E-commerce spending by consumers has been on the increase for nearly two decades as consumers embrace the convenience, cost, and variety available from a home computer, laptop, or mobile device. In 2020, consumers spent more than $861 billion on purchases from online merchants. E-commerce now represents 21.3% of all retail sales. During a year when...Read More

Image Credit: TierneyMJ / Shutterstock.com The dust is settling from 2019’s initiation of annual holiday spending and the analysts are busy evaluating and declaring the winners and losers of this year’s big game. For those whose life’s profession is marketing, the results of post-Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday consumer shopping are as...Read More

Image Credit: janews / Shutterstock.com It wasn’t that long ago when it was widely thought that marketing and advertising among medical services providers was unsavory and unprofessional. There was a sense that providing healthcare services was almost altruistic and that patients should be thankful for those who were present to accommodate their medical needs. Patients...Read More

Image Credit: Stockbakery / Shutterstock.com Perhaps the most inconvenient aspect of shopping online is returning an item that failed to meet expectations. Repacking and taking the unwanted item to a shipping location is often inconvenient, time consuming and expensive. Amid all the fanfare about how online sellers are eating brick and mortar retailers for lunch,...Read More

Image credit: Tashatuvango / Shutterstock.com Ask any veteran in business and you’ll hear stories about the ongoing warbetween the marketing function and the sales department. Many relationshipsbetween sales and marketing departments often resemble an efficient andeffective circular firing squad. Marketing blames sales for not executing onits plan and sales complains that marketing has failed to...Read More

Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving, seasonal music and caroling, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus,...Read More

Mobile technology device users have said it countless times over. “There is an app for everything.”  And of course they are all correct.  The mobile application world has evolved into a market of 1,500,000 apps and includes every conceivable use from coupons to cardiac monitoring and beyond.  ABI Research predicts that mobile app revenue will...Read More

It is a phrase that has been seen in headlines of articles across industry publications, frequently heard in board rooms, and endlessly repeated on internet forums. Yes, ‘Big Data’ has been a hot-button topic and a dominant trend for some time now, but all evidence points to an army of executives, marketers, and other leaders...Read More

As Halloween descends upon us, images of copious amounts of candy corn and miniature chocolates, vampires and werewolves, and children roaming moonlit streets on a brisk autumn evening are conjured. The latest scary movie (this season, it’s the fourth installment of the Paranormal Activity franchise) hits the theaters, and in 2012, some real life drama...Read More

Two months after Facebook announced the acquisition of the mobile photo editing and sharing app Instagram for $1B in cash, the social media giant has become the favorite subject of scrutiny in the financial media. The 10-figure purchase was made in anticipation of an IPO on the NASDAQ; part of a feverish run up to...Read More