Online Shoppers Need to be Nudged [Video] (MultiChannel Merchant)
“On average, seven out of 10 visitors who place an item in their cart do not complete the transaction. Timing of the transaction is a key element, as is pricing (does the consumer want to pay for shipping and handling?) and device (if the transaction begins on a smartphone, done the consumer want to finish it on a small screen? In this video taken at IRCE 2013, Nicholls talks about how proper remarketing can nudge the customer, and remind her to complete the transaction.”
Fab Grabs $150M at $1B Valuation (And is Raising Another $100M+ More) (Tech Crunch)
“Fab is announcing today that it has raised $150 million in the first tranche of the company’s Series D round of financing. We’re told that $150 million is the first part of a larger Series D round that Fab expects to complete over the next few months. New to this round is Chinese Internet giant Tencent, who will also have a board seat at Fab; and Japanese conglomerate Itochu. Previous investors Atomico, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, RTP Capital, Pinnacle Ventures, Lars Hinrichs, and Docomo Capital also participated in this latest round of financing.”
Amazon Wants to be a Part of your Birthday (Internet Retailer)
“Amazon Birthday Gift allows a consumer while on Facebook to purchase a gift card for a friend who has an upcoming birthday and invite her Facebook friends to contribute to it. On the recipient’s birthday, Amazonposts an image of the gift card on her Facebook timeline with links and instructions for how to redeem it, Amazon says. Any messages to the recipient also appear on the timeline with the gift card.
A customer selects $1, $5, $10 or $25 to start a birthday gift card, Amazon says. Other friends may contribute in those increments. Customers can send gift cards from any web-enabled device, including mobile phones, the retailer says.”





What’s in stock at Pier 1 anyway?
Summer means spending time outdoors, so lots of people are shopping for outdoor furniture. There’s nothing quite like wicker, and it was a search for this that brought me to the Pier 1 Imports ecommerce site. I found that browsing for furniture on this site is fine, but buying it? Well, that’s another story. Take a look.
When I first arrived on the home page, I immediately noticed the large “Let’s Shop” tab on the top. Mousing over this opens a huge drop-down menu that provides different ways to shop and categories to choose from. One feature of this menu I found to be really cool was in the Category tab. As you move your mouse over the different main categories, like Dining & Entertaining or Furniture & Living, the product image at the bottom changes to match. There is also a little message at the bottom that highlights a particular offer or product line within that category. Nice touch!
Within the Furniture & Living category, I selected Papasan & Wicker. On this category page, I found another cool feature. As you mouse over a product image, a small expanded window opens that gives you a little more information about the product, which is pretty nice. However, I noticed that one of the things this window tells you is whether or not the product is in stock. As I scrolled around within this category, I found that many of these items were out of stock or unavailable online. It would be nice to be able to filter these products out… But I can’t. I would suggest Pier 1 add a sorting or filtering option so that shoppers can view only the items that are actually available for purchase online! Read More »