Comments on: E-commerce – is the next wave about to break? http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/ Tracking European web and mobile start-ups Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:42:25 +0100 hourly 1 By: Peter Bates http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-250610 Peter Bates Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:05:32 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-250610 Second generation Personalisation and Recommendation Tools must also be part of the next wave. It's all about making the customer experience relevant to them - particularly when we are in a recession. Very few sites have utilised these tools to the level that Amazon have done. But, the second generation tools are now getting even more sophisticated. Second generation Personalisation and Recommendation Tools must also be part of the next wave. It’s all about making the customer experience relevant to them – particularly when we are in a recession. Very few sites have utilised these tools to the level that Amazon have done. But, the second generation tools are now getting even more sophisticated.

]]> By: Jamie Murray Wells http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-237591 Jamie Murray Wells Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:31:54 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-237591 Thanks Mark, and the best of luck with your new venture. Thanks Mark, and the best of luck with your new venture.

]]> By: Mark Bowden http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-230279 Mark Bowden Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:59:22 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-230279 Hi Jamie Great article Jamie, you are doing a fantastic job, and I wish you every success. I have now backed off the running of my company so you won't experience the same drop in sales as you will have experienced in the past. I would love to have had 10% of the funding you have managed to secure, but hey every credit. Okay the branding I created was built with a £5,000 credit card and did pretty good as you well you know. Thanks for the inspiration to move me in a different direction I owe it to you. Regards Mark Hi Jamie

Great article Jamie, you are doing a fantastic job, and I wish you every success.

I have now backed off the running of my company so you won’t experience the same drop in sales as you will have experienced in the past.

I would love to have had 10% of the funding you have managed to secure, but hey every credit.

Okay the branding I created was built with a £5,000 credit card and did pretty good as you well you know.

Thanks for the inspiration to move me in a different direction I owe it to you.

Regards
Mark

]]> By: Hasan Luongo http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-228386 Hasan Luongo Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:00:10 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-228386 i think a discussion of the next wave of e-commerce is incomplete without talking about the role of social. amazon stands firm against in the rise of zappos because it is more social, more reviews deliver more relevant/engaging content that lead to sales. one the other side you have threadless, offering a highly social and interactive buying experience that no other retailer can match. additionally add in winelibrary.tv for a diff kind of social, where a daily interactive show and lots of personal brand set the tone for a fun buying experience. e-commerce is in fact experiencing many new waves, partly due to the massive efforts by small software firms building free or cheap social apps, and smart e-commerce sites that are leveraging these platforms to connect with customers. while web 2.0 has monitization issues and an unhealthy reliance on boring Ads, e-commerce has a lot to gain from web 2.0 and a direct way to turn all that social activity in cash. exciting times indeed. i think a discussion of the next wave of e-commerce is incomplete without talking about the role of social. amazon stands firm against in the rise of zappos because it is more social, more reviews deliver more relevant/engaging content that lead to sales.

one the other side you have threadless, offering a highly social and interactive buying experience that no other retailer can match.

additionally add in winelibrary.tv for a diff kind of social, where a daily interactive show and lots of personal brand set the tone for a fun buying experience.

e-commerce is in fact experiencing many new waves, partly due to the massive efforts by small software firms building free or cheap social apps, and smart e-commerce sites that are leveraging these platforms to connect with customers. while web 2.0 has monitization issues and an unhealthy reliance on boring Ads, e-commerce has a lot to gain from web 2.0 and a direct way to turn all that social activity in cash. exciting times indeed.

]]> By: Hasan Luongo http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-228382 Hasan Luongo Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:44:27 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-228382 you might want to check out interspire shopping cart, low cost, very flexible platform with full support for digital products. you might want to check out interspire shopping cart, low cost, very flexible platform with full support for digital products.

]]> By: Blawg Review #214 « Charon QC http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-227643 Blawg Review #214 « Charon QC Sun, 31 May 2009 18:09:42 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-227643 [...] with his blogging and blog reading… I rather liked this wry comment: debunking the notion of “mass personalisation”, which is about as oxymoronic as you can [...] [...] with his blogging and blog reading… I rather liked this wry comment: debunking the notion of “mass personalisation”, which is about as oxymoronic as you can [...]

]]> By: <fb:name linked="false" useyou="false" uid="36913823">fb36913823</fb:name> http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225983 fb36913823 Tue, 26 May 2009 16:55:29 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225983 Mass personalisation has some interesting implications for staffing. Historically, distance retailers shifted high volumes of identical units with cheap (and typically bored) staff providing little value-add to the customer experience. Now, we must either pay more for value-adding staff (I doubt Zappos staff are minimum wage, and there is certainly a lot of effort/spend dedicated to motivating them), or open up our platforms for micro-entrepreneurs (as Etsy does) to achieve the same level of product and service for highly differentiated customers. The good news is that even 5 minutes per customer of high quality human attention isn't actually so expensive to deliver (still much cheaper than customer acquisition costs), and may lead to fantastic customer advocacy. Mass personalisation has some interesting implications for staffing. Historically, distance retailers shifted high volumes of identical units with cheap (and typically bored) staff providing little value-add to the customer experience. Now, we must either pay more for value-adding staff (I doubt Zappos staff are minimum wage, and there is certainly a lot of effort/spend dedicated to motivating them), or open up our platforms for micro-entrepreneurs (as Etsy does) to achieve the same level of product and service for highly differentiated customers.

The good news is that even 5 minutes per customer of high quality human attention isn’t actually so expensive to deliver (still much cheaper than customer acquisition costs), and may lead to fantastic customer advocacy.

]]> By: Pragmatist http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225981 Pragmatist Tue, 26 May 2009 16:46:06 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225981 I agree that high-touch items are the subject of a lot of focus now, but the idea of "mass personalisation" is an oxymoron. There isn't and never was a "mass". It's just a marketing trick that e-commerce has exposed, and more and more consumers stop falling for each year. Maybe you mean something else by the term? Not sure we're seeing a "new wave". It's still Web 2.0 which has been all about user empowerment - enabling personalisation through user participation. We're just seeing that model applied successfully in more and more challenging scenarios, though the ones you mention are yet to scale internationally as far as I can tell. The semantic web is the next big wave. Let the machines do most of the work. I agree that high-touch items are the subject of a lot of focus now, but the idea of “mass personalisation” is an oxymoron. There isn’t and never was a “mass”. It’s just a marketing trick that e-commerce has exposed, and more and more consumers stop falling for each year. Maybe you mean something else by the term?

Not sure we’re seeing a “new wave”. It’s still Web 2.0 which has been all about user empowerment – enabling personalisation through user participation. We’re just seeing that model applied successfully in more and more challenging scenarios, though the ones you mention are yet to scale internationally as far as I can tell.

The semantic web is the next big wave. Let the machines do most of the work.

]]> By: Jamie Murray Wells http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225971 Jamie Murray Wells Tue, 26 May 2009 15:31:18 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225971 @Paul Fisher @Henry Yates - couldn't agree more. We are headed towards a retail world where there will need to be an obvious justification for a product to be standardised. Those that master the difficult job of mass personalisation of a product also rightly benefit from margin improvements that come hand in hand with the premium customers will bear to 'make it their own'. @Paul Fisher @Henry Yates – couldn’t agree more. We are headed towards a retail world where there will need to be an obvious justification for a product to be standardised. Those that master the difficult job of mass personalisation of a product also rightly benefit from margin improvements that come hand in hand with the premium customers will bear to ‘make it their own’.

]]> By: Henry Yates http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225970 Henry Yates Tue, 26 May 2009 15:15:10 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225970 Good point Paul - mass personalisation enabled by near zero/very low marginal costs is why I find it an exciting space. Good point Paul – mass personalisation enabled by near zero/very low marginal costs is why I find it an exciting space.

]]> By: Manoj Ranaweera http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225969 Manoj Ranaweera Tue, 26 May 2009 15:09:05 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225969 Whilst we are not an e-commerce provider, edocr.com will evolve to create a meeting place for buyers and suppliers through documents. In this respect, we are interested in discussing with e-commerce solution providers where we provide the hosting and interactivity platform for data sheets, specifications, user manuals, etc (where applicable). Whilst we are not an e-commerce provider, edocr.com will evolve to create a meeting place for buyers and suppliers through documents. In this respect, we are interested in discussing with e-commerce solution providers where we provide the hosting and interactivity platform for data sheets, specifications, user manuals, etc (where applicable).

]]> By: Paul Fisher http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225968 Paul Fisher Tue, 26 May 2009 14:46:00 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225968 Nice Post Jamie. I think you're missing personalisation though. Companies like TailorStore.com and Graze.com are the first step towards a completely new experience in ecommerce differentiation coming from personalisation. Nice Post Jamie. I think you’re missing personalisation though. Companies like TailorStore.com and Graze.com are the first step towards a completely new experience in ecommerce differentiation coming from personalisation.

]]> By: Jamie Murray Wells http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225959 Jamie Murray Wells Tue, 26 May 2009 13:05:00 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225959 @William understanding how and when shoppers like to validate each others purchases is crucial in the next stage of empowerment and inclusion of users in the entire e-commerce cycle @William understanding how and when shoppers like to validate each others purchases is crucial in the next stage of empowerment and inclusion of users in the entire e-commerce cycle

]]> By: william http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225955 william Tue, 26 May 2009 12:34:05 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225955 I think that the next phase of e-commerce will be the inclusion and empowerment of users in the entire e-commerce cycle. I think that the days of large stand alone and niche e-commerce sites are nearing and end. We are coming to a time where conversations between members and communities will be the trigger for e-commerce activity I think that the next phase of e-commerce will be the inclusion and empowerment of users in the entire e-commerce cycle.

I think that the days of large stand alone and niche e-commerce sites are nearing and end.

We are coming to a time where conversations between members and communities will be the trigger for e-commerce activity

]]> By: dan barker http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/e-commerce-is-the-next-wave-about-to-break/comment-page-1/#comment-225954 dan barker Tue, 26 May 2009 12:20:10 +0000 http://uk.techcrunch.com/?p=5013#comment-225954 The other factor that joins all the companies you've mentioned is 'fun'. It's fun to find stuff at ASOS, Zappos, Blue Nile. 'Fun' is the exception in online retail to the extent that it's remarkable. Blue Nile & Zappos are both great examples of companies using bog-standard e-commerce principles in a really interesting way. Blue Nile with their 'attribute-based' search tool. Zappos with their visual 'explore' tool. The other factor that joins all the companies you’ve mentioned is ‘fun’. It’s fun to find stuff at ASOS, Zappos, Blue Nile.

‘Fun’ is the exception in online retail to the extent that it’s remarkable.

Blue Nile & Zappos are both great examples of companies using bog-standard e-commerce principles in a really interesting way. Blue Nile with their ‘attribute-based’ search tool. Zappos with their visual ‘explore’ tool.

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