Cisco Ranks Top E-Tailers

The top 10 overall e-commerce sites, in rank order of flawless execution that make online shopping exceptionally easy for consumers are Amazon.com, Best Buy, Sears, Circuit City, Quelle, Otto, Macy’s, FNAC, Bol.com and Argos Home Retail Group, says Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group.

But mobile shopping and social networking are redefining the online experience, Cisco says. "Two big take-aways emerged," says Lindsay Parker, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group director. "Most significant was mobility." The second big thing was importance of social networking, Parker says.

"We accessed the sites using mobile devices and found that of the 45, 42 percent allow viewing of product information," Parker says. "Many appear to have refortmatted for mobile screens."

"But only 15 percent support transactions," she notes. And only 10 percent support SMS communications. On some sites, customers can use SMS capabilities to check inventory and be notified when an order is ready for pickup.

On transaction side, "Amazon does a terrific job in terms of ease of use," says Parker. The Amazon site "clearly is designed for mobile navigation and completing transactions."

"Amazon really shows what a good mobile site looks like," Parker says.

From social networking angle, Parker was surprised that only 17 percent of sites provided connection to communities on the site, a place where you could interact with other customers, or with Facebook.

"Amazon did that best, as well," says Parker. But 52 percent of sites did provide shopper reviews That's important because perhaps 50 percent of shoppers indicate they checked a review before buying online, she adds.

"One big change we see is that as you talk about customer experience, it is much more of a 'pull' world rather than a 'push' world," Parker says. "The consumer is more in control."

Retailers who figure this out will be well ahead, she adds.

Cisco expects mobile commerce to follow an adoption pattern similar to that of cell phones, an important fact since there are three times as many mobile-phone subscribers (3.3 billion) as Internet users (1.3 billion) worldwide.

The Cisco IBSG study assessed 45 retailers from North America and Europe in three categories (Global 500, Web 15 and Innovators) and looked at two aspects of online shopping from the consumer’s point of view. The first is “foundational” capabilities, which are nonnegotiable, “must have” characteristics. These include an intuitive graphical user interface, search capabilities and a convenient purchasing process. The second is “emerging” capabilities, which are the more sophisticated aspects, such as social networking and multichannel integration, that add even greater value to the customer’s experience.

Comcast to Boost Upstream in FiOS Areas

Comcast will boost upload speeds for its customers in Verizon FiOS areas June 5 or so, reports Broadband Reports.com.

The rumor is that 6 Mbps customers will see their upstream speeds boosted to 1 Mbps, while 8 Mbps customers will see their upstream speeds boosted to 2 Mbps.

As we understand, prices will not change. Competition works, apparently.

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40% GPS Mobile Device Growth Through 2012

Worldwide shipments of GPS-integrated mobile devices will grow at an annualized rate of nearly 40 percent over the next five years, reaching 834 million units in 2012, according to Parks Associates.

Mobile handsets and smartphones will constitute the majority of shipments up to 2012, but personal navigation devices will remain the most widely used and preferred navigation choice in the next three years, says Harry Wang, Parks Associates senior analyst.

“GPS will come to your mobile handset as a standard feature, but mobile carriers are still a couple of years away from turning GPS into a money-making, mass-market feature,” Wang says. Currently, consumers prefer PNDs thanks to the combination of a bigger screen, more versatile functions, and growing affordability.

Email Still Preferred for Communications with Businesses

No question: when it comes to interacting with a business or friends, email rules. An Ipsos survey recently found that 67 percent of consumers prefer email as a primary method of communications in their personal and business capacities, and 65 percent say they will continue to prefer email in the future.

Consumer opinion of the future importance of email registered far above future expectations for video conferencing (19 percent), instant messaging (17 percent), SMS text messages (12 percent) and Web meetings (12 percent).

Significantly, 65 percent of the demographic between the ages of 18 to 34 expect to favor email to communicate with businesses in five years. That makes sense: a retailer is not likely to be found on a "buddy" list. Nor are most major retailers likely to rush to publish such customer service "buddy" lists so consumers can contact them that way.

Craigslist Blocks VoIP

Craigslist.org does have a problem with spam. In its attempts to defeat spam, though, it also now seems to be blocking attempts by legitimate VoIP number users to authenticate the ads they want to place on Craigslist, reports Cory Andrews of VoIP Insider.

Craiglist apparently uses a telephone verification process that places an automated outbound call to a user placing a classified ad in certain categories.

The problem is that Craigslist is categorically blocking legitimate VoIP and Pre-paid cellular users from authenticating themselves.

The call delivers a unique code using text to speech, which is then used by the poster to authenticate the ad they are placing.

Craig’s uses a third party service, ReduceFraud.com, to screen out VoIP and Pre-paid cellular numbers, and will not deliver an automated verification call to VoIP numbers.

How do they check? "They check the DID number to see who owns the NPA NXX X number block, and if the DID number is owned by Level 3 Communications, they classify it as VoIP," says Andrews.

ReduceFraud.com is owned and operated by a California firm Telecentrex, who offers its own hosted VoIP service.

Consumers Pulling Back

The percentage of consumers who feel we are in tough times or a recession has increased since April, according to a monthly survey by The NPD Group, Inc.

In May, 58 percent of consumers said we are in a recession, compared to 55 percent in April.

What’s more, consumers are not only less optimistic about the economy, they are beginning to change their behavior in response.

How are consumers reacting? The survey respondents said they are planning to spend less on things like apparel and footwear. And with vacation season approaching, 49 percent of consumers said they plan to cut back on leisure travel.

“Consumers are finally starting to react to the price of gas and other rising costs and are shifting shopping intentions,” says NPD chief industry expert Marshal Cohen.