Blogs 'can boost e-commerce during the downturn'

E-commerce website owners may do well to look into using Web 2.0 applications such as blogs to boost their offerings during the downturn, according to one expert.

Craig Sullivan of vnunet.com suggested that social media tools like blogs, photo and video sharing, podcasts and wikis could help online retailers to provide a richer online experience for shoppers and potentially enhance sales as a result.

According to recent figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, e-commerce sales rose by 13 per cent in February compared with the same month last year - in spite of the downturn hitting spending elsewhere.

"From a marketing perspective, tools that enable the creation and dissemination of user-generated content offer the potential to help marketing messages spread like wildfire," Mr Sullivan remarked.

Those considering using WordPress hosting as a way of enhancing their e-commerce sites with a blog can take advantage of numerous online retail plug-ins that have been developed for the platform, such as the WP E-commerce shopping cart plug-in.

Written by Tim Dunton