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Category: Retail & eCommerce

eCommerce, Online Retail & Retail News

  • Groupon Broke Records Over The Holiday Weekend

    Groupon Broke Records Over The Holiday Weekend

    Groupon announced that it experienced a record-breaking holiday weekend for deal sales in North America. The company says it had the most successful four days ever in its six-year history.

    Black Friday and Cyber Monday specifically were the two biggest days in Groupon’s North American history. For the full Black Friday through Cyber Monday weekend, Groupon’s North American sales were up over 25% compared to last year.

    “We just had our best days ever as a company as more and more shoppers are coming to Groupon via our popular mobile app to score big savings on a wide selection of amazing gifts,” said Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky. “With nearly double the number of deals compared to last year, we’re making it easier and quicker than ever for our customers to find something for everyone on their holiday list.”

    It’s hard to believe it’s been so long, but we’re just about three months shy of when Groupon co-founder Andrew Mason was ousted from the CEO role at the company. Lefkofsky, who was previously executive chairman stepped in alongside Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis as Groupon looked for Mason’s replacement. Eventually, the company just named Lefkofsky its permanent CEO, and it seems like that’s working out pretty well. Mason has, in the meantime, started another company called Detour, which makes an interactive travel tour app.

    During the holiday shopping period, Groupon saw big success on products in the electronics, household items, and jewelry categories. Big sellers included the ASUS Google Nexus tablet with 1080p HD display, Chromecast and Roku streaming devices, NFL ugly sweaters, a bObsweep robotic vacuum cleaner and mop, and 1.50 carat certified princess-cut or round diamond solitaire 14-karat gold rings.

    Health and wellness and local experiences such as massages, movies, and holiday activities were also popular categories. Groupon says it saw a high volume of promo code redemptions for Best Buy, Macy’s, Nike, and Walmart.

    The company recently launched a cashback-on-groceries app called Snap. Groupon says it saw users take advantage of cashback offers on turkey, cranberries and other popular holiday delicacies, though it didn’t give any specific numbers.

    Last month, Groupon opened a holiday gift shop.

    Image via Groupon

  • Cyber Monday Sales Up 16% According To Adobe

    Cyber Monday Sales Up 16% According To Adobe

    Last week, we asked if Cyber Monday was losing its luster, as various reports and studies were finding that interest in the online shopping holiday seemed go be on the decline, as the holiday shopping period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday becomes just more of constant buying stretch. Some indicated that the deals on Cyber Monday weren’t as good as those on Thanksgiving and Black Friday as well.

    Either way, it was still a pretty good Cyber Monday for retailers – particularly the big ones – according to data from Adobe.

    “Cyber Monday sales were up 16 percent this year, with the biggest retailers seeing the biggest gains,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst for Adobe Digital Index. “The early birds caught the worms on Cyber Monday, with shoppers getting the steepest discounts in the early morning hours.”

    Total online sales reached $2.65 billion, according to the report. The top 25 retailers each generated $30 million or more on Cyber Monday, and they saw online sales increase by 25% at nearly $1.8 billion. Smaller retailers (those that generated $2 million or less), grew by 5%.

    As for the timing, consumers saw the highest discounts of 23% in the early morning hours and 54% of online sales came in outside of normal working hours. Adobe highlights the following trends:

    Total Online Spend: Consumers spent $2.65 billion online on Cyber Monday, a 16 percent growth year-over-year (YoY). Shopping reached its peak between 9 and 10 p.m. ET. The top 25 U.S. retailers (brick-and-mortar and online-only) saw 25 percent YoY growth. Smaller retailers increased online sales by only five percent. Between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, total online sales came in at $9.6 billion, a 20 percent growth YoY. The season’s total, between November 1 and December 1, rose 14 percent YoY to reach $37.9 billion.

    Shopping Trends: Consumers were able to get the best deals with discounts reaching 23 percent on average during early morning hours. By the end of the day the average discount climbed by two percentage points to 21 percent. Online shopping occurred mostly outside of work hours (54 percent), with 41 percent coming in after 6 p.m. ET even at elevated price levels.

    Mobile Trends: Smartphones and tablets continued to drive sales. Nineteen percent of total online sales ($328 million) were driven by mobile devices, flat compared to last year. Smartphones and tablets drove equal shares with iOS devices generating 79 percent of total mobile sales.

    Adobe’s analysis is based on aggregated and anonymous data of more than 400 million visits to 4,500 retail websites. The company claims more than $7 out of $10 spent online with the top 500 U.S. retailers are measured by Adobe Marketing Cloud.

    Other reports had Cyber Monday sales growth lower than what Adobe found.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Is A Decided Improvement Over Its Predecessor

    Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Is A Decided Improvement Over Its Predecessor

    The Samsung Galaxy Note 4, like clockwork, released six months after this year’s disappointing Galaxy S 5. Like every note before it, the Note 4 is positioned as the phablet alternative to Samsung’s mainstream S series. The concern this time around is that the Note 4, much like the S 5, isn’t changing enough to keep up with the competition. Well, now that the phone has been out on the market for more than a month, what do the professionals think?

    To start, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a beast of a device. It sports a 2.7GHz quad-core CPU, 3GB of RAM, a 1440×2560 5.7-inch display, 32GB of on-board memory and a 32 MP rear camera. In other words, you’re not going to find yourself lacking in power with the device. Its power was pretty much a given at this point though. What about everything else?

    In reviews, the Note 4 is praised for its display, included software and power. Much the same could be said of the Galaxy Note 3. What sets this phone apart from the previous device besides the bump in specs? Trusted Review draws attention to the build quality and additional hardware, such as the fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor, as the major additions over its previous incarnation. Other publications agree that the Note 4 is a worthy successor to the Note 4 and definitely worth the upgrade.

    When compared to other devices, it isn’t as clear. It’s not that any one phone is obviously superior to the other, but rather a matter of preference. Does it bother you that Samsung still uses plastic on the backs of its phones? While the company has made some improvements to the back of the Note 4, it still lacks the full metal backing of the iPhone 6 Plus. When compared to other Android devices, the Note 4 comes a bit more favorable as its closest competition – the LG G3 – has an inferior display and cameras.

    If you found yourself disappointed by the Galaxy S 5, the Galaxy Note 4 may be the Android phone for you this year. It has improved upon everything found in the Galaxy Note 3 while retaining everything that makes the Note line shine. Besides, Samsung is marketing the device with cute animals – everybody loves cute animals:

    The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is available from every major carrier in the United States and it retails for $749.

  • Is Cyber Monday Losing Its Luster?

    Is Cyber Monday Losing Its Luster?

    There’s always a lot of hype around Cyber Monday this time of year, but various sources seem to paint a less than exciting picture about the alleged biggest holiday shopping day of the year.

    Do you plan to do some Cyber Monday shopping this year? Let us know in the comments.

    Last year, Cyber Monday sales hit a new record. According to USA Today, they rose 16% to a record $2.29 billion based on data from Adobe, which tracked 2,000 U.S. retail sites. By IBM’s data, which tracked 800 sites, they rose 21%.

    Last year, mobile devices accounted for over 17% of Cyber Monday Sales, which was up 55% from the year before. With mobile device usage surging even more this year, don’t be surprised to see all of the above numbers increase significantly.

    Shoppers Plan To Spend More, While Being More Disciplined

    According to a study by Discover, shoppers are planning to spend more money this holiday season, but to stay “more disciplined”. 57% planned to have a budget in place for holiday purchases, which is up from 52% last year.

    Specifically regarding Cyber Monday, this year, 18% of shoppers plan to do the majority of their gift shopping on the day, which is up 100% from two years ago.

    “Consumers continue to consider mobile devices more as a shopping aide rather than a primary means of buying gifts,” the Discover report says. “When asked how they would use their smartphones for holiday shopping, the most commonly reported use was to compare prices while shopping in-store, 46 percent, followed by using them to search for product reviews at 38 percent.”

    But Still…

    While we may see some number increases, especially from mobile, Cyber Monday in general appears to be losing some of its luster.

    A Consumer Reports Holiday Poll found that 53% of respondents said they didn’t plan to shop any time during the five-day stretch between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday. 39% of those surveyed said they’re less likely to shop at some point during the span this year vs. last, while only 10% said they are more likely to shop compared to 2013. Of those who expressed shopping intentions, 23% said they intended to do so on Cyber Monday.

    Cyber Monday Is Starting To Lose Relevance In Terms of Timeframe

    Just as Black Friday kind of started happening on Thanksgiving itself (even earlier if you’re Amazon), Cyber Monday is pretty much starting on Sunday. FatWallet.com reports that more than 1 in 4 Cyber Monday shoppers will start shopping on Sunday as the popular online holiday event spreads out for several days.

    ComScore reports that Cyber Monday and Green Monday have historically been the most important days of the online holiday shopping season, but that Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday have “rapidly gained importance” in the past few years.

    “In fact, among the key shopping days, Thanksgiving has had the highest five-year growth rate at 166 percent, while Black Friday has grown 124 percent during that time – both significantly outpacing the growth of Cyber Monday and Green Monday,” it notes.

    According to Credit Karma, 65% of respondents to a survey planned to do the majority of their holiday shopping in-store.

    “Contrary to popular belief, just one out of four respondents plan to actually shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday,” it said.

    A survey from ecoATM found that more holiday shoppers planned to shop in store than online, with only 18% of Americans planning to do their shopping on Black Friday, and only 7% on Cyber Monday. 44% said they plan to shop for the majority of their gifts during the first few weeks of December.

    Bankrate put out a report saying most Americans won’t shop on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Millennials are the most likely to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it says, but 18-29 year-olds are more likely to shop in stores on Black Friday than online.

    The Deals May Not Be As Good As Other Days

    Cyber Monday may also be losing some relevance in terms of the actual deals that are being offered. GoBankingRates released some findings of an investigation into this year’s deals, and the results are “lackluster,” as the firm puts it.

    The average discount on Cyber Monday will be just 20%, which is four points lower than on Thanksgiving, it says.

    “Shoppers will have less time to price-compare deals; experts say most retailers don’t want to overshadow their Black Friday doorbusters with Cyber Monday marketing,” it said.

    It also said out-of-stock messages will increase by 400% on Cyber Monday.

    Cyber Monday Sales May Not Say Much About Customer Loyalty

    Coherent Path has released some research, which it says suggests that new customers whose first transaction involves a discount or special offer are 50% less likely to return to make a second purchase. The firm considers the data an illustration of a significant challenge for many retailers.

    “A first-time Cyber Monday customer who purchases something that is marked down may not be as valuable over time as someone who goes online three days later and purchases a product at full-price,” said Dr. Greg Leibon, CTO of Coherent Path. “The reason for this appears to be the motivation of the consumer. Our data shows that when price plays a significant role in the first-time purchase with a retailer, even online, the chance of them becoming a long-term and loyal customer can be low.”

    If You Invest In The Stock Market, Don’t Be Too Concerned With Coming Figures

    Investors probably shouldn’t concern themselves too much with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales data that emerges over the coming days. Mark Hulbert at MarketWatch ran some numbers and analyzed data all the way back to the 70s when the “Black Friday” name first took effect, and found that while stocks tend to fall upon initial retail sales figures, the Dow Jones Industrial average tends to rise over the course of the rest of the year.

    “The proper conclusion to draw: fuhgettaboutit,” he writes. “The retail sales numbers you’ll get over the next few days will be close to worthless.”

    So not to be a big downer, but the message we’re seeing from a lot of different outlets is that Cyber Monday may not be as big a deal as it’s sometimes made out to be, for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, it seems to be losing relevance as a singular day within the holiday shopping season.

    Still, IBM is calling for the biggest increase in online sales (15.8%) on Cyber Monday, once again, primarily driven by mobile.

    Is Cyber Monday too hyped up, or is it truly something special? Let us know what you think.

  • eBay Now Same-Day Delivery Apps Are No More

    It’s been looking like eBay Now’s days were numbered for quite a while now. Now, the mobile apps for the e-commerce company’s same-day delivery service have gone M.I.A.

    VentureBeat reported all the way back in June that eBay Now could be on its way out. Last month, eBay held its Q3 earnings call, when eBay CEO John Donahoe made a comment indicating that the service wasn’t “essential” to is target customer base.

    Re/code then conducted an interview with him, proclaiming eBay Now to be “essentially dead’. Jason Del Rey shared some comments Donahoe made:

    “There’s no active plan to close it down,” he began. “But,” he added, “I think what you’re seeing is the shoppers that want same-day delivery tend to want it for consumables … groceries. That’s not really the sweet spot for eBay. Buy online and pick up in store — those are the kinds of things relevant to the eBay shopper.”

    At another point in the call, Donahoe referred to the service in the past tense as an “experiment” and pointed out that the company hasn’t expanded from four to 25 markets as it originally said it would by year’s end. He also noted that eBay customers seem to care more about being able to pick up an order for free than pay to have it delivered super quickly. Donahoe said the company’s partnership with United Kingdom retail chain Argos, which lets eBay shoppers order stuff online and pick it up at an Argos near them, will serve as a model for how eBay continues to try to help its shoppers get their orders quickly at no extra cost.

    Last week, Reuters reported that the company planned to “dismantle its standalone mobile app for its $5 same-day delivery service ‘eBay Now’ as soon as this week”.

    On Monday, TechCrunch pointed out that the app has gone missing from Apple’s App Store. It’s also gone from Google Play.

    It would appear that the service isn’t completely dead, however. According to TechCrunch, which spoke with an eBay spokesperson, it will be folded into eBay’s main apps and website.

    Even still, eBay Now as supposed to expand to 25 new markets, and from the sound of it, that’s no longer happening.

    The service appears to still be operational from the desktop.

    eBay Now was initially launched in beta in August, 2012.

    Image via eBay

  • Dorsey: Square To Support Apple Pay Next Year

    Dorsey: Square To Support Apple Pay Next Year

    Square indicated in September that Square Register would eventually support Apple Pay, which officially launched last month.

    Founder Jack Dorsey reaffirmed Square’s support for the product in a CNN interview. Here’s a snippet from the article:

    Apple Pay and Square have generally been viewed as competitors in the mobile payment space, but Dorsey doesn’t see it that way.

    “We’re not building a credit card. We’re not building a payment device. We’re building a [cash] register, and this register accepts all these forms of payments,” Dorsey told CNN in an interview.

    The company will start accepting Apple Pay sometime next year.

    This week, Square also launched Square Register in more countries. It’s now available worldwide in English, Spanish, French, and Japanese, and supports 130 internationally recognized currencies.

    Image via Square, Twitter

  • Here’s Twitter’s Buy Button In Action

    Here’s Twitter’s Buy Button In Action

    A couple months ago, Twitter officially announced its Buy button to enable users to make purchases directly from tweets. It didn’t make it immediately available to all businesses, however.

    Twitter said in September that it was beginning to test it for a small percentage of U.S users with test partners only. Now you can look at the button in action right here, and make a purchase should you desire.

    Strangely enough, the button doesn’t appear in embedded versions of the same tweet:

    Click the buy button, and you’ll be presented with this:

    From there, click “buy now,” and you’ll get this:

    And so forth.

    It remains to be seen when the feature will become more broadly available.

    Via AllTwitter

    Image via Twitter

  • Amazon Starts Black Friday Deals Early

    Amazon Starts Black Friday Deals Early

    Amazon announced that it’s starting its Black Friday deals early. In fact, they’re starting a week early on November 21.

    The company will be adding new deals every ten minutes for eight straight days, so people are going to be spending a lot of time over the next week checking Amazon.

    They’ll introduce three “coveted” Deals of the Day starting on Thanksgiving at midnight, and then three more on Black Friday itself. This is in addition to thousands of limited-time “Lightning Deals” that will appear on amazon.com/blackfriday.

    “Our customers are redefining Black Friday shopping. They want to stay home with family, enjoy some turkey and football and shop the hottest deals from their phone, tablet or PC,” said Steve Shure, Amazon Vice President Worldwide Marketing. “Starting November 21, we will add new deals as often as every 10 minutes, for eight days, including tech, toys, tools and more.”

    Customers can also give to charity while doing their Black Friday shopping. If you go to smile.amazon.com/blackfriday, you can find the same deals, but with the bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase to charity.

    For today only, Amazon Appstore is offering SpinArt for free. Starting on Thanksgiving, it will offer a free app of the day bundle, featuring over $115 in paid apps and games.

    Image via Amazon

  • Google Will Give You Money To Refer Friends To Google Wallet

    Google has a new Google Wallet referral program in which it will give users $5 when their friends claim money from them.

    Google explains how it works in a support document (via TheNextWeb):

    You and a friend can each get $5 when you introduce them to Google Wallet. Simply send money (even a penny works) to a friend of yours who doesn’t have a Google Wallet Balance yet. When they claim the money and verify their identity, you’ll each receive $5 in your Wallet Balance within 3 business days.

    When you’re sending money to someone, you’ll see a confirmation message if your transaction applies for this promotion.

    There are some stipulations. Both parties’ addresses have to be in the United States. Both have to verify their identities, and you’ll need to have a Wallet Balance already. It also has to be your friend’s first time creating a Wallet Balance.

    Google will give you a$5 credit for up to 20 referrals. The offer will run until Google sees 20,000 referrals or the end of the month, whichever comes first.

    Image via Google

  • Snapchat and Square Partner On Snapcash

    Snapchat and Square Partner On Snapcash

    Snapchat has partnered up with Square to offer a new payment product called Snapcash. As you’d imagine, it’s a way to pay people using Snapchat.

    When people think of Square, they no doubt think about the card readers often used by small businesses, but Square has other products including Square Cash, which lets you simply send payments to people by email or text.

    Snapcash is more in that vein. In a blog post, Snapchat says:

    We’re huge fans of the folks at Square and have been big admirers of Square Cash since it launched – just type a dollar amount into the subject line of an email and send cash to friends. Genius!

    We loved it so much that we wanted to create something with them that felt Snapchat-y. So we built a Snapcash prototype and shared it with the team at Square. Luckily for us, they were just as excited as we were and wanted to build it together.

    Users enter their debit card, and it’s stored by Square, who processes payments and sends cash directly to friends’ bank accounts. Users can swipe into chat, type the dollar sign and an amount, and hit the green button. That’s basically all there is to it.

    Image via YouTube

  • Amazon And Hachette Reach Agreement

    Amazon And Hachette Reach Agreement

    Amazon and Hachette agreed to settle their highly-publicized dispute over book pricing. The whole thing began earlier this year when Amazon dropped pre-orders for Hachette books and delayed delivery on some of them.

    The online retail giant wanted Hachette to price all e-books at $9.99 while giving Amazon more money. The two parties have issued a joint press release announcing a new agreement. It’s a multi-year agreement for e-book and print sales in the U.S.

    Michael Pietsch, Hachette Book Group CEO said, “This is great news for writers. The new agreement will benefit Hachette authors for years to come. It gives Hachette enormous marketing capability with one of our most important bookselling partners.”

    “We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike,” said David Naggar, Vice President, Kindle.

    According to the release, the new terms will go into effect early next year, and leave the responsibility for setting consumer prices for e-books with Hachette.

    Both parties will resume normal trading, and Hachette books will be featured in promotions.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Tries Taxis For Same-Day Deliveries

    Amazon Tries Taxis For Same-Day Deliveries

    Amazon has been doing a lot of experimenting with different ways of getting products delivered to customers, while expanding its actual services that do just that. Now, the company is even trying out delivery by taxi.

    According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon has been testing this in San Francisco and Los Angeles this fall, using Flywheel, a taxi-hailing mobile application, which gets the vehicles to show up at its distribution centers, and takes packages to consumers for same-day delivery. It says:

    For its recent test, the people familiar with the matter said, Amazon joined with Flywheel Software Inc., whose cab-hailing mobile app competes with Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. Amazon summoned cabs through the Flywheel app to mini-distribution centers before loading them with as many as 10 packages bound for a single ZIP Code, paying about $5 a package for delivery within one hour, according to the people…

    The Flywheel deliveries were typically done in the early morning when the cabs had fewer fares and were less likely to be noticed by customers and competitors, said the people familiar with the matter.

    Amazon, as far as we know, hasn’t actually announced or confirmed the service.

    The report makes a point to bring up shipping delays experienced last holiday season from UPS, FedEx, and the USPS. It’s not entirely clear if this taxi thing is just something for the holidays, or if Amazon is thinking about making it a permanent offering.

    Amazon has other initiatives that are only specific to the holiday season. For example, it recently announced that it’s adding 80,000 seasonal jobs, though some of those will be converted into permanent positions. It also has temporary brick-and-mortar stores for the holidays.

    As far as Amazon deliveries go, Amazon is expanding in a variety of ways. Of course there’s the whole Amazon Prime Air drone plan, but that’s not likely to materialize for quite some time if it ever does. In more immediate terms, the company announced this week that it’s expanding same-day delivery into two new cities (Toronto and Vancouver), debuting the offering in Canada. A few weeks ago, it expanded AmazonFresh, its grocery delivery service, to New York City.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • GoDaddy Announces New Online Stores For Small Businesses

    GoDaddy Announces New Online Stores For Small Businesses

    GoDaddy on Thursday announced the launch of the new GoDaddy Online Store for small businesses, where they can create an e-commerce presence and sell their items online.

    The idea behind it is to make the process of gaining an online presence as easy for businesses as possible. Businesses aren’t expected or required to have a lot of Internet experience.

    With the offering, businesses can choose a theme, add products, assign descriptions, and add price points without having to use code.

    “GoDaddy Online Store also provides a frictionless end-user shopping and checkout experience – even on mobile devices – with built-in payment processing tools to accept payments from multiple sources, including PayPal and all major credit cards,” the company says. “Also included are convenient, flexible shipping options for shoppers, and inventory tracking to help business owners keep track of products.”

    “Hundreds of thousands of small business owners want to start their e-commerce business every year, but they struggle to find an easy to use, affordable and effective solution,” adds Raj Mukherjee, SVP of Product at GoDaddy. “With the launch of GoDaddy Online Store, we strive to make it incredibly easy for anyone to build a professional e-commerce website, and to enable them to grow and run their business more effectively.”

    30% of local small business revenues come from online purchases, according to BIA/Kelsey.

    Image via GoDaddy

  • Groupon Opens Holiday Gift Shop, Contest

    Groupon Opens Holiday Gift Shop, Contest

    Groupon just launched an online holiday gift shop to connect users with deals on stuff in their area, which they can buy as gifts for their friends and families. Just give Groupon your email address and zip code, and you’ll get an experience based on your local area.

    Users can browse gifts for women, men, kids, and items under $50.

    The shop’s launch is accompanied by a contest from the company in which five customers can win a $10,000 shopping spree.

    “The Holiday Head Start Giveaway encourages customers to check Groupon today and tomorrow to see if they’re one of the five people to score a $10,000 holiday shopping spree,” Groupon said in its announcement. “Every customer will score between 5 and 100 percent off any one deal.”

    The company suggests participants browse the gift shop for inspiration.

    Groupon also released a Top 20 Toy List, which consists of: Barbie Sisters Deluxe Camper; WowWee Robosapien X Robot; My First Thomas & Friends Motion-Control Thomas; 4D Cityscape Puzzles; Lil Rider Power Ride-On; Deluxe Flutterbuy Light Up Fairy; MEGA BLOKS First Builder Bobby Barn Musical Farm Play Set; Frozen Dress Up Trunk; Hot Wheels Track Builder Stunt Action Set; Zoomer Dalmatian; X1 Helicopter + Nano Helicopter; MEGA BLOKS; HALO Quad Walker; Frozen Olaf, Anna and Elsa Pillow Pals; Black Series Monster Car; Discovery Kids Laptop; Nerf; Rebelle Agent Bow Bundle; Nerf Zombie Strike Slingfire; Disney Frozen Feature Castle; and VTech Smart Wheels Train Station.

    For comparison, you can see Amazon’s toy list here.

    You can find more details about the contest here.

    Images via Groupon

  • Amazon Expands Same-Day Delivery Into More Cities

    Amazon Expands Same-Day Delivery Into More Cities

    Amazon announced the expansion of its same-day delivery offering into two more cities: Toronto and Vancouver. Customers shopping on Amazon.ca in those places will be able to receive the service on eligible items.

    Amazon’s same-day delivery option allows users to place orders as late as noon to receive packages ahead of 9:00 p.m.

    “We’re constantly working to speed up delivery times and introduce new services that make our customers’ lives easier,” said Alexandre Gagnon, country manager for Amazon.ca. “With Same-Day Delivery, customers in Toronto and Vancouver can conveniently take care of errands or complete holiday shopping in a day with just a few clicks, receive orders seven days a week and have what they need delivered to their home in a matter of hours.”

    Amazon Prime members will be able to get same-day delivery for a flat fee of $6.99 per order. Non-Prime members have to pay $11.99 per shipment in addition to $1.99.

    The better same-day delivery price is one of the many perks of using Amazon Prime – something Amazon seems to be adding by the week. This week, the company announced unlimited photo storage for members. News also came out that the company is working with other retailers to give Prime members free next-day shipping on items purchased on other sites.

    In August, Amazon expanded same-day delivery to six new cities in the U.S. including: Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

    There are over a million items available in Toronto, which are eligible for same-day delivery. There are hundreds of thousands in Vancouver.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Wants To Get Other Sites’ Customers On Prime

    Amazon Wants To Get Other Sites’ Customers On Prime

    Amazon is extending Amazon Prime benefits to purchases made on other retail sites. At least that’s what it’s trying to do, and has succeeded with at least one retailer.

    Re/code reports that Amazon has been reaching out to various retailers with such a plan, which it refers to internally as Prime Pass, and that British fashion retailer AllSaints is on board. Re/code’s Jason Del Rey spoke with executives from both Amazon and AllSaints about the development, which will see shoppers on these other sites being able to take advantage of free, next-day shipping.

    AllSaints is advertising products in Amazon search results, and according to the report, Amazon charges it a small fee when a customer clicks through without taking anything from the actual sale. Del Rey notes that some retailers have declined offers from Amazon to take part in the program, and are actually turning to Amazon competitors for similar relationships.

    There’s not a lot of sharing of customer data with the initiative. The report says Amazon only gives retailers customer names and email addresses, and Amazon only sees the purchase total, and not the actual items.

    Just about every consumer-facing move Amazon makes these days is a play to get more people signed up for Prime. In fact, the company just announced that it’s giving unlimited photo storage to members. If this Prime Pass thing is able to get a significant number of retailers on board, it would certainly make Amazon Prime much more enticing to online shoppers.

    For Amazon, it could firmly implant its presence throughout the e-commerce ecosystem, which it is already such a huge part of.

    Image via Amazon

  • You’ll Soon Be Able To Pay With PayPal At Burger King

    You’ll Soon Be Able To Pay With PayPal At Burger King

    PayPal announced that Burger King customers will soon be able to pay for their meals using PayPal thanks to a collaboration between PayPal and Tillster and one between Tillster and Burger King. This is in the U.S.

    “Tillster worked with Burger King Corporation to develop the Burger King app (available for iOS and Android), which offers customers increased convenience and savings,” PayPal chief product officer Hill Ferguson says. “With the Burger King App, guests can receive exclusive offers and discounts at BK restaurants, find their closest BK restaurant, and browse the menu and nutritional information.”

    “We will be rolling [it] out later this quarter across the United States to all locations,” Ferguson adds. “BK restaurant guests will be able to securely pay with PayPal by simply launching the app and when they select to pay with PayPal they will be prompted with a four digit pin to pay.”

    We seem to be officially entering the era of paying for fast food with non-traditional means. Taco Bell launched a new mobile app last week to much fanfare, enabling users to order and pay using their smartphones.

    PayPal also announced that it’s been working with GoDaddy on its new Online Store to offer businesses ways to build e-commerce websites.

    Image via PayPal

  • Amazon Is Starting Black Friday Deals On November 1

    Amazon announced that it’s officially starting its holiday shopping madness on November 1, with its countdown to Black Friday Deals Week, which will involve over 15,000 “Lightning Deals” and early access to them for Prime members. Amazon will offer deals every day.

    “Starting in November, millions of holiday shoppers come to Amazon hunting for the best deals and that one perfect gift,” said Steve Shure, Amazon Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. “This year, we will have more than 15,000 hand-selected, limited time promotions on hot products, including new early access deals for Prime members on many Lightning Deals from Amazon.com and daily sales events on MyHabit.”

    There will be two “coveted” Deals of the Day every day from November 1 to December 22. Up until Black Friday weekend, there will be thousands of these Lightning Deals on electronics, toys, clothing, jewelry, kitchen products, etc.

    The deals can be found at amazon.com/blackfriday.

    From now until November 1, you get over $115 in apps and games for free from Amazon Appstore with a “Free App of the Day Bundle,” which you can get via the Amazon App.

    Amazon also took the opportunity to highlight some holiday trends it’s seeing, including growth in mobile shopping, and discovery and shopping with Twitter (which is probably more a plug for their recent feature additions than a true trend).

    “More and more Amazon customers are shopping on a mobile device. In fact, more than half of Amazon customers shopped using a mobile device last holiday,” the company says. “Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, Amazon customers ordered more than five toys per second from a mobile device. Now with visual and voice search, customers can use their smart phone to search and shop in seconds. We want customers to go from ‘I want that’ to ‘I bought that’ in under 30 seconds.”

    Amazon, I’m sure you do.

    Earlier this month, Amazon announced that it’s enabling Marketplace sellers worldwide a chance to have their products appear on high-traffic holiday deal pages.

    Image via Amazon

  • Google Wallet Adds Recurring Bank Transfers, Low Balance Alerts

    Google announced that Google Wallet users can now add money to their balance using recurring bank transfers. The company insists that this is secure.

    Also new to Wallet are low balance alerts that let you know when you’re getting close to running out of money.

    “With recurring bank transfers, adding money to your Wallet Balance takes care of itself,” says product manager Andrew Waterman. “Simply schedule a recurring transfer from your bank account right into your Wallet Balance, and never worry about adding money to your Wallet Balance again. Choose the amount, set a schedule (weekly, bi-weekly or monthly) and you’re all set. Money will be added to your Wallet Balance automatically, and you can cancel your transfer at any time.”

    google wallet recurring bank transfers

    “There are no fees or minimum balance requirements for your Wallet Balance. And rest assured, your money is safe,” he adds. “Your Wallet Balance is backed by 24/7 fraud monitoring and the Google Wallet Fraud Protection Guarantee, which covers 100% of any transactions made without your authorization. If your device is lost or stolen, you can easily disable the Google Wallet app online or by contacting Google customer support.”

    The low balance alerts are pretty self-explanatory. You can turn them on or off.

    If you like to use your Google Wallet Card much, these new features should be pretty handy.

    Image via Google

  • IBM And Twitter Announce Big Enterprise Data Partnership

    IBM And Twitter Announce Big Enterprise Data Partnership

    Twitter and IBM announced a new partnership to give enterprises Twitter data through IBM tools and services. Essentially, it’s a combination of Twitter’s “public pulse” of real-time data and IBM’s cloud-based analytics, customer engagement platforms, and consulting services.

    IBM will offer Twitter data as part of IBM Watson Analytics, Watson Developer Cloud and IBM Bluemix. There will also be joint solutions from the companies including one that will integrate Twitter data with IBM ExperienceOne customer engagement solutions for sales, marketing, and customer service purposes.

    IBM Global Business Services users will be abel to access Twitter data , and the two companies will collaborate on solutions for specific industries like banking, consumer products, retail, travel, and transportation.

    IBM President and CEO Ginni Rometty said, “Twitter provides a powerful new lens through which to look at the world – as both a platform for hundreds of millions of consumers and business professionals, and as a synthesizer of trends. This partnership, drawing on IBM’s leading cloud-based analytics platform, will help clients enrich business decisions with an entirely new class of data. This is the latest example of how IBM is reimagining work.”

    “When it comes to enterprise transformation, IBM is an undisputed global leader in enabling companies to take advantage of emerging technologies and platforms,” added Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. “This important partnership with IBM will change the way business decisions are made – from identifying emerging market opportunities to better engaging clients, partners and employees.”

    In a blog post, Twitter says the announcement has been “years in the making,” as its data efforts started when it first made its public data available for analysis. It cites its recent acquisition of Gnip as a significant milestone in its enterprise efforts.

    Image via Twitter

  • Nielsen: 22% Of Americans Doing Holiday Shopping Already

    Nielsen released some figures on holiday shopping trends as the season approaches. For many, it’s already here.

    The holiday shopping season may not be getting off to as big a bang as it did last year, but it’s obviously expected to ramp up significantly very soon.

    “Entering the fourth quarter of 2014, retail sales remained sluggish and weaker than they were this time last year,” Nielen reports. “Consumer confidence in the U.S. has been trending upward; however, uncertainty persists, and many consumers still report feeling as though they are still in a recession. That uncertainty and a sluggish equity market could dampen spending this season. Spending over the next few weeks, however, should pick up for retailers, buoyed by positive trends in the job and housing markets, coupled with low fuel prices and lower inflation.”

    “Overall, Nielsen expects Americans to up their holiday spending by almost 2% this year, and 22% of us have already made the transition from thinking about the holidays to actually making purchases,” it adds. “When it comes to the battle of the sexes, women are in the lead in terms of jumping into the ring early. In fact, 27% of women say they’ve started their shopping, dwarfing the 12% of men who are in the same camp. And while many men and women say they plan to wait to shop, 10% of women and 18% of men say they’re not going to shop at all this year.”

    The report finds that of the 22% of households who are already shopping, 30% have five or more members, and 32% have children under 12.

    Additional findings:

    All of this info comes from a pair of studies, including a survey of over 25,000 U.S. households in September and sales forecats from an analysis of 92 categories representing $100 billion in sales.

    Images via Nielsen