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Sellerdeck offers SMEs an alternative to the cloud with localized E-Commerce suite

Sellerdeck, formerly known as Sellerdeck Desktop, has a range of products that will suit online merchants wanting a greater deal of control over hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback.

The cloud is often cited as a low-cost, low-maintenance solution for small companies that want to get online, but in reality, it has several drawbacks too. Issues of data privacy and legal compliance must be considered when choosing a cloud provider, while businesses also need to consider what happens if their website is knocked offline.

Sellerdeck’s product portfolio – Sellerdeck Catalog, Sellerdeck Business, Sellerdeck Business Plus, Sellerdeck Enterprise, Sellerdeck Designer and Sellerdeck EPOS – will help businesses that want to keep their online activities under their own control.

With 16 years of experience in the E-Commerce space, Sellerdeck has processed more than £10bn in transactions and a new version of the platform, version 12 – to be known as Sellerdeck 2013 – is due to launch later this year.

“If a cloud provider suffers a major outage, as we saw with AWS just last month, a business can be knocked offline for hours with no indication about when it might be back online. And while this can mean thousands of pounds worth of lost sales, how high up the provider’s list of priorities will it be to get the site back online? And what if the site is lost forever?” said Ben Dyer, CEO of Sellerdeck.

“Any company that wants to be certain that issues of downtime, data safety and security and legal compliance are all under its own control would be well advised to think about alternatives to cloud providers. If they have the resources to manage them effectively, these businesses can be better off taking full control over key components such as hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback and not relying on third-party, cloud-based solutions.”

For more details about Sellerdeck and its range of E-Commerce and EPOS solutions, please contact:

Ben Camm-Jones

e: ben@claritycomms.com

t: +44(0) 20 7100 1333

m: +44(0) 75 1587 7621

Online shoppers to spend nearly £8 billion this Christmas

Online shoppers to spend nearly £8 billion this Christmas. 

UK consumers are expected to spend almost £8 billion online this Christmas, despite tough economic conditions – a 14 per cent increase on last year, writes Simon Wicks. Research by the online retail membership body IMRG predicts that online shopping sales will hit £7.75 billion over the five weeks from Monday, 28 November – also known as ‘Cyber Monday’. Almost half (£3.72 billion) is expected to be spent in the first two weeks alone. The forecast is based on data from 100 online retailers and reflects the trend seen in the past two years in the run-up to Christmas. Read the full article here.

Mobile Commerce is here to stay

The Sellerdeck Responsive Design is both a smart and modern page layout and also detects and responds to whatever device the visitor is using, re-displaying the store content in the appropriate format automatically (see image below). For example, visitors using a desktop PC will see the usual design, but anyone using a smartphone will see the page content laid out in a single column, with larger links and buttons.

Mobile Design from Sellerdeck

Phil Rothwell, Sellerdeck’s marketing director says, “We wanted to find a simple and low cost way for Sellerdeck users to be able to start selling effectively online to all their customers, no matter whether those visitors are in their office, at home, in a coffee shop or on the bus.”

He adds, “Many other E-Commerce solutions offer a completely different set of pages for mobile customers, but this gives you the headache of having two sets of pages and two designs to worry about. The Sellerdeck Responsive Design means you just have one fantastic design and just one set of pages for Google to focus on.”

Rothwell also advises all e-tailers to, “take a close look at your website analytics to see the different devices your visitors are browsing and buying on. This dictates how quickly you need to adapt your site design for mobile users. But there’s no doubt now that the trend towards shopping on the move is an unstoppable one and you may well be missing out on sales already.”

Sellerdeck’s Responsive Design has the following features:

  • Automatically adapts your design based on the visitor’s browser screen and resolution
  • Customisable to support your own branding, look and feel
  • Hides content that doesn’t work on smaller screen sizes
  • Flags up phone and email fields in the checkout so handheld devices show the appropriate keyboard
  • Tightly integrates with PayPal’s speedy checkout options.

 

The mobile-friendly design can be implemented via three services:

Contacts
For more information, contact:
Sellerdeck’s PR: Jane Lee, Dexterity, sellerdeck@dexterity.co.uk, +44 (0)1273 470199

About Sellerdeck
Sellerdeck supplies E-Commerce software and EPOS systems to small and mid-sized companies that want to be in full control of their online business. The company’s desktop application gives merchants control over key components such as hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback without having to rely on third-party, cloud-based solutions.

Established in 1996 as Sellerdeck Software and rebranded in 2012, Sellerdeck is the oldest established E-Commerce developer trading today and has enabled tens of thousands of UK SMEs to make an estimated £11bn in sales over its 17 years.

Twitter @Sellerdeck
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sellerdeck
Google+ https://plus.google.com/102442605679015134459

Sellerdeck Launches SEO Services for its Ecommerce Retailers

Provided by Sellerdeck’s own experts, the three SEO services are as follows:

  • Initial health check

Following inspection of the website by the consultant, a phone consultation establishes a baseline for where the store ranks currently, what is having a positive effect on the site and what areas need attention. The consultant will also explain how SEO works and give advice on good and bad ways of optimising pages.

  • SEO report

The SEO report will explain in detail which web pages are having a negative effect on ranking and how to fix them. The report will also suggest keywords to improve your SEO and other ideas for improving performance on search engines and targeting specific customer types.

  • SEO monthly service

The monthly service includes a report that has a full SEO review and recommendations; gives fresh keyword suggestions; highlights what search phrases are most widely used, with a summary of your site’s rankings against these (and how competitors fare too), which also helps with your linking strategy. As well as telling you the latest SEO news and how it could affect your store, the service includes access to the SEO technical support team via a dedicated email address.

Phil Rothwell, marketing director for Sellerdeck explains, “Contrary to popular belief, SEO isn’t a dark art, it’s a skill you can learn and apply, which generates results you can measure.

“Sellerdeck SEO Services not only identify the keywords retailers need to optimise their sites for, they also provide a framework our retailers can use for building good SEO practice into their businesses. The services also include advice on enhancing your online reputation and, optionally, help with editing content and refining page designs.

“The trust that customers have in Sellerdeck has been hard-earned, so it’s been important for us to offer a SEO service that delivers measurable value. By giving customers tools they can use to measure performance, plus the skills and support they need to invest wisely, we make sure our relationships are never put at risk.”
Chris Lacey of London International Paintball Supplies is impressed with the SEO services: “I was absolutely nowhere. My site very rarely appeared on page one for any products. Yet, within six weeks I was appearing on the first page for a couple of my key phrases and after three months I was all over page one for the majority of product pages I had amended. I reckon Sellerdeck’s SEO advice has increased traffic by 30%, and I’m taking around 25% more orders than before – it’s miraculous.”
Costs

  • Initial SEO consultation – £50 (or £25 for Sellerdeck Cover customers)
  • Health check report – from £450
  • Monthly SEO service – from £200 per month.

All figures + VAT. Sellerdeck also offers tailored SEO services.

Contacts
For more information, contact:
Sellerdeck’s PR: Jane Lee, Dexterity, sellerdeck@dexterity.co.uk, +44 (0)1273 470199

About Sellerdeck
Sellerdeck supplies E-Commerce software and EPOS systems to small and mid-sized companies that want to be in full control of their online business. The company’s desktop application gives merchants control over key components such as hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback without having to rely on third-party, cloud-based solutions.

Established in 1996 as Sellerdeck Software and rebranded in 2012, Sellerdeck is the oldest established E-Commerce developer trading today and has enabled tens of thousands of UK SMEs to make an estimated £11bn in sales over its 17 years.
Twitter @Sellerdeck
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sellerdeck
Google+ https://plus.google.com/102442605679015134459

The Insider’s Guide to Ecommerce

The Insider’s Guide to Ecommerce is a 196-page compendium of E-Commerce knowhow and the product of Chris Barling’s 16 years’ experience in supplying online stores to SMEs in the UK and beyond.

With 440 specific pieces of advice presented in 9 sections and 33 sub-sections, The Insider’s Guide to Ecommerce touches upon almost every aspect of online selling, from how to generate traffic and sell products to managing fraud and processing orders efficiently.

Presented in a ‘top tips’ format, each nugget of information is numbered and presented independently, making it an easy book to consult as and when required.

“This is an indispensable guide for anyone considering starting a business online,” says Dan Matthews, editor of esellermedia.com. “It’s easy to dip in and out, and is a great reference to help you get going.”

Dan Martin, editor of BusinessZone agrees: “What Chris doesn’t know about E-Commerce isn’t worth knowing so this book should be every business owner’s indispensable guide to making a success of selling online.”

Rachel Miller, editor of Marketing Donut adds, “A comprehensive road map for anyone selling online; full of practical advice that will help launch a new E-Commerce business or transform the fortunes of an existing one. A must-read.”

“In this world of self-professed blogging experts, Chris is that rare beast, a true E-Commerce expert,” recommends Mark Newton, E-Commerce consultant at ECats and PC Pro columnist.

Availability

The paperback edition of The Insider’s Guide to Ecommerce (ISBN: 978-0-9575319-0-1) costs £12.99 and is available for purchase online at sellerdeck.co.uk/insider. A Kindle version (ISBN: 978-0-9575319-1-8) will be available soon in the Kindle Store on Amazon for £6.49.

Contacts

Interview requests, review copies and extracts are available from Jane Lee, Dexterity (Sellerdeck’s PR) on or 01273 470199.

About the author

Chris Barling is a true E-Commerce insider. In 1996 he co-founded Sellerdeck, one of the UK’s first and most successful E-Commerce start-ups. Now called Sellerdeck, the company rode the dot-com wave, growing from a garden shed operation to floatation on the London Stock Exchange in less than four years.

An enthusiastic entrepreneur and business angel, Chris has a passion for helping small businesses take advantage of new technology. He loves to learn his subject matter in depth and is regarded by friends and colleagues as a walking and talking encyclopaedia of E-Commerce.

Women Seek Online Communities To Validate Purchases

Women seek online communities to validate purchases. If a new study is to be believed, you should be building direct relationships through search, online and mobile Web sites with women who show interest. It will become one of the most valuable marketing tools a company can have. Read the full article here.

Ecommerce Still Growing: Sellerdeck Survey Shows SMEs’ Orders Up 39% and Revenue Up 15% in Q2

The Sellerdeck survey shows that although online sales are growing faster than in the high street, the average shopping cart value has declined slightly from £87.09 in Q2 2009 to £72.35 in Q2 2010. This decrease means e-retailers had to work harder to achieve the increase in revenue with promotional offers, discounted lines or focusing on lower value items. On average an extra 262 orders were processed by each e-retailer during the quarter when compared to the same period the previous year.

Jez Hall, director of garden machinery supplier www.mowermagic.co.uk comments: “We have noticed a shift in customer purchasing behaviour for the second quarter of 2010, due to the economic climate. Our range of garden machinery is still selling well but we have experienced a significant increase in spare part sales as customers, make do and mend, rather than replace garden equipment. This trend has helped our bottom line as the margins we can achieve with spare parts can be higher than selling the larger ticket items such as lawn mowers.”

He adds, “Without wanting to put a dampener on this year’s long hot summer, the lack of rain does mean gardens are not flourishing. However with our sales revenues up 12% on the second quarter of 2009 figures, we are not complaining.”

Nick Kington, managing director at Sellerdeck says, “This is another impressive performance by online sellers in the SME market and in line with Sales Index figures reported by the IMRG in June. Despite the economic climate many Sellerdeck retailers are seeing very positive signs that consumer confidence and online spending in particular is on the increase.”

Online retailers lose sales with poor customer services

Online retailers lose sales with poor customer services. Online retailers could boost sales by brushing up their customer support, a new survey has found. Poor customer care and a lack of quality guidance could be driving potential web shoppers to the high street, the findings suggest. Read the full article here.

Silver Surfers make up 53% of new UK internet users

Silver Surfers make up 53% of new UK internet users. Nearly two million more UK residents accessed the internet during last year, according to a new report. Read the full article here.

Top 12 books every SEM needs to read

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.