OrderDynamics to Exhibit at IRWD 2013 Feb 11-13

OrderDynamics is getting set to exhibit once again at the 2013 Internet Retailer Web Design & Usability Conference in Orlando, Florida from February 11-13.

The IRWD 2013 Conference, as always, will focus on how online retailers can design and create engaging ecommerce websites to support their brand identity and deliver an enhanced customer experience. This year’s Conference features sessions discussing usability challenges, optimizing conversion paths, mobile and global ecommerce design strategies, redesign testing, user experience, and more. The Show’s pre-conference day encompasses a full-day Web Design Workshop, and - for the first time ever - a full SEO Day to address optimizing ecommerce sites according to current search engine changes, integrating SEO into your design strategy and new SEO best practices. 

The OrderDynamics Team is looking forward to listening to insights from industry experts from Miles Kimball, Perry Ellis International, Crate & Barrel, Sephora and OrderDynamics client Sam Barnes, Director of eCommerce of Laura Canada. Mr. Barnes will host a session entitled ‘Creating Your Design Dream Team: Making Sure All Voices are Heard’, and will cover insights and strategies, plus which roles/team members should have final say on site design and usability.

OrderDynamics is proud to be exhibiting amongst a great roster of retailers and solutions providers, including OrderDynamics partners SLI Systems, Avalara, AddShoppers and more. The Team hopes to engage with partners, prospects and clients during what is sure to be another great Show by Internet Retailer.

Visit the OrderDynamics team at booth 505, and check back after IRWD 2013 for the Show Recap.

OrderDynamics Clients Enjoy 55% More Sales in 2012 Holiday Season While Far Exceeding Industry Average

JANUARY 25, 2013 – TORONTO, ON – The 2012 holiday season indicated very different purchasing behaviours than seen in previous years, with sales spiking on Cyber Monday at $1.98 billion, but tapering off thereafter, according to Adobe’s Digital Index. Despite 10 days throughout November and December that surpassed $1 billion in sales, MasterCard Spending Pulse reported that total US holiday retail sales showed a meager 0.7% growth over 2011.

In spite of lower than expected holiday sales and the fear of economic uneasiness that came with tragedies such as the Newtown Shooting and Hurricane Sandy, and the 17% of shoppers who said the Fiscal Cliff bill affected their purchase behaviour in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, OrderDynamics clients once again generated significantly higher sales and growth rates than industry averages. In November and December 2012, the OrderDynamics platform processed 47% more orders and generated 55% more revenue over the same time in 2011, compared to comScore’s report of a 15% increase in total online sales year over year for the holiday season.

Sixty-one percent of OrderDynamics orders came from clients launched on their eCommerce platform prior to 2012, generating 27% more orders and revenue compared to last year. The remaining 39% of orders were generated by the new eCommerce sites launched in 2012, encompassing 38.8% of total holiday revenue for OrderDynamics clients in 2012.

The company credits the scalability of its cloud-based platform as a key factor in their clients’ impressive holiday growth, absorbing extreme traffic surges and order spikes throughout demanding retail seasons. In addition, OrderDynamics’ dedicated Account Managers stay abreast with industry and consumer trends, and actively work with clients to identify areas where they can leverage the broad OrderDynamics toolset to optimize eCommerce strategies and execution. This season, incentivized shopping tools and shopping cart recovery features within the OrderDynamics platform and its OD H.I.V.E™ Ecosystem - a network with more than 100 pre-built integrations of third party tools - allowed retailers to re-capture the sales and increase average order sizes.

"The OrderDynamics eCommerce platform and integrated Order Management System are cloud-based solutions which help our clients get to market faster while also taking advantage of the new features and functionality we're continuously adding," said Michael Benadiba, CEO at OrderDynamics. "As a result, our clients can focus on innovation and creating best of breed online shopping experiences to maximize sales during peak seasons."

Additional Canada and Boxing Day Trends
For Canadian retailers, the holiday season showed promising results, and stronger eCommerce growth than in the US. MasterCard’s Spending Pulse reported Canadian eCommerce spending was up 26% in December, far overshadowing the 12.6% increase seen in US online sales. Contributing to 6.6% of total retail sales for December, Canadian online shoppers showed significant growth in confidence in shopping on eCommerce websites. Total Canadian retail sales showed a 1.6% increase over December 2011.

“ECommerce in Canada is growing at a rapid rate and its pace is expected to continue over the next few years,” continued Mr. Benadiba. “Canadians are known to be extremely savvy web users, and Canadian retailers are responding to consumers by delivering sophisticated online shopping experiences and outstanding promotions. It’s a very exciting time for Canada’s retail industry,” Mr. Benadiba concluded.

OrderDynamics Monthly Google Updates Report – January 2013

After a few months of heavy changes across Google Platforms, December showed fewer changes and some useful improvements to Search, AdWords and Analytics to help improve the user experience with Google.

Google Search

Changes to Google Search in December were heavily focused on multi-language queries, and those related to simplifying travel plans.

On December 4, Google updated Knowledge Graph to support multi-language searches in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian and Italian. This would enable queries in these languages to display same-language search results rather than that based on their search location (for example, an Italian search in Canada would yield both English and Italian results instead of just English results). Knowledge Graph was also optimized later in the month to display a Carousel with information and activities within a searched travel destination.

A day later, Google announced the redesign of Quick Answers search, which instantly displays at the top of SERPs information relevant to travel such as currency exchange rates, time difference, and the ability to check flight status by simply searching terms like “Euro exchange rate”, “time in country x” or the flight/airline number.  Later on December 19, Flight Explorer was launched to help plan vacations by displaying flight times and fares to multiple destinations on several dates, allowing users to plan extended trips across multiple stops. Flight Explorer also enables users to calculate total cost of a trip by including baggage fees, WiFi-enabled flights and price differences across seating classes; this function is available for flights to any destination that originate in Canada and the US.

The Hotel Finder feature also became more localized in France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy and the UK that would display price, availability and Zagat rating.

Google tweeted on December 21 that they had rolled out the 23^rd update to Google Panda. The Update was estimated to affect 1.3% of English search queries, compared to 0.8% impact with the November Update. Some search engine optimization experts were surprised that there was an update at all in December when such changes could affect online retailers during the height of the holiday retail season.

Google Adwords

In December, Adwords introduced an additional column to the search term report that would display which keywords trigger an ad to show up when searched. This allows Adwords users to easily identify keywords that should be used to trigger their campaigns, queries that maybe irrelevant to the ad but trigger it anyway, and how counter-keywords can be used to prevent certain irrelevant terms from triggering an ad unnecessarily. 

Various updates to Double Click Search were launched on December 18:

• Offline conversions event API
• With this API, Adwords users can automatically upload conversions from in-store transactions and call centre orders, and edit conversions to account for returns, credits or fraud.
• Google Analytics website data
• This feature works with the recent Google Analytics Integration with the Adwords platform to help understand how click-throughs from search affect how customers interact with a website.
• Formula Columns
• These additional columns can be added to display customized data based on calculations preset by the Adwords user.
• Web Query
• This provides a URL that allows report data to be refreshed and downloaded to Excel so that reports do not need to be manually imported and downloaded.

Google Analytics

On December 6, Google Analytics updated Tag Manager, which was launched in October to provide built-in tag templates that automatically input the tag into a webpage’s code rather than having to copy and paste it manually. The update saw the introduction of new Vendor Tags to integrate solutions from various technology vendors for measurement in Analytics. The following Vendor Tags are currently available, with more to be added later:

• comScore Unified Digital Measurement Tag
• Turn Conversion Tracking & Data Collection Tags
• Media6Degrees Universal Tag
• Bizo Business Data Insight Tag
• Neustar Ad Advisor Tag

OrderDynamics featured in Dx3 Canada’s Guide to eCommerce in Canada

Dx3, Canada’s biggest Digital and Retail Trade Show, hosts a blog entitled the Dx3 Digest which focuses on all things pertaining to digital retailing, advertising and marketing in Canada. In a Guide to eCommerce in Canada, Dx3 is covering key tenets and best practices for setting up an eCommerce website to accommodate the growing online and multichannel retail market in Canada. For their Development Platform section they recently featured insight from OrderDynamics® President, Michael Turcsanyi.

As a basis for building an eCommerce business in Canada, the feature discusses the importance of eCommerce as Canadian retail evolves, and common misconceptions and challenges in eCommerce. Dx3 asks Michael Turcsanyi to explain the role OrderDynamics plays in the Canadian eCommerce and multichannel retail environment, and how the OrderDynamics Platform and Team address the needs of businesses entering and growing in eCommerce.

Mr. Turcsanyi explains how patience, a dynamic toolset for order management, fulfillment and marketing, and a bulletproof plan can help retailers build an online business that is equipped to keep stride with Canadian eCommerce as it continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Read the full feature here.

OrderDynamics is Heading to the NRF BIG Show 2013!

OrderDynamics® is heading to the NRF’s 102^nd Annual Convention & EXPO, better known as Retail’s BIG Show. The EXPO will take place next week, January 13-15 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Last year, the BIG Show attracted over 25,500 attendees, and this year is expected to be even bigger with over 500 exhibitors and sponsors, including major companies such as Google, Walmart, Walgreens, Starbuck, Mango and many others.

 OrderDynamics is looking forward to engaging with clients, prospects and partners, as well as attending valuable speaking sessions by retail experts and professionals on mobile and digital retail, marketing and brand management, merchandising, IT, global expansion, the future of retail and more.

The Coca-Cola Happiness Lounge will be an excellent, casual networking opportunity for NRF Members, in which OrderDynamics hopes to connect and gain valuable insight from fellow attendees.

For more information on the BIG Show, visit NRF.com. Check back after the show for OrderDynamics’ Recap.

Internet Retailer on OrderDynamics and Selecting an eCommerce Platform

Internet Retailer magazine kicks off the New Year with a special feature on top priorities for e-retailers including social media and selecting the right e-commerce platform.

The January issue of Internet Retailer presents the social media formula that can yield the best sales and marketing results for e-retailers. Social media has been identified as a key factor in online marketing for some time, however, the question of how to do so effectively has still remained.  In this issue, Internet Retailer outlines the social media initiatives of the top 3 e-retailers listed in the Internet Retailer Top 500, and how they have efficiently utilized aggressive social media campaigns to generate revenue and boost traffic.

Also in the January issue is a feature on how e-retailers can ensure they select the right eCommerce platform for their business goals. One of OrderDynamics®’ newest clients, Laura Canada, was highlighted in the article, crediting OrderDynamics H.I.V.E.™ integrations as a major selling point of the SaaS-based platform. A key factor in selecting the OrderDynamics Platform - as stated by Laura Canada’s eCommerce Director, Sam Barnes – was the integration with Canada Post, enabling fulfillment capabilities such as Real-Time Rate Lookup, Real-Time Order Tracking, Ship-to-Post-Office, and Generate Return Label.

According to Mr. Barnes, OrderDynamics was the right choice because the Platform is built on functionalities and capabilities that were vital in facilitating the online customer experience Laura Canada wanted to provide, a consideration that John Kinsella of FitForCommerce says is imperative when selecting a vendor to power an online storefront. Kinsella states that while individual goals may differ, all online retailers must evaluate eCommerce platforms based on functional abilities, and vendor support and relations.  Other points to consider are whether the Platform provider addresses mobile, product content, and social media as well as whether it provides centralized multi-channel capabilities for retailers whose business is also based on a physical storefront, key items that are present in the OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform.

Read the full article here.

Pile of Pillows Makes Their eCommerce Debut with OrderDynamics

OrderDynamics would like to congratulate Pile of Pillows on the launch of their eCommerce site on the OrderDynamics On-Demand Commerce Platform.

Pile of Pillows offers high quality, hard to find home décor goods including duvet covers, bed sheets, pillows, towels, and more. The Canadian-based e-retailer prides itself on offering North American shoppers the best deals in a fresh and fun online shopping experience.

Modern and up with the trends, PileofPillows.com meets consumers’ growing demand for convenient and affordable ways to find and shop specialty bedding and home items online. The website features a clean and stylish design with high-resolutions photos of all items, detailed product descriptions and sizes, and in-depth category breakdowns to create an online shopping experience that provides the ease and comfort of shopping for personal home items in a retail outlet. In addition to browsing by brands, categories and prices, shoppers can search products by unique attributes such as sleep position, product sizes or even fabric.

 A key feature of PileofPillows.com is its online Buying Guide, which helps shoppers choose the right bedding, sheets, towels and pillows with detailed descriptions of the types of items that are available. The Pillow Finder is an excellent tool, which identifies the perfect product for each sleeping style based on materials used, as well as the preferred head position of the sleeper.

PileofPillows.com's Find the Perfect Pillow Guide

The e-tailer leverages key integrations in the OrderDynamicsPlatform that create a sophisticated and interactive online shopping experience, equipped with tools like Social Sharing, Email-A-Friend, Mini-Cart, and Clickable Breadcrumbs to enable efficient shopping and simplified navigation. 

PileofPillows.com's Support Guide

Other great features include personalized recommendations and cross-sell suggestions in the Product pages, running through to Check Out pages, as well as a scrolling carousel of Featured Products on the site’s home page.

The new site is also outfitted with the OrderDynamics Endpoint solution for enhanced order management and fulfillment. OD Endpoint™ will enable Pile of Pillows to manage inventory levels, and facilitate order processing and shipment directly from their own warehouse. The Endpoint solution also integrates with various shipping carriers, so that PileofPillows.com can provide their customers with real-time shipping total calculations, order-shipped emails and order tracking codes.

PileofPillows.com's real-time shipping total calculator

Happy Holidays 2012 from OrderDynamics!

As 2012 comes to an end, OrderDynamics would like to extend our gratitude to all of our partners, clients and vendors who helped make this year an incredible success. For OrderDynamics, 2012 has been a year full of new and exciting opportunities including speaking engagements, conferences, new technology integrations, and site launches – and the support from our friends has been much appreciated.

Our Connected Commerce-Retail Vision
This year, we launched an all-new website with client videos to highlight the newest addition to our platform technology, Connected Commerce – a system that seamlessly supports and manages multichannel retail. Our Platform Team also produced enhancements to our Order Management System that include Globalization features and Loyalty Program Capabilities. These new implementations have helped build our reputation in the industry, and fueled our unprecedented Canada Post Integration, which offers services like Ship to Post Office, Real-Time Order Tracking, Real-Time Rate Lookup and Generate Return Label. The OrderDynamics Platform is Canada’s most comprehensive ever.

Recognition from Key Analytics and Industry Experts
We are extremely proud of the recognition we have received this year from various industry experts, including being named a Vendor to Watch by Internet Retailer, and identified as a Leading Platform Provider in the 2012 Forrester Research SMB eCommerce Solutions Report. OrderDynamics also became a member of the National Retail Federation and Shop.org communities.

Thought Leadership at Leading Retail Conferences
In addition, OrderDynamics exhibited at 8 different trade shows throughout Canada and the US, this year being the first time we have had a presence at Shop.org, STORE, Retail West, eTail Latin America, and the first ever Dx3 show. These shows presented us with speaking opportunities and interviews with Internet Retailer, Retail TouchPoints, Retail Council of Canada, and Amber Mac (to name a few).  OrderDynamics was also invited to moderate an “How to Enter eCommerce” discussion panel at Dx3 last January, and provided an information session entitled “Getting eCommerce Right” at STORE2012 in June. OrderDynamics showed excellent thought leadership in providing industry professionals with information, best practices and experiential advice.

High Profile Omni-Channel Site Launches
The OrderDynamics Platform experienced substantial growth, launching 8 new eCommerce sites for reputable brands. Some of our most exciting launches include Canadian retailers such as Murale.ca – a sub-brand of Shoppers Drug Mart offering high-end beauty products and cosmetics. The launch of Laura.ca was also a highlight event for OrderDynamics by entering eCommerce for the first time after over 80 years in retail, and becoming our first client to utilize the Canadian Post Fulfillment Integration within our H.I.V.E. Ecosystem. We launched Inova.com.mx, a leading direct response marketer in Mexico City and no. 17 on the Internet Retailer Top 300 Latin American Retailers Guide in 2012.  Additionally, OrderDynamics launched 5 new mobile commerce websites, helping clients invest in Connected Commerce.

Explosive Black Friday/Cyber Monday Results for Our Clients
This year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday yielded excellent results for OrderDynamics retailers. The OrderDynamics Platform processed 162% more orders over the same weekend last year, generating 178% more revenue. The sophisticated enhancements to the OrderDynamics Order Management System allowed the Platform to process 154% more transactions, attesting to the scalability of the Platform.

We are extremely proud of all that we’ve accomplished this year, and are excited to continue developing our Platform, providing innovative solutions and service to our customers, and helping them grow their business in the new year. From the OrderDynamics Family to yours, Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!

OrderDynamics Monthly Google Updates Report – December 2012

Last month we reported that businesses saw minimal search results fluctuation in November; it would appear that Google was putting off updates until November, as they reported several updates while there were also suspicions of additional updates that have not been confirmed by Google. Google Adwords continued to make updates and enhancements every few days as seen in October, while Analytics made one small but significant change.

Google Search

Google made a Panda Refresh on November 5, just over five weeks after the last Panda change. The refresh was suspected by some sites, leading Google to confirm via Twitter that 1.1% of English searches in the US would be affected, while 0.4% of global searches would yield changes noticeable to a ‘regular user’ – e.g. someone not technical.

Two days later, Google announced a Page Rank update for Google Toolbar users (for searches via the Google Toolbar). These updates are generally infrequent – the last being in August – and as Page Rank contributes but does not weigh heavily in Search Rank, many SEOs considered this update very minor.

It was suspected that an update to Google Images Search was being rolled out November 15 to 16, as many SEOs and businesses reported seeing a drastic change in the way images were being indexed. It was noted that ALT text and a keyword-rich file name appeared to hold less relevance with respect to image search placement. However, Google did not confirm whether there was an update.

On November 21, Google implemented an official Panda Update with less drastic results than the Refresh earlier in the month. Google tweeted that 0.8% of searches would display a noticeable difference.

Google AdWords

In October, Google announced that changes to Impression Share Reporting would take place in November. Impression Share refers to the amount of overall ad space on the web that a single business encompasses. According to AdWords Support it is calculated based on the total number of impressions an Adwords campaign receives divided by the number of impressions the business was qualified to receive. Google confirmed that updates to Impression Share Reporting went live November 7, and included features that allow for improved display and easier reading of reports; new filters, charts and rules to segment the reports including “Hour of Day” segmentation; and improved calculation of Impression Share.

Google unveiled AdWords Editor 9.9 on November 12, with major updates and improvements to the following:

• Google Display Network - Google implemented the Flexible Reach panel to easily manage flexible reach settings.
• Import and Export Improvements - changes to various campaign settings (including flexible reach) and how AdWords handles duplicate ads pointing to different URLs by uploading changes via CSV.
• Device Targeting - the release only applies to Blackberry devices currently; it allows AdWords users to point ads specifically to Blackberry users.

On November 15, AdWords announced significant improvements to location targeting:

• Airport Targeting - allows AdWords users to target ads to the devices of those who are in and around airports.
• Location Extensions - a link below Sitelinks in the search results stating the location (or nearly location for a chain business) that displays a map when clicked on.
• Better Location Matching - this allows AdWords users to extend the reach of their ad campaign to just outside a given postal code area, enabling them to attract people who may be travelling or who are close by but not within the postal code area
• Conversion Reporter - Analytics within AdWords enable conversion tracking for each Location Extension

AdWords also updated the Call Extensions feature, as mentioned in last month’s report, which covers up a business’ phone number in an AdWords ad with a Google Forwarding number to allow for phone conversions of AdWords campaigns. The November 29 update made the Click to Call feature available for ads on mobile apps.

Google Shopping

Just in time for the holidays, Google also released on November 13 exciting updates to the new Google Shopping model. The Holiday Toy Collection is a section within Google Shopping which retailers can use to provide enhanced views of toys including 360 View, which Google hopes will instill confidence in online shoppers by providing the tools to mirror the in-store shopping experience – something that many shoppers struggle with when purchasing toys online. Along with the Holiday Toy Collection, Google also unveiled Shortlists, which is essentially a wishlist or shopping cart of items found in the Google Shopping network that can be shared with friends, and allows for side-by-side comparisons of related items – also in an attempt to channel an in-store experience.

One day later, Google announced that the new Google Shopping, which officially changed over in North America on October 17, is now available in 10 more countries: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Japan and Australia.

Further updates to the Google Shopping model include the display of promotions for items in Google Shopping that have gone on sale; the ability for shoppers to read reviews written by people they know; view visually similar items; and the release of the Google Shopper 3.0 app for Android devices.

Google Analytics

In November, Google Analytics introduced Enhanced Link Attribution. The feature applies to in-page analytics, and allows for tracking of user behaviour regarding individual links on a single page. Site owners can implement the feature with two lines of code in their current tracking snippet, and the click-through data provided is relevant even if links lead to redirects or are triggered by Java Script.

Inova.com.mx Re-Launches its Global Website with OrderDynamics

OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading on-demand commerce platform provider, would like to congratulate Inova.com.mx on the re-launch of their Spanish-language eCommerce site on the OrderDynamics Platform. The launch marks the first in Latin America for OrderDynamics.

Inova: Mexico's Leading Direct Response Retailer
Inova is one of Mexico’s largest online retailers (and no. 17 on Internet Retailer’s Top 300 Latin American Retailers Guide) and has offered innovative products for health and beauty, sports and fitness, kitchen and housewares, electronics and children’s toys for over 20 years.  Known in Mexico as the equivalent of the Shopping Channel/QVC and As Seen On TV stores, Inova has provided Mexican shoppers with well-known brand name items at great prices.

The new Inova.com.mx

With the online B2C sales in Latin America set to surpass $62 billion by 2016, according to eMarketer, Inova made the strategic decision to upgrade its eCommerce platform with OrderDynamics. The re-launch of Inova.com.mx will support Inova’s long-term growth and international expansion goals, as well as provide a flexible call centre and order management solution, and enhanced marketing and merchandising capabilities that their legacy platform could not provide. In addition, the new site provides an easy-to-navigate shopping experience that caters to customer convenience and confidence in the Inova name.

Customer Service Emphasis
Key features that enhance the Inova.com.mx customer experience include one-click live online chat, and call center support and order capabilities, enabling shoppers to ask questions and solicit any product information they may need to assist in their order.  

Inova's Live Chat feature

Flexible Payment Options
Inova.com.mx also offers the unique Cash on Delivery feature in addition to PayPal and credit card, which allows customers to pay for their order when it is delivered, and helps those who do not have access to a credit card to still make purchases online. For added convenience, Inova.com.mx also provides the option to pay in multiple installments for selected items to help customers alleviate the strain of higher priced items.

Inova's multiple installments payment option

We’re very excited to partner with Inova to help them achieve their aggressive growth goals,” said Michael Benadiba, Chief Executive Officer at OrderDynamics. “OrderDynamics eCommerce platform is designed to accelerate growth with robust online merchandising capabilities and integrated call centre and order management solutions.”