Group Commerce

Group Commerce merges with NimbleCommerce

jneckes — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:10:31 +0000

We’re announcing today that we’ve merged with NimbleCommerce, an e-commerce and promotions platform based in Santa Clara, CA. The combination of Group Commerce and NimbleCommerce represents the world’s largest e-commerce offers platform and distribution network. Operating under the NimbleCommerce brand, the combined company will include more than 100 publishers and media companies in 14 countries.

For the past three years, we at GC have had the pleasure of working with several of the most innovative and respected media brands in the world to bring them an e-commerce offering. We’ve also been honored to build relationships with thousands of the best local and national merchants. With this next step, our customers will be able to take advantage of an expanded offers network to access both new distribution opportunities and a broad selection of offers inventory. Our customers will also tap into the joint merchandising and marketing expertise of both teams, and the best of both technology platforms.

We believe that this merger is an exciting development for our collective customers and the industry. Both companies are dedicated to the common vision of bringing new e-commerce models to publishers and merchants, and together we will bring our shared resources and expertise to bear to innovate in e-commerce. NimbleCommerce is the perfect partner for us, and together we’ll keep working to build a secure and flexible technology platform that our customers love.

We want to sincerely thank our publisher, merchant, and marketplace partners for your ongoing support. The full press release can be found here.

Facts and Trends of the Week: April 22nd- April 26th 2013

jneckes — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:15:28 +0000

This week’s quick post on facts and trends in Ecommerce highlights the changes that may be coming to online shopping in the US, as well as gives an introduction into the potential spike in growth for delivery services thanks to increased online spending.

Ecommerce Bill Advances in Senate

It looks as though tax-free online shopping in the US may be coming to an end. On Monday, a bill, which would charge tax for Ecommerce sales, has been pushed towards a vote in the Senate after winning bipartisan support from lawmakers.

If the bill passes, it would enable states to collect the same amount of tax from online sales that they already collect from brick-and-mortar sales.

Ecommerce Boosts UPS Revenue

UPS reported it’s Q1 2013 earnings that highlighted a growth of 4%, a growth mostly due to an increase in Ecommerce spending, especially post holiday sales in January.

—-

Financial Times

NASDAQ

Facts and Trends of the Week: April 15th- April 19th 2013

jneckes — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:03:20 +0000

With the tragedies endured by both Boston and West, Texas, the news around Ecommerce and Daily deals has been slow. We at GC would like to extend our thoughts and good wishes to all those affected in those areas.

This short blog on this week’s facts and trends in the industry focuses on global expansion, as well as tax regulations at home.

Amazon Expands into Russia

It appears as if Amazon has taken another step in it’s international expansion plan with the opening of its first office in Russia. At the moment, details remain unclear, but they are currently hiring positions specifically for it’s Kindle business and the sourcing of local content. At the moment, the Russian version of Amazon, amazon.ru currently redirects to the main page for Europe.

This update follows the announcement that Amazon would take its Appstore business international by extending into almost 2oo countries.

Online Sales Tax Bill Gaining Momentum

The issue of charging and collecting sales tax for Ecommerce sales has been a focal point for many states in the US as a way to increase revenue. The focus of the debate is the Marketplace Fairness Act that would give states the authority to collect sales tax at the time of a transaction no matter where they are located. While there are a number of and with this concern, may be seeing an online sales tax bill appear sooner rather than later.

—-

TechCrunch

EcommerceBytes

Facts and Trends of the Week: April 8th- April 12th 2013

jneckes — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:57:22 +0000

This week’s post in facts and trends in the industry highlights that where we are now is only the beginning of where digital commerce could go.

One of the Fastest Growing Industries in America is Ecommerce

Staff.com has put together an infographic highlighting the survival rates of startups in certain industries and, which are most likely to flourish and fail in the next five years.

It is looking as if large Ecommerce players such as Amazon and eBay will bode well in the coming years, as well as niche companies like Vistaprint, 1-800-Flowers, and Nutrisystem who may gain as well.

eBay Starts Retargeting

Retargeted ads are ads that follow users from website to website from a another site visited previously and eBay has reportedly begun to help advertisers serve up these ads more effectively. By using its proprietary data, eBay will commercialize it’s capability to target consumers to help marketers reach them.

The Bitcoin Phenomenon

Bitcoin was launched on 3 January 2009 and is a combination of public-key cryptography and peer-to-peer networking to create a virtual analogy of gold, or currency – a substance that is scarce (if not absolutely finite) and fungible. The software system enables people with access to powerful computers to “mine” Bitcoins (effectively by solving very complex mathematical puzzles) and then securely use the resulting “coins” for online trading. The number of Bitcoins can never exceed 21m and that they will become progressively harder to “mine” as the years go by.

It is a digital currency that is meant to be free from the contraints of government.

——

NASDAQ

eCommerceBytes

The Guardian

Facts and Trends of the Week: April 1st- April 5th 2013

jneckes — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:54:39 +0000

This week’s post on facts and trends in the space highlights the continued success in the industry, with focus on Twitter’s small contribution to Ecommerce, Domino’s continued success with their online ordering system, and new funding to prove that daily deals are not dead.

Twitter to Begin Offering Product Information in Tweets

One of Twitter’s newer features from June 2012, Twitter Cards, are the new focus of expansion from the company in an effort to focus on Ecommerce. Twitter cards act as expanded tweets that provide more information to users. Twitter recently announced new card templates that include “App,” “Gallery,” and the one most interesting to online sellers; “Product.”

Product Cards offer sellers the opportunity to provide expanded product information through a tweet. These cards represent products by showing the image and description of the item being sold, along with two customizable fields that allow sellers to display details such as pricing or ratings.

Dominos Ecommerce Play Continues to Pay Off

Domino’s Pizza announce that it would continue to focus on its digital and online technology, as it has seen significant growth over the past quarter. The company reported a 38.4% boost to it’s UK online sales, which grew to 82.4 million pounds in 13 weeks. Online sales accounted for 61.9% of all delivered sales in the UK, up from 49.8% prior. The company also announced that 25.2% of all online sales were made through a mobile device, an increase from 16.4%.

Daily Deal Aggregator, Bownty, Shows Daily Deals Aren’t Dead

Startup deal aggregator Bownty, has raised $1.1 million in funding from Danish SEED Capital and Accelerace invest, a dual accelerator and investment program. This money will allow the Danish company, which currently operates in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Denmark, to grow across Europe, as well as to further develop the product.

Bownty currently sources deals from over 100 deal sites everyday including Groupon, Living social, KGB Deals, and Wowcher.

—-

Ecommerce Bytes

Internet Retailing

Daily Deal Media

Facts and Trends of the Week: March 25th- March 29th 2013

jneckes — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:25:08 +0000

This week’s post on facts and trends in the industry focuses, again, on the strides being made in Ecommerce. Walmart, a laggard in large-chain online retail space, is shifting focus to play catch-up, while other companies that are based solely online are creating new ways to enhance the online shopping experience.

Walmart Struggling with Ecommerce, Making Changes

Walmart seems to be struggling to catch up to its competitors in the online retail space and in order to combat this, has recently launched an internal Ecommerce initiative called Walmart Global Commerce. This initiative employs a team of 1500 employees and boasts the culture of a startup as it runs events such as hackathons and allows developers to build whatever they see fit for the company.

Along with this initiative, Walmart has also changed its mobile strategy and has rolled out several updates to its shopping lists, coupons and more.

Shoplocket Partners with WordPress for Blog Enabled Shopping

Toronto-based startup Shoplocket has partnered with WordPress to enable its users to sell anything, anywhere, with its simple and easy-to-use Ecommerce WordPress plugin. This plugin will allow bloggers to make their goods available for sale quickly and efficiently, and will allow buyers to purchase items without having the hassle of adding to a shopping cart and going to a separate website to check out.

Wanelo Seeing 8 Million Products Saved a Day

Since launching 2 years ago, the social Ecommerce startup, Wanelo, which allows users to bookmark items that they like and brings them directly to the retailer website to purchase, has seen a total of almost 5 million products posted and saved 700 million times. The best growth they have seen is that 8 million products are now being saved daily.

—–

Ecommerce Best Practices

TechCrunch

Facts and Trends of the Week: March 18th- March 22nd 2013

jneckes — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:18:27 +0000

These week’s post on facts and trends in the industry focuses on the shift of retail in the Ecommerce space. With Nike, an originally brick-and-mortar retailer, and their new focus on their online offering, and relatively new online retailer NastyGal changing the shipping game, it is clear that online shopping is taking over.

Nike to Create Urgency Around Ecommerce

Nike is planning to grow its Ecommerce operation in the near future as evident in their growing emphasis on direct-to-consumer relationships. Nike will begin to simplify the user shopping experience across all of its Ecommerce sites over the next quarter to make it easier to find and buy products. It will also be expanding its online product customization tool, as well as improving its customer service.

This move is part of Nike’s effort to build a portfolio of digital services to create greater relationships with its customers.

NastyGal Offering Rare Free Shipping Overnight

LA-Based Ecommerce fashion retailer NastyGal is now offering free shipping on all overnight orders of more than $150. The company is using some of it’s nearly $50 million in funding to make the shopping experience better for its customers.

Immediate gratification is a large problem faced in Ecommerce that has yet to be solved. NastyGal is taking the closest step seen so far in the US.

—-

Marketing Week

Racked

Facts and Trends of the Week: March 11th- March 15 2013

jneckes — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:46:14 +0000

This week’s blog post about facts and trends in the industry focuses on retailers moving towards, and specializing their Ecommerce presence to reach the bright future seen ahead. This post looks at Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, and some data and projections on the future of digital retail sales.

Target Buys Ecommerce Chains to Help Culinary Business

Target has agreed to buy both Chefs Catalog, a company that sells utensils and kitchen tools to consumers, and Cooking.com, a company that sells more than 30,000 kitchen products, as well as recipes, cookbooks, and crowdsourced cooking information, to help sell cooking products and kitchenware through their online store.

Saks Fifth Avenue to Revamp Ecommerce Presence

Saks Fifth Avenue, is getting ready to revamp its online Ecommerce presence by redesigning its website. The new site provides convenient online browsing and makes it easier for it’s customers to choose among seasonal trends and products. It also has features like large scale photography and product detail pages that highlight the designers behind the items. This move was done in the hopes of boosting sales in 2013.
U.S. Online Retail Sales to Hit $370 Billion by 2017

According to Forrester research, Ecommerce is expected to increase 13% to $262 billion this year, up from last year’s $231 billion in sales for U.S. retailers. In the next 5 years, the research firm sees Ecommerce passing brick-and-mortar stores and reaching $370 billion in sales by 2017. When it does, it will account for a tenth of all retail sales in the U.S.

—-

Reuters

NASDAQ

Mashable

Group Commerce and the UK – Some Updates!

jneckes — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:57:07 +0000

Happy Friday from Group Commerce!

Following on our announcement that we’d be ending our local sourcing efforts in the United Kingdom, we’ve received a good number of inquiries from partners and friends in the media about why we’re taking this course of action, and what it means for our business.

Below, I’ve compiled answers to the most common inquiries – please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at jneckes [at] groupcommerce [dot] com if you have any further questions!

What is the reason for pulling out of sourcing deals?

Sourcing “deals” with a dedicated sales force has proven to be an extremely difficult business to scale effectively as an external provider; publishers, with their strong relationships and pre-existing sales forces, are in a much better position to deliver that service.

For this reason, we’re seeing more and more of our publishers “own” the sourcing effort – frequently dovetailing it with an advertising buy – with terrific results. Consequently, it doesn’t really make sense to continue this aspect of our business; instead, we’re focused on technology and product innovations to support the industry.

Are you pulling out of the UK entirely?

No, absolutely not. We have continuing relationships with publishers there, and we are going to continue to look to be the superior technology platform for media companies operating e-commerce programs.

Are you going to pay any outstanding balances to partners (e.g. merchants)?

Of course we are! We’ve heard some rumors floating around to this effect, and I want to be perfectly clear – we are NOT shutting down our UK business, and we are absolutely going to honor all outstanding balances! This is a strategic shift for us, nothing more.

Is it just too difficult to get deals that are high quality and stand apart from other providers?

It’s certainly a competitive market, and one in which (as noted above) other players (particularly publishers) are in a better position to excel than external providers like us. “Too difficult”, of course, implies that it’s not a profitable business to be in, and that’s incorrect – it can be a very profitable for a certain type of business (e.g. publishers).

Rather than compete with publishers to source deals in a market where they have a clear operational advantage, we’d prefer to focus our efforts and resources on our core business – technology.

Is the UK market too saturated with deals sites?

As with any new market that’s demonstrated rapid growth, you’re going to have a lot of early aspirants looking to grab a piece of the pie. We believe that once the dust settles, publishers, who don’t have to spend marketing dollars to attract and maintain an audience, will profitably capture a significant share of this market. They’re additionally well-positioned because of their ability to match deals and e-commerce opportunities with content creation, an emerging dynamic that creates real value for the consumer.

Thanks, and enjoy your weekend!

Facts and Trends of the Week: Feb 25th- March 1st 2013

jneckes — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:19:03 +0000

This week’s post on facts and trends of the week brings attention to both positive and negative stories in the Ecommerce and Daily Deal spaces, and highlights some interesting data into the new type of shopper.

Groupon Fires CEO, Mason

After their Q4 earnings report and a 24% slide in their stock price, Groupon has let go of it’s Co-Founder/CEO Andrew Mason.

Following his departure, Co-Founder Eric Lefkofsky and board member Ted Leonsis will lead temporarily lead the company until a permanent CEO is found.

Google+ Expanding into Ecommerce

Google+ has introduced a feature that allows users to click “Buy” within Google+ itself. Users who click the button are taken through prompts and easily purchase products through a partnership with The Fancy.

Social Media Attributing to Online Shopping

A study by retail research specialist Conlumino on behalf of Ecommerce partner Webloyalty on the future of online shopping on found that the rise of Ecommerce and Mcommerce has led to an increase in consumers using social media, price comparison websites, and apps as part of the purchase process.

According to the study, 69% of consumers are members of social media websites and 49% of them have interacted with a retailer through social media. These consumers have now been deemed “social shoppers”.

—-

Yahoo News

Huffington Post

Fashion United