European behavior in e-commerce

An interesting article on today's issue of eMarketer underlines the differences in online purchases of European customers. UK is the leading market, but Germany as well as France are both growing fastly in terms of online buying habits and budget-consciousness. 

Users of Western Europe are savvy and wise: they pay attention to deals and sales, especially in times of recession. Price comparison sites like Kelkoo, PriceRunner and Shopzilla are their first point of access to the Internet when they are looking for something to buy. 

Nowadays...

"Nowadays anyone with a crap laptop and an Internet connection can sound their barbaric yawp, whatever it may be" (Julie Powell). 


I am just another "anyone" and I think this is kinda reassuring. Julie Powell, one of the most known bloggers whose successful story inspired the movie "Julie & Julia", was an ordinary secretary before starting her famous Project.
She had a great idea and she persisted in it, even if it was extremely difficult and challenging to achive.
She wanted to learn cooking using Julia Child's masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she decided to complete 524 recipes in 365 days. I don't like the film, even if Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep are great, but I read Julie Powell's blog and I am eager to learn more from her. She used a Blogger template and wrote without knowing if anyone was listening to her. This story has an happy ending and I think her success is extremely deserved.
When you struggle to get what you want and your aim is considered beyond  reach, if you succeed, you clearly deserved it.
I never say "I can't do that" because I know that if I bone up on it, if I study, if  I make errors, I will definitely learn something new.
Julie Powell is a modern hero and I really admire her irony, her accuracy and strong passion for something. 
It would be a pleasure for me to have half of her imaginativeness: I just need a good idea to begin with...

Tracy, Paul and Mary

I have found an interesting article on User Behaviour in Paid Search by George Michie. He identificates three different profiles based on their behaviour in using search engines:

• Trademark Tracy aka Brand is the one who normally search for brand names, stores and marks (e.g. "Harrod's");
• Yellow Page Paul aka Head is the one who normally runs generic queries, more interested in a category of product, rather than in a specific brand, as if he is looking at the Yellow Pages (e.g. "sportswear");
• Modern Mary aka Tail, instead, is the most focused one, who looks for a very specific product, using long tail keywords (e.g. "red striped swimsuit with co-ordinate sarong").

I find this classification really funny but quite accurate as well.

Sometimes online marketers struggle to find a way to increase sales using well converting keywords, even if recent studies show that in most cases what we see is just the emerged parts of the iceberg, not its entire shape. For example, even if the CTR for generic keywords (the ones that Paul is looking at) is high and they score a low conversion rate, it doesn't mean they are "evil" and unnecessary in an AdWords account. 

Google normally assures that generic keywords are the first queries that a user searches online and only after seeing our ads he decides to purchase on our website. Sometimes, though, these generic keywords are crucial to any e-commerce website in assisting the final conversion.

Every web marketer must be conscious of this and should always take into account the fact that both Tracy, Paul and Mary are all inside the panel of users to refer to.

Beautiful | Decay

Lately I am fascinated by an art and design website called Beautiful | Decay. It started as a "homemade" photocopied magazine in 1996, when its founder Amir Fallah was still at high school. Fourteen years later it is internationally renowned and is available both for artists/designers and their public. The online version is just a shop-window that allows artists to show some of their masterpieces with a brief bio and explanation.
There is also an indie online store that sells accessories, clothing, original paintings, houseware and books. 
Three times a year Amir Fallah publish a limited edition coloured magazine which includes most of these art pieces and interviews and it is aimed to collectors.
Thanks to Beautiful | Decay I felt in love with a Swiss artist called Beni Bischof: his works are funny, evocative and always striking. I appreciate his collages (see an example on the left - Ohne Titel, 2008-09) and illustrations, but he is also very talented as a painter.


You can buy or order Beautiful | Decay Magazine here: Beautiful Decay Issue N & Beautiful Decay Issue Y Magazine

Better cosy or scientifically organized?

My favourite website, Etsy, has now a new homepage. 


Even if I were used to the previous version, I find this new homepage clearer and more appealing. You can see the whole selection of items at a glance, without scrolling down the page. Navigation and side menu are easier to find, but I feel this interface is quite "cold", less cosy and intimate.


Etsy is about handmade items, artisanal creations and ecofriendly manufactures: a familiar and intimate yet well-organized page would have been definitely a better welcome page to all users, both  old and new ones. 


I'll become acquainted with this homepage, but for now let me twist my nose.

Welcome on board!

Not sure of how to start. As the lazy person I am, I find it hard to start working on a new project without asking myself "Will I be able to do this?", "How long will it last?", "Do I have anything interesting to say?" and some other scary questions.

This morning is different. I've started reading an amazing book called The Internet Case Study Book, published last month by Taschen and written by Rob Ford, founder of FWA Favourite Website Awards.

He gave me the necessary boost to start writing this blog.

You might understand from my English that this is not my mother tongue; in order to avoid embarassing situations, possible misspellings and errors, let me introduce myself briefly: I am Italian, I am fascinated by the web and I would like to use this blog to take note of my studies and daily discoveries.

Maybe you would be interested in it or some of you could find it useful or I could even be the only reader of this blog. It doesn't matter, since I feel the urgency of now: this blog begins here!


Note: you can buy "The Internet Case Study Book" on Amazon.