Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Zappos, the online shopping Web site, is trying to change all that with PinPointing, a service that recommends Zappos products based on Pinterest pins and boards. The pins and boards triggering suggestions don’t necessarily feature Zappos products. Recommending items based on particular images is nothing new — see every fashion Web site urging you to “shop this look”

Gilt Taste, the company’s food platform, is to release a free iPad-only app, also called Gilt Taste, on Wednesday. Its 140 recipes are presented straightforwardly — all text, one recipe step on each page, no videos — except for one game-changing feature. Using the iPad’s built-in camera, which tracks your hand movements, you can turn the pages of the recipe without touching the tablet. Lift your hand in front of the screen, brush it from right to left (as if turning the page of a book), and the screen flips to the next step. Wave your hand from left to right, and it goes back to the last step.

Consider a recent test involving one product category page: men's shirts. The retailer, which uses Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews software, decided to sort items on the product page based on customer reviews. Items with five stars - the highest rating - appeared on the top of the page. "The result was a 9 percent lift in conversions directly attributable to that change," said Ken Seiff, executive vice president, direct and omni-channel at Brooks Brothers during a presentation at the Adobe Digital Marketing Symposium in New York City.