Author: George Hari Popescu

In today’s omnichannel landscape, discovery, research and purchase are part of the same process, and as a result the concept of distinct marketing and sales channels has vanished. Retailers, consumer brands and business sellers alike agree that content is essential to delivering an optimal digital experience that both differentiates and translates to sales. In a recent report called “Is Your Platform Ready for the Content & Commerce Collision?”, FitForCommerce begins by saying: On their path to purchase, both consumers and business buyers want to be educated, delighted and inspired, just as they are in stores. Savvy retailers are turning to “storytelling” and content marketing as a way to connect with prospective buyers and make themselves stand out in crowded marketplaces.

According to the Cross-border E-commerce Barometer 2016, inefficient cross-border delivery is constantly in the top three of biggest barriers for online merchants selling cross-border in the EU, says Ecommerce Europe. E-commerce is changing postal and parcel markets. Global e-commerce streams are revolutionizing shopping, but the current parcel streams are not fit to accommodate this. Almost one out of five EU citizens identifies cheaper delivery prices as the main improvement that would encourage more online shopping from sellers located cross-border in the EU. Similarly, more than one third of online merchants view higher costs of cross-border delivery compared to domestic delivery as an obstacle when selling online abroad.

Google has made some significant changes to the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) by rolling out Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for ecommerce. Anything that can increase conversion rates will always be welcome news for retailers, and the improvements in page load speeds that AMP brings will most likely help to achieve this. From now on, Google will display AMP pages in the search results, rather than just in the carousel.