Commerce Search: a search engine for your e-commerce website, courtesy of Google -finally!

Google has just released Commerce Search, their search product for e-commerce websites.

If it's as efficient as Google Search, then maybe it is worth testing, to see if its conversion rate is better than the current search engine you have implemented on your website...

Usage cost is based on the number of products/items (SKUs) in your data feed and the number of search queries entered on your site each year.

I'm looking for e-commerce sites that have switched and are testing it out. If it is your case, drop me a note!

Here's a video from Google explaining the basics:

Storenvy.com, the social store community, is live and it's awesome.

Gorgeous design.
DIY stores.
Community-enabled shopping features.

I love it.

Check it out: http://www.storenvy.com

"On one side, Storenvy is a series of online stores run by independent sellers. "The little guys." Stores are fully customizable, with a feature-rich store admin panel, and completely FREE.

On the other side, Storenvy is a network of shoppers who can shop across all of those stores at once, interacting with each other by watching what notes and ratings they leave on products and stores throughout the site. It's like following your friends and style icons on a shopping spree, watching what they pick up and what they actually buy."

E-commerce deals update: Zappos, Ruelala.com

Well, it turns out Amazon will shell out $1.2b instead of the anticipated $928b to purchase Zappos, according to today's official press release.


Also, GSI Commerce Inc., the blueprint for PIXmania's e/merchant business I helped build, purchased US-based Retail Convergence, owner of Smartbargains.com and Ruelala.com, a 1,5 year old closed-community shopping website... for a whopping $350m. Official news release is available here. GSI Commerce now has private sales capabilities to round out its complete array of e-commerce services (customer acquisition and online marketing, storefront design, order fulfillment, customer support, technology and infrastructure, fraud prevention... you know the drill).

It has been a Happy Halloween for Zappos and RueLaLa :)

Michael Jackson's "This Is It" movie tops online sales

MJ's movie premieres tonight in the US and in France.

According to movie tickets website Fandango, 61% of all its tickets sales in the last 2 weeks are for "This Is It", and over 1,000 showtimes for the flick are already sold-out in the US.

Also, "This Is It" producer AEG estimates that the first 5 days will bring in $250 million, which is more than Spiderman 2 did...

I'm going to see it tonight in Paris... Will post my review :)

Morgan Stanley's 2009 Economy + Internet Trends

The always highly anticipated yearly presentation by Mary Meeker is embedded hereunder.

Key themes: The Return of the Economy, the Mobile Internet revolution.

Enjoy!


Morgan Stanley Economy Internet Trends

Be Your Own Social Media Director | via Practical Ecommerce

In this edition of "Ecommerce Know-How", Kevin Patrick Allen from Practical Ecommerce shares three roles the owner and de facto social media director of an ecommerce company can play and how, by incorporating those practices within his business, he can better reach the new age of consumers online.

In the Beginning: 9 Really Old School Ecommerce Designs | Via GetElastic

Cool post from the GetElastic Blog, showing early e-commerce websites designs in the late '90s.

Enjoy!

French private shopping club Vente-privée.com, an e-commerce European success worth USD 1.5 billion

From Techcrunch Europe, an update on private shopping clubs in the US (a.k.a. closed-community shopping websites), on the interest from e-commerce power players on this awesome business model... and on the mother of all private shopping clubs, Vente Privée.

"TechCrunch Europe thus understands, from some very good sources, that Gilt, Amazon and eBay are all actively looking at acquisitions in the European private shopping club space. The price for Vente Privée alone is being talked about in terms of a $1.5 billion sale. Some sources even put the figure at between $2 billion and $4 billion.

One VC I spoke to said Vente Privee was “very attractive” to the big ecommerce beasts like Amazon and eBay, and a roll-up of these types of clubs is potentially in the offing across Europe. Another said “It would be a good move – depending on price – from either Amazon or eBay.”

Read the whole article here.

"Faceshopping": Carrefour launches exclusive live shopping deal application on Facebook

Here's a little social commerce app we designed and launched at Publicis K4 for Carrefour, the #2 retailer in the world.

It's called "Faceshopping" and it offers daily shopping deals for Facebook members only.

Launched on September 22nd, it is the first application of its kind.

Reviews are starting to show up accross the Web...

Go ahead and try it for yourself...
All of your comments and ideas are welcome, so we can make it better over time.

(A special shout-out to the fine folks at KRDS for the great work!)

RetailMeNot.com survey says 30% of online adults will not make a purchase at an online store if they can’t find a coupon for that store...

Awesome online coupon website RetailMeNot, from the fine people at Stateless Systems, just released the results of its survey on consumer couponing habits.

Major learning include:

- Coupons drive more purchases (duh)

- The wealthy have increased the use of coupons (these are tough times for everybody)

- 30% of online adults will not make a purchase at an online store if they can’t find a coupon for that store

- and much more... read all about it here.