Complex algorithms determine what we see during our internet travels, via searches or newsfeeds. Yet often what we don’t see is just as important to us getting a more complete picture or challenging our ideas.

The Filter Bubble, published in June 2011, draws attention to an artificial bubble being created  in which we are sheltered from everything except what the search engines and sites think we should or want to read. Here some eye-raising examples are explained by its author Eli Pariser.

Google’s recent changes to their privacy policy effectively enable the company greater ability to track across channels giving them increased capacity to sell and market their products. Google argues the changes implemented will ultimately improve the product for the user.

The public are becoming more concerned about their rights online. New start-up engine, DuckDuckGo has recently been gaining attention and exponential growth in traffic. They are claiming to have “Way more instant answers. Way less spam and clutter. Real privacy.”  They discredit Google with no holds barred attacks here and here whilst aggressively pushing against privacy invasions and the so-called filter bubble.

This could mark the beginning of a new era of anti-tracking software increasingly demanded by users.

The use of personalised data has become the backbone of internet revenue, mainly via advertising, which begs the question of how ‘alternative’ products like these will become commercially viable?

How serious a threat do you think internet tracking is to you?  What measures do you take against being tracked or filtered?

Everyone seems to be whispering that Australian retail is dead, blaming savvy online stores which have sprung up overseas at a time when the Aussie Dollar is at record highs.

But now Australian retailers are being encouraged to improve their e-commerce offerings and beat these offshore competitors at their own game.

According to NAB, Australians spent $10.5 billion online in 2011 and the bank expects online sales will continue to skyrocket (growing by 29% each year).   While domestic retailers currently hold the lion’s share of the online market, the bulk of Australia’s future online spend is tipped to go to offshore sellers.

There are many reasons behind this phenomenon.

Some of Australia’s largest retailers have been the most apathetic when it comes to e-commerce, failing to invest in new systems and online shopping experiences but instead relying on superior buying power and the country’s geographical isolation.

But their approach isn’t working.

Ruslan Kogan, the 29 year old whiz kid behind Australia’s largest online electronics retailer, Kogan Technologies, enjoyed a sixfold increase in revenue last year while profits at Harvey Norman, David Jones and Myer have slumped by around 20%, the Age reports.

Kogan’s sleek, uncluttered website offers a twelve month Australian warranty, a myriad of secure online payment options and it makes full use of the company’s 112,000 Facebook fans to promote new products and answer queries from customers.

It proves that retailers need a strong online presence which fosters interactivity with customers in order to capitalise on the benefits of social commerce and peer recommendations offered by websites such as Facebook or Pinterest for example.

Sportsgirl shows how to stay relevant in this new trading environment

Sportsgirl is a prime example of a retailer which has managed to open up new sales channels thanks to technological innovation.

The teen-focussed retailer recently started showing quick response (QR) codes on televisions out the front of its Chapel Street store in Melbourne. If a shopper saw a dress they liked it was a simple case of grabbing out their I-phone, scanning it and voila, a purchase could be made.

Prue Thomas, Sportsgirl’s strategic brand manager says the company’s mobile sales channels are growing thanks to a strong presence on Facebook and feedback from online forums on the Sportsgirl website, she told Smart Company.

The success of the QR campaign was followed by a new mobile feature that allows girls to photograph and share images of themselves trying on Sportsgirl clothing, a sort of e-fitting room perfectly suited to the retailer’s client base.

Spending while on the go

It seems the world’s largest tech companies are desperate to develop new payment options or mobile ‘wallets’ that provide easier ways for anyone who has a smart phone or tablet to spend their money.

Google Wallet is developing new mobile apps and online technologies that store your personal credit card details or specific discounts and offers.  The information is stored on your phone or on the Cloud for ease of use next time you shop in a bricks-and-mortar store or online, meaning that your mobile device literally becomes your wallet.

PayPal has also expanded its mobile functionality to offer payments in 24 currencies across 190 markets worldwide.

Locally, Australia’s Securepay and eWay are being used by companies of all sizes to grow their online e-tailing presence with payment gateway solutions starting at $350.

As these technologies develop, businesses should evolve their online activities to engage consumers and compliment emerging modes of integration, consumption and engagement.

As any with investment, you can’t go in blind: tech innovations must be as targeted and relevant to your market as any other business initiative, meaning a digital and online strategy must be carefully constructed.

For more advice on online strategy, contact us.

Further reading on  the topic in these publications:

Quantium

The Age

Smart Company

If you don’t know what I’m referring to, Google has unveiled a prototype that if successful, could change the way we view life – through augmented reality glasses.

A short video takes the POV of a person wearing the glasses. He uses voice activation, snaps photos, checks the weather, gets directions, replies to messages and takes a video call. The futuristic device uses a small screen to transmit information, an eye-tracking mechanism to interact with data and spoken commands to control the interface.

Data connection, motion sensors and GPS all seem to be part of the product. It may leverage a smart phone’s Wi-Fi connection to provide access to storage (for photos) and the cloud.  The glasses appear to be built with Android, with similar functions to Android smart phone and tablets integrated with Google services (funny that).

The preview was intended as a sneak-peak to highlight the most useful features of the device which is still in its prototype stage. Analysts expect the wide-scale release of the glasses will take place later in the year. Google is hungry for feedback, which is hardly surprising given the tech giant cut its teeth on data-centric tools, rather than designing devices.

Wearable technology such as the Google glasses is already stirring debate in the tech world. Two schools of thought are emerging split between the futurist enthusiasts and the resistant naysayers.

The question is, will such devices that layer digital information over real life augment or diminish reality?

The Enthusiasts say:

• It’s like all my Star Trek/ Minority Report / Terminator / [insert B-grade Sci-Fi film]-dreams come true.

• I hate the inconvenience of having to scrounge around handbags or pockets to snap a picture or check a map.

• It’s the next logical step in the mobilisation of devices. It will progress and improve the augmented reality that already exists via the likes of applications such as Yelp.

• I won’t have to interact with devices any more. Navigation will be easier than ever.  This will enhance my life, as I can concentrate on the important stuff.

• Imagine the possibilities, like how this could transform lessons or instructional videos.

• This is a game changer, I’ll be able to share my world whenever I would like.

• Further along in product development, they will create killer apps, features and functions, purposely designed for the glasses and perfectly suited for the task.

• I can catch up on everything that I need to as I am walking to work, rather than trying to hold a phone while crossing the road.

• We all interact so much with Google products anyway, why not take it to the next level?

• If they get the details right and allow customisation of features, we can have a tool that works for us, right in front us at all times.

• If they improve the stylishness of the design – a la Apple – or make it more invisible it’ll look better. The potential for customisation will be huge. Think how cool Gaga glasses will be!

The Naysayers say:

• I don’t want any more data collected about me than it already is – this is the beginning of the Big Brother dystopia envisaged by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

• It is too much. I don’t want such a pervasive technology. I can think for myself.

• Constant pop-ups are annoying enough let alone (literally) in my face. I don’t want people just popping up – I need some ability to ‘screen’ who I talk with and when.

• I am already overloaded with notifications but at least with smart phones I can choose when to ignore it.

• It looks ridiculous, the design is meant to be inoffensive but it looks dorky even on the models.

• I’d rather use my phone than look like a crazy person walking around muttering commands – voice activation rarely work well for me.

• I am not up for the inevitable ‘ads in your eyeballs’ that will follow. Advertisers will be licking their lips at the new level of targeted promotion available based on location and all sorts of other saved data.

An amusing Naysayer argument was posted by Tom Scott, it parodies banging into people and the pitfalls of learning to use such a device. And you thought pressing the wrong button was bad?

The verdict:

Whatever your opinion, if Google can get the technology up and running properly, people will want to try it and other brands will try to get a piece of the action by creating their own.

As desired, Project Glass has no doubt got plenty of feedback from this crowdsourcing exercise; now let’s see what they do with it.

Responsive design seems to be the concept of the moment. It’s on the coffee-stained lips of designers and developers worldwide but what does it mean and more importantly what does it mean for businesses looking to build a website?

You know what it’s like to look at a site on your mobile and get annoyed when it does not work properly or optimise for your device?  Responsive design is about building a website to recognise and adapt its form according to the device that you are viewing it with including: mobile, PC, tablet, video game or whatever inventors cook up next. It refers designing online usability using the medium’s inherent flexibility and intelligence that print or broadcasting doesn’t necessarily have. It is predicted that in the next few years, mobile browsing will outweigh desktop surfing, so when building a site you need to think hard about this. There’s touch and keypads to consider, think about operating systems from Android, CSL or iPhone to Windows versus Mac, there’s everything from 26”screens down to barely-there mobiles, even video game-driven browsers.  Yep, there are more browsers, more devices, more input systems, more users, more user types. More, more, more!

Sometimes you might find that because you have specific needs for mobile, for example, the solution may be to tailor content separately. It may seem logical to create separate strategies and content versions (such as one for iPhone, one for PC) yet as responsive design guru, Ethan Marcotte, asks, “can we really continue to commit to supporting each new user agent with its own bespoke experience?” Designing and compartmentalising as separate different requirements in a rapidly-proliferating environment is no longer pragmatic. Building and maintaining multiple versions and apps gets costly and unmanageable.

Marcotte explains: “we can design for an optimal viewing experience, but embed standards-based technologies into our designs to make them not only more flexible, but more adaptive to the media that renders them”.

For example, through creating conditions (known as media queries) developers issues in the layout can be corrected – responsively – as it scales beyond its initial, ideal resolution eliminating the need to target a specific version of a browser.

At Design Industries we believe in being platform neutral to stay relevant and making design adaptive. The framework needs to ensure prime functionality and good looks whatever the application.  A pared back, minimal aesthetic is one way to create a responsive design but not the only route.

How then do you future-proof your website design? We suggest that you make sure that:

Flexibility and adaptability are prioritised.

Your site adapts easily to portrait and landscape orientations.

That no assumptions as to the browser’s width or height are made.

Your design supports changes in resolution or viewport size.

Text breaks are logical and suit your design mantra; user flow must always be protected

Size changes accommodate text wrapping, typesetting eligibility

Elements are shown or hidden where appropriate to aid easy navigation.

Target area where links appear are adapted according to the screen.

Has the capacity to adapt to change as it happens.

When images grow they don’t become unwieldy, cumbersome or pixelated.

Wireframes  and sitemaps are created to adjust accordingly for each; a stagnate version will not allow you to clearly map out the whole process.

Consider starting from a ‘mobile first’ perspective as it is then easier to create for a worse case pixel scenario and work upwards.

Adapt sites to look and feel like they were meant to run on the version in use –people don’t want to feel like they are getting second best.

Proceed with caution: unlike fixed width design, you lose control over line length legibility, flow and placement of page items. Having a responsive layout can mean losing control over visually guiding users through the content.

Design Industries knows how to leverage the latest responsive design technologies, including HTML5, CSS3, media queries and an intelligent modular design tailored to your businesses’ specific web requirements.

Contact us if you would like help building a web presence that adapts to your users and their devices.

Jonathon, our dynamite Project Manager

Colin, our new PHP Developer

Kirup, our new PHP Developer

John, Front-end Developer

Tracey, our new Administration gun

To Jon, Colin, Kirup, John and Tracey: Hello and welcome! We are jumping for joy that you have joined us!

You need hard figures for real insights into who, how and why is using your website. Use analytics to measure and optimise web traffic and effectiveness.

The “build it and they will come” mantra is fine for Kevin Costner but in the fierce environment of online operations it is fool hardy not to have strategy (informed by data) behind your web presence.

Understanding the source and the behaviour of your users will help you get the best out of your website, generate more leads and hopefully help you fulfil your online objectives.

Web statistics have long been used to track where visitors are coming from (geographically and online) what language they speak, how often they visit and what browsers they use. There’s a barrage of software available, although, in its new 2012 incarnation, Google Analytics includes information for web strategists to use as part of their arsenal including ‘real time’ data.

SEVEN WAYS TO HARNESS WEB ANALYTICS

Track user behaviour by measuring pages per visit; average time on site; bounce rates. Create events to track such as enquires, conversions, downloads, how many scrolled all the way to the end. See what parts of the site are attracting the most users, getting them to stay, such as landing pages or campaigns. This allows you to adapt the site and content strategically rather than on an ad-hoc basis

Goal flow allows you to evaluate a conversion funnel and identify processes that aren’t working or that are too fiddly for most users to bother with.

View top keywords and search terms to spot trends based on different criteria that you select – including visits, bounce rates and pages per visit.

The ability to monitor the average page load time you can make sure your site is running smoothly as delays result in lower conversions.

Examining mobile web analytics enables you to cater your site according to what devices, smart phones and tablets people are using. This is a crucial consideration when building your web’s functionality and useability.

Gauge users’ level of social engagement with your site by tracking what content and pages inspired social action: such as shares, retweeting and likes. We recommend plugins such as Sharethis and AddThis sharing plugins to boost traffic and for which Google Analytics is a complimentary tool.

Personalise areas such as dashboards so your users can quickly access the statistics that relate to their area of responsibility. Or create separate areas for different campaigns or target groups.

Our advice is to employ analytics to put strategy, backed up by figures, behind your site and to ensure it is functioning at its optimum and designed for your business’ needs.

Want help building your website and powering analytics to get the best results?

Contact Us

Thanks for all your hard work, good luck and as you said to us, we say “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye…”

He is sad that Design Industries is going on holidays until 3rd January but is looking forward to seeing you all (and working hard) in 2012!!

He wants to thank-you for a great year and says enjoy the break!

PS For  any urgent matters please contact support@di.net.au

Undeniably, Asia is ripping shreads off the failing economies in the US and Europe.  Economic giant China is storming ahead – now it no longer just manufactures our tech products (like iphones) but has their own growing, ferocious demand for smart phones and tablets. While the fastest growing technology brands in Asia are streaking ahead, western companies are also reaping the benefit of the ‘red’ dollar.

China now delivers Apple the most revenue after the U.S and this continues to grow. When the iphone was launched in China in 2009 – it was then just two percent of Apple’s revenue – now it (and Hong Kong and Taiwan) are 12 per cent of Apple’s full-year revenue for 2011. This was hard to grasp in 2009 when it was launched in China as you can tell by the reactions on Gigaom at the time.

Chinese-made and owned brands like Huawei being sold for a fifth of the price of Apple phones combined with the bans on wi-fi made the success of the iphone seem unlikely – yet the rapidly growing middle class is changing this…rapidly.

As a flow-on effect, online stores are now increasingly being accessed through mobile and the Chinese average spend increasing.  Australian eCommerce sites should take a leaf out of the book of the Chinese eCommerce site, Yihaodian. Boasting 120,000 goods for sale, same-day delivery in many areas and sophisticated digital customer relationship management tools. Astoundingly, it posted a three-year growth rate of 19,218%.

Or China’s Jiaxing Mbaobao Technology is one of the leading designers and distributors of bags. They take the business seriously with a research centre in Venice, a presence in Tokyo and are expanding to English-language sites targeting North America. The company, which has a three-year growth rate of 6,228%, has embraced the buzz concepts of “fast fashion”, “fast marketing” and “fast logistics” and serves over a million customers.

The growth in online sales has come despite the great firewall of China, which saw the closure of 1.3 million websites last year.  In a country with such a mammoth population and so many operators trying to make a yuan, serious savvy is required.

Chinese citizens spend an average of 2.7 hours online per day — second to only the Japanese and as the country continues to open up – the floodgates are also opening to savvy eMarketers which boast a local and overseas presence.  The Australian wine industry is just one growing area where satisfying the Chinese appetite for Aussie reds is a perfect eCommerce platform.  With such a high proportion of our exports dependant on the Chinese market (25 per cent), there is no reason that Australia’s online commerce players shouldn’t get a hearty slice of the China-pie.