| News about digital retail commerce |  |
- FedEx and UPS will hike prices after holidays
UPS and FedEx say they will institute a post-Christmas rate increase averaging 4.9% for standard ground shipping. The companies also plan to increase fees and surcharges for services such as delivering to a residential address and dealing with incorrectly addressed packages. Internet Retailer
(12/3)     
 | Webinar: How to Influence the Online Buyer's Purchase Path
Join GSI and our guest Sucharita Mulpuru of Forrester Research for a webinar on Wednesday, December 5 at 2 p.m. EDT. We will review which marketing tactics most influence online shoppers to purchase, provide an update on Thanksgiving weekend trends, and explore how to leverage this data for 2013. Register now! |
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- The evolution of Cyber Monday
 Cyber Monday was a phrase coined in 2004 to describe how consumers were waiting for the Monday after Thanksgiving to use the faster Internet at the office to do their online holiday shopping. Since then, home computers have caught up on bandwidth, and smartphones and tablets have made it possible for consumers to shop anywhere anytime, says Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell. "That has only made it better. Retailers have been very smart for being ready for what the consumer's driving," she said. Shop.org Blog
(12/4)
- Large retailers adapt to, embrace mobile opportunity
Big brick-and-mortar retail chains including Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have learned to adapt their models to social and mobile technology this season, according to a new survey from BDO. "Consumers often want that sense of immediate satisfaction, and with things like price-matching, stores this year are doing a great job of offering mobile shoppers a good deal they can have right now," said partner Stephen Wyss. MediaPost Communications
(12/3)
- How to avoid creeping out your social media followers
There's a fine line between producing content that's relevant to your followers' interests and creating content that's so personalized that it creeps people out, Mateo Gutierrez writes. The key is to use social tools not just to target followers, but also to listen to what they're saying about the kinds of outreach they want to receive. "Brands have a long way to go to get better at understanding how to use social media as a listening device that shapes their campaigns," Gutierrez writes. The Huffington Post
(12/3)
 | Five Social Commerce Resolutions for 2013
Has your Reviews provider become too costly? Is piecing together your Social Commerce solution too hard? Pluck's Reviews++ is world-class Reviews, Forums, Blogs, Gamification and a whole lot more in one integrated platform. Download our 2013 Social Commerce Resolutions to get the New Year started right. |
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| New Media & Technology |  |  |
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- How America learned to love location-based marketing
The prevailing media narrative is that location-based mobile advertising is intrusive or downright creepy, Alexandre Mars writes. But that point of view is best left in the past -- a new wave of mobile apps make location-sharing incredibly useful, giving users every reason to gladly share location data with marketers. "[Y]es, it's Big Brother time. ... My bet is that, like me, you may find that Big Brother is now a very welcome friend at Starbucks, on your commute, when you shop and at home," Mars predicts. Adweek
(12/3)
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Most U.S. consumers don't want mobile location offers, survey finds: Four out of five U.S. consumers surveyed by Epsilon said they don't want to get location-based mobile offers while they are in or near a brick-and-mortar store. Of nearly 2,000 U.S. consumers, 73% said they don't even open many of the e-mails they receive and two-thirds asserted that they get too many e-mails. Direct mail is still preferred by the majority of consumers, the marketing services firm reported, with more people finding direct mail "trustworthy" than e-mail. MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily
(12/3)
| Companies in the News | | |
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- Swarovski app encourages shoppers to try on jewelry virtually
Swarovski has released an app that uses augmented reality to allow consumers to virtually try on its jewelry line. The "Multiface(t)s: Style Yourself with Jewelry" application enters users in a contest if they upload Instagram pictures of their auditions. Swarovski is using online banner and mobile ads to promote an optimized site. Luxury Daily
(12/4)
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| Interactive Advertising | | |
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- Survey: Mobile ads have a marked influence on purchasing
The influence of mobile and social on tech purchases is surprisingly high, according to an IDG Research Services survey. More than 9 in 10 tablet users and 72% of smartphone owners look for product reviews with their devices, and purchase-related activity was 70% or higher for both groups. Seeing a mobile ad drove 43% of consumers to the research phase, 21% to purchase. The survey also found that social media exposure had a positive effect on tech buying as well. "Mobile usage has been soaring for a while but advertising has not. This research is a wake-up call for marketers," says IDG Global Solutions president Matthew Yorke. ClickZ
(12/3)
| Legislative & Regulatory | | |
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| Shop.org Spotlight | | |
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- How to master the ever-changing fundamentals of e-mail marketing
E-mail marketing still plays a significant role in a retailer’s online marketing toolkit, but campaign successes and failures come down to executing the basics. Recapping Listrak CEO’s Ross Kramer’s presentation at the Digital Retail Boot Camp at this year’s Shop.org Summit, Head of Research Fiona Swerdlow explains these ‘base camp’ essentials such as list growth and deliverability pitfalls that all online and multichannel retailers should have in their repertoire. Read more.
- Looking for holiday trend information? Look no further.
NRF's 2012 Holiday Headquarters has officially kicked into high gear, offering retailers a fresh twist on holiday resources, including a fully interactive Holiday Survival Kit and Shop.org’s first-ever e-commerce holiday sales forecast. If you're a retailer, reporter or industry pro, you can access all of NRF's holiday press releases, survey results, top tips, guidelines, blog posts, frequently-asked holiday questions and historical holiday information, all in one spot. Learn more.
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- Friday, November 30, 2012
- Thursday, November 29, 2012
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- Tuesday, November 27, 2012
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Spurred by special offers, 64% of women who follow retailers are looking for information about deals, compared with 39% of men. Source: 
