Shopping.com, is rebranding as the eBay Commerce Network. The move marks the site's transformation from shopping comparison engine to e-commerce advertising platform, where scale is the goal. In an email notice to current Shopping.com merchants eBay VP, Gautam Thakar wrote, "This new name more accurately reflects who we are today. As an eBay company for the past 8 years, we have evolved from our legacy as a comparison shopping site into a robust commerce network. Our strategy and investments are focused on enhancing and scaling this network." Merchants advertising on the eBay Commerce Ne [...]

Related Topics: Amazon | Channel: Retail | Display Advertising | E-Commerce | Google: Shopping | Internet Marketing Industry | Top News

By some measures, e-commerce is doing very well. This past year, US retail e-commerce hit $186.2 billion, according to comScore. The firm added that Q4 was the first $50 billion quarter, which was also the "ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth." However, things are not all smiles and good cheer in e-commerce land. Relatively soon, sales tax for online purchases will be commonplace (as it now is in California), removing one of e-commerce's key advantages over traditional retail. Taxes are coming because e-commerce is now perceived as relatively stable, strong and mature (no l [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | E-Commerce | Google: Business Issues | Google: Partnerships | Google: Shopping | Google: Wallet

Google Universal Search is a way that Google blends in matches from its "vertical" or "specialty" search engines, like image search or video search, into webpage results. What's the best way to tap into Universal Search in order to be visible? Have video content, especially on YouTube, according to a new study. The study, by Searchmetrics, is covered in more detail by our sister-site Search Engine Land. Searchmetrics also produced an infographic summarizing the key findings (click to enlarge): As you can see, video content is far more likely to be blended into the search results than [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Search | Google: SEO | Google: Shopping | Google: YouTube | Video

According to TechCrunch, Google is creating an Amazon Prime competitor. The two twists are: it will apparently be cheaper and also offer same-day delivery from selected brick-and-mortar retailers. TechCrunch says the new service will be called "Google Shopping Express." Apparently stores like Wal-Mart and Target are some of the potential offline retail partners. If any part of this is true (and it's likely that there's at least some truth to what TechCrunch is reporting) it's very interesting. Google is stepping up its campaign against Amazon, the undisputed king of online e-commerce. If [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | E-Commerce | Google: Analytics | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Google: Shopping | Google: Wallet | Top News