Gilt Groupe CEO Susan Lyne Interview at Shop.org

A very interesting interview of the CEO of one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in the US, based on the private sale model born in France, during the Shop.org annual summit which ran from September 21-23, 2009 in Las Vegas.

Susan Lyne talks about why the Gilt Groupe website is so addictive to shoppers, how retail is just repackaged entertainment, and announces a new venture...

Read it all here.

Average e-commerce conversion rates in the UK

Here's a very nice article on average e-commerce conversion rates in the UK on blogstorm.

We learn that:

- the average conversion rate across all industries in the UK is 3.04% with conversion rates from natural search slightly higher at 3.16% for March 2009;

- shopping cart abandonment stands at 50.1% in the UK compared to 65.61% in the US.

A lot of insightful figures, from Coremetrics.

Is woot.com's traffic the new Big Mac Index?

"Woot’s ability to predict a financial rebound should not be dismissed and that trend is going up." -Read John Biggs' treatise here.

US online retail figures from Forrester...

Forrester pegged total online retail sales at $156.1 billion last year and projected growth to $229.1 billion, or 8% of total retail sales, by 2013. But fewer than a third of online consumers purchase package goods online today.

State of e-commerce fraud in France

A white paper by FIA-NET

"Entertainment Shopping" on your iPhone

Check out the SevenSnap app!

Demo video:

Top 10 Web 2.0 Activities for Ecommerce | via GetElastic

"Retailers often wonder what Web 2.0 / social media activities to be involved with, so this post ranks what I believe are the top 10 Web 2.0 activities for ecommerce based on their business impact."

The Music Industry Is Dying: a Visualization.

No comment.
Source: The New York Times

Geolocalized mobile shopping app drives sales to stores

NearbyNow, the website that helps you find the products you want to purchase that are available in stores nearest to your physical location, has released a white-label iPhone App Platform, enabling brands to offer a product availability/localization feature directly from your mobile phone.

How a NearbyNow-powered app works (excerpt from Seventeen magazine's "Fashion Finder" app description) :
- Browse the latest looks by style or item.
- Zoom in and out of the stuff you like, so you can see the details.
- Tap “Find It Near You” to find a store within 50 miles that carries the item.
- Confirm the item is available in your preferred size and color.
- Just enter your contact information and the Seventeen Fashion Finder personal shopper will call the store during normal business hours and put the item on hold. Within 10 minutes, you will receive an e-mail or text message with details on where to find the item in the store and whom to ask for. You’ll have 24 hours to come in and try it on.
- Tap “Find It Online” to get a list of online stores for items available on the Web.

Pretty neat service huh?

BUT... a human from NearbyNow actually has to call stores in your area to check availability of your item in your size... Not a very scalable model, don't you think?

GM, eBay to Test Online NEW Car Sales | via Reuters

The venture, accessible at gm.ebay.com, "currently limited to California, lets shoppers scroll through about 20,000 vehicles sitting on the lots of 225 of GM's 250 dealers in the state. The listings include a "buy it now" price, which customers can accept, or they can enter into online bargaining with a dealer."