversion, led by Visualsoft’s Business Development Manager Rich Himsworth.

The seminar will include tips and techniques from the team at Visualsoft on how to improve conversion rates on your eCommerce website. With 13 years of experience in designing and developing successful eCommerce stores, as well as first hand

To find out more about the event, or to book tickets to the seminar led by a member of the Visualsoft team, go to www.ecom-manchester.co.uk

Debenhams reports 34% jump in online sales

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:40:40 +0000

A report published this week has revealed that high street department store Debenhams has seen a jump in profits in the past six months, up 1.4% when compared to the same period last year.

Debenhams reported overall profits of £127.1m in the first half of the financial year, and more significantly reported a growth in surge in online sales of 34% throughout this period.

As a result of the surge in online sales, the department store has announced that it will invest into its online platform with an aim to quadruple sales in this channel to over £500million in the medium to long term.

Mobile commerce has also proved to be a huge success for the company, with 20% of online traffic now generated by mobile devices. Debenhams described mCommerce as its “fastest growing channel” and will also be further investing in its mobile strategy to push it out to an international audience.

Debenhams chief executive Michael Sharp said: “It is clearly right to remain cautious about the strength of consumer confidence over the next 12 months given the uncertain economic outlook.”

“Overall we are optimistic about our prospects and believe that we have a clear strategy for growth and to meet our aim of being a leading international, multi‐channel retailer.”

The growth in online sales and profits is a positive move in the right direction for a company which also stated that the past six months had been ‘difficult’ for trading, due to economic weakness in the UK market, which is forecast to only get worse before the end of 2012.

With eCommerce and mCommerce becoming the preferred route to shop for many consumers, its important that businesses utilise best practice etailing for maximum success in a competitive market.

Here at Visualsoft we offer the full eCommerce package for retailers, including website design and development, online marketing services and multi channel retail including mobile commerce. Get in touch today to see how Visualsoft can help your business succeed online.

Visualsoft proud to be supporting local talent

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:20:02 +0000

Visualsoft is very pleased to announce that we will be supporting local talent through Teesside University’s ExpoTees event for the second year running.

Visualsoft is the headline sponsor of the annual event, which aims to showcase a wide range of student projects from the School of Computing. This year the event will be held at the new Darlington Campus which was opened in 2011.

The ExpoTees event is now in its seventh successful year, and this year there’s a variety of projects from students from the university demonstrating innovation, research and development in a wide range of computing subjects – from advanced computer technology to gaming design and development. An awards ceremony will also be taking place which recognises key individuals in a number of categories.

Joanne Noble, Senior Lecturer at the University said ‘It is with great pleasure we can announce the headline sponsor of ExpoTees 2012 is Visualsoft eCommerce. Visualsoft has been attending ExpoTees for some years now and regularly recruit our graduates for it’s expanding eCommerce solutions business. We’re delighted to continue our relationship with such a long standing supporter of ExpoTees.

Visualsoft will be attending the day long event, which takes place on Wednesday 9th May 2012. For more information on the career opportunities available at the moment at Visualsoft, visit www.visualsoft.co.uk/careers

Visualsoft donation raising valuable funds for charity

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:00:26 +0000

At the annual Visualsoft eCommerce workshop and forum event in March, a Who Wants to be a Millionaire style competition took place, which saw the lucky winner pick up an iPad2 courtesy of VS.

The winner of the prize who successfully answered all 12 eCommerce related questions correctly was one of Visualsoft’s partners, Moneybookers, who instantly made the decision to donate the prize back to Visualsoft to give to charity. It was local babies hospice Zoe’s Place who received the gift to raise money for the charity.

Zoe’s Place specialises in offering palliative and respite care for babies and infants from birth to five years old. The charity receives very little Government funding, and mostly relies on the generosity of the public to help raise the £2.5 million a year they need to keep Zoë’s Place open for the many families that need our expert care and support. Visualsoft has continued to support the charity in recent years, with our Director completing the Iron Man in 2011 for the cause, raising £5000 in the process.

Rachael Bareham, community Fundraiser for the charity said ‘We are delighted to have received the iPad 2 from Visualsoft. Although in the past we have had some amazing donations we’ve never had anything like this before so we were very excited when Visualsoft chose Zoe’s Place to be the recipients! We intend to make the most of the donation and therefore have decided to raffle it over the summer period. The lucky winner will no doubt have many hours of enjoyment out of it and in return Zoe’s Place will raise some much needed cash to go towards care for our babies and their families’.

‘We need to raise in excess of £1 million each year just to open the doors at Zoe’s Place; as we receive a very small amount of funding from the Primary Care Trusts and grants we rely on the generosity from members of the public and local businesses in order to keep our hospice open and our babies cared for. We are extremely grateful to Visualsoft for the very generous donation that has allowed us to run our Summer Sizzler competition’.

To find out more about Zoe’s Place, visit the website at www.zoes-place.org.uk, or to buy tickets for the raffle contact the centre on 01642 457985.