related_results_labels_thumbs({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371662734465550695"},"updated":{"$t":"2010-09-06T01:01:58.094-07:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Retail Ecommerce Blog - Online Retail Marketing | eCommerce SEO Tips by Mobius"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":""},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7371662734465550695/posts/default/-/Ecommerce+DSS?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026max-results\u003d6"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/search/label/Ecommerce%20DSS"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Idris"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08662471303028726341"},"email":{"$t":"idris@mobiusservices.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"2"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"6"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371662734465550695.post-6085772087971847206"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-08T04:09:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-05-08T04:46:54.044-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ecommerce DSS"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"How about an antenna to help you make marketing decisions?"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:100%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:arial;\"\u003eI was busy working for our soon to be launched Microsite and other activities that took away a full 20 days. Thanks to those people who took time to mail me asking about my brief hiatus!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:100%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:arial;\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:arial;\"\u003eLike I mentioned in the \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/2009/04/when-online-retailers-make-decisions.html\"\u003efirst post of this series\u003c/a\u003e, the decision making process in online business is a continuous activity dependent on the interaction with the environment. When interacting with the environment, “retailers are better at transmitting signals than receiving them.” \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:100%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:arial;\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:100%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-family:arial;\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:100%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;\" \u003eSo what are the signals that retailers transmit to the environment?\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan class\u003d\"fullpost\" style\u003d\";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;\"  \u003eUltimately, it’s the products \u0026amp; prices in various names and forms!  And the carriers of these signals are search engines, comparison shopping engines, emails, affiliate channels and others. But that’s not the end of it. \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eA retailer should also receive signals – you can call it market intelligence - from the environment. \u003c/span\u003eRetailers have to use this online market intelligence and make decisions on products, prices and channel strategies to run effective marketing campaigns.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut, do retailers have an antenna at their disposal to receive and interpret relevant market intelligence from the environment?  Understandably, for an offline store, setting up and running such an antenna system would be a costly, time consuming task. But for an online merchant, it is not very difficult.  Some smart thinking and a bit of technology would come in handy to set up an antenna to receive intelligence from each of his marketing channels.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;\"\u003eSo, what signals should that Antenna collect?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dlghruORuhI/SgQXsnxHSUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/aPvdz8bcSO8/s1600-h/blog_image.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 292px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dlghruORuhI/SgQXsnxHSUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/aPvdz8bcSO8/s320/blog_image.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333413914070174018\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWouldn’t it be fantastic if the antenna could pick signals and tell you as to which comparison engine would receive more traffic for your products, calculate and tell you the optimum price to quote for your products, what products are hot in the market, and so on? I am sure, with this antenna, the retailers will be able to make informed marketing decisions.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eWell, wouldn’t it do a world of good to have such an antenna at your disposal?\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ciframe allowtransparency\u003d\"true\" name\u003d\"poll-widget4616890897131053252\" src\u003d\"http://www.google.com/reviews/polls/display/4616890897131053252/blogger_template/run_app?txtclr\u003d%23333333\u0026amp;lnkclr\u003d%23225588\u0026amp;chrtclr\u003d%23225588\u0026amp;font\u003dnormal+normal+100%25+%27Trebuchet+MS%27%2CVerdana%2CArial%2CSans-serif\u0026amp;hideq\u003dtrue\u0026amp;purl\u003dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.retail-ecommerce.com%2F\" style\u003d\"border: medium none ; width: 100%;\" frameborder\u003d\"0\" height\u003d\"140\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7371662734465550695-6085772087971847206?l\u003dwww.retail-ecommerce.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/2009/05/how-about-antenna-to-help-you-make.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7371662734465550695/posts/default/6085772087971847206"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7371662734465550695/posts/default/6085772087971847206"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/2009/05/how-about-antenna-to-help-you-make.html","title":"How about an antenna to help you make marketing decisions?"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Idris"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08662471303028726341"},"email":{"$t":"idris@mobiusservices.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"09682962941223380762"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dlghruORuhI/SgQXsnxHSUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/aPvdz8bcSO8/s72-c/blog_image.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371662734465550695.post-4084644602497639703"},"published":{"$t":"2009-04-15T21:26:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-04-16T02:50:55.911-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ecommerce DSS"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"One Time Decisions and Daily Decisions"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"On my quest to understand the decision making process in the ecommerce environment, i'd be writing a series on \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e\"When Online Retailers Make Decision...\"\u003c/span\u003e and this is the first post in the series. \u003ca href\u003d\"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ecommerceretailblog\"\u003eSubscribe\u003c/a\u003e to this blog to keep track of the forth coming entries.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dlghruORuhI/Sea5XtP_h1I/AAAAAAAAAag/VguMwBPJSk4/s1600-h/decision+making+right+wrong.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 113px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dlghruORuhI/Sea5XtP_h1I/AAAAAAAAAag/VguMwBPJSk4/s320/decision+making+right+wrong.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325147426346993490\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003eBusiness decisions are supposed to be guided by information and experience.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn business, the decision making process is a continuous activity integrated in the interaction with the environment. There is always a consequence to every decision – either POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE - and it’s just a matter of time before you know if you have made the right decision or not.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was trying to figure out how online retailers make the majority of their decisions. Are their decisions backed by relevant information or just plain intuition?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan class\u003d\"fullpost\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eOne time decisions:\u003c/span\u003e Well, there are few areas where online retailers do thorough research before they make a decision – decisions such as selecting the right ecommerce platform or a search marketing agency or shopping cart software. In most of these cases, the retailers have a clear idea about their budget, requirements etc. They usually have enough time to look at a few demos and typically discuss with friends before deciding to go with a particular solution. There are a lot of websites that provide loads of information to guide the retailer to make these type of decisions.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eDaily decisions:\u003c/span\u003e However, there are also areas where retailers don’t do thorough research before making decisions – areas where they need to take decisions on a daily basis. These are the decisions that determine the success of the business in the long run.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRetailers must make daily decisions on the product mix they want to offer, the price they will bid on paid channels, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/2009/03/what-is-your-pricing-strategy-for.html\"\u003ethe prices they set for their products\u003c/a\u003e, the size of the inventory they want to hold and much more. Retailers typically rely on intuition rather than information when they make these crucial decisions. They either don’t have relevant, ready to use information with them or they have too much information that is hard to interpret. Some retailers don’t even have time to look at information before they make these decisions. Even if decisions are based on information, in most of cases, retailers only have historical data in hand, which results in decisions that are based on hindsight analysis!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eInformed decisions:\u003c/span\u003e Imagine that when you log-in to your system every morning, a dashboard displays a list of products that need your attention for that day. These products either require a change in price or a change in channel. Imagine if the same dashboard also gives you intelligent recommendations on the optimum price of the product and the best channel suited to market the product – after analyzing your internal data, market information and knowing your business rules and strategy.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eWell, wouldn’t it do a world of good to your business if you had such a dashboard?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ciframe allowtransparency\u003d'true' frameborder\u003d'0' height\u003d'140' name\u003d'poll-widget-3801607793670410852' src\u003d'http://www.google.com/reviews/polls/display/-3801607793670410852/blogger_template/run_app?txtclr\u003d%23333333\u0026lnkclr\u003d%23225588\u0026chrtclr\u003d%23225588\u0026font\u003dnormal+normal+100%25+%27Trebuchet+MS%27%2CVerdana%2CArial%2CSans-serif\u0026hideq\u003dtrue\u0026purl\u003dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.retail-ecommerce.com%2F' style\u003d'border:none; width:100%;'\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7371662734465550695-4084644602497639703?l\u003dwww.retail-ecommerce.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/2009/04/when-online-retailers-make-decisions.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7371662734465550695/posts/default/4084644602497639703"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7371662734465550695/posts/default/4084644602497639703"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://www.retail-ecommerce.com/2009/04/when-online-retailers-make-decisions.html","title":"One Time Decisions and Daily Decisions"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Idris"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08662471303028726341"},"email":{"$t":"idris@mobiusservices.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"09682962941223380762"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dlghruORuhI/Sea5XtP_h1I/AAAAAAAAAag/VguMwBPJSk4/s72-c/decision+making+right+wrong.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});