E-commerce News Archive
27 May 08 - Borders Forges Ahead with New Ecommerce Site
After 7 years of teamwork with ecommerce buddy Amazon, the bookseller Border is finally launching its own site. Their new platform is set to offer a different online experience from main rivals Amazon and Barnes & Noble by giving users a way of shopping that seems more tangible “real”. The aim is to maintain the “sense of discovery” that customers experience during a browse around a real bookstore.
As well as online features like the “Magic Shelf” (an interactive shelf of “handpicked” books, CDs and DVDs), shoppers will also be able to order items to be collected in store and, vice versa, to access their online account and their wish list from kiosks in the store. Customers will also be able, for the first time, to redeem loyalty reward points on the Borders ecommerce site. Next week the company plans to launch an affiliate marketing campaign allowing site owners to place links to Borders on their own sites and receive a commission for the referrals.
Source: Ecommerce Times
14 May 08 - Ebay Tests PayPal Only Site on the Aussies
Ecommerce giant Ebay has caused yet more consternation among its users with the announcement that its Australian site will only be taking payments using PayPal as of next month. From 21st May all listings must offer a PayPal option, and on 17th June all online transactions must be completed using PayPal in one form or another. Users fear this could be the beginnings of a push to make the ecommerce website PayPal only in countries worldwide.
Speaking to the Ecommerce Times, Ebay spokesperson Nichola Sharpe tried to allay the fears of users in the USA, saying that "In the US, we are not mulling, planning or otherwise seriously considering a move to PayPal-only. There are US market-specific reasons why PayPal-only is something we simply cannot do in the US”.
Users, and especially sellers, will be sceptical. The PayPal only development follows hot on the heels of Ebay’s revision of the feedback system across their entire website, which has outraged sellers. From the 15th May sellers will only be able to leave positive feedback about customers, which many feel will leave sellers unable to warn others about unscrupulous buyers.
Source: Ecommerce Times
06 May 2008 - New Online Marketplace Allows “E-Haggling”
A new ecommerce website was launched this week that allows buyers to barter in real time. Fididel.com has taken the Ebay-style auction site to the next level, giving buyers and sellers the opportunity to settle on an appropriate price for a product on the spot.
Hal Wendel, CEO of the company, explained his reasons for going beyond the auctioning model: “There's no mechanism [on Ebay] for the buyer to do a knock-knock, tell the seller it's $2 too much, so they go elsewhere, when usually the seller will take that price to make a sale”. Using Fididel’s new ecommerce technology they can barter over pricing in a real time “negotiation screen”.
They have also catered for the fact that obviously you won’t be around to barter 24 hours a day, by giving other trained sellers the ability to sell your goods on your behalf. This community of sellers, or “Fididelers”, will all have to gain qualifications from “Fididel University” to ensure their negotiations are in the seller’s best interests.
Sellers upload their inventory with an asking price and a reserve price for each item. Fididel ask for no listing fees (the charge that has so riled users of Ebay), but take a cut of each sale based on a sliding scale.
The site is still undergoing testing, but is expected to start retailing in the next 3 months.
Source: Ecommerce-guide.com
22 Apr 2008 - Ecommerce Spending Defies Market Woes
Online spending is at a record high for the beginning of 2008 despite the global market slowdown. According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, consumers pumped £4.2 billion into ecommerce websites in February, an increase of a 46% on February 2007.
The biggest gains were seen in online sales of beers, wines and spirits, presumed to be caused by anticipation of a hike in prices in the annual budget. Sales fell, however, in the areas of electrical goods, fashion and beauty products. The overall findings are backed up by a similar report by the IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), also released in March, that found ecommerce customer satisfaction remained high during the transition from 2007 to 2008.
Source: Silicon.com, InternetRetailing.net
22 Apr 2008 - Consumers Finally Embrace Mobile Ecommerce
A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive has shown consumers have finally taken the leap of faith into the world of mobile ecommerce. The market has moved a long way since the introduction of reverse bill SMS with 25% mobile users now using their device to pay for products or services online. A further 16% use mobile banking services with over 60% using them several times a week.
For many companies who have invested in the technology the news couldn’t have come soon enough. It’s taken quite some time for users to get to grips with mobile ecommerce, with many describing anxiety over sharing data and internet security as the biggest drawback to completing transactions online.
“If security concerns can be quelled, the sky’s the limit with consumer acceptance of mobile banking and purchase transactions,” says Joseph Porus, vice-president of Harris Interactive. One in five people are now going as far to say they would like to use their phone as a “mobile wallet”, potentially paving the way for a future without conventional cash and credit cards.
Source: Harris Interactive
