67% of UK’s leading e-commerce giants fall short on website performance standards   

Website design sketches.

Research from vshosting~, one of Europe’s leading providers of cloud and managed hosting services for e-commerce and IT businesses, today reveals a major performance gap in UK’s e-commerce landscape.

While UK’s largest e-commerce businesses have enjoyed significant online success, these businesses are trailing behind UK’s fastest-growing businesses when it comes to vital web metrics – a disparity that could impact future security and...

Burnley FC scores big in e-commerce with Visualsoft partnership

English Premier League football club, Burnley FC, has partnered with Visualsoft, an e-ommerce provider, to enhance its online retail operations and transform the overall customer experience.

Founded in 1882 and located in the north of England, the prestigious football club has a rich history and a passionate fan base, competing in the top-tier English football premier league. Striving for excellence both on and off the pitch, the club recognised the need to improve its e-commerce...

Shopify launches first AI commerce assistant

A customer being served.

Shopify, a provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, has made more than 100 updates as part of its Summer ‘23 Edition, the twice-annual showcase of its latest products and innovations.

These updates include Sidekick, a new first-of-its-kind AI-enabled commerce assistant for business owners on Shopify, and aim to allow its merchants to be more productive, creative, and powerful than ever before — ushering in a new era of commerce full of brand new...

64% of e-commerce marketers fail to measure customer engagement

Three measuring tapes.

64% of e-commerce marketers have not measured their customer engagement processes in the past month, and nearly one fifth (17%) have never measured them at all.  

That's according to new data from Customer Engagement Platform SALESmanago, which surveyed 250 e-commerce marketers across Europe to determine whether the measurement of customer engagement elements is being neglected. Worryingly, almost half (48%) don’t think customer engagement metrics are...

A quarter of companies believe their web platforms stifle sales

A quarter of respondents believe their company websites are costing them business.

This is according to a cross-sector survey conducted by Danebury Research and sponsored by Umbraco.

More than half of the survey participants said they need to extend website functionality by connecting to new technologies that enable analytics, personalisation and transactions. Almost a third (30%) report that their companies are paying for CMS features that will never be...

Less than half of retailers believe they can effectively manage their digital operations

A woman making a payment in a cafe.

Retailers expect major increases in operational requirements around fulfilment and digital-related functions in 2023.

This is according to a survey from Incisiv, a next-generation industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate digital disruption, titled Digital Complexity: Thriving in Unpredictable Times.

With the pace and complexity of operations in digital retail rising rapidly, most brands feel inadequately prepared to deal with these new challenges....

Vast majority of consumers rely on video when shopping online

Two women looking at a laptop screen.

85% of consumers worldwide rely heavily on video when they purchase goods and services online, according to a study by Brightcove.

As part of a global investigation led by the online video platofrm provider, shoppers around-the-world have shared their perspectives on just how important video is as part of the purchase journey.

Some of the study's key findings include:

· Almost half of consumers worldwide (48%) say that video increases their confidence to shop...

Ted Baker taps BigCommerce’s platform to launch online store

A Ted Maker model carrying a plant.

BigCommerce, an Open SaaS eCommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, has launched a composable, modern eCommerce experience for Ted Baker, the UK-based global lifestyle brand. 

Built on BigCommerce’s transformational multi-storefront (MSF) headless solution, Ted Baker uses a single BigCommerce store to operate multiple unique storefronts and leverage the platform’s ever-evolving partner network to strengthen its posture as a digital-first...

43% of Brits ditch online checkouts at the last minute in favour of Amazon

A supermarket checkout.

14% of consumers browse online stores every day without any intention to buy anything at all, according to a study by Ve Global.

In addition, the tech ecommerce specialist's report, in which 2,000 British consumers were questioned, reveal that while in the early stages of the research process, 37% of consumers are adding items to their basket to save them for later, not necessarily to purchase.

The report shows that the missed sales opportunity for retailers lies in the...

How M&S increased engagement and achieved listings consistency with 1,063 stores

Marks & Spencer's St Helens store.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is a leading British retailer bringing quality, great value food, clothing and homeware to millions of customers across the UK and around the world, from everyday style on M&S.com, to the very best prawn sandwiches at convenience M&S Simply Food locations.

The problem:

M&S continued to serve its customers throughout lockdown and strived to find new ways to help them shop with confidence and find the information they need online...