Everything Must Go is a playful new project by the artist group Foreign Investment. This commissioned project for the Chinese Arts Centre, takes a highly engaged approach to connect the Centre with the public.

Everything Must Go offers a unique experience for visitors to actively involve themselves as suppliers, producers and investors throughout the different stages of the exhibition. Initially, members of the public are invited to participate by donating unwanted consumer objects for an ‘upgrade’. Then a group of volunteers recruited locally will work with the artists to gold-gild the objects. Finally the upgraded product will be available for the public to purchase in the art sale at the end of the exhibition.

The project seeks to question and challenge established route of commerce and exchange by disrupting them with generosity. The rejuvenated items will be available for sale at a price based on the time the artists and volunteers spent making it multiplied by the minimum wage in the UK. All the volunteers will be paid the minimum hourly wage. The sale will just cover the cost of the makeover of the object, and make no profit.

Declan Cosgrove, joint managing director BIte Digital, added: “A crucial strand of our business plan and key differentiator from our competition, is our work with companies wanting to market themselves either in China, or to Chinese companies in the UK. We have genuine insight into the culture and marketing nuances thanks to our Chinese heritage staff and have made great strides through trade missions out there to further our knowledge and strengthen our ties on the ground.

“Working with the Chinese Arts Centre was a natural next step and we find this campaign to be very inspired and are pleased to be able to add to it in our own small way.”

Ying Kwok, Chines Arts Centre curator, said: “We seek to create situations where artists and participants come together to question the value of things in unexpected ways”.

Items to be turned gold can be dropped off from the 5 August 2011 and the gold-gilding workshop takes place on 20 August and the art sale on the 16 September.

-Ends-

For more information contact Kate Gerbich on 0845 6884491 or email kate@biteus.net

Notes to editors: Bite Digital is an independent UK digital marketing agency, specialising in web development, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), mobile marketing and brand management.

For more information visit our chinese seo website.

www.chinese-arts-centre.org

Blast Fashion is making sure its website will be the most stylish around by enlisting the help of online marketing and web design agency Bite Digital.
Founded by fashion lovers, for fashion lovers, Blast Fashion is a new website offering the latest from the world of style, bringing users breaking news and updates as they happen, before anyone else. Topics include the latest from designer and high street labels alike, celebrity parties and gossip, and exclusive interviews with some of the fashion industry’s most revered icons.
Unsatisfied with bringing the best of the fashion world to the masses, the site also offers readers reviews of the latest hair and beauty products, a glimpse into the street style of the cool crowd living in some of the world’s most metropolitan and fashion-forward cities, and full rundowns of all the most recent catwalk shows.
Bite Digital, which is based in the suitably fashionable Northern Quarter of Manchester and has additional offices in London and Budapest, has given Blast Fashion’s website, www.blastfashion.com, a modern new look that will attract more visitors, while increasing overall user-friendliness.
The award-winning agency will also carry out a targeted search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign for the emerging fashion site, which will increase site traffic and the amount of time users spend browsing its pages by identifying the key search terms internet users use to find similar sites and integrating these into a series of engaging articles, blogs and topic pieces.
These pieces will then raise the rankings of the Blast Fashion website on search sites such as Google, so that greater numbers of people are more likely to choose its website over those of its competitors.
These marketing techniques have hit the headlines recently for being the most proven, cost-effective marketing channels available at present to companies wishing to increase their online presence, and beating other traditional channels such as television and radio for increasing sales revenue and improving return on investment (ROI).
Bite Digital already has a proven track record with leading fashion brands, having managed the online marketing exploits of high street favourite AllSaints, successfully raising their web profile and increasing the number of sales gained through their website through a comprehensive SEO package.
To discover how Bite Digital can help your website attract more users through a targeted and effective SEO marketing campaign and website design package, visit www.biteus.net.

A long established equestrian and country clothing retailer based in the North West is set to increase the size of its business with the launch of a new online shop.

The new e-commerce site for BP Country www.bpcountry.com, which has an offline store in Broadheath, Altrincham, will allow the retailer to broaden its customer base and cater for a national audience looking to purchase equestrian products, horse wear for riders and horses, and country and leisure clothing for men, women and children.

The site has been designed and built by Manchester based web development experts Bite Digital with the aim of creating a really beautifully designed lifestyle website for horse lovers.

Carol Lowe from BP Country said, “We have added 1000s of new products to our range, which customers can now buy online as well as in store. We firmly believe our investment in an online retail presence will at least double the size of our overall business, if not more. The site has been designed following in depth research into what our customers want from a digital equestrian shopping experience and feedback on the extended range of products that they want to be able to purchase online.”

In addition to designing a website that will deliver an excellent overall user experience and a first rate online shopping opportunity, Bite Digital has ensured the new site is fully optimised to rank highly within the search engines, and the agency’s SEO team will be implementing a carefully targeted digital marketing campaign for BP Country.

The website launched on 9th May 2011. www.bpcountry.com

Ad:tech is the premier advertising and technology exhibition and conference. It is taking place internationally throughout the remainder of 2010 and into 2011. Locations include Tokyo, New York, Sydney, San Francisco, Singapore and Shanghai.

The conference and exhibition incorporates a variety of stands and keynote speakers and aims to give those attending all the information they need to compete in the fast evolving online and digital market place.

Sounds Great are a Manchester based musical shop specialising in acoustic and electric guitars.  They are a highly respected and successful, long established, family run business and pride themselves on their exceptional customer service.

We are currently developing Sounds Great a new website and our SEO Manchester team is working on a comprehensive SEO campaign for this site.  The new website will expand their clientele base internationally and will sell a range of musical instruments and equipment from guitars and amplifiers to orchestral instruments.

More details on the istudio project and an application form are available from the North West Vision and Media Website.

The closing date for applications is Friday 4th September 2009.

The Claims Advice Centre specialise in PPI claims and unfair credit agreements

The car will be entering a number of high profile rally races and will be featured in Sky Sports coverage of the seasons racing highlights.

Bite Digital becomes search engine marketing agency for Triage Healthcare, a company that delivers healthcare for people suffering from addiction related problems (alcohol & drug).

Bite Digital will be running both the search engine optimisation Manchester and pay per click advertising from its office in Manchester for the sites of Triage Healthcare that include:

•    www.dryoutnow.com
•    www.addictionadvisor.co.uk
•    www.addiction-clinics.co.uk

The portfolio of work includes comprehensive initial site audits, search engine optimisation (SEO) & pay per click (PPC) campaign setup and the ongoing running of the campaigns.

Triage’s work includes Alcohol Treatment, Alcohol Rehab and Alcoholism Help.

Bite Digital, Search Engine Optimisation Manchester, have been appointed to set up a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy for ICP Networks.

ICP Networks specialise in IT Asset Recover, IT Maintenance, IT Technical Support and IT Consultancy.  They buy and sell refurbished equipment by Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, Foundry, Sun and Nokia.

VAT has been set at 17.5% since long before ecommerce was invented and this recent change is going to cause significant challenges for ecommerce websites.

Some eCommerce systems are likely to have VAT hard coded into the ecommerce systems but even very advanced programs will still need to be adjusted to reflect the new rates.

A number of retailers without a retained website development company will be unlucky enough to have the VAT rate hard-coded into their CMS. This makes price changes before next Monday almost impossible.

Another major issue will be updating image and flash based banner adverts - a number of which have prices included in them. Most small businesses do not update banners or flash animations on a regular basis and many will have been using the same ones for years. Unless the company has retained the original designers and/or source images, making changes to these will be either impossible or difficult at best meaning prices will be uncompetitive from next Monday.

Fixing banners in a multitude of sizes and re-uploading them to ad-servers across the web is not a quick task.

As we look into this, more and more implications spring to mind. The Google Adwords Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns that are run by the likes of Bite Digitals Search Engine Optimisation Manchester team, often have prices in them, Google Product Search feeds will all be wrong straight away.

Conversion rates for shopping carts displaying 17.5% VAT next week will plummet. Visitors will just go straight to competitors websites.

For help with VAT, ecommerce and banner adjustments contact Bite Digital, the eCommerce and Search Engine Optimisation Manchester team today.

We will be generating new business and sales leads for FPI through a comprehensive internet marketing package which will include Pay Per Click (PPC) and Natural Search Marketing techniques (SEO). The SEO element will ensure that FPI achieves prominent search positioning when targeted key phrases are used by potential new clients.

While pass rates for Brand Image criteria range from a high of 85% to a low of 55%, pass rates for user experience criteria go as low as 14% — with basic text legibility test coming in at just 23%.

To make sites as usable as they are pretty, companies need to benchmark site support for critical user goals, keep both user personas and "brand personas" front and center with the design team, and break ties between image-oriented design and functional design in favour of what real users need — not what marketing wants.

A search engine marketing strategy encompasses a spectrum of search engine methods including paid search (pay per click / PPC) coupled with search engine optimisation (SEO), social media (Facebook, linked in etc) and link building (directories, blogs etc).

We truly believe in the combined positive effect that running your pay per click campaign alongside your natural search engine optimisation listings can have to your online business.

A recent study done by Yahoo & Nielson Research dramatically showed that a causal relationship between paid and natural search was confirmed, and the results were significantly positive. These happy results came when running paid and natural search campaigns together.

One plus one can equal three. Not only did the research show that positive results increased (to the effect of appearing twice) but there was also extra lift from the additional visibility. Running natural and paid search together (versus running them alone) in an integrated manner will drive superior results for branding and lead generation.

When appearing in both natural and paid search for the same keyword impression, clicks lifted 92 percent, actions lifted 45percent, orders lifted 45 percent, page views lifted 44 percent, visitors increased by 41 percent, and time on site increased by 40 percent.

SEO is the most cost effective of all the search engine marketing channels pulling in up to 250% more traffic than PPC with a conversion rate 30% higher, but growing your ranking position organically takes time (3-6 months+), this is why PPC is so important as it provides you with instant visibility in and business from the search engine results pages while you plan and grow your organic listings in the long term.

At Bite Digital, we are interested in showing you how to launch a successful search engine marketing strategy by teaching you how to design and execute an effective strategy for you individually, and also demonstrating how both SEO and PPC can be integrated and run side-by-side to maximise the return on your investment.

To learn more about how to use an integrated / combined search engine marketing approach to maximise your ROI, call us now on +44 (0) 845 688 4491.

They are able to achieve these savings by offering pre-selected packages which include their most popular site features. Sites are able to maintain individuality through the use of their flexible content management system and bespoke design options.

Declan Cosgrove explains “Our new packages offer significant benefits to our clients in terms of cost - there are no initial set up charges, only a monthly fee. The packages are also very simple to understand, set up and update”.

Package Benefits:

• Simple
  to understand, set up web site and update web site content
  
• Upgradeable
  graphics, functionality, support and search engine marketing can be upgraded at any time (at additional cost)
  
• No Set up Fee
  only a monthly fee, saving £000s on our standard “Tailored” Services
  
• Enterprise Level
  utilises the same “enterprise level” content management system, graphic designers and technical team, as our “Tailored” solutions, at a fraction of the cost 
  
• Free Upgrade
  Standard and Professional packages include a free graphic re-design every 2 years, to keep the site looking “fresh”.

For more information on bite digital web design “Packages” contact kate@biteus.net  

The majority of the e-commerce companies that we have worked with to improve their conversion rate tend to initially report a conversion rate of less than 1.0 percent. Therefore, our experience shows that the average conversion rate among small to mid-size businesses (ones probably not well represented in Forrester’s study) is maybe closer to 1.5 percent.

For lead generation and other non e-commerce sites, the conversion rate fluctuates drastically. Lead forms could reach even higher levels around 8% to over 20%. Certainly variables like B2B versus B2C, the type of offer,the type of attracted visitors (advertising methods), incentivisied vs. not incentivised, quality/relevance of creative and so on will influence the conversion rates.

However the situation is really “more complicated yet more practical”.

Comparing conversion rates within markets or worse across industries is difficult if not almost impossible. There are so many variables affecting conversion rates. More importantly a conversion rate metric provides no indication of profitablility - the number that really matters. Knowing an “average conversion rate” is nice but you should really be concerned with what conversion rate you need to achieve to drive profitable leads, subscriptions, sales or other business value associated with your objectives.

Set your own conversion rate goal based on a financial analysis focused on greater sales volume and/or higher profits and compete against this internal benchmark. At the end of the day, its not a matter of the vanity of whether you are above or below the “industry average” - instead it’s about the financial success of your own web business.

Just like every information web site or eCommerce web site owner or web master, you want your website to be on top when there is a query in Google. Ranking highly in organic search engine results is a key element for bringing traffic to your website. The higher you rank for search queries, the more often your website is presented to the internet community. The process to achieve these results is called search engine optimisation.

The elements of good search engine optimisation and ranking higher in organic search results are maintaining high web standards, accessibility and usability of your website. What improves the visibility of any website is the human usability factor, unique and quality content, easy indexing for search engine robots (the search engines send out 'robot' programs to scan websites) and the sites appeal to visitors.

There are many webmasters, site owners and consultants that engage in search engine optimisation. It is actually considered to be a subset of search engine marketing which takes into account the optimisation of website and eCommerce content, its keywords and meta tags. It also minimises the use of complex scripts and technology (e.g. java script and flash GUI's) to increase the ability for search engine robots to crawl your website for content. If you do not have the technical expertise to optimise your own site you should search out a qualified professional like Bite Digital or one of our partners to assist you.

Improving search engine optimisation will involve the site’s coding for structure, presentation and correctly allowing robots to index the website. You also measure visitor traffic and the keywords that are used to find the website and the conversion of those keywords to the desired action of sign up, purchase or a certain landing page.

Another part of search engine marketing that is important for obtaining higher rankings is link building. To increase your websites visibility to the search engines and drive traffic and search engine robots to your website for indexing, you should submit your website to quality directories to increase inbound links that are relevant to your sites topic. Bite Digital offer a link building service which builds inbound links from directories and syndicated articles.

By taking these actions you should see an increase in traffic and inbound links to increase your search rankings.

Sam Atkinson is in his final year of a degree in computer science at the University of Manchester and wants to pursue a career in IT. "It's something I have always enjoyed," he says. "When I chose my degree I was mainly thinking about what I wanted to study, but realised it would probably be an area with a lot of job opportunities."... We asked Declan Cosgrove, managing director of Bite Digital, a web design, e-commerce and online marketing company, to mock interview Sam for an entry-level job. Then we asked him what he thought.

Declan says ...

The company is just over 10 years old. We started off building and marketing websites and we've recently expanded to offer that service to companies who have their own clients, like advertising agencies or telecoms companies. The digital sector is a huge growth area at the moment. We enable companies to offer a digital service to their clients that we then provide for them. Most people who work for us need to understand the type of work that we do, but that doesn't mean everyone has to be a highly skilled technical expert. We also employ talented people to work in sales or administration.

One of the key points I'd like Sam to think about is which precise area of IT he'd most like to work in. There's a big difference, for example, between being a programmer and using your knowledge of programming to be a project manager. Once he decides which direction to take, he'll be able to focus and package his skills more effectively.

Saturday Guardian 20.10.07

For full interview click here

This month’s marketing minute looks at the top three ways to spend your marketing budget online.

1. Paid search advertising was the fastest growing segment of online advertising in the UK in 2006, accounting for 58% of the total, with Google accounting for about 75% of the paid for search figure.

2. Online display advertising including banners, skyscrapers and online sponsorships is the next biggest category attracting 20% of the spending.

3. Online classified advertising is the third largest sector accounting for a share of 18.8% of the advertising market.

Like a scene out of a reality show or a Disney movie, Southgate teenager Ashley Qualls' moment has arrived.

The 17-year-old entrepreneur, designer and self-professed computer geek is in New York City this week, pitching her wildly successful Web site, Whateverlife.com, to ad-buying agencies for the country's biggest companies. And today, Qualls will get to talk to the women of "The View," taping a show that is due to air on Friday.

 
"This is in some ways her coming-out party," said Robb Lippitt, Qualls' 38-year-old business consultant.

On the cusp of national fame, Qualls is planning to expand Whateverlife.com, which gets more visitors than Oprah.com. She wants to start a social network for the millions of teenage girls who flock to her Web site for free designs to decorate their MySpace pages.

Whateverlife.com generated a million dollars in revenue last year and is on track to do the same this year. Already, Qualls has turned down outside funding for her site and a verbal offer from someone willing to pay $5 million to buy her company.

"I'm stubborn, and I'm independent," she said from her pink office in the basement of her house. "I like the feeling that it's my company, and I want to have the say-so in everything."

But don't mistake Qualls for another smart but spoiled teenager. She is growing up fast but possesses instincts for life and business that elude many girls her age.

For now, she has turned down the idea of starring in a reality show because she fears the loss of privacy.

Early this month, she won her petition to be declared an adult, so she legally could sign business contracts and manage her own money. And she sounds like a 30-year-old when she talks about the struggle to balance work and personal time.

Qualls is not your typical teenager.

She hired her mother to be her business manager and pays three of her friends, all high school seniors, to work for her after school and on weekends. She said she is more interested in working on her Web site than in learning how to drive. And a year ago, Qualls bought a house in a new subdivision in Southgate, where she keeps three Himalayan cats and a Rottweiler named Thor.

"She's really creative," said best friend Bre Newby, a senior at Allen Park High, pointing out that Qualls was voted most likely to succeed in the eighth grade.

Despite a 3.9 grade point average, she dropped out of Lincoln Park High School after her sophomore year to work full-time on Whateverlife.com, a decision that she said shocked her family, friends and teachers. She now is studying to get her associate's degree in graphic design and a GED from Henry Ford Community College.

With her blonde highlights and vivacious personality, Qualls doesn't fit the stereotype of a computer geek. But she spent seven hours on her living room floor building a computer that she uses today.

And while other teenagers were playing sports and watching television, Qualls was teaching herself how to write HTML coding so she could build Web sites.

"I love it," she said. "You can create so many things. The possibilities are endless."

In December 2004, Qualls borrowed $8 from her mother to buy the Whateverlife.com domain name. She started the Web site as her personal graphics portfolio, intending to use it as a way to share her designs for MySpace pages with her friends.

But in the uncontrollable, fast-moving world of cyberspace, others began noticing Qualls' site even though she never has spent a dime on advertising. At the beginning of last year, Qualls received e-mails from people informing her that Carson Daly had mentioned the site on his radio show.

When it comes to Web traffic, Whateverlife.com currently ranks No. 825 out of 20.3 million Web sites, drawing 2.4 million visitors worldwide during the last 30 days, according to Quantcast, an Internet ratings service. Oprah.com is No. 997. Qualls said that on average, 72% of her site's audience makes a return visit.

In March, Qualls hired Lippitt, a former chief operating officer of ePrize, to help her grow her business. The biggest challenge facing Qualls, he said, is keeping her finger on the pulse of her audience as she gets older and her company expands.

"Ashley is a natural entrepreneur," he said. "I expected her to need a lot more direction and guidance than she actually needs. You only have to tell her anything once."

As Qualls gains more business experience, expect big changes at Whateverlife.com. The site can't afford to rest on its popularity because as soon as it releases a new MySpace page design, somebody immediately will copy it.

To expand its appeal, Qualls has added an online magazine for teenage girls and young women, a forum for visitors to chat, and a Web site builder with tutorials. In mid-October, she said she hopes to begin selling her designs for cell phone screens.

Qualls spends her days handling phone calls and business meetings with advertisers and Lippitt, reading the 300 to 400 e-mails she receives each day and coming up with new designs.

Unlike other young people who suddenly make an enormous amount of money, Qualls isn't rushing to spend it. Other than her house, she counts a Coach handbag and a $70 bottle of Giorgio Armani perfume as her two most expensive purchases.

Instead, Qualls is putting the profits she has generated back into her business, paying for computer server bills, programming work and her $200-an-hour business consultant. Growing up in a working-class family in Lincoln Park taught Qualls not to spend money foolishly.

"You never lose sight of the value of a dollar," she said.

Qualls has been relying on other companies to sell ads for her site. But if her trip to New York goes well, Whateverlife.com will sell ad space directly to advertisers.

That likely will mean adding a full-time salesperson and manager and setting up an office outside Qualls' home.

Lippitt will be on hand to help her in New York. Qualls said she is not afraid of speaking to a room full of adults, but she has never made a business presentation.

"I'm nervous doing this," she said. "It's my first time. It's a big learning experience."

The fledgling entrepreneur is still a teenager at heart. Qualls adorns her business card with lots of white hearts. She said she loves to hang out with her friends at the mall, listen to the Barenaked Ladies and play Sims 2.

And she said she still plans to attend Lincoln Park High's homecoming dance, prom and senior class trip. She doesn't have a boyfriend but said there are "special guys" in her life.

"I'm still the person that hangs out with her friends every weekend, and we're really goofy and just listen to songs all night and hang out," she said.

Qualls said she has thought about attending design school in New York, which she calls her "dream city."

But with the wisdom of an adult, she acknowledges that her life is changing too quickly for her to make any concrete plans.

"It's ever-changing every day," she said, her voice reflecting the awe she feels for what her Web site and her life have become.

Contact KATHERINE YUNG at 313-222-8763 or kyung@freepress.com.

AA's data showed internet ads became worth £2.01 billion last year. Echoing previously released figures, it showed how online ad spend overtook that in newspapers last year.

But, unlike IAB's March figures, which indicated a 41.2 percent growth in 2006, the latest data pegs the online increase for last year at 47 percent.

"The time people spend online keeps going up each year, so advertisers follow their audiences online to spend money on the medium," Phillipson told Press Association. "I believe online spend could overtake TV within the next three to four years."

Like print, broadcast media advertising showed a downturn in 2006, the figures show.

Many expect Google, the advertising powerhouse, will now shortly overtake even ITV in terms of UK ad spend. The commercial broadcaster last week posted a drop in ad revenue.

+ 25% for Marks and Spencer
+ 26% for Woolworths
+ 58% for HMV.co.uk
+ 23% for John Lewis
+ 107% for Waitrose

Germans were the biggest spenders online during the Christmas season, parting with E5.4bn (£3.5bn) according to a ComScore report on European shopping activity.

Germans were also found to be last minute shoppers, with the majority of their spend taking place in the two weeks before Christmas, compared to French and Britons who spent the most three weeks before.

UK consumers spent an estimated E4bn (£2.6bn) while the French spent E1.9bn (£1.2bn) during the season, up 78% on the pre-Christmas months 28 August to 29 October.

"European online retailers appear to have done well this holiday season. High broadband penetration, familiarity with browsing and buying online, and confidence in the channel have all combined to make this a record Christmas for most online retailers in Europe," said ComScore MD Bob Ivins.

We predicted that this growth would be led by Google and Yahoo! Search and indeed, Google (combined UK and dot com properties) accounted for 28% of upstream visits to retail websites in December, up 28% year on year and Yahoo! Search (combined UK and dot com properties) accounted for 2.4% of upstream visits, up 60% year on year. Both search engines sent 1 in 5 of their own visits to a retail website in December.

The following is the minimum information that must be on any company's website:

• The name, geographic address and email address of the service provider. The name of the organisation with which the customer is contracting must be given. This might differ from the trading name. Any such difference should be explained – e.g. "XYZ.com is the trading name of XYZ Enterprises Limited."

It is not sufficient to include a 'contact us' form without also providing an email address and geographic address somewhere easily accessible on the site. A PO Box is unlikely to suffice as a geographic address; but a registered office address would. If the business is a company, the registered office address must be included.

• If a company, the company's registration number should be given and, under the Companies Act, the place of registation should be stated (e.g. "XYZ Enterprises Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 1234567")
• If the business is a member of a trade or professional association, membership details, including any registration number, should be provided.
• If the business has a VAT number, it should be stated – even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
• Prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous. Also, state whether prices are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.

Finally, do not forget the Distance Selling Regulations which contain other information requirements for online businesses that sell to consumers (B2C, as opposed to B2B, sales). For details of these requirements, see our guide, The Distance Selling Regulations - An Overview.

Manchester, UK (November 21, 2006) — New independent research examining the whole online shopping experience – from first visit to returning unwanted items at the UK's leading non–food online retailers – has found that even the best online retailers could deliver a very much better shopping experience.

The research, carried out by independent mystery shopping and market research experts Marketing Assistance Ltd analysed the top 28 UK online retailers (selected by traffic volume) grading their performance in the run up to the expected boom in web shopping predicted for Christmas 2006.

The researchers purchased a single item from each of the sites, and then sought to return the product once it had been received. They graded their experience against a set of 36 subjective and objective criteria at every step of the process.

Service disconnect

"The study results show that investment by online retailers tends to focus on what they care about most, securing the sale. This attention is at odds with what the customers focus on, what happens after they have made a purchase. This 'service disconnect' is critical and reveals a short sighted view of the customer based on immediate revenue collection where real value is gained from long–term relationships."

Delivery

Scheduling deliveries so that customers are available to receive goods is an ongoing challenge for the industry, however failing to deliver at all, as two of the companies surveyed did, is a sure way to turn customers against your brand.

B&Q had several chances; the first item ordered from their site was out–of–stock, the second and third purchase attempts failed to deliver, despite advance phone calls booking a delivery day. The researcher waited 9 days for the last purchase before cancelling the order.

It was a similar story with HMV. The research shoppers cancelled their first order when the goods had not been received after 14 days; they cancelled a second subsequent order after waiting seven days.

Returns

Over this issue even amongst those placed high in the top ten, concerns abound. Amazon's returns arrangements were judged to fall short of best practice. Tesco, whose delivery performance was commended, did not include any returns information with the product, nor in any of the four emails it sent relating to the purchase. Apple, another of the top performers, failed to mention a returns policy in the documentation supplied but customers taking the time to search its website could establish that a "transportation charge" of £30 would apply to return the goods — the postage charged to send the goods was £4.50.

Many of the sites shared the common issue of requiring the customer to phone a customer services number to get a returns authorisation. Outside of the top ten, however, Packard Bell performed particularly badly by allowing its call centre to make the customer wait for ten minutes without a reply.

Branding

Another area of the survey that highlighted marked inconsistencies was the branding experience. Despite high levels of investment in the web site itself, this was in marked contrast to major high street retailers where end–to–end branding is the norm.

The best used the delivery and ongoing customer contact process as an opportunity to brand a successful purchase and to encouraged further transactions. Amazon, Dell and Apple's packing was clearly branded whilst ASOS included a full colour catalogue with the delivery; Maplin and QVC provided additional information in the box and followed–up orders with subsequent mailers. These e–tailers also routinely used strongly branded, if third party, logistics operations.

White van, brown box

In sharp contrast there were those where brand presence was negligible through a 'white van, brown box' approach.

Prime examples were Lastminute.com and Comet where goods arrived in by white van and in anonymous packaging. "There is sometimes a case for plain wrapping where there is a need to enhance security and privacy but failing to reinforce a successful transaction and to ask for more custom is a missed opportunity both to build brand value and revenues,".

Other issues raised during the research were a lack of price transparency, weak decision support – such as not providing product cross comparison, poor site search & categorisation, and a failure to integrate sites with the retailer's off–line outlets.

Bad news, good news

"For consumers the bad news is that the online shopping experience even with those judged to be the best fails to satisfy in many ways. The good news for even the top online retailers is that there are still many opportunities to differentiate their customer's experience of doing business with them,"

"The areas of opportunity are quite clear. For instance, if retailers focus on developing an innovative approach to returns a superior experience will become a major reason for the customer to come back and shop again. Securing customers in this way is an effective barrier against price cutting rivals and the ease with which customers can switch suppliers, should they be motivated to do so."

Wisdom of crowds will prevail

"We are entering an age where the customers have huge choice and the ability to rapidly compare not only the cost of goods through price comparison sites but increasingly their experiences through online communities and social media sites. This means that "the wisdom of crowds", will prevail and your advantages as well as your shortcomings are quickly exposed. Anywhere in the buying/delivery/return process that you serve your customer better than your competition can set you apart and provides you with the ultimate marketing tool – satisfied customers,"

"This survey has shown that even the biggest names online face challenges in ensuring that they deliver a consistent brand image, build trust and provide consumers with every opportunity to recommend their service and purchase again. Online retail has grown up but still has even more to offer customers if the very best marketing practices are followed."

UK plc has to try harder

It is therefore essential that retailers look at every aspect of their service from first impression, through product comparison, purchase, fulfilment and after sales service if they are to gain new business and win customer loyalty and those all important recommendations.

"What is worrying too is that the top three brands in the survey are US–owned, with the UK's flagship retailer, Tesco, coming in only sixth and with B&Q and HMV's performance being particularly lamentable. Clearly UK plc has to try harder,".

Notes to editors

UK's Best Online Shopping Experiences — 2006

The top ten:

1. Amazon UK
2. Dell EMEA
3. Apple Computer UK
4. Next
5. Comet
6. Tesco/ QVC UK
7. Currys/ Littlewoods
8. ASOS
9. John Lewis
10. Hewlett–Packard/ Marks and Spencer

ABOUT BITE DIGITAL
Bite Digital (www.biteus.net) helps businesses deliver innovative and profitable customer experiences by combining business strategy, experience design, and industry–leading technologies, including its Website Management Platform. With offices in Manchester and Bucharest, The Bite Digital team has worked with companies such EMI, Matalan, JD Sports, Mitsubishi, BLM Law, SimplyGames, Virgin & LaserQuest.
 

A new type of digital media development company has been formed that provides web development and online marketing services exclusively in supporting Advertising, Marketing, PR & Web design agencies in the North West.

A decade after founding and then building successful website design & online marketing consultancies which are still operating profitably today, Jason Cozens, founder of Visuality, and Declan Cosgrove, founder of Bite IT have joined forces to form Bite Digital.

"By partnering with bite digital, agencies can secure increased revenue from their client base and win new business by leveraging opportunities in website design & online marketing without incurring increased overheads! Declan and I are looking to form long term commercial relationships with 5 agencies this year who will all benefit from the wealth of experience that we and our team can bring to the table. Having a development office in Bucharest also ensures that we can keep costs competitive"

Jason Cozens, bite digital.