WebProNews

Category: Retail & eCommerce

eCommerce, Online Retail & Retail News

  • Tips For The Success Of Your Ecommerce Project: Why Hiring An Expert Is Important

    Tips For The Success Of Your Ecommerce Project: Why Hiring An Expert Is Important

    Building an ecommerce website is a necessity for every company that is serious about revenue generation and the provision of multiple opportunities to clients.

    Getting such a website developed is a relatively challenge-free task. You can rely on numerous tools and opportunities that will enable you to build the website on your own. Some problems may stem from the lack of experience in the realm of ecommerce. Developing a successful and highly functional online store can be challenging. Running it on a daily basis will be even more demanding.

    You can undertake several basic steps to make the process smoother. Relying on an experienced ecommerce expert is the first and most important way to give your ecommerce project a successful start.

    Hire a Professional and Experienced Ecommerce Expert

    Sounds easier said than done. A simple web search will reveal that hundreds of ecommerce experts are offering their services for hire.

    In order to benefit fully from such business interactions, you need to discover the right ecommerce expert for your needs. Ask for assistance. You can always seek tips from somebody who has already worked with an ecommerce expert. Personal recommendations and online reviews are two of the best ways to discover a highly professional ecommerce expert.

    So, what can an ecommerce expert do for you?

    Improve Your Website’s Design

    As a person that lacks experience in the realm, you may choose design elements that interfere with the experience of website visitors and potential customers. The risk is very high if you choose an ecommerce platform that allows you to put the website together on your own.

    A good ecommerce expert will give suggestions that will increase the functionality and the visual appeal of your online store. It has to look innovative and reputable in order to capture the interest of the audience. Professional assistance will help you achieve just that.

    Work on Functionalities

    You can easily fall in the trap of cluttering your website. Functionalities and widgets look cool and it seems that they will all increase the appeal of your project.

    These statements are true, as long as the widgets and the functionalities add something to the visitor’s experience. Expert assistance will help you determine the options to incorporate in your website development and the one that the project can go without.

    A clutter-free website will make all the difference in the world. Internet users today are well-educated and they have experience with all kinds of websites. If you fail addressing their needs in an adequate way, they will simply turn to your competition.

    The Importance of Good SEO

    Good website development needs a search engine optimization strategy. This is the most important marketing tool for every online project. Good SEO means that your website will be easy to find through search engines, which will ultimately result in higher traffic.

    Ecommerce experts understand the importance of website optimization. They will suggest design and content improvements that will make your ecommerce website search engine friendly.

    SEO is so important because it is one of the few free of charge marketing opportunities that will deliver. If you spend enough time on website optimization, you will be capable of getting more than 70 percent of your traffic from search engine referrals.

    Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

    Whatever ecommerce website development strategy you choose, differentiating yourself from the competition will be a challenging task.

    The world of ecommerce has seen significant growth lately. The number of projects competing in every niche is increasing all the time. Many websites suffer from a major and very common shortcoming – they all look the same.

    Good ecommerce experts will suggest strategies that will help you differentiate your product from the one that the competition is making available. Both content and design can be used to achieve the goal. As long as you have the know-how, you will be capable of setting yourself apart and building a loyal clientele.

    The success of an ecommerce project depends on several factors. Getting the assistance of an ecommerce expert can streamline the procedure and help you experience a revenue increase faster than you will be otherwise capable of accomplishing. It is very important to choose the right professional for the job. Some ecommerce software options will give you an opportunity to work with an experienced ecommerce expert as a part of the services you are entitled to. Otherwise, you will have to do your homework in advance. Careful research is the guarantee of satisfactory results in the future.

  • Apple Cans Scott Forstall Over Maps, Retail Chief Out As Well

    Apple Cans Scott Forstall Over Maps, Retail Chief Out As Well

    Apple announced a big company-wide reorganization at the upper level late Monday. The shakeup saw the company let go of two execs – Scott Forstall and John Browett, and it also saw others given more responsibilities in Cupertino.

    “Apple today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim,” said a press release.

    Apple doesn’t giver any additional information on what led to Forstall’s ousting. But the mobile software head and 15-year veteran of the company is said to have left due to a scuffle over Apple’s failed Maps product launch. The Wall Street Journal reports that Forstall was asked to exit his role after he refused to sign an apology for the problems with Apple’s recently-launched Maps product. The New York Times also says that this incident was the catalyst for his departure, but also adds that tensions had been brewing for some time.

    Apple also ousted newer hire John Browett, saying “a search for a new head of Retail is underway and in the interim, the Retail team will report directly to Tim Cook.”

    One of the big stories from this management shakeup is the rise of Jony Ive. As part of the stated changes, Ive will now head all of Apple’s product design.

    Here’s what Apple had to say in a press release:

    “Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.”

    You probably know Ive best from his role as product walkthrough guy in all of those Apple videos you see for various new products (recently the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini).

    Others like Eddy Cue, Craig Federighi, and Bob Mansfield will also take on bigger roles.

  • Need For Speed: Most Wanted Speeds To Retail October 30

    Need For Speed: Most Wanted Speeds To Retail October 30

    The best decision EA ever made regarding Need for Speed was putting Criterion Games in charge of the franchise. They are arguably the best racing studio around, and their talents put Need for Speed back on the map with a glorious reboot of the Hot Pursuit titles. Now they’re back at it again with another beloved Need for Speed title.

    Need for Speed: Most Wanted will be launching on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita and PC on October 30. It’s an open world racing title in the vein of the original Most Wanted, but with the flourishes and blistering speed that Criterion Games is known for.

    Most Wanted may be under the Need for Speed, but fans of Burnout Paradise will be right at home. The focus on explosive wrecks may be toned down, but the game still features the vehicular mayhem and fantastic visuals that made Burnout a household name.

    In other interesting news, EA is reportedly considering making Need for Speed: Most Wanted the first third-party game to support Sony’s Cross Buy program. The idea is that consumers who buy the PS3 version of Most Wanted will get a free download of the Vita version of the game. This will allow consumers to transfer saves between both devices.

  • Google Shopping And Its Impact On Online Retailers

    Google Shopping And Its Impact On Online Retailers

    Earlier this month, Google announced the official date that all Google Shopping results in the U.S. would come from merchants who are Product Listing Ads advertisers. That date was October 17 – Wednesday.

    Is the new Google Shopping an improvement for sellers? For consumers? Let us know what you think.

    “We will be ranking these results based on relevance, with bidding as an additional factor,” Google reminded us. “The ranking of natural search results on Google.com will not change.”

    We had a conversation about the transition with Michael Griffin, founder of Adlucent, which exclusively managed Amazon’s paid search until Amazon took it in-house in 2009. It currently powers paid search and shopping analytics for over 130 other retail brands, and has been managing Google Product Listing Ads for clients. The company, in fact, teamed with Google on a case study about Product Listing Ads.

    “The same retailers that thrive in paid search today will have the highest chance of being successful with PLAs,” Griffin tells WebProNews. “Since the bids a retailer can afford are dependent primarily on a retailer’s ability to convert buyers (conversion rate) and maximize cart value (average order values), the best retailers will continue to dominate. Important to note, we are in a period where competition is low and CPCs are somewhat depressed. Right now, PLA CPCs are about 20% lower than paid search CPCs. Eventually, we expect CPCs to be 15-20% higher than paid search CPCs. Retailers moving quickly are being rewarded with the opportunity to test and gain market share at a lower cost.”

    “Additionally, PLAs can be complicated to setup and require some technology sophistication on the part of the retailer,” he adds. “Besides setting up feeds and keeping the feeds updated in real-time, retailers must understand how to use consumer demand signals to optimize their feeds and bids. Most retailers will submit feeds and let Google do the optimization. These retailers are missing out on an opportunity to reach the right audience to get the highest return on ad spend. The smartest retailers will continuously optimize their product feed and unique product data, pro-actively manage their bids, and also leverage search query data to determine on-going refinements to investment.”

    Google has done some things to simplify the product listing ad process. Here’s a video Google put out about the creation process in July:

    “Retailers in commoditized categories will struggle the most as CPCs increase,” says Griffin. “Retailers with low conversion rates and low average order value will eventually be pushed out. Additionally, smaller retailers with low IT resources and/or agency support will struggle. Not only will it be harder for them to produce the right feeds, but it will be difficult for them to optimize them in real-time.”

    When asked whether retailer size matters, he says, “I think conversion rate, average order value, technology aptitude, lifetime value, and retailer margins matter. Large retailers tend to be good in all of these areas, but there are exceptions. The winners will excel in all of these areas.”

    One may wonder if Google will cannibalize its own paid search business in the rush to product listing ads. Griffin also shared some thoughts on that.

    “In early studies, before the transition, it did not appear that PLAs were cannibalistic,” he says. “However, as Google places them in more prominent positions on the page, they will cannibalize some paid search traffic. Google is optimizing the page to have the highest RPS (revenue per search) and will rearrange the page in a way that drives a higher RPS.”

    “RPS is determined by CTR of the ads on the page and the CPCs of these ads,” he explains. “PLAs currently have a higher CTR than traditional text ads. As CPCs increase, as predicted, Google will place PLAs in even more prominent positions. I do not believe Google is worrying as much about cannibalization as they are about continuing their efforts to constantly improve RPS.”

    So what can consumers expect to see on both Google’s main search page and on Google Shopping?

    “In the short term, I believe we’ll see a continued rise in prominence of PLAs on Google’s main search pages for commercial searches,” Griffin says. “They will continue to take over more valuable real estate as click-through rate and CPCs increase.”

    “Regarding Google Shopping, Google’s intention is to become the default destination for online shoppers,” he says. “As such, we can expect that they will continue to invest in augmenting shopping pages with more information that customers find valuable. I think it’s reasonable to expect them to begin aggregating and showing product ratings and reviews, linking to product videos, augmenting descriptions, providing product recommendations, etc. If they want to be the default destination for online shoppers, they need to provide the richness of the experience that retailers are providing today.”

    This whole thing sets up an interesting strategy in Google’s competition with Amazon.

    “Both Amazon and Google want to be the default destination for online shoppers,” he says, pointing to this snippet of a recent New York Times article:

    “In 2009, nearly a quarter of shoppers started research for an online purchase on a search engine like Google and 18 percent started on Amazon, according to a Forrester Research study. By last year, almost a third started on Amazon and just 13 percent on a search engine. Product searches on Amazon have grown 73 percent over the last year while searches on Google Shopping have been flat, according to comScore.”

    Those are interesting numbers indeed. We talked about them in the articles Amazon Takes Competition With Google Up A Notch and Amazon Is Taking Searches Away From Google.

    Even Google found that particular passage from the New York Times noteworthy, as Google D.C. guy Adam Kovacevich tweeted it:

    “The changes in Google Shopping put Amazon directly in competition with Google over the attention of online consumers,” Griffin tells us. “Today Amazon monetizes searches through product sales, marketplace sales, Amazon MediaGroup and Amazon Product Ads. We can expect that Amazon will continue to invest in areas where they can link more consumers to more products and monetize related advertising.”

    “Conversely, we can expect that Google will continue to invest in areas where they can further monetize searches outside of the existing PLA, display, and text-based search offerings,” he adds. “Google will need to compete on the quality of the entire shopping experience from search to delivery so we should expect to see them continue growing programs like Google Trusted Stores and Google Wallet.”

    I’d wager that Google Offers will be an important product for Google in this area as well.

    “Ultimately, this competition will be good for online customers as both companies will compete to make a richer experience for online customers,” says Griffin.

    Earlier this month, Google launched the available of product level bidding to Product Listing Ads, so merchants can use it during the holiday season. This lets advertisers optimize bids for individual products and easily create product targets using the product ID in the Merchant Center feed to manage bids at the product level. More on this in Google’s help center.

    What are your early impressions of the new Google Shopping? Share your thoughts in the comments.

  • More Retail Titles Launch On The Nintendo 3DS eShop This Week

    More Retail Titles Launch On The Nintendo 3DS eShop This Week

    Nintendo has been testing the waters of digital content delivery for some time now. The 3DS eShop was their first real effort to bring full games to players everywhere via digital delivery. They took it one step further when they made New Super Mario Bros. 2 available day-one as a digital download. Now they’re making their back catalog available via this method.

    Nintendo announced today that four hit 3DS games are now available on the 3DS eShop. Gamers can buy Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D and Mario Kart 7 from the comfort of their 3DS systems. The games cost $39.99 each because Nintendo still hasn’t figured out digital pricing.

    The other games available this week via the eShop include Style Savvy: Trendsetters, Sparkle Snapshots 3D, Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park, and Puzzler World XL. As for Virtual Console titles, you’ll be able to pick up Gradius. If you like shmups and missed out on the original, I highly recommend it.

    The Wil gets one lonely update today with Reel Fishing Ocean Challenge on WiiWare. As you can guess, it’s a fishing game that features “exotic fishing locales” and “tons of tackle.” I’m sure it will be a hit among the three people who still playing fishing games.

    This week’s eShop update is a little on boring side, but there’s gonna be some great content next week. Level 5’s first eShop game, Liberation Maiden, will be hitting the eShop next week. It’s a shmup created by Suda 51, the mind behind this year’s Lollipop Chainsaw.

  • Google Shopping Gives Retailers New Promotions

    Google Shopping Gives Retailers New Promotions

    Google announced today that it’s rolling out the ability for retailers in Google Shopping to add promotion to their product listings. This, Google says, will make the listings stand out more.

    As you may know, Google Shopping now consists of all paid inclusion results. In other words, you have to be an advertiser using Google’s Product Listing Ads to be listed. Wednesday was the official day that this transition was to be complete in the U.S.

    Advertisers using these new promotions can distribute them on other Google properties, such as Google Maps for Android, or the Google Offers App.

    “In a few simple steps retailers can create a promotions list, map it to the right products in Google Shopping and upload to Google Merchant Center,” Google says in a post on its Commerce Blog. “Our system supports user specific redemption codes and associated reporting, enabling retailers to measure the performance of each promotion.”

    “This is one of the many steps we’re taking to provide traffic, technology and tools to help retailers grow their business,” the company adds.

    Google says it will expand the program to include more retailers in the coming months. So far, over 25 big name retailers are using the promotions.

  • Target Also Plans to Price-Match Online Retailers for the Holidays

    Target Also Plans to Price-Match Online Retailers for the Holidays

    Less than a week after electronics retailer Best Buy announced that they would be price-matching their internet competitors this holiday season, Target has also jumped on board.

    At a press event today Target CEO Greg Steinhafel unveiled the new initiative, which will see the retailer match the prices displayed online by a number of companies including Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Toys R Us, and of course, Target.com.

    The in-store price matching currently does not include Target.com:

    “If you find an item in a competitor’s printed ad that is priced lower than it is at your Target store, we will match the price. The competitor’s ad must be local and current, and the product must be the identical item, brand name, quantity and model number. Target.com is excluded from our price matching policy. Competitor catalogs can also be ad matched as long as the catalog displays a valid date and meets all other qualifications,” says the company on their current “Low Price Promise” page.

    The current price-match policy excludes “promotions or products advertised on another company’s web or mobile sites, even those advertising in-store prices” as well, so this is a big change for the company.

    It’s not permanent, however, as Target will only price-match these select online retailers from November 1st to December 16th (the prime holiday shopping period).

    Target told Mashable that the Amazon price-matching will not include third-party sellers housed on Amazon Marketplace.

    What Target and Best Buy are fighting is showrooming, the now-ubiquitous practice of finding a product you want, snapping a picture or jotting is down in your notes, and then returning home to buy it (sometimes for cheaper) online. Basically, it’s using brick and mortar retailers like Best Buy and Target as your own personal showroom – something they clearly aren’t fans of.

    Target hopes that this will get people in the door, but more importantly make sure they actually walk out with something in the cart.

  • Android Developers Can Now Offer Free Trials For Subscriptions On Google Play

    Android Developers Can Now Offer Free Trials For Subscriptions On Google Play

    Android developers are presented with a number of ways to monetize their content on the Google Play store. One of the more prominent methods is through the use of subscriptions. In essence, a player pays a monthly fee for a set amount of microtransaction content. Now developers can hook potential subscribers with free stuff.

    Google recently added a new section to the billing subscription guide that details how developers can offer free trials for their subscriptions. The free trial offer is extremely open ended and allows developers to offer seven days or more of free subscription goodness.

    For users, initiating the free trial will require them to “purchase” the full subscription through the in-app purchasing system. This means that users must have a valid form of payment as their card starts getting billed as soon as the free trial ends. The user will not be charged whatsoever though, and the transaction will appear as $0.00 on a developer’s transaction records.

    Interestingly enough, canceling the free trial is handled a bit differently from canceling a subscription. Ordinarily, the subscription benefits would continue throughout the period even if the user canceled the subscription at the beginning of their subscription period. Canceling the free trial will end all benefits immediately.

    Developers who already offer subscriptions have nothing to lose from adding free trials. Implementing the free trial only takes a quick edit of the subscription in your product list. Free trials must be set for a minimum of seven days, but can be as long as you want after that. Developers can also only create one free trial period per subscription product.

  • Apple Tasks Retail Store Employees with Fixing Maps [RUMOR]

    Apple Tasks Retail Store Employees with Fixing Maps [RUMOR]

    Apple Maps have to get better. Tim Cook knows that they have to get better. In his public apology for the iOS 6 Apple Maps fiasco, he said that “we know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard [as our other products].”

    If sources reported by MacRumors are to be trusted, Apple is tapping a new source to help fix their painfully flawed new maps product: Apple retail store employees.

    According to the report, “multiple sources” have confirmed that certain Apple Stores will dedicate 40 hours a week to the new project, which will ask some retail employees to help look at errors in the app and submit corrections via a “dedicated internal portal” within Apple’s systems.

    Not much else is know about the specifics of the program, for instance exactly how the employees are being tasked with finding errors and suggesting corrections. But at least one store has indicated that 10 employees are going to be a part of it.

    If you’ve had your head in the sand the past couple of weeks, you may not know that Apple Maps (unveiled in the new iOS 6) has hit plenty of snags since launch. Everyone else knows that the new Apple Maps have drawn user ire for broken landscapes, mislabeled locations and landmarks, and a slew of other issues.

    Of course, Apple retail store employees aren’t the only people that have been tasked with improving iOS 6 Maps.

    “The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you,” said Cook. With every screw-up that you find and report to Apple, the Maps app will continue to improve.

    Despite the early fumbles by Apple Maps, there may be a silver lining. Apparently, Apple Maps use a significantly lower amount of data than Google Maps. If and when Apple fixes Maps to users’ liking, the data conservation angle may become a big selling point for using the product over the various other reliable maps products in the app ecosystem.

  • MoviePass Offers Unlimited Movie Subscription for Theatres

    MoviePass Offers Unlimited Movie Subscription for Theatres

    Now that the 3D movie fad is dying out, studios and movie theaters will have to find a way to compete with large HD televisions and services such as Netflix. With the home movie-viewing experience now rivaling that of theaters, something will have to give: either movie theaters will die out, or their business model will change substantially.

    Today, a company called MoviePass has launched a service that theatre owners should have been offering years ago. The service is a Netflix-like unlimited pass to view movies in theaters. For a monthly fee, subscribers will be able to view one movie per day at any theater that takes credit cards. The 3D versions of movies are not included. MoviePass will, at first, offer pricing based on location, but the national average is $30 a month.

    “MoviePass gives moviegoers the opportunity to see the movies they want, at the theaters they want – perfect for film enthusiasts who are at the heart of Hollywood’s economic engine,” said Stacy Spikes, CEO and cofounder of MoviePass. “Moviegoers now have more at-home entertainment options than ever before, and MoviePass is dedicated to driving traffic back to theaters and reducing the friction of moviegoing.”

    MoviePass is rolling out their service Gmail-style with an invite-your-friends system. MoviePass also has an iPhone app that is required for subscribers to “check-in” at a movie theatre and unlock their MoviePass debit card. The company has stated that an Android app is in the works. A video demonstrating how the MoviePass app works can be seen below.

  • Facebook’s Retail Data Mining Already Being Questioned by Privacy Groups

    Facebook’s Retail Data Mining Already Being Questioned by Privacy Groups

    That was fast. Just a few days after multiple outlets reported on a new way Facebook is providing better analytics on ad campaigns to marketers, two electronic privacy groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into whether or not the practice violates recent concessions made by the company in an FTC privacy settlement.

    We recently learned that Facebook is tracking what you buy in order to help marketers determine if their advertising campaigns on the site are paying off. Facebook is working with a data mining company called Datalogix to see if users served certain ads on-site are ending up buying said products and services later on down the road.

    Datalogix compiles a giant database of consumer purchasing data, including email addresses and other user information. They do this primarily by tracking what consumers buy on retailer rewards cards. When that data is paired with Facebook data concerning user IDs and ad impressions, marketers can see a clear picture of whether an impression directly resulted in a purchase.

    Although the procedure seems rather surreptitious at first, all of the user information is kept anonymous and is simply used for analytic purposes, according to Facebook.

    “Facebook doesn’t get data that retailers give Datalogix; retailers don’t get any data from Facebook; nor do advertisers share any of their data with Facebook or vice versa,” says Facebook. What Facebook does share is “anonymous IDs corresponding to consumers exposed to a given ad campaign.”

    Facebook certainly isn’t hiding this, as they have an entire section devoted to it in their Help Center.

    But according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), the data mining venture may constitute a breach of terms laid out by a previous FTC settlement.

    That FTC settlement barred Facebook from misrepresenting “in any manner, expressly or by implication, the extent to which it maintains the privacy or security of covered information,” as well as ““the extent to which [Facebook] makes or has made covered information accessible to third parties.”

    It also requires that Facebook “prior to any sharing of a user’s nonpublic user information by [Facebook] with any third party, which materially exceeds the restrictions imposed by a user’s privacy setting(s),” Facebook must make a “clear and prominent” disclosure and obtain the “affirmative express consent” of the user.

    Basically, if Facebook wants to share user information in a way above and beyond their privacy settings, Facebook has to make it abundantly clear their intention to do so.

    The two privacy groups have this to say to the FTC in a letter:

    The Commission should investigate whether Facebook has violated Parts I and II of the Consent Order. Facebook did not attempt to notify users of its decision to disclose user information to Datalogix. Neither Facebook’s Data Use Policy nor its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities adequately explains the specific types of information Facebook discloses, the manner in which the disclosure occurs, or the identities of the third parties receiving the information. In fact, Facebook only mentions Datalogix once – at the bottom of the “Interacting with Ads” page. This page requires at least five actions to reach from the Facebook.com home page and simply directs users to the Datalogix privacy policy. The Consent Order’s prohibition on misrepresentations includes misrepresentations by omission. Thus, the Commission should determine whether Facebook’s failure to notify users of the disclosure of user information to Datalogix violates the consent order.

    They also question Facebook’s assertion that it is all anonymous, saying:

    Facebook asserts that the shared information is hashed, and thus anonymous. But the Commission has stated that “hashing is vastly overrated as an ‘anonymization’ technique.”

    These two privacy groups have a history of demanded FTC actions on Facebook services. EPIC has already asked the FTC to look into Facebook’s Timeline feature and well as it’s facial recognition software.

    What do you think? Is it a violation of the previous FTC agreement?

    [via NextGov]

  • Amazon-Owned Vine.com Launches As Your Eco-Friendly Online Retailer

    Amazon-Owned Vine.com Launches As Your Eco-Friendly Online Retailer

    If buying green is something that’s important to you in your everyday life, a new site now in beta wants to be your go-to retailer.

    Vine.com is live, and it wants you to “live life green.” All of the products available for purchase on the site meet certain criteria for being labeled as “green,” and they provide free 1-2 day shipping on any order above $49.

    Yes, Amazon has a hand in Vine.com, although you probably wouldn’t know that from looking at the site. Vine is a part of the Quidsi network, which includes other category-specific retail sites like diapers.com, soap.com, wag.com, and yoyo.com. While those sites are all about baby supplies, cleaning products, pets, and toys, respectively, Vine.com is all about being eco-friendly. Amazon purchased Quidsi back in 2010 for $545 million.

    So, what are those green criteria? Vine has a green philosophy that say any product they carry is “made with healthy, environmentally sound ingredients and materials [and] at its core, is better for you and better for the planet.”

    Qualifying green products must meet at least one of the following criteria:

    Made from sustainable materials; energy efficient; natural (minimal processing); organic; designed to remove toxins, powered by renewable energy, reusable, or water efficient.

    “We also recognize that green can mean different things to different people. On every product page, you’ll find additional information about our products, provided by the companies behind them, so you can quickly shop according to the issues that matter to you,” says Vine.

    “This is a site that is not necessarily about saving the planet, though we feel the products are useful in that regard,” site head Josh Dorfman tells The New York Times. “It’s really saying to mom, ‘If you care about raising safe and healthy kids and you feel green products without chemicals can help along the way, we’ve figured out ways to help you do that.’”

    One more interesting aspect of the site is a “shop local” feature that allows shoppers to browse green products made within 100 miles of their selected city. Right now, there are only about a dozen cities to choose from, including New York City, L.A., Chicago, Seattle, Boston, and Denver.

  • Oracle Acquires SelectMinds, Launches Retail Mobile PoS, Banking Platform

    Oracle Acquires SelectMinds, Launches Retail Mobile PoS, Banking Platform

    Oracle announced that it is acquiring cloud-based talent sourcing app maker SelectMinds. The company’s apps provide tools for businesses in recruiting, hiring, and employee social connections.

    “Recruiting candidates through employee referrals is widely acknowledged as the most effective method to find talent through trusted contacts. Making recruiting efforts efficient and seamless by leveraging social connections and through mobile applications helps companies find better quality candidates and continue to build the pipeline for future talent,” said Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President, Oracle Development. “By adding SelectMinds to Oracle’s Talent Management Cloud, Oracle can help customers with a complete talent management solution, enabling streamlined recruiting practices, more quality referrals, faster employee on-boarding, and better performance.”

    SelectMinds CEO Anne Berkowitch added, “Oracle’s proposed acquisition of SelectMinds represents a strong endorsement of SelectMinds intuitive social sourcing technology and the value customers have achieved with our solutions. We’re excited to be a part of Oracle, and look forward to combining our resources to better serve and support customers with more global scale.”

    Oracle says SelectMinds products are already fully integrated with Oracle Cloud Recruiting, Perfromance Management ANd Human Capital Management solutions.

    Oracle has also introduced a new mobile point-of-service extension for retailers called Oracle Retail Mobile Point-of-Service.

    “Gartner research shows that retailers are extremely interested in mobile POS as a way to transform the check-out experience,” said Jeff Roster, Research Vice President, Gartner. “As one of the four transformational forces that Gartner has defined as part of its Nexus of Forces research, mobility, including mobile POS, will be a key area for experimentation and investment for retailers going forward.”

    In addition to all of that, Oracle has launched its new banking platform, which the company describes as a comprehensive suite of business applications for large global banks.

  • How Valuable Is Pinterest To Online Retail Sites?

    How Valuable Is Pinterest To Online Retail Sites?

    A new study finds that Pinterest is proving to be quite valuable for online retailers. While it trails Facebook in a variety of metrics, it’s gaining ground in those, and is leading in one very important metric. Plus, Facebook’s dominance only stands to increase Pinterest’s value within the other metrics.

    Is Pinterest helping your business? Let us know in the comments.

    Earlier this week, we looked at the following infographic from RichRelevance comparing Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, in terms of the shopping traffic they drive to retail sites:

    Who's driving traffic to shopping sites

    The infographic is based on a study from the firm, which looked at 689 million shopping sessions on “leading U.S. retail sites” between January 1 and August 31.

    “Every social network promises a new way of connecting consumers with retailers and brands,” said Diane Kegley, CMO of RichRelevance. “However, the big take-away from our research is that not all channels in the social space are created equal. As retailers and brands continue to sort out how to take advantage of social networks, this infographic provides great insight into better understanding the nuances of each channel, how they resonate with consumers and how marketers can take advantage of each in their own unique way.”

    It may be Facebook on top in most of the metrics listed in the graphic, but Pinterest, interestingly, is blowing both Facebook and Twitter out of the water in the critical AOV (Average Order Value) metric. That is: the sum of revenue generated divided by the number of orders.

    Also of note is Pinterest’s “surprisingly large share” of sessions (particularly when compared to Twitter, which has obviously been around much longer). Likewise, Pinterest is significantly higher than Twitter in share per session and revenue per session. Pinterest is gaining in both revenue per session and conversion by source, as RichRelevance points out.

    It’s no surprise that Facebook is the dominant player here in most of the metrics, given its sheer size. The company recently revealed that it has 955 million active users. However, this actually serves to help Pinterest in the same metrics, given the site’s Facebook integration.

    For one, Facebook is one of the log-in options for Pinterest, so many users are already using Facebook.

    Facebook featured Pinterest in its “Developer Spotlight” earlier this year, taking about how Pinterest was taking advantage of the Facebook Timeline. “Pinterest focused on the most frequent and social things people do on their site – pin and follow – and built Open Graph stories that people could identify with,” explained Facebook’s Will Liu. “Pinterest also prompts people to add the app to their timelines through a clear call out that is integrated into the design of the site.”

    In less than a month of launching its Facebook Open Graph integration, Pinterest saw the number of Facebook users visiting Pinterest every day increase by over 60%. Now, that stat is slightly dated at this point, as the post was from February, but the point that Pinterest is only helped by Facebook remains valid.

    It’s worth noting that RichRelevance’s study only included browser-based shopping sessions and not shopping that may originate from mobile apps. This is actually a really important thing to consider for a couple of reasons. For one, Facebook says its mobile users are more likely to be daily active users.

    Secondly, Pinterest has only had its new mobile apps available for about a month. In August, the company launched its new apps for Android, iPhone and iPad, which should only lead to more users, sales and brand engagement for brands. For that matter, Pinterest has only been available without an invitation for just over a month too. If it’s had this big of an impact on an invitation-only basis, it’s quite likely that we have yet to see Pinterest’s potential.

    As I noted in a previous article, Pinterest’s growth and cross-platform compatibility could be just what the doctor ordered for e-commerce businesses looking to get more web traffic from social media, especially now that they have to pay Google to be listed in Google Shopping. There are various products coming out designed to get Pinterest users interested in, well, products.

    ShopInterest, for example, is a DIY online shop for merchants to create pinboards of the stuff they sell.

    Of course, RichRelevance’s data only represents one study. MarketingCharts does a little comparison, writing, “These findings appear to contrast with data released in July 2012 by Jirafe, reported by Forbes. According to that study, which examined the behavior of 89 million online shoppers who visited Jirafe’s clients’ 5,000 online stores in the past year, average order value (AOV) for traffic from Twitter and Facebook was far higher than for Pinterest traffic. In fact, traffic from Twitter (5.3x), Google (3.45x), Facebook (2.5x), and Bing (2.1x) all had AOV’s more than twice as large as traffic from Pinterest.”

    “Methodological differences may explain the discrepancies,” MarketingCharts adds. “The Forbes article noted that Jirafe serves only a few of the top 500 online retailers, such that Pinterest data for these larger sites may be more positive. The RichRelevance data is also based on its client base – select US sites that have deployed its retail recommendation software. That study also includes only browser-based shopping sessions and does not include shopping that may originate from mobile application versions of the platforms. It is unclear how such sessions were treated by the Jirafe study.”

    In general, brands themselves are flocking to Pinterest. According to a recent study from SimplyMeasured, 51% of the top 100 global brands now have Pinterest accounts.

    Pinterest has been expanding its category offerings, and I expect that this will continue, which should only open the door further for merchants. It already has its built-in “gifts,” feature, for product promotion, complete with price tags.

    If you’re unfamiliar with this, it’s a drop-down menu at the top of the homepage, which lets users browse items by price range. Pinterest will include price if it’s in the description of the post. Shopify has a good post about this and other ecommerce tips, saying, “Every ecommerce store owner should make full use of this functionality!”

    Shopify also suggests pinning other people’s products, and not just your own, not pinning every item you sell, linking to products “tastefully,” being visual with product photography, creating a re-pin board, and of course, getting followers. They suggest frequently posting Pinterest content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ streams, adding, “Remember to keep the focus of your posts on things that are visual appealing.”

    Has your site seen a significant amount of Pinterest traffic? Do you have a Pinterest strategy in place? Let us know in the comments.

  • Apple Event: Cook Gives Retail Store Numbers

    Apple Event: Cook Gives Retail Store Numbers

    Apple kicked off its big press event today by showing an inspirational video about its Apple Stores. CEO Tim Cook then announced that Apple has 380 stores in 12 countries, and that number 13 is coming on Friday with the opening of its fist Swedish store.

    “Our stores offer the best buying experience and the best customer service on the planet.”

    According to Cook, Apple stores had 83 million visitors in the last quarter (April – June), adding that it’s “Amazing”.

    You can see the complete list of stores here.

    More coverage of the event, where the iPhone 5 (among other things) is expected to be released, to come.

  • Facebook Drives Most Retail Traffic, But Pinterest Drives the Big Spenders

    Facebook Drives Most Retail Traffic, But Pinterest Drives the Big Spenders

    Any retail site knows that social media is their friend. Not only do sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest have the massive user bases to drive traffic, but they also have the opportunity to drive traffic based on the trust factor. If one of your friends recommends a product (as opposed to a typical ad), you’re much more likely to check it out. That’s the thought behind Facebook main advertising platform, the Sponsored Story (and why it’s crushing traditional ads).

    But not all social media sites are created equal when it comes to driving retail traffic. That’s the message coming out of a a new study from RichRelevance. The ecommerce personalization company looked at over 700 million “shopping sessions” and found that Facebook is still the king, but Pinterest has one notable plus.

    According to the study, Facebook drives the most traffic to retail sites – plain and simple. Facebook was found to drive 85.8% of online shopping sessions, followed by Pinterest at 11.3% and Twitter at 2.9%.

    And shoppers that comes from Facebook stay on the site longer and come back more often. Facebook referrals stay for an average of 7 pages per session, compared to 4 with Pinterest and 3 with Twitter. Facebook-referred customers had a conversion rate of 2.63%, much more that shoppers who came via Pinterest and Twitter (.93% and 1.09%, respectively).

    What Pinterest is really good at, they say, is sending big spenders to retail sites. The average order for a buyer referred via Pinterest was $168.83, compared to $94.70 (Facebook) and $70.84 (Twitter).

    “Every social network promises a new way of connecting consumers with retailers and brands,” said Diane Kegley, CMO of RichRelevance. “However, the big take-away from our research is that not all channels in the social space are created equal.”

    Check out their infographic on the study below:

    [via AllFacebook]

  • Spotify Generates Just Enough Profit from Subscriptions to Pay for Free Service

    Spotify Generates Just Enough Profit from Subscriptions to Pay for Free Service

    Spotify’s business model is pretty simple: Offer a large (and sometimes fully unrestricted) free streaming service to users, and support that partially with ads. The hope is that enough users will want to pay the monthly subscription in order to do away with all of the advertisements, as well as to unlock features like Spotify mobile.

    British media research firm Ender’s Analysis looked at Spotify’s two-tired business plan, and found that the company is kind of locked in limbo – at least in terms of profits.

    According to their analysis, Spotify rakes in a gross profit of $76 million from subscriptions, but lost roughly the same amount in its free, ad-supported tier. ““Spotify is now finding that legitimate free services can lure fans away from piracy, but at the expense of investor capital,” said Ender’s.

    As of right now in the U.S., Spotify users have full access to the entire catalog – something that’s not available to users in many parts of the world. U.S. users can get a basic subscription for $4.99 a month, which will get rid of the ads. They can fork over a little more ($9.99 a month) and gain access to Spotify Premium, which adds mobile support and offline support.

    But the company is still growing, and the free version is very attractive to music lovers. It gets people in the door. You’d have to think that eventually, Spotify would disallow any user from having full, unrestricted access to the catalog for free -even with ads. That would be a huge incentive for users to at least purchase the $4.99 subscription.

    [Ender’s Analysis via The New York Times]

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: Nano-SIM Cards Shipped to Retailers [Photos]

    iPhone 5 Rumor: Nano-SIM Cards Shipped to Retailers [Photos]

    Today we’ve already seen leaked video of the iPhone 5’s screen, flex cables, and dock connector port. Now, photos of the iPhone’s new nano-SIM cards are making their way around the internet. It seems every millimeter of the device is likely to be leaked before Apple announces it at an expected event on September 12.

    The above photo comes from a German iPhone blog. Apparently, a wireless carrier employee was able to snap a photo of the card with a micro-SIM next to it for scale. According to the blog, the shipment of the nano-SIMs came with a cover letter that instructed employees not to give the cards out to customers.

    It was already seemingly confirmed last month that the new SIM cards for the iPhone 5 would be nano-SIM card. As seems to be the case since the original iPhone was released back in 2007, it takes a change from Apple to push a new technology forward. Credit card companies and banks are beginning to forge partnerships and make deals for mobile payment systems in anticipation of the iPhone 5, which may or may not have NFC capabilities.

    Oh, and to avoid confusion, while the logo on the SIM card may look like T-Mobile’s it is actually T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile will not be getting the iPhone 5

    (photo courtesy iphone-ticker.de)

  • Here’s What’s Working For B2B Businesses In Search And Social

    Here’s What’s Working For B2B Businesses In Search And Social

    It’s an ongoing struggle for businesses to figure out how to get the most out of their marketing budgets. While email has proven time and time again to be an incredibly effective channel, there’s still a lot of question as to how to maximize ROI in channels like search and social. Here, you’ll find a look at what seems to be working for a great deal of B2B businesses.

    Do you get a bigger bang from your buck from SEO, PPC or social media marketing? Let us know in the comments.

    Webmarketing123 has put out some interesting survey results for its State of Digital Marketing 2012 report. It looks at B2B vs. B2C marketing efforts in terms of SEO, PPC and social media. We’ll focus on the B2B side of things here. Among other things, it looks specifically at the satisfaction levels of in-house/agency search marketing and social media efforts, as well as how much money businesses are putting into different social networks, and how much they’re getting back.

    The survey included companies like Sony, Olympus, Phillips, IBM, Hitatchi, Cisco, Agilent, Microsoft, Citrix, Medtronic, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Blue Shield, ADP, Pitney Bowes, Monster.com, Angie’s List, GE, John Deere, Aramark, Thomson Reuters, Federal Express, Bose, and Nestlé. In all, over 500 marketing professionals from the U.S. responded to the survey.

    The main B2B takeaways appear to be that lead generation is the top objective among brands, and SEO is found to be twice as effective as either PPC or social media marketing. This is quite interesting, considering that it is getting harder and harder to get on the first page of Google results. Of course, there are some major brands that took this survey, and they likely don’t struggle with rankings as much as some smaller businesses.

    B2B Objectives

    According to the survey, about 50% more B2Bs now consider social media as having the most impact on lead generation, compared to last year, though SEO is still significantly ahead.

    Biggest Impact on lead generation

    Based on the surveys findings, most B2B businesses engage in SEO, and do so in-house, rather than hiring agencies. Almost all of them either intend to increase their SEO budgets in 2013 or at least maintain their current budgets.

    SEO Budget plans

    According to the survey, the most common measures of SEO performance are the volume of traffic, organic traffic, and the number of keywords appearing on page 1, “which give no insight into financial impact.” Fewer marketers, Webmaketing123 says, are employing “more sophisticated measures,” like number of qualified leads or sales attributable to organic search.

    SEO Measurement

    Here’s a look at how businesses are doing their PPC, and what their budget plans look like:

    PPC Budgets

    Here’s a similar look at how businesses are doing social media, and what their budget plans look like:

    Social Budgets

    Interestingly, while in-house dominates the efforts of businesses across SEO, PPC and social media, the satisfaction levels are significantly higher when outside agencies are hired, according to the survey:

    Satisfaction

    According to the survey, B2C businesses are getting more engagement than B2B businesses from their social media efforts, but the gap is narrowing. B2B businesses are getting better at social media.

    “B2C marketers are ahead with 70% moderately to highly engaged (40% highly engaged), but B2B is catching up, with 63% at those levels of engagement (27% highly engaged), overall, only 1 in 10 have no social media program,” the firm says.

    It probably helps that the social networks are putting out more business-oriented products. Facebook, since the IPO, has certainly had businesses on the brain (even at the cost of user-friendliness, perhaps), launching more and more ad products and targeting capabilities for posts. Twitter, just this past week, announced new ad targeting options of its own, as well as the Certified Product Program for businesses. Google also announced some new business-specific features for Google+ this past week.

    As these networks continue to cater more to businesses, businesses are likely to find them more valuable, and perhaps find more room in their budgets to take advantage. However, it is the social network that has always been business-oriented, that currently seems to be providing the biggest bang for B2B business’ bucks.

    Last, but not least, Webmarketing123 provides a look at the break down of dollars spent among popular social networks, and money made from them. It looks like businesses are getting the most out of their dollars spent with LinkedIn, though for B2C, Facebook blows LinkedIn out of the water. This makes sense, however, if you consider the professional nature of LinkedIn.

    Social Media Revenue

    Businesses may soon be able to get even more out of LinkedIn, as the company just expanded LinkedIn ads into 17 new languages. The company is also improving its developer platform, which could lead to some more business opportunities.

    From which social networks are you getting the most ROI? Are you getting more from SEO or PPC? In-house or agency? Let us know what’s working for your business.

  • Amazon Will Now Sell Its eBooks Through Other Retailers

    Amazon Will Now Sell Its eBooks Through Other Retailers

    Amazon is known for books. Even before the Kindle, the site was a favorite of book buyers. The company is now a major player in the eBook scene with their own major publishing imprint. Published books on their imprint were previously only available through Amazon, but those books will now start to appear elsewhere.

    Paid Content reports that Amazon has inked a deal with Ingram that will see books published through Amazon NY available through Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo. Book lovers, regardless of eReader, will now be able to read the content available from Amazon.

    As always, there is a catch. The deal doesn’t guarantee that Amazon’s books will appear on other devices. It’s unlikely that Apple will stock Amazon-published books. The Cupertino-based company has outright rejected an eBook in the past for linking to Amazon. I just don’t see the two putting aside their rivalry for a little mutual benefit.

    As for Barnes & Noble and Kobo, you can probably expect eBooks to start popping up on their respective services soon. Barnes & Noble is probably going to be the most aggressive with this new deal as their Nook eReader is quite popular. The promise of more content, even if it is from Amazon, may entice people to go with the Nook over the Kindle.

    That being said, the Kindle is still amazingly popular among readers. Just yesterday, Amazon let it be known that Kindle owners had downloaded or borrowed the 180,000 Kindle-exclusive books over 100 million times. Unfortunately, today’s deal won’t see those exclusive titles appearing anywhere else. Even with their publishing imprint going to other carriers, people might still flock to Kindle for their exclusive books.

    Regardless of what eReader the consumer buys, this is a win for Amazon. They are already a fairly large publisher, but this could push them to even greater heights. They will grow even larger in the unlikely event that Amazon eBooks show up on the iPad.

  • Retail Sales Up 4.1% From Last Year At $403.9 Billion For July

    Retail Sales Up 4.1% From Last Year At $403.9 Billion For July

    The U.S. Census Bureau released its monthly retail sales report on Tuesday, indicating that sales for July (adusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes), were up 0.8% from June, and up 4.1% from the July 2011. Sales reached $403.9 billion for the month.

    Also noteworthy is that total sales for the May through July period were up 4.3% from the same period last year.

    Retail Sales in July

    Retail trade sales were up 0.8% from June and 3.7% from last year. Nonstore retailers sales were up 11.8% from last year. Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores were up 10.6% from last year.

    Retail sales were better than most economist projected. It looks like people are ready to spend more money (and the new iPhone doesn’t even come out until next month).

    The Census Bureau will put out its report for August on September 14.