shipping
Staples Is Getting Amazon Lockers
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5958020/staples-is-getting-amazon-lockers
Amazon lockers are a great new idea, allowing people to pick up their parcels when it suits them. Now, Amazon has announced that it’s rolling out the scheme across the Staples chain, too.
Reuters reports that the office supply stores will be the latest string of locations to feature Amazon’s ultra-convenient pick-up system. When we tried them out last month, we were convinced:
The lockers are stupidly simple. You can even have your locker code texted to you when your order arrives. It doesn’t cost anything-standard, one-, and two-day shipping is available for free if you’re on Prime. If you have the need for a surrogate mailbox, using Lockers is pretty much a no-brainer.
Amazon has already partnered with other stores in the US— including 7-Eleven, Rite-Aid, Safeway, and Walgreen’s—but Staples is a biggy. Just don’t mention that Amazon is stealing custom from right under its nose, because that would be rude—and at any rate, you can be sure some serious cash is changing hands to set this scheme up. [Reuters]
Amazon launches Vine.com for shoppers who live life on the ‘green’ edge
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/26/amazon-launches-vine-com-website/
Love Amazon’s renowned two-day shipping? How about organic eats and other miscellaneous environment-friendly products? If so, then today’s your very lucky day. Adding to the endless list of shopping sites it already owns, Amazon has just introduced Vine.com; a site which aims to be a one-stop web store for folks looking to snag anything from organic ingredients to beauty products like all-natural shaving oils and Kiss My Face foam soaps — and yes, as we stated earlier, there’s an option to get that speedy two-day delivery service. While chatting with Bits Blog, a Vine representative said the goal isn’t “necessarily about saving the planet,” but that his team does “feel the products are useful in that regard.” Currently Vine.com is live in beta form, though that doesn’t mean folks interested can’t go browse around and order some goodies — to do that, give the source link below a quick tap.
Amazon launches Vine.com for shoppers who live life on the ‘green’ edge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google rolls out Trusted Stores verification program for online retailers
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/google-rolls-out-trusted-stores-program/
Along with talking up 3D images and other new features for Maps, Google is pushing its new Trusted Stores program this week. The service, which has been in testing for the last nine months, monitors online retailers and awards those with good shipping and service records a “trusted” badge. In addition to giving online shoppers some reassurance that a vendor is, well, trustworthy, Trusted Stores will offer users assistance in resolving issues with sellers, plus up to $1,000 of purchase protection. For the retailers, the company says the value proposition is an increase in sales “by showing you’re a great place to shop.” Google will be rolling out badges for approved stores in the US starting today, and clicking on those little seals of approval will let you view a merchant’s “report card” for shipping and customer service reliability.
Google rolls out Trusted Stores verification program for online retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google rolls out Trusted Stores verification program for online retailers
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/google-rolls-out-trusted-stores-program/
Along with talking up 3D images and other new features for Maps, Google is pushing its new Trusted Stores program this week. The service, which has been in testing for the last nine months, monitors online retailers and awards those with good shipping and service records a “trusted” badge. In addition to giving online shoppers some reassurance that a vendor is, well, trustworthy, Trusted Stores will offer users assistance in resolving issues with sellers, plus up to $1,000 of purchase protection. For the retailers, the company says the value proposition is an increase in sales “by showing you’re a great place to shop.” Google will be rolling out badges for approved stores in the US starting today, and clicking on those little seals of approval will let you view a merchant’s “report card” for shipping and customer service reliability.
Google rolls out Trusted Stores verification program for online retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Huge Company Bans Internal Email, Switches Totally To Facebook-Type-Stuff And Instant Messaging
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/company-bans-email-2011-12
In case big email providers like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo hadn’t already been scared stiff by recent online communication trends, this news should wake them up.
A huge French company has just banned the use of email within the company. Instead, having concluded that the vast majority of email is just time-wasting noise, it is switching all employees to a Facebook-like interface and instant messaging.
The company is Atos. Susanna Kim of ABC reports:
CEO Thierry Breton of the French information technology company said only 10 percent of the 200 messages employees receive per day are useful and 18 percent is spam. That’s why he hopes the company can eradicate internal emails in 18 months, forcing the company’s 74,000 employees to communicate with each other via instant messaging and a Facebook-style interface.
Caroline Crouch, a spokeswoman for the company, told ABC News the goal is focused on internal emails rather than external emails with clients and partners. Atos has already reduced the number of internal emails by 20 percent in six months.
When asked how employees have responded to the policy, Crouch told ABC News the overall response “has been positive with strong take up of alternative tools.”
Breton, Atos’s CEO, says he hasn’t sent an email in three years. (And he’s obviously managed to keep his job.)
This trend at the corporate level mirrors email trends among young people–the future workforce. As the chart below shows, the use of web-based email by the younger crowd is plummeting, as these folks communicate via Facebook, IM, and texting instead.
Email is still an extremely convenient way to communicate, so it’s not likely to go anywhere. But there’s no question that email is losing share of digital communications, including in the workplace. And that’s not good for companies that depend on it for their livelihoods.
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See Also:
- Steve Jobs Was Right: Google IS Turning Into Microsoft
- And Has Google Now Killed Off Firefox Completely By Pulling The Plug On Its Toolbar Deal?
- Google Is Getting Ready To Take On Amazon…In Shipping?
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Google Is Getting Ready To Take On Amazon…In Shipping? (GOOG, AMZN)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-getting-ready-to-take-on-amazon-in-shipping-2011-12
Google is talking to major retailers like Macy’s, the Gap, and OfficeMax to offer customers one-day shipping when they buy products after finding them through Google searches.
It sounds a lot like Amazon Prime, Amazon’s $79-per-year service that offers fast shipping and other benefits.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the service, and confirmed that Macy’s had been approached by Google to participate.
The next-day shipping will apparently be combined with Google Product Search, which today lets users find products and compare them across different e-commerce sites to get the lowest price. When people buy a product from one of the sites after finding it on Google Product Search, they’ll get an offer for one day shipping for a low fee, the Journal says.
Google won’t be running an e-commerce site or stocking products in warehouses like Amazon does, but will instead create a system that figures out which retail partner’s stores are nearest to a customer and have the product in stock. Then it would team up with UPS and local couriers for delivery.
Still, e-commerce fulfillment is a pretty big step removed from Google’s core mission of organizing the world’s information. Lack of focus has been a problem for the company, and CEO Larry Page has killed a lot of non-core products this year
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See Also:
- Adobe Has Snapped Up Two Ad Tech Companies This Month — Here’s Why
- Amazon Launches Its Spanish Kindle Store
- Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook’s Strategy Couldn’t Be Any More Different Than Google’s
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drag2share – drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)
Free Shipping On The Web Isn’t So ‘Free’ Anymore
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/free-shipping-isnt-so-free-anymore-2011-11
It’s no surprise why online shopping is so popular.
“You get the item quickly, you don’t pay for shipping, you often receive better prices, and you don’t have to leave your house,” said Andrew Schrage, founder of Money Crashers.
Perhaps in response to shoppers like Schrage, businesses have been giving away free shipping with a vengeance.
Some 93 percent of stores will offer at least one free shipping deal this year, which means a six percent increase from last year. Meanwhile 30 percent of store sites will offer free shipping on Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation.
Experts like Kit Yarrow, a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, Calif., told Smart Money that free shipping has become an expectation. However, things don’t always don’t always pan out for consumers.
Retailers may raise the price of their products to make up for shipping costs or bar consumers from using coupons. She also warns shoppers to consider the overall package, including whether or not you can combine discounts.
Besides analyzing the overall deal, Schrage advises shoppers to stick to Web-based companies when shopping online.
“Online sites like Amazon almost ALWAYS have as cheap, and usually cheaper, prices than these retailers who also provide free shipping,” he said.
He points out that companies like Amazon even offer two-day shipping for free, and maintain great return policies that prove to be better than those of bricks-and-mortar stores.
From time to time Schrage admits you will seen an online site offer a higher retail price with free shipping. But stay away—you can score a better deal.
Check out 10 FREE Black Friday apps to help you survive the mall >
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See Also:
- Verizon, Southwest Airlines Are Among This Year’s "Naughtiest" Retailers
- For 7 Bucks, You Can Get Rid Of Junk Mail For Good
- Walmart Leads The Pack As Holiday Price-Cutting Wars Heat Up
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Ad-supported photo books
Need physical copies of some great shots, but you’re a bit too lazy to order and pay for them? HotPrints mails you free 16-page photo books, with shots pulled from Facebook, if you don’t mind some non-intrusive paper ads.
In this case, non-intrusive means the advertisements aren’t watermarked or otherwise touching your actual photos. They’re inserted between the pages, and can be pulled out, kind of like magazine subscription cards. You’d also have to be comfortable with HotPrints using “contextual” data from Facebook to target some ads at you. That means the album style you choose, the content of your profile, and region information from your Facebook account are used to target the ads, but the company claims that no identifying information is given out to its sponsoring partners. You can read more about HotPrints’ do’s and don’ts at their privacy policy.
If you’re cool with that at the cost of free, even free shipping, HotPrints’ Facebook app makes it fairly easy to pull in tagged photos of yourself or any Facebook contacts for a quickie album, with a limit of one per month. It’s a free service, requires a Facebook account (and app authorization) to use.
Best Buy / Circuit City stores physically touching each other
this is on Fifth Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets in New York City.
In thinking about retail … this helps illustrate the tremendous challenges they face.
- online switching costs are pretty much zero — just type another URL; these two stores are physically touching — just walk next door
- they carry much of the same inventory from plasma TVs to computers to home stereo equipment to software, CDs, DVDs, etc.
- they both sell Apple iPods; consumers have already decided to buy an iPod for Christmas (for some reason), which store do they walk into? what differentiates the store with the blue awning from the one with silver letters? they both have “black friday” discounts but the price ended up to be about $1 from each other; both have geeks on staff, one called Geek Squad and the other Fire Dog
- and then there’s Amazon.com which is tax free and offers free 2nd day shipping.
THIS is a challenging marketing problem for retailers such as the ones pictured!
Digital Consigliere
Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.
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