ECommerce News: Industry

Pinterest Offers New Tool, Lays Foundation for Monetisation (BOF)
“SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Online scrapbook Pinterest is rolling out new tools that will show businesses the number of visitors it delivers to their websites, part of the fast-growing start-up’s efforts to build a base for the introduction of money-making features. Pinterest does not currently display any revenue-generating advertising on its website, but retailers and large brands such as The Gap, Patagonia and Dell are increasingly using the site to promote their products.

Providing companies with data about usage is a “pretty clear step in the direction” of monetising Pinterest, said Greg Sterling, senior analyst with Opus Research, a San Francisco-based market research firm. ”They couldn’t really start charging people without some way of measuring the efficacy of the spend,” he said.”

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba names Jonathan Lu as its new CEO (MemeBurn)
“Jack Ma, the founder of China’s top e-commerce company, announced in January that he’d step down from his role as Alibaba Group CEO. This afternoon, Alibaba has named Ma’s successor, ‘Jonathan’ Lu Zhaoxi, who’ll take over the top job on May 10. It’s a date that marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of Taobao, the company’s iconic amateur shopkeeper marketplace.

Ma had indicated that he was vacating the Alibaba hotseat as he was “no longer young enough” for such a role in the internet business. He’s 48. The new kid on the block, Jonathan Lu, is 43. Lu joined Alibaba in 2000.”

Live chat enters the mobile realm (Internet Retailer)
“Hachisoft Corp., a developer and seller of sports, educational and productivity iOS and Android apps, wants all of its customers to be happy: Happy customers write positive reviews in the app stores, and positive reviews help sell apps. The company decided customer service within its apps was key and last year became an early adopter of mobile live chat technology from vendor Hipmob.

Hachisoft sells 11 mobile apps, including the sports-themed Baseball Bullpen, Basketball Shot Chart and Basketball Stat Tracker, and the children’s educational Hand Painted Animals and Hand Painted Machinery. It integrated live chat into its smartphone and tablet apps and immediately began receiving chat requests. Buttons marked Live Chat can be found in the Help and Tutorial areas of apps.

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