Verio Inc., a provider of online business solutions including hosting, applications and managed services, today announced new eStorefront Web hosting packages to help small and midsize businesses get their online stores up and running quickly with ShopSite shopping cart.
The e-commerce packages from Verio are based on ShopSite 8.3, the latest version of its shopping cart solution, that offers volume-pricing options, product search and customer registration and the ability to customize the way the store looks and works. The ShopSite plans also supports Google Checkout, Visa CISP/PABP validation, PayPal and eBay auctions, as well as Fedex shipping.
The Web-hosting plans also come with online marketing capabilities to help increase and measure site traffic. Ken Maier, director of shared hosting products for Verio, said, "We wanted to cover all three bases, setting up your store, driving traffic to it and then measuring how you're doing. So we included other services, such as Urchin, a powerful reporting tool, that lets you track trends and visitor traffic. We also bundled marketing tools that will help you with search engine optimization, help you generate meta-tags and so on."
Different Plans for Different e-Proprietors Verio's variety of new e-commerce packages caters to varying knowledge levels, online shop sizes and feature requirements. For example, eStorefront Starter was designed with the novice in mind, and is geared toward small businesses just getting started with selling online, while the eStorefront Business solution is aimed at businesses that sell less than 15 products, and offers the ability to turn an existing site into an online store. At the higher-end, eStorefront Developer can handle a wide variety of products, produce detailed sales and traffic statistics and offers many more features.
For those who are already selling online, making the migration to Verio won't be difficult, said Maier. "One thing we realized in talking to our customers is that they often outgrow the first plan or provider they pick, so we made sure that it's easy to move over to our service and also to upgrade as you grow," he said. "We have a lot of experience with e-commerce and a large support staff, we're affordable, we offer the right tools, so people can trust that we'll help them get up and running and be successful."
Verio e-commerce hosting packages are available immediately, with pricing starting at $20.95 per month. More information on Verio e-commerce hosting solutions can be found at this page on Verio's site.
Tell Me About It: Shoppers Want Customer Reviews In other news, the results released today of an opinion poll conducted by Bazaarvoice and Vizu Corp. shows that nearly 80 percent of online shoppers place more trust in brands that offer customer ratings and reviews. Three out of four shoppers stated that it was extremely or very important to read customer reviews before making a purchase, and they prefer peer reviews over expert reviews by a 6-to-1 margin, according to the survey.
"Customer ratings and reviews have moved beyond a site feature to become an important part of brand identity," said Bazaarvoice founder and CEO, Brett Hurt. "In the near future, shoppers will not only have more trust in brands that offer reviews but will actively demand this level of participation in the social commerce experience. This will also lead to powerful insights for brand marketers and merchandisers, and better service and products overall."
Other data appears to backs this up. According to research from Shop.org and MarketingSherpa, usage of ratings and reviews has nearly doubled over the last year.
Meanwhile, the Bazaarvoice and Vizu survey revealed that shoppers consider ratings and reviews to be the most useful e-commerce site feature (44 percent), followed by product comparison (15 percent), product navigation (12 percent) and privacy information (11 percent).
The benchmark survey also polled U.K. consumers on their attitudes toward ratings and reviews. Customer ratings and reviews were important for over 50 percent of online shoppers in the U.K. In contrast to U.S. shoppers, privacy and security information took center stage when making a purchase with over one-third of UK shoppers rating this as the most important site feature. These findings reflect the relatively low number of UK sites offering ratings and reviews compared to those in the U.S., according to the authors of the study.
"Research shows that U.K. consumers actively seek out reviews, and the dependence on customer-created content will increase as UK retailers adopt this strategy," said Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice. "We believe that this change is actively taking place today in the UK market. There is a huge opportunity for UK retailers to increase brand trust and visibility — and sales &3151 through the strategic use of reviews."
Polling for the report was conducted through the Vizu Answers online market research network from May 16, 2007 to June 6, 2007. Multiple votes were restricted, no artificial incentives were employed and a geographic audit was performed to ensure unbiased and valid results.
"Vizu serves the Web 2.0 world with an affordable alternative to traditional market research," said Vizu CEO, Dan Beltramo, in a statement. "Our geographically targeted research project with Bazaarvoice provides one of the first benchmarks on international usage of customer reviews, which are a great resource for marketers looking to add a social component to the online shopping experience."
Mixed Feedback from Consumer Reports Poll In eBay news, ConsumerReports.org recently polled 2,500 subscribers about their experiences with the auction giant. Highlights of the poll, according to the Web site, are as follows:
Almost half of eBay buyers surveyed by the Consumer Reports National Research Center said they'd encountered deceptions. Some sellers took their money and ran, failed to disclose key details about merchandise, or overstated its condition.
Despite their complaints, 70 percent of those surveyed were highly satisfied overall when buying on eBay. About 90 percent of purchases arrived on time, were accurately described, and were a good deal. Nearly half of respondents characterized eBay as an excellent source of hard-to-find items.
Forty percent of survey respondents termed eBay fair or poor for help and customer support.
Most victims of unscrupulous sellers tried to fight back. But of those who tried to settle problems with the seller directly, only 38 percent were successful.
Surf's Up and So Are Sales In other research news, Web surfing seems to be benefiting real-world surfing. A study commissioned by the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association says that surf industry sales swelled from $6.52 billion in 2004 to $7.48 billion in 2006 (an increase of 14.5 percent), due in part to the growth in online sales.
According to SIMA, Internet sales are becoming increasingly important and this trend is expected to significantly impact surf industry growth in the future. In 2004, only 6 percent of sales took place online. In 2006, retailers attributed almost of one-quarter of their sales to online ventures.
"This is a generational issue. The young consumer has grown up with the Internet and it is obviously an integral part of their lives," Dick Baker, president of SIMA, said in a statement. "The big surf brands are in an envious position because we expect surf lifestyle e-commerce to far outpace the online business of traditional apparel very soon."
Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.
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