Top 12 books every SEM needs to read. There’s no substitute for hands-on experience when it comes to online marketing but if you want to really rise above the competition, you’ll devote some time to reading insights from the experts. Read the full article here.

Frustrated online shoppers abandoning stores with poor returns processes. Poor returns experiences lead to 58% of online shoppers permanently shunning outlets. New research released by Collect+ sends a warning to retailers of the cost of failing to provide an effective returns process. The poll of 2,000 online shoppers reveals that 58% of shoppers, once they have had a bad experience with deliveries or returns will abandon that online retailer permanently. More details here.

New study reveals that women are already regular mobile internet surfers. MiBuys survey highlights a strong appetite for retail promotions and shows that women are keen to explore new mobile phone services. Read the full article here.

July online spending hits £5 billion with highest growth since ’07. The latest results from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index reveal that shoppers spent £5 billion online in July, the most in any month this year. Read the full article here.

Online shopping reaches highest growth rate in two years. The latest results from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index show that total sales online increased by 22% in May compared to last year in the highest growth since June 2008. Read the full article here.

Overall IT spend may be down but e-commerce attracts investment. Spending on IT by the largest UK retailers remains at a low for the second year running but there is still a willingness to invest in new projects and e-commerce and multi-channel systems are high up the agenda, according to the latest Martec International/BT Expedite report. Read the full article here.

Get twenty different search marketers in a room and you’ll often get twenty different opinions on a subject; but there is a growing consensus that some tweaks were made to the Google Algorithim in the last few days of April to first few days of May. This has become known as the Google May-Day Update. Read the full article here.

Online sales hit three-year high. Internet sales grew in July at their fastest pace since before the recession, as wet weather encouraged home shopping, a survey suggests. Online sales grew by 18% in the month compared with a year earlier, the biggest jump since 2007, IMRG said. Read the full article here.

How to reduce checkout abandonment and increase customer registrations. In an ideal world most, if not all, retailers would like their new customers to register when they place their first order, thus opening up the potential of a building a more meaningful long-term relationship with the customer. Unfortunately most new customers want to avoid registering and just checkout as quickly as possible, so how can retailers encourage more registrations without deterring customers? Read the full article here.

Checkout abandonment on the rise. Thanks to a range of factors, including increased customer expectations, as well as behavioural factors such as comparison shopping, basket and checkout abandonment rates are rising. A recent Forrester survey found that 88% of consumers have abandoned shopping carts, and named the top five reasons given by customers. See the top 5 reasons here.