Amazon Acquisitions and Investments Map | Via MeetTheBoss

Neat!
Read all about it here.

ShopTogether: bring your friends with you when you shop online...

US junior clothing retailer Charlotte Russe just added ShopTogether from DecisionStep on their online store.

ShopTogether is a hosted application for retailers that lets customers interact in real-time while surfing e-commerce websites.

ShopTogether is actually a toolbar that is displayed at the bottom of the site (à la Facebook), from which shoppers can invite their friends to browse/shop with them through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, email or instant messaging.


Charlotte Russe homepage with ShopTogether toolbar


Invite friends via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Email or IM

Once they accept the invitation, ShopTogether connects two or more friends for a joint shopping session. Shoppers can chat, view products, share favorites and ideas, helping shoppers making better buying decisions, thanks to the advice they get from their firends, just like in "real-life" shopping.


Undergoing shopping session with chat panel expanded from toolbar

Great integration of social services into the shopping experience.

I wish we could add video chat, and save shopping sessions /shared favourites for later in the shopper's account...

A one-up to the FluidSocial product I reviewed a while ago, which integrated Facebook components into Jansport's website.

Banners as standalone shopping widgets: really shop in display ads!

Here's a link to cool demo of a campaign launched in the US by 1800flowers, of a rich display ad embedding a fully functional e-commerce storefront.

You can browse bouquets, search, view product details, add your selection to the basket, checkout and pay without leaving the website you are on, all within a Flash expand layer.

How's that for interactive direct advertising?

An alvenda production.

Amazon: Now One-Third Of All U.S. E-Commerce

Amazon.com could be responsible for close to a third of all U.S. e-commerce transactions, RBC Capital analyst Stephen Ju asserted in a research note this morning. [...]

Ju’s data suggests the total slice of U.S. e-commerce through Amazon was about 34% in Q4, up from 27% a year earlier.

Recession Special? Amazon shuts down 3 warehouses in the US | AllThingsD

Amazon announced Thursday that it is closing three distribution centers and will cut/transfer the 210 employees.

Amazon Closes Book on Distribution Centers | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

Apparel and accessories top category for US web purchases

Apparel and accessories led all product categories in number of online purchases in the USA in February, Nielsen Online reports.

Apparel and accessories led all product categories in number of online purchases in February, with 9.87 million, or 16% of all online purchases, Nielsen Online reports in its MegaView Online Retail report.

It adds that eBay led all retail web sites in number of online purchases in the apparel and accessories category, with 4.6 million, 47% of the market , followed by Victoria’s Secret, with 870,000 purchases and a 9% of the market.

Forrester Research concurs: in its State of Retailing Online 2008 report, the apparel category, which surpassed computer gear for the first time in 2006 as the top online sales category, is projected to hold onto the top spot again in 2008, accounting for $26.6 billion in sales, up 17.2% from $22.7 billion last year.