Does your e-commerce business suffer from people abandoning their shopping basket or cart before buying? A recent study by Forrester Research found that 88% of on-line buyers say that they have abandoned a shopping cart without completing a transaction. This is the same percentage as five years ago.

Some of the problems include:

• Dislike of shipping costs.
• Being unprepared at point of sale to buy the goods, i.e. can’t find a credit card.
• Desire to compare prices elsewhere.

The research also found:

• On-line buyers who abandon shopping carts spend more money on-line than those who don’t. So it seems that the very people who abandon shopping carts are actually the most valuable to businesses.
• More than two-thirds of shopping cart abandoners say they like to shop around before making a purchase.
• Almost 50% of shopping cart abandoners say that they plan to conduct more on-line research before purchasing in order to get the best price.

So what can e-commerce businesses do about this? Some suggestions include:

• Be up-front about shipping costs of offer free delivery.
• Be sure to offer good deals and discounts.
• Make the buying process as simply as possible.

There are some amazing opportunities for marketing your service and products these days thanks to on-line blogging and social media.

In some cases brands have been propelled into stardom thanks to some clever on-line marketing.

But the key really is how you go about your social media marketing and blogging.

Here’s a few rules:

Don’t over-hype: Cold selling of your products is unlikely to work. People don’t like to be told something is “great” or “amazing”. Instead, try to entertain or create some interesting chat that relates to your product or service.

Think smart: Is your product or service good at solving problems or highly valuable or interesting or funny? If so, go out and talk about it on-line. People are much more likely to engage in your marketing if it sounds a bit quirky or useful.

Share it out: Don’t be scared of this rule. To get your message out to as many people as possible you need to allow for it to be shared. Don’t be controlling about it. Give content for free and allow it to be shared freely.

Find others: If you want to spread your message and get you ideas talked about then sign up to on-line communities who are actively chatting and sharing. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Recent research reveals that on-line spending in America in the first quarter of 2010 is up 10% on last year to $34 billion. The comScore findings also showed:

* Growth was mainly driven by upper-income consumers. Those with a $100,000-plus household income spent 14% more.

* Larger on-line retailers continued to generate higher growth rates than smaller retailers, but the smaller retailers are seeing some positive growth once again.

comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni is reported as saying: “The first quarter returned the US retail e-commerce market to healthy double-digit growth rates.

“While these spending gains provide reason for optimism, we should note that upper-income households are currently shouldering much of the growth.

“Should the economy falter in the second half of the year and upper-income consumers return to a savings mode, we could still see growth decelerate. But for the time being, this momentum is encouraging.”

Could this spell good news for Britain, too? We hope so.

Latest research reveals that total on-line sales increased by 13% in April compared to last year. Shoppers spent £4.4 billion worth on goods and products during the month.

The figures, from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, do mask a month-on-month downturn in on-line travel sales. While travel and ticket sales on-line rose by 5% year-on-year there was a sharp 9% drop in April, compared to March, because of the volcanic ash cloud.

When it comes to on-line clothing sales, there was a huge 21% increase compared to the same period in 2009. There was also a rise in sales of beers, wines and spirits in the last three weeks of the month.

Chris Webster, vice president, Retail Consulting and Technology, Capgemini, is reported as saying: “On-line retail is seeing continued high growth levels of 13% as more and more retailers are using an on-line channel to attract a new market and retain existing customers.

“The clothing sector in particular has been given a boost by April’s early signs of summer, with shoppers logging on to update their wardrobes for the new season. This sector is driving growth behind the industry as a whole.”

A new report reveals that on-line shopping is continuing to grow, with the majority of the British population aged over 15 now shopping on-line.

The study by IMRG showed that the numbers shopping on-line tipped over the 50% mark for the first time in February 2010 (50.6%), while March saw further growth in the number of on-line shoppers to 51%.

James Roper, chief executive of IMRG, is reported as saying: “It is only 10 years since the very first consumer broadband connection was made available… since when the value of UK on-line shopping has grown more than 6,000%”

“This huge growth is due almost entirely to consumers’ eagerness to embrace the convenience, choice and savings that e-retail offers them.”

With the e-retail and e-commerce growing at such a fast rate it can sometimes seem like there are too many product and prices choices. And how annoying is it to find that you have missed out on a great discounted product? Here we bring you some top tips to make on-line buying more successful and safe:

* Use price comparison sites, specialist shopping tools and on-line voucher sites to finding the cheapest products.

* Sign up to sites that offer updated discounts information and vouchers so that you do not miss out on relevant sales. But do beware of phishing sites – if a site requires you to fill out personal data make sure that the information requested is strictly necessary.

* Read the small print when signing up to sites or making purchases. You want to know who will be party to your personal info, and whether you can cancel a sale or the returns process.

* Check payment security and legitimacy of the e-retail site. Look at the address bar for the letters https:// at the start of its address which shows it’s a “safe” site. The “s” indicates that is a secure site. Check if there is a closed padlock or a key icon on the bottom of the page when checking out or giving credit card details. If you hover your cursor over this it should show the security certificate.

* Check the delivery conditions, cost and the delivery period for the product or service to ensure it meets your needs.

* Store your order information and confirmation emails and electronic receipts so that you can exercise your rights to returns and refunds if necessary.