eWeek.com: E-Commerce Sites Aren't Too Social...

Opinion: Social networking sites have little influence on e-commerce, says JupiterResearch.

From an article by Evan Schuman, editor of CIOInsight.com's Retail industry center, on eWeek.com: E-Commerce Sites Aren't Too Social

Ecommerce Facebook Applications: Yes, you do need one!

A large part of Facebook's rise, has been its platform, an 'open source' policy with regard to the creation of Facebook applications. The result has been twofold: A huge demand for fun and informative applications and the corresponding, explosive proliferation of applications created for the site.

From Practical eCommerce:

Ecommerce Facebook Applications: Yes, you do need one!

Radiohead sells 1.2 million copies of 'In Rainbows' online in 1 week

Here's a little update on my post about the dying music industry business model and Radiohead's offering their new album online for free or for the price YOU wish to pay it.

According to a source close to the band, In Rainbows has “sold” approximately 1.2 million copies as of October 12th.

That’s more albums sold in the first week than Radioheads’ last three releases combined.

According to an Internet poll of 3,000 people, the average price paid for In Rainbows was $8.

If these numbers are accurate, Radiohead has made close to $10 million in one week on this album alone.

So, One Week Later, Is The Album Dead Yet? — The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics

technorati tags:e-commerce, music, DRM

Facebook valuation update: $15 billion?

As told by Mark Zuckerberg at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco...

"The Facebook CEO basically just admitted to the much-discussed Facebook $15 billion valuation financing, telling interviewer John Battelle: “It’s going well, we’ve almost wrapped things up.”

From GigaOM: Web 2.0 Summit: Zuckerberg Admits to Deal-Making « GigaOM

France press clipping about Private Outlet

Private Outlet, un nouveau site de ventes privées, veut séduire l'Europe et les marques de luxe. Il compte totaliser 1,5 million membres début 2008 et ouvrir 10 nouveaux pays en un an.

Private Outlet veut décliner les ventes privées en Europe

From JournalDuNet

technorati tags:e-commerce, private, outlet, social, commerce, europê

Pricing the superfluous: a revolution

The power of the Internet on consumption habits is undeniable. Especially when it comes to entertainment. The music industry is feeling it in a big way, with the complete break-down of its current business model.

In just a matter of days, 3 music heavyweight acts have announced in some form or other that they are dumping their label, digging the grave for the record industry's tired-a** model.

1. On October 1st, rock band Radiohead announced they will be releasing their new album through their website ONLY, for downloading. And as the cherry on top, visitors will choose on the spot WHAT PRICE THEY WISH TO PAY FOR OWNING THE LP. If they wish to download it for free, they can, but if they wish to contribute, or 'donate', to Radiohead's efforts, they can too!

According to BFM Radio (France), as of today, only ONE THIRD of people who have downloaded it have decided to get it for free! Unbelievable.

Consumers will most often buy packaged sliced bread, considered a utility, at the lowest price in supermarkets. But entertainment, and more so fashion, a.k.a. the superfluous, triggers a self-esteem mechanism which stimulates the consumer to be willing to pay a premium to own a Diesel pair of jeans or a Radiohead album.

2. On October 8th, Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor announces on the band's official site that they will go direct to the fans, as they have not renewed their recording contract with their label. Here's a paste of Trent's post:

08 October 2007: Big News
Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.
posted by Trent Reznor at 10:45 AM.

Here's Techcrunch's take on it.

3. And last but not least, putting the nail in the coffin, here comes Madonna signing a deal with a promotion company, not a record label! A $120 million deal that is, with LiveNation, to distribute three studio albums, promote concert tours, sell merchandise and license Madonna’s name.

Here's the story, from the Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal - WSJ.com : Live Nation's Breathless Madonna Deal, and from Techcrunch: And The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Madonna Dumps Record Industry.

It's definitely getting hip to dump your record label! Who's next? Let's just say that the pioneers aren't small local acts...

But if I remember correctly, the first major platinum-selling music act to go direct and online-only, was legendary rap combo Public Enemy, in 1999, with their There's A Poison Goin' On LP. The group's leader, Chuck D, toured the US, urging artists to bypass the established record-label power structure through the use of technology.

Long live trailblazers and paying music fans!

Bonus: video for PE's new single

technorati tags:music, DRM, direct, ecommerce, e-commerce, madonna, NIN, public, enemy, BFM, Diesel, Techcrunch, WSJ, recording, records, consumer, behavior

eBay ventures into Social Shopping

eBay is stepping into the social networking game in a big way, launching over 600 micro-social shopping networks within their site called eBay Neighborhoods. Each of these networks organizes itself around a different theme/item/product category, urging members to find a sense of community in their shared purchasing habits.

Social Shopping in eBay’s New Neighborhoods » eCommerce Cache :: Varien eCommerce Blog

technorati tags:ecommerce, e-commerce, ebay, social, shopping, network, networking

Hot open source eCommerce solution released to high praises

A new open source eCommerce solution was released last month, and was highly anticipated by the US webdesign and development community. It's called Magento, and it's from the guys at Varien, the leading integrator of OsCommerce solutions in the US...

Needless to say, it has lots of competition, from OsCommerce to ZenCart to Shopify... But it seems like it's going to be BIG. Early reactions from developer communities are praising the product.

It is clear Magento was built based on Varien's over 7 years of experience playing with OsCommerce and building eCommerce websites for their clients: a lot of the 'out-of-the-box' features from Magento are considered as high-end functionalities, that are usually found in enterprise-class, licence-fee riddled software.

These features would definitely require numerous patches, extra development hours and headaches in order to be added to competing open source e-commerce apps...

Here's a small list of some of these 'high-end' features:
- campaign-specific landing pages management,-
- user reviews management,
- multiple storefronts, languages, currencies and sales taxes management
- ...

I've checked out their frontend and backend demo, and it sure is clean, tidy, quite complete and easy to use.

And the best part is since it's open source: it means access to a community to share and enrich features, no license fees and no fees on sales. It's also going to create more business for webdesigners and development companies :)

Let's wish all the best to Magento, and that it becomes 'the Zimbra of eCommerce', as Mashable dubbed it.

Breaking: Microsoft to bid on Facebook for a $10 billion valuation

Seems Facebook founder Mark Z. was right when he turned down Yahoo's offer last March, which would have valuated his company at around $750 million (!).

Setting the stage for a possible bidding battle with Google, Microsoft is thinking over an investment in Facebook Inc. that would value the number 2 online social network at $10 billion, according to a report published Monday by the WSJ.

See here for more info: Microsoft considers stake in Facebook - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

For info, Microsoft already had secured an ad deal with Facebook last month...

technorati tags:facebook, microsoft, google, social, networking, network, deals

YouTube Reinvents Video Ads

YouGoogle chose a compromise for implementing video ads: no pre-roll (thank God!), but around 15 seconds into watching a video, a transparent "opt-in" video ad appears at the bottom of the video.

From Mashable: YouTube Reinvents Video Ads

technorati tags:google, youtube, ad, advertising, video

Breaking: iPhone to launch in Europe in Autumn '07

Breaking: the Apple iPhone European launch was confirmed this morning.

Apple will enter only 3 test markets, again with an exclusive deal strategy:
- the UK: seems to be 0²
- Germany: to be announced
- France: Orange is confirmed

To say the least, this is terrible news for Vodafone, who hoped to get the exclusive distribution and service for Europe.

Mobile services companies in Europe are already bracing themselves to offer loads of apps and services as soon as the baby hits the market.

More to come later today...