Midweek Retail Round-up - The Retail Info you need, now!

You're busy.

As much as I know you'd love to have the time to read all of the latest and greatest things about online retail, and sift through ten, or twenty newsletters and daily google alerts... it's too much. You're running a business. Likely solo. I get it!

This is why I've created the Midweek Retail Round-up.

Posted every Wednesday or Thursday, the retail round-up will include the top retail related news and insights from the week, curated just for you.

Easy.

I'll even summarize the key learnings so (in case you don't want to read the full article).

The March 12th | Midweek Retail Round-up

E-Commerce / Online Retail / Social Media

Which Social Media Platforms Drive the Most Sales? via Shopify.com's Blog

Research done by Shopify (e-commerce) provider indicates that Facebook still leads in both traffic and conversion. Two-thirds of all visits to ecommerce sites come via Facebook. Polyvore.com interesting had the higher average order value.

Does Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp affect E-Commerce via PracticalEcommerce.com

FB's purchase of WhatsApp according to the writer is indicative of the importance of mobile (I agree!) Mobile is on a crazy growth trajectory (especially m-commerce). They also discuss the potential of Facebook starting to charge either users or businesses. Eeks. Another reason to migrate your audience to your email list!

Branding / Marketing

Hidden Persuasion - Unconscious branding actually works via Forbes.com

Research by the Association for Psychological Science in San Fran look into how unconscious brand exposure (i.e. not actively engaging with an ad) affects consumer preferences, and guess what. It does. Another reason to keep your branding and visual cues consistent over time. Consumers notice.

What is big idea branding via Business2community.com

Reinforces the need for a bigger branding vision and not to get lost in the piecemeal approach to marketing that has become so popular because of social media. What do you stand for? Is it meaningful?

SEO / Blogging / Content

{Infographic} SEO Workout via Volusion's Blog

Volusion cites "Authority", "Relevancy" and "Engagement" as the three keys to measuring your SEO performance.

SEO is dead. Long Live OC/DC via Copyblogger.com

Copyblogger has come up with a new term to replace SEO abbreviated OCDC (Optimizing Content for discovery and conversion). Love it! Speaks to the importance of blogging. He introduces a concept called "Concept Symmetry" which speaks to the value of creating captivating headlines, back linking popular old articles (genius!) to new content, improving CTA (calls to action), and more. Actually this one, is worth a full-read if you can!