 | News about digital retail commerce |  |
- Tech companies unveil online virtual dressing rooms
Two companies showed off new products this week that allow online apparel retailers to create virtual dressing rooms at their sites. Zugara and FaceCake Marketing Technologies both offer similar products that allow consumers to stand in front of their home web cams and virtually try on clothes, and both also offer users the option of quickly sharing pictures of themselves in the outfits with Facebook friends and Twitter followers. CNET/geek gestalt blog (2/28)        | Attend Webcast: Maximize Revenue Performance from Product Recommendations
Join Forrester Research eCommerce expert, Sucharita Mulpuru, and Certona CEO, Meyar Sheik, as they share best practices and key success strategies that drive incremental sales and boost average order values from personalized product recommendations! View webcast! | - How one online merchant turned shoppers into sales people
Greg Selkoe started online clothing store KarmaLoop in 2000 with a strong belief in his concept as well as his budget, although it left little for marketing. Selkoe's solution? Offer purchasers a financial incentive to bring their friends to the site. Each purchaser received an e-mail asking if they wanted to become a representative, and those that accepted were compensated each time a new buyer entered that rep's code number when making a purchase. BNET/Owners Only blog (2/28) - Men and women use digital channels differently, survey finds
Shoppercentric conducted a study that found clear differences in the way women and men use social media, smartphones and other digital channels to make purchases. "The survey clearly suggests a rather stereotypical situation -- that women are slightly more likely to engage with retailers and brands through the social, chatty medium while men are very happy to play with their toys. Time is also an issue with women possibly more likely to engage in the social elements of a retailer's Facebook page, and men looking to speed up the purchasing process via mobile," according to Shoppercentric. InternetRetailing.net (2/28)  | How can you help your company get well sooner?
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Visit visa.com/healthcare to learn more. |
 - AT&T, Placecast team up on text marketing
AT&T will begin texting mobile customers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco with targeted ShopAlerts including special promotions, rewards and coupons at nearby participating stores. Alistair Goodman, CEO for Placecast, the mobile marketing company teaming with AT&T, said, "Retailers and subscribers alike benefit from messages with tailored offers available nearby, based on their trusted relationship with AT&T." CNET/Digital Media blog (2/28) - Retailers look to iPads to engage customers, increase sales
Deloitte predicts businesses will purchase 25% of the electronic tablets sold this year, and major retailers are now using devices such as the iPad to engage the customer, gather customer data and check inventory to further sales. Nordstrom, J.C. Penney and Sephora are already using the tablets in some stores. "This is not going to be a novelty. It's going to be a sea change in how retailers transact and interact with customers," said Ken Nisch, chairman of retail design firm JGA. Los Angeles Times (2/28) - Forrester expects mobile-app sales to hit $38 billion by 2015
The 350,000-plus mobile applications available are only the tip of the iceberg, according to a report from Forrester Research, which predicted that sales of mobile apps will reach $38 billion by 2015. Forrester also forecast the rise of apps that work on mobile devices and in the cloud, allowing users to store content online and access it from smartphones and tablets. NYTimes.com/Bits blog (2/28)  | Health care reform got you down? Learn more from UnitedHealthcare on how the federal changes to medical benefits will affect you and your employees. This comprehensive guide highlights incentives for enrollment and a timeline of important dates and deadlines. Don't let them pass you by—Learn more here! |
 | Companies in the News |  | | | - AT&T will start selling Amazon's Kindle this month
AT&T's 2,200 stores will begin selling Amazon's Kindle e-reader next week to attract more customers to its wireless network. "We believe we should have in our stores devices that we connect, whether it has our brand on it or not," said Glenn Lurie, AT&T's emerging-device president. "We think we'll sell a few; it helps Amazon, it helps us." Bloomberg (2/28) - Etsy founder explains social-focused site changes
Recent changes to Etsy have taken the artistic online marketplace in a more social direction with new discussion forums and personalized homepages, but the changes have some users worried about privacy issues and others concerned that the site is moving away from its focus on selling. Founder Rob Kalin jumped on discussion boards recently in an effort to calm fears. "We're always aware of how much is selling on the site. This number is strong and getting stronger. Over $1,000 per minute is sold on Etsy, and the changes we're making to the site have yet to hurt this." AuctionBytes (2/28) - YouCeleb: Flash fashion with a celebrity flair
A daily deal site launched this week offers deep discounts on high-end designs worn first by movie stars and other celebrities. YouCeleb selects pictures of stars, identifies which designers or brands they're wearing and then works with the celebrity and the brand to offer Groupon-like daily deals on the pieces. TechCrunch (2/28)  | |  | | The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)
Drive sales by adding mobile to your retail communications and marketing campaigns using SMS. Common Short Code (CSC) based text messaging campaigns deliver great results. Download this whitepaper to see how SMS is helping retailers disseminate calls-to-action quickly and to a wider base of population, driving traffic and increasing revenue.
Interested in learning more about advertising in Shop.org SmartBrief? Contact Dena Malouf at (202) 737-5500 x282 or dmalouf@smartbrief.com.  | |  | |  |
| Interactive Advertising | | | | - Forecast: Online heavyweights to get stronger
Google is projected to widen its lead this year in the market for ads linked to online searches, despite the combined efforts of Yahoo! and Microsoft's Bing. Meanwhile, Facebook will be the leader in the market for banner, interactive and video ads, according to eMarketer. Last year, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Microsoft and AOL took in 65.3% of all online ad spending in the U.S., a proportion that is expected to grow to 71% this year. The Wall Street Journal/Digits blog (2/28) | Shop.org Spotlight | | | | - Think you're an expert at online merchandising? Prove it.
If you think you know a thing or two about successful online merchandising strategies and tactics, we want to hear about it! We're scouring the digital retail community for the best and brightest speakers to feature at Shop.org's Online Merchandising Workshop to be held July 11 to 13 in San Diego. Submit a proposal now -- the deadline for submissions is March 31. Learn more.
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