Read on.

Some good news from the US: shopping cart abandonment may be annoying for the online retailer, but it’s not a disaster as three out of four online buyers return to the shop within 28 days. And it gets even better.

48 percent, almost every second consumer, can be encouraged to make a purchase even after abandoning the order, whereby it is, of course, important to ensure that the customer has given his advertisement consent. However, this figure applies only to repeat customers or visitors who are already familiar with your shop.

It’s much more difficult with new customers. Studies show that only three percent make a purchase in the same shop after abandoning an order. For this reason, the researchers recommend paying special attention to building a relationship with the customer, for example, by offering a welcome gift.

This is the key result of a large-scale survey carried out by SeeWhy between July and August 2011. The purchase behaviour in more than 260,000 e-commerce transactions by 617 000 visitors to various online shops in the US was analysed.

Be careful with delivery costs

Among other things, delivery costs have been identified as “order killers”, particularly when the online retailer has set a minimum charge for free delivery. The Swiss e-commerce consultant Erik Beyer asserts in the carpathia blog that a $100 limit promotes the highest abandonment rate. He writes that this is particularly the case if shipping costs are too high in relation to the purchased product. Moreover he states that if shipping costs are equal to the cost of the product itself, the abandonment rate is 100%. One of his suggestions to help mitigate this problem is to enclose vouchers and special offers with the packages.

How has the UK implemented the Cookies Directive?

So far only eight of the 27 Member States of the European Union have implemented the Cookies Directive, although the deadline for doing so expired on 25 May 2011. Those countries are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and Great Britain.

Implementation in Great Britain

In the magazine for data protection Zeitschrift für Datenschutz (ZD) 2012, 24, Andreas Thürauf published an interesting article entitled “Cookie Opt-in in Great Britain – the Future of Cookies? Overview of the Changes and Effects”.

The article concerns the implementation of Directive 2009/136/EC into British law, the solutions proposed by the Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO) and the possible effects of the new law on behavioural advertising.

First, the author presents the British regulations that were applicable up to 26 May 2011: He mentions that up to 26 May 2011 in Great Britain, Article 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR 2003) intended that the users of a website should be provided with clear and comprehensive information on the purpose, type and scope of the use of cookies and be given the opportunity to refuse the storage of cookies on their end device. In practice, that information was often contained in the website’s legal notice.

Article 6 of PECR 2003 was amended through the implementation of the Cookies Directive. Most of the wording of the Directive was adopted.

Consent to the placement of cookies

According to the Directive, in principle the user must give his/her consent to the use of cookies, unless they are strictly necessary in order for the provider of an information society service to supply the service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user.

The requirement to provide clear and comprehensive information from the existing regulations has been retained.

When is a cookie strictly necessary?

The Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO) – the data protection officer in the UK, who is appointed by the crown and independent of the government, has proposed solutions for obtaining effective consent.

According to Thürauf, these solutions could also be of significance for the other Member States, as Great Britain would like to play a pioneering role in the issue of consenting to cookies.

The ICO cites “shopping basket cookies” as an example of cookies that do not require consent: The author states that the ICO gives as an example the use of a cookie in an online shop in which the customer marks products which he/she would like to add to the shopping basket. In this case, the consent-free cookie enables products which were marked on a previous page to also remain in the site’s “memory” and to still appear as selected if it is called up again.

He considers that cookies which are used so that the operator of the site knows that the user has not agreed to the placement of cookies are as such also exempt from the requirement to obtain consent.

The time when consent is given

Thürauf then considers the issue of the time when consent is given and presents the different opinions, for example that of the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Article 29 data protection group.

However, the ICO has not yet stated a position regarding the time when consent is given.

Browser settings as consent?

In Germany there is frequent discussion as to whether certain browser settings for blocking cookies should be sufficient. The ICO in Great Britain takes a different position on this issue:

The author cites that because, according to the ICO, the browser settings cannot be deemed to constitute consent to the placement of cookies, or only in particular cases, the ICO provides a catalogue of measures for obtaining effective consent from the user.

He then presents several possible solutions.

1. Obtaining consent by means of a pop-up
   According to the ICO, this possibility is the clearest, but not the most elegant.
2.  Consent to the conditions of use
3. Individual setting of the website
4. Use of analytical cookies

Notification of the use of cookies is provided in the headline or footer of the website and users must give their consent there. The ICO uses this solution itself on its website and considers it to be a model example.

Conclusion

In the conclusion of his article, Thürauf argues that the conception of the ICO is as yet the most far-reaching initiative of the European Union for solving the problem of the cookie opt-in.

He also believes that the advice on the implementation of the obligation to obtain consent provided by the ICO is suitable to be transferred to other Member States. However, it is necessary to wait and see how the other states implement the Directive.

Finally he quotes that if one follows the opinion of the British legislator, the implementation and permissibility of consent by means of browser settings depend on the technical development of the browsers.

How to write sales-boosting product texts

In the beginning was the word – and this also applies to online retail. The text which praises or describes a product is just as important for conversion as attractive photographs or user-friendly and well thought-out navigation.

Martin Groß-Albenhausen has summarised the most important rules for writing good copy, thus providing online retailers with access to catalogue copywriter know-how which has been successfully put into practice for several decades.

The benefit/benefit/benefit rule

This three-pronged rule was formulated by the US catalogue guru, Hershell Gordon Lewis.

1st benefit: State a property of the product which makes it superior to others.

Example: “At last, a truly silent washing machine.”

2nd benefit: Place this property in the context of the customer’s leisure time or professional life.

Example: “Whirring and clanking are now a thing of the past.”

3rd benefit: Tell the reader how the product property will improve his/her leisure time or working life.

Example: “For the first time in your life, you can play quiet music in the kitchen…. and enjoy it.”

Seven deadly sins

1. “Sloth” is apparent in lifeless homepages which neither perform a pre-selling function nor provide an introduction to the product range, let alone say anything about the positioning.
2.  “Pride”, i.e. too much “I” copy, too much talk about the company or the entrepreneur and too little about the customer.
3. “Gluttony” means pages which try to do too much, without order or direction.
4. “Lust” means that the fun of the “art direction” overshadows the main objective of all advertising design, i.e. selling based on benefits to the customer.
5. “Greed” manifests itself in saving on sales boosters, which generally involve the mail order retailer giving something back.
6. “Wrath” may be felt by customers if texts are incomplete, the lettering too small or the order information concealed.
7. “Envy” means looking at what others are doing too much instead of developing one’s own language and positioning expressed in images, copy and goods.

Shop design and copy

Of course, product texts sell above the content level. Nevertheless, there are a couple of rules which should be observed when designing and presenting texts in an online shop:

• No red, green or orange headlines. Texts must provide contrast – nothing beats black or dark blue.
• Dominant backgrounds distract from the subject at hand, i.e. the product.
• Text on unstructured or dark backgrounds is difficult to read and reduces the response.
• Inverse lettering is tiring to read and diminishes the response.
• Colourful, shaped bullet points may look nice, but they turn information into a work of art. They appeal to other areas of the brain and reduce information processing.
• Right-justified or centred text hinders reading comprehension.

The text academy model

This model assumes that the merchant has only limited space and time in catalogues and often also on the shop’s product pages to accommodate benefit arguments, calls-to-action, teasers, all the basic communication concerning the features of the product and obligatory declarations. The model therefore uses a standardised starting point that nevertheless arouses interest. In practice, the model functions as follows:

• Magical mail order lead-in is a word or expression such as “New:”, “Only from [company name]:”, “Exclusive:”, “Bestseller:”, i.e. a teaser with a colon which conditions the further reading of the text.
• Product name: This may be the technical concept, for example, but also (as in the case of Jako-o) a name which in itself is beneficial. “Only from ….: the babygro that grows too”, or “A stroke of luck for children: our mum-friendly, easy-to-wash jeans”.
• Dash and benefit OR “…”: “Only from …: the babygro that grows too – buy it once and your baby can wear it up to the age of two”. In this case, the online retailer has already included the benefit, i.e. the fact that the product has a long lifetime. Of course, you can do it even more elegantly and express the benefit as “going one better”. “ – instead of going through five sizes in 12 months, your baby can wear this babygro until their second birthday. And you can spend the money you save on presents.”
• Descriptive sentence
• Enumeration/facts/data: These include product declarations, information such as “fun motifs sorted into themes for boys and girls” etc.
• Order line: “Only €4.95 until the end of January – it’s enough to have you giggling and drooling yourself! Or save twice as much with a three-pack for €12.95”
• Call-to-action

The most important basics are listed here.

The level of organisation of a mail order warehouse mainly depends on the quantity of stored items. A commercial ebay dealer might make do with a few shelves in his own garage. However, with an expanding range and an increase in shipment volumes, the online retailer may quickly reach his limits.

The storage areas

For many online retailers a simple three-way division of the warehouse should be perfectly adequate.

• Incoming goods:  Here, the delivered goods are checked for completeness and quality. At the same time the supplier can take back empty euro pallets. The incoming goods area can also be used as a temporary supply warehouse, as long as the delivered pallets have not yet been separated.
• Order-picking warehouse: In this warehouse individual merchandise is stored. In most cases simple shelving racks or flow racks are adequate, from which the picker takes the items ordered.
• Dispatch: Here the goods are packed, prepared for shipping and collected for the shipper. FMG – i.e. fast moving goods – can be stored in the dispatch area for a short period of time. This way the goods can be picked directly off the pallet, saving time and shortening walking distances. In large mail order warehouses fast moving goods are stored in pre-picking zones at the front of the dispatch area.

These sub-areas do not need to be separated by walls – when using fork-lifts or pallet trucks this would be more of a hindrance. Rather, these are storage areas which might be identified by floor markings in order to prevent pallets from the incoming goods area from being “just quickly” stored in the dispatch area.

Storage area allocation

A warehouse, in which a picker first has to search for each item, is not very effective. This creates avoidable delays until the goods are ready for shipment; in turn, the maximum logistics capacity of your shop decreases and sales figures may fall due to a larger quota of returns. This is why each item must be allocated to a storage area. Logistics experts call this “marriage to a storage area”. There are two options:

1. Numerical space allocation: Here items are always stored in a fixed area according to the sequence of the item number. This method is suitable for most small and medium-sized online shops with a manageable product range and shipping volumes.
2. Chaotic space allocation: For shops with high shipping volumes the numerical system is not flexible enough to react to changes in the product range. Instead, new items are automatically allocated to the next available storage area. This requires that each item number in a table is allocated a storage area number.

Warehouse planning

When planning a warehouse, technical capacities must be taken into account in addition to economic considerations. The following basic factors should be considered when planning your warehouse.

• Number of items in the product range
• Size of inventory items
• Average and maximum storage quantity of an item depending on disposition cycles and planned clearance sales
• Shipment quantity per day on average and at peak times
• Average number of items per shipment. Multiple item shipments are more efficient for picking
• Quota of returns

You should be aware of these strategies.

There is no such thing as an average return rate in online trading. Returns just depend too much on the type of product to be able to make a general statement. While the return rate is around 15 per cent in the case of technical items, returns can easily exceed the 50 per cent mark in the fashion business, explains Dieter Urbanke, CEO of Hermes Fulfilment GmbH.

Especially in the fashion trade, shop operators have always been up against “selection orders”. These involve the customer deliberately ordering an item in different sizes and colours. The customer keeps the item which fits them or which they like and the other items are sent back to the trader as returns.

Of course the shop operator incurs additional costs for the return shipment and for inspecting, refurbishing and placing the goods back into stock. It may therefore definitely pay to deal with so-called serial returners in a proactive manner and try to exert some positive influence on their returning behaviour.

Obviously, shop operators might also find that the causes of a high return rate are closer to home. For instance when packing errors are made, when product images are unrealistic, or when the staff are inefficient in cleaning up addresses.

Traders have tested various strategies to reduce the return rate. It is up to each shop operator to test whether and to what degree any such measure is effective. There are a great number of measures for preventing returns that a shop operator should be aware of. We have put together a list of the most important strategies based amongst other things on the book “Versandhandelsmanagement” (Distance Selling Management) by Dr Jan Thieme:

Customer-focused measures

• Addressing “serial returners” by telephone or in writing with comments on return behaviour (e.g. reference to size charts, virtual fitting room or body scanner).
• As a follow-up measure, if required, refusal to deliver or selective deliveries to serial returners with a negative profit margin.
• Deactivation of serial returners with a negative profit margin, no more newsletters, no more catalogues, etc.

Product-focused measures

• Improvement of quality control regarding efficiency, fit, etc.
• Inspection of suppliers or of specific delivery batches
• Removal of items from product range
• Provision of replacement items to avoid further returns

Communication-focused measures

• Check whether displayed images of goods are too unrealistic
• Improvement of operating instructions
• Use of size charts, fitting guidelines, virtual dummies or body scanners
• Review of returns information (are the options for cancellation/return highlighted too strongly?)
• Monitoring of agent behaviour in the call centre

Fulfilment-focused measures

• Quality management and research into error causes in the picking & packing department in the case of packing errors
• Optimisation of packaging
• Selection of a delivery service provider who offers flexible delivery scheduling with multiple delivery attempts
• Review of processes involved in address cleanup
• Complete deliveries
• Prompt deliveries (the later the delivery, the higher the likelihood of returns)

Measures focused on material requirements planning

• Better goods availability reduces returns

Confidence-boosting measures

Their purpose is to evoke a positive emotion in the customer when he or she takes hold of the goods:

• Welcome gifts for new customers
• Surprise gifts
• Renewed confirmation of reliability through use of a seal of approval logo on a parcel insert, the exterior of the packaging or the paperwork (invoice, delivery note, etc.)

Show the feminine side of your shop.Conversion experts note time and time again that most online shops are made by men for men. Meanwhile, female Internet users dominate interactive shopping – no matter whether it’s via TV, catalogues or the Internet.

When it comes to e-commerce, men are from the drawer, women are from Amazon. Most online shops are made for men, although women shop differently. Tough luck – as feminine web design promotes long customer relationships and stronger sales growth. And even if most men won’t admit it: they too prefer shops optimised for women.

All the more astounding then, that many online retailers don’t take into account the needs of women when designing their online shops. In a very interesting analysis, iBusiness has discovered what strategies online sellers can use to make their shops more attractive to women.

These are the ten tips you should bear in mind:

1. Analysing female-friendly sites generates knowledge for your own shop
2. Well-connected women enable your business to grow quickly
3. Men are on a mission and buy, while women are looking for an experience and shop
4. Women disclose information about themselves to gain benefits
5. Slow down the purchasing process for the benefit of new contacts
6. Identify the relevant product characteristics for women
7. The right product beats price
8. List short and long-term product characteristics
9. Show various different situations for use
10. Show the opinions and experience of others

Why Google wants to become a logistics provider.

According to media reports, the strategists at Google are considering offering a same-day delivery service for Google Shopping. The Wall Street Journal reports that the search engine giant is looking for a strong retailer with whom it can create a delivery service similar to Amazon Prime. The publication claims that discussions have already been held with GAP, Macy’s and OfficeMax.

For Google, this step is logical and necessary. There are two main reasons for this:

1. Google’s influence on the e-commerce value creation chain ends at the retailers. Despite its Checkout, Google does not yet have its foot in the door in one of the central business areas of e-commerce: logistics and shipping. Amazon is well-equipped here thanks to its fulfilment services.
2. When looking for products, Internet users tend to turn to Amazon rather than Google as a search engine. It’s argued that, as a result, many retailers generate more traffic via Amazon than via Google.

Google is said to have been inspired by Amazon’s Prime service. For an one-off annual fee of £49 in the UKor $79 in the USA, the customer gets fast delivery from Amazon Prime with no minimum order value.

The pilot is due to be launched soon in the San Francisco region.

Google must react

For Martin Groß-Albenhausen, head of e-commerce at the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bvh), Google’s approach comes as no surprise:

It is because Amazon has become the one-stop shop and that is particularly due to its expensive Prime service. As Amazon has secured itself the best price advantage and offers excellent service – and so has perfected the dirty day-to-day distance selling work -, many Internet users now search for products on Amazon first. Google loses out on these searches, precisely because it is no longer enough to just compare prices if it makes placing the order too tedious.

What’s more, Groß-Albenhausen believes Google will be faced with a further major challenge in future: the increasing omission of display screens for searches. This is being caused by virtual agents who react to speech, such as Siri.

Google will be forced to develop its own Android product to compete with Apple’s Siri. This means some things will have to change, as Google will need to move its sources of revenue away from ads. Siri does not read aloud any advertising texts that the user then activates. The user also no longer goes back and forth in the search, which would produce multiple views and clicks.

The alternative to Amazon

Not all retailers are happy to get more turnover traffic via Amazon than via Google, as the commission at Amazon is considerable. What’s more, many online sellers must always fear the online shop giant as a potential competitor.

However, a partnership with Google within the new project would only be possible if Google takes over more and more of the customer contact work itself as part of the transaction, i.e. addresses, credit checks, handling payments, etc. This would mean the retailers no longer gain new customers, but instead become “upstream suppliers”, unless Google then passes on the information to the retailers for subsequent use, which is certain to have its price. Otherwise, there will be further distance between retailers and customers.

Google will have to combine a high level of availability with a consistent level of service if the scheme is to be a success. Google is really only strong at the front-end, whereas Amazon is strong in every area.

Trusted Shops GmbH to od ponad dziesięciu lat synonim bezpiecznych zakupów w Internecie. Znak jakości, ochrona kupującego i opinia klientów to uznane przez konsumentów produkty, którymi sprzedawcy internetowi dokumentują, że w pełni zasługują na zaufanie. Dowiedz się więcej o możliwościach rozpoczęcia pracy i rozwoju zawodowego w zespole Trusted Shops.

O firmie

Od 1999 roku europejski Znak Jakości Trusted Shops gwarantuje bezpieczeństwo podczas zakupów w internecie. Ponad 10.000 sprzedawców internetowych korzysta dziś z naszych usług, by dowieść swojej wiarygodności i zdobyć zaufanie osób kupujących w internecie. Każdego roku miliony konsumentów kupuje u certyfikowanych przez nas sprzedawców internetowych oraz korzysta z naszych produktów: znaku jakości, ochrony kupującego i oceny klientów. Rozwój Trusted Shops w Europie wspiera ponad 100 pracowników w biurach w Kolonii, Warszawie i Paryżu.

Twoje predyspozycje

Wspierasz budowanie wiodącej pozycji Trusted Shops na rynku. Jako pracownik zespołu ds. telesprzedaży z siedzibą w Kolonii, pozyskujesz nowych klientów z obszaru polskojęzycznego i zajmujesz się dystrybucją naszych atrakcyjnych produktów na szybko rozwijającym się rynku handlu elektronicznego. W szczególności wiążą się z tym następujące zadania:

• nawiązywanie kontaktów z nowymi klientami przez e-mail i telefon
• doradztwo i obsługa klientów z Polski do momentu zawarcia umowy
• przeprowadzanie akcji dystrybucyjnych
• opieka nad bazą danych związanych z klientami i umowami
• udział w targach i innych imprezach dla klientów

Kim jesteś?

Dysponujesz następującymi cechami:

• język ojczysty: polski oraz
• co najmniej dobra znajomość języka angielskiego lub niemieckiego
• wyraźne ukierunkowanie zainteresowań na internet i handel elektroniczny
• znajomość polskiego rynku
• przynajmniej roczne doświadczenie w sprzedaży, najlepiej w handlu elektronicznym wykształcenie o profilu ekonomicznym
• wysoka komunikatywność i ambicja
• bardzo silne nakierowanie na klienta

Nie masz obaw przed podjęciem kontaktu z obcymi ludźmi i łatwo nawiązujesz rozmowę – także przez telefon? Wytrwale dążysz do wyznaczonych sobie celów i nie zniechęcasz się przeciwnościami? Wyzwania podejmujesz z entuzjazmem i chętnie pracujesz w zespole? Jeśli tak, to z radością przyjmiemy Twoją aplikację!

Co oferujemy?

• sprawdzony, transparentny produkt, reprezentujący przekonujące wartości, o dużej wartości praktycznej i wielkim potencjale
• interesujące zadanie na perspektywicznym, międzynarodowym rynku handlu elektronicznego
• wynagrodzenie zorientowane na sukces
• płaską hierarchię w silnie zmotywowanym zespole profesjonalistów
• przyjemną atmosferę w samym sercu Kolonii

W naszym szybko rozrastającym się przedsiębiorstwie zawsze istnieją możliwości przejęcia dodatkowych zakresów odpowiedzialności. Oczekuje Cię swoboda realizacji własnych pomysłów oraz nowoczesne podejście do biznesu. W naszym przedsiębiorstwie znajdziesz zaangażowanie, międzynarodową kulturę przedsiębiorstwa i profesjonalizm.

Kontakt

Wzbudziliśmy Twoje zainteresowanie? W takim razie prosimy o przesłanie dokumentów aplikacyjnych w formie pliku PDF z podaniem oczekiwań zarobkowych oraz numeru referencyjnego VPL111118ts.

Osoba kontaktowa: Riccardo Greco
E-mail: jobs [at] trustedshops.com

Cieszymy się na udaną współpracę!

Tu możesz pobrać tę ofertę pracy w formacie PDF i wydrukować ją.

Das Unternehmen

Das europäische Gütesiegel von Trusted Shops garantiert die Sicherheit beim Einkauf im Internet seit 1999. Mehr als 10.000 Online-Händler nutzen heute bereits unsere Leistungen, um ihre Vertrauenswürdigkeit zu belegen und das Vertrauen der Online-Käufer zu gewinnen. Jedes Jahr kaufen mehrere Millionen Konsumenten bei von uns zertifizierten Online-Händlern und nutzen unsere Produkte Gütesiegel, Käuferschutz und Kundenbewertung. Mehr als 100 Mitarbeiter in Köln, Warschau und Paris unterstützen die Entwicklung von Trusted Shops in Europa.

Ihre Aufgabe

Sie geben Trusted Shops Ihre Stimme, und bauen so die internationale Marktführerschaft des Unternehmens weiter aus. Als Account Manager für die Länder Österreich und Schweiz akquirieren Sie österreichische und schweizerische Neukunden und vertreiben unsere attraktiven Produkte im Wachstumsmarkt e-Commerce.

Im Einzelnen übernehmen Sie folgende Tätigkeiten in Vollzeit oder auch in Teilzeit:

• Neukundenansprache per e-Mail und Telefon
• Betreuung und Beratung österreichischer und schweizerischer Kunden bis zum Vertragsabschluss
• Durchführung von Vertriebsaktionen für die Märkte Österreich und Schweiz
• Pflege von Kunden- und Vertragsdaten
• Teilnahme an Messen und sonstigen Kundenveranstaltungen

Unsere Anforderungen

• erste Berufserfahrung im Bereich Outbound in der Schweiz oder in Österreich
• gute Kenntnisse des österreichischen und/oder schweizerischen e-Commerce Marktes
• erfolgreich abgeschlossene Ausbildung, vorzugsweise im kaufmännischen oder technischen Bereich
• hohes Maß an kommunikativer Kompetenz und Ehrgeiz
• ausgesprochene Kundenorientierung
• ausgeprägte interkulturelle Kompetenz
• Fremdsprachenkenntnisse v. a. Italienisch und Französisch sind von Vorteil

Sie wissen wie Österreicher und Schweizer ticken? Sie haben keine Scheu auf fremde Menschen zuzugehen und kommen leicht ins Gespräch – auch am Telefon? Ihre Ziele verfolgen Sie beharrlich und lassen sich von Rückschlägen nicht entmutigen? Sie meistern Herausforderungen mit Elan und arbeiten dabei gerne im Team? Dann freuen wir uns auf Ihre Bewerbungsunterlagen!

Unser Angebot

• ein spannendes, vielseitiges Arbeitsfeld bei DEM Gütesiegel für Sicherheit im Onlinekauf
• ein bekanntes und überzeugendes Produkt, mit dem man sich identifizieren kann
• erfolgsorientierte Verdienstmöglichkeiten
• flache Hierarchien in einem professionellen, motivierten Team
• ein angenehmes Arbeitsumfeld im Herzen von Köln

Übrigens: Wir sind eine Fair Company. Mit dem Gütesiegel Fair Company zeichnet Karriere.de – das zentrale Karriereportal der Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt – Unternehmen aus, die Mitarbeitern echte Chancen bieten.

Kontakt

Haben wir Ihr Interesse geweckt? Dann schicken Sie bitte Ihre vollständigen Bewerbungsunterlagen als PDF-Dokument unter Angabe Ihrer Gehaltsvorstellungen und der Referenznr. VACH111213ts an:

Riccardo Greco

jobs [at] trustedshops.com

Wir freuen uns!

Hier können Sie diese Stellenausschreibung auch als PDF herunterladen und ausdrucken.

The Company

The European Trusted Shops Seal of Approval has been guaranteeing the safety of online shopping since 1999. Today, more than 10,000 online sellers already use our services to prove their reliability and to gain the trust of online customers. Each year, several million consumers purchase from online sellers that have been certified by us and use our Seal of Approval, Buyer Protection and Customer Rating products. More than 100 employees in Cologne, Warsaw and Paris support the development of Trusted Shops in Europe.

Your job

You will be the expert when it comes to the certification of British online shops. You will not only keep up to date with changes in the core areas of British law, but also ensure that you pass on this information internally. To this end, you will develop our audit documents in cooperation with the department manager and our English partner office. You will act as the contact person for our English service providers and represent Trusted Shops at interna-tional trade fairs as a competent point of contact for legal issues. In addition to these tasks, you will also carry out the evaluation of British online shops, create individual audit reports and answer the questions of our UK clients regarding the certification process.

Our requirements

• successfully completed degree with the focus on UK law (e.g. Bachelor of Law / Master of Law)
• excellent knowledge in the relevant fields of law pertaining to the British online market (distance selling act, e-commerce law, general consumer protection law, laws with respect to general terms and conditions of busi-ness, data privacy laws, competition law)
• mother-tongue level English
• knowledge of German and additional languages an advantage
• a passion for the Internet and e-commerce
• excellent communication skills
• quick intellectual grasp
• willingness to travel

Are you familiar with English online shops and the particularities of the British market? Are you someone who seeks challenges and is not afraid to take on responsibility? Are you looking for a hands-on role? Do you take a structured approach to projects? Then we look forward to hearing from you!

We offer

• active involvement in the development of the UK market
• first-rate, intensive training
• regular meetings regarding quality assurance and current e-commerce law
• access to extensive specialist literature, periodicals and online databases
• collaboration in a team of corporate law experts
• a pleasant working environment in the heart of Cologne

Contact

Are you interested? Please send your full application in PDF format, stating your salary expectation and the reference number WJUK111129ts, to:

Dr. Carsten Föhlisch

jobs [at] trustedshops.com

We look forward to receiving your application!

Here you may print this job advertisement as PDF.

Das Unternehmen

Das europäische Gütesiegel von Trusted Shops garantiert die Sicherheit beim Einkauf im Internet seit 1999. Mehr als 10.000 Online-Händler nutzen heute bereits unsere Leistungen, um ihre Vertrauenswürdigkeit zu belegen und das Vertrauen der Online-Käufer zu gewinnen. Jedes Jahr kaufen mehrere Millionen Konsumenten bei von uns zertifizierten Online-Händlern und nutzen unsere Produkte Gütesiegel, Käuferschutz und Kundenbewertung. Mehr als 100 Mitarbeiter in Köln, Warschau und Paris unterstützen die Entwicklung von Trusted Shops in Europa.

Ihre Aufgabe

Sie geben Trusted Shops Ihre Stimme, und bauen so die Marktführerschaft des Unternehmens weiter aus. Als Teil des Telesales-Teams in Köln akquirieren Sie Neukunden aus den Niederlanden und vertreiben unsere attraktiven Produkte im Wachstumsmarkt e-Commerce. Im Einzelnen übernehmen Sie folgende Tätigkeiten:

• Neukundenansprache per e-Mail und Telefon
• Betreuung und Beratung der niederländischen Kunden bis zum Vertragsabschluss
• Durchführung von Vertriebsaktionen
• Pflege von Kunden- und Vertragsdaten
• Teilnahme an Messen und sonstigen Kundenveranstaltungen

Unsere Anforderungen

• Sprachkenntnisse Niederländisch auf Niveau eines Muttersprachlers, Deutschkenntnisse von Vorteil
• ausgeprägtes Interesse an Internet und e-Commerce
• Kenntnisse des niederländischen Marktes
• erste Berufserfahrung im Vertrieb, idealerweise im e-Commerce
• abgeschlossene kaufmännische Ausbildung
• hohes Maß an kommunikativer Kompetenz und Ehrgeiz
• ausgesprochene Kundenorientierung

Sie haben keine Scheu auf fremde Menschen zuzugehen und kommen leicht ins Gespräch – auch am Telefon? Ihre Ziele verfolgen Sie beharrlich und lassen sich von Rückschlägen nicht entmutigen? Sie meistern Herausforderungen mit Elan und arbeiten dabei gerne im Team? Dann freuen wir uns auf Ihre Bewerbungsunterlagen!

Wir bieten

• ein bewährtes, ehrliches Produkt mit überzeugenden Werten, großem Nutzwert und Potential
• eine interessante Aufgabe im zukunftsweisenden, internationalen Markt des e-Commerce
• erfolgsorientierte Verdienstmöglichkeiten
• flache Hierarchien in einem professionellen, motivierten Team
• ein angenehmes Arbeitsumfeld im Herzen von Köln

Kontakt

Haben wir Ihr Interesse geweckt? Dann senden Sie Ihre vollständigen Bewerbungsunterlagen bitte als PDF-Dokument unter Angabe Ihrer Gehaltsvorstellungen und der Referenznr. VNL111118ts an:

Riccardo Greco

jobs [at] trustedshops.com

Wir freuen uns!

Hier können Sie diese Stellenausschreibung auch als PDF herunterladen und ausdrucken.

To expand our branch in London, we are currently looking for a Country Manager (m/f) United Kingdom. Get more information about the offered position, our requirements and about the employer Trusted Shops below.

The company

The European Trusted Shops Seal of Approval has been guaranteeing the safety of online shop-ping since 1999. Today, more than 10,000 online sellers already use our services to prove their reliability and to gain the trust of online customers. Each year, several million consumers purchase from online sellers that have been certified by us, and use our Seal of Approval, Buyer Protection and Customer Rating products. More than 100 employees in Cologne, Warsaw and Paris support the development of Trusted Shops in Europe.

Your job

As Country Manager UK, you will (re)present Trusted Shops and expand our office in London. You will report directly to the company’s management in Cologne and develop the operational and strategic aims for the United Kingdom. You will be responsible for establishing the Seal of Approval and increasing awareness in the British market. In cooperation with the central marketing department, you will plan and organise advertising measures and play an active role at trade fairs, conferences, workshops, etc. Your varied field of duties will include inter alia:

• Identifying market potential
• Forming and managing the local team
• Developing customer relations in the key account segment
• Communication and public relations work in collaboration with our marketing and PR department
• Forming strategic partnerships with shop software providers and Internet agencies
• Development and maintenance of collaborations with e-commerce associations and organisations

Our requirements

• Completed degree course, preferably in a commercial or technical field
• In-depth knowledge of the British e-commerce market as well as a large network
• Many years of experience in B2B sales
• Mother-tongue level English
• Knowledge of German and additional languages an advantageExceptional customer orientation and good communication skills
• Clear entrepreneurial attitude in your thoughts and actions

You have an extensive e-commerce network and a distinct thirst for action. Besides, you have an entrepreneurial attitude. You lead your projects to success using clear structures, consistent management and transparent cooperation with all those involved. You win people over with your negotiation skills and confident, professional appearance. Then we look forward to receiving your application!

We offer

• A unique professional challenge with opportunities for personal growth for the next step of your career
• The opportunity to position a tried-and-tested, trustworthy product within the European growth market of e-commerce
• A position of responsibility with a great deal of independence and freedom
• A direct link to the top management

Contact

Are you interested? Please send your full application in PDF format, stating your salary expectation and the reference number CMUK111213ts, to:

Nicole Thiele

Jobs[at]trustedshops.com

We look forward to receiving your application!

Here you may print this job advertisement as PDF.

Practical tip 1: Communicate delivery times in a crystal clear way

It’s the absolute worst-case scenario: despite all your promises, your customer’s order does not arrive by Christmas Eve. That annoys any customer – and permanently, too, so you should clearly prevent such scenarios by explicitly communicating in a prominent place in your shop the last possible order date for deliveries by 24th December. Always keep an eye on the particular delivery times of your shipping provider and amend your delivery times if necessary. You should also make sure you clearly indicate the availability of items on offer. Incidentally, a guaranteed delivery by 24th December is a great selling point which you should clearly highlight in your shop.

Practical tip 2: Customer chat provides a straightforward link to the customer

This communication channel is a good idea, particularly during the Christmas shopping season: with live chat integrated into the shop frontend, you can be contacted by your shop visitors spontaneously and in a completely unbureaucratic way, enabling one or two items to find their way even more spontaneously into the shopping basket. Live chat will also relieve the burden on customer service, as many of these small questions won’t then turn up in the inbox. But beware: if you advertise contact via instant messaging, staff should also be standing by. If your experts are not on hand, it’s best to automatically hide the indicator for live chat using script.

Practical tip 3: Score with gift vouchers

Don’t ignore last-minute buyers in your shop, either: offer attractive gift vouchers that are easily available as a download with the click of a mouse. This enables your customers to buy the right gift from you in the form of a gift voucher, even on Christmas Eve.
Practical tip 4: Extending your returns policy increases sales chances
The bank holidays make the 14-day returns period a bit too tight. This makes some of your customers feel unsure when looking for the right gift, so make your shop visitors feel safe and offer them a special service for the festive period: many buyers appreciate it when you extend the returns period to 30 days over Christmas. That’s why you should clearly indicate this special service in your shop. And don’t worry: experience shows that the returns rate will not increase notably.

Practical tip 5: Communicate all order changes

Around Christmas, your customers are particularly nervous about whether parcels will arrive on time. This is why you should make your order process especially transparent: status updates for orders and despatch confirmations provide an overview and put your customers’ minds at rest, while also reducing the number of enquiries to your customer service department.

Practical tip 6: Predefined text relieves the burden on customer service

It’s not just logistics that runs at full steam at Christmas, but also customer service. Many enquiries at Christmas can be responded to much more efficiently, as many buyers often have the same questions:
• When do I need to order by to get the goods by Christmas Eve?
• Can the item still be exchanged after New Year?
This is why you should use predefined text (not just at Christmas) and templates for the most frequently-asked customer enquiries. These save your customer service department valuable time and also reduce the mistake rate for hectically typed individual responses.

Practical tip 7: Sort inboxes efficiently

Consider reorganising the customer service inbox by time. Experience shows that this small change can lead to significantly faster reaction times: old messages are at the top, new ones at the bottom. This ensures older messages are responded to first and don’t get forgotten.

During stressful periods, it also makes sense to process the inbox according to subject: you can mark certain enquiries, such as cancellations or amendments, with a colour to prioritise them. Order-related enquiries should be viewed and responded to immediately so as to prevent further problems and additional contact with the customer service department.

Practical tip 8: Use group inboxes

Within customer service, personal inboxes (firstname.surname@yourshop.com) always lead to complications. The result is time-consuming searches for information and duplication of work. It’s even worse when staff are off work due to illness and enquiries are left in their personal inboxes. Additional contact from the customers by telephone or fax then often causes considerable increased work.

This is why you should introduce a group inbox for your customer service department which all of your staff can access. They will then have a clear overview and can view all the processing steps for the respective enquiry via the history or operation function. As soon as a member of staff processes an enquiry, the message should be blocked for other employees to prevent duplication of work. Once the enquiry has been completed, it should disappear from the inbox and only re-appear if the customer responds again.

Practical tip 9: Combine communication centrally

So that communication in your customer service department runs smoothly, it is recommended that you bundle together all of the communication methods, such as e-mails, faxes, letters or memos, in one single system. To enable your customer service employees to quickly identify each instance of contact with the department that remains unanswered, all enquiries and responses should also – regardless of the chosen method of communication – be quickly and precisely searchable via a cross-media full-text search.

Practical tip 10: Use and evaluate feedback

Use your customers’ feedback to carry out evaluations: only in this way can you quickly identify existing information gaps and close them promptly. To implement such evaluations particularly quickly, all enquiries should be assigned to predetermined subjects, thus enabling you to ensure regular evaluation, such as according to subject fields, communication channels or average duration of a process, in a particularly straightforward way.

About the author

Ulrich Pöhner assists e-commerce companies in the optimisation of their communication and information processes. Since 2007, he has been working for digital guru GmbH & Co. KG in Sales and Marketing, and offers the GREYHOUND software application for transparent and efficient customer service. In the field of e-commerce, he implements the software for Netviewer AG, billiger.de, babymarkt.de, dress-for-less.de and design3000.de, among others.

Here you can find out the answer.

The US SEO and link building expert Marcus Taylor has compiled a list of the factors that ensure the success of blog posts. A post is strong if it has the following characteristics:

• The uniqueness of the post
• The timing of the post
• The relevance of the post to the reader
• The tone / style of the post
• The angle & idea of the post
• The intrigue created by the post’s headline
• The level of trust and credibility of the post (blog design, author reputation, accuracy of statements, quality of writing).

In addition, the author’s own network and the budget available to call attention to the post play a role as well, of course. This involves things such as the time or money you need to invest in optimising the post for search engines. And there is the issue – at least once – of whether the post is easy to disseminate, i.e. whether the buttons for Twitter, Facebook, +1 etc. are properly embedded.

Of course, you can strengthen individual aspects further – for instance by mentioning a sufficient number of other bloggers with a strong following, who will themselves pass the post on…

All in all, Taylor has ten factors that you can rate with 10 points each, making a maximum score of 100 points. The good thing about it is that you can then see relatively quickly where the weaknesses of individual posts or of the author and their blog as a whole are. And this will then allow you to carry out more targeted optimisation.

About the author:

Martin Groß-Albenhausen is the chief editor and publisher of the renowned mail order industry journal “Der Versandhausberater” and a leading expert on mail order, direct marketing and e-commerce. “Der Versandhausberater” has been reporting on current trends and developments in the mail order business in Germany on a weekly basis since 1961.

The company

The European Trusted Shops Seal of Approval has been guaranteeing the safety of online shop-ping since 1999. Today, more than 10,000 online sellers already use our services to prove their reliability and to gain the trust of online customers. Each year, several million consumers purchase from online sellers that have been certified by us, and use our Seal of Approval, Buyer Protection and Customer Rating products. More than 100 employees in Cologne, Warsaw and Paris support the development of Trusted Shops in Europe.

Your job

You are the voice of Trusted Shops and, in this capacity, you help to extend the company’s market leadership. As a member of the Cologne telesales team your job is to acquire new customers within the United Kingdom and to sell our attractive products on the growing e-Commerce market. In particular, your job comprises:

• contacting new customers by e-mail and phone
• supporting and advising UK customers up until contract conclusion
• carrying out marketing campaigns
• managing both customer and contract data
• participating in trade fairs and other customer events

Our requirements

• native language: English; knowledge of German beneficial
• keen interest in the Internet and e-Commerce
• knowledge of the English market
• first professional experience in sales, ideally in e-Commerce
• successful completion of business management training
• strong communicative skills and a high level of ambition
• pronounced customer orientation

You are not afraid to approach strangers and have no trouble striking up a conversation – even over the phone? You never lose sight of your objectives and don’t get discouraged by set-backs? You meet challenges with enthusiasm and like working in a team? If all this applies to you, we look forward to receiving your application!

We offer

• a proven, bonafide product with convincing results, great user value and potential
• an interesting job in the future-oriented, international e-Commerce market
• success-oriented earning potential
• flat hierarchies in a professional, motivated team
• a pleasant working environment in the heart of Cologne

Contact

Are you interested? Please send your full application in PDF format, stating your salary expectation and the reference number VUK111118ts, to:

Riccardo Greco

Jobs[at]trustedshops.com

Nicole Thiele

jobs [at] trustedshops.com

We look forward to receiving your application!

Here you may print this job advertisement as PDF.

Richard Rosens “Velocity” concept for advertisements is surely known to quite a few online sellers. For those who do not know this: customer-specific transaction patterns are filtered out within defined periods in the “Velocity approach”. For your online store this means:

How many obstacles do you place between the customer and the order button?

A few years ago I met Kelly Mooney from the American agency Resource Interactive at a conference. She spoke about O.P.E.N. Framework for sale in the Web 2.0: on-demand, personal, engaged, and networked.

Elsewhere, Mooney points out that all “touch points” of customers and dealers must be designed considering two main aspects: they must either contain immediate motivation for purchase or meaningful added value. You can achieve immediate motivation e.g. through limited-time offers or particularly good use-oriented copy. Consulting tools, for example, are meaningful added values.

Additionally, for an increased shopping experience, there are three core elements:

• Triggered: A touch point must recognise the customer’s requirement – e.g. the use of social plug-ins. IKEA in England launched a YouTube app, which connects certain additional information to the Facebook profile and thus creates the “ideal” bedroom. Further trigger elements can be designed based on a specific environment of use (mobile vs. stationary) or these could also be connected (e.g. through Google Local Search).
• Shareable: In future, it will become increasingly important to offer customers the option to share concrete product content. This could be the simple “like” button or a sophisticated style concept which has already been implemented at Frankonia. Sears in the USA has placed Skype terminals next to the changing rooms in ten of their branches to allow customers to quickly, and free-of-charge, discuss choices with their friends.
• Shoppable:Every touch point must suggest a direct path to purchase. Just the way Weltbild managed to do this with their posters in Hamburg: book title + QR code offer a reading sample with option to order. Of course you can place a different “call to action” – but action as preparation for the next sales step.

Really quite logical. But have you considered your shop pages or other promotional activities, your store or your market stall from this point of view yet?

About the author:

Martin Groß-Albenhausen is the chief editor and publisher of the renowned mail order industry journal “Der Versandhausberater” and a leading expert on mail order, direct marketing and e-commerce. “Der Versandhausberater” has been reporting on current trends and developments in the mail order business in Germany on a weekly basis since 1961.

What to watch out for

A low number of active fans is not an indicator of the closeness of the relationship between a Facebook user and their “social graph”. It does however represent the core component of FB marketing – the so-called EdgeRank. In the same way that Google calculates the importance of a page on the basis of backlinks, URLs, tags, etc., Facebook also has a secret formula for determining whether a fan sees a FB contact’s information in their newsfeed or not. (econsultancy had a very good article on the EdgeRank this summer.)

Forming the key elements of the EdgeRank are the type of content (any type of content that derives from an interaction with Facebook is an “edge”), the intensity of the relationship between the fan and the provider, and that well-known factor in the mail order business, “recency”. Images, for example, are more important than text, as are videos and links. The Facebook user’s own activities also play a role – someone who often browses through FB photo albums, for example, will receive more photo-edges in their newsfeed than other types of content.

Unlike with Google, however, the proximity of the supplier and the user is important – and the “edges” have to be adapted accordingly. Taking an interest in your fans is not enough. The fans have to interact with you.

For you this means that it is essential to have a high percentage of active fans. This also happens to be an important KPI in traditional mail order, but there it’s all about orders rather than comments, clicks, and app usage. Text link ads won’t necessarily increase your activity rate on Facebook (even if the click is weighted). These links lead the user out of Facebook; the subsequent interaction no longer takes place within the social network and therefore does not increase the EdgeRank.

Your Facebook posts should therefore be tailored to ensure a high activity rate:

• Start polls, for example on “the worst fashion gaffe of the season” (with the fans uploading photos if possible), or on people and places, etc.
• Use one of the oldest direct marketing tools in the book: the quiz. Or include a photo puzzle.
• Ask simple either/or questions. You can do this in the text itself and request that the answers be entered using the comment function, or use the appropriate Facebook tools. I don’t know of any other type of test that is more effective for improving the EdgeRank.
• Include HD data in the photo albums. When users come across themed collections or detailed information rather than simply photographs, they are more likely to become active and click on the content.

Ultimately, the large numbers of fans generated by expensive campaigns are no guarantee of success: what they mainly bring you are hordes of bargain hunters. Truly dedicated fans, even in small numbers, increase your visibility. Keep this in mind when you plan your FB campaigns, posts and other assets such as photos, videos, etc.

About the author:

Martin Groß-Albenhausen is the chief editor and publisher of the renowned mail order industry journal “Der Versandhausberater” and a leading expert on mail order, direct marketing and e-commerce. “Der Versandhausberater” has been reporting on current trends and developments in the mail order business in Germany on a weekly basis since 1961.

Read why here.

With the increasing acceptance and establishment of the iPad, the question is being asked whether the tablet PC will lead to a renaissance of the catalogue. This issue is also gaining weight because the design of double pages and the ability to leaf through pages is not far away.

Nevertheless, it is simply wrong to approach tablet PCs in this way. Most of all it shows that the makers have simply misunderstood or forgotten how the mechanism works. After all, the emotionality and sales potential of a catalogue is generated by more than just well-designed double-sided sales pages and “series”. Here are a few (really just a small selection) of the drivers of a good catalogue that are still effective today:

• The catalogue comes as a package, that is to say it is delivered to the customer in an envelope, shrink-wrapped or open. In any case, it is also a physical carrier medium for other, separate elements which therefore also generate extra attention. They belong to the so-called “Environment“. Intelligent environments are part of the fine art of mail order marketing because they also often further activate the catalogue. An app is not a carrier and does not have an environment.
• A catalogue has a front and back title page as well as a U2 and U3. That is a total of four hotspot pages that increase frequency and sales. Good catalogues maximise their appeal by designing those four pages strategically.
• Catalogues not only have a back title page but also an opposing leaf page, whether left or right-handed. Catalogues are also read from back to front, and that must not be disregarded in the sales-oriented placement of products.
• In addition, catalogues in their role as a “technical product” also often have special insert pages. They have a different format or a different paper thickness with a different feel. They do not only attract more attention per se, they also act as a physical stopper when the catalogue is leafed through quickly. Stoppers can also be used as eye-catchers in the catalogue to maintain interest and increase sales.
• Catalogues are thick. What is more, if a catalogue is too thin it will not be taken seriously. It has been proven that thinner catalogues attract a “thinner customer budget”, and that by experimenting with thicker pages, mail order retailers were often able to give the impression of having more content even though in practice they had less content.
• A catalogue with a particular volume and a strong title retains its place and even without extra triggers (but especially with them) can achieve recurring “appeal”.
• The variation of formats enables additional differentiation on the customer’s desk or living room table.
• Creativity with regards printing, ranging from lamination and finish to press-cutting and embossing, gains noticeable customer “involvement” and can achieve so-called “pre-conditioning” solely with such finishing. High-quality catalogues justify high prices, at least in the customer’s perception (proven again and again in surveys).

A catalogue app doesn’t have any of that. It is one of a potentially infinite number of thumbnails on the iPad which does indeed provide attractive image worlds but which lacks the overall power of a complete catalogue concept. Only because catalogue know-how has already lost so much importance that hardly any mail order retailers can master all aspects of catalogue design these days, a two-dimensional and therefore flatter representation of a catalogue on the tablet PC is perceived as “magic”. They cannot work. There is no way that they can achieve the productivity of a catalogue.

“Crutches for crutches”

All of the above points are part of the “emotion” of a catalogue, not only the attractive images. That is why catalogue apps on tablet PCs are currently just “crutches for crutches”. Catalogue distributors should stop hoping that a future media will prolong the past.

The iPad and other tablets will see the dawn of completely new type of catalogue. Different navigation, different scopes, maybe even a different way of controlling the view. However, certain rules remain that are independent of the media. For instance gaze motion, that is to say that the viewer’s eyes are guided by the models’ posture and gaze. Or the structure of text and image in order to provide as much information as possible.

However, completely different options present themselves even in the navigation. I can navigate from left to right as well as from top to bottom. Why is that relevant? Research has shown that users generally expect to find further information beneath an image. Catalogue pages very quickly got to the stage where pagination conveyed its own very important messages (orientation + ordering via hotline number, to name but two elements). That can be experimented with.

Or take the virtual but photo-realistic scenery first implemented by Otto. It is the first example to include true depths insofar as the user can move within the photo location (in the future “rendered in real time”) and can rotate products on the page for instance. Not a pop-up with 360 degree photography but interaction.

Different approach

Due to the fact that the approach is completely different than in a physical catalogue, thought will have to be given to the scope and the frequency of tablet catalogues. That is why Cortez’s theory is especially applicable to tablets – in order to conquer new territory you must first burn your own ships. It is time to change the way we think.

Those who have let the catalogue department die out over the last few years and have not authorised budget for experimental print advertising will have no more success with their extremely paired down catalogues on the iPad. Anyone who is in control of their business, and many specialist distributors with excellent print catalogues are, is also in a position to unlock the creative potential of new media.

That means that print media is as dead or alive as the creativity of the advertising department (print). Online shops are as exciting or boring as the innovation and agility of the advertising department (online). Tablet applications are as sterile or “infectious” as the willingness to experiment of – ah yes, of who exactly?

About the Author:

Martin Groß-Albenhausen is editor in chief of the renowned trade magazine “Der Versandhausberater” and is a leading expert for mail order retail, direct marketing and e-commerce. Since 1961, “Der Versandhausberater” has been providing information about the latest trends and developments in the German mail order retail sector on a weekly basis.

Online retail has established itself as a sales channel in the whole of the EU. That is the main result of the 5th Consumer Conditions Scoreboard. On average, 40 percent of EU citizens already purchase goods, tickets and services on the internet. That is an increase of eight percent in comparison to the previous year (37 percent).

The majority of orders are made from online shops in citizens’ own country of residence (36 percent). Cross-border online retailer within the EU has however only been growing slowly since 2008. In 2010, nine percent of citizens made a purchase from an online shop in another EU member state. The year before it was one percent lower. Retail with shops outside of the EU is only of marginal significance. A mere five percent of consumers are prepared to make such purchases.

Big national differences

An immense difference can be noticed when comparing the various states. Whilst in Denmark, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, over 60 percent of citizens already buy online, in Bulgaria and Romania only five and four percent respectively make purchases online.

There are also considerable differences regarding users’ willingness to spend money in online shops based in other EU states. Citizens of Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus and Austria are the most willing to buy from foreign countries. In those states, more consumers bought from foreign shops than from shops in their country. According to the research leaders, reasons for the reluctance to make cross-border purchases are a lack of experience and language barriers.

Polish online shoppers are especially reluctant to make purchases from foreign shops. With two percent, one of the fastest growing European e-commerce nations is even below the EU average of nine percent.

Click here to see the checklist.

The checklist can be found in the Gimahhot blog. It offers online sellers valuable tips about how they can protect themselves from the black sheep amongst their customers by quickly  identifying them as phoney customers.

1.) Is it the customer’s first order?
If the customer has made several orders in your shop that were problem-free, it is rather unlikely that they are trying to cheat you.

2.) Is it a high-value order?
The more expensive and valuable the product, the more likely it is that it is a scam. Fraudsters rarely order for less than 150 euro.

3.) Did the customer order in a price-conscious way?
Check on the internet if the price at which the customer ordered is very reasonable. Fraudsters are not price-aware.

4.) Has the item already been the focus of other fraud attempts, for instance laptops, cameras, smartphones, iPhones, iPods or iPads?
Products with high “value concentration” are very popular amongst fraudsters because they can be easily sold on at a high price. Items that are sent by haulage/courier companies are not suspicious.

5.) Do the billing and delivery address differ?
Check orders with differing addresses very carefully.

6.) Is the product to be delivered to a ‘Packstation’ or PO box?
‘Packstations’ and PO boxes are very suspicious because that way no residential address is not required.

7.) The name and the email address do not match?
Please check the email address carefully. Often the address does not actually contain the customer’s exact name but a slightly altered variation, for example Sam Sample and sam.sample@. It can also happen that a completely different name is used for the email address.

8.) Does the email address contain a lot of numbers?
Numerical series in an email address are very suspicious. The numbers could have another meaning for organised groups.

9.) Was the order made after 10 p.m.?
Fraudulent orders are often made at night.