Ecom Revolution
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Beware the CRAP list -- and other things for CMOs to know about the e-commerce giant Amazon.
Martin (Marty) Smith:

Yes, Amazon is a blood-sucking vampire, but sometimes you have to work with blood-sucking vampires or perish. 

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Other Retailers Take Prime Day Shots
Finally, other e-commerce retailers are getting it. They aren't allowing Amazon to create a "Christmas in summer" event all by themselves. 

Better late than never, many major e-retailers are willing to compete for the first time this summer by offering competitive deals and similar "Prime Days" campaigns. 

Martin (Marty) Smith:

Amazon Prime isn't just for Amazon anymore. 

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Symphony of Feeds
One trend that feels clear but confusing is the future of content and e-commerce. Clear that merchants will need more content. Unclear and confusing because no merchant can afford to create enough quality content despite what Mark Schaefer says in Content Shock. 

We agree and disagree with Schaefer's math too. Content Shock is about using content as advertising and we agree those days are gone. We disagree because content is still KING for merchants. 

Without content traffic doesn't convert. And no conversions means you are a nonprofit and didn't know it. Feeds and content curation are the answer. 

We wrote that last sentence like we know what the future holds. No such luck, but we know merchants can't create all the content they need. We also know content curation creates more awareness and engagement faster than anything else we know about, so ipso facto content is important and we must curate it faster, better and with ever lowering not escalating costs. 

And that all sounds likes feeds and Anthony Musselwhite's tool to us. What do you think? 

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Ecommerc's future is going to be a symphony of feeds. Use SellWare.com to help manage the sell anytime, anywhere future that is coming fast.
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Learning Ecom
There are some Internet marketing lessons you can only learn if you sell something. Amazon makes it so easy to add a bookstore to your site every site should have one...if only because there are some things about web marketing you can only learn by selling online.


Curagami's New Amazon Power Bookstore:

http://www.curagami.com/books.html

 

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The Little Haiku Deck That Could
Our Asking Ecommerce Questions Haiku Deck (http://shar.es/1g6S5q ) is becoming the little deck that could. To say these slides are a testimony to the power of fast feedback loops and iteration is an understatement.

With three sets of video notes (more coming soon) and three major changes based on feedback from attendees at conferences where we've been presenting the little deck that could Ask For Help: Asking Key Ecommerce Questions proves another important point - everything is a curated conversation now.

Thus the power of @Scoop.itand thus Google's QDF (Quality Deserves Freshness) demand. When we started this little deck had a few hundred views. Now, thanks to feedback and support from those providing the feedback almost 2,000 people have learned to do the hardest thing in the galaxy (at least for American men) - ASK FOR HELP!

Thanks for all the help we've received creating the little Haiku Deck That Could. Marty

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Rise of Social Shopping
Blink an eye and big stuff happens. With valuations in the billions for sites such as +OpenSky and in the hundreds of millions for relative newcomer WaNeLo.com Don't get lost in the trap such valuations create.

Remember Arthur C. Clarke's quote:
Any sufficiently NEW technology is indistinguishable from MAGIC.

There are several forms of new ecommerce magic happening now including:

+Wanelo = gamified, social & mobile shopping.
MassDrop = social affiliate program.
+OpenSky = Social Shopping with a #crowdfunding or +quirkydotcom  feel.
+fab.com = social shopping.
+Etsy = +eBay for crafters.
+Woot = Daily Deal

We added a new section to our Ecommerce Questions Haiku Deck to reflect the rise of social shopping. We also noted how and why Amazon should be worried. New "social shopping" plays are hitting Amazon right where they are vulnerable - community, social and mobile.

Amazon is  "Search and Stab" and they are about to compete with savvy mobile game creators. Shopping as a social game will beat low prices created by scale. Didn't Amazon just prove that point by vanquishing Walmart from the king's ecommerce throne?

Amazon understands the ARBITRAGE of online commerce better than anyone, but what if arbitrage wasn't the driving force anymore? Going to be an interesting fight between SCALE and its many benefits and a new generation of "kids" who don't know any better than to question everything, assume nothing and have FUN.

Fun is contagious. Will follow with video notes soon.

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Asking the right questions in the right way is key to online marketing success. How SMBs can compete with Amazon isn't as important as what is their why and how are they learning from Amazon's web marketing power.
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Hero Marketing: Compete with Amazon shares passion, customer focus, exponential thinking & need to create movements not promotions needed to win online and how SMBs can compete with Amazon.

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WaNeLo.com
WaNeLo.com understands something you don't. They understand there is NO WAY to compete head-to-head with Amazon. Better to shift to a "blue ocean" by creating a highly social, mobile and gamified environment.

As a "mashup artist" WaNeLo.com can create pages that cost pennies, pages that may generate dollars. Are there bumps with this "new age" affiliate marketing? Of course, but, as the pagespread chart illustrates, you don't beat the giant YOU CO-OPT him :).

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Never been more important to know your website's long tail than in ou social / mobile / connected time as Amazon proves and WaNeLo illustrates.
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Top 5 Black Friday Websites Curagami's annual list sees Big Boys move in. Amazon tops the list. There are surprises & we share our Black Friday scorecard.
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Ecommerce: 5 Common Easy To Fix Blunders
* Hiding Free Shipping.
* Not using Branded Free Shipping.
* Not offering Faster Free Shipping.
* Deal of the Day.

* Men, Women, Kids (or similar) "Human" Categories.

This new Haiku Deck shares 5 common easy to fix ecommerce blunders. Fixing any 2 of these 5 ecom mistakes will make for a better holiday seasons for your online store. 

Martin (Marty) Smith:

add your insight...

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An in-depth look at seller performance systems on eBay and Amazon. How they work, why feedback matters, and how to be efficient at managing your reputation.
Martin (Marty) Smith:

Great tips here on how to proactively mange reputation on eBay and Amazon. Don't limit your thinking to just these two platforms. These tips could help with your website too.

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All you need to know about repricing on Amazon and eBay: how to get started, differences between marketplaces, the "race to the bottom" and repricing tools.

Marty Note
Price arbitrage is TOUGH. If you are an online merchant you need to stay within reaching distance of Amazon or lose more than a sale - you can lose credibility too. You can't beat Amazon, but there are great tools in this post that will help you "price arbitrage" too.

If you are on online merchant, you need to read this post since PRICE is more than PRICE. Price helps create your online brand too. Here are strategies I used to defeat the Amazon price arbitrage monster:

* Created merchandising bundles that were unique to us. 
* Made sure to check Amazon in 3 ways (front door, email and price comparison engines). 
* Hired Scott Wingo's company Channel Advisor to help structure feeds. 
* Gave free gifts with each purchase. 

Hope you can find ways to beat the monster too.  

 

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Amazon Shows Advantages Of Online SCALE

Martin (Marty) Smith

Scale Is The Game & Amazon is WINNING
The web game is different than bricks and mortar. On the Internet scale is what matters. Doubt that? Look at Amazon's amazingly quick catch-up on social media marketing. From laggards to Kings:

* 22M Facebook Likes.
* 1M Twitter Followers.

* Traffic Rank #5 (US where lower is better).

* 1M inbound links.
* 38M pages in Google.

Amazon doesn't care if it makes money on a particular product because they know scale creates money. Soon they will make more money from their web services than from selling goods.

Amazon had to build a vast network of warehouses and servers. Once that network was built it presented a new revenue opportunity - Amazon web services. Amazon knows they don't find that new pot of gold without their aggressive actions on merchandising and creation of their partner network.

Amazon also knows the people who make the real money in a gold rush are the merchants supplying the shovels and tools. The shovel and tool business is always good as long as merchants are smart enough to know when one thing is almost over in order to move on to the next.

Unfortunately for all Amazon, largely thanks to the Wall Street roots, seems adroit at knowing when to pivot, twist and what dance will be next. Bezos' Wall Street thinking where everything is an arbitrage and you diversify your portfolio, act fast and think long term has helped the company to rule the web.

 

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Martin (Marty) Smith

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