Group items tagged

Groupon has bought out Whrrl, which will be shutdown. The idea of "Anti-Search" or "real-world serendipitous discovery" is compelling. Also, the article talks about the LivingSocial $1 Lunch campaign in D.C., which saw 27,000 vouchers purchased within 3 hours.

Shoppers use an average of 10.7 different sources in their decision-making process, conducting online research even for small purchases like mascara and cough syrup: Those are a copule of the findings from Google's new e-book, Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, which focuses on marketing strategies for the period after a shopper sees an ad for a product, but before he or she actually makes a purchase.

Nearly 45 percent of respondents in a survey fielded by analyst firm Sterne Agee said they would consider purchasing and sending physical gifts to friends through the newly released Facebook Gifts product.

"First, you have transactional data, which includes all the information you have about previous purchases and interactions with individual customers. Second, you have digital behavior data. This data, as the name implies, covers what people are doing and have done online, from surfing patterns to all the various digital interactions they may engage in across your web and mobile sites. This data can tell you, for example, which pages or sets of products on your site people have spent the most time exploring (or, alternately, ignoring). Third, you have social data, which includes all data related to the social graph as well as any social information that customers may have chosen to share with you (or, perhaps, unwittingly shared with you by agreeing to sign-in to your site using Facebook or Twitter)."

content sharing site where handpicked fashion ambassadors upload images of their outfit -- like pinterest or pose.  If ambassador wants to sell a piece, users will have a chance to purchase the product

"Google's "Smartphone Launch Predictor" study found that 52 percent of purchase-related searches occur before a smartphone is launched. According to Google, the key to a successful smartphone launch is getting ahead of the release and marketing early. "One of the biggest factors is getting early buzz. Getting early buzz is key [for a successful smartphone launch]," Google Industry Director for Tech Kyle Keogh told ClickZ. The study found that the earlier a firm markets a smartphone the more likely they are to succeed in sales. According to Google, an extra 1,000 news stories put in place weeks before a launch can lead to a 9 percent spike in smartphone sales. Google's research discovered that users tend to do general product searches in the week during launch. After launch, it was discovered that consumers dig deep and search for key specifications on a device. Video is also becoming a key research tool for consumers shopping for a smartphone. According to the study, video views for smartphones increased 60 percent this year. Google says that if a smartphone gets over 1 million video views during launch week it will likely sell over 1.3 million units."

Shoppers have become increasingly comfortable using the smartphone or tablet to browse retailer offerings, look for discounts and compare products-whether on the go or on the couch. For moms especially, who tend to lead shopping and mobile trends, the use of these smart devices may have reached the tipping point: Mobile has become more than a nice accessory to augment the shopping process; it has become an essential stop in the path to purchase. Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Moms-Mobile-Part-of-Shopping-Routine/1009722#qpdE6EZ6QEPTj4Lx.99 

Facebook is now able to connect the dots between users on its network and their purchasing habits, and is using that data to pitch advertisers.

The recent release of UK fashion designer Burberry's Autumn/Winter 2013-14 collection has included similar technology with the Runway Made to Order service, which enables consumers to purchase tailored goods straight from the catwalk, personalized with tags that unlock digital content.

Another example of an alternative model to "ad supported." 

"But advertisers have loads of their own offline data from existing customers that they have not been able to use to target search ads. Conversions API allows those advertisers to upload phone numbers and in-store purchase data and use that information to target search ads through DoubleClick, Google's search ad system. Google's announcement was thin on details. It says advertisers can now "upload new conversions to account for in-store transactions, call-tracking, or other offline activities, or edit existing conversions to account for discounts, returns, credit, or fraud.""

Buy a CD, get the digital version free. Is this potentially the start of a trend? Can I get an eBook if I buy the hard copy?

Ribbon, a San Francisco payments company, announced a new feature Wednesday that lets merchants offer an in-stream payment option on Twitter. Now, for the first time, consumers can find a product or service for sale through Twitter and complete the purchase without ever having to leave the news feed

GIG-IT, a new social game coming to Facebook in May, will let players create 3D concerts featuring virtual versions of famous musicians along with music from the game's library or music available to purchase within the experience.

Isis is expanding a program that lets mobile users pay for vending machine purchases via their smartphones with a loyalty tie-in that rewards repeat users. The new program provides free products based on points earned by smartphone users who pay at participating vending machines with the Isis Mobile Wallet.

partnered with google to get the most misspelled search terms -- snickers purchased 25k misspelled search terms and delivered paid ads against them

But despite a lot of effort, social commerce (also called F-commerce) is still very much in its infancy - people aren't primarily using Facebook or Twitter to make purchases, even if friends are influencing what they buy.