Ecommerce Web Development Services - Seriously, Evolution ... WTF?

Source - http://mashable.com
By- Eric Larson
Category - Ecommerce Web Development Services
Posted By - Imagination Print

Ecommerce Web Development Services

Damn, evolution — you crazy! 

It's no mystery that the universe has a sense of humor. For proof, look at the aye-aye — a rodent-like lemur, native to Madagascar, that gathers its food by gnawing holes into trees and using its extremely long middle fingers to reach inside and pull out grubs. Also: Its eyes. 

A Tumblr page called WTF, Evolution? honors nature's most befuddling creatures, much like our llama friend below, with the theme "Go home, evolution, you're drunk." 

Featured guests include the stargazer fish, the steinbit and the (undoubtedly regal) Andean Cock-of-the-Rock.

Is it really fair for us to judge, though? In the final scene of 1968's Planet of the Apes, one of the chimpanzee scientists, Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter), agrees to give a goodbye smooch to the human astronaut, Taylor (Charlton Heston) — but not before dropping the infamous "Alright ... but you're so damned ugly" line. To Charlton Heston. 

Maybe there's a theme in there somewhere. Maybe, in the aye-aye's eyes, we humans are just as "damned ugly" and funny looking as Taylor was to Zira. We'll never know for sure — at least, not until Tumblr: Animal Kingdom Edition hits the web. 

In the meantime, keep checking WTF? for more posts of nature's funniest mysteries. 

Are there any bizarre-looking animals you think should be included in the blog? Let us know below. 

Ecommerce Web Development Services - Web Design Agency Pod1 Delivers Ecommerce Powered Online Trunkshow to Salvatore Ferragamo

Source - http://news.yahoo.com
By - Press Released
Category - Ecommerce Web Development Services
Posted By - Imagination Print

Ecommerce Web Development Services

   The unique and innovative Style Yourself application has customers engaged, delighted and wanting more - just in time for New York Fashion Week!

New York based eCommerce web design and development agency Pod1, has just launched the latest version of the award winning online trunkshow for luxury Italian brand Salvatore Ferragamo.

The goal of this Magento e-commerce enabled site is to create a luxurious and engaging online environment for Ferragamo’s trunkshow and pre-order offering. Ferragamo wanted to replicate their in-store experience, allowing customers to browse and pre-order the new season’s collections before it hit the stores.

The site is built with the latest HTML5 and JavaScript coding standards so is optimized for tablets like the iPad and smart-phones. Fadi Shuman says, "Tablet's are now a bigger marketplace (and a far bigger growth opportunity) than desktop PC’s, and from our research we know that the luxury shopper we are targeting uses these devices to browse and shop fashion in considerable levels. We needed to ensure the experience wasn’t diluted or affected for the tablet/iPad user to protect the integrity of the brand."

The most unique and impressive element of this microsite is the "Style Yourself" area. Here, the Ferragamo shopper is able to view the full collection or can filter by category to find products she is interested in and can then start to assemble her own personalized look on the virtual, real-life model. The items are simply clicked upon and they appear on the model, styled and fitted perfectly. Layers can be replaced, accessories can be added and retracted easily and smoothly. All the while, a running real-time total of the products and prices which are being interacted with are displayed alongside the model, ready for pre-order. This section was developed to really empower the Ferragamo customer - both existing and newly acquired – so she can fully engage with the collection and interpret it in her own way. The customer becomes the stylist, and any combination of desired products can be developed into stunning, true to life "Looks" which can be viewed from different angles, shared across the shoppers’ social media networks and ultimately, pre-ordered.

Wardrobing and outfit-building functionality can often be executed clumsily, and the outcome is unrealistic and unconvincing. We really wanted to ensure this tool was built to showcase Ferragamo’s luxury product in an environment that was fitting and deserving of the brand itself, and that ultimately would create a scenario where the customer would feel confident pre-ordering complete looks at high price-points.

Pod1 CEO & Founder, Fadi Shuman said, "This is the best version yet with enhancements in the front and back-end so customers can enjoy the experience even more.

ABOUT POD1

For over 10 years, and based out of London and New York, Pod1 creates engaging ecommerce and marketing experiences to help brands and retailers sell more online.

Clients include: Beauty.com, TAG Heuer, The Limited, Stuart Weitzman, Salvatore Ferragamo, Nanette Lepore, Net-a-Porter, Lord & Taylor, Uniqlo, Kenneth Cole, Matthew Williamson and LK Bennett.

Their unique approach to website design and build, founded on planning and insight development means that the agency is consistently breaking new ground in the world of luxury and fashion ecommerce.

SERVICES

• Ecommerce (An official partner with Magento, Demandware & Hybris)


• Website design & development


• Magento


• Demandware


• Hybris


• SEO/SEM


• Digital Strategy


• Social media


• Copywriting


• Photography

Ecommerce Web Development Services - Twitter, Amex ‘Pay-By-Tweet’ Service Can Buy Items Through A Hashtag

Source - http://socialbarrel.com
By - Francis Rey
Category - Ecommerce Web Development Services
Posted By -  Imagination Print

Ecommerce Web Development Services

Twitter has inked a deal with payments firm American Express (Amex) to launch the first pay-by-tweet service on the micro-blogging website.

On Monday, both firms revealed that Amex cardholders can now buy products through a simple tweet with the item’s hashtag.

The consolidation marks one of the most concerted, ambitious efforts to integrate e-commerce into a social media site.

Leslie Berland, head of digital partnerships and development at Amex, said the payments service wants a simple tweet to turn into a real transaction.

This is a first for Twitter users, who now have the option to reply to a merchant’s offer and purchase an item without leaving the site, she added.

The agreement allows users who link their Twitter and Amex accounts to take offers from merchants via a tweet, with a hashtag that includes the offer.

Given the users confirm after a follow-up from the payments service, Amex said it will push the details to the merchant and close the deal.

Social media – spearheaded by the proliferation of social networking sites – has pushed merchants to pick up the pace for e-commerce on social networks.

But some retailers who tried it on Facebook reported that they had unsatisfactory results on the world’s largest social network.

Twitter itself already tested offers with Twitsclusives, a service that allows merchants to give discount codes for users to shop anywhere.

Twitsclusives have yet to gain traction.

Social networks, such as Facebook, have extended e-commerce as a new source of long-term business.

Still, companies have a hard time to profit directly from transactions on the platform.

Berland said Twitter has no share in revenue from the transactions, as it is Amex’s technology – just built on the micro-blogging platform.

An unnamed source, who claims familiarity with the deal, said Twitter can take advantage of the growth in advertisements from e-commerce, as merchants send promoted tweets on their offers.

More than a week ago, hackers attacked Twitter and stole some of its users’ personal data.

The incident now raises questions on the security measures of the company for payments and e-commerce.

But Amex said it will stop the risk of dupery on the platform by not sharing its account information from Twitter.

The pay-by-tweet service – launched with offers on the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, an Xbox console, and a Sony camera – is available on Amex gift cards.

The payments firm has yet comment on the expansion of a similar service to Facebook.

Although it has no payment feature yet, an Amex service already exists on Facebook and other social networks for merchants to promote their offers. 

Ecommerce Web Development Services - How Eommerce Will Change Retailers 2013

Source - http://www.bizreport.com
By - Kristina Knight
Category - Ecommerce Web Development Services
Posted  By- Imagination Print

Ecommerce Web Development Service

Ecommerce saw a tremendous spike through Q4 2012, with spending estimated at $42 billion; how is Q1 2013 shaping up compared to that record-setting quarter?

Maria Haggerty, President, Dotcom Distribution: Q1 has gotten off to a very positive start. Typically, our clients experience a significant spike in new customers that shop on their website for the first time during the holidays. With the holiday season being so strong this year, our clients were able to acquire many new customers. And since their shopping experience was so positive, January has seen healthy re-orders from these new customers. When you layer continued growth from mobile and the focus on improving conversion rates, we see very positive signs for Q1 and 2013 overall.

Kristina: Are we at the turning point where shoppers will begin going online first and in-store second?

Maria: Absolutely. As we all cram more and more into our busy lives, savvy online shoppers do not want to go to the store only to find that what they are looking for is not in stock. Alternatively, many shoppers still enjoy going to the store and browsing in "real life" and then return home to purchase something that they cannot get out of their mind.

The connection of the physical and virtual presence is and will continue to be part of the online shopping experience. Some traditionally eCommerce-only sites are teaming up with popular traditional brick-and-mortar stores to create pop-up stores to accomplish this.

Kristina: Personalization and on-site search were two focuses for many retailers through 2012; do you expect those two areas to continue getting more play as retailers move forward?

Maria: As e-retailers get smarter about "who" is their customer, they will be looking to serve up items their customers are more likely to buy. Understanding that you generally only get a few seconds to make an impression, you want to make sure that you serve up something that is likely to be purchased. We are seeing more and more of our clients gather information about their customers through reviews and social media. The next step in this evolution will surely be to use that information to personalize the entire shopping experience.

More from Maria tomorrow, including the online segments that will lead ecommerce growth in 2013. 

Ecommerce Web Development Services - Avoidable Ecommerce Mistakes: Lessons from 2012 Holiday Season

Source - http://www.practicalecommerce.com
By - Press Release
Category - Ecommerce Web Development Services
Posted By - Imagination Print

Ecommerce Web Development Services

 "Avoidable Ecommerce Mistakes: Lessons from 2012 Holiday Season" is a free, 30-minute webinar. The presenter is Dale Traxler, contributing editor for Practical eCommerce. The sponsor is Yahoo! Small Business, an all-in-one, scalable ecommerce platform for businesses of all sizes.

Common Ecommerce Mistakes

Running an ecommerce business can be complicated. Challenges include marketing, inventory, shipping, infrastructure, and customer service. Many merchants succeed at managing all of these. But it's easy to make mistakes. And some mistakes are more common than others.
In this 30-minute webinar, we'll address three common mistakes. We'll offer suggestions for avoiding them — especially during the holiday season — citing examples from actual merchants.

3 Common Mistakes

We'll address the following three mistakes.

• Failure to test traffic load. For most merchants, the holiday season accounts for a large percentage of annual sales, and traffic. But many merchants enter the season not knowing if their sites will accommodate traffic spikes and increased sales. We'll speak with a merchant who suffered critical downtime due to this, and we'll suggest tools to test your site prior to traffic surges.
• Poorly planned promotions. Merchants often launch marketing promotions without properly planning for the backend strain of fulfilling the increased orders. The result is angry customers. We'll address common promotional mistakes and speak with a merchant who failed to sync a holiday promotion with her ability to manage it.
• Breakdowns in fulfillment and shipping. Fulfillment and shipping delays frustrate consumers and tax customer-support staffs. It's especially important during the holidays, when shoppers need their purchases delivered timely. We'll cite common fulfillment and shipping errors, and we'll speak with a merchant who attempted to fix a prior shipping problem, but ended up making it much worse.

Ecommerce Web Development Services - Where Not to Die In 2013

Source - http://finance.yahoo.com
By -  Ashlea Ebeling
Category - Ecommerce Web Development Services
Posted By - http://tinyurl.com/E-commerceWebsiteDesign01

Ecommerce Web Development Services

Think you don’t have to worry about estate taxes because of the new generous federal estate tax law? Not so, for families in 21 states and the District of Columbia where separate state levies are still a big concern. “For the vast majority of people who are wealthy, the fear factor of the federal estate tax is gone, but many still need to focus on state estate and inheritance taxes,” says Martin Shenkman, an estate lawyer in Paramus, N.J.

What makes this extra tricky is that state estate and inheritance taxes have been in constant flux over the last decade. And it’s not just the list of states that has been changing, but in some states, the level at which the tax kicks in has been changing (both up and down). So it’s important to stay on top of this to avoid a surprise tax bill.

Thanks to the fiscal cliff tax deal (the American Taxpayer Relief Act), the federal estate tax exemption of a generous $5 million per person, indexed for inflation, is now permanent. So for 2013, up to $5.25 million of an individual’s estate will be exempt from federal estate tax, with a 40% tax rate applied to any excess over the exemption amount.

By contrast, states with estate taxes typically exempt $1 million or less per estate from their tax and impose a top rate of 16%. New York, for example, sets its exemption at $1 million. So the estate of a person dying in New York with $5.25 million would owe no federal tax, but would owe New York $420,800, calculates Donald Hamburg, an estate lawyer with Golenbock Eisenman in New York City.

Six states levy only an inheritance tax, with the rate depending on the relationship of the heir to the deceased and the taxes kicking in, in some cases, on the first dollar of bequest. Two states, Maryland and New Jersey, impose both. Maryland, for example, imposes an estate tax of up to 16% above a $1 million exemption, and a 10% inheritance tax on every dollar left to a niece, nephew, friend or partner, but no inheritance tax on money left to children, grandchildren, parents or siblings. (Any estate tax owed is reduced by the inheritance tax paid.) As in the federal system, bequests to a spouse are tax-free.

Lately, the trend is towards eliminating state estate taxes, or at least lessening the tax bite by increasing the amount exempt from the tax. Ohio no longer has an estate tax, effective Jan. 1, 2013 (Republican Gov. John Kasich signed the repeal law in 2011). Delaware falls off the list effective July 1, 2013 when its current temporary estate tax expires. Indiana’s inheritance tax is repealed effective Jan. 1, 2022 (Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the repeal law last year).

Meanwhile in Indiana the amount that is exempt from the state inheritance tax is going up each year, from $1.25 million this year, to $2 million in 2014 and $5 million in 2015. Other states are upping their exemption amounts this year too. Maine’s exemption doubles to $2 million this year (as part of Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s budget). Rhode Island’s exemption goes up to $910,725 this year, up from $859,350 in 2 012 as it’s indexed for inflation.

Connecticut is the only state going in the other direction recently. In 2011, Connecticut lowered the amount it exempts from its tax from $3.5 million to $2 million per estate, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011. And Illinois is the most recent state to implement an estate tax—it resurrected an estate tax in 2011 with a $2 million exemption—now $4 million as of Jan. 1, 2013.

The next state to watch out for is North Carolina. Newly elected Rep. Governor Pat McCrory made abolishing the state estate tax one of his campaign promises: “North Carolina is now the only state in the Southeast with the death tax. This tax unfairly punishes those who would inherit their loved one’s possessions or business, forcing some families to sell off a small business or family farm just to pay the tax. As governor, [I] will fight to eliminate the death tax for North Carolinians.”

Could more states add stand-alone estate taxes? A technical provision of the federal estate tax law includes a deduction for state tax paid—instead of the pre-2001 state death tax credit, which allowed states to share in the estate tax revenue the feds collected. For states that were hoping for a return to that revenue sharing, it’s possible that they will consider adding stand-alone taxes, according to James Walschlager, a research analyst at tax publisher CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business.

In the meantime, check out the interactive map showing state estate and inheritance taxes for 2013.  Hover over each state to see the dollar amount exempt from taxes and the top rate.