One in four (25%) people will regularly use interactive TV to shop by the end of 2014, generating direct sales worth nearly £750m, new research suggests.
The rise of connected TV will make it the …
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Editorials, opinion, analysis, guest writers, industry comment and more
Editorials, opinion, analysis, guest writers, industry comment and more…
Editoriaux, avis, analyses, écrivains invités, commentaires sur l’industrie
Ecommerce is not just about making a transaction: at its best it’s also entertainment, says the chief executive of Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten.
“While some may see ecommerce as a straightforward vending machine-like experience,” said Hiroshi Mikitani, “we believe it is a living process where both retailers and consumers can communicate, discover and curate to make the experience more entertaining”
That’s why Rakuten, which claims a spot on the list of the top 10 world-leading internet companies, has just led investment worth $100m (£63.3m) in social shopping site Pinterest, alongside existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital, as well as a number of angel investors.
The money will help Pinterest to expand globally, improving its service as it goes. In particular the site will expand into Japan and Rakuten’s 17 other markets around the world.
Ben Silbermann, co-founder and chief executive of Pinterest, said: “Our goal is to help people discover things they love, by connecting people through their shared interests. Bringing Rakuten on board gives us an amazing opportunity to move a step closer to this goal.”
As well as owning Rakuten Ichiba, Japan’s largest ecommerce site, the company also owns Play.com in the UK, Buy.com in the US, and Priceminister in France. It also has sites in countries including Brazil, Germany and Russia.
Commenting on the investment, Seamus Whittingham, EMEA MD at ecommerce experts ChannelAdvisor said that in many ways Pinterest was more suited to ecommerce than more established social networks.
“This is a clear indication that Pinterest is heading into a path where they will monetize via e-commerce,” said Whittingham. “With Rakuten’s vast network of marketplaces, affiliate networks and other e-commerce assets, this is an interesting partner for Pinterest.
“The site is already more commercial than Facebook and Twitter. In fact, at least half of the content and activity on Pinterest is product-related with the conversations much more likely to consist of ‘I love this dress’ than the usual sports talk or ‘I love my cat’ chatter.”
Our view: Time was that Saturdays were all about shopping – and that was a leisure activity. You might imagine that the rise of online shopping would put paid to that – but in fact Pinterest is just one place that consumers are spending leisure time in talking about their purchases and prospective purchases. Etailers will be watching to see how this site develops thanks to this latest funding.
UK shoppers spent £5.7bn online in the wettest April on record, 10% more than last April but 2% less than the previous month, March 2012, the latest retail sales figures show.
Clothing sales during the month …
by Christina Grzasko
We are in the middle of a retail revolution. Our customers no longer compromise on the products they buy because everything is available at a click of a button. And retailers are getting …
The eCommerce Foundation wants to know from retailers and ecommerce companies what they think of their suppliers.
The not-for-profit organisation, which counts Internet Retailing editor-in-chief Ian Jindal among the members of its advisory board, aims to …
Asda’s online sales have grown by 19.2% so far this year, the company said today.
Customers also went online in their hundreds of thousands to check their receipts, under the Asda price guarantee.
The first-quarter figures …
Yell has bought DIY website and online shop builder Moonfruit for £18m as part of its ongoing strategy to become a leading provider of local eMarketplaces.
Yell, the digital services company, aims to build new strength …
The owner of luxury brands including Belstaff, Jimmy Choo and Bally is set to sell direct to consumers through transactional brand websites.
Labelux, which counts the three brands among its holdings, has signed a global deal …
Groupon’s share price rose last night as the online daily deals company reported a “record quarter.”
The company unveiled a 140% rise in active customers to 36.9m in the three months to the end of March …
Almost two-thirds of consumers who buy premium products and services say they will continue to spend just as much online in 2012 as last year – despite the recession, new research suggests.
A thousand respondents with …
The updated eBay Fashion app for iPhone, available in the UK this month, will now feature innovative Image Swatch technology to allow shoppers to find fashion items on eBay.co.uk that match the colour and pattern …
London’s shoppers are in for a surprise thanks to a new partnership that will see mobile vouchers for nearby shops offered through free public Wi-Fi hotspots for the first time in the UK.
INITIALS Marketing is to roll out an advertising campaign to launch re:route, a new iPhone app based rewards programme created by Recyclebank, the company that motivates people to take everyday green actions by rewarding green …
MEF, the Global Community for Mobile Content and Commerce, has announced the next phase of its m-Commerce Initiative to develop privacy and security standards for m-Commerce in partnership with ASC X9’s Mobile Mirror Group, a …
Consumers are spending increasing amounts of time on mobile connected devices, with time spent on tablets playing a significant role in purchasing decisions as consumers find new ways to research and interact with brands, according …
In the year that has passed since the results of Stibo Systems’s first UK consumer survey were announced, m-commerce – including online shopping via both smartphone and tablet devices – has seen an overall uptake …
After much hyper and build up in mobile circles, UK operator O2 has launched O2 Wallet, a seamless and secure digital wallet service that will deliver the benefits of mobile money to more UK consumers …
Whether it’s to dazzle us with how many people are now starting their purchasing journey by turning to their smartphone or new mobile wallet offerings from the likes of Barclays and O2, m-commerce has become …
Global e-shoppers spend on average 22% (UK average: 25%) of their annual outgoings on goods and services online, shop for 5 hours a month (UK average: 6), watch TV whilst shopping online (global: 46%, UK: …
Retail technology business One iota, is aiming to take on the likes of Groupon and other group buying services, following the launch of DealsJoy – a free platform that enables businesses of any size to …
Cross channel mobile engagement and commerce enabler Digby has expanded its agreement with Venda, a world leader in convergent commerce, to leverage the Digby Localpoint Mobile Platform to help Venda eCommerce enabled retailers take full …
Online and mobile channels are gaining traction, whilst the number of consumers using more ‘traditional’ channels – such as catalogues and call centres – is dropping significantly year on year, finds a study by PortalTech …
