'Net Features : ebay

Easier Shipping for Ebay Sellers with Endicia

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:10:00 GMT

Endicia is now offering its online postage and shipping software to Ebay sellers.

The integration will enable Ebay sellers to import their Ebay orders into the solution, print shipping labels and post tracking information back to Ebay. Using the Endicia system, Ebay sellers can also combine up to three orders into a single package and use one tracking number for each order.

The cost for sellers to use Endicia's Ebay integration starts at $15.95 per month and $34.95 per month for the professional service plan.

"We are thrilled to offer a solution specifically for those eBay businesses that are just getting started," said Amine Khechfe, general manager and co-founder of Endicia. "Our new feature provides an affordable solution to help small eBay businesses free up time previously spent manually entering shipping data, which increases efficiency and allows them to focus on growing their businesses."

Digital Showcase: 17 Companies to Know

Administrator — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Opportunities abound for emerging and established enterprises looking to make or maintain their virtual mark. Industry trade shows like SES, eTail, Conversion Conference, IRCE and many others, offer unparalleled opportunities to educate yourself on emerging trends, technologies and talk, in general, but they are also a fantastic mechanism to drive brand awareness and rub elbows with those who have the ability to help you grow your business, whether it be through partnerships or press.

Website Magazine attended IRCE this week in our hometown of Chicago and brought back 17 companies (or news items) that caught our virtual eye in this digital showcase.

Needle

One of the more interesting companies was that of Needle, a live chat/sales “guided shopping” platform for big retailers that leverages vendors' brand advocates. Needle helps retailers recruit and train those advocates who receive rewards and payouts based on the quality of their participation. Needle counts Overstock.com, Norwegian Cruise Line and Coach and others as clients currently.

Feedvisor

Website Magazine covered Feedvisor in late May and it was well received at the time by our readers, and the same can be said for its presence at IRCE. The algorithmic repricing solution for Amazon, which is currently in use by brands such as American Greetings, will be very appealing to Internet retailers of all budgets interested in optimizing their advertising spend at the popular marketplace.

WisePricer

Maximizing ad spend has been a hot topic this year and numerous companies have built solutions to help Web retailers do exactly that. WisePricer’s is a unique solution Website Magazine encountered that enables retailers to track, monitor and gain insights about their competitors in order to determine an optimal pricing strategy.

Listrak

Email marketing service Listrak was busy at IRCE showcasing its e-commerce-based platform for Internet retailers.

Listrak's solutions run deep and include those for acquisition and engagement, post-purchase and re-engagement, life cycle management and segmentation.

Doogma

Interactive product personalization platform Doogma is certainly a service that will appeal to startup merchants looking to add interactivity into the purchase process, enabling buyers to visualize products before they buy based on their design preference matched with the Web retailers offering.

SAP

Days after Salesforce purchased ExactTarget, SAP announced that they have acquired Hybris Software, a popular provider of e-commerce technology for both B2B and B2C segments, featuring management of content, orders and data from the platform, as well as powerful search and merchandising features.

AT&T and IBM

AT&T and IBM teamed up to offer the e-commerce suite that will provide a convenient service in a single, subscription-based package with features including predictable monthly pricing and integrated software licensing.

This payment format differentiates this product from others by eliminating the up-front licensing fees typical to e-commerce solutions. Also key to mid-size retailers, and their bottom lines, is the scalability of the website and application hosting to meet their changing promotional and seasonal needs.

RetailMeNot.com

RetailMeNot.com is enjoying fantastic growth, as according to a recent review of comScore’s monthly unique visitor data, RetailMeNot.com ranked as the 25th most visited retail website. Categories in the review included coupon, retail and travel websites.

BrightTag

At IRCE 2013, BrightTag showcased its products including BrightTag Tag Management and BrightTag FUSE, its omni-channel data integration platform. BrightTag’s team of marketing and analytics experts were onsite to offer event attendees consultative advice on how to drive their business with better data.They also announced three tips for driving online results: embrace your customer's multi-device world, take data quality seriously and think real-time with your data strategy.

Simple Helix

Web hosting tends to be one of those topics that no one ever thinks about until they need it. A new breed of hosting companies is emerging fortunately that are committed/dedicated to serving the e-commerce market, and more specifically users of specific platforms – like the popular Magento solution. Simple Helix is one such provider that is quickly making its market in the

Signifyd

Internet retailers are very concerned about payment fraud but some fascinating companies are emerging, such as Signifyd, to minimize the problem and impact. Signifyd uses real-time, big data, relationship graph analysis that reveals and scores information from various sources (e.g. social, geo, address, phone, names, airports, cards) to simplify the often complex but important decision about whether transactions should be reviewed by an agent.

eBay

If you’re in e-commerce, you’re likely dealing with eBay or using one of its service in some capacity. Ebay was present showcasing numerous offerings including the Magento platform, Paypal and GSI-Commerce.

STELLAService

Sam Collin of the rapidly growing customer service measurements and ratings provider STELLAService spoke about a recent deal with none other than Google in which the search engine monolith will be paying STELLAService to license its customer service ratings to include alongside product listings in Google Shopping. For those unfamiliar with STELLAService, it’s a company that tests and then rates the customer service performance of a variety of online retailers and businesses by stress testing more than 300 different elements of a customer’s online experience, and then seeing how companies from various industries stack up against one another.

ModCloth

ModCloth is continuing to push its unique social media strategy as it slowly takes over the world of online apparel retail. By leveraging all of the key social networks that aren’t just Facebook and Twitter, including Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram, the company is able to share their unique and fashionable products and interact with consumers through a variety of online touch points. But the real crux of ModCloth’s built-in social media strategy is the company’s ability to integrate user feedback and images into their business, sometimes going so far as to use pictures of customers modeling their products or allowing customers to write copy for a product by asking them questions like, “How would you describe this?”

Bongo International

This e-commerce platform helps brands expand their business to the global market. The platform deals with global logistics, duty and sales tax obstacles, as well as screens all international customers to prevent fraudulent orders. In fact, Bongo International boasts a 0.0 percent fraud rate since the company first launched in 2007, and also ships orders to almost anywhere in the world within five days. Merchants can choose from three different solutions, which typically work with all shopping platforms.

GoDataFeed

This e-commerce marketing software helps merchants increase their traffic and visibility on more than 70 comparison shopping sites and affiliate networks. The platform can be leveraged to automate datafeed submissions and optimize product listings. In fact, GoFeedData provides merchants with feed optimization tips, as well as offers an instant validation tool that tells users if their data needs to be adjusted before going live on shopping channels. Plus, GoDataFeed provides analytics, which track merchants’ best performing shopping sites and products, and measures a campaigns overall success.

Ecwid

E-commerce widget provider Ecwid has teamed up with popular website builder WIX to offer an e-commerce extension within the WIX App Market. While the app has only been live for about two weeks, it has already seen approximately 1,000 sign-ups in that period. The free app not only allows users to add a secure shopping cart to their WIX site, but to their Facebook Page and mobile site as well.

:: Did we miss your company or its news? Let us know below. ::

GoECart Glues Together Fragmented E-Commerce Channels

Amberly Dressler — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:55:00 GMT

Sixty-five percent of shoppers in the U.S. currently shop across at least two channels, while 21 percent of U.S. respondents are using four or five channels to shop, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. What does this mean for retailers?

It means online merchants must find e-commerce solutions that meet the demands of the increasingly sophisticated online shopper. In fact, PwC reports that 72 percent of the consumers surveyed consider themselves to be either confident or experts in researching and purchasing online.

“Online merchants face massive competition today, and most of them are feeling stranded by multiple e-commerce systems and technologies,” said GoECart’s founder and CEO Manish Chowdhary. “But, there is a better way.”

GoECart, which provides integrated, on-demand e-commerce solutions, thinks its the solution to streamline processes. This is because GoECart helps clients sell across multiple channels, manage and fulfill inventory across multiple warehouses and process tens of thousands of orders each month without skipping a beat, like it recently did for GameQuestDirect.

GameQuestDirect offers a vast selection of new and rare video games online with more than 10,000 titles for all leading game consoles. In addition to selling via its own website, the company sells its products through 15-plus online marketplaces including Amazon.com, eBay and Buy.com.

Previously to leverage GoECart, GameQuestDirect used three systems to run its multi-channel retail operation: a standalone ecommerce solution, an independent order management system (OMS) and a separate shipping software. Since switching to GoECart, GameQuestDirect has lowered its costs by 60 percent, while increasing order volume by 40 percent.

Should E-commerce Merchants Accept Bitcoin?

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:12:00 GMT

The Peer-to-peer electronic payment system known as Bitcoin has certainly garnered its fair share of attention over the past few months.

While I won't delve into the details of how it works or what I think of the currency system in general, recent news has emerged that, for many Internet retailers, may signal an end to those high payment processing fees: eBay may actually be considering accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, eBay CEO John Donahoe said, "“It’s a new disruptive technology, so, yeah, we’re looking at Bitcoin closely. There may be ways to enable it inside PayPal.”

While eBay has not made any formal commitments to use the currency, Donahoe suggested that within the next five years, Bitcoin (or other virtual currencies like airline miles) could be converted to cash and ultimately used in retail - maybe even retail e-commerce.

So here's the question, as an e-commerce merchant - would you accept Bitcoin in exchange for your products or services today? How about in the future?

Check out a video explaining Bitcoin below...

12 Effective Corporate Blog Designs

Michael Garrity — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:35:00 GMT

In the age of likes, retweets and shares, content marketing has suddenly become the best way to spread the word about your brand to bring in new customers and rack up conversions.

However, since social media has its limitations, in terms of both branding and the type of content that companies can offer, many businesses have taken to blogging to provide insightful and valuable information to their customers, while also producing likeable and sharable content that can benefit their SEO efforts.

Look, plenty has already been written about how blogs can improve a brand’s content marketing campaigns or increase leads, but we’re here to be a little more superficial than that. While content is undoubtedly and absolutely the most important aspect of a valuable, successful blog, it’s not the only thing that matters. After all, we’ve all heard about the effect that a good (or bad) first impression can have on new consumers. That’s why all of that great content on your blog should look nice, as well.

If you’re in need of some inspiration, we’ve compiled this list of 12 of the most effective corporate blog designs on the Web. Each of them takes a different approach; some are design-heavy and visually striking (e.g. Whole Foods, Southwest), while others take a simpler, less bold approach that is more in line with what the brand offers (e.g. LinkedIn, Bigelow Tea).

Which designs are your favorites? Let us know in the comments section, or share some other great corporate blogs that you know about!

Bigelow Tea Blog

The Official LinkedIn Blog

7Gen Blog by Seventh Generation

eBay inc. Ink

Disney Parks Blog

Whole Story by Whole Foods

The Cleanest Line by Patagonia

Nuts About Southwest

The Dropbox Blog

All Songs Considered by NPR

TOMS

Ice Cream Journal by Turkey Hill Dairy

Green Day Comes Around With PunchTab

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:45:00 GMT

Brands like Arby’s, eBay and the band Green Day understand the importance of increasing consumer engagement via incentives and loyalty programs.

Like Arby's and eBay, Green Day recently teamed up with PunchTab, an engagement/incentives platform, and MAC Presents to employ a “reward for engagement” approach for a concert in New York City. Fans were rewarded for tweeting, tagging and checking-in and had the chance to win tickets to the concert and Green Day gear including CDs, autographed merchandise and other band swag.

According to PunchTab, the campaign netted nearly 20,000 entrants, while almost 186,000 actions were taken overall with 76,000 occurring on social networks. This amounted in $1.7 million in earned media value across social channels.

PunchTab recently celebrated some of its own milestones announcing that is now powering nearly 15,000 active loyalty programs that reach more than 22 million consumers every month.

“There’s a myth that incentivized engagement programs only attract coupon and sweepstakes hunters, but we’re seeing that the right combination of audience, actions, and rewards can engage and retain the right audience,” said Ranjith Kumaran, CEO of PunchTab. “The growth of PunchTab’s customer base and the increase in the number of active loyalty programs shows that the right consumers are responding to these types of programs, and are staying engaged, particularly as they understand that their participation is valuable to advertisers. Likewise, brands such as Con-Agra’s Alexia Foods and WalMart Labs are seeing value in incorporating loyalty initiatives into their broader marketing programs and also realizing that incentive programs are a critical marketing strategy for launches and major initiatives.”

Ebay Behind the Great Wall with XIU Partnership

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:45:00 GMT

Global Internet retailers get excited at the mere thought of promoting and advertising their products within China. Few have managed to take the neccesary steps however. Ebay is one that has and it is leading the charge in many respects, announcing a deal with Chinese online fashion retailer Xiu.com to create a localized online shopping experience called Ebay Style.

Ebay Style will include up to 5000 brands in apparel, handbags and shoes, accessories, health and beauty and other lifestyle categories. All products will be new and available from eBay’ trusted sellers. As well as providing the platform for Ebay Style, Xiu.com will be responsible for curating and translating the inventory from eBay with a product search and browsing experience suited to Chinese consumers. Xiu.com will also provide local returns and Chinese language customer service.

Melanie Tan, vice president for Ebay said: “Today, Chinese consumers are increasingly coming to eBay and we have seen a 40% year on year increase of goods bought by Chinese consumers navigating eBay.com in English. We believe that in the future Chinese consumers will use eBay as a passport to global Fashion styles, especially for leading women’s brands and accessories, and menswear, because our broad selection of new, branded, and designer merchandise will be unmatched in China.”

Say Hello to the New eBay

Allison Howen — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:43:00 GMT

eBay has released a series of design and general experience updates intended to improve user engagement and also compete with the popular daily deal site, Groupon.

The changes include a site redesign, a new daily deal section and a tool that will help one of eBay's largest customer segments – collectors. Learn more about the updates below:

eBay Feeds

It seems as though eBay is embracing change, because the company’s recently updated logo is now accompanied by a redesigned website. The most prominent site change is the eBay Feed, which is a personalized page of items that are displayed in a Pinterest-style layout of image tiles. The Feeds are completely customizable, with the displayed products being tailored to the categories or items that users choose to follow. It is safe to say that the new image-oriented design focuses on usability, because it provides users with a simple way to quickly discover new products.

Lifestyle Deals

While the eBay Feeds take a page out of Pinterest's design handbook, the auction site’s new daily deal feature takes a page out of Groupon's business model. The new service, which is called Lifestyle Deals, currently runs offers in a limited number of cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco. The deals are arranged through a partnership with a company called Signpost, which assembles deals with local merchants and posts them online. In the past, eBay has focused on offering deals for products, so jumping into the deal industry with a focus on services is definitely a big step for the company.

Setify

Aside from the new site design and daily deal venture, eBay has also launched a new tool that focuses on helping one of the company’s most popular customer segments – collectors. To many people, collecting is more than just a hobby. However, the collection process can be very time consuming because it requires a lot of research, tracking and even at times, some networking. This is why eBay has made the collection process a little easier with the launch of a free tool called Setify. Currently in beta, Setisfy helps collectors track the items that they own, share their collections, build wish lists and shop for additional collectibles. Although Setify currently only supports comic book and coin collectors, support for more categories is expected to come in the future. Those who are interested can request a beta invitation here.

Where the Shopping Cart Left Off

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:40:00 GMT

Ecommerce solution provider Ordoro, which provides a Web-based software for order and inventory management, has partnered with Ebay and will now make its solution available to Internet retailers using that marketplace.

"We like to say we pick up where the shopping cart leaves off," says Jagath Narayan, Ordoro's co-founder and CEO. "We deal with the unsexy but painful parts of running an ecommerce business, and for small online retailers, it's huge."

The Ordoro platform enables merchants to expedite shipping by integrating shipper accounts (FedEX, UPS, USPS) and providing rate lookup, as well as to manage and control inventory with features such as kitting (combining multiple SKU’s into a single product) and tracking among other features.

The alliance with eBay further extends Ordoro's roster of marketplace (e.g. Amazon Seller Central) and shopping cart integrations including the likes of BigCommerce, Shopify, Shoptsite and 3dCart.

"Managing inventory between their webstore and eBay store is a very real pain for many retailers," says Narayan. "With our partnership with eBay, we're able to provide those sellers with a better way."

Ebay Now for Local Retailers

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:07:00 GMT

eBay is beta-testing same-day delivery for shoppers purchasing products from local brick and mortar retailers through its new mobile app eBay Now.

Local users (San Francisco only for the time being) began receiving beta invites over the weekend for the iOS-only app offering that will allow them to purchase items from stores including Macy’s, Toys’R’us, Target and Best Buy, and have them delivered anywhere.

eBay Now is likely an effort to combat Amazon, which many expect to use its recent warehouse expansion as a base for Amazon Prime users to receive same-day shipping in the future.

eBay is offering beta users $15 off of their first order and free same-day delivery for their first three. Orders will come with a $5 delivery charge and there is a minimum $25 order.

Crowdsourcing and the Future of Work

Administrator — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:55:00 GMT

Getting things “done” does not have to be difficult – at least not if you’re familiar with and confident in crowdsourcing. The trend of getting others (the crowd) to work on your projects (and don’t forget fund) by simply outsourcing it has rocketed to prominence over the last few years and by any existing measurement of success, you can expect that trend to continue well into the future.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with James Rubinstein, PM Search Metrics at eBay, in advance of his presentation at Crowdopolis – an event taking place this week (July 19th, 2012) in Los Angeles. The conference addresses the future of crowdsourcing in content marketing, advertising and technology and features speakers from several Fortune 500 companies including GE, Nokia, Amazon, Ebay and others.

Crowdsourcing, in the briefest of definitions for those wholely unfamilair, is the division of labor – taking a large job, breaking it down into component tasks and then distributing it. Rubinstein thinks of crowdsourcing as “many hands make light work” and uses crowdsourcing in a variety of ways at Ebay in his role as a project manager – including testing inventory descriptions, testing search result quality, and measuring the efficiency of the search experience for users.

Rubinstein's presentation at Crowdopolis, “Crowdsourcing Lessons from James Bond” will provide a practical view into the role that research plays in successful crowdsourcing, how to use that research to productionalize the process, and how to maintain positive vendor relationships.

If you are unable to attend Crowdopolis, do check out the “Enterprise Ready” column in the upcoming issue of Website Magazine where readers will discover how to ride the wave of crowdsourcing to greater efficiency and business profits.

Merchants are Optimistic about the Future of E-Commerce

Allison Howen — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:30:00 GMT

The confidence levels of e-commerce merchants are running high according to a recent survey that was recently published by multi-channel e-commerce solution provider Vendio.

The 2012 Spring Survey reveals insights about merchant’s outlooks in regards to the future of e-commerce, as well as the satisfaction levels of merchants that sell on eBay and Amazon.

The Future of E-commerce

The study reveals that most merchants are hopeful about the future of online shopping. In fact, 84 percent of respondents claim to be optimistic about their online growth potential, while 16 percent say that brick and mortar stores are the method that they currently use to sell their goods. Additionally, only 11 percent of respondents are considering brick and mortar locations for future sales compared to 33 percent who are considering opening their own web store and 26 percent who are considering selling goods on Amazon.com.

The survey also revealed that many of the respondents have a long-term history of selling goods online. Twenty-six percent of the respondents say that they have been an e-commerce seller for more than 10 years, while 30 percent claim to have been in business for 1-4 years. Further statistics show that 20 percent of merchants are newcomers on the Web – only being in business for less than a year, while 15 percent have been in business for 4-7 years and 9 percent have been using e-commerce platforms for 7-10 years.

“We continue to see amazing growth with e-commerce as more sellers are moving online to grow their revenue stream,” says Mike Effle, Chief Executive Officer of Vendio. “Since our inception in 1999, we have seen consistent growth in entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to the Internet to sell their goods. It’s not surprising that those vendors, based on significant success, see a positive future for e-commerce.”

Selling on eBay and Amazon

The survey findings also reveal that the majority of merchants who sell products on Amazon and/or eBay are satisfied with their overall experience and sales – with 80 percent claiming to be satisfied with the overall experience of Amazon compared to 76 percent who are satisfied with eBay.

However, the survey showed that eBay and Amazon differ slightly when it comes to ease of use, with 93 percent of eBay users rating the process of listing on eBay as either “Very Easy”, “Somewhat Easy” or “Easy”, compared to 80 percent of Amazon users who gave the same ratings.

Further statistics disclose that the fees sellers pay to eBay (and PayPal, its primary payment source) and Amazon appear to be similar, with 42 percent of respondents claiming that less than 15 percent of their sales are taken by eBay/PayPal fees compared to 36 percent who pay less than 15 percent to Amazon. Furthermore, 88 percent of merchants say they pay less than 25 percent of sales to eBay/PayPal compared to 91 percent who pay less than 25 percent to Amazon.com.

“It is good to see that sellers are having positive experiences with both eBay and Amazon,” says Effle. “It is important that sellers feel the two major online marketplaces are an effective use of their time. Thus, Amazon could close the gap between the two by improving the overall ease of use for their merchants.”

Imagine This: Major Moves for Magento Merchants

Allison Howen — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT

It looks like e-commerce platform Magento is running at full-speed ahead.

Magento, which is a division of eBay’s X.commerce initiative, was the recipient of a bundle of new updates this week at the Imagine eCommerce Conference that took place in Las Vegas.

The new updates offer merchants and developers the ability to create more customized and easier shopping experiences for consumers, and are available in the latest versions of the Magento Community and Magento Enterprise software. The biggest updates include the integration of HTML5 for Magento Mobile and PayPal Payments.

Since smartphones are becoming one of the most popular channels for consumers, Magento is now offering its merchants a simple way to create a more compelling mobile shopping experience.

Magento’s new mobile offerings include gesture-based controls, multi-touch and image scaling, device-specific audio and video capabilities. Other new features aim at creating a user-friendly experience for consumers, including an easy-to-use search and results display, the ability to drag and drop products to the shopping cart, the capability to zoom and easily swipe between product images, as well as the inclusion of cross- and up-sell features.

The customizable HTML5 theme also supports iPhone, Android and Mobile Opera browsers.

“From research to checkout and beyond, merchants can now drive conversions more effectively, increase order size and build customer loyalty,” says Roy Rubin, general manager of Magento and chief product and customer officer of X.commerce.

The other major Magento announcement is the integration of the PayPal small-business product suite, which helps merchants compete in multi-channel retail environments. PayPal Payments offers merchants one solution that makes it simple to accept payments online, from a mobile device or in-person.

PayPal Payments is available in three tiers, with every tier offering a full suite of payment solutions. Magento users can select PayPal Standard, Advanced, Pro or Express Checkout directly from the Magento platform -- based on which solution best meets their business' needs.

Additional updates to the Magento platform include advanced visitor segmentation capabilities, the ability to enable consumers to create multiple wish lists and an improved content management system for Magento Enterprise users, as well as the automatic generation of coupon codes for both Magento Enterprise and Community merchants.

Magento has been gaining a lot of momentum recently. Prior to the Imagine Conference, the company announced partnerships with VisiStat, Bronto Software and 500friends. The X.commerce open ecosystem that Magento is a part of provides users with a large selection of end-to-end commerce technologies, including shopping carts, payment services, inventory management, marketplace integration, SEO and more.

Social Gamification Gains Momentum in the Retail Channel

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:20:00 GMT

eCommerce coupon and “offer marketing” platform Fanplayer has brought its gamification technology to Magento, the first such partner in Ebay’s X.Commerce ecosystem.

Magento merchants are now able to add the Fanplayr widget to their stores to engage consumers socially with games that provide multi-variable coupons and offers. There are currently three Fanplayr games – Spinner (see short demo video below), Mystery Game, and Card Flip.

The Fanplayr widgets can be deployed pretty much anywhere – not just a Magento shopping cart – including Facebook brand pages, email, mobile websites, even within advertising. The extension offers real-time performance insights into the coupons/offers being used by merchants and also provides social graph (and Facebook Connect) integration.

"Magento's integration partnership with Fanplayr enables merchants to better engage and convert social consumers to sales using new and traditional marketing channels," said Fanplayr CEO Simon Yencken. "We're excited to be a lead innovator for the Magento and X.commerce platforms and are focused on building new and innovative commerce experiences that drive the highest engagement, loyalty and sales for merchants."

Hunch Product Recommendations Go to eBay

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:36:00 GMT

Ebay has acquired product recomendation and personalization service Hunch for a reported $80 million.

Hunch, introduced in 2009, delivers customized suggestions to users based on the information they share on social networks and their activity on other websites. eBay will use HUnch's "taste graph" technology to suggest "non-obvious" but relevant products for shoppers through its use of predictive merchandising.

“We are engaging consumers in innovative ways and attracting top technologists to shape the future of commerce,” said Mark Carges, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Global Products, Marketplaces. “With Hunch, we’re adding new capabilities to personalizing the shopping experience on eBay to the individual relevant tastes and interests of our customers. We expect Hunch’s technologies to benefit eBay shoppers as they browse and buy, and to bring sellers on eBay new ways to connect the right products with the right customers.”

The quality of product recommendations on retailer websites has been declining which may be one reason eBay acquired Hunch. According to one recent survey, 59% of shoppers said they received poor quality product recommendations from retailer websites in 2009 - a substantial 31% increase from the 45% of shoppers who reported poor quality product recommendations in 2008.

eBay could ultimately use the Hunch acquisition for a variety of efforts, namely by further building out the x.Commerce platform, but there are a few other possibilities. For example, a new feature of eBay's iPad app shows shoppers relevant merchandise based upon what they are watching on TV.