The E-Commerce Newsletter For Booksellers          April 25, 2020

Problems or Questions About Ingram CDF Orders?
If you are fulfilling your website orders via Ingram’s Consumer Direct Fulfillment (CDF) and you run into difficulties or have questions about an order, PLEASE do not call Ingram to get it resolved. First go to the Ingram fulfillment FAQ on BookWeb. We also have a great video on this topic. If neither the FAQ or the video answer your question, email [email protected]

PayPal Is Now a Payment Option for Ingram-Fulfilled CDF OrdersPayPal
Many customers prefer to purchase items online using PayPal. PayPal offers additional online fraud protection for their users, so customers who are not familiar with your store may feel more comfortable about making a purchase. You can now offer your IndieCommerce or IndieLite customers the option of checking out with PayPal for orders that are being fulfilled by Ingram CDF. For more information, contact [email protected].

Shipping Issues With Online Ordersshipping
Some online orders are experiencing shipping delays or getting damaged or lost in transit. To avoid customer confusion following their purchase, give a detailed description of your available shipping options during checkout. For example, if the order is being fulfilled by Ingram CDF and it is being shipped by Media Mail, you might want to mention that it is not insured and there is no tracking. For USPS Priority Mail, the package is insured for up to $50 and has tracking. For UPS shipping tracking is included along with $100 in insurance. Here are two examples of shipping option descriptions that you might want to consider on your checkout page:

  • Media Mail (2-10 days) - No tracking/Uninsured
  • Priority Mail (1-3 days) - Tracking/Insured

Repeat this format for each type of shipping option that you offer:

  • Name of shipping option (Estimated delivery time) - Insurance?/tracking?

Clearly identifying what each shipping option offers will make it easier to address issues that may come up after the customer’s order is shipped. If you know that there are going to be delays in shipping, you might want to include some custom text on the “Checkout Complete” page that brings that information to the attention of your customers. For more information, visit the IndieCommerce help center or email [email protected].

IndieCommerce and IndieLite Trends this Week
We’re actively tracking sales and traffic across the entire IndieCommerce (IC) and IndieLite (IL) network and will be giving you weekly updates on the trends we are seeing.

The graph below shows the changes in the e-commerce conversion rate. This is the percentage of users/customers that complete a transaction online with an IC or IL website. For comparison, we’ve included the 2019 holiday shopping season with a peak conversion rate of 3.86 percent on December 2, 2019. On April 21, 2020, the rate was 7.99 percent and has been consistently hovering around 8 percent this week. The graph also indicates that the rate is still trending upward since March 11th
Ecommerce conversion rate holiday shopping 2019 vs now

Thanks for reading. Feel free to email us with any thoughts, questions, or suggestions.
The IndieCommerce team

For past editions of IndieCommunication, visit this page.

Phillip Davies, IndieCommerce Director
American Booksellers Association | 333 Westchester Avenue | White Plains, NY 10604
[email protected] |
914-406-7527 | www.BookWeb.org
 
600 Mamaroneck Ave
Suite 400
Harrison, NY 10528
United States


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