Google's Retail Plans

Most retailers are aware by now that clean customer and product data is what will take their business to the next level in the coming years. It’s what will help them understand their customers and predict future buying patterns. But retailers aren’t the only ones keen to get control of it. Google is on a drive to get businesses to sign up to their latest e-commerce drive, which focuses on the value of information on local stock levels.

It might sound slightly dry, but it’s a good idea – keeping things local is at the heart of Tesco’s strategy for international expansion. Their group strategy director Andrew Higginson said at the National Retail Federation conference in New York last week, “Retail is still a local business. Even within the same city, two stores can display completely different needs. It’s a balance between getting global knowledge, IT and marketing consistent, and being absolutely local in what we offer consumers.”
Google appears to be on the same page, with business product manager Paul Lee speaking on the topic at the same conference.

There are two trends driving this. Firstly, the number of transactions that people research online and make in-store is rising to a predicted 64% of total purchases by 2019. So the real winners, Google says, will be bricks and mortar retailers who have useful information online – both about the product, and about where you can find it.

Secondly, the increasing use of mobile internet means people are searching in-store for immediate information. If they can’t find what they want on the shelves, they’ll search for it on their phones and go to the nearest place with the product they want in stock.

Google is working with technology suppliers like Oracle on the logistics of collecting this data, and already has a sizeable list of retailers signed up. Ventures like this are likely to need lots of work, aggregating and cleaning up data, uploading product listings to websites, and making sure it can be updated in real time. But if the big names are to be believed, the effort will be worth it.

Rebecca Thomson for Retail Week

Facebook Shoppers Have 7-10% Larger Shopping Carts

Shoppers on Facebook like to buy more, spend more, and shop more – at least according to the latest numbers from private shopping site Kembrel. Kembrel has seen increased sales on its Facebook-only shopping app compared to its dot.com website, indicating that the return on investment for an ecommerce organization to establish a social presence could be quite high.

The Kembrel store itself is a college-only shopping site that offers limited-time, deeply discounted deals on over 50 college lifestyle brands including American Apparel, C&C California, and Blackberry and Mac accessories.

Kembrel expanded from its web-based store to include a Facebook store earlier this year, allowing users to shop and make purchases directly from within Facebook – an industry first at the time.

Using ShopIgniter‘s Social Promotions Engine to drive traffic from its main webpage to its Facebook store, Kembrel has seen measurable success that other e-retailers should pay attention to: Kembrel has driven 20% of all transactions inside their Facebook store with a 7 to 10% larger shopping cart than their dot.com website. These larger carts were due, in part, to special promotions run on Cyber Monday.

Cherif Habib, CEO and Founder of Kembrel, has this to say about Kembrel’s Facebook store:

“Students spend more time on Facebook every day than on any other site. ShopIgniter enables us to engage our social network by running unique, viral social eCommerce promotions like limited time sales and refer a friend incentive programs.”

Retail companies looking to increase visibility using social media should take note: During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, ShopIgniter’s hundreds of retail and brand manufacturer customers saw measurable successes. On average, they experienced an increase of 80% in user acquisition and a 500% increase in unique visitors related to viral/shareable coupons. It looks like targeting customers on social networks during peak shopping windows like Black Friday – and offering them incentives like sharable coupons to further leverage the social web – is an effective way to increase your online presence as a social shopping entity.

Lauren Dugan for allfacebook

JCPenney Sets Up Shop on Facebook

JCPenney has set up shop on Facebook, allowing consumers to buy the company’s clothes and tell their friends about it.

The retailer worked with Usablenet on the site, which also lets users “like,” share and review products.

JCPenney currently has 1.3 million fans on Facebook. The company moved closer to Facebook integration in October when it began running Facebook “like” buttons in its banner ads.

JCPenney’s not the first retailer to sell its wares on the world’s largest social networking site. 1-800-Flowers started offering Facebook-based transactions last year and in August, Delta Airlines began letting users book tickets from its Page. Procter & Gamble also runs an e-commerce site on the network.

Check out the site:
http://www.facebook.com/jcpenney?v=app_174296685928910#!/jcpenney?v=app_174296685928910

Todd Wasserman for Mashable