The 10 ecommerce stories for the week ending 28 September 2012

Yandex adds a clothing comparison shopping engine, More investment into Rocket’s fashion empire and more.

The week that concluded on Friday was the last administrative day of September. Google Shopping is on the horizon and it seems that the comparison shopping industry is also full of news. Let me be clear, Google Shopping has the potential to kill an industry and ensure that one company takes all the attention away from companies that have comparative shopping as it’s focus. Buscape losing the legal proceedings in Brazil is a bad sign, however it seems that the story is not in the record books yet. PriceGrabber’s sale not going through is also interesting but concerning (a post for another day).

On another note, I am convinced that JP Morgan knows more about Rocket Internet‘s fashion empire than they are letting on. They have provided double digit millions to businesses that in a growth state. Return on investment is years away, let alone exits. Yet, JP Morgan has invested across the globe in Rocket Internet.

The big news of the past week, has to be facebook finally having a mobile shopping play. Karma was a great product before the facebook acquisition. Is gifts from facebook the answer? I’ll leave that you to my dear readers…

With further ado, here is the 10 ecommerce stories for the week:

1. Fab Launches Its Social Commerce Platform Across Europe – Fab.com moving into Europe is big news. The truth is that their offer now relates to their US social commerce platform. I wonder, if further regions are on the cards?

2. Google Car Insurance: The Beginning of the End for the Comparison Engines? – Google first penalises BeatThatQuote and then acquires it, True story. The implications of this acquisition is now beginning to be seen in the UK.

3. Golden years ahead for Russia’s e-commerce  – Russian ecommerce is growing organically. One thing to consider, the regional implications of ecommerce is seen. “Svyaznoy was the pioneer in this exciting regional business. We began rolling it out about four years ago; we soon had 7 regional warehouses across the country.” Russian ecommerce will continue to be something that one needs to look at.

4. The Fancy: All the Top Social Commerce Trends, All in One Place – Pinterest’s opposition is a hybrid of photography,  subscription commerce and  daily deals. That is the reason why The fancy is going to be a difficult opponent for Pinterest etc.

5. Daily Deals: Controversial, But Important to E-Commerce in Asia – I have seen this dynamic and the impact of daily deals first hand. Daily deals is a great way for user adoption of ecommerce in a developing market.  A great read.

6. Buscapé Implies Google Breached Ruling From Brazilian Court – It seems that this court case is far from done. I am of the opinion that ecommerce executives have little concept of how important this legal case has for all of us.

7. JPM, London fund invest $20 mln in Dubai e-commerce firm – My own calculation is that we have seen triple digit millions investment from JP Morgan into Rocket Internet fashion businesses. I ask again, what does JP Morgan know?

8. Yandex Launches Comparison Shopping for Clothing – I think fashion is one of the most interesting verticals for ecommerce. Yandex is the search engine Russia, them moving comparison shopping is a good thing as it shows market maturation.

9. eBay Debuts Setify, Its Own Pinterest-Like Tool To Share Collections Of Items – eBay is trying. Is Setify too late to market? I am leaning towards a “yes, it is”.

10. Is 360Buy Looking to Buy Into Online Payments? – 360Buy has had a difficult 2012. It is trying to get out of ecommerce? From the outside it does look like they are looking at alternatives to be an eretailer..

Bonus links for the past week:

Onwards…