In every online holiday gifting purchase decision, the customer wonders “will this gift get here/there on time?” It’s important to communicate clearly shipping cutoff dates to ease the fear, uncertainty and doubt—or risk losing your sale to a competitor.

1. Use clear wording like “Shipping Deadlines,” “Shipping Cutoff” or “Order By December ___” rather than just “Shipping Details” or “Shipping Info.”

2. Make sure the information is easy to find on every page of your online store (You never know how a customer “lands” on your site. Examples: a deep link to a product page through a search engine, a forwarded-from-friend e-mail that links to a special offer or a direct type in visit.)

3. Include all shipping options: standard, expedited and express.

4. Include where you ship to on your shipping information detail page. Be clear if different states or countries have different cutoff dates.

5. Explain any restrictions clearly.

6. If different products/categories have different estimated shipping times, you must be clear about them on product pages and your information page.

7. Remember that Christmas is not the only holiday of the season. Consider Kwanzaa, Diwali and Hanukkah.

8. Consider offering a guarantee for on-time delivery. Best Buy offers an e-coupon and pays for shipping should the order arrive late.

9. Remind last-minute shoppers about electronic gift card options, e-gift cards are “always on time.”

10. Don’t forget to remind your e-mail subscribers about cut-off dates in subject lines and e-mail creative.

11. Provide the option to gift-wrap and include a gift message for direct delivery to the recipient. This is especially handy when the recipient lives in a different city.

12. If for any reason the item is not available or otherwise does not leave the warehouse on time, call the customer to notify them or at least send an e-mail notification. Offer to overnight an alternative item if need be.

Linda Bustos is an e-commerce analyst with Elastic Path and the author of the Get Elastic eCommerce Blog.

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Over 9 million Americans have their identity stolen each year. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that in 2007, the highest category of complaints was identity theft, attributing 32 percent of total complaints received to the category. Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.2 billion, almost double that of 2005.

Shopping online safely helps you prevent your own identity theft. Parents teach us to look both ways before crossing the street, but most of us didn’t grow up hearing “make sure your password contains a number” or, “look for an SSL connection when shopping.” All retailers should help inform consumers about safe practices.

Do’s and Don’ts Security Tips to Prevent E-commerce Identity Theft This Holiday Season:

1. Download Updates. Do click “Update Now” when you receive security updates from Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe. Don’t avoid these updates that arm you with the latest fixes before starting to shop. Web application exploits are very common now and can harm you if you simply go to a bad website.

2. Create Complex Passwords. Do mix letter cases and use at least seven characters when placing an order online. Don’t choose a word from a dictionary as hacker programs guess passwords very quickly.

3. Thwart Hackers. Do use your wireless router’s security features when surfing the web. Don’t let hackers join your network where they can try to listen in on your shopping experience. Hackers can use network sniffers to eavesdrop on you.

4. Use Onetime Credit Cards. Do shop online using a virtual credit card that expires after one use. Don’t use your actual credit card numbers on less familiar websites.
Some websites masquerade as shops but really just steal your credit card numbers.

5. Verify Secure Connections. Do make sure the padlock symbol in your browser’s status bar shows that you have a secure connection when conducting online financial transactions. Don’t press submit if there is no padlock at a store. Padlocks represent an SSL connection, which protects any information you send.

6. Check Your Credit. Do visit annualcreditreport.com before and after the holidays. Don’t wait until you receive a bill for a credit card that isn’t really yours. Your credit report shows all your accounts and overdue balances.

7. Lock Up Your Passwords. Do use a password manager to save all your passwords. Don’t save passwords in your web browser without a master password to protect them. Password managers encrypt all of your passwords with a master password so you only have to remember the one.

8. Enter Web Addresses Manually. Do go directly to a store’s website by typing its address into your web browser manually if you plan to buy something. Don’t click on links from an email message. These are known as phishing attacks and are very common.

9. Shop From Your Terminal. Do shop online using your own computer. Don’t shop online using a public computer at a hotel or airport. Public computers can have spyware that records your information as you type it.

10. Communicate Securely. Do call a business and read them your credit card information if you trust them and want to buy a present for someone. Don’t e-mail or instant message personal information. E-mail and instant messenger are insecure.

Todd Feinman is CEO of Identity Finder.

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Years ago, an exchange of cash was all it took for a customer to make a purchase from a merchant. How things have changed! Today, most businesses offer their products or services on the Internet—clearly, they can’t be restricted to cash-on-delivery practices anymore. E-commerce has emerged as a lucrative channel for merchants to boost sales and grow their bottom lines. Many consumers have Internet access both at work and at home, and browsing an online catalog can be faster than browsing the aisles of a physical store. What’s more, customers get the added convenience of shopping 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Merchants should understand the value of operating in multiple channels. For those who haven’t yet incorporated e-commerce into their business but want to, there is much to learn. They must educate themselves on how payment processing works in order to best accommodate their online shoppers and serve the needs of their business. Though paying for an online purchase takes just a few seconds, it involves a complex chain reaction of behind-the-scenes processes.

Merchants can increase revenues and reach more customers by offering an efficient, successful e-commerce solution. This article examines what must be in place in order to complete a transaction that is both secure and offers superior customer service.

What Makes an E-commerce Solution Possible?
In addition to the range of software and hardware that companies use to support the sale of products and services online, there are three vital components that make online shopping possible: the shopping cart, payment gateway and payment processor. Each is critical to ensuring successful implementation of e-commerce functionality.

• Shopping cart. The shopping cart acts quite literally as a virtual shopping basket. It holds the items customers select from a website until they are ready to proceed to the checkout stage, where their credit card information will be processed. The shopping cart:
o Keeps track of items until they are purchased;
o Automatically totals the amount of a customer’s order, including shipping and tax; and
o Allows shoppers to securely enter address and credit card information.

• Payment gateway. In order to accept credit cards through the Internet, a payment gateway is critical to transport the credit card information from the shopping cart to the payment processor once the consumer clicks the “Buy” button. In most cases, this transaction happens almost instantaneously. The payment gateway receives encrypted transactions from the merchant’s shopping cart. An encrypted transaction simply means that credit card numbers can’t be read by people who are not supposed to read those numbers. Authentication is then provided and the decrypted payment information is transmitted for authorization. The payment gateway:
o Fulfills the same function as a point-of-sale (card swipe) terminal at a physical retail location; and
o Takes information provided through a shopping cart and transmits it electronically and securely to a payment processor to be routed for authorization of payment.

• Payment processor. The payment processor transmits a customer’s credit card information via the Internet to the merchant bank for authorization. It also sends data back to the merchant’s bank to approve payment or the transfer of funds. Specifically, a payment processor:
o Acts as a link from the merchant to the acquiring bank or merchant bank;
o Receives information from the merchant through the payment gateway and packages the information for delivery to the acquirer, ensuring that all necessary transactional data is present and valid; and
o Later transmits information back from the acquirer for delivery to the merchant to settle the transaction.

With the shopping cart, payment gateway and payment processor in place, merchants have all they need to offer convenient e-commerce solutions that deliver superior security and service. With a little research and education, merchants can find the best providers to accommodate their business needs and those of their consumers. It just makes sense—with online shopping projected to account for $116 billion, or 5 percent of all retail sales this year—e-commerce provides merchants an opportunity to make more money and succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Erin Kroll is the PR/VAR marketing coordinator for e-onlinedata.

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According to a New York Times article, viewers are shown programs—and ads—they can respond to by using remote controls to click on icons they see on their screens. Each click sends a signal to the viewer’s personal portal—basically, a site where everything the person has expressed interest in is aggregated. Then, the viewer can look up more information there the next time he or she goes online.

For example, someone who clicks on an icon embedded in a spot for a local car dealer can send to a personal portal a link to the dealer’s website or to the site of the car brand. Backchannel Media—which hosts the portals on its server—refers to these response opportunities as “clickable moments.” Linking TV and the Internet can be “a game-changing technology,” says Michael Kokernak, who shares the title of chief executive at Backchannel with Daniel Hassan, because it represents “a huge shift from how stations operate today.” The Backchannel system is one of several experiments with interactive television, which seeks to blend the ubiquity and convenience of traditional TV with the interactive qualities of personal computers.

Here’s a recent newscast that discusses the program:

Do you think this program has the potential for national success?

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