Here is an interesting snippet from a recent Kiplinger Letter, that talks about e-commerce and growing Internet sales. These figures do not surprise us, as we have seen many of our client’s website sales grow significantly over the past several years. However the statistics actually pan out, one thing is for sure, there is a very bright future for online retailers and e-commerce!

“Online retail sales will soar 16% in 2008 to about $200 billion. Then growth will slow, leveling off at 10% per year by 2012. The number of shoppers will rise only 2% a year, but they’ll buy more… some, much more. Half of online shoppers account for two-thirds of sales.

Big gainers in the next few years: Luxury goods, such as jewelry. Competition will get tougher as retailers dress up Web sites to improve presentation and create a distinctive shopping experience. More will feature demonstration videos and three-dimensional photos.

One way to boost your online sales: Focus on abandoned carts. It’s a big issue for retailers that do a good job of luring customers and getting them to fill their carts but then fail to complete the sale.

Fewer than 3% of online shoppers actually buy when they visit. The majority put products into their carts but then leave them there…”

August Ash (AAI) is honored by the recent recognition from Minnov8 for its recent launches of Magento powered e-commerce websites. An article was posted last week on the Minnov8 website, as well as the MinnPost website, commending AAI for its innovation and early adoption of this innovative new software.

Magento is an open-source e-commerce solution that offers unprecedented flexibility and control for web development companies. The AAI team has been following Magento’s development since early beta and is the first known company in Minnesota to launch websites using this new e-commerce tool. Two such websites that have been recently launched are for LDF Silk out of Dallas, TX, and freshvac, a St. Louis Park company. AAI has a number of additional projects currently in development using Magento, and is also in the process of developing several custom Magento extensions.

This month marks August Ash’s tenth year in business. During these ten years, August Ash has grown from a one employee company to a thirteen employee company consisting of positions in sales, marketing, management, customer relations, and of course, web design and web development. With 240 active client relationships today, we look forward to continuing to serve customers in the Minneapolis area and beyond with consistent, thoughtful service; quality, custom web designs; and innovative web solutions.

We’re currently looking to add to our professional, talented team of designers and developers. See our employment page for current opportunities with August Ash.

Whether you’re looking to work for us or with us - we’d love to hear from you!

A new website for the Minnesota family law firm Butler, Huson, & Allen, P.A. gives the firm a fresh and professional look, while also allowing the attorneys to provide valuable resources and support for their clients.

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August Ash collaborated with Competitive Image Publishing to create PortraitofPassion.com, a website dedicated to a book that features the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. The book, written by teen author Gail Stewart with photos by sports photographer Paul Philips, is an inspirational book including in-depth interviews with the members of the 2007 U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

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Recent research from the PEW Internet and American Life Project says that while more than half of Americans (66%) that are online have made a purchase online, three quarters of them (75%) either agree or strongly agree that they don’t like giving out their credit card and other personal information online. So, what does this mean for your retail business and taking it online? Does Internet users’ skepticism of the security of their online information prevent them from actually making purchases? And, more importantly, is there anything you can do to ease this concern?

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Our last blog post weighed the new features some search engines are offering against the trusted results users receive from others – namely, Google. New data may answer the question posed as to how long it will take - if any length of time is long enough – for new features from other search engines to draw loyal searchers away from Google. But from a perspective of searcher loyalty, is Google really the clear winner?

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Are the new features some search engines are announcing enough to win over loyal searchers from trusted engines?

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We’ve already told you all the great things you can find out about your marketing results with internet marketing and website tracking, but internet marketing gives you control even before you decide exactly what message you’re going to market.

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Internet marketing is often a mysterious topic that business owners face with skepticism. You know how a print ad works: You give a publication your creative, and you know you’ll be able to see it on a certain page of that publication. With the internet, you know you want more visitors to your website and you know what words you’d like them to find you for in the search engines, but how do you get from these ideas to results? How do you know it’s going to work when no one has a guarantee with Google? While internet marketing is certainly a less familiar form of marketing than print or television advertising, there’s much more certainty and far fewer guesses with this type of marketing than with traditional marketing.

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