Apple Advances Ecommerce Efforts on iPhone

An article from Zippy Cart.

Apple made a big announcement last week that will change the face of ecommerce for application developers. Developers can now offer their users the option to purchase extra content or features within a free application. Currently developers on the platform have to spend extra time and effort to create a lite version of their product, which is free, and a separate paid version. This not only clogs up the AppleiTunes App store with excess apps to browse through, but it makes it more complicated from a development and maintenance standpoint. The in-app purchase feature will completely eliminate those annoying lite apps from the store so you can only have one version of the app that you upgrade if you desire. Having this additional functionality will allow developers to offer extra levels or new tools to an existing app, but these add-on features can only be offered via payment for now. This means app developers will have to charge the typically .99 cent minimum for any type of upgrade and cannot offer the user free upgrades within the app. Users can still easily update their app in the app store if they want to get new free features, but some want to see the feature in app as well.

Apple app developers are very excited as the future for them looks brighter and more profitable by giving them more flexibility to monetize their app and up-sell users. No longer will they have to only use ads as their sole means of generating revenue since they can offer nice paid add-ons from within the app. They are also excited that the removal of the lite apps will make it so much easier to navigate through all of the choices in the app store which could lead to higher conversion rates from some developers. Stay tuned into the iTunes app store so you can watch this ecommerce shift take place over the next couple months.

eCommerce Tips for Marketing to Teens

Teens account for an astonishing amount of the money being spent online! Gone are the days when Ward gave Wally or the Beaver a weekly allowance of fifty cents for mowing the lawn or washing the family car.

Many teens today have jobs, credit cards and some serious spending money to throw around.

In fact, teens are projected to spend over $91 billion online in 2011!

If you are selling products online that would appeal to this demographic, but you aren’t making any effort to target the market, you’re missing out on a lot of sales!

According to surveys, approximately one-third of all teens consider the internet as their primary source of entertainment.

To attract this affluent age group, here are a few tips to bear in mind:

Be real: When marketing to teens, be authentic. Just be who you are. Don’t overindulge in a lot of flowery hype that will be interpreted as phony. Be open, honest, and direct. This age group responds poorly to anything that sounds like a bunch of hokey stuff. Keep it real!

Generate some buzz: Grassroots marketing is key with teen sales. Create some buzz! You might give a special freebie to a group of users in a social community, for instance, and get them to help spread the word about your products. Make them feel special in some way. Provide them with deals and/or freebies that they can share with friends, then watch the buzz spread and spread!

Keep it simple: Teens have an exceptionally short attention span, in the main. So, keep your marketing message simple and get to the point quickly. Teens multitask….they might be watching TV while talking on the phone while surfing on a laptop. So, give them something they can act on fast. Don’t have a lot of other links, too many images or other things going on besides your main message, or you’ll probably lose them.

Engage and provide interaction: Teens love interaction online! Take advantage of some of the new interactive website tools to make your site fun and interesting to teens.

The teen market is a golden opportunity for the ecommerce entrepreneur!

This article was by Amanda Brooke from Drop, Ship, Access.

Social media leads to Brits spending 30 hours a week online

Some news from U Talk Marketing.

Brits are spenging up to 30 hours a week online as social media takes up more of our time, according to new research from uSwitch.com

The social networking boom is one of the main reasons why Brits now spend so much time online, according to the Consumer Opinion Panel.

A quarter of adults say they need to use sites such as Facebook and Twitter as least one a say and almost a third of 18-24 year olds spend more than five hours a week on them.

People even have to log in while on holiday with over a third of under 25s admitting to cheacking these sites while away.

But, while the influence of these sites cannot be under estimated, only 27% of people think that social networking is a good thing- almost half are still weighing it up saying that for them, at least, the jury is still out.

The Consumer Opinion Panel also revealed that on a typical working day the average person now spends five hours online – two hours for professional work purposes and three hours of pleasure and leisure. This includes online shopping, managing their finances, socializing and emailing family and friends… Read More.