December 9th, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Facebook commerce, or f-commerce, will undoubtedly be one of the fastest spreading ecommerce trends of 2012. Many mega-retailers have already begun to leverage f-commerce technology and create retail storefronts on the social media website. With more than 800 million active Facebook users globally, f-commerce is a great tool giving retailers exposure to a vast online market.

For retailers looking to engage in the growing world of social shopping, f-commerce solution StoreYa offers useful tools. StoreYa provides easy importing of products, a unique search engine, language customization and the tools for retailers to maintain existing e-commerce platforms for sales, returns and order processing. StoreYa is especially helpful to retailers who don’t have coding or design experience.

Perhaps the most convenient tools StoreYa provides is one-click importing.  Using the Magento platform, StoreYa allows retailers to import their entire online store into Facebook. The process is quick and painless, with nothing required of retailers further than directing StoreYa to their existing Magento store. While in beta StoreYa services are free for merchants to use, which is a great opportunity for retailers to test their f-commerce viability.

Facebook commerce was listed in our recent roundup of the top ecommerce trends for 2012 and for good reason. A study released by Reevoo on Monday (12/5) outlined the quickly increasing number of shoppers in the UK who are turning to Facebook to fulfill their ecommerce needs.

Founder and CEO of Reevoo, Richard Anson had this to say about the importance of leveraging social commerce:

“We have said for some time how vital it is that marketers who have so far ignored social commerce need to look at it very seriously, now. Many brands are translating these social changes into revenue, while those that don’t will be left behind – and now we can see just how fast they might be receding into the distance.”

Reevoo’s survey yielded results similar to Performetric’s October survey on social shopping in the US. The data from both surveys show that f-commerce is not only an important channel for retailers in the United States to realize, but European retailers have a large social commerce market too. Reevoo’s survey found the number of shoppers buying products through f-commerce has doubled in just the last 9 months, increasing from 4% to 8%. Both surveys highlighted the importance shoppers place on friends opinions posted on Facebook with Reevoo’s survey showing shoppers are increasingly turning to Facebook for product recommendations. According to the survey, 24% now use it to see track what their friends “like”, 27% look to friends for product recommendations and 21% are influenced by the products friends have bought and recommended.

December 7, 2011
By Michael Smith,  Author of eBusiness Buddy

Using the Internet as a sales channel can be a highly beneficial business activity that can lead to significant growth in customers and revenue. For a small business, eCommerce makes it possible to grow from a local presence to a global one without the costs and hassle of physical expansion. However, with small businesses often having limited time, money, and expertise, eCommerce may seem like a risk not worth taking, even if it looks highly lucrative at first glance. A small business might be concerned about the technology of selling online, how to manage an online store, or whether or not selling online can be a successful endeavor.

Concerns About Technology
Small businesses often don’t have the expertise, infrastructure, or budget to support high-tech ventures, and with eCommerce being rooted in Internet technology, there is the concern that selling online is therefore out of reach. Sometimes, there can also be the belief that only technology experts can participate in eCommerce, and that the management of technical concerns is something that businesses are expected to handle alone and internally.

Fortunately for a non-technical small business, when it comes to setting up eCommerce you can pass on such concerns to external web developers, or use a hosted storefront, which is a service that provides a simple template-based environment for designing and operating an online store. In either case, the technology concerns are taken out of your hands, meaning that your small business doesn’t have to worry about such things when it comes to selling online.

Concerns About Internal Impacts
eCommerce can bring with it a significant change to your business operations, as you must be prepared to do business on a potentially worldwide scale. Warehousing and fulfillment responsibilities will be greater, and there will likely be an increase in overhead costs and staffing if you try to do everything from order management to packing and shipping alone. For a small business, such adjustments can be seemingly impossible, especially if coming from just a small local offline presence.

While your business will need to make adjustments in order to facilitate an online store, the process can be made easier by using the Internet to outsource some concerns to service providers. Fulfillment houses offer warehousing, order processing, and shipping in for much lower costs than doing it yourself, and can greatly reduce the overhead and hassle of managing these concerns internally. This makes selling online a realistic venture regardless of whether or not you have the necessary infrastructure. Even a home-based business is no longer held back from getting involved.

Concerns About Success
Unlike an offline presence that just spans a local area, an eCommerce business is vying for a share of a global marketplace, in competition with both large and small businesses all over the world. A small business with just a few staff and modest resources may wonder how it can possibly compete and be successful in such an environment, and that can make selling online seem like it isn’t worth the effort.

Success is not guaranteed, but a small business selling online isn’t doomed to failure either. Many simple and affordable online tools are available for a small business to take advantage of. Online marketing tools are cheap, accessible, and innovative which can help your business keep up with larger competitors. Online customer service and social tools can help a small business bring its personal touch to customers no matter where they are. And the ability to use the Internet to outsource everything from technology to fulfillment can make selling online possible for even the smallest of businesses.

Author Bio:

Michael Smith is a graduate of eBusiness studies with years of experience in a small business environment. He is the author of eBusiness Buddy, a website that assists small businesses in understanding and taking advantage of doing business online.

December 5, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Walmart, one of the highest grossing retailers on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, last week launched a holiday shopping gift-guide application on Facebook called Shopycat. Created by @WalmartLabs, Walmart’s tech shop in the Silicon Valley, the app is designed to help users with often difficult task of Christmas shopping for friends.

The application officially went live on Wednesday evening (11/30) and has already drawn 8,000 users to the platform. Users can download the app directly from Walmart’s Facebook fan page, which has close to 11 million fans. Shopycat is easy to operate, allowing users to scroll through their friends or search by name and providing a selection of gifts that person would enjoy. Users can also check out the gifts suggested for them. Shopycat creates gift suggestions for friends based on data from their Facebook profiles such as interests and likes.

The gift suggestions offered on the app are sometimes creepily accurate and at times hilariously erroneous. Users can personally edit their profile and add interests to ensure Shopycat gives their friends good gift recommendations. Currently Shopycat has more that 600,000 items in its gift database, which is comprised of Walmart products in addition to items from Barnes and Noble, NBC Universal, ThinkGeek and more. @WalmartLabs has partnered with 20 retailers to ensure a wide range of gift offerings. The database includes many special edition products as they are viewed as more “gift worthy”.

If there is not enough information on a friends interests to generate gift ideas, Shopycat provides generic suggestions like a Starbucks gift-pack, a George Foreman Quesadilla Maker, and various other gifts that tend to be Walmart best-sellers. Users may also encounter suggestions of gift cards from Walmart.com, iTunes, and Zynga.

@WalmartLabs Shopycat app may look similar to GiveEmThis.com, a web app launched by Imply Labs in September of this year. The two applications provide strikingly similar services, but do so through different platforms. As a web app, GiveEmThis.com integrates several different social media platforms, while @WalmartLabs only incorporates Facebook. The most notable difference between the two apps is their business models. @WalmartLabs serves Walmart’s technology needs specifically, while Imply Labs provides a universal service to all online retailers.

Shopycat joins several other social gifting apps on the Facebook platform such as Giftiki. Giftiki is a group gift giving platform, launched in October, that allows Facebook friends pool their money together to buy a combined gift for friends’ birthdays, holidays, weddings, and other gift-worthy occasions.

December 1, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The successes of both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are encouraging signs for the ecommerce industry. Merchants worked hard this season to draw shoppers to their online stores and get them to fill their shopping carts. Record numbers of consumers flocked to retailers online storefronts to make purchases making it apparent that consumer confidence in online spending is at an all time high.

Although 2011 greeted merchants with many opportunities in the thriving ecommerce sphere, 2012 is sure to bring them unmatched success. The new technology and tools available in the marketplace in 2011 have helped retailers greatly increase sales and will only become further refined and useful in 2012. With the amount of competition in the ecommerce industry, 2011 brought innovation and diversity among retailers. 2012 will see retailers build upon new revenue streams and refine last year’s innovations.

To ensure success in the upcoming year, merchants should pay close attention to the 6 ecommerce trends for 2012 outlined below.

6 Emerging Ecommerce Trends For 2011

Personalization

We recently spoke with co-founder and CTO of Baynote, Dr. Scott Brave, regarding the importance of leveraging new forms of personalization on ecommerce solutions. Personalization is moving away from the old-school idea of simply creating personalized greetings on a web page into complex personalization that is behaviorally infused. Brave suggests for success in 2012, retailers will need to focus their personalization efforts on shoppers “real time interest and intent.” We are moving beyond the days of reaching consumers through demographic and other types of segmentation. Retailers must now be in touch with what consumers are thinking and feeling at the specific moment they are shopping. According to Brave, retailers can gain access to this information by collecting consumers behavioral signals. Behavior signals include where shoppers are engaging, where they are spending their time online, what words and phrases they use to find products on search engines, etc. Old methods of personalization do not gather any information on consumer interest and intent and therefore will not efficiently leverage the benefits of personalization as we will see it in 2012.

Online and Offline Integration

Online and offline integration is also a developing trend that will only become more vital to retailer success in 2012. This integration is taking on a completely new meaning than it had in 2011. Throughout the past year, integrating on and offline shopping simply meant offering features such as in-store pick of products purchased online. However, the type of integration ecommerce solutions will see trending in 2012 is bringing the offline shopping experience to the online marketplace. This can take the form of social shopping, extra personalization, one click checkout and more. Websites like sneakpeeq have engaged in this trend by creating online social shopping experiences that match the offline experience. Additionally, PayPal opened a pop-up store in New York City to show users how they plan to integrate on and offline shopping in the new year.

Whether retailers are prepared for it, or not, shoppers are already integrating these two spheres in their own way. Consumers rely on their smartphones almost immediately upon entering brick-and-mortar stores in order to look up online reviews and price comparisons. Retailers should use this integration to their advantage by designing physical storefronts to accommodate interface with ecommerce solutions through consumers use and reliance on smartphones.

Mobile Commerce

Continuing on from online and offline integration, retailers in 2012 must have a handle on their mobile commerce solutions. Consumers are embracing mobile commerce more than ever and mobile is now strategically important for all retailers. PayPal reported a 516% increase in global mobile payments this Black Friday compared to Black Friday 2010. Furthermore, there was a reported 371% increase in the amount of consumers shopping on mobile devices this Black Friday from the same day in 2010. In addition, mobile commerce solutions could see a shift from apps to m-sites in 2012. It may be time for merchants to ditch apps in favor of m-sites as shoppers are increasing looking to m-sites due to their immediacy.

Marketplace Optimization

Marketplace Optimization is a fairly new term coined by Zoovy but has potential to be a big ecommerce trend in 2012. It is an important tool for merchants who depend on business gained through their storefronts on marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. On these marketplaces, merchants aim to be the highest ranked seller when it comes down to consumers deciding on purchases. Competition on marketplaces is stiff and sellers need ways to separate themselves from others who offer identical products. Marketplace optimization is the idea is that merchants can increase their ranking and position on marketplaces, thus close more sales when a competitive price isn’t enough. Zoovy has developed specific techniques to help merchants achieve marketplace optimization and improve performance and plans to announce these techniques in January 2012.

F-Commerce

Facebook commerce thus far has been a lot about experimentation for retailers, but with growing success in the area it is important for retailers to add a sales channel to their social strategy in 2012. Although f-commerce has mostly been in the testing stage, F-commerce will prove to extremely valuable for retailers, especially with the growing amount of users who “liked” and shared products in their news feeds in 2011.

Social shopping through Facebook is also gaining popularity with platforms like Shopcade and sneakpeeq, both of which attempt to recreate the offline shopping experience using an online platform (ahem, online and offline integration). Facebook commerce is beneficial for both these sites due to the amount of likes and shares products receive from shoppers using these apps. Although Facebook has been slower starting in the ecommerce scene than originally expected, consumers are beginning to feel more comfortable making purchases through social media outlets, making F-commerce a trend that will only gain momentum in 2012.

Video Commerce

As we’ve seen with Shazam’s new technology, Shazam for TV, the ability to purchase products seen on television or other kinds of video media is gaining momentum. Currently, Shazam for TV has partnered with television shows in order to allow audiences to access products from their mobile devices while watching certain television programs. In 2012, video commerce will continue to be further developed in the ecommerce sphere as follows: Suppose you are on a brand’s online store and there is a video of someone in a particular outfit, you might click on her skirt and move it into your cart. This video commerce is different than what it looked like 2011, as consumers will not only see automated products videos. The video commerce trend of 2012 is moving beyond automated product videos and becoming an interactive process where shoppers can access products they see on TV at the same moment they are watching it. Ecommerce solutions who can leverage this technology will put themselves ahead of the pack in 2012.

Moving Forward

There are several trends that were considered for this list such as group buying, private sales sites and push shopping. Push shopping and private sales sites are definitely still relevant, but are not new or emerging trends for 2012. As far as group buying, it’s hard to say if it will continue to be a relevant trend considering the ups and downs Groupon has experienced on the road to their IPO. Although Groupon and competitor Living Social met some success this past weekend on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s difficult to be certain whether they will continue to thrive in 2012.

Opportunities and methods for connecting with customers and making sales are constantly evolving. As merchants prepare for the new year, they should consider trying out a couple of these emerging trends. With the increasing amount of consumers turning to online storefronts to make purchase, there will inevitably be more new trends that pop up in upcoming months.

This year’s Cyber Monday attracted record numbers of online shoppers, making it a huge success for retailers as expected.

According to IBM Benchmark, sales this year were up 33 percent from 2010. Online shoppers also spent more, the average customer order was $198.26 compared to $193.24 last year. In accordance with 2011 holiday shopping season trends, a record number of Cyber Monday shoppers made purchases from smartphones and tablets. 10.8 percent of people visited ecommerce solutions from a mobile device, more than double the amount that did so last year.

IBM’s fourth annual Cyber Monday Benchmark study has not released a figure about total spending yesterday, but all indicators point to spending reaching the predicted $1.2 million. Many holiday shoppers prefer Cyber Monday to Black Friday because they can avoid the crowds, chaos, and pepper spray that has become the day after Thanksgiving. Although many retailers still offer online deals on Black Friday, online sales were 29.3 percent higher on Monday. John Squire, chief strategy officer of IBM’s Smarter Commerce team, said the following in a statement:

“Retailers that adopted a smarter approach to commerce, one that allowed them to swiftly adjust to the shifting shopping habits of their customers, whether in-store, online or via their mobile device, were able to fully benefit from this day and the entire holiday weekend.”

Consumers filled their shopping carts with deals like a 47-inch LG TV from Wal-Mart for $320 less than the regular price, Amazons Kindle DX for $120 off, and a $200 gift certificate from LivingSocial for $100. Online shopping traffic peaked before and after work hours, it appears that getting caught shopping while at the office was a concern for many Americans.

In preparation for Cyber Monday, the feds shut down and seized the domains of 150 websites believed to be selling counterfeit products or copyrighted works. The FBI reportedly made undercover purchases of goods such as counterfeit sports jerseys, DVDs, golf clubs, footwear, and more. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Border Control joined the FBI in the operation to seize the 150 domains, bringing the total number of such seizures to 350 since June 2010.

The majority of seized domains were targeted for selling counterfeit clothing but ecommerce solutions selling pirated music and other copyrighted works were also included in the operation. Many of the domain names were registered in the U.S. but operated from abroad from countries like China. The operation was timed to coincide with Cyber Monday in an effort to protect holiday shoppers from getting duped into purchasing counterfeit goods thinking that they are getting a great holiday deal.

November 28, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Holiday shopping season 2011 got off to a great start with retailers reporting record-breaking Black Friday sales in both brick-and-mortar and online storefronts. According to research by comScore released yesterday, online sales in the U.S. surged on Black Friday and generated an estimated $816 million, up from $648 million last Black Friday. Brick-and-mortar retail sales dwarfed that number with a reported $11.4 billion in sales on Black Friday alone.

The report released by comScore showed that ecommerce spending on Black Friday jumped 26% this year, even though researchers thought brick-and-mortar store deals would detract from the amount of consumers opting to shop online. Also reported, overall traffic on ecommerce websites was up 35% from last year. The ecommerce solutions who boasted the most consumer traffic were Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple.

Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, further explained the research:

“Amazon.com once again led the pack, with 50% more visitors than any other retailer, while also showing the highest growth rate versus last year. However, it is telling that the top multi-channel retailers also showed strong growth in visitors, demonstrating the importance of the online channel to the retail industry as a whole.”

U.S. shoppers have spent $12.7 billion online so far this holiday season, which is up 15% compared in 2010, comScore also reported. Online traffic and consumer spending online are both expected to be surpassed today, Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday spending has been predicted to reach a record $1.2 billion, which, if Black Friday spending is some indication, will prove to be a low estimate. If profits reach $1.2 billion (and we’re assuming they will) it will mark only the second time ever that a billion dollars in ecommerce sales has occurred in one day. Last year, Cyber Monday was the most profitable day for online spending throughout 2010 and this year has already seen a 15% increase in sales from Cyber Monday 2010.

Ecommerce giant Amazon and competitor Best Buy are making a big Cyber Monday push with outstanding deal offerings. Shoppers looking for electronics, toys and other products can take advantage of deep discounts found on both Amazon and Best Buy in addition to Overstock.com and Barnes and Noble. Overstock and Barnes and Noble shoppers can take advantage of exceptional deals offered today only.

Amazon and mega-retailer Walmart are taking Cyber Monday a step further and transforming the “holiday” into a full week of online shopping. Consumers will find lightning deals on Amazon along with other discounts on Walmart.com for the rest of the week.

November 23, 2011
By Jimmy Rodriguez, CTO and co-founder of 3DCart

The words “cart abandonment” are enough to send shivers down a merchant’s spine and for good reason, average abandonment rates skyrocketed to 75 percent earlier this year!

The surprising numbers underline how important it is for merchants to put serious thought into how they can prevent and recover abandoned carts. And with the holiday boom already in full-swing, battling the Scrooge of the shopping-cart world becomes that much more important!

We say ‘Tis The Season’ to take back lost sales and convert more carts! With more shoppers prepared to purchase than any other time of the year, merchants need to go the extra mile to create an easy pain-free check out process. Just in time to capture the Holiday rush, here’s nine easy ways to decrease abandonment and capture more sales!
Abandon other carts! Go through the checkout process of big eCommerce retailers like

• Amazon.com and abandon your cart at various times. Take notes at how the most successful online stores recover sales.
• Offer familiar ways for customers to pay, including multiple payment portals like PayPal, Authorize.net and Amazon Checkout.
• Make your checkout process a single-page affair to keep the shopper’s interest.
• Include an ‘email me this’ button on product pages in case a shopper needs an easy reminder to come back later.
• Save shopping cart data, even if the form wasn’t completed.
• Feature security certificates prominently throughout the checkout process to offer customers peace-of-mind on the safety of their personal data.
• Make sure support links are showcased and open in a new window. That way the shopper can get the information they need without having to navigate away from the checkout page.
• Send timely, concise email messages to existing customers when they abandon carts. A smart inviting message can reignite interest while the customer is still considering the purchase.
• Capture email address information early in the checkout process so you can send reminder emails to new customers.

The above is an excerpt from 3dcart’s FREE eBook “12 Days of Online Shopping”. Download your copy today to automatically receive a $75 Google Adwords certificate & $100 Amazon Ad certificate and be entered to win one of 20 $100 Google Adwords certificate!

November 23, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Shopcade has introduced a new social shopping application for Facebook users. Launched yesterday, Shopcade attempts to offer the millions of users on Facebook a true social shopping experience. The app allows users to browse, buy, and share products while earning cash rewards.

Shopcade has a catalog of over 40 million products from 20,000 brands in categories like fashion, electronics, books and movies, home decor, beauty and more. Users set up “Shopcades,” or personalized lists of products they want to share with friends through their social network. To assist users in finding desirable products, the application collects product data and displays trending products in real-time. Another unique feature is the product recommendation feed, which provides suggestions of products users may be interested in based on their activity and “likes” on Facebook. Also on the Shopcade home page, shoppers can stay up-to-date with information about what their friends are adding and buying.

Shopcade founder and CEO, Nathalie Gavaeu explained the application:

“Shopcade leverages the power of Facebook to the benefit of consumers and brands alike. It turns the ‘social network’ into the ‘social shopping network,’ allowing 800 million socially-connected people to shop, share and be rewarded all in one place. Rather than brands dictating what people should buy, Shopcade empowers people to share products that actually matter with each other. Now the customers are in control.”

Retailers are increasingly trying their hand at tapping into the growing social media population by creating effective “social” shopping experiences. In a survey conducted by Shopcade and YouGov 60% of social media users in the United States between the ages of 18 and 54 admitted their shopping decisions are, to some extent, influenced by their friends activity on their social networks. However, social media users usually don’t look to social networking websites to satisfy their shopping needs.

Harish Abbott, co-founder of social shopping platform Sneakpeeq had this to say regarding the difficulty of tapping into Facebook commerce:

“People don’t go to Facebook to shop. They never have.”

In order to reach social media users in a way that changes this trend, a social shopping application must be creative. Abbott suggests using “Facebook norms” and making applications game-like to spark user curiosity and interest. Sneakpeeq, which recently moved out of beta, offers an innovative social shopping experience by combining components of flash sales, gaming, and social networking. By leveraging game-like features, Sneakpeeq has captivated users and found success much success in Facebook commerce.

Shopcade attempts to produce a creative social shopping experience of their own by offering users several unique features including: Top-trending products, top-trending Shopcades, easy browsing and filtering, mutual rewards when a product is purchased from a friend’s Shopcade, personalized recommendations, and a personal URL, which allows users to add their Shopcade to blogs and other social media websites.

Launched just in time for the holiday shopping season, Shopcade is optimistic about the role social media will play in consumer spending.

November 23, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

It’s that time of year again, time for you to be thinking about what gifts to get the geek in your family this holiday shopping season. We have compiled a list of different ideas for your shopping cart, available from ThinkGeek.com, that will appeal to geeks of all ages.

Sci-Fi Geek Gifts

For the Star Trek geek in your family how about a Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter? This officially licensed Star Trek collectible is a laser etched stainless steel pizza cutter in the form of the NCC-1701 Enterprise from the original Star Trek show. The Enterprise’s warp drive technology makes it the most powerful pizza cutter in the galaxy, and it looks great sitting on the counter too!

If the sci-fi geek in your life is more of the Star Wars type, maybe a Star Wars R2-D2 Folding Armchair is just what they need. The nylon camp chair is a fully licensed Lucasfilm collectible, perfect for that outdoor movie showing of one of the Star Wars films. Your Star Wars geek will feel like they are piloting an X-Wing with R2-D2 in the back when they sit down in this armchair.

Kid Geek Gifts

If your kid is going to be taking part in any snowball fights this winter, you want them equipped with the best snowball fight technology, right? With the Snowball Launching Crossbow your kid will be prepared to take on hordes of neighborhood children from behind the protective walls of a snow fort. Simply load in a snowball, pull back, and the crossbow will launch the snowball like a slingshot, sending it flying towards the enemy. This kid geek gift also comes with a plastic target sheet to train for battle.

For the growing spy in your family, you can’t go wrong with a set of SpyNet Night Vision Binoculars. The binoculars use actual infrared technology that allows the wearer to see up to 50 feet in the pitch dark. The long and short range settings make them perfect for spygames indoors and out. Every spy needs to go on night missions and having a set of functional night vision binoculars greatly increases the chances of mission success.

Office Geek Gifts

Maybe the grown geek in your life has a little trouble keeping their office space organized. They could use a Mini Shopping Cart Desktop Organizer. The shrunken down metal and plastic replica of a shopping cart is perfect for storing loose items like pens, change, or those keys they can’t seem to keep track of. It works just like a real shopping cart too, you could stack several together and wheel one out when you need more storage space.

Everyone needs a little distraction at work every now and then, this next gift idea combines two awesome distractions: zombies and bowling. Zombie Desktop Bowling is a miniature bowling set that comes with wooden pins painted like zombies and two miniature wooden bowling balls painted like bombs. Set it up on your desk and try to bowl down all the zombies without hitting the one pin that is painted like a human.

We hope you found these ideas from ThinkGeek useful and good luck shopping for the geek in your life this holiday season!

November 22, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

It’s still days before notorious Black Friday, but a series of e-tailers have already launched unbeatable deals. Amazon.com along with Walmart, Toys “R” Us, Sears, Target, and eBay are currently hosting Black Friday deals on their online stores- all of which started 4 days early! Featured deals from these ecommerce giants cover a broad range of categories including electronics, books, movies, sporting goods, and toys.

However, it should be mentioned that not everyone is as excited about these early deals as we are; a host of retailers are facing opposition from the “Respect the Bird” campaign. This group is strongly opposed to retailers who are offering Black Friday deals on or before Thanksgiving Day. Supporters of the “Respect the Bird” campaign believe the prominence of the Thanksgiving holiday is diminished by shopper’s obsession with getting the best holiday deals.

While we understand the concerns of the “Respect the Bird” campaign, we think a little pre-Black Friday shopping never hurt anyone! Although most deals started yesterday, there are still many great savings shoppers can still get their hands on. Amazon has hundreds of Black Friday deals already available to shoppers, including lightening deals. Lightening deals are extra special savings only available for a certain period of time (usually a couple hours). Shoppers will need to visit Amazon’s site themselves to check out currently available lightening deals, but there are many deals available all week long.  Below we have highlighted a few of the best Black Friday deals Amazon is offering this week.

Amazon Black Friday Deals on Electronics

Haier L32D1120 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV- For those shoppers looking for a brand new LCD High-Definition TV to fulfill a loved ones wish list, this Haier television is currently on sale for $199.99. With it’s sleek and attractive design it fits in any room of the home and has top-of-the-line features such as PC Input, USB input for digital photos and music, and multiple HD inputs.

Fujifilm FinePix F505- This camera boasts 16 MP CMOS Sensor and 15x Optical Zoom Digital Camera with 4 GB Class 10 SD Memory Card. It would be a great gift for the amateur photographers who prefer a point-and-shoot camera but don’t want to sacrifice photo quality. This week only, the FinePix F505 can be snagged for just $199.00.

Amazon Black Friday Deals for DVDs and Blue-Ray

Bridesmaids- Get your hands on one of the most hilarious comedies of the year just in time for Black Firday for only $9.99. For those without a Blue-Ray player, Bridesmaids on DVD can be picked up for only $5.99 on Amazon this week.

HappyFeet- For those with children on their holiday shopping agenda, Happy Feet (2007) in Blue-Ray can be purchased for under $10 as well.

Amazon Black Friday Deals for Toys and Games

Fisher-Price Disney’s Rock Star Mickey- This week only, Rock Star Mickey is on sale for $39.97. Mickey is the perfect gift for children between the ages of 2 and 6 years old. He jams on his guitar, says cool phrases, and can even drop down into the splits.

LeapFrog Leapster Educational Game Dora the Explorer- Select LeapFrog games are 50% off this week on Amazon, including the Leapster Educational Game Dora the Explorer.  Children between 4 and 6 can choose between 5 different learning games to help Dora save the animals. Available this week for the special Black Friday price of $12.49.

For a more comprehensive list of toys and games, Amazon’s 2011 Holiday Toy List was released at the beginning of the month.

November 21, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Southwest Airlines has launched Rapid Rewards Shopping, a new online program through which loyalty members can earn points by redeeming special offers from hundreds of online retailers. The launch of Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Shopping program marks the first time frequent fliers will be able to accrue rewards points from their online purchases.

Rapid Rewards Shopping operates similar to most other credit card reward programs. Once members are logged into their Rapid Rewards Shopping account, they will be presented with online sales and promotions from partnered retailers. When shoppers access one of those retailers’ websites and make a purchase, they will be granted rewards points. The Rapid Rewards website will also have useful features such as an integrated search, current promotions, price comparison tool and personalized recommendations for customers.

Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program is powered by Cartera Commerce, which provides card-linked marketing solutions. Cartera’s platform will allow the airline company to access retailer offers using its Offer Cloud. It will also allow Southwest to display offers on several marketing channels, track offer redemption, and distribute Rapid Rewards points. The Cartera platform also ensures users security and privacy.

Director of Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Jonathan Clarkson discussed the new program:

“We are continually looking to add ways for our Members to earn points, and what better time than the holidays to add shopping at top online retailers to the mix. We selected Cartera because they have the most comprehensive offer platform that meets our needs today and gives us the flexibility to easily expand the program in the future. We expect our Members will be delighted with the program.”

Southwest will also attempt to get their piece of the Cyber Monday pie by running a special promotion of the Rapid Rewards Shopping program. On Cyber Monday, shoppers will accumulate double rewards points when purchases are made from Home Depot, Macy’s, Sears and Barnes & Noble. With the projection that shoppers will spend an average of $516 on gifts this holiday season, millions of points could potentially be awarded to members of Southwest’s new program.

The Rapid Rewards program has over 700 participating online retailers and will feature deals from a variety of product categories including electronics, home improvement, clothing, music, and more. As of now the program is only available for online shoppers, but Southwest plans to expand Rapid Rewards Shopping by adding new rewards channels in 2012.

November 21, 2011
By the Zippycart Content Team

Spotzot is a deal targeting platform that allows retailers to target customers with offers and coupons based on location and intent.

The platform searches thousands of sources for in-store and online promotions every day and then categorizes the deals and delivers them through free publisher APIs. The promotions and coupons are displayed on shopping apps and websites such as ShopSavvy, Shopkick, CardStar, and Geodelic and are valid at more than 400,000 merchant locations. Spotzot’s targeting technology presents deals that are based on a user’s location, interests, and shopping behaviors. The ecommerce solution provides users with a personalized shopping experience that allows them access to in-store and online deals for their favorite brands and products and from nearby retailers.

During early testing of the patent-pending technology, 45 percent of people who clicked on a merchant page demonstrated clear purchase intent by clicking on the same deal two or more times from multiple locations. Matt Weathers, Head of Product fro ShopSavvy, had this to say:

“Spotzot’s APIs made it easy for us to quickly introduce deals into our mobile application, giving us broad control over how we display and target content.”

The company announced Thursday that it has acquired $2.2 million in Series A funding led by Cervin Ventures, Inventus Capital Partners, and TiE-Silicon Valley Angels. The new funding will be used to grow Spotzot’s ecommerce solution platform and fund sales, engineering, and operations growth. John Dougery, Managing Director of Inventus Capital Partners, said the following:

“Spotzot’s extraordinarily high consumer intent and engagement proves they have a more effective way for brands and merchants to target consumers and improve campaign performance. We believe they have the right technology innovations, domain expertise and savvy management team to make a major impact in the retail space.”

The Santa Clara-based company was founded in 2009 by Bobby Jadhav and Sanjay Mittal. Spotzot is one of the first deal targeting platforms to connect online and in-store shopping experiences to help retailers reach customers at exactly the right moment based on location and intent. Jadhav has said that the platform fills two key market needs, it fills a need for publishers by providing an accurate and dependable source of everyday shopping and dining offers to attract a broad customer following, and it allows advertisers to increase the relevance with which they reach millions of potential customers. The network of shopping apps and websites that display deals using Spotzot’s deal targeting technology is growing rapidly, providing shoppers with increased access to deals on favorite items for their shopping carts.

November 18, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

BookRenter, a college textbook rental ecommerce solution, this week announced plans to expand its local services. The San Mateo-based leader in textbook rentals provides a unique platform on which students can rent textbooks both online and directly from on-campus bookstores. The BookRenter platform allows students to rent textbooks for a specified period of time, which creates savings of up to 80% off the price of purchasing a new book. Currently, over 5,000 campus bookstores partner with BookRenter in order to offer students the best possible prices on expensive textbooks.

For increased convenience, the ecommerce solution also offers a RapidReturn service at several campus stores. RapidReturn gives students the option of returning rented textbooks to a local drop-off rather than packaging and sending them back via mail. On Wednesday BookRenter announced plans expand its RapidReturn services and open 115 new locations.

Mehdi Maghsoodnia, CEO of BookRenter, discussed the benefits of BookRenter’s services:

“Traditional online shopping provides consumers with access to better prices and a much greater selection, but sacrifices the convenience of local service. The BookRenter Platform enables college stores to offer the best in price, selection, and local service in ways no online company can match, and in the end, the students and schools reap the benefits.”

Schools have indeed reaped the benefits, reporting an 180% increase textbook rental revenue year over year. Many campus stores attribute increased revenue to the traffic lured in by BookRenter customers. The savings offered by BookRenter draws students into campus bookstores and makes them a more attractive place to shop.

Campus stores are able to better serve student needs by partnering with BookRenter. BookRenter offers 3 unique features that benefit both schools and students. These features include:

• RapidReturn. RapidReturn allows students to easily return textbooks to an on-campus store location, which helps the stores due to increased traffic and sales.
• Mobile price comparison. BookRenter offers a “Snapshot Mobile” feature, which students can use to compare book prices on their phones. This not only helps to inform the students’ purchase, but it also boosts the probability that a transaction will occur in-store.
• Pick up in-store. This feature gives students the option of picking up their online rentals at a physical store location.

BookRenter currently supports a database of over 5.5 million textbooks and serves millions of students at thousands of college campuses. The service, founded in 2006, has saved students upwards of $150 million on textbooks. Also, every time a book is rented,  the company makes a donation to First Book, an organization that gives new books to children in need.

November 18, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

We recently got in touch with Thibaud Clement to find out more about his year-long ecommerce focused tour of the world that he has dubbed the DODEQA project.

The DODEQA project is a 12 month, 12 city, 12 objective journey during which Clement will focus on gaining a deeper understanding of innovation, technologies, business models, and best practices in ecommerce around the world. He will spend roughly one month in each of the 12 cities: Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco, New York City, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo. The name DODEQA is inspired by the Greek Dodekathlon, the mythological 12 labors of Hercules.

As Clement was coming to the end of his MBA program in Ottawa, Canada, and getting ready to head back to his home in France, he wanted to start his own ecommerce business but felt that he needed some more inspiration before he could fully develop a great business model. That’s when he decided to start the DODEQA project in order to learn as much as possible during one year and prepare to build a strong entrepreneurship project. Clement said he hopes to develop a dynamic network by getting in touch with merchants, ecommerce solution providers, consultants, and other professionals from the ecommerce business world. He also plans to capitalize on the experience by opening an online store associated with the DODEQA project to try what he learns in a concrete way.

A main objective of the project is to blog about the experience on DODEQA.com. Clement just recently started his journey but throughout the next year he will be posting regular news and photos from his travels on the blog. He is currently living in Beijing learning about Chinese ecommerce solutions. He had the following to say about his experience so far:

“I only left two weeks ago but I already had the chance to interview 8 professionals from the ecommerce industry and I have to say it is very inspiring. In addition, living in China is a tremendous experience that fosters open-mindedness and gives me creative ideas for the future. However, I truly believe the best is still to happen, since I have 50 more weeks of adventure upcoming.”

One of the 12 objectives of the project is to learn how to program and to understand more about how websites are built which will aid Clement in developing his own ecommerce solution. To complete this objective he will develop a fully functional iPhone app that gets approved by the Apple Store by the end of the project. Another objective is to choose an entrepreneurship project in a developing country to invest in and promote until it becomes a reality, Clement then plans to visit the entrepreneur of the project to check up on how the business is doing.

You can follow the DODEQA project, see a full list of the objectives, and eventually browse the DODEQA store on the blog. ZippyCart wishes Thibaud the best in his travels and we can’t wait to see what he learns!

November 18, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

BigCommerce recently announced that it now powers more than 20,000 online stores and retailers who use the ecommerce solution have processed a total of more than $350 million in sales.

Launched in 2009, the ecommerce software company has grown to nearly 100 employees and plans to hire more than 100 employees throughout the next few months. The rapid growth of BigCommerce has been supported by increased online spending and growing numbers of merchants selling online. The company currently has two offices, one in Austin, Texas and one in Sydney, Australia. Eddie Machaalani, co-founder of BigCommerce, had this to say:

“The boom in ecommerce is continuing to fuel our success and the growth of the business. We’re hiring people across all departments and we’re focused on making our clients successful by continually improving our product and by providing amazing support 24 hours a day.”

In addition to an easy-to-use store builder, BigCommerce ecommerce software provides online merchants with a set of more than 25 built-in marketing tools that allow them to do things like SEO, selling on Facebook, coupon codes, email marketing, and mobile commerce. Retailers who power their online stores with BigCommerce have sold a combined more than 30 million items to more than 230 million unique visitors. The average number of items per transaction is 7.6. Mitchell Harper, co-founder of BigCommerce, said the following:

“Our platform allows even the most non-technical business owner to really generate huge returns from ecommerce.”

The latest announcement from the company comes after it landed $15 million in Series A financing back in April. Additionally, the company recently launched its new application programming interface and is working with developers to build on the API platform. Harper had this to say about the platform:

“Ecommerce isn’t a one-size-fits-all business and our new API allows third party developers and integrators to build on the BigCommerce platform. Disparate systems such as accounting, ERP, email marketing and POS can now be tied into BigCommerce effortlessly thanks to the API and gives our clients unlimited flexibility whether they’re starting from scratch or looking to integrate BigCommerce into their existing business processes.”

A basic BigCommerce plan for online merchants starts at $25 a month making it an affordable and effective tool for both small and large businesses. A free trial is also available. The Australian-based company is currently the leading platform in the Australian ecommerce market and has partnerships with some of the country’s major vendors like eWay, Australia Post, and MYOB.

November 17, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

E-tailers are more optimistic this holiday season, according to a holiday survey conducted by Alibaba.

Alibaba is one of the largest business-to-business online marketplaces and owns Vendio and Auctiva, both of which provide online merchants with ecommerce software solutions. Alibaba recently conducted a survey of over 1200 online merchants to gain an understanding of e-tailer insights about sales and trends this holiday season.

The survey yielded some interesting results such as a majority of e-tailers are feeling upbeat and optimistic about this holiday season, women are likely to spend 4 times as much money as men and word-of-mouth marketing tactics will be the primary focus of most e-tailers.

Optimism is trumping gloom this holiday season and 64% of survey respondents said they plan to use the theme of optimism to market their holiday products. 60% of e-tailers will use an optimistic marketing theme that will employ the use of bright and bold colors and avoid conservative designs with dull color schemes. In addition, 70% said they have altered their products to reflect this trend.

Linda Kozlowski, director of global marketing and customer experience at Alibaba.com, had this to say about e-tailers using optimism as a primary marketing tactic:

“Alibaba.com understands the value of optimism. Our online community is driven by innovation, providing a marketplace for entrepreneurs with a vision of new or improved products. Despite our global economic woes, this spirit of entrepreneurship is not flagging in the U.S. – which is good news for consumers and the market as a whole.”

The survey also confirmed something most of us already know- women are better planners than men. Responses showed men are much more likely to make last-minute expensive purchases, while women will ask more questions before purchases, are more price-conscious, and buy earlier. However, women are expected to spend four times as much as men this holiday shopping season.

Another trend the survey found is that shoppers will spend more on themselves than on gifts for others while holiday shopping this year. Even a majority of e-tailers surveyed admitted they will spend more on themselves; 62% of respondents agreed that they will spend the same amount or less on gifts for others compared to how much they will spend on themselves.

Also, a good portion of online retailers will be offering deals on shipping; 47% will give customers free ground shipping and 43% promise deals of expedited shipping. For those shoppers looking to snag some great deals, you better start shopping today. Most e-tailers responded that deals will begin mid-November and drop-off by mid-December.

Below is an infographic produced by Alibaba that highlights the most notable results: