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Wise Foods’s Scan It To Win It Sweepstakes (Promo Magazine)

Posted: 03/31/2011

The 2009 launch of Wise Foods’s first sweepstakes generated 37,000 opt-in email addresses to its database. Last year, the company ran the same program during the same time frame and added another 20,000 addresses to its list. "The biggest chunk of our yearly database has come through this one promotion," said Kevin Foltz, marketing manager for Wise Foods. Designed to capture return visitors, this year, the 90-day sweepstakes is being tied to Wise’s 90th birthday celebration. The company promotes the sweeps via its Website and Facebook page, on partner Coupons.com Web pages, through text messages and banner ads and via in-store displays and header cards.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Creating Intelligent Hyperlocal Campaigns (BrandWeek)

Posted: 03/31/2011

You’ve heard it before: to be an effective marketer you have to reach your audience with the right message at the right place at the right time. With this most basic of marketing principles in mind, more and more businesses are turning their attention to hyperlocal advertising and marketing. As technology continues to evolve, it is easier than ever to pinpoint a customer’s exact location. Pair that with the consumer’s growing interest in being tapped for local marketing and you have a powerful combination. The Mobile Marketing Association found that most mobile users are “interested in allowing their phone to automatically share their location in exchange for perks, such as free use of mobile applications and mobile coupons.” The key is to tap into your current customer base and make your move before your competitors to ensure the most success.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Karmaloop’s Online Roots Run Deeper Than Facebook And Twitter (DIRECT Marketing Online)

Posted: 03/17/2011

Long before Facebook became synonymous with social marketing, Karmaloop’s rep program was successfully hawking its line of streetwear to its audience of teens and young adults. Nearly a quarter of its $100 million in annual sales is generated by 6,500 reps across the globe. Assigned a customized code to track sales and earn points, reps essentially build their own customer base by promoting the brand via personal blogs, Websites, Facebook pages, and other social networks. “We have our built-in audience and the trust and loyalty of millions of 18- to 24-year-old kids, and they’re going to follow us, because peer-to-peer is how we do that,” director of lifestyle marketing Giovannah Chiu said. The same philosophy led to the creation of KarmaloopTV.com in 2008, which has since expanded to include channels devoted to specific brands and regularly scheduled programs.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Facebook Like Button Helps Solve Retailer’s Dilemma (Fast Company)

Posted: 03/17/2011

To help solve the problem of overstocked inventory, San Francisco-based children’s clothing retailer Tea Collection put Facebook’s “Like” button into action. Customers saved big when they voted for their favorite items that were set to be discontinued and then enjoyed a hefty discount from $59 to $10 on the winning dress. The dress was an immediate sell out. While the company took a loss on it, marketing director Jeff Reichelderfer explained that the campaign more than made up for the losses with purchases that customers made on other items. Tea Collection, which sells its line in boutiques and department stores across the country as well as online, has since hosted two more competitions to help move inventory and further engage its customers.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global, North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Facebook Gears Up For Major eCommerce Drive (BusinessWeek)

Posted: 03/03/2011

In an effort to convert more of the social network’s 500 million users into regular online shoppers, Facebook is now wooing big business. Facebook has added e-commerce features designed to “attract users, keep them logged-on longer, and generate higher advertising sales,” thereby attracting major brands to sell their products and services through the social networking site. Helping with the effort are companies like Minneapolis-based Alvenda and San Francisco-based Payvment, whose technologies have allowed the company to integrate a retail component into Facebook pages and facilitate payment. David Fisch, who runs the newly formed commerce partnerships group at Facebook, hopes the effort may turn the company into an online shopping alternative. More than half of the top 25 retail sites, including retail competitors like eBay and Amazon, have linked their sites to the social network in the past year, Facebook says.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Mobile Commerce Sales Grow Exponentially In 2010 (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 02/17/2011

Reports from research and consulting firm ABI Research indicate that total U.S. mobile commerce sales, excluding travel, exceeded $3.4 billion in 2010, up 143% over $1.4 billion in 2009. Previous skyrocketing growth also occurred between 2008 to 2009, up over 253% from $396.3 million to $1.4 billion. Mark Beccue, senior analyst, consumer mobility, at ABI Research said, “Mobile online shopping growth in the U.S. has been fueled this year by the massive migration of consumers to smartphones, the explosion of highly innovative use-cases deployed by retailers and third-party players, and a significant shift in consumer behavior as more consumers choose mobile shopping over traditional online shopping.” Rather than being driven by one or two product categories, mobile shopping crosses all retail boundaries (and product and service lines), helping brands connect directly to their customers in meaningful ways across all types of mobile marketing campaigns.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Trigger Happy: Ways To Create Successful E-Mail Campaigns (Practical eCommerce)

Posted: 02/03/2011

When it comes to e-mail campaigns, there are a handful of strategies to use that can help capitalize on the power of triggered mailings, which have a proven track record of phenomenal response and conversion rates. The best approach is to begin with the simplest e-mails proven to elicit conversion, and then scale up the campaign to include more nuanced and complex e-mails. Here are six proven examples that can help your company establish a personal connection with your customers: (1) Welcome e-mails; (2) Reorder or order reminder e-mails; (3) Birthday or special-occasion e-mails; (4) Transactional emails; (5) Abandoned cart e-mails and (6) Abandoned site browse or search emails. All these examples offer the marketer’s toolbox a number of ways to create and maintain long-term relationships with customers and stimulate repeat business at the same time.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Success In Numbers: Choice Hotels Increases Mobile Sales By 250% (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 02/03/2011

Since entering the mobile realm in 2008, Choice Hotels International Inc. says its mobile sales surpass seven figures each month. The sales represent more than 1% of all online sales. Furthermore, mobile revenue is up 250% year over year, reservations are up 205%, mobile page views 130%, mobile conversion 106% and mobile traffic has grown on average 190% each month since launching. “Mobile customers want things as quick and simple as possible,” said Christopher Brya, director of mobile and emerging channels. The company’s in-house usability lab helps further refine its mobile approach. It’s a strategy that seems to be working: the iPhone app the company developed in the lab last year was downloaded 500,000 times in 80 countries, some of which don’t even house a Choice Hotel. Future plans include developing an app for smartphones on Google’s Android platform.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Sweet Sleuthing: On The Hunt For Missing M&M Spokescandy (Strategy Magazine)

Posted: 01/05/2011

Now that the red M&M’s spokescandy has dropped out of sight, sweet-toothed Canadians are on the lookout for the sweet sensation. The disappearing act is part of a contest M&M recently launched, signaling the brand’s first foray into social media, which also means Red didn’t simply vanish without a trace. Fellow M&M's characters will be dropping hints via Twitter and Facebook. Toronto fans can visit Findred.ca, where they’ll access a version of the Google Street View API to search out three locations in the city where the white-gloved bandit might be located. The campaign also includes a location-based element as part of its social media mix using mobile apps like Foursquare and Stickybits. The campaign features postings throughout Toronto, each containing a QR code, which releases a Community Clue to aid in the sweet search.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

J.C. Penney Makes Mobile Holiday Move (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 01/04/2011

J.C. Penney Co. is initiating a major multichannel mobile push with holiday retail plans that include the launch of an m-commerce site, enhancements to its mobile applications, location-based app promotions and an iAd campaign. Along with the full suite of m-commerce functionality such as browsing, searching and buying—the mobile site also includes a Find Near Me button and updated applications for iPhone and Android users that lets shoppers browse the weekend sales circular; create portable shopping lists; find the nearest store to either their current GPS location or to a ZIP code or city name; and sign up for mobile coupons. Location-based services Foursquare, Brightkite and Facebook Deals also play a role, allowing shoppers to cash in for $10 off a $50 purchase when they check in at one of the retailer’s 1,100 stores. In addition to its ongoing mobile coupons program, the campaign will also include mobile display ads on Apple’s iAd network, featuring a treasure hunt through a variety of J.C. Penney gifts as shoppers search for a $10 off $50 coupon.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Retailers Dial-In To Smart Phone Shopping Trend (CRM Daily)

Posted: 01/04/2011

With one-third of mobile phone usage to be “smart” this holiday season (Nielsen), retailers are getting dialed-in to e-commerce. The 21 percent increase over last year indicates that retailers can no longer rely on independent strategy for their retail outfits, whether they are bricks-and-mortar stores, Web sites or mobile shopping channels. Heather J. Brunner, chief operating officer of Austin, Texas-based Bazaarvoice, said a phone is "just a mini-computer, and our challenge now is to transfer the Internet experience to a much smaller screen." For instance, outdoor brand Patagonia recently launched a new application that suggests similar items and price ranges while customers browse. In-store, the app will recommend complementary items based on the tag’s bar code. Companies like Neustar are working on types of “second-generation” bar codes for smart phones that are square rather than rectangular while Pronto, a company owned by New York-based IAC, plans to launch a mobile app for product price alerts.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

‘Tis The Season For Cultivating Brand Loyalty (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 01/04/2011

Remarketing often proves to be the silver lining during the holiday retail season, driving both sales and profitability. In fact, dollar for dollar, remarketing delivers the highest returns compared to alternative marketing techniques, especially when used in tandem with display marketing campaigns. Successful marketing entails knowing how to reach the right people at the right time with the right offer. This makes remarketing ripe for the picking, especially considering the advances today’s technology allows for like analyzing consumer behaviors and reaching out directly to consumers. When it comes to marketing plans, remarketing demands foresight and planning to get it right. The keys to success include placing as much weight on page views as click thrus. Other success factors including figuring out exactly how much to budget for remarketing (based on hard data) and focusing on calendar events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as major holidays.

Shoutlet: One-Stop-Shop For Social Media Management (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 12/16/2010

Shoutlet’s social media management application now features CRM functionality. The app is designed to let customers monitor and manage multiple accounts and brands with additional functionality that eases the process for companies to post and monitor responses to content. Given the number of users that use social media to complain about a service or product, or get help, one of the app’s most powerful features is its collaboration component. One such collaboration feature includes the ability to tag a prospect or commenter and then forwarded it internally for someone within the organization to take care of. "Let's say a company has several customers talking about or complaining about a certain issue," President and COO Aaron Everson said. "Shoutlet can tag all of those commenters and send them to someone for follow-up or assistance." The company intends to enhance functionality even further by increasing its reach to mass influencers and adding a mobile component.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Peer Groups & Communities

Google Goes Fashion Forward (CRM Daily)

Posted: 12/16/2010

Google is going fashion forward with the debut of Boutiques.com, which offers shoppers a personalized shopping experience. The launch is as much about technology as it is e-commerce. Using computer-vision and machine-learning technology, Boutiques.com visually analyzes consumers' fashion tastes in order to match them to other styles they might be drawn to. "These days, bloggers, stylists and everyday fashionistas are expressing their sense of style online. We invited them to create boutiques so people could shop their diverse styles," Google Product Management Director Munjal Shah said. "But you have a unique and independent style, too, so Boutiques also lets you build your own personalized boutique and get recommendations of products that match your taste." The site offers a variety of search options, allowing consumers to filter results by genre, silhouette, pattern, color families, and sizes, or even view matching outfits when they search for specific items.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Mood Guides Consumer Choice For The Perfect Cup Of Tea (Strategy Magazine)

Posted: 12/16/2010

Tea-maker Tetley discovered surprising results in their focus group testing, namely that tea drinkers are primarily motivated to buy tea based on their current mood. In response, the company launched a new “Colour Therapy” campaign. The campaign allows consumers to discover which herbal tea colour best matches their personality. The site features two threads: “Find your colour” and “Find everyone’s colour,” and recommends the perfect cup of tea based on visitors’ answers to criteria like the current weather, time of day and even the customer’s state of mind. The site also incorporates a social element that allows visitors to share their “tea” colors among social networks. Users can view the color mood of Canada, which is based on Twitter posts, via the "Everyone" stream. A "Colour Therapy" page for Facebook launched on November 11.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Digital River Is Getting Social With Ecommerce (Electronic Commerce Guide)

Posted: 12/16/2010

Digital River, a global ecommerce service provider, recently launched SocialStream, a new social media tool. Using the tool, Digital River customers can rapidly set in motion new e-store promotions and then manage them over different Facebook and Twitter accounts. Ecommerce-Guide.com reported Jim Wehmann, senior vice president of global marketing for Digital River saying that “Social Stream lets marketers and e-store owners optimize social media campaigns with just a few clicks from within the standard Digital River interface they already know and use.” While SocialStream is certainly not the first ecommerce service offering of its kind, the package’s most significant advantage is that it provides e-store owners with access to social analytics. The ability to report critical commerce data relating to social media activities like unique clicks, conversions and revenue generated for each social campaign for each social account allows companies to validate the success of each campaign.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: Macy’s Magic Fitting Room (CNET News)

Posted: 12/01/2010

Looking for an interactive dress-up experience without actually taking your clothes off? Clothes shoppers had the chance to, quite literally, tap into a 21st-century shopping experience at the new Macy's Magic Fitting Room in the retail chain's New York's Herald Square flagship store. The 72-inch multi-touch screen let shoppers select clothing items like tops, dresses, bottoms, and coats and then superimpose the pieces on their reflection. Macy's hired LBi International to create the interactive mirror, heralding in a new era the company deems as “the future of retail.” The experience becomes even more interactive and social when customers share their new looks on Facebook, or via SMS or e-mail.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

The Wine Connection: iPhone Application Uses Image Recognition (Red Herring)

Posted: 12/01/2010

Intent on increasing consumer interaction Snooth, a social site for all things wine, recently unearthed an iPhone application that gives consumers the low down about bottles of wine. All the consumer needs is a picture of the wine label to find out everything from the nearest place to find a bottle to how much it costs. Other details include reviews, similar products, and food pairing suggestions. The high tech app uses software from Canadian startup TinEye, which allows for a coded image on the wine to be taken by a photograph, despite the curved glass of the wine bottle or the mood lighting of the restaurant or winery. With 820,000 searchable wines and links to 11,000 wine merchants around the globe, the gist behind Snooth's image recognition tool is akin to QR codes, which use matrix codes to effectively marry digital and print information, bringing consumers even closer to information about the goods they consume.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

The Ultimate Question: To Optimize For Mobile Or Build An Application? (Marketing Vox)

Posted: 11/11/2010

A report by Taptu, “The State of the Mobile Touch Web," compares mobile web and applications and reveals upcoming trends business should keep in mind. These days, with so many vendors offering touchscreen devices, it’s not just a matter of optimizing websites or mobile, but determining if the site should also be optimized for nimble navigation and rapid loading pages on mobile touchscreens. While retail and service oriented sites are the most likely to optimize for the mobile touchscreen (20% compared to 3.6%), many consumers are already demanding the technology from the sites they frequent. The report states, "With support for HTML 5 features already being rolled out in these browsers, it's getting easier and easier to create rich touch screen user experiences with the browser without having to create platform-specific apps." Google has integrated mobile browsing into its service offerings. For instance, consumers that conduct searches will now pull up relevant apps accompanying the typical search results that can be downloaded to an iPhone.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Clearasil’s Secrets & Science Of Looking Awesome (B&T)

Posted: 11/11/2010

Achieving clear, radiant skin is the ultimate goal from the onset of adolescence into maturity. Now, Reckitt Benckiser’s Clearasil brand has launched a new website to promote its new ‘Secrets & Science of Looking Awesome’ brand positioning. The Website uses an online magazine to offer practical advice based on user generated content and integrates social media into the campaign by prompting users to share links and “iLike” via Facebook. “The 11 - 24 target market for Clearasil is going through life changing landmarks and with the new online platform we’ve designed and developed for them, Clearasil is acknowledging the journey and forming a deeper bond with the brand’s users,” said Tim O’Neill, joint managing director of Reactive, the digital agency that launched the campaign.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: North America, Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Stamped And Delivered: Send Gifts And Goods Using E-Mail Addresses (BBC Business News)

Posted: 11/11/2010

In an age where security and privacy top the list of priorities for most, a new method of sending mail is likely to garner attention. In order to acquire goods through sites like eBay, individuals are required to provide their physical address to a stranger. Now, there are several companies offering services that depend on e-mail addresses alone to deliver the goods. While most of the companies are primarily U.S.-based, gift-giving site Parcel Genie delivers across 40 countries. To send packages, all the sender needs is a username from Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Going beyond gift-giving, the U.K.’s Send Social enables users to send and receive any type of package with a special label only partner delivery companies are capable of reading. "The only piece of information you see is the information you already know - that might be a Facebook name, a Twitter id or e-mail address," says Jonathan Grubin, head of Send Social. One such partner, Bybox, operates a network of locker boxes around the UK, and deliver box-to-box, rather than door-to-door.

Industry: Retail & Products
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America, Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Filtering The Noise: Discovery Personalizes The Online Experience (Tech News World)

Posted: 11/11/2010

The internet abounds with buzzwords. Now, there’s new buzz about “discovery,” the real-time aggregation and personalization of content as it is applied to an online experience. Take Amazon for example, an online retailer that makes purchasing recommendations based on your past buying behavior and others that match your browsing and purchasing habits. True discovery, however, elevates this concept to the next level: It will tie together what you have liked, purchased, viewed, discussed, and browsed, into a real-time aggregator that provides recommendations on any category of your choosing. For discovery to be completely revolutionary, it must have both an online and mobile interface. From websites like Yelp to smartphone applications like mobile GPS, several discovery platforms are in the works, including Ping, a music discovery engine launched by Steve Jobs in September.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

The Virtual Dressing Room (CNET News)

Posted: 10/27/2010

Finding the right fit is often one of the most frustrating elements of shopping online. Now, with the help of a new, headless “shape-shifting robot mannequin,” shoppers don’t have to simply leave their purchases to chance. Created by Estonian start-up Fits.me, the virtual fitting room service allows customers to enter their measurements and presto! The “me”-shaped mannequin previews the coveted item in whichever styles and sizes the customer specifies. The service is being tested by retailers across Europe, including Germany's Quelle and U.K.-based Hawes & Curtis. Apparel has potential for huge e-commerce gains. "Only 8 percent of clothing is currently sold online, and Fits.me Virtual Fitting Room is the disruptive technology that will enable online apparel retailers to successfully compete with traditional brick-and-mortar clothing shops," Heikki Haldre, CEO and co-founder of Fits.me said. Initial findings are very positive with a 28 percent reduction in online apparel returns, while sales increased threefold, said Haldre.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global, Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer

Group Buying Sites: Strength In Numbers? (Knowledge@Wharton)

Posted: 10/27/2010

Harnessing group buying power, e-commerce sites like Taggle, SnapDeal, MyDala, Koovs, Deals and You, and Grabbon are just a few of the group buying websites continuing to pop-up in India. With the middle-class population on the upsurge in India, there is plenty of growth opportunity for e-commerce in a developing market. "Group buying in India as a business development and customer acquisition strategy makes an enormous amount of sense," suggests Eric K. Clemons, professor of operations and information management and management at Wharton. Typical deals include retail services like restaurants, spas and salons, and weekend getaways. "The retail market in India is estimated to be close to US$500 billion, of which 17-18% is services. Even if we can take 0.5% or 1% of that market online, that is a sizeable market," notes Kunal Bahl CEO of SnapDeal parent firm Jasper Infotech. The e-commerce sites are also trying to integrate social networking into the group buying experience.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Asia Pacific
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Motricity Delivers User-Preferred Content On-the-Go (CIO Magazine)

Posted: 10/27/2010

Motricity recently launched mCore MobileCast, a service that allows wireless carriers and large companies to define content based on their smartphone users’ preferences. Requiring "zero touch" by the users, the cloud-based service takes a user’s location and prior usage into account before delivering audio, video, text and HTML5 content streamlined to the user’s preferences. For instance, a mobile user purchases tickets to a rock concert via a mobile device. Enter mCore MobileCast: The service ingests the concert data in combination with GPS data to disseminate auxillary information to the user, such as the concert's opening act, parking locations and even places to eat nearby. "All that information is in separate places today, but we aggregate it all up," said Jim Ryan, Motricity’s chief strategy and marketing officer. The company provides mobile infrastructure services to "hundreds of enterprises" and 10 major wireless carries, including the top four in the U.S., Ryan said.

InterContinental Hotels Group Offers Hospitality With A Technical Twist (InformationWeek)

Posted: 10/14/2010

It’s easy to chalk IHG's, InterContinental Hotels Group, ubiquitous success up to one thing: customer loyalty. Tom Conophy, IHG's CIO, said the company’s core focus is on making customers "the center of our universe," and customer loyalty is vital to growth in the hospitality industry. The ever-growing hotel group, which owns seven hotel chains, including Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and InterContinental Hotels, keeps its guest doors swinging by making business intelligence one of their core competencies. 200 million guest profiles currently occupy the company’s 25 TB database, with detailed information on 43 million loyalty plan members. The company currently receives 30 million availability requests per day, supported by its own proprietary search technology, the Bottom-Up Optimum Search Strategy(BOSS). "Search is the killer app for us," Conophy says, and with IHG’s iPhone app as the industry’s most downloaded, adding mobility is another success factor with a concept the group has named “Virtually Me.”

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Combining Brick With Clicks Proves Profitable Among Retailers (Internet Evolution)

Posted: 10/14/2010

Bricks-plus-clicks is an emergent marketing strategy that combines online sales with storefront initiatives to boost sales. National brands including Gap and Nordstrom are using the tactic with success. For instance, Gap recently launched a “Universality” initiative in both Canada and the UK for consumers to simultaneously shop Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic merchandise in a “three-in-one” online store. The universality platform brings brands together online with global navigation and a universal shopping cart while the “bricks” includes new fulfillment centers to save shoppers the expense and hassle of import duties and fees and delays at customs. Showing solid sales improvements, Nordstrom is 11 months in to a fluid inventory plan that uses the Internet to connect its traditional-store inventory to its online sales site to make sure that merchandise is never overlooked on store shelves. The company’s new website also incorporates popular social media features.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction
Region: Global, North America, Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer

Shazam! How One Company Plans To Change The Advertising Industry (.net)

Posted: 09/30/2010

Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher recently sat down with Oliver Lindberg to discuss why the company chose to charge for the popular mobile music discovery app and how the company plans to change the face of advertising as we know it. While Facebook may be the most downloaded iPhone app in the US, Shazam is Europe’s frontrunner. The app, which identifies a piece of recorded music via a mobile’s mic, tallied 50 million users across all platforms in October with the goal to double that number by the end of the year and reach 300 million users by 2015. Users are apparently willing to pay the price: the London-based start-up introduced a paid-for version of its iPhone app – Shazam Encore – with a limited free version offering five tags per month for new users. The service offers unlimited tagging, faster performance and a range of extra features such as music search and geo-location ticketing.

Video Girl Barbie Goes Viral (Promo Magazine)

Posted: 09/30/2010

In true Barbie fashion, the social girl charged the virtual social world this July to build the buzz for her latest professional stint: videographer. Mattel tapped into social networks Foursquare and Twitter to launch a campaign that criss-crossed the boundaries of traditional marketing. The campaign celebrated the new Video Girl Barbie with a scavenger hunt that had fans scouring San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to locate Barbie’s real whereabouts. The first follower to find the fashion-forward doll in each city won a Barbie Video Girl doll. “We really embraced social media as a marketing platform a year ago as part of a major campaign in support of Barbie’s 50th anniversary,” says Lauren Dougherty, director of Barbie marketing at Mattel. Barbie currently has 17,600 Twitter followers and about 440,000 likes on Facebook—more than 200,000 of those added since January. Future plans include a promotion that puts the camera in the consumers’ hands with user-generated video, as well as introducing other members of Barbie’s entourage, including Ken, onto the social platforms.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global, North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

The Domino Effect: Popular Pizza Company Taps Into Social Marketing (ClickZ)

Posted: 09/16/2010

On the heels of a 61 percent increase in online sales in the UK and Ireland from the same period last year, Domino's is singing the praises of Facebook and Foursquare promotions. The global pizza chain credits growth in web-based sales (jumping from 26 to 33 percent this year) to its social media marketing tactics – which include cultivating a strong presence online with both a global Facebook page and individual local pages, as well as securing 531 Twitter followers and launching Foursquare’s geo-location service. "We've had nearly 10,000 check-ins since it launched from around 3,500 unique visitors," Georgina Wald, spokesperson for the London-based division, said. The company has also enjoyed recent growth in sales by turning their attention to search marketing.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Get The Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s Launches Sweet Twitter Campaign (Promo Magazine)

Posted: 09/16/2010

This summer there was a new way to get the latest scoop, and this time it wasn’t breaking news – it was free samples of ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s. Led from destination to destination by consumer tweets via Twitter, the “Scoop Truck” went on a sampling tour of New York City in June and July. While the initial campaign plan left one weekday open to a virtual “see-which-way-the-tweets-blow-the-truck” kind of spontaneity, by the end of the nearly two-month tour nearly half of the sweet stops were those requested by the 3,000 local followers the tour handle @benjerrytruck amassed. Responses to outgoing tweets yielded anywhere from five to 100 responses. Although followers will still be able to get the latest scoop through Twitter and view images of the happy samplers on Flickr, the next tour is aimed Boston, where stops will be announced primarily via Facebook.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Social Sampling: The Campbell Brand Joins Facebook (BrandWeek)

Posted: 08/19/2010

In an effort to grow sales of its healthy beverages and baked snacks, Campbell Soup Co. has launched a Facebook campaign to promote its new V8 V-Fusion + Tea line via social sampling. Each week through September 30, the Camden, N.J.-based maker of Chunky and Select Harvest soups will give away 1,000 free samples. Another Campbell brand, Pepperidge Farm, also launched a page to promote its new strawberry flavored Milano cookies, gaining nearly 9,000 fans in the month since its launch. Taking a cue from other big name brands – like Ford and P&G's Gillette – Campbell is incorporating more social media marketing into its overall marketing plan to drive consumption. The strategy to connect with consumers online seems to be working: In the first 24 hours, all 1,000 samples of V8 V-Fusion + Tea were gone, Campbell rep Juli Mandel Sloves said.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

New Old Spice Campaign Aims To Go Viral With A Little Mystery (Fast Company)

Posted: 08/19/2010

Ad firm Wieden+Kennedy has taken a successful “Old” television ad concept viral. Old Spice, owned by Procter and Gamble, is leveraging the appeal of its TV spot star, Isaiah Mustafa, by taping 30-second YouTube videos in response to Twitter feeds. The team behind the campaign works in conjunction with technology to scan responses and identify the social influence of those responders to choose messages that will create a wow factor and perpetuate themselves throughout “virally-relevant” communities. Wieden's global interactive creative director Iain Tait asserts that rather than using a dedicated proprietary site, the campaign gets maximum exposure on YouTube, especially since the current spots are being watched and re-tweeted extensively. The ability of embedded material on YouTube to be liked, shared, favored and dispersed quickly factored into the decision for which social medium to use. Heeding the nature of the ‘want it new, want it now” internet culture, the company strives to produce the video responses in real time to the keep the content fresh, relevant to the brand and newsworthy. The content goes successfully beyond pure entertainment value to make “the connection between the content, the product and the experience of the product.”

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Pulling Klout: Website Helps Users Measure Their Social Influence (CNN Money)

Posted: 08/19/2010

Users can now discover their social “Klout” by numerical rank by inputting their Twitter name into Klout.com. The San Francisco-based social media start-up is shoring up its position to become the online standard for measuring social impact by partnering with Virgin America to offer a hand-picked group of “influencers” a free flight from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Virgin America's newest destination, Toronto. Here’s how the new type of marketing campaigns (implemented by brands like Starbucks and Cover Girl) work: (1) Users accept product offers; (2) In return, Klout requests for disclosure of the freebie; (3) Klout measures some two dozen variables, including the number of times their comments are retweeted, the size of their Twitter audience, and the influence of those followers, to come up with a numerical value and ranking on a 0-to-100 scale.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Text-Happy In 2G:GupShup Offers Simple Texting Service To Millions (Forbes)

Posted: 08/19/2010

With 1.8 billion global Web users and 4.6 billion mobile phone subscribers, including multiple SIM cardholders, the reach of social media is hard to ignore. Beerud Sheth, cofounder of Webaroo, gets the message loud and clear. Text messaging via basic handset and SMS opens up a path to reach an overwhelming market of hundreds of millions, particularly in India and other parts of Asia. UK’s Portio Research expects the $100 billion market of simple texting to grow by 20% by 2014. Taking text messaging social through a service called SMS GupShup, Sheth aims to enlarge the social scope of interaction from one to one to one to many, or even many to many. Much of GupShup’s (Hindi for "chitchat") revenue comes from a feature that allows users, called publishers, to send messages to users signed up for a group. Another feature targets smaller groups for more personal communication. GupShup makes ideal sense for mass consumer products – Webaroo suggests that as many as 150 brand advertisers like Pepsico and 10,000 smaller-size enterprises like Mumbai Traffic Police are using the platform.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Asia Pacific
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Following The Trends: Internet Levels Playing Field For Small Businesses (BtoB Online)

Posted: 08/05/2010

Thanks to the Internet, small companies having difficulty competing with large companies for customers are in luck. Despite the fact that search query results are crowded, small business owners can take steps to maximize their online presence via search and social media by following a few simple tips. For instance, by updating business listings or creating new ones for companies and choosing social media networks wisely, marketers can integrate the increasingly important localization of their product or company. Becoming “vertical” is also key, since doing so means companies participate in many social sites, as is getting one-to-one with customers by paying specific attention to exactly what products they prefer.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Peer Groups & Communities

Fuel Your Facebook Fan Page In 4 Easy Steps (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 07/22/2010

Marketers may successfully be racking up the fan numbers on their Facebook Fan Pages, but they are ultimately failing to establish long-term relationships with customers in the process. Companies shouldn’t lose hope, however, because the code to successfully reaping rewards on Facebook lies in four critical steps. According to an E-Commerce News article, in order to retain customers, marketers need to “1) develop a strategy; 2) create a solid presence; 3) motivate [their] fans to take action; and 4) use Facebook to amplify other campaigns, promotions and marketing activities.” Committing to the management of their Facebook walls after business hours, considering brand contribution cadence, and asking if they are doing what their fans want will also aide companies in amping up their fan totals.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Crowdsourcing Provides Answers For Online Marketers (Marketing Vox)

Posted: 07/22/2010

For marketers looking for solutions to a plethora of problems, crowdsourcing could be the answer. Marketers gain key insight while spending minimal dollars to survey the expertise of entire online communities. Still, crowdsourcing is not without limitations. Primarily, crowdsourcing is dogged by knowing how to separate the great ideas from the bad ones. To illustrate, Jez Frampton, CEO of Interbrand, tells of a creative director who tried crowdsourcing for a campaign and within 48 hours received hundreds of ideas, leaving him with the even bigger problem of how to sift through the crowd’s offerings. (via Forbes). Marketers should not be deterred, as crowdsourcing has a number of advantages, including web usability testing sites like UserTesting.com and Feedback Army, where companies post questions about their websites and testers choose which questions to answer.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Get The Most Out Of User Experience On Your Website (New Media Knowledge)

Posted: 07/22/2010

Are you aware of what users really experience on your website? Monitoring your website performance has hit a new level of complexity since Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are more frequently being incorporated into Web pages. Knowing how your browser interacts with RIAs is crucial to discovering how fast your Web page renders. To get an accurate result, use a real browser. Why is this important? Browser emulators are far less sophisticated at interacting with Web pages than real browsers and only real browsers can accurately track information in various situations. Real browsers also accurately capture client time – when actual page element execution is taking place. Ultimately, using a real browser with RIAs lets you know that your end-user is getting the best experience possible on your Web page.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Bug Your Friends With Facebook And See Toy Story 3 (Fast Company)

Posted: 07/22/2010

Going to the movies is great, right? Disney thinks so and encourages you to bring a friend along. In an attempt to help boost ticket sales, a promotion called Disney’s Tickets Together, is pairing up with Facebook to sell tickets for the much anticipated Toy Story 3. Visiting Toy Story 3’s Facebook page will allow you to purchase tickets early, but there’s a twist. Buying tickets early will trigger Facebook to bug you to, in turn, bug your friends to buy tickets. You can also invite friends to join Facebook with this message, “Toy Story 3 arrives in theaters on June 18! Who are you bringing with you?” Will this tactic work? Disney is reporting successful pre-sales.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Procter & Gamble Seeks E-Commerce Innovation (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 07/08/2010

Consumer favorites manufactured by Procter & Gamble are now even more available. P&G’s new retail web site offers 52 products (with more coming) for consumer purchase, including Tide detergent, Oral-B toothbrushes, and Gillette razors. Though P&G made $76.7 billion in sales in 2009, increasing those sales is not the Web site’s main goal. According to the manufacturer, the site will provide a “living learning lab for developing e-commerce innovation.” Data gathered about P&G’s online consumers will provide a better understanding of various shopping behaviors and preferences. “As big and influential as Procter & Gamble is, there is no doubt this is a sign of a broad trend with consumer goods manufacturers,” says Jim Okamura, senior partner with consulting firm J.C. Williams Group.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer

In Online Advertising, Search Ads Are Where The Money’s At (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 07/08/2010

In the world of online advertising, there is no doubt that mobile ads are hot. So hot, in fact, that according to IDC analyst Karsten Weide, “the IDC projects U.S. spending on mobile advertising will grow 97% this year, to $433 million from $220 million last year, following growth of 47% in 2009 over 2008.” Despite this statistic, paid search will become central in online advertising in the coming years. Weide says “search ads may be less sexy than mobile online ads, but it’s where cash registers will ring most loudly in the coming years” but she also strongly urges marketers to become acquainted with mobile advertising.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Tailoring To Customers Both On And Offline (New Media Knowledge)

Posted: 06/17/2010

Customers’ purchasing patterns are easily tracked online allowing website display of offers and promotions specific to customers based on their online buying behavior. Even with a unified marketing strategy, the challenge is to maintain consistent customer experiences across online and offline shopping. Monitoring offline shopping experiences can be done with real-time vouchers, coupons, and customer recommendation and review forms. Merging online and offline customer data will allow businesses to successfully retain and cater to their customers anywhere.

Encouraging Online Consumers To Trade Caution For Confidence (Practical eCommerce)

Posted: 06/17/2010

Cautious “digital window shopping” may be a thing of the past thanks to a revelation by McAfee Secure. According to McAfee, the lapse between online consumers placing items in virtual shopping carts and completing purchases is nearly two days. Implementing a few cost, service, and security tips such as retailers’ use of coupons, size-based shipping discounts on orders, and price guarantees can help retail websites attract more confident consumers. Accepting multiple forms of payment, including product data links on website checkout pages, encrypting transactions, displaying “trust marks” showing website safety and reliability, and maintaining an organized, well-designed site will all help ensure both loyal consumers and timely transactions.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Becel Vegan Blasts Across Digital Space On Earth Day (Strategy Magazine)

Posted: 06/09/2010

Becel Vegan infiltrated digital space as part of a campaign targeting Canadian consumers. Launched in conjunction with Earth Day, the digital campaign was designed to reach environmentally-conscious consumers interested in the brand’s lactose-free, gluten-free product. The campaign featured a reach block on Facebook to reach every female logging in to the site for the first five times with a Becel-sponsored ad; a Google splash across green and food-friendly niche and mass sites like Naturopath.com and FoodNetwork.com; and homepage ads on MSN, AOL and Canwest, and exclusive placement on British Columbia’s Weather Network homepage. "We're trying to drive awareness and drive trial of the product in a fun and engaging way," says Caroline Moul, digital group director at PHD in Toronto.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Boomers Offer Blooming Profits For The Beauty Industry (Marketing Vox)

Posted: 06/09/2010

A Mintel survey provides ample rationale for marketers to target Boomers to get online beauty profits blooming. Mintel cites that 10% of women purchase beauty aids and cosmetics online. Boomers represent one-third of the online population and the female portion of the demographic is expected to surge by 30.9% by 2015. Boomer females spend an average of 13 hours a week online with the following impact reported: 8% purchase products at big-name retail sites; 8% purchase from Wal-Mart.com, 8% purchase from Target.com, 5% patronize drugstore sites like CVS or Walgreens and 8% visit other niche Web retailers. Mintel advises online beauty marketers to infiltrate social networking platforms and incorporate value-added services like virtual makeovers and internet sweepstakes to round out their internet campaigns. The Nielsen Company suggests that loyalty reward programs that offer cash-back savings and other underutilized outlets like Twitter could also have a big impact on profit.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Video Voyeurs: Nordstrom Rack Previews New Store At Construction Site (Marketing Vox)

Posted: 06/09/2010

The Nordstrom Rack at Union Square in New York City generated buzz for the launch of its new store by integrating video screens into the facade of the construction. Peephole boxes offered the chance to preview the store’s up-to-the-minute fashion in 30–90 second looped video displays of models browsing racks of clothes and trying outfits on in a virtual dressing room. Touted as 'fun, provocative and playful,' digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaigns like this extend the reach of marketers looking to connect with consumers in places beyond their living rooms. Other successful DOOH campaigns include interactive exhibits and place-based video networks, reaching an estimated audience of 237.4 million in 2009. One Los Angeles shopping mall provides visitors the experience to transform themselves into Avatar’s blue-skinned Na’vi while video screens in Lego stores prompt reality checks when visitors hold a Lego product box in front of the screen.

InStyle Splashes Into E-Commerce (B&T)

Posted: 05/27/2010

Online shopping has never been more InStyle. Pacific Magazines recently launched into e-commerce with ShopIt!, which is linked exclusively to its iconic title, InStyle. The Web site crosses insight from the fashion magazine’s glossy spreads of products to online purchase and home delivery. ShopIt!’s launch is being coordinated with InStyle Australia’s 10th anniversary and is designed to impart a consistent brand experience across the print and online mastheads. The launch will begin with InStyle’s April issue and the site will be refreshed with major monthly updates that correspond with each new issue. An integrated campaign to promote the launch will feature TV commercials, point-of-sale advertising, social media, direct marketing and cross promotions across the magazine and virtual storefront. The media conglomerate also has plans to launch a similar site for Bride-to-Be.

If At First You Don’t Succeed: Give It Another Go (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 05/27/2010

A new Google feature is giving advertisers another go at customers they may have baited, but didn’t fully hook with a purchase. Tested in beta last year, the “remarketing” feature is now available throughout the Google Content Network (GCN), including on YouTube. Although remarketing is not a novel idea, it does help marketers limber up their campaigns. The feature can be tied into search campaigns, leveraged with targeted messages across different Web pages or run simultaneously with other remarketing campaigns. Here’s how it works: companies drive traffic to their Web site via search ads and then retarget those same customers with customized ads as they browse other sites across the GCN. Remarketing is an often underutilized yet successful tactic – only 31 percent of marketers surveyed by Advertise.com and the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) have tried it yet 53.1 percent of those enjoyed great success with it.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Brand Matters: Manufacturers Assert Brand Authority Online (CRM Daily)

Posted: 05/27/2010

Heavy hitting consumer brands like Levi Strauss, Procter & Gamble, Mattel and Columbia Sportswear have set their sites on the internet to increase direct sales and connect with consumers. Direct online retail sales by consumer-brand manufacturers skyrocketed nearly 13 percent to $487.6 million in 2009. The online offensive can be attributed to one part private-label, one part recession. The availability of lower-priced, private-label goods made up 22 percent of consumer-packaged goods retailed in 2009, while the global recession has rallied more budget-hunting comparison shoppers online. Online sales are expected to double from 6 to 12 percent ($211.7 billion) of the total retail market by 2012. Nearly 66 percent of U.S. shoppers surveyed said they would purchase the same amount or more on goods over the coming year as they had over the past year at the manufacturer’s Web sites they had visited.

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