Ecommerce & Web Marketing Research: August 1- 10 2004

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August 9

Indian software company achieves tops IPO $

ATC, one of India's largest software development compans, states that it has raised 54.2 billion rupees ($1.17 billion) in its IPO, making it the the biggest IPO in India's history and the second largest in Asia this year. Read more

Start up tech executives earning less

It seems that the gravy train for executives in start-up tech companies has finally well and truly been derailed. Around 4 years ago, executives of tech oriented companies with little or no history - or profit, were commanding salaries equivalent of their *really* big company counterparts. 

Also, a survey has found that the average base salary for IT staff has only increased 1.9% in the past year, compared to 2.9% for 2002 and 7.9% in 2001. Read more.

August 8 2004

Company sues over downloading patent

I've often been amazed at the American tendency to sue each other. One of my New York colleagues jokingly said it's the way Americans say "hello" to each other. Yet, I digress..

E-Data Corporation filed to sue some very big names in ecommerce and demanding they pay penalties on digital content downloaded by their customers since 1998. Sigh - if you're at all interested in learning more about this case, read this article.. let's move on shall we?

More US shoppers using online information

A recent report by The Deringer Research Group states that online information for products now influences over half the purchase decisions made by US shoppers. Other points from the report:

• Majority of Internet users access financial products online
• 114 million adults searched online for product information in the last year
• 98.9 million adults made purchases online or as result of online research in the last year
• 3 out of 5 shoppers said their brand opinions changed in 10 key categories after researching product information online
• Use of online activities increases in young adults and older adults over the age of 35 with incomes of over $75,000.

The interesting point made in this report I feel is the number of people who changed brand opinions as a result of online research - driving home the point that adequate online representation is critical to the sales process and  

August 4 2004

RSS - time for ecommerce merchants to dive in?

A couple of years ago when I was supervising an IT project, a few of the guys I was working with were very excited about a new technology - RSS feeds.

RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication, well, that's one of the translations of it anyway. It's basically a method for publishing content through an XML feed. In the future, it may eliminate the need for mailing lists. It's totally opt-in; a person uses special software called an "aggregator" to search for feeds and then updates the content when they wish. 

Even though this technology has been around for a while, from a revenue generating perspective it's still been in it's infancy and up to this point it's been best suited to ecommerce site owners who have a tech savvy audience.

That's all changed with major search engines such as Google and more recently Yahoo spidering RSS feeds; so it's probably time to start examining this promotion and marketing strategy in greater depth. Some resources:

• Learn more about RSS basics 
• Read more on the applications of RSS in ecommerce.
• free RSS aggregator - SharpReader 
• Free RSS feed creation tool - ListGarden
• View a sample RSS feed file

August 3 2004

Micro-payments - macro business

Micro payments, defined as transactions of under $5 are predicted to reach $11.5 billion by 2009 according to report published on eMarketer. 2003 saw an estimated $2 billion in micro-payments processed. Perhaps this boost in activity through the increased availability and consumer willingness to purchase digital content may also trigger the growth of PayPal type processors, and dare I wish it - lower transaction fees for merchants? Guess I'm dreaming :).

Terra Lycos sold again - for 99% less

After being bought by a Spanish company 4 years ago for $12.5 billion, Terra Lycos is to be purchased by South Korea's largest ISP for around $100 million. "Terra who?" you say? Yes, it's a little like that; but back in the boom days of the web where money was flowing more freely than beer at Oktoberfest; TL was *very* hot property and a serious competitor for Yahoo. Read more.

August 1 2004

Online ad market to grow to $16 billion by 2009

A report released by Jupiter Research at the Jupiter/Clickz Ad Forum last week has estimated that online advertising will grow from $6.6 billion in 2003 to $16.1 billion in 2009.

Much of the increase will be attributable to advertisers becoming increasingly web-savvy; through the benefit of experience and powerful targeting tools that really deliver results. Read more.

Microsoft demonstrates new search tools

After 11 months of development, the new Microsoft browser toolbar and embedded search functions have been demonstrated at Redmond as part of their Financial Analyst's day. Microsoft has stated that not only will their new search technology drill deep down into areas of the Internet commonly left untouched, but it will also allow users to search their hard drives at blisteringly fast speeds. Read more.

Google's IPO site opens

The eagerly anticipated float of the one of the world's best search engines (my own rather biased opinion) is looming. Google has just launched ipo.google.com where investors can register their interest in acquiring shares. If you have a hankering for a share in the Mighty G; it's not going to come cheap. Google has valued the shares at between $108 to $130 each. Many people have asked how many shares I'm buying - The answer: none. Why? I need the money for coffee and cigarettes so I can keep adding onto this site :).

Using popups to market popup blocker backfires

A USA company that inundated users with with "pop up" ads in hopes that people would purchase the the company's ad-blocking software has agreed to cease marketing the software, avoiding a court battle with the FTC. Interesting marketing strategy, nice try guys! Read more.

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