  | News about digital retail commerce |  |
- Amazon makes an aggressive move into book publishing
Amazon competed with major publishing houses for rights to four novels by self-published author Amanda Hocking, the first time the online retailer has gone head to head with publishers. Amazon reportedly offered more than St. Martin's Press' $2 million winning bid, but a demand for exclusive rights to the e-book versions made Amazon's offer less attractive. Crain's New York Business (4/1)        | Increase Conversions and Channel Savings with ClearSaleing
Recently, Forrester Consulting examined the total economic impact and potential ROI that enterprises may realize by deploying ClearSaleing's advertising analytics and attribution management technology. Download the study to see the full analysis. | - Gown registry helps prom-goers avoid duplicating dresses
Fashion website Fashism.com has added a registry to help teen girls call dibs on their prom dress choices, to ensure they won't show up wearing the same gowns. Some students say they've already started posting their prom dress pictures to Facebook for the same reason. "When you spend $400 on a dress you don't want someone else wearing it," said one Boston-area senior. Boston Herald (4/3) - For online retailers, the coupon question hinges on target customers
Daily deals at Groupon or LivingSocial can help propel unknown brands into the public consciousness, but online merchants who already have a following may need to go a different route. E-commerce retailers need to carefully consider who they're targeting as well as the attributes of their brand before deciding how and whether to offer coupons to drive traffic to their sites, experts say. InternetRetailer.com (4/1)  | Akamai - The Right Partner with the Right Solution
Are you failing to to satisfy user expectations for an outstanding online shopping experience? Do you need to accelerate your dynamic content? Do you strive to be a retailer that pushes the envelope with site technology and offerings? Learn why the Akamai Dynamic Site Accelerator is the right solution for those issues and more. |
 - E-mail marketer's breach exposes customers of big U.S. companies
A growing number of U.S. companies including Walgreen, HSN and Kroger have alerted their customers to a security breach at e-mail marketing firm Epsilon that may have resulted in the theft of their names and e-mail addresses. No financial information was involved, but companies cautioned their customers to be extra cautious about opening attachments and clicking on e-mailed links to avoid viruses and phishing schemes. Reuters (4/3), PC World/Today @ PCWorld blog (4/3) - Services help consumers stick to their credit resolutions
PayPal and a growing number of other alternative payment services are seeing an increase in consumers using them to avoid racking up new credit card debt. Services such as EBillme.com, which has partnered with 800 retailers including Amazon, Foot Locker and Home Depot, and Google Checkout offer options that bill themselves as secure ways to pay using cash from consumers' bank accounts. The Hartford Courant (Conn.) (4/2)  | On-Demand Web Conferencing and Collaboration-Anywhere. No need to scramble for conference rooms when you can instantly connect employees, customers or students online. Cisco WebEx supports 10 million subscribers each month with easy-to-use web applications. It's free, it's easy, it's WebEx . . . try it today. |
 | Hot Topics |  | | | Top five news stories selected by Shop.org SmartBrief readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
| Companies in the News | | | | - Swap.com expands to meet a growing trend toward barter
Trading website Swap.com has ambitious plans to do for barter what eBay did for online auctions. The site, which boasts a million members and is backed with $10 million in investment from a group that includes former Fidelity investment guru Peter Lynch, launched an iPhone app last week to help members manage their accounts and plans to expand its categories to allow big-ticket swaps of cars and vacation homes. Boston Herald (4/1) - Wal-Mart reportedly might test online grocery service in Calif.
Wal-Mart Stores reportedly is considering testing online grocery service in the San Jose, Calif., market to increase online sales. The retail giant recently transferred Richard Ramsden, former head of home shopping for the company's ASDA division in the U.K., to Walmart.com's headquarters in California. Bloomberg (4/2) - S.C. officials anxious as governor opposes Amazon deal
Commerce department officials in South Carolina now say a proposed Amazon fulfillment center there would create 3,000 permanent new jobs, about double the number the center was originally slated to bring. Recent word that Gov. Nikki Haley opposes a sales tax exemption for the center, a move that could kill the deal, has local leaders speaking out in favor of the project. "If we don't grant the tax exemption, we don't have to worry about collecting any taxes at all on this project," said Lexington County Councilman Johnny Jeffcoat. The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)/The Associated Press (4/2) - EBay gains $1.2 million in incentives to create jobs in Texas
Austin, Texas, sealed a deal to give eBay about $1.2 million in performance-based incentives, as the company committed to creating 1,000 jobs at an operation center over a decade. The company employs 250 people in Austin, and jobs to be created will come with an average annual salary of $122,576. AuctionBytes (4/1)  | |  | | The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)
New Retail 2.0 eBook: Make Money, Hand Over Flash
Are competitors employing retail concepts like Private Sales, to improve customer loyalty and generate rapid revenue growth? Learn how you can transform your business for today's multi-channel buyers with a FREE eBook, "Retail 2.0: Private Sales." Don't hesitate. Innovate. Download Your eBook Now
Interested in learning more about advertising in Shop.org SmartBrief? Contact Dena Malouf at (202) 737-5500 x282 or dmalouf@smartbrief.com.  | |  | |  |
| | | Most Popular Headlines from Last Week Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers. |
| Interactive Advertising | | | | - Agencies specialize in targeting ads on Facebook
A handful of new agencies are devoted to helping advertisers maneuver through the complexities of buying, modifying and monitoring ads on Facebook. Partly it's a matter of tailoring social-network ads so they appeal to users' interests rather than consumers' intent, as ads are targeted in the online world. "It's like fishing," said Blinq Media chief executive Dave Williams. The Wall Street Journal (4/4) | Shop.org Spotlight | | | | - Registration open for Online Marketing Month networking nights
May is Online Marketing Month at Shop.org, complete with webinars, video marketing tips and two half-day workshops. But Marketing Month wouldn't be complete without networking. Sign up now for one of eight networking nights throughout the country for more opportunities to learn from and share with other online and multichannel retailers. The delicious dinner is just a bonus! View the complete schedule. - Shop.org SmartStat: April 4, 2011
 Online retail and food sales are projected to make up 12% of total U.S. retail sales by 2012. Source: NRF's Retail Industry Indicators.  | - 7 steps to ensure your mobile channel is a long-term success
According to mobile solution provider Digby, a successful mobile strategy includes understanding how the mobile channel works for individual brands and then adjusting goals accordingly. In a recent Shop.org approved white paper, Digby executives share seven steps to long-term mobile success, including fine-tuning the experience, building awareness, and coordinating with one's mobile commerce provider to deliver an optimal consumer experience. Read more. |
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