| Kitchen computer smells like a turkey
THE New York Times runs a brief piece on something called the SmartShopper, a gadget that lets you keep stock of the stuff you need to replenish your household wares. However, it would appear that if you buy this thing you've already got a lemon, a turkey and a melon. For a long time, people have been talking about a small PC that you could use to automate shopping. There was even a concept fridge that would detect what you were running out of and tell the interweb without manual intervention. There was discussion as to whether supermarkets would give out free devices to buy customer loyalty. So far, most of us have stuck with visiting the shop or using online services such as the superb Tesco.com, although for geographical reasons, a lot of folks miss out on the latter option. Basically, the SmartShopper is a voice-to-text translator.
Danish rival beats IKEA into London
Swedish furniture giant IKEA may be snubbing London, but Danish rival JYSK is happy to move in to the market. JYSK (pronounced Yisk) is opening its first London store on May 12 in a portion of the former Canadian Tire store near the Masonville mall. The 30,000 square foot store will feature bed, bath and houseware items as well as Scandinavian-style home furnishings. JYSK Canada CEO Pablo Reich said London shoppers who now travel to the nearest IKEA store in Burlington will like what JYSK has to offer. We target similar price points with similar looks . . . but we go into markets where IKEA is not present, said Reich. Rumours have been floating for years that IKEA is building a store in London. In 2004 a online petition asking for an IKEA store in London gathered over 7,000 names.
Google exec says content management systems lacking
A shortage of competition in the enterprise content management field is limiting the type of vendor innovation that makes products more appealing to customers, a Google official contended this week at the AIIM Conference & Expo in Boston. Despite a trend in which business applications are starting to look more like consumer products, enterprise content management vendors do not face the same pressure to keep users happy as do search websites such as Google, said David Bercovich, a product marketing manager with Google's enterprise application unit. .
Area firms boosting sales from Web sites
Consumers shop online for a number of reasons. Some aren't able to get out much, some feel they're too busy to go to the store and others simply prefer to shop from home. Whatever the reason, more are going online to find what they want. The Department of Commerce said in February that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for last year were estimated at $108.7 billion, an increase of 23.5 percent from 2005. Over the years, local stores such as My Daddy's Cheesecake and area outlets of chains like Wal-Mart and Schnucks have made their merchandise available in cyberspace. Chris and Stephie Belle of Cape Girardeau shop online because it works with their lifestyle. The Belles are blind and enjoy being able to select things at their leisure. They also find shopping from home more efficient than relying on transportation services.
UK: Tesco defends grocery market competition
The claim underpins Tesco's response to the Competition Commission's (CC) 'emerging thinking' report which highlights the sales growth and land ownership of the major supermarkets as areas of concern. It brushes aside claims from critics that the nationwide control of supermarkets is limiting consumer choice by driving smaller competitors out of the market. Instead Tesco's submission insists that it makes economic sense for the grocery market to adopt cost-efficient national strategies. "Those who are wedded to the idea of local markets may struggle to understand why retailers adopt national strategies, but these are the realities of the UK grocery market," the supermarket said in its submission. Previous definitions of geographical markets by the CC – "crucial in this inquiry" – are attacked as "overly simplistic".
Tap in to the enormous power of eBay
With the exception of ice cream and weekend eBay surfing, buying and selling, I don't have any addictive traits to speak of. And I am not alone in either of these cravings. According to Edy's Ice Cream Company, the United States tops the world in ice cream consumption at an average of 48 pints of ice cream per person, per year. Sounds to me like a common, harmless addiction -- and a logical fifth food group. And what about the eBay craze? Many organizations block access to eBay by their employees because people spend more time there than any other Web site. And USA Today reports that more than 200 million people buy and sell items on eBay. That means they're logging on, too. In May 2005, this column offered advice for small businesses considering an online presence, and pointed out that without a real purpose, your Web site could be a complete waste of time and money.
Heard it in the Forum: Carts, Design, PPC Tips
While product reviews, news, tutorials and profiles often take the top feature spot at ECommerce-Guide.com, today we're putting the spotlight on our readers and some of the issues and trends that they have been recently talking about in our discussion forum. Here we highlight several recent threads that provide valuable insight from your fellow merchants and online business professionals. Of course you can feel free to add your own comments as we've added quick links to each forum thread so you can quickly and easily join in on the discussion. E-Commerce SEO/SEM: Using Shopping PPC Sites
Forum user bubbasplitshot has been thinking about using PPC (pay-per-click) advertising shopping sites like Pricegrabber, Shop.com and others. In a recent forum post, bubbasplitshot says, "I've been hesitant to throw money at all of these.
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