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There was a 79 percent drop in shopping integrations showing retailers’ products within universal or "blended" search results on Google last year, according to new research from search and social analytics provider Searchmetrics. The drop coincides with Google starting to charge retailers to use its Google Shopping service. The previously free service, which gave retailers the opportunity to have their products displayed in shopping integrations for shopping-related Google searches, switched to a pay-for-inclusion model in the U.S. in October 2012.

This month, furniture giveaways helped home-goods retailer Wayfair.com score high on Media Logic's Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI). Wayfair's fan base, which typically only gives a few hundred likes to brand posts, responded by the thousands to posts about the weekly promotion. A console table giveaway? More than 16,000 likes and 3,100 shares. A chaise lounge giveaway? More than 16,500 likes and 2,700 shares. A Butler Bombe coffee table giveaway? Close to 69,000 likes and 13,200 shares.

This past week there was big news from SXSW of great interest to e-tailers: First, Google's latest Panda Update will roll out in just a few days. Second, Google is further tweaking its anti-spam algorithm to prune the ranks of "unreliable" e-commerce sites. Of course, Google has been working to create an algorithmic way of determining merchant quality for some time. Much of the impetus for its initial work came from a 2010 investigative report in The New York Times recounting — in horrifying detail — the success of a shady Brooklyn sunglass merchant. 

Retail websites account for more than half of the top 20 most visible advertisers in Google paid search, according to a new report from Searchmetrics. Question answering site Ask.com actually takes top spot for paid search, with Amazon and Zappos taking second and third respectively. The findings come from a study into the top 20 most visible sites in paid search on Google.com and a similar list for the top performers in organic search.

Google's ramping up mobile monetization today with a new sponsored search result ad type, a product listing ad. It also reduces the mobile search presence of the showroomer's biggest ally: Amazon.com. Already available on desktop, the new ad type will now be available globally on mobile, Google says. Similar to desktop Google shopping ads, the ad appears when people search for a shopping-related term like 'washing machine' or 'Tassim0.' People who see the ad can

Earlier this month, Topshop unveiled one of its most digitally ambitious fashion shows to date, The Future of the Fashion Show. The fast-fashion retailer partnered with Google on a multiplatform experience that promised consumers a seat at the catwalk to rival Anna Wintour's. Online viewers could take in the London Fashion Week show from various points of view, from that of the model on the runway — or the handbag on her arm. They could buy featured products instantly and even chat with the show's stars on Google+.

Adding to a six-month-long drumbeat of rumors, Google is reportedly preparing the launch of a same-day delivery service, Google Shopping Express, TechCrunch reports. Google has many of the pieces for such a service already. Its shopping search can tell when a given item is in stock in stores nearby. Its Wallet service processes payments. And through the on-the-ground work it does to create Google Maps, the company has far more experience with real-world logistics than one might suspect.

Mobile will generate one-quarter of retail sales by 2014, and the apps from which consumers make purchases will generate multiterabytes of real-time data. But getting apps to work well remains a major challenge. Android may take the majority of market share, but apps built on the Google OS crash more often compared with Apple — 33 percent vs. 23 percent, respectively, according to the Xtreme Labs Retail Apps Report released Monday, which provides insight into how the top 100 U.S. retailers fare in the mobile space. 

In online video marketing, no detail is insignificant. Retailers that have implemented a video strategy need to continuously experiment and try new tactics. A tweak here and an adjustment there can make a huge difference in how your videos help you sell things and improve the user experience. Here are nine video merchandising tactics retailers can easily implement that can have powerful results:

Online retailers seeking to maximize their market share need to embrace every tool in their marketing kit to win the day. Naturally, many retailers prefer to rely on a "paid media" strategy because accounting for spend, income, net profit and return on investment is easy, thus justifying financial allocations. But savvy retailers will not ignore "unpaid" media efforts, including search engine optimization and social media campaigns.