Author: LION Digital

ECommerce is changing at an accelerated pace, driven by the rapid advancement of AI. From improving customer experiences to predicting purchase behaviour, artificial intelligence is reshaping how brands connect with shoppers. 

Today’s eCommerce success lies in harnessing AI to deliver relevance, efficiency, and performance at every stage of the customer journey. That’s why LION Digital has partnered with Instant AI, an innovative email marketing platform. This partnership will give eCommerce brands a powerful boost in retention and conversions, and we’ve already achieved impressive results.

Instant AI: The Evolution of Email Marketing

Instant AI is a self-optimising email platform that watches how shoppers behave on your site, then automatically sends them personalised emails when they’re most likely to buy.

Here’s how it works:

• Identifies anonymous, opted-in visitors. Instant AI identifies anonymous visitors who have previously opted into your email list. Even if they didn’t sign up this time, the system recognises them from past visits.
• Remembers returning shoppers for longer. When a customer revisits your site, Instant AI knows who they are, even after a long time has passed. That’s the power of artificial intelligence.
• Detects high-intent signals. The platform monitors behaviour like product page views, add-to-cart actions, or category browsing to identify when a shopper is close to purchasing.
• Triggers personalised emails. Once intent is detected, Instant AI automatically sends targeted retention emails, reminding shoppers what they loved and guiding them back to complete their purchase.

The process is simple and straightforward yet delivers exceptional results, creating deeper customer engagement for better conversion rates and more recovered revenue.

Instant AI uses real-time data and knows exactly when to reach out to shoppers. Still, even such powerful technology won’t work without a strategic approach, and that’s where LION Digital excels.

Turning AI Technology into Performance

LION Digital is a team of seasoned eCommerce marketing specialists who live and breathe performance marketing. We focus exclusively on eCommerce, and we’ve structured our team so that each channel, including email marketing, is led by a director with up to 10 years of specialised experience. So our partnership with Instant AI is a powerful combination of cutting-edge technology and human expertise.

The AI handles the behavioural analysis and timing, while our team brings the strategic thinking, creative execution, and constant optimisation. We handle everything:

• Integration and Setup
  We connect Instant AI with your email service provider (like Klaviyo), ensuring data flows smoothly and nothing gets missed.
• Flow Configuration
  We build and optimise your retention flows, from welcome series to abandonment emails and post-purchase journeys.
• Audience Segmentation
  We configure the right audience segments in Instant AI so your emails reach high-intent shoppers at the perfect moment.
• Optimisation
  We continually review performance, test new approaches, and refine your flows to maximise results.

You get a complete email performance ecosystem, LION + Instant AI, that drives revenue growth.

Real Results: LION and Instant AI in Action

We’ve already tested our partnership with Instant AI in real-world conditions. A new AI-powered setup for long-term client, Pure Water Systems, has achieved measurable revenue impact and consistent performance improvements.

By focusing on recovering cart and browse abandonment, four abandonment flows targeting different stages of the customer journey were created.

• Browse abandonment
• Collection abandoned
• Cart abandoned
• Checkout abandoned.

The flows identified opted-in visitors who demonstrated purchase intent through product page views and cart activity, then delivered timely, personalised messages that brought these shoppers back to complete their transactions. As a result of precise audience targeting and tailored messages, together we achieved 8x ROI.

Our partnership with Instant AI will allow us to deliver similar results for other LION’s clients: Marais, W. Titley & Co., Fishing Superstore, The Bedspread Shop, and more – our tests show improved email engagement rates and conversion performance for each.

What We Offer: Tailored Service Tiers for Every Brand

Every brand is unique, which is why LION Digital offers a flexible structure for implementing Instant AI and optimising your email performance. When you partner with us, we handle complete integration and setup of Instant AI with your ESP and data layers, and configure tracking, attribution, and core audiences. Plus, flow optimisation across Welcome, Abandonment, and Post-Purchase sequences(up to 5 emails total).

We adjust the strategy and approach to your industry and business size:

• Entry Retainer – For small and growing brands. Includes two campaigns per month (brand story emails, promotional sends, product launches), two flows optimised each month with two email variants per flow (6 total emails), and monthly performance review and reporting. LION will handle creative, copy, list segmentation, and perform one A/B testing per campaign on subject lines, creative, or timing.
• Foundation Retainer – For expanding brands. Includes three campaigns per month, optimisation of three flows (9 emails total), and a quarterly roadmap to plan upcoming flows and campaigns. Our expert team will manage the entire email program, continuously optimise and test ideas.
• Advanced Retainer – For large, established brands. Includes a complete email program with four campaigns monthly, three flows (three emails each), advanced split testing, creative refreshes, and strategic quarterly reviews based on Instant AI attribution data.

And with every option, you get our expert attention and a performance-oriented approach.

Ready to Transform Your Email Performance? Contact our team for consultation!

At LION Digital, we believe that AI can amplify great marketing, and our partnership with Instant AI proves that. 

Advanced technology provides you with incredible insights into shopper behaviour, intent signals, and optimal timing. But data alone doesn’t make sales, so you need strategy, creative execution, and constant refinement. Our team can help here. We’ll continuously review your attribution data, audience performance, and flow logic and implement improvements to boost ROI.

Partner with specialists who understand eCommerce inside and out and genuinely care about your success. Get in touch with LION Digital today to see how our collaboration with Instant AI can unlock new levels of performance for your brand!

Driving Revenue Through Strategic Integration Excellence

At SAAS Integrator, we don’t just connect systems – we architect growth. While others see us as a codeless iPaaS platform, we view every integration through a strategic lens: How can we help businesses generate more leads, drive more sales, and deliver exceptional fulfilment?

Our partnership exemplifies this philosophy in action. Together, we’re not just solving technical challenges – we’re creating competitive advantages that directly impact the bottom line.

One example of this collaboration in action is our work with Titley’s, a brand built on four generations of quality.

Case Study: Titley’s – Four Generations of Quality, Powered by Modern Integration

The Challenge:

Titley’s, a fourth-generation family business serving North Queensland since 1926, faced a critical customer experience gap. Their premium western wear collection – featuring brands like Akubra, R.M. Williams, Wrangler, and Ariat – required sophisticated product data management, particularly for denim sizing with separate waist and length dimensions.

Managing this complexity manually across both their brick-and-mortar store and online presence wasn’t just inefficient – it was limiting their growth potential and customer satisfaction.

The SAAS Integrator Solution:

We implemented advanced product mapping with custom attribute mapping specifically designed for fashion and apparel. Rather than forcing Titley’s to hire additional staff or burden existing team members with manual data entry, we:

• Guided their team on optimising field structures within their Retail Express POS system
• Deployed our native integration to automatically enrich their Shopify product data
• Enabled Lion Digital to implement sophisticated recommendations that drive conversions
• Created a seamless customer experience that reflects Titley’s four-generation commitment to quality

The Anticipated Result:

With implementation scheduled for completion, Titley’s customers will soon easily navigate complex sizing options, leading to increased confidence in purchase decisions and reduced returns. This strategic foundation allows Lion Digital to focus on performance and optimisation – while SAAS Integrator ensures the technical infrastructure supports every growth initiative from day one.

Implementation Status: Scheduled – launching soon

The Power of Unified Loyalty: LoyaltySync Revolution

Another example of our revenue-focused approach is LoyaltySync, which addresses a decade-old frustration for brick-and-mortar businesses.

The Problem:

Loyalty program silos were haemorrhaging revenue:

• Points earned in-store could only be redeemed in-store
• VIP pricing disappeared online
• Customer confusion from inconsistent experiences

Our Solution

✓ Real-time points synchronisation across all channels

✓ Tier pricing flows to Shopify – VIP customers see VIP prices everywhere

✓ Unified customer experience – same balance, same status, anywhere

✓ POS remains your source of truth – leverage existing loyalty features

The Impact:

• Cross-channel redemption drives both foot traffic AND online sales
• Tier upgrades reflect instantly across all touchpoints
• Time-limited vouchers create redemption urgency
• Enhanced customer engagement drives increased spending

Why Lion Digital + SAAS Integrator = Unstoppable Growth

Our partnership thrives because we share the same goal – delivering meaningful growth for retailers. While Lion Digital excels at identifying opportunities and crafting growth strategies, SAAS Integrator ensures the technical infrastructure not only supports but amplifies these initiatives.

Together, we don’t just integrate systems – we integrate growth strategies with technical execution, creating a seamless path from insight to revenue.

Article by

Leo Comino –
Founder
LION Digital

Troy Netreba –
Director of Growth & Partnerships
SAAS Integrator

In 2025, Australian eCommerce stands at a turning point. Growth remains steady, yet customer expectations have surged to new heights. Artificial intelligence is transforming how shoppers browse, buy and interact, while economic pressure continues to squeeze margins. In such a competitive environment, brands that invest in personalisation, trust and Core Web Vitals optimisation will be the ones that break away from the crowd.

The latest State of the CX Nation report shows that most Australian retailers understand the challenge but struggle to execute it. Although 80 per cent of leaders identify eCommerce customer experience (CX) as a strategic priority, 37 per cent admit their teams fail to deliver on the promises they made.

This widening gap between strategy and execution is both a risk and an opportunity – and one of the biggest untapped opportunities across most online brands. Retailers that can deliver a seamless personalised shopping experience built on speed, relevance and reliability will gain the customer trust that fuels loyalty and long-term growth.

The eCommerce Customer Experience: Three Main Performance Metrics

A strong customer experience is the foundation of every successful eCommerce business. Research shows that a smooth and enjoyable online shopping experience can increase retention, lift average order value (AOV) and strengthen loyalty, even when competitors lower their prices.

Your site’s performance is a crucial part of that experience. Many founders still treat page speed optimisation as a technical issue for developers rather than a priority for the business. That is a costly mistake. Shoppers will not wait for slow pages, unstable layouts or delayed responses. Performance shapes perception, and perception builds eCommerce trust.

A study by Deloitte and Google found that just 0.1 seconds faster load time can increase conversions by 8.4% and boost average order value by 9.2%. This proves why following Google Core Web Vitals best practices should be a central focus for brands looking to improve their eCommerce performance metrics. At their essence, the Core Web Vitals framework assesses three main factors that shape how visitors perceive speed, responsiveness and stability:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – how quickly your page loads. Research shows product pages can see 40-50% lower conversion rates when load time goes from 2 seconds to 4-5 seconds.
• Interaction to Next Point (INP) – how quickly your site responds to user actions. Improved interactivity scores may bring up to 7% increase in sales. That’s millions of dollars from a technical fix.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – racks whether banners, buttons or images shift while a page loads. Improving this score by only 15 per cent can result in 20 per cent longer browsing sessions and a 14 per cent lift in conversions. Effective Core Web Vitals analysis has a direct impact on eCommerce conversion optimisation.

Ultimately, page speed optimisation is the first and most important step towards better customer retention, higher conversion rates and stronger eCommerce performance metrics. A slow website drives customers away before they even have the chance to appreciate your design or products.

Building a strong customer experience (CX) in eCommerce begins with technical excellence. When your site performs seamlessly and provides a frustration-free journey, you lay the foundation for deeper personalisation and long-term customer retention.

The SCOPE Framework: A Strategic Lens for eCommerce Success

While optimising page speed, Core Web Vitals, and technical performance is essential, brands also need a broader strategy to maximise their visibility, engagement, and conversions. SCOPE is LION Digital’s proprietary framework that evaluates five critical dimensions of digital presence – Social Proof, Content, Optimisation, Performance, and Experience.

By systematically assessing these pillars, SCOPE helps brands understand not just how fast their site loads, but how effectively it builds trust, engages users, ranks in search (including AI-driven results), and converts visitors into loyal customers. In essence, it’s a diagnostic tool that connects technical performance with strategic growth opportunities, ensuring every optimisation effort delivers measurable business impact.

This framework naturally complements the Performance & Conversion Accelerator, providing the strategic insights that guide the hands-on improvements needed to drive stronger eCommerce results.

Ecommerce Growth Builds on Personalised Shopping Experience

Customer expectations have surged. The Australian and New Zealand Commerce Report 2025 by IAB Australia and Pureprofile states that 83% of consumers are more likely to purchase from companies offering tailored experiences and loyalty programs. However, research shows that most retailers struggle with executing effective omnichannel personalisation.

This is a vital eCommerce performance metric. A recent study found that brands leading in personalisation generate around 40 per cent more revenue than competitors. Delivering the right message to the right person at the right time strengthens emotional connection, increases conversion rates and enhances overall customer loyalty.

The challenge for many eCommerce founders is not intent but capability. According to the 2025 Global Consumer Products Engagement Report, only 36 per cent of Australian retailers include personalisation in their campaigns. Most just lack the data maturity, connected systems and internal alignment needed to execute effectively.

To make personalisation work, you need:

• Connected data systems that actually talk to each other
• Marketing technology that’s properly set up and used
• Teams aligned around a shared vision (only 37% of organisations have this)
• Technical infrastructure capable of handling the load.

LION Digital helps online retailers in Australia build that data-driven foundation for smart personalisation. By analysing user behaviour and heatmaps, and leveraging A/B testing, our experts provide valuable insights that inform effective eCommerce performance optimisation strategies.

Trust: The Invisible Differentiator

Personalisation requires data, but users aren’t willing to provide it without trust. When customers feel their data is used respectfully and transparently, their satisfaction and purchase intent soar. But cross that invisible line through irrelevant targeting or opaque data practices, and trust evaporates overnight.

Customers may forgive the occasional bug or delay, but not dishonesty or poor ethics. And here’s the catch:

1. Trust requires transparency.
2. Transparency requires accurate data.
3. And accurate data requires proper technical infrastructure. 

It all comes back to following Core Web Vitals best practices, and LION Digital’s Performance & Conversion Accelerator can help with that. It’s a hands-on optimisation program that ensures your website is technically and experientially ready for growth.

The Accelerator combines a Core Web Vitals audit with conversion-focused enhancements to improve page speed and interactivity scores: our expert team analyses how real users interact with your site, pinpoints friction points, and implements targeted fixes to enhance your eCommerce customer experience rates.

Performance & Conversion Accelerator: Your Competitive Advantage

Several digital marketing reports show that most Australian retailers intend to enhance customer experience and personalisation, yet few have the operational capacity to deliver. The Performance & Conversion Accelerator bridges that gap with practical, done-for-you implementation. It includes:

• Comprehensive analysis. A full Core Web Vitals analysis that compares your site against competitors and industry standards. You’ll know exactly where you stand and what to improve.
• Integrated solution. Not just recommendations but actual technical fixes implemented on your site. Image optimisation, code minification, mobile-first optimisation, and all the technical details that make a difference. 
• Customer retention strategy. By collaborating with innovative tools and platforms like Yotpo, we help you engage customers and build trust through a personalised marketing approach.
• Conversion optimisation. Beyond just making things faster, the service includes analysis of user behaviour through heatmaps and session recordings, plus implementation of UX/UI improvements and A/B testing to maximise results.
• Measurable results. Real-user data and lab testing will be used to prove the impact. You’ll see exactly how technical improvements translate to business outcomes.

Why This Matters Right Now

Opportunity rewards the quick. While 82% of leaders prioritise CX and 72% recognise personalisation’s importance, only those with the capability to execute will win.

Most of your competitors are stuck in the same place you might be: knowing what needs to happen, but struggling to make it real. Meanwhile, customer expectations keep rising, and Google’s algorithm keeps prioritising fast, user-friendly sites. The cost of delay in eCommerce personalisation and performance optimisation rapidly increases.

You can keep planning and strategising while your site underperforms. Or you can fix the technical issues and create a strong foundation to build everything else on it.

A Roadmap for eCommerce Founders

In the coming years, the difference between good and great eCommerce brands won’t be price or product; it’ll be personalisation and customer experience. But these don’t work without performance. You can have the most sophisticated engine for personalised product recommendations, but if your site is slow or unstable, customers leave before they see those innovations.

LION Digital’s Performance & Conversion Accelerator builds the solid technical foundation that makes personalised experiences possible. By combining Core Web Vitals optimisation with conversion optimisation, you see instant, measurable results. A faster site converts more effectively, retains customers for longer and drives stronger eCommerce performance metrics.

Get in touch with LION Digital today for a consultation. Let’s discuss how we can help you bridge the capability gap that is holding back your business. With nearly two decades of experience in eCommerce strategy, platform management, digital marketing, and improving operational efficiency, our team has successfully guided retailers of all sizes in turning challenges into opportunities.

From Online to Wholesale: How LION Digital and Brandscope Power Smarter Growth

The partnership between LION Digital and Brandscope provides a complete solution for brands growing across both online and wholesale channels. While LION Digital drives online performance through expert digital marketing, customer acquisition, and eCommerce strategies, Brandscope streamlines wholesale operations – centralising orders, improving stock visibility, forecasting demand, and strengthening retailer relationships.

Together, they deliver a holistic approach to growth, enabling brands to maximise their online presence while ensuring wholesale operations are efficient, scalable, and profitable. This collaboration ensures brands have expert support across all channels.

The Wholesale e-Commerce Growth Challenge

Trading with a host of independent SME and large-scale corporatised “big box” retailers is a challenging landscape for many brands, placing constant pressure on margins and resources. Managing seasonal releases, large sales teams, samples, inventory, marketing and educational assets, as well as diverse distribution channels, is time-consuming and unrelenting. That’s where Brandscope comes in—simplifying wholesale operations and empowering brands to scale with confidence while protecting profits. It’s simply better business.

The Brandscope Advantage

Brandscope is a global B2B e-commerce wholesale sales and marketing platform that delivers a more economical, collaborative, and sustainable way for brands to trade with retailers. By combining advanced digital tools with intuitive design, Brandscope expedites the transition away from expensive, cumbersome traditional sales and marketing methods and ushers in a new dawn of improved operating profits and efficiencies. 

As its core offer, the platform enables brands to:

• Sell More — Empower collaboration between sales people and retailers to drive pre-book, refill, and clearance sales with greater efficiency and immediacy.
• Reduce Costs — Cut overheads associated with wholesale operations by reducing printed catalogues, minimising samples, empowering sales teams and controlling inventory
• Market & Educate — Manage storage and dissemination of digital marketing and educational assets to drive brand awareness, product education and sell-through.
• Expand Distribution — Unlock opportunities both globally and domestically by connecting brands with quality retailers who want to sell your products and establish profitable, long lasting trading relationships.
  

Brandscope streamlines wholesale operations by centralising trade on a single, aggregated hub where brands and retailers can collaborate to review and purchase pre-book, refill and clearance lines and manage marketing and educational assets. 

The sophisticated, yet intuitive platform, provides a better way for brands and retailers to interact in a highly competitive and constantly evolving world of wholesale, domestically or globally. 

Brandscope integrates into the world’s leading ERP (e.g. SAP, Netsuite, Cin7, Microsoft) and D2C (e.g. Shopify, Bigcommerce, Magento) platforms to fully automate data flows across orders, inventory, payments, product and processing status to reduce administration overheads and processing errors. 

The system offers a powerful alternative to bespoke B2B development, offering “out of the box” functionality that is tailored to suit both emerging and globally networked brands engaged in wholesale trade. 

Key Features Beneficial to Wholesale Brands

• Seasonal Releases – Management of pre-book, refill and clearance release cycles, where sales representatives and retailers collaborate effortlessly on sales and marketing initiatives 24/7 to drive maximum results.
• Integrations – Seamlessly connect Brandscope to your ERP, D2C and POS system to streamline data flows and reduce error.
• Whiteboard Merchandising Planner – Visualise assortments across month, category, colour and price and ensure comprehensive multi-month purchasing.
• Superfill EDI Automated Refill – Automate replenishment to keep bestsellers in stock and sales flowing.
• Barcode Scanning Refill – Simplify the reordering process in-store with mobile-enabled scanning.
• Digital Media Management – Empower retailers to self-manage data sourcing and asset management for their D2C, POS and social media platforms to better support the sales and marketing of brands.
• Payment Gateway – Manage and automate wholesale payments for a smoother, more secure transaction experience.

Proven Success

Brands across fashion, footwear, sports, outdoor, and lifestyle industries have transformed the way they go to market using Brandscope. 

Brand Collective, having secured the Reebok brand from the Adidas group, is a powerful example of this transformation. 

Historically, Reebok activated pre-book releases using legacy systems, relying on printed selling tools such as order forms, catalogues and look books. The preparation of these tools was time-intensive, consuming limited in-house resources and slowing down the efficiency of launching collections and collating orders—ultimately restricting the brand’s growth.

“Our business model is heavily oriented towards pre-booking”, outlines National Sales Manager, Stuart Wright. “The ERP module available to us lacked the functionality required to support the nuances of this type of selling. It’s a very visual and collaborative process between our internal and external sales team and our retail partners. We also wanted to adopt a more sustainable wholesale model and divert the need for traditional sampling and cataloging to something more digital. We began the due diligence process to find a suitable vehicle and Brandscope emerged a solid contender based on market feedback and review of alternate options, both domestically and internationally,”  adds Staurt Conlan, Head of Reebok Wholesale.

The integration of Brandscope delivered immediate improvements in efficiency, with orders now flowing directly into the AP21 ERP—eliminating manual order forms and the inevitable complications of data importation. Beyond operational gains, Reebok has strengthened its connection and immediacy with retailers and agents, enabling the seamless launch of injection collections that drive newness and fuel the brand’s rapid growth in popularity.

The results were transformative:

• 60% Improvement in operational efficiencies 
• 27% Growth in pre-book orders

Testimonial:
“The Brandscope B2B e-commerce platform has been instrumental in stimulating and managing Reebok’s growth potential in the independent wholesale marketplace. It’s delivered considerable operational efficiencies, was a streamlined rollout and has been embraced by our Retailer and Agent partners as an intuitive and effective sales and marketing tool.”  Staurt Conlan, Head of Reebok Wholesale

Read the full case study here.

Driving Smarter Wholesale Success

Building on the holistic approach offered through the LION Digital partnership, Brandscope ensures that wholesale operations are just as streamlined and intelligent as online growth strategies. Navigating the wholesale landscape doesn’t have to be complex—Brandscope provides a purpose-built e-commerce B2B sales and marketing platform that simplifies every aspect of wholesale operations, allowing brands to focus on strengthening retailer relationships while confidently scaling their wholesale business.Trusted by industry-leading companies such as Yeti, Nike, Adidas, Dometic, Calvin Klein, Rossignol, Nitro, Lee, Wrangler and many more, Brandscope empowers brands to Sell Smart, Sell Easy, Sell More—unlocking sustainable growth, profitability, and operational excellence across their wholesale channels. If you’re ready to see how Brandscope can elevate your wholesale business, Book a Demo today.

The momentum of eCommerce is evident all over the world, reaching households in both developed and developing nations and providing a bountiful playground for scam organisations. Recent fraud statistics from the Australian Payment Network revealed that Australians spent $1.055 trillion online in 2023, marking a 15.4% increase compared to the previous year. 

This growth was largely attributed to contactless card payments becoming mainstream, as consumers favour contactless cards for low-value day-to-day transactions. Backing from banks and financial institutions has made contactless payments widely accepted among most retailers in Australia. However, with the surge in card transactions and continued growth in online spending, eCommerce has become a lucrative target for fraudsters. The report also noted a 35.6% increase in card fraud, totaling $675.5 million for the year.

With $73.5 billion of eCommerce revenue lost to payment fraud globally and the cost of chargebacks (or friendly fraud) set to rise to $179 billion this year, businesses must be vigilant. Data breaches caused a 79% increase in account takeovers, while friendly fraud makes up 45% of all scam payments, with some merchants claiming it’s more like 80%. 

The rise in younger customers shopping online using so many methods of payment, including various devices and social media, makes them easier prey to scammers. Cybercriminals are targeting younger shoppers by creating fake accounts and using other nefarious methods as a lucrative pool to steal funds.

While the influx of online shoppers is a boon for eCommerce enterprises, it has heightened the need for quality fraud prevention. Protecting clients from scams is now a top priority for eCommerce business owners. Fake transactions and hacked shopping carts not only impact profitability but also damage brand equity, including reputation and overall customer experience.

For your valued customers, too frequently, online shopping carts provide prolific opportunities for hackers to infiltrate eCommerce websites. Skimming software is used to intercept transaction data at checkouts and payment gateways. So, it’s vital to protect the people who shop with you to foster increased customer loyalty.

In our recent article supported by our partner Kount, an Equifax company and global leader in eCommerce fraud solutions, the LION Digital team delves into the definition of eCommerce fraud. We outline its most common types, review primary prevention principles, and identify tools for detecting and preventing attacks.

DEFINITION AND TYPES OF ECOMMERCE FRAUD

The term “eCommerce fraud” refers to any intentional deception by cybercriminals or fraudsters during an online transaction aimed at financial or personal gain, which negatively impacts businesses. 

There are several types of eCommerce fraud, each with its distinct characteristics and conditions:

1. Credit Card Fraud: Scammers use stolen card information to purchase products or services. The merchant bears the loss since refunds to the cardholder occur after the product has shipped or services have been used.
2. Card Testing Fraud: Criminals test stolen card information on websites by making small test purchases, using bots and scripts to try different data combinations, and making larger purchases when the tests are successful.
3. Friendly Fraud or Chargeback Fraud: Con artists make a legitimate purchase and then request a chargeback from their bank or credit card company, claiming their account was hacked or their credit card details were stolen. Thus, they obtain a refund while keeping the purchased item.
4. Identity Theft: Hackers use data breaches to steal personal data, adopt victim identities, issue credit cards in their names, and make online payments.
5. Account Takeover: Cybercriminals use stolen login details to access eCommerce platforms. These details are often acquired through phishing, where fake emails or messages imitating legitimate companies trick users into entering personal and login information.
6. Interception Fraud: Fake customers place orders with shipping and billing addresses that match the authorised card, then attempt to intercept and change the delivery address.
7. Triangulation Fraud: Scammers create false online stores offering high-quality goods at low prices, attracting victims who unknowingly provide personal information and card details, believing they are making a legitimate purchase.
8. Refund Fraud: Criminals attempt to receive a refund for their purchase by claiming the order never arrived, the box arrived empty, or items arrived with defects, often by sending junk items back or using stolen card details.
9. BOPIS Fraud: Fraudsters exploit buy-online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS) services, making it difficult for retailers to detect fraud since the shipping address is typically not matched with the cardholder’s billing address.

DETECTING ECOMMERCE FRAUD

While each type of fraud has its criteria, there are common warning signs to indicate potential fraud:

1. Multiple orders by the same buyer in a short period.
2. Multiple payment attempts with similar data patterns.
3. Payment attempts from a country different from the shipping address.

PREVENTING ECOMMERCE FRAUD

Ensure PCI Compliance

Follow Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards to guarantee secure online transactions.

Enhance Security During Peak Seasons

Increase vigilance during high-traffic shopping periods to avoid overlooking suspicious activity.

Study Chargeback Data

Analyse chargeback data to understand and address underlying issues that lead to chargeback disputes.

Educate Customers

Ensure your customers are familiar with data security and phishing, and use secure payment methods to prevent fraud.

Assess Fraud Risks for New Procedures

Evaluate potential scam threats before introducing new business processes or expanding into untried markets.

Partner with Fraud Prevention Experts

Work with trusted fraud prevention partners like Kount to protect against scams and recover losses swiftly and efficiently.

Protecting your eCommerce business from scammers is crucial for maintaining profitability and ensuring a positive customer experience. By understanding the types of fraud, being vigilant for alert behaviours, and implementing preventive measures, you can safeguard your business and customers from cybercriminals.

Kount: eCommerce fraud prevention that is easy, effective, and accurate

Article by

JENNIFER MCCARTHY –
DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER

In the fast-paced digital realm, the way eCommerce customers search for and consume information is evolving more and more rapidly. Gone are the days when traditional search engines were the sole gatekeepers of online information. Today, there are so many more ways to target what you’re looking for online, which impacts the search experience and how organisations implement their campaigns. In the Second Part of our blog series on the evolution of online search, we’ll explore the shifting landscape beyond traditional search engines and how you can leverage these changes for your business.

The Rise of Social Media as a Search Engine

Social media has transformed from mere tools for social interaction into powerful search platforms in their own right. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter are now hubs for news, reviews, recommendations, and real-time information. Users no longer just connect with friends; they search for products, services, and answers to their eCommerce enquiries on these platforms. Savvy eCommerce businesses and entrepreneurs can leverage social media to showcase their offerings, gather customer feedback, and engage with their audience more meaningfully.

User-Generated Content: A Game-Changer in Online Search

User-generated content, such as reviews, ratings, and comments, has become a cornerstone of online search. Platforms like Yelp, Trustpilot, and TripAdvisor aggregate user reviews to provide valuable insights for consumers. Clever retailers and entrepreneurs can use this feedback to improve their products and services while building confidence and loyalty with potential customers. By actively managing their online reputation and encouraging customers to leave reviews, businesses can enhance their visibility and credibility in the eyes of consumers.

Vertical Search Engines: Niche Markets, Targeted Results

Vertical search engines cater to specific verticals such as products, services, jobs, and local business listings. These specialised search engines, like Amazon, Google Shopping, SEEK, and Expedia, offer highly targeted and relevant search results tailored to the user’s intent. Smart eCommerce organisations and business owners operating in niche markets can optimise their presence on these platforms to increase their visibility among their target audience and drive conversions.

Artificial Intelligence: Advances in Information Retrieval

While AI is not a straightforward alternative to Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and other search engines, there is search potential in large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Bert, and others as they can enhance user experience. Depending on what the user is searching for, AI can deliver more intuitive, conversational responses that are easier to digest when searching for large chunks of information or explanations. Google still dominates real-time search results, as AI uses stored data to deliver results. 

Search engines are designed to crawl, index, and scour web page indexes to deliver relevant, up-to-date search results from the internet based on keywords and query relevance. Whereas ChatGPT relies only on its knowledge base and training data to generate human-like, contextually relevant, and natural language responses based on input. For example, ChatGPT cannot tell when the flight departs, but it can provide summaries and explanations of aircraft and airport logistics. 

The natural next step in search evolution is integrating LLMs into search engines. In May 2024, Google announced the planned global rollout of “AI Overviews.” The goal is for billions of Google users to see an AI-generated summary at the top of their search results, which Google representatives claim is only the beginning. Thus, rather than replacing search engines, large language models employing AI and Natural Language Processing algorithms would help improve the user’s search experience.  

Points to Consider: Maintain Your Business Focus

Engagement is Essential: With social media and user-generated content, engagement is crucial. E-tailers and entrepreneurs should focus on creating compelling and shareable content that resonates with their audience.

Consistency is Key: Consistency in branding and messaging across all platforms is necessary for building a strong online presence and brand identity.

Analytics and Insights: Utilise analytics tools to track the performance of your campaigns and comprehend what resonates with your audience. This will help you refine your strategies and improve your results over time.

Keep Abreast of AI Advancements: Follow field updates and integrate AI into your business strategy in the early stages. 

To stay ahead, retailers need to be flexible enough to adapt rapidly to the latest developments in online search. By leveraging social media, user-generated content, vertical search engines, and AI tools, eCommerce brands can enhance their online visibility and audience engagement to drive business growth.

At LION Digital, we understand the challenges of the eternally evolving online search landscape. Our team of experts can help you develop and implement strategies to optimise your digital presence across all the abovementioned platforms. From content creation and social media management to search engine optimisation and AI, we have the eCommerce expertise to help you achieve your digital marketing goals.

In the fast-paced realm of digital marketing, Google’s March 2024 Core Update is a significant development, signalling a shift in how search results are ranked. This update requires marketers, online retailers, and entrepreneurs to reevaluate their SEO strategies, as it represents a departure from Google’s usual practices.

Key Features of the Update

The March 2024 Core Update introduces major changes to Google’s core ranking systems, aiming to improve the quality and relevance of search results. One of the main goals is to reduce the presence of unoriginal, low-quality content by 40%. This change reflects Google’s commitment to improving the user experience.

Impact on E-tailers and Entrepreneurs

1. Content Quality is Critical: The saying “content is king” is more relevant than ever. Online retailers must focus on creating original, valuable content that directly addresses customer needs. Quality and uniqueness are key factors in challenging the competition.
2. Adaptation is Essential: The update will penalise unoriginal and low-quality content more severely, so e-tailers must quickly adapt their content strategies to avoid significant drops in visibility. Innovation and a focus on quality are essential to maintain a competitive edge.
3. Link-Building Strategies Matter: The update’s approach to evaluating link signals emphasises the importance of authentic link-building practices. Manipulative link schemes are no longer effective, highlighting the need for natural, high-quality backlinks for SEO success.

Cracking Down on Spam

Google has identified various tactics that try to manipulate search engines into believing a site provides valuable content when it is of sub-standard quality. The spam update targets three main areas:

1. Expired Domain Abuse: This tactic involves purchasing an expired domain and repurposing its content to manipulate search rankings. It aims to deceive users into believing that new content on the domain is part of the original site, which may not be true.
2. Scaled Content Abuse: This includes any method of creating content at scale solely to rank higher in search results. The quality and uniqueness of the content are vital factors in its ranking, whether generated by AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini or created manually. Low-quality and non-unique content will rank lower.
3. Site Reputation Abuse: This practice involves hosting low-quality content from third-party sites to achieve high rankings. While not all third-party content is affected, Google will identify content used to manipulate search rankings and take action accordingly.

These updated policies ensure search rankings prioritise useful content, serving users more effectively. Violating these policies may result in lower rankings or exclusion from search results. Therefore, the LION Digital team recommends eCommerce businesses review tactics and ensure that content meets the highest quality standards.

Adapting to the New SEO Landscape

To navigate SEO strategies after the update:

1. Embrace Ethical SEO Practices: Align strategies with Google’s goal of improving the user experience through appropriate SEO processes.
2. Use AI Responsibly: While AI and machine-learning tools can enhance content creation, it is important to ensure that the content remains user-friendly and helpful.

Contact LION Digital to Guide Your SEO Experience

Incorporating strategies that reflect the Google March 2024 Core Update not only ensures compliance with Google’s policies but also enhances user experience and improves overall search rankings. With Google’s increased focus on content quality, agility, and adaptability are key to remaining ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.

To ensure your content meets Google’s standards and isn’t flagged as spam, get in touch with our LION Digital experts. Our team can provide tailored SEO solutions and guidance to target your audience and optimise your digital marketing strategies effectively.

Article by

ERIKA MAGPILI – DIGITAL EXECUTIVE & MARKETING MANAGER

Search remains one of the primary ways to access online information, and the term today means more than ever. Search engines have become irreplaceable tools for navigating the internet when customers want to look for products and services, answer questions, connect with interesting people, and satisfy curiosity.

Early Online Search: A Transition to Modern Methods

Remember the days before the World Wide Web? Gathering information online was clunky and incomplete. Decentralised and manual processes made it challenging to find and scale data retrieval.

In the late 1980s, Gopher, a communication protocol used for document distribution, was developed at the University of Minnesota. By the early 1990s, fledgling search programs with quaint names inspired by comics, Archie, Veronica, and Jughead, allowed users to search for files: Archie for FTP archives, Veronica for Gopher servers, and Jughead for keyword-based searches. 

Spurred on by these growing technologies, it was only a matter of time before tech researchers tackled the issue. Gopher’s text-based interface gave way to British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee’s more user-friendly World Wide Web (WWW), fundamentally changing how people accessed online content.

All of a sudden, users could browse topics and find content. Directories like Yahoo! and DMOZ were essentially curated lists of websites, whereby bookmarks and favourites in browsers could save links for easy access. Manual navigation started to appear, involving hyperlinks between web pages, and users also relied on online community-based word-of-mouth recommendations, forums, and link exchanges to discover new content.

The Expansion of the Internet: Things to Come

While these methods were convenient, they had limitations such as scalability and efficiency. They relied on human factors and lacked a centralised database, making them inefficient for the expanding web, yet they laid the foundation for the future of Google search.

The Dawn of Search Engines: Google’s Eventual Domination

Before Google became a household name, the online search landscape was diverse and experimental. Yahoo! initially led the market but lost ground due to reliance on human-curated directories. Many search engines were developed during the 1990s before the new century gave Google its mega-giant status:

• 1994: Yahoo! transitions from a directory to a fully-fledged search engine, initially conquering the market but later losing ground.

• 1994: WebCrawler launches as the first search engine to index entire web pages, pioneering keyword searches.

• 1994: Lycos gains popularity for its user-friendly interface and innovative features like spidering and relevance ranking.

• 1995: Excite emerges with customisable interfaces and personalised search results, resetting the trajectory for future innovations.

• 1995: AltaVista launches with natural language processing and multimedia search capabilities, but closes in 2013 due to losing competition to Google and its footing in the future of search.

The Google Revolution: Evolution of Algorithmic Search

Google’s emergence revolutionised the internet, making vast knowledge universally accessible. Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin were the brilliant duo who started Google in 1996. 

Google’s early days showed promise in its innovative approach to web page ranking through link analysis, known as PageRank, which revolutionised the digital landscape by introducing search engine algorithms. Unlike traditional keyword-based systems, PageRank assessed a page’s importance based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to it, providing more authoritative search results. These algorithmic systems remain the pinnacle of search-based digital marketing strategies, making them the Midas’ Gold of the eCommerce landscape.

Keeping Users Front of Mind: How Google Gets It

Google’s success stems from its user-centric approach and persistent innovation. Over the years, Google has introduced various algorithm updates, such as personalised search and machine learning with RankBrain and BERT integration, to adapt to ever-changing user behaviours and technological advancements. 

As content delivery has transformed, consumers access their information in vastly different ways than a decade ago. Plus, with more widespread acceptance of AI dictating future trends, content-related search will continue its unpredictable path ahead. Despite challenges in social search with Google+, discontinued in 2019, Google remains the boss of search technology, so let’s see what the future of Google search looks like. Can Google maintain its leadership position as the latest developments roll out? 

The team at LION Digital has our unified finger on the pulse. As a Google Premier Partner, we are well-positioned to help our clients adjust to the latest Google eccentricities. If you need help navigating eCommerce search rankings to attract more customers that convert, contact our LION Digital team today! 

Stay tuned for the next part of this series as we explore the evolution of online search, uncovering insights into future trends. Don’t miss out—sign up for our LION Digital monthly ROAR newsletter to receive the latest updates directly to your inbox!