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The building is expected to be completed by fall Iden said his business was outgrowing its existing Elgin building. The company also makes its own line of custom ratchet straps and tie down assemblies. Its third-quarter earnings plunged 44 percent, and it cut its forecast, again. Most of the decline is in its mining gear business, where revenue is expected to fall 40 percent.
Until this year, rising commodity prices had fueled a mining boom. Caterpillar has already been shutting factories and cut its workforce by about 13, people and temporarily laid off thousands of salaried workers. It said it also has cut its capital spending plans for the year. At the end of the quarter, it employed , people full time worldwide. Even with the slowdown, it still posted operating profits in each of its units. Besides mining gear, Caterpillar makes construction and forestry equipment and large power generators.
Friday at the UniCarriers Americas facility in Marengo. The forklift operator course provides a way for businesses to comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. The training provides participants with knowledge in powered industrial truck forklift operation and teaches the skills required to operate a lift truck in a correct and professional manner. Trucks covered are Industrial Truck Association Classes 1 through 5. Another class will be held Nov. Participants get a certificate of completion at the end of the course.
To register, call For information on forklift training or other safety programs, contact the MCC Shah Center at or shahcenter mchenry. This column addresses some of the common errors employers make with final pay. For example, if your vacation year runs from Jan. For example, if employees earn a bonus based on profits each quarter and an employee leaves in the middle of the quarter, he or she is entitled to 50 percent of the bonus amount.
It is best to get a promissory note at the time the loan or cash advance is made so collecting after termination is easier. If you allow employees to borrow against future vacation earnings, the money equivalent cannot be deducted from their final paycheck. A better practice is to allow the employee to take the time, but reserve paying for the time until.
Yes, the cost has gone up — but not as much as in the past. Out-of-state prices, as well as the costs to attend public two-year colleges and private institutions rose but they also avoided big spikes, said Sandy Baum, co-author of the report.
These more moderate increases could lessen concern that an annual rapid growth in tuition prices is the new normal. There are grants, tax credits and deductions that help ease the cost of going to college. About twothirds of full-time students get grants, most from the federal government. That means students have to foot more of the bill themselves. The net price is what they actually pay after grants. There were years this decade that saw the net price going down, but it has gone up the last two years.
Her organization represents the presidents of. The College Board is a notfor-profit membership group that promotes college access and owns the SAT exam.
The report spells out the large declines in state appropriations given to public institutions in recent years. These cuts have been blamed for rises in college costs.
Other causes often cited range from the high cost of health care for employees to the demand by students for flashier campus amenities. The Focus, according to Ford, beat the perennial No.
A Polk spokeswoman confirmed that the number provided by Ford was accurate, but declined further comment. If the Focus beats Corolla. The Japanese automaker has said it sold a Corolla hatchback under the Matrix name, and it sells cars that are nearly identical to the Corolla under different names in countries outside the U.
Toyota has contended that if all the other nameplates are added in, the Corolla is the winner. Ford on Wednesday claimed that crown for its Focus compact during the first half of the year, based on registration data gathered by the R. The Dearborn, Mich.
Algonquin Rd. Reach her at or email karlad hrtechniques. You are allowed to ask the employee to sign an authorization at the time the final deduction is made, but former authorizations do not hold at termination, except for loans, education or cash advances.
Employees have the right to receive final pay on the next scheduled company pay date. In those. For years, filmmakers, artists and charities have used the power of the Internet to generate money for projects. But in the coming year, with the blessing of Congress, startups will be allowed to raise money this way by selling stock to smalltime investors.
And critics warn that investment crowdfunding is ripe for fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday took a step to-.
The SEC voted to send the proposal out for public comment. Final rules could be approved next year. Those with higher incomes could invest up to 10 percent. Companies also would be required to provide information to prospective investors about their business plan and financial condition, as well as a list of their officers, directors and those who own at least 20 percent of the company.
Crowdfunding is hardly new. Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have for years helped fund projects through donations raised online. In return, supports can receive a gift, such as a T-shirt or a song named after them.
Or they can simply feel satisfied knowing that they helped a good cause. But under the law enacted last year, businesses would be able to offer investors a piece of the company for the first time. Fundraising over the Internet could be a pathway to getting in early on the next big trend. Experts warn that nearly 55 percent of startups fail within five years. Third-quarter net income rose 12 percent as the company delivered planes to customers at a quicker pace.
It has already sped up the assembly of two of its planes — the and — and on Wednesday announced plans to boost production of its new Dreamliner, too. Boeing raised its profit guid-. South won, But when his shot glanced off the left post, optimism temporarily shifted to fear. Video online Watch highlights of the Crystal Lake South vs. Win or lose. Grabowski cut into a deficit, finishing on a feed from Orlando. And after being outplayed by the second-seeded Trojans for much of the match, the Gators suddenly had new life.
Yes, they can. Cutler is a significantly better quarterback than McCown, and no one is pretending otherwise. Cutler has one of the best arms in the league and a hair trigger to match. Cutler has the kind of gunslinger mentality that leads to magic moments and shattering disappointments. McCown is like a coach on the field. Cutler has franchise quarterback potential, McCown does not. Fortunately, none of that is particularly relevant at the moment. While Cutler was clearly playing the best football of his career when he suffered a severe groin injury Sunday against the Redskins, he was nowhere near achieving his full potential and was still making the occasional big mistake.
There has been dramatic improvement on the offensive line, at tight end and at wide receiver. Louis and Minnesota. But the No. It was a tough loss to take for the Chargers, who put more shots on net than Larkin and had several prime scoring opportunities in the second half. The match was scoreless. This year, as a No. Youel and Wallace had. Six singles players and six doubles teams from the area will compete at state beginning Thursday at sites across the northwest suburbs.
Bum was laid to rest today at a spot that he picked out on his ranch. LuvyaBum — sonofbum Wade Phillips. No explanation was given. Here are some worse options they could pursue: 1. Trade for Brandon Weeden 2. JaMarcus Russell 3. Tim Tebow left. Three losses later, the season feels as empty as what Geraldo found.
Am I depressing you? Am I painting a bleak landscape? I only do it to lift you up again. The good news following the bad: You have the Blackhawks. You have the Bulls. You have the defending Stanley Cup champions.
You have a team that might be in the hunt for an NBA championship this season. And you have You Know Who. Derrick Rose has been lighting it up for the Bulls during the preseason. So, yes, Rose as savior. Deal with the concept. The best spectator sport of all this season might be watching angry, resentful people crawl back to Rose. This is a fantastic opportunity for the Bulls and Hawks to get more notice in the historically dark months of October, November and December.
And January and February, come to think of it. The post-Cup hangover of occurred because salary-cap issues led to a roster bloodletting. This time, there was much less turnover. Fans have every right to believe the Hawks will pick up where they left off. Oh, there will be challenges.
As many as 14 Hawks might compete for their countries in February, though 10 is a. Will there be any fallout from that? Will there be injuries? Will NHL contenders with fewer Olympic players benefit from the rest?
Of course, you recall. A nice problem to have. While the Cubs try to hire a manager and the Sox wonder whether theirs is the right man for the job, the Bulls and Hawks have oak trees for coaches. The Bulls have some issues, too. The Bulls are going to have to find other people besides Rose who can score, something they struggled to do two years ago. Can everybody survive the season? Can Rose? Those are scary questions, but life could be a lot worse. You could have mediocre Bulls and Hawks teams, a sinking Bears product and the specter of more bad baseball on the North Side and lingering doubts on the South Side.
Write to him at rmorrissey suntimes. To get it done, on both sides of the city, wow, that would be special. Especially for me because I live there all. I want to go back to managing. His tumultuous relationship with then general manager Ken Williams was well documented, but Guillen says it was only personal and not baseball-related. He said he appreciated Williams after he left the Sox and went to manage the Marlins, who fired him after one season in when the backlash caused by his praise of Fidel Castro caught up to him.
Honesty is the best thing. A lot of people thought Kenny and I fought but we never fight about the ballclub. Maybe some personal stuff, but about the ballclub we never did. We were professional about it. A lot of things happened in Miami , I wish Kenny was there to handle the stuff the way it should be handled.
But it depends what they want. The St. Mike Napoli hit a three-run double right after the umps reversed a blown call, Jon Lester made an early lead stand up and the Red Sox romped past sloppy St. Louis, , Wednesday night for their ninth straight Series win. The Red Sox also capitalized on two errors by shortstop Pete Kozma to extend a.
Next Game 2: St. Louis Wacha at Boston Lackey , p. Thursday, Fox Series winning streak that began when they swept St. Louis in Boston never trailed at any point in those four games and, thanks to this embarrassing display by the Cardinals, coasted on a rollicking night at Fenway Park.
It got so bad for St. Serious-minded St. The six-man crew correctly ruled that Kozma had not caught a soft toss from second baseman Matt Carpenter on a slow grounder by Ortiz.
A season before Major League Baseball employs full replay, fans got to see a wrong get righted. The normally slick-fielding Cardinals looked sloppy at every turn. The Cardinal Way? More like no way. Two days after Meriweather was told he would miss time for repeated violations of player safety rules, hearing officer Ted Cottrell reduced the punishment to one game.
Meriweather was flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit when tackling receiver Alshon Jeffery on a yard completion with about two minutes left in the third quarter. He also was penalized for a helmet-first hit on Brandon Marshall in the end zone on an incomplete pass with a little more than four minutes remaining in the game. Jumpers from just beyond the free-throw line, followed by baseline dunk after baseline dunk. But coach Tom Thibodeau crushed any hope that Noah might be ready for the regular-season opener on the road against the Miami Heat on Tuesday.
It [stinks]. A little groin injury, I have to be smart. I want to be out there as soon as I can. All Hinrich could do was jog on the court. Thibodeau said. Hinrich was hoping to get back on the court for the last exhibition Friday against the Denver Nuggets, but even that appeared doubtful. Notes: Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late, and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Bulls over the Thunder. The Bulls remained the only unbeaten team in the preseason behind Rose, who hit three 3-pointers in the final 4 minutes.
He scored 26 points on 6-of shooting in 34 minutes. Luol Deng had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls. Write to him at jcowley suntimes. North won, While their win two weeks ago against Woodstock made the Thunder confident they could replicate their performance Wednesday in the Class 2A regional semifinal, the stakes this time were completely different. We want it. In the second half I thought we were going to get back in it.
Goalkeeping was kind of an issue tonight. Freshman forward Edder Tapia finished off the scoring on a cross from Chris Niese. They believe in themselves. Youel and Wallace know there are potentially lower seeded and even unseeded teams with the potential to knock them off. They should know: They were not seeded last year and beat two seeded teams at state.
Gators coach Don Nead said it was deserved. Laktash and Rasmussen were this season, with two of those losses coming against Youel and Wallace at the FVC and sectional tournaments.
Laktash will be making her third trip to state in doubles, the previous two with South grad Rachel Siemon. Rasmussen will be playing at state for the first time. Their goal was simply to make it. As the parent turned and walked away, Reddish, then also a varsity assistant, smiled. Even at the lowest levels, undefeated volleyball seasons in the FVC are rare. Once girls start playing at the varsity level, parity takes over and unblemished records become anomalies.
But after tasting that success to start their high school tenures, outsides Krissy Pratt and Kassi Dvoracek, libero Annie Fox, setter Sydney Nelson, middle Rachael Schoepke and right side Maddy Cysewski refused to settle.
Two Central seniors — middle hitter Lauren Leverenz and setter Natalie Ricca — were playing on varsity when their classmates went undefeated as sophomores. Still, Leverenz and Ricca had an impressive run. Central has not lost a division match since. They wanted to be just like outside hitter Carly Hayes, middle blocker Kathryn Chrystal, right side hitter Rachael Thornquist, setter Kelly Farrell and libero.
Paige Economos. The Tigers came to matches decked out in Central gear, leaning over on the bleachers and cheering. This group has a knack for making things easier for one another. It is the first time since the crosstown rivals have met, so South is one team this Tigers squad never has played, much less beaten. Six minutes in, senior Niko Mihalopoulos headed a cross from Jack Bessey across the 6-yard box to Gonzalez, who found the lower corner.
Just one minute passed be-. Bessey scored his second in the 27th minute, when he finished off a low cross from David Pardo, and Gonzalez scored seven minutes later when he gathered a clearance and finished to the lower corner. Mihalopoulos scored a pair of goals before the end of the half off through balls from Matthew Kitsis and Gonzalez, and Amir Dajani scored off a cross from Michael Zembrzuski. We know our strengths, weaknesses, we know each other like brothers.
We look sharper now. Paul Novacovici scored a goal and had an assist for Hampshire, and Jose Cruz added an assist. The loss for Harvard ended a season in. Ali Frantti led the way for R-B, recording 17 kills, seven digs and three aces.
Kelsey Burlini had 22 assists and nine digs, and Jenna Mazur added 11 digs in the win. Blue Division play, , Marian was led by Frankie Taylor with 11 kills and Hannah Davis with six kills and two blocks. Alexa Agoranos won every event she participated in, including the meter freestyle relay, free and free for Jacobs. Nicole Sanchez won the 50 freestyle Great meals go with the great outdoors Deer are on the prowl, and upland game and waterfowl are in the air.
Fall hunting seasons provide ample opportunities to put dinners on the table. I find it hard to eat as early in the morning as you need to before hitting the woods for whitetail. My vehicle does have plenty of edibles stashed for post-hunt energy replenishment. You might not guess it from looking at me, but I can do without food for a few hours. Post-hunt meals at a hunt club have been memorable on many occasions. Waterfowl hunting is a different matter.
Many pit blinds are equipped with gas grills to prepare a hearty breakfast for the shooters. A complete bacon, eggs, taters and toast breakfast accompanied by steaming cauldrons of hot java is often available in the goose pit.
Most goose and duck hunters have their pockets stuffed with two things: extra shells and various sausages, jerkies and fire sticks. Speaking of grilling, some ice fishing outings are more similar to on-water banquets than they are to fishing trips.
An ice fishing smorgasbord can kick butt over a football tailgate meal any day of the week. The most traditional of all outdoors meals is the shore lunch. The art of preparing a shore lunch of batter-fried fish, potatoes and beans is a skill that any fishing guide has to master early in his career. I once went on a guided muskie trip on the Flambeau River. We had three guides, three fishermen and three custom-made float boats to go down the moving water.
My jaw dropped when the guides started the wood fire and put a can of Crisco in a giant pan. It was. Of course, meals on the way to or from an outdoor adventure are usually memorable, too. Great meals are part of outdoor life. Everyone is catching stripers and crappie. Get in on the action before the season is over.
Our last day will be Nov. Small fathead minnows or spikes work best tipped on a Mini-Mite jig. Crappies continue to be active under piers, along lake shorelines, or in channels. Small fatheads or spikes tipped on a chartreuse or white Mini-Mite jig are working well.
Use large crank baits, golden roaches or large suckers. Rapala or Storm medium-size crank baits or Flicker Shads are working extremely well.
We landed 12 fish out of 18 hook-ups. We got some nice kings and lakers. It was a great trip with great folks to cap off a fine season. Preliminary harvest through the same period last year was 14, Oshie on Oct. He remembers getting blindsided into the boards. He remembers his head getting crunched into the wall. He remembers his helmet nearly popping off.
He remembers the bump on his forehead and the bruises on his ear. And he remembers being caught off-guard. All in a one-week span. But are players. Hopefully it stops. Injuries can happen.
Hawks agitator Andrew Shaw does most of his work along the boards, where the most dangerous hits usually occur. You want to ride him into the boards rather than put him in that vulnerable state. And while everyone likes a big, bone-crunching hit, nobody wants to see any more players carried off the ice. On Saturday in Mount Pleasant, Mich. Carey said the defense is starting to come into its own. We need to keep improving those detailed small things [going] forward.
In six out of its seven games this season, NIU has given up fewer points in the second half. The Huskies give up an average of only 8. Last week, NIU made the right adjustments again, and Central Michigan had only three second-half points.
D-C played at a fast place, which created a lopsided margin in shot opportunities, , by the end of regulation. Gerardo Escorza nearly gave the Chargers the lead as the final seconds ticked away in the first overtime but launched a shot just over the crossbar from 10 feet out. Similarly, Larkin had a nearly dupli-. The key, as both keepers. Belvidere Regional Friday, Oct. Jacobs Ogaban, Sia, Tokarz, Cash Huntley Hill, Burgos, Siefken, Smitendorf Agoranos J Cazel H Terlecki J Marchi J Burgos H Sia J Jameson J Ferguson H Sanchez J Smitendorf H Padal H Finn H Erickson J Hill H Cash J Siefken H Jacobs Erickson, Jameson, Terlecki, Agoranos Huntley Smitendorf, Ferguson, Blanken, Cazel Huntley Quezada, Machen, Eiermann, Finn Tokarz J Kriegler H Jacobs Erickson, Agoranos, Terlecki, Sanchez Huntley Cazel, Ferguson, Padal, Hill Streamwood Regional Saturday, Oct.
Volleyball: FVC Crossovers, p. Garcia, G. Best-of-7; x-if necessary Boston 1, St. Louis 0 Wednesday: Boston 8, St. Louis 1 Thursday: St. Saturday: Boston Buchholz or Peavy at St.
Louis Kelly , p. Sunday: Boston Peavy or Buchholz at St. Louis Lynn , p. Louis, p. Louis at Boston, p. NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie.
Montreal at Toronto FC, 3 p. FC Dallas at San Jose, p. Portland at Chivas USA, p. Houston at D. United, p. New England at Columbus, 3 p. Colorado at Vancouver, 7 p. Los Angeles at Seattle FC, 9 p.
Minnesota at Detroit, p. Houston at San Antonio, 7 p. Portland at Golden State, p. Totals Chicago Oklahoma City. Marian Central Regional Saturday, Oct. Fouled Out-None. Total Fouls-Chicago 22, Oklahoma City Technicals-Chicago delay of game, Chicago defensive three second.
A, 15, Giants 1 6 0. Louis 3 4 0. Jets 4 3 0. Giants at Philadelphia, noon San Francisco vs. Jacksonville at London, noon Pittsburgh at Oakland, p. Jets at Cincinnati, p. Atlanta at Arizona, p. Washington at Denver, p. Green Bay at Minnesota, p. Quarterbacks Att Com Yds 71 Rushers Att Yds L. Peterson, MIN A. Morris, WAS 91 D. Martin, TAM D. Williams, CAR D. Murray, DAL 91 Re. Bush, DET 98 Receivers No Yds B. Marshall, Bears 46 D. Bryant, DAL 42 Ju. Jackson, PHL 37 J.
Graham, NOR 37 V. Punters No A. Lee, SNF 39 S. Harris, DAL 13 Tate, SEA 19 Johnson, PHL 10 79 7. Patterson, MIN Dw. Bryant, DAL Ve. Davis, SNF J. Graham, NOR Cal. Johnson, DET A. Peterson, MIN B. Quarterbacks Att Com Yds P. Manning, DEN P. Smith, KAN Receivers No Yds A. Johnson, HOU 48 An. Gates, SND 42 De. Thomas, DEN 41 Ke. Wright, TEN 40 Brown, PIT 9 74 8. Adams, OAK 8 59 7.
Demps, KAN 9 Martin, HOU 21 Jones, PIT 10 Reed, IND 11 Tate, CIN 13 Gates, NYJ 9 Green, CIN F. Jackson, BUF De. Tucker, BAL D. Saturday No. Tennessee, p. State, p. Penn State, 7 p. Wake Forest, 11 a. FAU, p. Furman, 6 p. Vanderbilt, a. Duke, p. UConn, 11 a. Eastern Michigan, p. Rangers 7 2 5 0 4 11 Philadelphia 8 1 7 0 2 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
San Jose at Boston, 6 p. Vancouver at New Jersey, 6 p. Rangers at Philadelphia, 6 p. Anaheim at Montreal, p. Winnipeg at Nashville, 7 p.
Carolina at Minnesota, 7 p. Calgary at Dallas, p. Washington at Edmonton, p. Phoenix at Los Angeles, p. Islanders at Pittsburgh, 6 p. Toronto at Columbus, 6 p. Anaheim at Ottawa, p. Buffalo at Florida, p.
Vancouver at St. Louis, 7 p. Carolina at Colorado, 8 p. NOTE: Two points are awarded for a win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss. Tottenham, at Tiraspol, Moldova, FS1 2 p.
Gallen at Valencia, FS1. Site: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Schedule: Thursday-Sunday. TV: Golf Channel Wednesday, 10 p. Bo Van Pelt and Robert Garrigus were a stroke back. Tiger Woods tied for fourth. Last week: Webb Simpson won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas for his fourth tour title, shooting for a six-stroke victory.
Van Pelt won the tournament. Online: www. Site: Martinsville, Va. Schedule: Friday, practice Fox Sports 1, noon p. ESPN, p. Track: Martinsville Speedway oval, 0. Race distance: miles, laps. Last year: Jimmie Johnson raced to the fourth of his five victories. Last week: Jamie McMurray won at Talladega in a race that ended under caution after rookie Austin Dillon lost control on the final lap.
Fast facts: The race is the seventh in the event Chase. Five-time series champion Johnson leads the standings, four points ahead of Matt Kenseth. Johnson won the April race at the track and leads active drivers with eight Martinsville victories.
Rushers Att Yds J. Charles, KAN A. Foster, HOU R. Jackson, BUF 86 C. Johnson, TEN B. Fields, MIA M. Colquitt, DEN. Ryan, ATL A. Wilson, SEA M. Stafford, DET C. Bailey, DAL P. Site: Shanghai. Notes: The tournament opens the four-event Final Series. Jack Nicklaus designed the course. Schedule: Friday, practice FS1, a. FS1, Noon p. Race distance: Last year: Sprint Cup driver Denny Hamlin raced to his second series victory, both at the track. Last week: Johnny Sauter won for the third time this season, escaping a huge crash on the final turn at Talladega.
Matt Crafton leads the standings, 57 points ahead of Ty Dillon. James Buescher is third, 58 points back. Sauter won the April race at the track.
Site: Las Vegas. Last year: Ron Capps won the Funny Car event. Bob Vandergriff Jr. Last event: John Force won in Mohnton, Pa.
The year-old Force has two straight victories and three this season to push his record career total to The top 10 in each class qualified for the playoffs. Force has a point lead over Matt Hagan. Langdon leads the Top Fuel standings, 83 points ahead of Doug Kalitta. Smith leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings. Site: Yang Mei, Taiwan.
Course: Sunrise Golf and Country Club 6, yards, par Pettersen has three victories this year. She tied for third last week in South Korea. Michelle Wie also is coming off a third-place tie last week. The tour is off next week. The five-event Asian swing will end Nov. Schedule: Friday-Sunday. TV: Golf Channel Friday, p.
Last year: David Frost beat Bernhard Langer with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff. Last week: Michael Allen won the Greater Hickory Classic for his second Champions Tour victory of the year, beating Olin Browne with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff.
Fred Couples won in , shooting for a seven-stroke victory. The former University of Houston player missed the event last year because of a back injury. NBC Sports Network, a. Track: Buddh International Circuit road course, 3. The U. Grand Prix is Nov. Michigan at Rutgers 7 61 Houston at N. Carolina 7 58 Boston Coll. Clemson 14 60 at Maryland at Va. Virginia Michigan St. Alabama 2 52 at Texas St.
Carolina Oklahoma St. Florida at Bowl. Green 4 56 Toledo at Ohio St. Diego St. Colorado St. Signed DT Sealver Siliga to the practice squad.
Released CB Travis Howard from the practice squad. Re-signed LB Darin Drakeford to the practice squad. Released RB Miguel Maysonet from the practice squad. Waived DT Christo Bilukidi. Placed QB Sam Bradford on injured reserve.
Released OL Brandon Washington. Released LB Jonathan Stewart from the practice squad. Was Jay Cutler on your list? How about Lance Briggs? Charles Tillman, anyone? You could make a strong argument for including Brandon Marshall or Matt Forte in the top three, but Cutler, Briggs and Tillman belong in the top five no matter what. Now, the Bears must find a way to keep their season afloat without Cutler and Briggs for at least the next month and with Tillman battling a nagging knee injury.
Maybe veteran backup quarterback Josh McCown can help the Bears weather the storm, but history suggests otherwise. The Bears are without Cutler since , and that was back in the days when the team had a defense that was able to tackle.
Chain Catalog Web Manufacturer For most merchants the single biggest priority is purchasing a better e-commerce platform, followed by making a bigger investment in mobile commerce and social media. The survey results, which include a response from 70 web-only merchants, 15 chain retailers, 14 catalog companies and 14 consumer brand manufacturers, reveal that a new e-commerce platform is the top spending priority for Respondents could choose more than one answer.
Where retailers are going to spend the most money next year is on those tools and programs that make it easier and faster for consumers to shop, research and make a purchase from their smartphone or tablet, and share the experience with their family and friends on Facebook and elsewhere, says Walker.
Theres a sense of urgency on the part of many retailers that mobile and social technologies are www. E-Commerce Technology Spending What is your primary business? Chain retailer Catalog Web-only merchant Consumer brand manufacturer What is the size of your annual e-commerce budget? Check all that apply Attract new customers Generate more sales from repeat customers Generate more web trafc Increase conversion rate Increase ticket size By what amount will you increase your spending?
Less than 6 months 6 months to 1 year 1 year to 2 years More than 2 years No plans to replace What type of e-commerce platform are you planning to deploy? Internal design and implementation Move to e-commerce platform hosted by a vendor, managed in-house Move to e-commerce platform hosted and managed by a vendor Off-the-shelf application from a vendor Software-as-a-service from a vendor Will you increase your spending on e-commerce technology and services next year?
Yes No Will you invest in mobile commerce, either in-house or via a vendor, in ? Yes No How much will you invest in mobile commerce in ? What are the main challenges you face implementing better e-commerce technology?
Check all that apply Lack of funds Not enough experienced staff Too many older systems to integrate Getting managements consensus with too many options to choose among Other By what amount will you decrease spending? To keep pace with their customers, merchants tell us they have to keep investing in better technology.
Which of these e-commerce applications do you expect to add or replace in the next 12 months? For Market America Inc. The online retailers biggest priority is migrating to a universal e-commerce platform that features more than 30 million products, faster site search, an enhanced shopping cart that lets consumers purchase merchandise from participating retailers directly on the Shop.
When work on the fully integrated platform is complete sometime in the rst quarter of , Market America shoppers also will be able to use their customer loyalty perks to make purchases on Shop. Internet Retailer How many e-commerce technology workers will you add? What are your top technology hiring priorities? Which of these e-commerce services do you expect to add or replace in the next 12 months? Check all that apply E-mail marketing Site design Afliate marketing management Social media Search engine marketing management Web site performance monitoring Payments processor Web hosting Security certication Fulllment How big is your current full-time e-commerce technology staff?
Our vendors perform all services www. Who is the top e-commerce technology decision maker in your company? What is the annual sales range of your online retail business? Market America wont be adding any new applications to its updated e-commerce platformMarket America acquired Shop. With a better e-commerce infrastructure in place, Market Americas next e-commerce spending priorities are to add on mobile commerce and expand further into social media.
When the platform is fully operational our shoppers will be able to shop both MarketAmerica. But in order to completely integrate Shop.
Were looking to add at least a dozen people, says Brady. Great expectations Which of these e-commerce applications do you expect to add or replace in the next 12 months? Help wanted Hiring more e-commerce employees is a budgeting priority for other online retailers as well.
The survey, which Internet Retailer conducted in October with readers of its IRNewsLink newsletter and in conjunction with marketing and survey technology provider Vovici Corp.
Of those, Most online retailers taking part in the survey operate their e-commerce program with a small sta But regardless of their size most web merchants are looking to hire specialists, especially programmers. The top e-commerce decisionmaker at But hiring more seasoned e-commerce professionals or bringing in talented newcomers that can be trained on the job is just one item on a big list of technology spending decisions the top e-retailing manager will make in E-commerce executives will also be deciding how best to expand mobile commerce, fully integrate their e-commerce infrastructure and deploy a new platform.
The survey nds With online retail sales expected to once again grow by double digits in and more consumers permanently shifting a bigger portion of their shopping from stores and catalogs to online, web merchants will be ramping up their spending on better e-commerce systems and services for at least the foreseeable future, says Michael Griswold, a research vice president and e-commerce technology analyst with Gartner Inc. The pace of e-commerce technology development will do nothing but accelerate going forward and the retailers that want to keep bringing the best customers to their e-commerce, mobile and social media sites will keep on investing in better systems, says Griswold.
For retailers that keep on making timely and well thought out decisions about future investments in their e-commerce infrastructure, better technology will give them a big competitive advantage. These days its more likely to be the latter, as retailers seek to make sense of data streaming in from e-commerce sites, bricks-and-mortar stores, contact centers, e-mail, mobile devices and social networks.
Its one of the toughest jobs in retailing, but if done well it can produce big rewards by attracting customers ready to buy whats oered them. The key to success, says David Zucker, chief marketing ocer of trendy ash-sale retailer Gilt Groupe Inc.
Take on too much data, too soon, and merchants and marketers can get overwhelmed. Getting acclimated with data is step one, Zucker says.
Otherwise, peoples eyes glaze over and their heads explode. Merchandising people who arent accustomed to looking www. As Gilt and other retailers and analytics experts have learned, however, the tools and services for accessing and using analytics data are becoming both more sophisticated and easier to use.
One of the challenges I had for years as a retailer was managing the massive amount of data about customers from web analytics, call centers, e-mail marketing, and our own segmentation of customers, says Eric Tobias, a former co-owner of Batteries. It was dicult to bring all that information together and get a single view of a customer.
To be sure, accessing and using multiple sources of customer data remains a signicant challenge for many retailers. But today, Tobias and others say, new technology and more sophisticated outside services make it more possible for retailers to gather and use data from multiple data sources. With the right mix of technology and expertise, retailers of dierent types and sizes are nding they Internet Retailer Rosetta Stone also has found that it can improve conversion rates and sales by placing more videos as well as customer testimonials on other pages of its web site.
And its gleaned some surprising insights about how its customers shop and respond to online content. The data shows, for example, that of-sale systems along with online data to get a singular, cross-channel look at customers to build more eective online content, says Tobias of iGoDigital, which compiles multichannel shopping data for hhgregg to support its e-commerce strategy.
Web site analytics alone wasnt really providing the necessary insight to properly merchandise products on the web site, he says. So we worked with them to get a more singular view of customers across channels. IGoDigitals software uses a unique identier for each tracked customer, usually an e-mail address the customer provides when making an online or oine purchase. By combining data on daily store sales with web browsing data, hhgregg learned, for example, how some customers purchased TVs or other items in stores, including the specic model and the price, after having researched similar products on hhgregg.
Knowing which price points and model a customer nally purchased in the store, he adds, has enabled the retailer to sharpen its online merchandising to capture more sales online, Tobias says. Rosetta Stone lifts conversions One retailer taking advantage of updated analytics software is Rosetta Stone Inc. Using the Online Marketing Suite, which makes use of the analytics technology that Adobe acquired in when it bought Omniture Inc.
We have tracking for each marketing channel, so we know where people came from, and we know which groups of visitors were recent demo takers versus which were purchasers, Li says. Thats important, he adds, because Rosetta Stone can then respond with the marketing oers shown to be most eective with each customer segment.
Rosetta Stone has learned, for example, that visitors to RosettaStone. Conversion rates are a lot better if we send the e-mail after they view a demo, Li says. To build on that kind of customer activity, the company now places prominently on the lead page for each language an 18 Internet Retailer.
David Zucker, chief marketing ofcer, Gilt Groupe Inc. Gilt reaches out shoppers reviewing materials for one foreign language will often switch to another language program if presented with content about it, helping to reduce cart abandonment. When shoppers search for a German program, then see an oer for French as well as German, they may switch to French, Li says. Analytics data can be especially powerful when it comes from more than one sales channel, such as bricks-and-mortar stores and a retailers web site.
Multichannel retailer hhgregg Inc. Women tend to buy stu for men, but we were under-performing, says Zucker, the chief marketing ocer.
To turn that around, Gilt worked with customer analytics data compiled by Mu Sigma, the retailers analytics service provider, to build predictive models of women shoppers most likely to respond to pitches for mens products. Mu Sigma combined such data as demographic proles of women known to purchase mens products www. Mu Sigma then helped to identify segments of shoppers most likely to respond to particular promotions.
Women within certain age and income ranges, and from particular areas of the United States, for example, might be more likely than other women to shop for gifts such as mens cuinks. Zucker adds that Gilt also knew from web site analytics data that many women shoppers do their impulse buying at noonwhich turned out to be a good time to present them with oers for mens products. Giacomazzi relies on constant and real-time updates of online shopping activity on her site that she can view through an analytics dashboard from Spring Metrics, a company that caters to small retailers.
In addition to showing which Internet search terms visitors may have used to arrive at CastCoverz. She can also see a visitors geographic location. It shows how much time spent on each page, and how the visitor went to sections on Legs, Boots, and About Us, but not to Arms.
By combining that kind of specic visitor information with broader aggregated visitor data, including conversion rates and sales, she says, CastCoverz learns about consumer interest in product mixes, and demand from dierent regions of the country. By monitoring how many visitors click the About Us section, she learns how many visitors want to know more about the company as well as its products.
The retailer also gathers customers e-mail addresses when they check out with Google Checkout, the only payment method oered on its site. That helps it track customers repeat activity. And it learns through social media and other communications with customers that many come back repeatedly to buy cast covers as gifts, such as when a friend or someone in their sons or daughters local high school suers a sports injury. By combining such information with Spring Metrics data on how visitors arrive at its site and shop for products, CastCoverz can more eectively promote product combinations on its site and through targeted marketing campaigns, Giacomazzi says.
For example, it may promote packages of products likely to sell in certain regions and during particular seasons, such as decorative and waterproof leg-cast covers promoted in winter e-mails to customers in northern areas, a customer segment that orders leg cast covers more often than consumers who live in less icy climes.
Its all about selling to customers when theyre ready to buy, Giacomazzi says. Thats what analytics can help retailers do, if theyve got the technology and expertise to bring their data to heel.
CastCoverz, a small web-only retailer that sells decorative and waterproof covers for medical casts placed on broken arms and legs, has learned from its analytics applications that what it had thought of as a tiny niche is bigger than expected, and that consumers shop for these products in unanticipated ways.
When building this business I had expected it to be a lot of onetime sales, and that I wouldnt have a lot of repeat customersbut I was wrong, says Annette Giacomazzi, who launched CastCoverz. Analytics, she says, has enabled her to build customers interest in a variety of products and generate repeat orders, she says. Annette Giacomazzi, owner, CastCoverz: Its all about selling to customers when theyre ready to buy. The dashboard, which she pulls up on her computer screen daily, also continually updates the number of visitors to the site and sales conversion rates.
I can watch all this in real time, Giacomazzi says. Giacomazzi reads o details of a recent site visit: From Stamford, Conn. Each year, the barriers to enter the e-commerce marketplace for vendors gets signicantly lower and, therefore, so does the technology barrier to entry for retailers. There are more vendors with more applications that are easier to use, cheaper to implement and contain more functionality than even 18 months ago.
Open source software has become increasingly popular for smaller retailers. And while there is a tendency to think that open source means free, that is not the case. Nor is open source going to be an end-to-end solution to technology challenges. But open source does provide retailers with comprehensive and cost-eective options.
The challenge with open source is to be sure you either have the programming skills in-house or you choose a developer or systems integrator that can do the job. The prevalence of Software-asa-Service and cloud, or network, applications can lower or defray 20 Internet Retailer. Many options exist for retailers who want to go big by taking advantage of the capabilities of other storefronts, shopping channels or dropshippers. Not actually owning the software or hardware is now viewed as increasingly acceptable and less risky, from senior managements perspective.
It may even be viewed as the more desirable option. Online merchants today seldom need to develop, buy or host the software, especially since almost every e-commerce technology, including complex back-end systems, can now be obtained as SaaS. More and more, smaller retailers are looking for end-to-end e-commerce systems. They are viewing their business more holistically and often, more as multichannel. The more frontto-back functionality that an application can provide, the easier the integration and, usually, the more cost-eective.
For example, e-commerce platforms with order management system capabilities are becoming standard requirements. In other cases, retailers are looking for vendors that oer technology, fulllment and customer service in one.
The market drives innovation Since the number and variety of e-commerce and multichannel businesses is also expanding, more vendors are innovating and www. Our numbers speak for themselves. Ai is committed to transactional intelligence. That means planning, designing and developing ecommerce solutions that deliver big results.
Visit us online to learn more: www. One could always sell anything online, of course. But now, more vendors have tools for retailers of specialty verticals such as subscriptions and continuity programs, sharing, and others. E-commerces rapid growth and increasing importance to the bottom line are making it cost-eective for vendors to include more and more features and functionality in their out of the box applications, making these applications available to smaller retailers within their price range.
As the needs of the big players become the norm, they become standards for smaller merchants, and that demand allows for vendors to invest in turning those features into commodities. Many aordable applications now contain the tools a small or medium-size retailer needs, right out of the boxsuch as search engine optimization capabilities, advanced search, guided navigation and rich imaging.
Also available is functionality that includes more robust merchandising, promotions, and basic personalization, account management, order management and improved reporting. Even better, retailers are taking advantage of out-of-the-box integrations with popular third-party vendors from marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay to social sites like Facebook to tools such as analytics and ratings and reviews.
Exploring other alternatives Many options exist for retailers who want to go big by taking advantage of the capabilities of other storefronts, shopping channels or dropshippers.
Amazon and eBay have always been available as partners for smaller merchants. If auction sites are losing their popularity, there are more online shopping malls for retailers of all types and sizes. The dierence in the costs of doing it yourself vs. Many retailers now work with dropshippers, rather than purchasing inventory and fullling orders themselves.
This gives them more product options and requires less of an investment, in part because there are no warehousing costs or pick, pack and ship sta needed. Of course, the downside is you lose control. Finding the right partner is imperative. Having an international presence is more accessible to smaller merchants now. Before, they were limited to using the postal service.
Now, as shipping internationally becomes more common, there are vendors that enable retailers to ship without having to know and deal with all the rules of international shipping, or deal with internal technical integrations. Today, there is a good deal of competitive intelligence that was www. You cant afford to have your hardwon business collapse if your webmaster gets hit by a bus. Cross-train, communicate, dene your standard operating proceduresand have a Plan B in case Plan A zzles.
Know your competition. Dont necessarily compare yourself against Target or Saks. Find the other smaller merchants that would appeal to your customer. Dene your voice. Having a voice is an smaller merchant advantage. Dont let it go to waste. Look at Woot or ThinkGeek. They arent small and independent anymore, but their personalities shine throughout their site. They take a conversational tone in product descriptions, FAQs and e-mails. This can help create a loyal following.
Find your niche. You cant be all things to all customers. If youre selling T-shirts, curate your products to reect your image. If youre selling home goods, sell the ones that map to your customer base. Turn small into an advantage. Take advantage of accessible technology; react quickly to changes in the marketplace. Focus on your business needs before your technology.
While very important in achieving your goals, dont put the technology cart before the business horse until you know what you need. Best in class might be more than you need. Be realistic when assessing your needs and your limitations, and nd an application that ts where you are now and where you want to be over the next few years. Tempting as it may seem, dont necessarily go for a Cadillac application when a Ford will do the trick. Keep it simple. Dont over-design or over-engineer.
Prepare for reasonable contingencies but dont try to prepare for everything. Complicated systems are hard to implement and hard to maintain. Things change at the speed of light. A year plan will be useless in three years, unless the plan for year two is: reassess the year plan. Plan your multichannel needs for three years out. Then revisit. Multichannel success requires people, not just technology. Technology is a necessary tool but it is only as good as the people using it.
Be sure that you are continuously evaluating, developing and enhancing your team. There is a wealthor maybe a delugeof information available to anyone who bothers to look for it, and a lot of it is free. Whitepapers, webinars, articles on the Internet, along with tradeshows and conferences, all provide the data and knowledge to everyone, regardless of the size of their company. Government web sites, such as the U. E-commerce marketplace data-gathering companies such as Hitwise, comScore and Google Trends can provide insightful information, enabling merchants to compare themselves against companies in their vertical and those that are of comparable size.
The key to real success is translating all that data into actions that match your business strategy. They understand how to buy keywords on Google and do so with abandon. SEO is more of a challenge, which requires the comprehensive and ongoing eort to embed keywords into all aspects of the web site. Some of this is a technology issue, some of it is having the right people and right number of them to do the work, analyze the results, test and repeat.
Also, smaller merchants tend not to focus on customer retention and increasing the average order value. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to people who are jacks of all trades but masters of none.
Basic skills can take a merchant part of the way down the road to success but more expertise is needed to take reach the destination. Customer service is a critical function that is hard to do well. Its costly and most smaller merchants cant aord the comprehensive, high-quality customer service that a larger competitor can.
For example, Bed Bath and Beyond will send a return authorization with every order; Newegg will do so for selected orders those with high return rates ; most smaller retailers cannot aord to do either. Sometimes, the desire to squeeze every dollar out of a sale and to give the minimum amount back results in unfortunate policies that smaller merchants could avoid, including charging a restocking fee and forcing customers to go to the manufacturer with a return after 15 days.
These can hurt customer retention. Performing customer service inhouse provides the opportunity to have a more personalized service, to keep a stores personality, and to better resolve any issues based of sta expertise. Also, it is a great opportunity to up-sell. But handling returns makes it more dicult, logistically. Live chat is becoming increasingly popular with smaller merchants but most of the bigger retailers seem to shy away from it. Perhaps they have invested so much in an eective customer service function that they dont feel live chat is a worthwhile or necessary tool.
Live chat is a helpful tool, but can be expensive if deployed across the whole site and can be annoying to shoppers if it is too intrusive. Create appropriate rules that will initiate chat if a customer is abandoning their cart or they are stuck in Internet Retailer Challenges for the smaller merchants So, while new, cheaper technologies are providing advantages to the smaller merchants that didnt exist previously, there are still challenges.
The sophistication of online shoppers results in their expectation of the same quality user experience, regardless on the size of the merchant. After all, the beauty and the curse of the web is that a small business can appear to be a big one. Therefore, the customer will not accept a sub-par shopping experience, from the usability and design of the site to the ease and reliability of delivery.
Smaller retailers understand the importance of customer acquisition and spend a lot of money on search www. They worry more about getting the rst customer and compete on price for that customer and dont focus on creating loyal customers. Often, they dont maximize their use of e-mail marketing, which is a very costeective tool with high ROI.
Improving loyalty can be laborintensive and smaller merchants often dont have people with the bandwidth or perhaps skills for this. More eective merchandising, appropriate upsells and cross-sells, promotional strategies, database segmentation, the right e-mail marketing, analysis of demographics, and how to market to them all require honed skills.
Smaller merchants often have employees. And give the customer the option to initiate chat at any time. Insight into inventory is another challenge for most smaller merchants. Their real-time knowledge of their inventory can range from non-existent to not optimal. The smaller the business, the harder it is to have current information on inventory, and often it is a manual process.
This is not only an ordering problem but it almost always becomes a customer service problem. Often, the main problem is lack of communication between the front end and the back end. Another potentially daunting aspect of e-commerce for a smaller merchant is the increasingly complex legal environment of doing business on the web.
Dierent states not to mention dierent countries For example, its quick and easy to leverage social media. Sometimes, smaller merchants can do this better than large companies because they are not so restricted in determining their voice. There is no corporate image to contend with, no large committee of stakeholders to approve every action and no legal department to sign o.
The CEO can just decide and do. Technology, security and legality Smaller merchants also tend not to pay enough attention to their current technologywhether homegrown or purchased. By not keeping up with technology developments and upgrades, merchants systems quickly achieve legacy status, leading to bigger technology investments in the future in order to compete with their peers.
A common failure for smaller merchants is scalability. While their technology can handle their business most of the year without incident, any sudden spike Christmas, the Oprah eect can render their system inoperable and often unable to quickly recover. Another danger of using dated technology is not being up to date with security.
Unfortunately, hackers and viruses are up to date, so its imperative that small online merchants provide the same quality of security as any big company. While big companies have certainly had their own security problems, they understand that it is their responsibility to address security.
Sometimes, smaller merchant businesses do not focus on it as much as they should. Often, security tools are included 24 Internet Retailer. By their nature smaller and more nimble merchants can react more quickly to new trends in the e-commerce world. What is PCI-compliance? How to handle customs issues? In some ways, it is even tougher for the smaller merchants because they dont have legal and tax departments dedicated to guring all this out to their best advantage.
Smaller merchants also can get mobile quickly. From mobile marketing to a mobile app to a mobile web site, there are quick and relatively inexpensive options for getting in the game and competing with the big stores. There also is strength in numbers and retailers can join forces with other smaller companies.
There are sites like Etsy that create a common marketplace for companies with niche products. And there are aliate marketing programs that can help you expand your reach for a fee. Other marketplaces for getting products to the consumers include Amazon and Buy. Given all these options, the temptation might be for an smaller merchant to overestimate the opportunity and the revenue potential of e-commerce growth, and to underestimate the amount of preparation, work and money required.
It is important for you to understand what your strategy is, dene your objectives, determine your requirements and create your plan. Then execute. The advantages of being small Given the availability of stateof-the-art technology, it does not take that much for someone with ambition and an idea to create a viable e-commerce business.
Many providers have tools that enable small retailers to get an e-commerce site up in days, making it hard for shoppers to tell if a merchant is a mom-and-pop business or a bigger player. All were built for success by americaneagle. And in recent years, as Internet connections have gotten faster, and more online activities compete for their time and attention, their expectations for a smooth and speedy experience on your web site have grown.
Yet to compete for their mindshare and loyaltyand their dollars youve taken steps to make your web. But all of this comes at a price it slows down your web site. And that can have serious implications. Also, when your site suers latency, or page-loading delays, due to the number of marketing campaign tags, it can cause friction with your information technology department, which is often charged with improving your sites performance.
They point the nger at you for causing all the slow-downs, and you get frustrated by their inability to make improvements.
Maybe theyve even gone so far as to set limits on what campaigns you can. Youve probably also implemented a number of online campaigns to increase awareness of your brand and deliver a more personalized experience.
And with each of those campaigns comes 26 Internet Retailer. Furthermore, Google factors web site speed into its ranking algorithm, so a slow-loading site will suer lower ranking in web searches. The reasons most site owners and marketers havent taken adequate measures may include a decit of time and resources, and budget constraints that prevent them from purchasing tools and technologies.
A general lack of understanding about what corrective measures to take is also a contributor. If the scenario above sounds at all familiar, then keep reading.
This article is intended to shed some light on how to address latency, by oering advice on how best to measure site performance and providing some practical steps you can take to improve the speed of your site.
If so, you can work with your web designer to overcome some of those problems. How about dierent connection speeds? Does a signicant portion of your customers live in areas where high-speed broadband connectivity is still limited? If so you might want to tailor your site to themunless they represent only a small portion of your customer base.
Where your visitors are. Are your visitors in your backyard, or across the country? Or even overseas? You should use testing services that will show site performance for various access nodes and paths, so you can tell if your site performs well for local trac but is quite a bit slower for trac coming from other, far-o places.
This might indicate that you need to have platform servers in other locations to accommodate those visitors. Peak and off-peak trafc times. What are the variations in trac load that your site can accommodate, and when are you more likely to see peak trac numbers? If you can pinpoint certain times of day, or even specic dates when trac volumes spike, you can enact temporary adjustments to improve performance during those times while keeping your site intact during other, less busy periods.
Look beyond the home page. Dierent features and functionalities will load on dierent pages of your site, so dont assume that the way your home page loads is a good representation of your whole site. You need to evaluate dierent pages separately, and consider any applications that might be slowing particular pages down, such as user reviews on product pages or too many images on search results pages. Evaluate whether tags are slowing down your site. You can determine if third-party tags, used by external www.
Where to look for performance issues In order to accurately measure page load speedand determine the right xthere are a variety of factors to consider: Server-side vs. You can address the server side by adding more servers or using acceleration technologies, but you dont have a lot of control over client-side issues. For example,. This is not recommended as a permanent x because of the loss of tracking data, but it can show you if tags are contributing to site latency.
For example, one of our clients thirdparty tags were aected by Hurricane Irene this past summer, and they saw their web site speed up considerably when they were forced to turn the tags o. There are providers that can evaluate the amount of time tags take to load; and tools that simulate a slow-loading tag, which will give you an idea of the potential drag on your sites performance.
As youre evaluating the areas outlined above, its important to remember that you should never look solely at performance averagesa mistake people often make.
If you only consider average performance you may have a false perception that your site performs just ne, and you can miss out on determining the real problems. As an example from work conducted by web analytics consultancy Semphonic, a look at Site As page transmission speeds shows that the average was 1, Kbps kilobits per secondwhich isnt too bad compared to its competitor sites, which ranged from Kbps to 2, Kbps.
Yet a closer look at Site As site statistics shows that the maximum transmission speed was 1,, and the minimum was 31 Kbps. This is a pretty big variationand the worst-case scenario is quite a bit slower than the average.
So look at the full picture, not just the average. How to strike that balance will differ for every retail site. There are ways to improve performance without sacricing the experience, but its important to rst look at the trade-os people are currently making between functionality and the negative impacts of slow page loads.
When tags are removed, marketers have no idea how well their campaigns are performing and what contribution theyre making to an actual purchase. Before you jump the gun and remove all the third-party tags from your site, strip your product pages of compelling images or add a bunch of servers where they may not be needed, consider the following ve options, which might give you the performance boost you need now.
Optimize page code. This was the number one response people gave on our survey for how theyre addressing latency. Optimizing page code, or shrinking the Javascript, involves merging the separate sets of instructions that tell the page what to do. It stands to reason that downloading lots of small scripts takes longer than downloading one large script.
Marketing professionals might have some trepidation, given that this is in the domain of the I. But quick xes can be done, even by those with limited programming knowledge. All that needs to be done is to open the Javascript les and copy and paste them all into one le. If this sounds a bit daunting, there are a number of online resources that provide an easy guide to merging les dynamically, such as Smarty.
Address site functionality. Site performance will vary from page to page, depending on what applications and functionalities you havesuch as site search, shopping cart, check-out, live chat, etc. This can be particularly true if you rely on hosted solutions. For example, Internet Retailer Measuring latency: Four steps to acceleration So, given all thats been discussed above, how can you go about speeding up your site beyond some of the simple tweaks you might already have made?
Theres no simple, black and white answerthe most www. Respondents also identied the key steps theyve taken to improve site performance, including optimizing page code, improving performance monitoring and reducing page weight. There are many ways marketers currently address page load speed, all of which are eective, except the idea of reducing or removing thirdparty tagsa common misperception.
Or, as was the case with one company, perhaps the additions to your installed internal search database grew by volumes over recent years, to a point that it dramatically limited performancein which case, a clean-up of the database would likely speed up performance. Reduce the weight of social media apps. Social media plug-ins, while increasingly popular for their potential viral impact, have recently been identied as a contributor to site latency.
For example, in a study we did in conjunction with Catchpoint, we determined by looking at a number of sites that Facebooks Like plug-in stalls page load time by approximately 0. Optimize third-party tags. Every online marketing application or campaign includes a tiny piece of tracking codeor tagthat sits on your site.
There are tags for display ads, paid search, SEO, retargeting, e-mail marketing, aliates, site analytics and more. Each individual tag can take up to one quarter of a second to load. Our research shows that the average e-commerce web site has more than 20 dierent tags, many on the same page.
Most e-commerce sites incorporate ve to seven tags per page. As marketers invest more in online marketing, their growing 30 Internet Retailer. As previously mentioned, many marketers address this problem by signicantly reducing, or even removing altogether, the tags on their site. One major U. When you take a comprehensive view of your sites performance you can easily nd areas for improvement without having to take drastic measures.
However, the downside to removing the tags was that the retailer gave up the ability to track their customers marketing activities, which resulted in an incalculable loss of customer data. Thats a very dicult trade-o, and one most marketers dont want to make. A better approach to third-party tags is to optimize themsomething you can achieve through use of more sophisticated tag management systems which put all tags in one container, so theyre more easily implemented and managed.
There are several ways to optimize your tags. For example, you can congure your tag management system to perform parallel tag loading, which loads all tags in parallel rather than in sequential order, where slower loading tags can hold up the rest, thus reducing the total time necessary for the page to complete.
You can also set limits so that any tags exceeding a certain amount of time to load can be timed out, and set your system so that only tags. Finally, you should make sure any old tags that are no longer in use are removed from your site. Often, tags get put on a site and are then forgotten, and the accumulation of them can drag down performance. Start at the top. When it comes to how your pages should load, always work your way from. Taking this approach with all the properties on your site including images, content and even tagsdemonstrates to your visitors that you value their time and enables them to get started with their shopping experience right away, rather than waiting for items to load that theyre not even readily able to see.
When you take a comprehensive view of your sites performance and how its measured, you can easily nd areas for improvement without having to take drastic measures that compromise usability and campaign tracking.
Whatever you do, be sure to test your sites performance regularly so youre better able to determine when problems arise, and how to address them. Doing so will ensure that you deliver the smooth, streamlined experience your customers expect, and will help strengthen your brand reputation, improve search engine rankings, reduce site abandonment and lead to more purchases.
Monitoring 36 Content Management. As an agency of record, the company can negotiate signicant discounts from multiple advertising channels. Aliate Tractions program managers develop campaigns, creative materials and relationships with publishers and networks. Real-time updates help web retailers programs become viral through social media.
The company attracts and engages aliates through newsletter communications. The company accepts web retailers with a functioning web store with good conversion rates, a technically sound platform and a dedicated program manager.
Commission Junction E. Montecito St. Operating one of the worlds largest aliate networks, Commission Junction provides aliate services, including network access, relationship management, program management, pay-per-call, product catalog, creative services and agency services, as well as tracking and media services. The company partners with agencies to develop and manage performance marketing programs for their clients.
Aliate marketing services include outsourced program management, lead generation, prospect e-mail, search engine marketing, Facebook advertising, targeted display and creative services. Pricing options are performance-based.
Its tracking methodologies feature post-back tracking, or cookie-less, server-to-server tracking for situations where typical cookies are not available, such as the European Union.
It also feature thirdparty server-to-server tracking that allows aliates and publishers to piggyback and add their pixels to a campaign using the aliate interface. Epic Media Group Seventh Ave. Its Epic Marketplace network enables brands and advertisers to leverage social media, mobile advertising, premium display targeting, video and rich media. In , Epic Marketplace migrated to a new cross-channel ad serving platform that seamlessly integrates all Epic Marketplaces distribution channels.
The platform has an enhanced attribution analytics engine. Dillon, CTO. The Inuvo platform uses behavioral targeting technology to analyze and predict fraud, rate individual publisher and advertiser trac quality, and provide targeted oer recommendations to its users. The site oers an e-book to help clients new to aliate marketing learn the basics. Topics include important aliate marketing terms, key steps to a successful launch and how to communicate with aliates. LinkShare Park Ave. Clients can tailor LinkShares products to their needs using LinkShare Complete to let the company manage their entire aliate marketing channel or LinkShare Exchange to use the companys technology to manage their own program.
MTPX allows the companys partners to create and deploy pay-for-performance marketing campaigns. MTPXs proprietary algorithms optimize based on performance by serving ads with the highest probability to convert.
Clicks are priced and routed based on real-time bids and click quality metrics. GECOM is an aliate agency for outsourced aliate marketing management and aliate marketing program services. The agency takes a customized, comprehensive approach to each program it manages.
Full outsourced management services include recruitment, activation, optimization, reporting, communication, strategy, design and launch or re-launch, brand name protection, terms and conditions development, program rules enforcement, conict resolution and relationship building. NetX W. The Aliate Benchmarks study for advertisersthe third such study conducted by its research divisiondiscusses aliates experiences with dierent types of ad performance, site visitor demographics, technology and communication preferences, reasons for joining an aliate program, experiences with emerging technology and other issues.
Main St. Tools include Pepperjam Chat, enabling publishers and merchants to communicate; Pepperjam Recruit, allowing merchants to research and partner with aliates that best t their vertical; and Pepperjam Creative Reporting Tool, which helps merchants and publishers to optimize inventory and test multiple creative links. The companys integrated package of Internet marketing services includes usability optimization to convert web site visitors into sales, and a combination of aliate marketing, organic and sponsored search marketing to drive more qualied trac to retailers sites.
ProtRank oers pay-for-performance pricing, so web retailers pay only when products or services are sold. Schaaf-PartnerCentric Congress Ave.
In , Schaaf Consulting acquired PartnerCentric, which had launched in The company works with coupon and content aliates, as well as paid search and comparison shopping engine aliates. It also recruits and activates new or emerging aliates, detects and reverses the eects of fraud and keeps it merchants informed of aliate channel trends. ShareASale 15 W. The company oers aliate program guidance and consulting options.
ShareASale helps build the foundation for an aliate program, from initial recruiting to uploading product data feed. The company will also review a retailers aliate program and nd areas for improvement.
ShareASale will provide a list of high-potential aliate recruits selected for the retailers niche. Fort Ave. The zanox network generates more than transactions per minute. Services include aliate program and campaign set-up, account management, selection of relevant publishers, payment and billing service, and quality assurance of publisher trac. Research coverage includes business intelligence, communications, customer management, enterprise applications, nancial management, global supply management, human capital management, IT infrastructure, IT security, manufacturing, product innovation and engineering, retail and banking, service management and supply chain management.
Accenture Ltd. Campbell, Group Chief Executive, Technology. The rms research helps clients enter new markets, increase revenue in existing markets, improve operational performance and deliver their products and services more eectively and eciently. Accenture also oers business transformation outsourcing. The rm provides programs in subscription-based lifestyle services and personal protection, points program management and insurance for more than 5, marketing partners worldwide.
Altman Dedicated Direct Academy St. The company helps online retailers meet a range of challenges, including merchandising, development strategy and planning, new product development, catalog and web merchandising planning, and brand identity programs. Altman oers consulting in the areas of strategy and assessment, merchandising and product development, promotion planning and execution, and customer relationship management.
Kingston, MA B2Cpartners. The rm assists web retailers with business planning, vendor scorecards, delivery management and professional stang. Petersburg, FL CatalinaMarketing. It uses transaction-level insight to help retailers and others develop customized, measurable campaigns to acquire, maximize and retain their most valuable consumers. Catalinas in-store network consists of 50, food, drug and mass merchant locations worldwide, including 26, locations in the U. It has operations in the U.
The company oers expertise in merchandise management in such areas as forecasting and merchandise classication structures. The company designs fully integrated marketing strategies with syndicated and custom applications in online audience measurement, e-commerce, advertising, search, video and mobile.
The companys clients develop and sell consumer goods across multiple channels of distribution, including e-commerce, retail, catalog and wholesale. Areas of expertise include multichannel integration, change management, product innovation and lifecycle management, process and productivity improvement, customer relationship management, software, inventory optimization, and store and e-commerce applications. Conversys Inc. Conversys proprietary software and digital toolboxe-mail, social media, mobile and shelf talkershelp web retailers leverage their print publications into online publications through the companys advanced digital publishing application.
It then distributes those assets across multiple awareness channels and segments key audiences, while rening reach. Crandall Associates Inc. Online, interactive marketing and social media positions have become an increasingly large portion of its practice.
Areas of expertise include digital, database, online, social media, interactive, directresponse TV, e-commerce, multichannel, direct response, customer relationship management and e-marketing. Crandall Associates recruits for B2B direct marketing corporations and advertising agencies. Deloitte consultants work with web retailing clients to evaluate and resolve complex issues. The rm provides regular industry insights and analysis on a variety of topics, such as surviving retail globalization.
Services include interactive web development and content management, integrated e-commerce, enterprise application development, and targeted e-marketing services. Interactive web development services include an enterprise content management system, customized electronic customer relationship management platforms, corporate intranets and extranets, corporate dashboards and custom software applications. The agency specializes in contingency-based manager, director, vice president, senior vice president, chief executive ocers, chief nancial ocers, chief information ocers and similar executive searches for transactional multichannel e-commerce.
Clients include adidas and The Body Shop. Altgeld St. Chicago, IL e-tailing. Analyst Lynn Pregont, Partner Afliate. The e-tailing group creates voice of the merchant marketing initiatives for web retailers and others, incorporating proprietary consumer research and merchant outreach.
This includes briefs, white papers and webinars. Experian Hitwise Park Ave. Hitwise measures 25 million web users worldwide, including 10 million in the U. Products and services include Clickstream, custom data and analytics, demographics, lifestyle, rankings and search intelligence.
Clickstream reports on where trac comes from and goes to for a specic web site. Services focus on warehouse management systems; order management systems services; warehousing and distribution; contact center services and benchmarking; forecasting and inventory management; strategic, operational and nancial planning; merger and acquisition services; and freight analysis.
The company also hosts benchmarking share groups and executive forums. First Annapolis Consulting Inc. The rm oers strategic and tactical advice to nancial institutions and service providers in the retail, travel, entertainment and anity group segments. First Annapolis partners with software and service vendors, including Salesforce. FitForCommerce 40 Highland Ave.
Fosina Marketing Group Kenosia Ave. Oerings include e-mail, banner site placement, two-step lead generation and co-registration, landing pages, web site design and e-commerce optimization, and ad and aliate networks management. The agency provides the necessary data services to support retailers legally required opt-out databases. Management Eugene A. Gartner media products help web retailers and others increase response rates, generate leads and strengthen their brand, while its custom newsletter programs reach decision makers with co-branded electronic newsletters that feature objective Gartner research and the retailers messages.
Gartners monthly audio program helps clients stay up-to-date on key issues. Glenbrook Partners Alma St. The rm oers an international e-commerce payment assessment that helps web retailers learn about markets in countries in North America, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and Latin America. Topics include market size and demographics, and current and emerging online payment methods.
Williams Group Ltd. Hubbard St. Williams Group, a global retail consulting company, oers services in strategic planning, branding, multichannel merchandising, research, technology and real estate.
Practice specialties include: strategy and concept development; market research; branding and marketing; multichannel and e-commerce; merchandise management and pricing; operations and productivity; human capital management; real estate and shopping centers; legal services; and urban marketing collaboration.
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