Google Play Obliterates Anonymity In A Good/Bad Way 0 2 Google Play Obliterates Anonymity In A Good/Bad Way If you're skeptical of online reviews (and up until recently, you should have been), Google is working to renew your faith... although you may not be 100% thrilled from a privacy perspective. In order to stamp out the sock puppet controversy -- and also to ram Google Plus down your throat -- the Google Play
Why Cyber Monday Is Better Than Black Friday [INFOGRAPHIC] 0 1 Why Cyber Monday Is Better Than Black Friday [INFOGRAPHIC] On the local news this morning, I watched an interview with a Black Friday enthusiast... you know, the kind of shopper who actually brings the turkey and dressing -- and actually eats Thanksgiving dinner in a tent with a space heater going! Camping out for Black Friday deals isn't for everybody... that's for sure. For
Walmart Launches Online Subscription Service, Priced at $7 2 4 Walmart Launches Online Subscription Service, Priced at $7 Guess who's getting into the online continuity business? I'll give you a hint: it's the largest retailer on the planet.Yep, it's Walmart. So what is the continuity payment for? A preferred customers network? Black Friday deals year round? Nope... handmade, organic, artisanal foods. Yep, exactly the kinds of hand-crafted, expensive products that the world's most
Best Buy Will Price Match Amazon? This Oughta Be Good 4 1 Best Buy Will Price Match Amazon? This Oughta Be Good You can't beat Best Buy's prices this season... not even online. That's because Best Buy announced this week that it will match any online price. I've gotta hand it to Best Buy, this is a bold -- yet potentially disastrous -- move for a once-dominant electronics retailer that's now become a showroom for gadget shoppers
BazaarVoice Acquires eCom Platform 0 3 BazaarVoice Acquires eCom Platform Earlier this week, Austin-based marketing and analytics firm BazaarVoice announced the acquisition of Longboard Media, an eCom ad company with clients like Best Buy, Overstock.com, Newegg. According to the folks at Tech Crunch, Bazaar needs to work some balance sheet magic -- they posted an $18.5M loss in the first quarter of 2012 -- and
The 2012 Holiday Marketing Guide [INFOGRAPHIC] 0 2 The 2012 Holiday Marketing Guide [INFOGRAPHIC] Halloween is over, friends, and the very lucrative holiday season loometh on the horizon... Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Best Buy camp outs, shoptastic last minute deals, it's all happening. Is your eCom site prepared? The thoughtful folks at SteelHouse created an awesome checklist in the form of an infographic for anyone who need to trick
Amazon Posts Loss, Thanks To LivingSocial, Expansion 1 1 Amazon Posts Loss, Thanks To LivingSocial, Expansion Dominating the eCom universe isn't easy... and it ain't cheap either. That's a hugely oversimplified explanation for why Amazon posted it's first quarterly net loss since 2003. Ouch. When you drill down further into why Amazon dipped into the red, much of it has to do with the business realities of expanding market share. Amazon
Square Goes International, Eh? 2 3 Square Goes International, Eh? Canadian business owners rejoice: you can now accept payments wherever you can get reception on your smart Android or iPhone -- for only 2.75% per swipe. Yep, the Square has officially launched in Canada. Okay, the word "rejoice" might be a little strong in this context... but if you sell handmade leather belts at craft
Weekend Roundup 10/22/2012 0 4 Weekend Roundup 10/22/2012 In honor of our newly revamped blog, I'm trying something new this Monday -- what I'm calling the "DM Weekend Roundup." The DM roundup is a short and sweet recap of all the smartest, hottest, or most kickass tech news from around the web... plus any other random cool stuff I feel like including. Why
Behind The Scenes Of eBay's Pinteresty Redesign 4 2 Behind The Scenes Of eBay's Pinteresty Redesign As you probably noticed, we recently completed a very image-heavy redesign here on the DM blog. In keeping with the visual revolution, the new layout is very image-heavy... So it definitely grabbed my attention when I read that eBay was doing a very similar thing. Even better, Fast Company went behind the scenes with eBay
How Mobile Is Changing Ecommerce 6 4 How Mobile Is Changing Ecommerce Mobile users now account for 1 in every 8 web visits, according to analytics giant comScore. And if you believe that ratio is going anywhere other that straight through the roof, you're crazy. According to Practical eCommerce, almost 70% of that traffic comes from smartphones. While smartphone traffic is going to continue to grow at
Google Wallet 2.0 Is Built For Publishers 8 2 Google Wallet 2.0 Is Built For Publishers At the end of 2011, the tech world was all atwitter about the enormous potential of "micropayments," i.e. the ability for users to make seamless, one-click payments while they're doing pretty much anything... you know, like when you're using iTunes or Amazon (with one-click payments enabled). Google's version, Google Wallet, has been slow to really
Are You Watching The Right eCommerce Metrics? 3 5 Are You Watching The Right eCommerce Metrics? If yours is like most small to mid-sized e-commerce companies, then you don't have any time to waste. You need to solve problems quickly and get the most out of your traffic, and you need an efficient way to filter all of your analytics data so you can do those things in real time. After
The Speed Of eCommerce: Slow And Getting Slower? 1 0 The Speed Of eCommerce: Slow And Getting Slower? Have you noticed the lightning fast speeds at which 2012's e-commerce sites load product photos and process payments? If your answer is no, that's because they're not lightning fast... According to VentureBeat, load times are actually getting slower. They've got it on good authority too. Strangeloop Networks, a website acceleration company, has been diligently testing
The Tablet Wars Are Heating Up 0 0 The Tablet Wars Are Heating Up As we inch closer to the holiday season, tablet-mania is in the air... Right on cue, Google made headlines with its decision to advertise the Nexus 7 directly on its search homepage. Yep, in case you missed it, Google actually advertised its newest tablet, the Nexus 7 (which I hear is actually pretty awesome, BTW)
Digital Content Soars At B&N... Nook Nosedives [INFOGRAPHIC] 2 2 Digital Content Soars At B&N... Nook Nosedives [INFOGRAPHIC] More good news for digital authors... Barnes & Noble's customers are showing some strong demand for digital content, even when Nook sales are lousy. I say that's good news, because despite the Nook's crappy sales numbers, B&N's digital content sales rose 46% over last year. It's clearly not good news for B&N's Nook division. Hopefully,
Why Google Play Desperately Needs Gift Cards 0 0 Why Google Play Desperately Needs Gift Cards It's been very interesting to watch Google transform itself from a search/ad powerhouse to a device/media powerhouse, a lá Apple or Amazon -- mainly because we've been able to watch and learn from Google's missteps. Look, I know you're probably not launching a tablet device or an iTunes-esque media marketplace... I'm not either. Still, there's
Why You Need To Become BFFs With iOS [INFOGRAPHIC] 5 0 Why You Need To Become BFFs With iOS [INFOGRAPHIC] We already know that over a third of all marketing emails are viewed on a mobile device -- and over 85% of those are viewed on an Apple device. When it comes to mobile commerce, Apple's platform is just as dominant... That's according to a new infographic released by UK firm Affiliate Window. According to
Want To Learn How To Turn Your Blog Into An App (In 5 Minutes)? 8 0 Want To Learn How To Turn Your Blog Into An App (In 5 Minutes)? If you read Ryan's post on Driving Traffic, then you now know what Apple, Google, and Amazon are up to. They're pretty much betting it ALL on mobile. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the mobile web is where all the growth is these days, and that your long-term
Hint: Start Using Pinterest [CHART] 1 0 Hint: Start Using Pinterest [CHART] Just when you think social media's visual revolution is going to start cooling off... Shareaholic releases a new traffic report that puts Pinterest over Bing, StumbleUpon, and Google's referral traffic. Despite all the naysayers, Pinterest has continued to keep growing steadily, even after the initial hype wore off... and turned into jealousy and contempt. Actually,
The Bricks And Mortar Online Sales Funnel 0 1 The Bricks And Mortar Online Sales Funnel Remember how retailers used to feature CTAs like "Find us Online!" in their commercials, mailers, and in-store displays? Maybe it seemed super hip and forward-thinking to older generations. But for Generation X and Yers, it just seemed absurd. Of course your company is online, my freaking plumber has a website, we thought. Here's the thing;
Can Display Ads Bridge The Mobile Gap? 0 0 Can Display Ads Bridge The Mobile Gap? A new report shows that search spending is still running circles around display ad spending... in every market across the globe. In the US, where the gap is smallest, $811M is spent on search vs. $572M on display, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. It's funny, while analysts predict that display will eventually come out
Facebook Unleashes Self-Serve Mobile Ads 0 0 Facebook Unleashes Self-Serve Mobile Ads Miserable stock performance aside, the Facebook just became a much better place for local advertisers. Why? Firing back at those who've slammed the social network for its lagging mobile strategy, Facebook just unveiled a shiny new self-serve ad option that directly targets smart phone and tablet users. These mobile-only "Sponsored Stories" can be purchased through
How Travel Networks Are Using The Piggyback Launch Model 0 0 How Travel Networks Are Using The Piggyback Launch Model Have you ever made friends with a stranger on a long haul flight? Or sat next to someone who basically made your flight miserable? If so, then you know exactly how important a compatible seatmate can be to having a enjoyable flight. That's the idea behind a whole new wave of social travel networks that
Google Play Goes Live With In-App Subscriptions 0 0 Google Play Goes Live With In-App Subscriptions In-app payments took a big step at Google this week. Android users now have the opportunity to pay for digital services on a recurring basis... More importantly, Android developers can now build subscription upgrades into their apps using a newer HTTP-based API, which makes Android a much more attractive platform for digital marketers who want
