PLA’s are a direct threat to Amazon, Wayfair to make a billion in revenue by year end, Shopzilla buying Zappli and moving their advertising network across the Atlantic.
Google posted their results this past week and it was reasonable to say the least. However, a few things stood out – Product Listing Ads is now a big revenue driver (not surprising) and it is clear that the move to optimised Adwords ala PLA’s is aimed at Amazon. The other thing that is becoming also more visible is that Google has a mobile problem in terms of revenue. Google is clearly concerned over the impact that Amazon has in ecommerce thus PLA’s are being used as an offense against the Seattle giant. They have been testing a few things the last few weeks but while mobile is a revenue concern companies have an opportunity to compete with Google.
The most interesting story for me this past week is Shopzilla. This company is in my view the most forward thinking regarding comparison shopping. First, they acquire a mobile commerce business called Zappli which has lead to talent getting bigger roles inside Shopzilla. On a side note here, I wondered why Jody Mulkey left Shopzilla for Ticketmaster and it now makes sense. His position has since been taken by a Zappli executive. Secondly, Shopzilla moving their advertising business to Europe is also indicative of a company trying to leverage their assets in markets that are not as competitive as those seen in the US.
The stories that caught my attention this past week:
- Mobile Tracking (Digital and Brick and Mortar) – Mobile is the thing that has the future of retail at its mercy. Digital commerce allows for tracking via analytics etc but more and more retailers are wanting to know what shoppers do in store. Note to all retailers: Inform your customers that you have wifi tracking on, if not your customer will loose all their trust in your business.
- Five E-commerce Startups In Emerging Markets To Watch Out For – This list is a bit inconclusive as it focuses on India and South East Asia. Needless to say the emerging markets are quite a bit bigger than those 2 markets.
- Laudable: social shopping platform for South African fashionistas launches – I have been looking at Laudable and it reminds me alot of Fancy without the subscription boxes, emails and their massive reach. Laudable will be interesting to follow.
- With $201 Million Of Capital And $1 Billion In Sales, Wayfair’s IPO Can Wait – Wayfair is a business that makes for interesting reading. They fly below the radar (hello Boston) but am steadily building a very profitable business. I wonder if they will IPO in 2014?
- Riskified wants to stop ecommerce fraudsters while still letting you shop online – If you have done your homework then you will know that one of Israel’s greatest strengths is fraud prevention. I see more of these types of businesses coming to the fore in the next 5 years.
- Amazon Product Ad CPCs Increase – I must say this is not to surprising as I think Amazon is following the lead from Google regarding click costs. CSE’s in North America will be announcing click cost changes in the coming weeks as it is that time of the year.
- The Find wants to be your ultimate shopping search engine for the iPad – Thefind is a very interesting business for me. They started as a pure comparison engine but has steadily pivoted to being a vertical search and platform business. Their facebook application called Glimpse and now this new iPad app does show to me that Siva Kumar and thefind team are trying to differentiate themselves.
- E-commerce to reach $6.6 billion in Turkey by 2017 – Turkey is a market that is slowly becoming more important for investors, why you ask? Very high credit card penetration and high Internet usage.
- Same-Day Delivery: Not Yet Ready for Prime Time – Is same day delivery the holy grail for ecommerce? I am not so sure anymore but it is still being pursued by the heavyweights (eBay, Amazon and Walmart).
- US Online Retail Sales – Statistics and Trends [Infographic] – This is a great resource with a whole lot of statistics worth bookmarking. My attention is particularly focused on the global B2C graph.
Bonus links for the week:
- Is it fair to call African businesses ‘clones’? – The simple answer is no but I think this is a topic that needs a separate post as I think it is a bit more complicated than what we might think.
- Amazon Marketplace vs. Amazon Product Ads Showdown – “However, most of us don’t first think of Amazon as an advertising platform. Yet, Amazon sold $609 million in ads in 2012, and eMarketer predicts that it will eclipse $835 million in advertising sales in 2013. Those are big numbers.” Do I have to say anything more?
- Amazon vet’s robot-powered apparel startup now beating Amazon prices, partners with Google Shopping – If you have not heard about Hointer then I suggest you read this article. Hointer is on my todo list for my next US visit. This is the future of retail in my mind.
- Here’s how Amazon self-destructs – Amazon is the pied piper of the book industry but are they about to become a victim of their own success?
Onwards..