When speaking of the lack of privacy on the internet, some people sound like it is 1984 and they are living Orwell’s nightmare with a twist; it is no longer a cruel totalitarian government that monitors your behavior to impose its oppressive policies, but the greedy capitalist companies that invade your privacy in order to sell you their products.
Is this so bad? After all, they just want to identify your preferences so that you are exposed to more effective targeted advertisements (a.k.a. ads that you may be interested in). It would seem like a win-win scenario where golfers receive promotions of the weekly green-fee discounts and skydivers are prompted about the latest extreme sports destination.
Nevertheless, what if I don’t want to be tracked anymore? Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission issued some recommendations to policymakers in order to protect those who would rather keep advertisers away from tracking their online activity. The way I see it, if people don’t want to be monitored anymore is because advertisers are not being effective enough in displaying the ads that the web surfer is really interested in.
Therefore, it would seem like FTC’s suggestion of creating Do-Not-Track mechanisms is actually giving companies a hand, after all the government agency is relieving marketers from the burden of asking each and every Internaut about his or her preferences as a consumer, hence enabling more efficient targeted online marketing. I guess we all (consumers and marketers) have to thank the FTC this time!
domingo, 12 de diciembre de 2010
domingo, 5 de diciembre de 2010
Local e-commerce: It’s hot!
When three of the biggest dotcoms make a move on local e-commerce in the same week, one can’t help wondering that there is more to it than just coincidence.
On Thursday, eBay issued a press release announcing the acquisition of Milo.com, an online shopping engine focused on the provision of real time information on prices and inventories of products offered in local stores.
One day later, Amazon confirmed the investment of $175 million in LivingSocial.com; which started as a website where people could post comments on their favorite books, coffee shops or restaurants and then became quite a profitable company when it decided to follow Groupon’s business model of offering discounts for products and services provided by local businesses.
Finally, after a week of mysterious news articles written with the help of “undisclosed sources” that sounded more like hallway talk than serious journalism, on Saturday Bloomberg confirmed Google’s failed attempt to acquire Groupon for over $6 billion. On April, Groupon was valued in $1.3 billion when private investors such as Facebook financier Accel Partners devoted over $170 million. Eight months later it’s turning down $6 billion buyout offers! Could it really be worth that much?
Only time will tell if Gropuon’s decision to turn down the search engine was the right one, especially considering that LivingSocial, its closest competitor, has now established a synergy with Amazon in order to fuel its ambition to conquer once and for all the local e-commerce market. In the words of LivingSocial co-founder and chief executive officer Tim O'Shaughnessy "To be the biggest player in the local commerce space there is no one better to work with than Amazon."
So, why the sudden interest in local e-commerce? Here are some numbers that certainly answer the question without need of further explanation:
-Maybe because “channel shopping” sales , which stands for researching online for products that are bought offline, will be $1.3 trillion and account for nearly 50% of total retail sales by 2013.
-The $133 billion U.S. local-ad market might have something to do with it.
Groupon’s 35 million users and LivingSocial´s over 10 million must find local e-commerce sites useful.
-Technology developed by Milo will allow eBay to provide consumers with access to millions of products from approximately 50,000 stores across the country.
-LivingSocial estimates to reach the half a billion mark in revenues next year, while Groupon hopes to make that amount by December 31.
With the facts and figures cited herein, it is fair to say that local e-commerce might be the next big thing in the dotcom world.
On Thursday, eBay issued a press release announcing the acquisition of Milo.com, an online shopping engine focused on the provision of real time information on prices and inventories of products offered in local stores.
One day later, Amazon confirmed the investment of $175 million in LivingSocial.com; which started as a website where people could post comments on their favorite books, coffee shops or restaurants and then became quite a profitable company when it decided to follow Groupon’s business model of offering discounts for products and services provided by local businesses.
Finally, after a week of mysterious news articles written with the help of “undisclosed sources” that sounded more like hallway talk than serious journalism, on Saturday Bloomberg confirmed Google’s failed attempt to acquire Groupon for over $6 billion. On April, Groupon was valued in $1.3 billion when private investors such as Facebook financier Accel Partners devoted over $170 million. Eight months later it’s turning down $6 billion buyout offers! Could it really be worth that much?
Only time will tell if Gropuon’s decision to turn down the search engine was the right one, especially considering that LivingSocial, its closest competitor, has now established a synergy with Amazon in order to fuel its ambition to conquer once and for all the local e-commerce market. In the words of LivingSocial co-founder and chief executive officer Tim O'Shaughnessy "To be the biggest player in the local commerce space there is no one better to work with than Amazon."
So, why the sudden interest in local e-commerce? Here are some numbers that certainly answer the question without need of further explanation:
-Maybe because “channel shopping” sales , which stands for researching online for products that are bought offline, will be $1.3 trillion and account for nearly 50% of total retail sales by 2013.
-The $133 billion U.S. local-ad market might have something to do with it.
Groupon’s 35 million users and LivingSocial´s over 10 million must find local e-commerce sites useful.
-Technology developed by Milo will allow eBay to provide consumers with access to millions of products from approximately 50,000 stores across the country.
-LivingSocial estimates to reach the half a billion mark in revenues next year, while Groupon hopes to make that amount by December 31.
With the facts and figures cited herein, it is fair to say that local e-commerce might be the next big thing in the dotcom world.
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