CLEVELAND, Aug. 27 — Today’s leading e-tailers rely on a variety of third-party companies to provide applications and services that ensure a high-quality customer experience on their websites. According to a recently released industry study, Easy2 Technologies is one of the preferred rich media firms helping these retailers stay at the top of the e-commerce food chain.

In the recently released Top 500 Solutions Leaders Guide by Internet Retailer, the leading publication for the Web-based retail industry, representatives of America’s largest retail Web sites - as determined by annual sales - cited rich media vendors most commonly used to facilitate their online success. Noted by top e-tail clients like Amazon.com, CDW Corp. and Lowes.com, Easy2 Technologies debuted in the top three ranking for their category, serving as a primary rich media provider for 24 of the nation’s leading e-tailers.

“Being recognized for helping the largest and foremost retailers in the nation achieve and maintain their positions is a testament to the power of Easy2’s online merchandising tools,” said John Bukovnik, Easy2 president and co-founder. “The market is shifting toward online shopping more so than ever before, and our clients understand the value that interactive online tools offer as consumers look to make more educated purchasing decisions.”

Easy2 Technologies continues to see tremendous industry growth, most recently adding 20 new clients and embarking upon several custom projects with companies such as Sherwin-Williams, D-Link, John Deere, Stork Craft and TigerDirect.

“The online shopping experience is only going to get more competitive, and we are eager to help our current and future clients successfully and strategically utilize online merchandising applications to attract and retain customers,” added Bukovnik.

Easy2’s current online merchandising product offerings, notably utilized by the nation’s top e-tailers, include product demos, selectors, ratings and reviews, product instructions, visualization tools, buying guides, how-to tutorials and online training applications.

Easy2 Technologies is a leading rich media firm specializing in the development and distribution of interactive content. At their forefront of its services is the MYO (”Make Your Own”) Suite, a Web-based Software-as-a-Service platform. From product demos and selectors to buying guides and brand stores, MYO offers solutions for any online merchandising need.

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Easy2 provides rich media solutions to the nation’s top manufacturing and retailing clients, including Lowe’s, Amazon, Best Buy, Sears, DeWalt, KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Monster Cable, Electrolux, De’Longhi and many more. For more information, visit www.easy2.com.

Through this partnership, Wispa will launch Easy2’s Web-based MYO (Make Your Own) Suite, allowing manufacturers to create and distribute unlimited interactive product demos, selectors, buying guides and brand stores to meet any online merchandising need, for one flat monthly fee. Wispa will serve as the exclusive value-added reseller of Easy2’s MYO application in Australia and New Zealand. 

Helping its clients build long-term relationships with target customers, Wispa specializes in the development of online brand environments and strategic customer engagement programs. Serving client industries that include food and beverage, home goods, luxury, lifestyle and leisure, the full-service online agency also offers expertise in areas such as strategic marketing, creative design and Web development.   

“Partnering with Wispa allows us to extend our MYO product offering beyond traditional U.S. borders, providing interactive content to Australia and New Zealand based manufacturers and their retail channels,” said John Bukovnik, Easy2 president and co-founder.  “The ever-increasing focus on engaging online customers with customized product information is of global importance.  Now, with this new partnership, Easy2’s proven rich media platform can be utilized by overseas e-tailers to enhance e-commerce programs.”

The Australian market has been yearning for internet retailing industry content, as shown by the recent flood of show registrations for the upcoming inaugural Online Retailer Expo & Conference.  Due to the high volume of attendee registrations, this first-year event in Australia now stands as the number two e-commerce retailing event in the world, just behind the U.S.-based Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition.  Traditionally, the U.S. and U.K. markets lead the industry in regard to internet retailing content. 

“Both Easy2 and Wispa recognize that the demand for online e-tail interactivity is growing globally,” added Bukovnik.  “International manufacturers and retailers are eager to utilize multi-channel retailing for brand enhancement and customer engagement, and we are excited to offer them best practice content.”

As the only application of its kind, MYO was launched in the U.S. in late fall 2006 to address a growing demand for large amounts of interactive product demos and tools. Using the application, in-house Web teams, product managers or anyone in sales, marketing or merchandising with little or no technical or creative experience can deliver high-impact, branded demos and tools to their Web sites, as well as those of their retailers.  Demos and tools are built using existing assets such as text, photos, videos or flash animations, and can be created in minutes with as little as one product photo. 

About Easy2 Technologies

Easy2 Technologies is a leading rich media firm specializing in the development and distribution of interactive content. At their forefront of its services is the MYO (”Make Your Own”) Suite, a Web-based Software-as-a-Service platform. From product demos and selectors to buying guides and brand stores, MYO offers solutions for any online merchandising need.
Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Easy2 provides rich media solutions to the nation’s top manufacturing and retailing clients, including Lowe’s, Amazon, Best Buy, Sears, DeWalt, KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Monster Cable, Electrolux, De’Longhi and many more. For more information, visit www.easy2.com.

About Wispa

Wispa is a Customer Engagement Agency specializing in building long-term customer relationships. Based in Sydney, the company provides strategic marketing, advertising, online marketing and digital services to clients in a variety of product categories and services. The company focuses on building communications programs aimed at the acquisition and retention of customers, while creating engaging experiences through coordinated multi-channel, multi-touch dialogues with customers. For more information, visit www.wispa.com.au.

MYO allows non-technical staff to create interactive product demos, product selectors, buying guides and visual merchandising tools. The product suite will be fully supported by Wispa, an Australian digital and advertising agency providing innovative online marketing solutions

The Online Retailer Expo & Conference is the premier event for Online and Multichannel Retailing, and is must-attend event for anyone interested in or involved with e-commerce and web-based retailing. The event brings together top executives, entrepreneurs, managers and marketers in online and multichannel retailing to network, share best practices, develop new business opportunities and shape the future of e-retailing in Australia.

For further enquiries please contact Jeff Falkoff 0n +61(2)9328-3487

Wispa will develop strategy, advertising and direct marketing campaigns, as well as in-store visual merchandising and digital marketing solutions for the 48-store chain. The challenge is to create some uniqueness in a highly competitive retail marketplace.

Blink Optical has a joint venture arrangement with BUPA who through its brands MBF, HBA and Mutual Community, promotes the Blink offering to its members.

While the marketing team has traditionally managed the brand and promotional communications within a company, it’s now time for a more coordinated effort across the various functions within the business.

We live in a culture of participation and the opportunity for using Social Media to the benefit of the whole organization is huge. How does the HR team use this medium to attract, train and retain talent? How does the Operational Team use the medium to stay in touch with employees and maintain engagement?

How does the R&D team tap into new ideas and test responses to new products? How does the Merchandising team use the medium to test or seed new sample product?

With so many potential opportunities to interact with the necessary stakeholders, it’s important that an overall Social Media strategy be developed across the business. And who better to lead this, than the Chief Executive.

The next question is whether the CEO is up to date with the seismic shift in the way consumers and staff now interact with media?

Members and guests came to hear me speak about “Integrating an Engaging Customer Experience in Multi-Channel Retailing”.

A shopper’s “Customer Journey” for any retail brand should be one and the same - regardless of a bricks ‘n mortar or online experience!

Focussing on how to maintain brand image when moving from one channel to another (for example from Visual Merchandising to Virtual Merchandising), I also covered:

• What’s happening in retail today…
• A new and unexpected threat to the retail category…
• Retail in the next 5 years…
• What’s missing online, an
• Who’s doing it right!

It was a great opportunity to provoke some interesting conversation around current retail trends in Australia - with an engaged audience of marketing services providers to the retail industry.

Many felt concerned by the fact that consumers are making purchases over the web and that these web customers are becoming more comfortable with the process. Others questioned whether Australians were actually comfortable with buying online?

With a strong belief that the physical retail environment is essential to sales, and that people like beautiful spaces to shop, the consensus was that it often depends on what exactly it is that you’re buying.

Where many people go to physical retail spaces to look, touch and feel a product, they often return to find the best price on the internet and finalise their purchase online.

If you’d like to receive a copy of the presentation, feel free to contact me direct and I’d be happy to send you the PDF.

Lastly, I’d like to say a special thanks to Terri Wilson (President of the “Retail Design Institute”) for inviting me to present, and to Peter & Fred of “Flash Photobition” for being fantastic hosts!

Several years after being discontinued and following a massive consumer campaign to bring back the favourite chocolate bar of the 80’s, Cadbury have finally relented and the Wispa bar is back!

This is largely thanks to the hoards of fans who tirelessly lobbied Cadbury over the last few years to start making its famous chocolate once again.

Loyal fans have been campaigning hard for its return, setting up hundreds of user-generated ‘Bring Back Wispa’ campaigns and online petitions, making banner appearances at festivals, creating blog sites and fuelling online group discussions across Facebook, Bebo, YouTube and MySpace.

Wispa was, and still remains, a unique chocolate sensation!

The bar fuses a secret blend of quality dark and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate interlaced with the finest bubbles developed by an expert ‘Aeration Guru’.

This deliciously aerated milk chocolate bar still tastes as good as it always did, and BEST OF ALL we have a non-stop supply of Wispa bars right here at our own Wispa HQ!

Why not come on in and have yourself the ultimate ‘textual experience’?

Once bitten, never forgotten - That’s our promise!

Remember the internet is not just a sales channel Down Under.

Like their American counterparts, more and more internet users in Australia are going online to research their purchases before buying in-store. The Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) has reported that up to one-half of consumers in Australia, did some online research before shopping in-store. That’s huge!

So I ask the following questions:

• How well are your products or services merchandised online? Do you have lots of product information available?
• How easy is it to navigate through the site while viewing products?
• How well are your products grouped and displayed online?
• Without the ability to touch and feel, do your photography and the use of online tools enable a multi dimensional display?
• Overall, do they look attractive and inspirational?

In essence, the online product display needs to mirror all the tried and tested offline merchandising techniques.
This is what we call Virtual Merchandising.

These presentation standards will certainly strengthen brand equity and maximize sales.

It’s a now a new age in marketing, and one thing is clear: marketers no longer have exclusive control over brands, and they are starting to recognize this change. Buying decisions can no longer be influenced only by repeated exposure to the same content. Instead, they are built on information, education and discussions among influential communities of like-minded individuals.

This new world of marketing is called Engagement Marketing.

Engagement marketing listens as often as it speaks. It understands individuals, not just audiences, and it works to achieve anticipation over interruption. “Engagement” is now the cornerstone of savvy marketing. Utilizing Web 2.0 technologies that enable marketers to understand and communicate relevant messages, an engagement marketing strategy builds vibrant brands, legions of loyal customers and fans, and delivers ever-increasing revenues and return on investment

The user is seeking out personalized content — demanding it, actually. Messages that are relevant to consumers’ interests are the ones that get read - and chances are you already have the necessary data to start crafting these emails. 

• They want what they want. Customers expect relevant communications today, and leveraging dynamic messaging allows for the delivery of information they want to receive.
• They want to be unique. Email recipients like when a message “talks to them” and not the masses.
• They are busy. Delivering messages that customers want saves them time and money.
• They don’t like inbox clutter. Sending messages that are relevant to the recipients can greatly reduce the volume of email you would normally send, if there were no targeting efforts.

This is why the information you have about your customers is so crucial to the delivery of relevant messages. Making sense of the available data from multiple sources can be daunting at first, so try to have a clear understanding of what information you need to have in your database.

If you already have an existing database, take a step back and look at all of your data and determine what is important to the organisation and to your customer. Then take customer profiles and transaction history into account when crafting emails.