ShopDiabetes.org Successfully Launches on the OrderDynamics eCommerce Platform

OrderDynamics, Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, announces another successful website migration to their eCommerce SaaS Platform. Over a 5 month period, The American Diabetes Association's flagship eCommerce website was completely redesigned and re-launched on a new technology platform, allowing them to service more customers and attract business away from leading retailers like Amazon.

The new ShopDiabetes.org website is a fun and fast way to shop for diabetes books, gifts, apparel, and other great diabetes products. In addition, shoppers who buy from the official store of The American Diabetes Association help fund important diabetes research, education and advocacy efforts around the country. Last year alone, the Association funded more than $33.5 million for diabetes research.

"We're very excited about the new website and the strong position we're in with the OrderDynamics team" explains Brian Waller, American Diabetes Association's Director of Applications Solutions. "We've come a long way in a short period of time and look forward to growing with the solution" continues Waller. The new eStore features the latest frontend and backend eCommerce tools and best practices such as SEO, Navigation, Promotions, Merchandising, Recommendations, Product Personalization, Content Personalization, Rich Imaging, and more. In addition, ShopDiabetes.org allows shoppers to preview the pages of over 80 Diabetes Books and conveniently place a donation to The American Diabetes Association right from their shopping cart, making donating quick and easy.

"The ShopDiabetes.org project is very special and we're glad to be part of such an important cause" says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. "We look forward to helping the ADA team reach new customers and deliver exciting new products and services on their website".

The new ShopDiabetes.org was visually designed by UXER Design (http://www.uxerdesign.com) and the website went live November 1st 2010 in time for American Diabetes Month.

About The American Diabetes Association
The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight to stop diabetes and its deadly consequences and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, our mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. For more information please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit http://www.diabetes.org.

Happy Holidays From OrderDynamics!

Season’s Greetings,

The team at OrderDynamics would like to thank our Clients, Partners, and Vendors for making 2010 an amazing year! With holiday consumer sales already ahead of estimates, many online merchants will enjoy higher order volumes throughout November and December. As a result, many retailers have recently been reminded how badly they need a new eCommerce platform provider, one that will help them grow and convert traffic while streamlining order management.

Give us a call to discuss upgrading your platform. Contact Us!

This past year, OrderDynamics has made significant investments in our On-Demand eCommerce Platform technology, making it the ideal choice for high-growth B2C and B2B merchants that are being held back by their platform.

In October, OrderDynamics achieved Verified Status with FitForCommerce, being one of the first mid-market platform providers to complete the program which gives retailers confidence in the platforms their evaluating.

Throughout 2010 we've had many successful website launches and the pleasure of working with really great people on exciting new projects. We want to congratulate and thank our Clients for another great year together!

From all of us, we wish you Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,
OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123

P.S. Be sure to visit us at Internet Retailer Web Design Show in February and Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in June.

Group-Buying: Long-Tail Marketing with Big Payback

It seems despite the economic disaster from which the world is struggling to recover there is constantly a plethora of new products and services wriggling their way into the North American market – there are more things to buy, but less money to buy them with. Product developers essentially need to contend for the consumers’ money to get by. So how can today’s merchants compete for exposure without breaking the bank? Apparently, with group-buying – an online trend that is rapidly growing in popularity – this is entirely possible.

Group-buying is a concept originally introduced in China with a site called Tuangou and has popped up in the North American online marketplace this year. With highly successful copycats such as TeamBuy.ca, Groupon.com, and Wagjag.com - to name a few - as well as several other smaller franchises, the concept is spreading like wildfire. How does it work? These dealers are fuelled by a group of up-and-coming companies offering a daily new product bargain at steep discounts in exchange for the site’s promise to rake in plenty of customers – the catch is, you only get the deal if a minimum number of people sign up for it by the end of the day. This leaves the consumers working together and providing cheap, word-of-mouth advertisement. Suddenly a new and unknown brand becomes a little familiar.

Timer and Deal Tracker on Teambuy.ca, similar to those used on group-buying sites.

Aptly nick-named social commerce, group-buying has been racking up the brownie points in Canada through putting itself out on Facebook, Twitter and the like, taking full advantage of the relationships deeply entrenched within these social networks. It’s brilliant, really. Most offers are presented anywhere from 50-90% off – so cheap, it no longer matters that the company offering it is virtually unheard of; and given the current economic climate, treats such as fancy dinners and spa packages are a luxury – one can’t help but spread the word by posting it on their News Feed or sending a little Tweet in hopes that their friends, and friends-of-friends, and maybe even complete strangers catch on and sign up for the deal to make it a ‘go’. It sounds remarkably simple - and borderline viral - but it works.

Groupon.com’s list of daily deals. Group-buying sites often promote a large daily deal, with several smaller ones in the hopes of multiple purchases.

The interesting thing about group-buying is how similarly to traditional online ads it is presented to consumers, yet its virility gives it an extra push. Facebook displays ads along the side panels of its web page and I’m exposed to at least 3 new ones every time I refresh the page. Yet one might share my sentiment in that during the 6 years I’ve been subscribing to Facebook, I can’t ever recall clicking on one of those ads. Why? Well, how do I know that there is any truth to the deal? It may well be a waste of valuable time (it’s depressing for the producer, considering what I imagine the price of ad-space on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and such to be). However, since first being introduced to the concept of group-buying a few months ago, I frequently sign-on to Facebook and notice a posting by friends about some kind of great deal for bedding, jewellery, even cheeseburgers; sometimes, I go so far as to check the website out.

This is where the group-buying model gets it right: they provide a vehicle for relatively small firms with low advertising budgets to acquire highly coveted ad-space on social networking sites without the social networking price. And since this allows the offers to be presented to consumers through their friends rather than by the retailer, the predisposed level of trust leads to an automatic subconscious absorption of the information, rather than unnoticed exposure - if my friend likes it, it must be good, right? Many group-buying sites boast thousands – Groupon.com brags about millions – of dollars worth of savings, allowing them to creep up from “fad” to investment-worthy.

A typical Facebook posting from a group-buying website.

Group-buying is still in its early-stages but has proven to be a medium of advertising worth considering and capitalizing upon. For companies looking for a bigger bang for their buck, this will grow to be a hot commodity as social commerce sites become more prevalent. As Mashable’s Pete Cashmore says, ‘it’s a good idea’, and the success stories speak for themselves.

Melissa Itwar

OrderDynamics Upgrades Embedded SEO Technology for Large Catalog Merchants

OrderDynamics, Canada's Leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider has recently deployed upgrades to its multi-eStore Search Engine Optimization (SEO) system, specifically designed for large catalog merchants to grow organic traffic and avoid duplicate content.

As part of their quarterly feature release strategy, OrderDynamics delivers another important upgrade to its frontend presentation engine to help organically grow traffic to their Client's websites. The recent upgrade extends the capabilities of their already powerful SEO metadata toolset that allow merchants to optimize Product, Category, Brand, and Manufacturer landing pages. The upgrade enables control over all dynamic pages, referred to as Faceted Navigation (sometimes called Guided Navigation) pages and Search Results pages, a major contributor to the cause of duplicate content on eCommerce websites. The OrderDynamics platform now allows point-and-click control over SEO metadata for any URL, even dynamic URLs, including Page Title, Link Title Tag, Meta Keywords, Meta Description, Vanity URL, and Link Canonical tag. OrderDynamics also offers the ability to generate metadata using formulas and a combination of phrases and source data such as product names, descriptions, etc.

"OrderDynamics is squarely focused on helping our Clients grow their business by leveraging the latest traffic building and conversation best practices" explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. "We continue to lead in the area of on-page SEO and we are investing heavily in this area because of the significant benefit it brings to our Clients". The latest upgrade allows merchants to quickly optimize strategic landing pages, instantly improving organic traffic from search engines and reducing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising costs through increased page quality scores.

By enabling control over the Link Canonical Tag, OrderDynamics Clients can avoid duplicate content issues, a hot topic for all online retailers especially large catalog merchants that offer multiple points of navigation like brand, category, and search. In addition, OrderDynamics has provided the ability for keyword rich Product Attributes used in Guided Navigation to be appended to the URL to further optimize pages with no merchant intervention.

OrderDynamics made the feature live in its On-Demand eCommerce Platform in August as part of their Summer 2010 release.