For the first time on-line retailer Amazon has revealed their worldwide mobile commerce revenue figures – which have reached a whopping $1 billion in the past year.

This statistic adds weight to recent reports that show a huge growth in the use of mobile devices or accessing the internet and also for making purchases.

Amazon has said that the leading mobile commerce device is the smart phone. The company is now looking towards wireless tablet computers, such as the iPad, as the next ecommerce driver.

Amazon’s figures showed that in the second quarter total net sales reached $6.57 billion, up 41.3% in the second quarter of 2009.

If you are looking for information on website design for mobile phone devices then speak to leading web design company WebCreationUK.

On-line giant Amazon has retained the coveted top “Hitwise Hot Shops” top spot. The latest list, from IMRG, reveals the e-retail market leaders are performing in terms of attracting visitors to their websites.

Amazon’s top placing has remained unchallenged every quarter since the List was first published in May 2006.

In second place is Argos, while Play.com remains in third position.

The fourth place in the Top 100 Hitwise Hot Shops this year goes to Apple Computer, which has moved up from 17^th place last year.

Leading the fastest climbers are ASOS, from 50 to 14, and HP, from 47 to 24. ASDA moved from 49 to 28, while Screwfix is now at 27 after moving up from 46.

With Amazon’s recent entrance to the online grocery market, big players such as Tesco and Sainsburys had better watch thier backs and up thier game!

WebCreationUK can offer you information on how to set up your own ecommerce store and any other web design needs. Take at a look at our summer e-shop special for more.

A consumer survey has put Amazon.com at the top of a performance brand list based on “trust” and “recommendation”.

The new report, carried out in America, is called Beyond Trust: Engaging Consumers in the Post-Recession World and introduces a new concept “TrustR” as a way of understanding/measuring the relationship between consumers and brands.

It’s been shown many times in previous surveys that people simply will not pay for brands they do not trust. So it’s clear that trust is a very important element of growing a company’s brand and sales.

TrustR is calculated by looking at consumer responses to the questions “how trustworthy is this brand?” and “would you recommend this brand?” The scores are then indexed and combined to reach a TrustR score. The average score is 100, and anything above 105 is considered good.

The first TrustR index reveals that
Amazon scored 123, the FedEx scored 122 and Downy, Huggies, Tide and Tylenol all had scores of 120.

Remember that this is an American index but it is likely the same TrustR concept will be test in the UK sometime soon. And it does show to all companies, big or small, how important it is to create a trusted brand.

Yet more soaring sales news form the on-line business world. This time it’s on-line giant Amazon that has reported profits up by 71% in the fourth quarter of 2009. The huge rise is explained by the sale of millions of its Kindle e-book readers – and the fact that the site now sells six downloadable books for every 10 hard copy books.

Amazon’s net profit for the final three months of 2009 hit $384 million, up from $225 million during the same period in 2008.

Further proof that e-commerce and on-line businesses are going from strength to strength. What are you waiting for?

It’s no surprise to find shopping giant Amazon.co.uk at number 1 in the latest top 50 on-line shops list, with Argos taking the number 2 slot and Play at number 3. Tesco also retained its place at number 7, while M&S climbed a place to number 5.

But this quarter the IMTG-Hitwise Top 50 e-tailers list reveals two on-line stores that are less popular. Amazon.com has again fallen a place to number 6. It was worse news for Next, which fell four places to number 8.

This month there were three new entrants in the top 10 list, announced on December 1, including Apple Computer ay number 4, John Lewis at 9 and Tesco Direct at 10.

The biggest movers this quarter were: GAME, up 20 places to 22, Boots up 19 places to 28 and Sainsbury’s up 17 places to 29.

Amazon has shown that it knows exactly how to make an ecommerce business work. Of course, not every business is able to employ the same marketing and sales strategies as the on-line sales king but there are a few things you could learn.

Hot deliveries: Amazon offers a range of attractive delivery options at different prices, and including next-day delivery.

What you can learn: Don’t be vague about when you’ll deliver. If it’s going to be in three to five days, then say so. Do not promise next day, only for the product to be delivered a week later. Customers like honesty.

Relevant promotions: Amazon always have a “check this out” list on the landing page that fits with the season. Eg at Christmas time there’s a “Gifts List”. This helps customers to find the things they are most likely to want at certain key times of the year.

What you can learn: Most businesses will have products that customers are more interested in at certain times of the year. It is simple to set up links to promote these items on your home page and therefore you’ll offer easier navigation for customers.

Competitive pricing: In America Amazon and Walmart have been engaged in a high-profile price war over bargain books. Amazon has a policy of always trying to be highly competitive with rival e-tailers and High street stores.

What you can learn: Your business may not be able to afford to under-cut prices of big brand names but you can work out who your main competitors are and at least be aware of what they are charging so that you do not have a higher price tag.