E-Commerce

The reported but still-unconfirmed news that Twitter is moving into e-commerce is baffling to most people. There were unconfirmed reports of Twitter partnering with a New York-based startup called Fancy — where Jack Dorsey is an investor — and there was something about Twitter using Stripe for payments. These reports are also still unconfirmed, but they've been picked up by mainstream media. Twitter has been in the spotlight after its first quarterly report as a public company, so one can take the company's lack of denial as a reasonable indication there might be some truth to these reports. 

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Retailers have to learn to engage on all digital touchpoints, especially the smartphone, in light of the fact that consumers can make their purchase decisions at any moment, regardless of whether they're at home or in-store. The retailer's job now is to attract attention in-store with additional services and ways to focus the consumer. In 2014, retailers should consider some tactical steps to deliver a true omnichannel retailing experience that melds the key advantages of physical stores with the information-rich experience of online shopping. Here are seven ways how:

Amazon.com's app for iPhone this week added "Flow," an image recognition tool designed to allow consumers to add a product to their shopping cart by merely pointing their phone's camera at it. Flow, as its name suggests, aims to make it as seamless as possible to shop. MarketWatch carried out its own "showrooming" with the app. Scanning a three-bottle package of the hair growth serum Rogaine, Flow immediately found the item on Amazon for $43.85, 30 percent cheaper than the $62.99 price in a Duane Reade store.

A new Alibaba subsidiary is close to launching a marketplace in the U.S. and has been onboarding third-party sellers since late last year, EcommerceBytes has learned. 11Main.com has hand-picked eBay sellers to participate in the pre-launch phase. The marketplace is called 11 Main to connote "Main Street" shopping from friendly mom-and-pop retailers. The plan is to charge charges sellers a 3.5 percent commission fee when an item sells with a $50 cap. There's no charge for selling printed books, DVDs and music.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) released its 2014 economic forecast yesterday, projecting retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) will increase 4.1 percent, up from the preliminary 3.7 percent growth seen in 2013. NRF also announced it expects online sales in 2014 to grow between 9 percent and 12 percent. "Measured improvements in economic growth combined with positive expectations for continued consumer spending will put the retail industry in a relatively good place in 2014," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

Amazon.com has acquired a video gaming studio called Double Helix, fueling speculation that it's developing a gaming console. Amazon has been leveraging its strength in media (books, DVDs, CDs) in the digital space, and just as it's producing e-books, streaming video, original "TV series," and mobile games and apps, it's now working on console games as well. The Washington Post wonders if it really is a gaming console that's in the works, or perhaps something different.

Bow & Drape started as a humble Kickstarter project when founder Aubrie Pagano couldn't find the right dress to wear to a wedding. She wanted something custom-made, but couldn't afford bespoke tailoring. "On websites that were out there, you're customizing a t-shirt or a coffee mug," said Pagano, now 28. When the Harvard graduate easily

Twitter's plans to bring commerce to the real-time service may have come into sharper view. As of Friday night, New York-based e-commerce site Fancy.com displayed images of what appear to be mockups detailing how goods would be bought on its site through Twitter. The mockups, which have since become password-protected, suggest Fancy.com is one of Twitter's possible retail partners. Twitter has been working on a commerce strategy that would allow users to purchase goods directly through the site

For a boutique apparel and accessories retailer such as Apricot Lane Peoria (ALP), building a community of fans, and ultimately converting those fans into customers, is a top challenge. With a limited brick-and-mortar presence and a modest digital advertising budget, getting brand recognition was a concern for ALP. Enter Facebook.