Amazon.com '09: sales +28% to $24.51 billion, profit +40% to $902 million

And here are the slides from Amazon's Q4 '09 earnings webcast:

View more presentations from Michael S. Levy.

US e-commerce Holiday sales reach $27 billion

First off, Happy New Year everyone!

According to comScore, online Holiday sales (from Nov 1st to Dec 24th) reached $27 billion, a YoY growth of 5%.

Here's the comScore data breakdown:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from michaelslevy.com

See you in 2010!

Michael.

GSI Commerce does coop e-mail marketing for its clients

From Internet Retailer

"In a bid to help its individual retailer clients compete with large cross-category online marketplaces for a prime piece of the holiday shopping pie, GSI Commerce Inc. rounded up more than 30 of the retailers on its e-commerce platform for a co-operative e-mail marketing program.

Discounts and deals in GSI’s “World’s Greatest Friends & Family program," which started Sunday December 13 and ran through December 14, were promoted by each retailer to its customers via e-mail. The e-mails directed recipients to a special landing page on the retailer’s site that showed offers from all of the participating retailers. The offers also were posted at www.greatestgifts.com."

The Return of Retail: Holiday Spending 2009 - from Mint.com

budget planner – Mint.com

Le Web Paris '09 social commerce / e-commerce highlights

Here's my personal selection of e-commerce / social commerce moments from this year's LeWeb conference worth checking out, pulled-up straight from the Ustream feed of the event!

1. From the Main Stage: Always insightful business, company culture and customer service anecdotes and advice from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

2. From the Start up Competition:

- Storific, a set of tools enabling online retailers and their employees to manage their customer communications and promotions on twitter and Facebook in one centralized/shared dashboard (jump to 22:41 for their demo)

- Shutl, a cool service from the UK, turning competing courrier and express delivery providers into a real-time web service for online retailers, enabling online shoppers of retailers using the service to have their on-line purchases delivered within 90 minutes of checking out or selecting a 1 hour delivery window at a time of their convenience – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! (jump to 33:42 for their demo)

- Not e-commerce but still I had to plug them, they're awesome: Tigerlily, a CMS-like Facebook app to manage your Facebook Pages, so cool (jump to 28:53 for their demo)

3. Here's a way too short roundtable, with low-interest questions and answers, on "How has the real-time web changed your e-commerce business?", with Zappos (USA), Vente Privée (FR), Otto (DE). Too bad, the topic was well worth exploring fo real.

4. And here's a little bonus, Gary V's intervention, about "crushing it" and giving a crap about your customers, before the conference's closing remarks. Always hard-hitting and hilarious. Enjoy!

Can you make the cut? Luxury brand launches: online and by invitation exclusively

Von Rosen one ups closed-community shopping websites...

This 1-year old German luxury fashion label has launched a special business: it's online, with limited collections, and by invitation only.

If David Von Rosen has not invited you, well... you can send him a request, telling him who you are and what you do, and he will decide if you're worth being one of his customers...

“All customers have the right to choose a brand,” Von Rosen told Style.com. “We wanted to turn the perspective around and choose our customers. We don’t want money as the only hurdle to exclusivity. Yes, we’ve turned down people who’ve applied, like a good club would.”



A few figures:
- 10,000 requests since starting the site a year ago,
- has granted access to only 1,500 people,
- has sold about 4,000 items, average price of a sweater is €450, or about $675, shipping not included.

How's that for exclusivity?

I sent him a request... Will I make the cut? And can you?

UPDATE:
Hey I made it! :)
Here's the email I received in answer to my membership request:

"Dear Michael S. Levy,

You have asked for access to VONROSEN. Thank you for your interest.

Our customers rely on a high standard of exclusivity. In the interest of our existing customer base, we are only able to grant access to a limited number of enquirers.
Unfortunately, we are not acquainted personally. However, you have us interested by your professional background and the information that we have found about you. We believe that you fit VONROSEN.

VONROSEN brings you the best quality and timeless-urban designs. The VONROSEN-signet is individually engraved with your monogram. As a fashion label from Berlin, we produce exclusively in Italy and Germany. Also, you will never encounter any sales or discounts at VONROSEN. For all orders, including gifts and/or gift certificate purchases, we receive before Dec. 31, we offer you an extended money back guarantee (send back by Jan. 14., 2010). With code XXXXXXXX you can now log on at vonrosen.com.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Welcome to VONROSEN!

Yours Sincerely,
David"

Man, I feel so hip right now... See you later, I have some shopping to attend to :)

eBay with the coolness: interactive USA map of all Black Friday transactions !

ebay forays into physical retail and private sales

eBay announced plans to open "pop-up" boutiques in 12 cities across the USA in an effort to service holiday shopping.

Pop-up retail is IT right now...

Its first ephemeral store popped up on November 20, in a 5,500-square foot Manhattan location, and will close its doors on November 29.


Also, eBay has launched its very own closed-community event sales website, Fashion Vault... except it's not closed :)

Fashion Vault is open to all eBay members and offers free US shipping. As usual, sales events last for two to three days only, and quantities are limited. Currently on sale: DKNY.

Cool e-commerce & social commerce info this week

Argh. Can't bring myself to post all this info I found this week...
So here's my very own weekly review of things worth noting:

Thanksgiving / Black Friday: US online retail picking up?
According to Mint.com
According to Forrester
According to ComScore

eBay targeting $500m GMS by mobile users this year!
That's a lot. And they're launching a new app called 'Deals Today'.

Woot! launches deals.woot! and it's awesome
A wooters-powered deal finding community website

Milo.com: a very well designed product finder driving traffic to local stores
Complete with price comparison, real-time inventory in stores near you, and consumer reviews straight from the stores' websites. It's Milo.com.

Noteworthy social media tactics by major retailers
Toys'R Us's cool Facebook-only Black Friday catalog and mystery deals campaign

IKEA's genius Facebook campaign:


That's it for this week!

xoxo

Michael.