Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /retail/

Facebook 'now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem'

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:49:00 GMT

eBay announced yesterday at Innovate, its developer conference, it will integrate Facebook's Open Graph 2.0 into its global commerce systems to create social shopping experiences. These systems will be part of X.commerce, a new business unit that also includes PayPal and Magento.

"Facebook is now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem," X.commerce's vice president and general manager Matthew Mengerink said.

This is significant because it allows Facebook access to eBay's 25 million sellers and 97 million users, who make an estimated $60 billion worth of transactions on its site annually.

"Technology is changing the way consumers shop, and eBay Inc.'s integration with Facebook will make shopping social for consumers and retailers worldwide," Mengerink said in a statement. "Retailers and developers need a technology-driven global commerce partner to help them engage and connect with consumers anytime, anywhere.

"By making eBay's technology and global commerce platforms available to developers and retailers through X.commerce, we are that partner, enabling commerce, changing the way people shop."

According to Katie Mitic, Facebook's director of platform and mobile marketing, since users no longer have to 'like' a song to listen or share it, the social site's bringing it to commerce.

Expanding the 'like' function, Facebook users will now be able to 'buy', 'want', 'own', 'review' or 'recommend' products. These can then be shared with friends and family.

"This takes word-of-mouth marketing and puts a bullhorn to it," said Mitic during her speech on Wednesday morning. She also mentioned in a statement that the new service would enhance an already social activity - shopping.

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YouTube brings streaming film selection to Britain

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 06:13:00 GMT

Following a debut of streaming films for rent in the US market in May, YouTube - the online video hosting haven propped up by Google - has brought the feature to British shores.

The portal will begin renting films with an initial smattering of classics and blockbusters, such as Reservoir Dogs, The Meaning of Life, The Dark Knight and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The YouTube blog post about the release also contends that each film will be delivered in high-quality video.

In addition, YouTube hopes to offer users an experience beyond the surface of just idly watching the original films.

"There's always more to explore on YouTube," business product manager Matteo Vallone said. "Many movie pages also feature YouTube Movie Extras with free behind-the-scenes videos, cast interviews, parodies, clips and remixes from YouTube's unique community of content creators.

"Over time, we'll also be adding additional videos and features to YouTube Movie Extras so that you can get even more into movies on YouTube."

A visit to the website's dedicated film rental site reveals it will stream many films free of charge. Other films have been set with a two-tiered pricing system at £2.49 and £3.49. Most new releases to the service register at the higher price.

The revelation by Google-owned YouTube comes shortly after rival Facebook's similar expansion into the streaming sphere, though Palo Alto's route has been decidedly more geared toward music lovers. However, back in August, Facebook announced it would facilitate film rental as well.

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Press conference sparks rumours of Amazon tablet

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:49:00 GMT

Amazon is rumoured to be announcing a new tablet this week at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday in New York.

Speculation about an Amazon tablet has been growing for months, reigniting this week when word broke about Wednesday's press conference.

Analysts speculate the Amazon tablet will be a revamped version of the existing Kindle e-reader. It will be priced cheaper, however, undercutting Apple by selling its tablet for $250, but, similar to the iPad, will operate by touchscreen.

Unlike other competitors, Amazon is well positioned to take on Apple's stronghold on the market because of its online store, which makes books, movies and music available to users at the touch of a button.

While the Amazon tablet is expected to be a simpler tablet than the iPad, it could offer consumers the features they want most at a lower price.

Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps told the New York Times: "The No 1 thing consumers do on tablets is email. The No 2 thing is look up stuff on the web. Then playing games and watching video. Amazon will offer all the tablet that many consumers need."

In its first, largely unchallenged fifteen months on the market, Apple sold 29 million iPad tablets.

The success of the tablet sparked a number of rival tablets, almost all of which failed to sell. According to the New York Times, The BlackBerry PlayBook shipped 200,000 units in three months, roughly equivalent to the number of tablets Apple sells in three days.

Regardless of whether Amazon manages to take a bite out of Apple, Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente said the consumer stands to gain from competition between the two rivals.

He said: "The consumer is going to be the winner. The fact that Amazon is making such a huge investment might make Apple come back into the market at a lower price point. What's to prevent them from slimming down the iPad?"

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Bing swings into action with new results buttons

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:49:00 GMT

While Google's spending time getting more social with Plus, Bing's just announced it will incorporate 'Action Buttons' to allow users to perform a number of tasks directly from a search results page.

Writing on the Bing blog, Deepak Vijaywargi, programme manager for the search engine, said the buttons would allow searchers to get things done quicker on the web.

"Now when you search across seven popular categories - including airlines, couriers (e.g. FedEx), restaurants, banks, rental cars, software downloads and hotels - you will be presented with buttons for top actions on the site, that directly take you to the page where you can complete your task," Vijaywargi said.

The buttons continue on from Bing's 'decision engine' branding, which the program manager said had been represented in the past by the engine presenting users with 'deep links' they felt relevant to the search.

Vijaywargi also said the particular buttons would be specific to a user's query, and that Bing would use an algorithm to determine which buttons to display.

"Based on how people search, our algorithms now determine top actions and corresponding links in the site for a given category with high precision," he said. "For instance, with airlines the top 3 tasks are: check-in to a flight, check the status of a flight or book a flight.

"For software sites, if you are searching for a specific product you likely want to download it. For car rental agencies, you'd like to rent a car, find out locations or contact them."

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Google Wallet opens for business

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:36:00 GMT

Google Wallet has officially launched on its first smartphone, in collaboration with Citi Group and Mastercard, with the promise of other credit card giants soon to follow suit.

According to CNET, Visa and American Express, as well as a number of other mobile wireless carriers, have announced their own plans to launch similar services.

The service, first announced in May, makes use of Near Field Communications (NFC), allowing users to swipe or tap their phones to pay by credit card rather than reaching for their wallet.

Vice president of payments Osama Bedier wrote on the Google blog: "With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near-field communication (NFC)."

"Google Wallet enables you to pay with your Citi Mastercard credit card and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of your existing plastic credit cards.

"Our goal is to make it possible for you to add all of your payment cards to Google Wallet, so you can say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets.

"This is just the beginning, and while we're excited about this first step, we look forward to bringing Google Wallet to more phones in the future."

Early adopters of the service will also benefit from a $10 free bonus to their Google Prepaid Cards if they set up the Google Wallet service on their phones before the end of the year.

The service is currently only available to a small handful of people using the Nexus S 4G smartphone in the United States.

Google is the first service to break into the market with a digital wallet but with competitors already planning to follow suit, it's only a matter of time before near field communication comes to the UK

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Google acquires German dealmaker DailyDeal

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:00:00 GMT

German dealmaker DailyDeal.de has been acquired by Google, according to daily discount firm's website.

A post on the website reads: "When DailyDeal was founded in Berlin back in December 2009, there was just the two of us.

"Since then, we have seen tremendous growth, as people throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland have used DailyDeal to find local deals on their favourite restaurants, travel destinations, entertainment venues and retail outlets."

"We're excited to announce that we've been acquired by Google. What began as a two-person start-up less than two years ago has transformed into a trusted platform to connect businesses with consumers. By combining our expertise with the Offers team at Google, we hope to expand our efforts to provide even greater deals to consumers."

Currently, Google's own daily deals service, Google Offers, is only available in North America, and the acquisition suggests Google has its sights set on the European daily deals market.

However, according to a report by Yipit, Google Offers is already in decline within its first three months, with total revenue dropping 23 per cent in August from July in spite of an increase in the number of deals advertised.

Since Groupon's launch in 2008, the daily deals industry has exploded, developing into a multibillion-dollar industry and internet sensation, though interest in such services may be flagging.

Competitors keen to get a slice of the pie like Google, Living Social, Amazon.com and Facebook, flooded the market, with varying degrees of success.

While Amazon Local managed to generate $1 million revenue in August, Facebook announced the discontinuation of its in-house daily deals service, Facebook Deals, after only four months.

Across the board, the once red-hot market seems to be experiencing a deep-freeze, with deal titan Groupon reporting a second quarter loss of $102.7 million in the second quarter, and competitor Yelp cutting the size of its sales team in an effort to adjust to the changing market.

As of yet, Google has yet to comment on the acquisition of DailyDeal.de.

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Subpoena raises the stakes in eBay versus Craigslist feud

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:36:00 GMT

A bitter dispute between eBay and the classified ads site Craigslist rages on as US prosecutors step in to investigate the alleged gathering of confidential information by employees of the online auction site.

The criminal investigation was sparked by claims that eBay employees misappropriated confidential information from the Craigslist site back when it was launching its own classifieds website eBayClassifieds.com (formerly known as Kijiji) in 2007.

A grand jury subpoena obtained by Reuters looks to source a range of information and documents surrounding the allegations, including details on several eBay employees.

Founder and chairman of eBay Pierre Omidyar comes under particular scrutiny in the subpoena, Reuters found, as does Joshua Silverman, a former Skype executive who sat on Craiglist's board of directors for eBay.

This is merely the latest in an extended row between the business rivals. Since 2008, lawsuits and counter-suits have been relentlessly flying between the two companies, starting with suit brought by eBay that perceived a dilution in its 28.4 per cent stake in Craigslist at the time. Craigslist soon followed with its own suit that alleged, amongst several other things, breach of contract and fiduciary duty.

Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman from eBay, outlined the company's stance on these further developments when speaking to Reuters.

"EBay believes that Craigslist's allegations against eBay are without merit. We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves, and we will aggressively pursue our claims against Craigslist."

Craigslist officials have yet to comment on this latest development.

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Bargain hunter Groupon reports second quarter loss

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:24:00 GMT

Discount titan Groupon has reported a net loss of $102.7 million in the second quarter according to an SEC filing.

Despite continued growth and popularity, net loss from the second quarter nearly tripled from last year's figures. Total revenue from the second quarter came in at $878 million but general and administrative costs also rose significantly to deal with the company's lightning-fast expansion.

Unusual accounting metrics came under scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission for excluding marketing costs, stock-based compensation and acquisition-related items, which resulted in an amended filing today reporting the loss.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Groupon chief executive Andrew Mason spoke to investors on reporting methods in their amended filing today, saying: " While we track this management metric internally to gauge our performance, we encourage you to base your decision on whatever metrics make you comfortable."

The daily deals giant has hired over 1,000 new employees in a three-month period, its workforce now totalling over 9,625, with almost half of that manpower devoted to sales, Fastest Growing Company Ever by Forbes Magazine.

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Paperless receipts free up wallet space

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Major retailers are turning to e-receipts in an effort to go paperless for purchases made in their stores.

This means, rather than receiving a paper receipt with their purchase, consumers can opt for an e-receipt and receive a copy delivered to their inbox or mobile device.

E-receipts are easily accessible and shoppers can save and reprint receipts when they need them. According to proponents of the technology, the move to paperless receipts is not only environmentally friendly, but saves customers from searching for lost receipts in the bottom of old clothing bags and purses.

As technology continues to shape other aspects of retail, mobile phones are becoming a prominent part of the consumer experience. Innovations such as PayPass and Google Wallet purport to help customers make their purchases faster and increase demand for paperless receipts.

Birame Sock, Director of digital receipts company Third Solutions told the New York Times: "A lot of these retailers are looking into mobile payments, and with mobile payments, you have to talk about the digital receipt."

Apple Stores paved the way for this trend, introducing paperless receipts in 2005 as an alternative to traditional methods, but other major retailers embraced the trend because it also provides additional marketing opportunities to retailers. Some businesses found they can follow up purchases with customers with other deals and promotions with electronic receipts.

While some consumers have embraced e-receipts, others may be more reluctant to go paperless because they don't want to share their email address for fear their inboxes will be clogged with offers.

To combat this, retailers are offering other electronic delivery methods where consumers can access a password-protected site and review purchase information.

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Web blocking's a no-go following Ofcom Report

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:25:00 GMT

Following a new report from Ofcom, the government has scrapped plans for widespread website blocking, a decision that poses "far-reaching implications for every UK internet user," according to The Register.

The move surprised many in the blogosphere and creative industries alike, particularly following the result of last week's Newzbin hearing.

Courts ruled that BT had to block the Newzbin website, which provides links to pirated material such as movies, books and games. This is the first ruling of its kind, with BT being the first service provider instructed to block this type of website, and the move has been hailed as a victory for the creative industries.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA), which brought the case to court, represents several major production studios such as Warner, Fox and Disney and praised the result.

"This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online," MPA representative Chris Marcich told the BBC.

Many online sources, including the BBC, suggested this may be the first of many such cases.

"The government is also considering the feasibility of more widespread site blocking, including looking at the possibility of a voluntary scheme between ISPs and rightsholders," the news source reported just last week.

However, the government's latest decision indicates blocking illegal filesharing websites may not be the way forward.

The Digital Economy Act, released by regulatory body Ofcom last year, proposed a move to tackle piracy by blocking such websites, yet today the decision was revoked, and The Register reported Ofcom will likely defend this by saying "no website blocking can be 100 per cent effective."

Also, The Guardian reported communications minister Ed Vaizey indicated a specialised investigation into web blocking deemed it too complicated to work effectively.

Government voices maintain that whilst a web blocking policy may not be coming into place, the MPA victory should encourage rights holders that they still have the right to take court action against anything they perceive as illegal activity.

"Last week's landmark high court ruling, which forced BT to cut off access to mass-piracy site Newzbin2, showed that there is a route forward if rights holders want to take it," Vaizey said.

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