Archive | e-commerce
Breaking: Facebook To Enter Into Partnership With Friendster Buyer MOL Global
We’re hearing that Facebook and Malaysian payments company MOL Global will be holding a press conference shortly to announce a significant new partnership around gaming and payments in Asia. MOL, you may recall, was in the news when it acquired Friendster earlier this year. The press conference is being held in Kuala Lumpur and will begin shortly, we’re told. Update: Press release below: MOL and Facebook Bring Facebook Credits to Retail Stores for the First Time MOL Partners with Facebook to Become Payment Provider for Facebook Credits; Facebook Credits to be Available through MOL’s 500,000 Outlets Across Asia KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – July 8, 2010 – MOL Global today announced a strategic partnership with Facebook that will make it significantly easier and more convenient for millions of people across Asia to purchase virtual goods in online games and applications on Facebook. Under the agreement, MOL Global’s wholly owned subsidiary MOL AccessPortal will become a payment provider for Facebook Credits. That will enable Facebook members to buy Credits using MOLPoints on Facebook and on MOL’s website, MOL.Com. In the coming months, Facebook users will be able to obtain Facebook Credits using MOL points purchased through MOL’s network of more than 500,000 outlets, which are mainly in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to outlets such as 7-Eleven stores and cybercafes, customers will be able to purchase Credits through MOL’s network of online banks in these countries. Facebook and MOL will also offer co-branded gift cards at outlets in Malaysia and Singapore that can be redeemed for Facebook Credits. The partnership makes purchasing Facebook Credits significantly more convenient in Asia, a region where consumers rely heavily on offline prepaid cards rather than credit cards to purchase digital goods and services. “The relationship with Facebook demonstrates MOL’s growing role as a leading payment provider for social networking sites in Asia, especially in our core countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and India,” said Ganesh Kumar Bangah, group chief executive officer for MOL Global. “Over the last few quarters, we have seen a double-digit increase in payment transactions and payment volume. This partnership continues MOL’s momentum to build the largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network in Asia.” “Working with MOL means we can offer the benefits of Facebook Credits to millions of people in Asia using a payment system that is already widely used and trusted,” said Vaughan Smith, director of business and corporate development at Facebook. “We’re investing in the long-term future of Facebook Credits and we view this agreement as a major opportunity to broaden the availability of a simple, unified currency that can be used in games and applications across Facebook.” Facebook Credits enable users to buy and spend virtual currency in more than 150 applications on Facebook from many leading developers, eliminating the frustration of having to enter payment details separately for each application. Every month, more than 70 percent of Facebook members engage with applications on Facebook Platform. ### About MOL Global MOL Global is one of South East Asia’s biggest internet companies and owns 100% of both payment service provider, MOL AccessPortal Berhad (MOL) and the world’s pioneer social network, Friendster Inc. (Friendster) with 115 million members worldwide. MOL is a MSC Malaysia Status Company that operates and develops payment systems incorporated in 2000. MOL handles over 60 million transactions with an annual payment volume of USD200 million. MOL leverages on a network of more than 540,000 physical payment collection points across more than 75 countries. It is also linked online to 88 banks in 9 countries worldwide. MOL was recognized as one of Asia Pacific’s fastest growing technology companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards in 2005 and 2006, won a Merit Award for the Best of E-Commerce Applications in the MSC Asia Pacific ICT Awards and received the Member Excellence Award at the 2009 ICT Leadership Awards of the National ICT Association of Malaysia. Through its ownership of MOL and Friendster, MOL Global is Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL’s physical payment collection points and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia. CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase
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Breaking: Facebook To Enter Into Partnership With Friendster Buyer MOL Global
My-Wardrobe Secures $9 million Series A Lead By Balderton Capital
E-commerce continues to provide a rich seam of businesses for European tech investors and this is represented today by a series A funding in an online retailer of ‘affordable’ designer fashion. My-wardrobe.com today announces a $9 million Series A investment round led by Balderton Capital, the first institutional investor in the company, supported by existing angel investors. Dharmash Mistry, partner at Balderton Capital, will join the board joining existing members: Nick Wheeler, CEO of Charles Tyrwhitt; Carol Duncumb, former Intimas CEO; Jean-Marc Bouhelier, executive chairman of my-wardrobe.com; and founder and CEO Sarah Curran (pictured).
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My-Wardrobe Secures $9 million Series A Lead By Balderton Capital
LVMH Buys E-commerce Site Sack’s To Expand Sephora Into Brazil
Luxury products giant LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) has reached an agreement to acquire a 70%, controlling stake in Sack’s , a Brazilian online retailer of fragrances, cosmetics and toiletries. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. With the acquisition, LVMH aims to expand its Sephora subsidiary into the Brazilian perfumes and cosmetics market, reportedly one of the largest and fastest-growing beauty markets worldwide. Initially online only, but also in physical stores over time, according to the press release . Founded in 2000, Sack’s carries over 270 brands, which it is able to sell to a client base that spans more than 830,000 customers. Sack’s is one of the top-three most frequently accessed pure-play e-commerce sites in Brazil, with 4 million unique visitors each month. Carlos André Montenegro, co-founder and CEO of Sack’s, and his partners, Albatroz Participações and Marcelo Franco, will continue to hold a 30% stake in Sack’s. The current management team, led by Mr. Montenegro, will remain in place and Sack’s will continue to be based in Rio de Janeiro. CrunchBase Information Sephora USA Information provided by CrunchBase
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LVMH Buys E-commerce Site Sack’s To Expand Sephora Into Brazil
PayPal Launches Mobile Express Checkout To Enable One-Click Buying On Smartphones
eBay has made it fairly clear that mobile is the future for e-commerce. And the numbers only reinforce this strategy- mobile payments are poised to reach $200 billion by 2012, according to Juniper Research. So, of course, eBay is wants to make its crown jewel, PayPal, the leader in the mobile payments space. In fact, PayPal’s mobile transactions have grown as smartphone usage has increased, from $25 million in 2008 to $141 million in 2009. In 2010, PayPal expects more than half a billion dollars in mobile payment volume with more than 5 million members regularly using PayPal from their mobile devices. Today, PayPal is making it easier for merchants and consumers to pay for goods on their smartphones with the launch of Mobile Express Checkout. Mobile Express Checkout is the mobile version of PayPal’s Express Checkout service , which is a one-stop payment option streamlines the checkout process for consumers. A buyer will not have to reenter shipping, billing, or payment information for a PayPal payment, expediting the checkout process. All they need to do is enter their PayPal account login. It’s similar in theory to Amazon’s one click ordering option. Merchant Express Checkout has been optimized for smartphone screens and also features strong fraud detection, says PayPal. Mobile Express Checkout is initially being rolled out on the iPhone and Android 2.0 (and higher) devices by a few retailers, including Nike and Buy.com, over the next few weeks. The technology will eventually become available to all retailers in the next few months. PayPal sees this new mobile technology has an opportunity to allow the company’s 85 million members to easily buy goods on their phones using PayPal’s technology versus inputing a credit card. The company is sure to be on to something with this strategy-inputing your credit card, shipping and billing info on a phone is an arduous and time consuming task. Automating this process is surely the future of mobile payments and shopping. Of course, it’s safe to assume the credit card companies, like Mastercard and Visa, will also be heading down this road soon. CrunchBase Information PayPal eBay Information provided by CrunchBase
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PayPal Launches Mobile Express Checkout To Enable One-Click Buying On Smartphones
Ning Partners With Pearson To Sponsor Free Network Access For Educators
When Ning shuttered its free service for creating social networks back in April, educators and schools who were using the platform expresses their concern at the company’s decision to include educations networks created by schools and colleges in this group. When Ning eventually rolled out its premium pricing structure in May, the company announced that it had partnered with an education company to sponsor networks for primary and secondary educators but didn’t reveal the name of the sponsor. Today, Ning is announcing that Pearson, a education-focused publishing company, is sponsoring network costs for Ning Mini platforms for educators in North America come July. Ning says the partnership will extend for three years. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ning.com currently hosts 6,500 K-12 and 2,100 Higher Ed social networks, and range from platforms for teachers, individual schools and classes to alumni groups. Pearson will now be assuming the costs for all of these groups to use a Ning Mini model, which have access to Ning’s core features including, blogs, photos, forums and video embeds, and the added ability to run custom advertising. The price for Ning Mini is $2.95 per month or $19.95 per year. Any teacher or network creator can now apply to have a Pearson-sponsored network, and will be able to freely use a Ning Mini network when approved. Of course, the network will have some Pearson branding on it. Where a network would show that it is a “Ning” hosted network, will now indicate that it is a “Ning hosted Network Sponsored By Pearson.” Clicking on this icon will take you to a Pearson network on Ning’s platform. And these educational networks will be able to monetize through the same channels as other networks on Ning’s platform. Last week, Ning announced new revenue streams for network creators, including partnerships with branded product creator CafePress and social gaming startup Heyzap, to offer monetization options to Network Creators. Custom CafePress shops can now be integrated directly into Ning Networks, offering creators the opportunity to sell branded products, like mugs, t-shirts and more, to members and fans. With Heyzap, Ning creators can add Heyzap pay-to-play games onto their networks. Creators will earn 10% of all revenue from premium game purchases. Ning has also partnered with Chipin to allow non-profit creators to raise funds and collect donations from members. Educational networks can also serve advertising on their sites, says CEO Jason Rosenthal. Ning offers a Run Your Own Ads option that allows creators to collect revenue from running display advertisements in their site. The deal with Pearson is a win for Ning, which faced criticism from network creators following the elimination of the free model. The UK-based Pearson owns the world’s largest education publishing business as well as the Financial Times and Penguin books. And the publishing company has struck other partnerships with big-name technology companies, including Nokia. For Ning, it’s clear that educators and their networks are a priority. Amidst financial turmoil and a redirection in strategy at the company, Rosenthal has been steadfast in his commitment to keeping Ning free for educators. In April, Ning told The New York Times that “the decision to exempt teachers from subscription fees was made after discussions with teachers about the barriers to getting even small amounts of money approved by school system.” It would be interesting to see of other non-profit groups that host networks on Ning ask for a similar deal. And perhaps these types of sponsorships with big name companies are a way for Ning to create a revenue stream. CrunchBase Information Ning Pearson Information provided by CrunchBase
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Ning Partners With Pearson To Sponsor Free Network Access For Educators
HeyZap Lands Another $3 Million In Funding
HeyZap , a startup that distributes casual and social games across the web through a set of APIs, applications, and widgets, has closed another $3 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, with participation from Naval Ravikant (Hitforge) and Chris Dixon (Founder Collective). Ravikant and Albert Wenger of USV will be joining the board. HeyZap previously received funding from Y Combinator , followed by a $650K seed round from Union Square Ventures, Joshua Schachter, and other angels in May 2009. HeyZap distributes 30,000 games across 220,000 websites, and has 4,000 developers signed up for its platform. It first launched in early 2009 as a YouTube For Flash Games , making it easy to access a library of casual Flash gaming titles from one widget. Since then it has added quite a few features that developers can tap into, including an achievement system , micropayments , and analytics . It has shifted its focus toward helping social games expand beyond social networks like Facebook. It also recently scored a deal with Ning, which is making it easy for Ning network creators to add HeyZap to their sites. The company says it will be using the money to add to its team of engineers and to expand its business development efforts. CrunchBase Information Heyzap Information provided by CrunchBase
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HeyZap Lands Another $3 Million In Funding
eBay Acquires RedLaser To Integrate Barcode-Scanning Into iPhone Apps
eBay just announced that it has acquired RedLaser, a nifty b arcode-scanning application for iPhone, and related technology from Occipital. Terms for the deal were not disclosed. The app has seen over two million downloads from the App Store and is one of the most popular barcode-scanning applications for comparison shopping. RedLaser’s barcode-scanning application, which looks up price comparisons in its product database, was created specifically to deal with non-autofocus cameras (i.e. mobile phones) and has licensed its technology to over 70 companies (though it’s unclear what the future of these agreements will be with the acquisition). Unsurprisingly, eBay says that it plans to integrate RedLaser’s barcode-scanning technology into its iPhone applications, including its eBay Marketplace, eBay Selling, StubHub and Shopping.com applications. eBay has also made RedLaser a free app (it was originally $1.99) and will be integrating more than 200 million listings from eBay, as well as product inventory from over 7,000 merchants on Shopping.com. This is a huge win for startup Occipital, a TechStars incubated company that launched in 2008. Occipital will continue to develop Snapture and and FoodScanner. The acquisition isn’t surprising considering eBay’s big push into mobile e-commerce. eBay is on pace to reach a whopping $1.5 billion worth of goods sold via mobile phones in 2010. eBay has a number of iPhone apps available and the company launched iPad and Android apps this year. CrunchBase Information eBay Information provided by CrunchBase
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eBay Acquires RedLaser To Integrate Barcode-Scanning Into iPhone Apps
Google’s Commerce Search For Retailers Now Better And Cheaper
For any e-retailer, product search is the foundation of a commerce platform. Many times, a consumer goes directly to the search box to find the object they want. And the ability to easily find products on a retailers site affects the consumer interaction and experience with their site and produces higher conversion rates. Google began powering search platforms for retailers last year, with the launch of Commerce Search, a hosted enterprise search product to power online retail stores and e-commerce websites. Today, Google is launching the next iteration of Commerce Search which offers retailers a more powerful and less-expensive version of the product. The first version of Google Commerce offered a variety of features that are optimized for retail and product search, such as parametric search, sorting of results, spell checker, stemming, and synonym suggestion. The newest version builds on these features, by offering a more in-depth search experience for users and merchants. As Commerce product manager Nitin Mangtani tells me, version 2.0 focuses on enhancing navigation and the user experience. The Merchandising Dashboard : A new merchandising dashboard gives merchants more options within their search portals. Retailers can now rank products, so that certain products rank higher in search results than others. Additionally, retailers can feature promotions and sales within search portals within a given timeline. And retailers can add customized filters or ‘facets’ to search, and Google’s technology will present the appropriate results accordingly. All of these features can be implemented through a rules wizard that requires no custom code so a marketer or merchandiser could easily implement changes. Search Improvements : Google is adding realtime query autocompletion, which is a necessary element of any retail site. And Google will customize auto suggestions for each site, depending on the product indexed. Google has also improved speed of search results in Commerce search, and claim that search results are returned to shoppers in less than a second. Price Drop : Google is dropping the price of Commerce search to a pricing model that starts at $25,000 per year. Previously, Commerce search pricing started at $50,000 per year. Pricing is based on total volume of queries and items indexed. Google Commerce search also integrates Google products like Google Analytics and Google Product Search. Using Commerce, retailers can measure clicks, conversion rates, number of transactions, average order value and other data via Google Analytics. And e-commerce vendors can provide a single feed of products and catelogue items that will power Commerce and indexing of their products on Google Product Search. Retailers using Commerce search include Birkenstock , Smart Furniture and Coveroo . Google declined to release the exact number of retailers who are using the Commerce search product, but did say that Google is powered enterprise search for 30,000 sites currently. Google also offers a general hosted search product that is used by organizations that want to add customized Google search functionality to their websites. I’m curious if Google dropped their price because of a lack of retailers adopting the search product. As the retail industry steadily climbs out of the hole caused by the recession, I still think $25K is a lot to pay for search for smaller retailers. But it’s good to see that Google is dropping the price to allow for more retailers to use the product. And Google is pushing its product as an easily deployable, user-friendly way to integrate powerful search into a retail site. Google faces competition from Omniture , IBM , Endeca and others. CrunchBase Information Google Information provided by CrunchBase
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Google’s Commerce Search For Retailers Now Better And Cheaper
Rakuten Buys PriceMinister, Enters The European E-Commerce Market With A $250M Bang
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten this morning announced that it is buying France’s e-commerce website operator PriceMinister for about €200 million (roughly $250 million), reports the Wall Street Journal . The news comes less than a month after word got out that Rakuten moved to acquire US-based Buy.com for about the same price.
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Rakuten Buys PriceMinister, Enters The European E-Commerce Market With A $250M Bang
After Going Premium, Ning Adds E-Commerce And Gaming Revenue Channels For Networks
It’s been no secret that social network platform Ning has been going through a significant transition in both its leadership and business model in 2010. In March, longtime CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal . And in April, Ning’s bubble burst — the company laid off 40% of its staff and killed off its free service. In May, Ning rolled out the different paid models for its platform, Ning Pro, Ning Plus and Ning Mini. And June brings new revenue streams for Ning’s social networks, in an effort to help Ning users monetize their social networks. Ning is announcing two partnerships, with branded product creator CafePress and social gaming startup Heyzap , to offer monetization options to Network Creators. Custom CafePress shops can now be integrated directly into Ning Networks, offering creators the opportunity to sell branded products, like mugs, t-shirts and more, to members and fans. With Heyzap, Ning creators can add Heyzap pay-to-play games onto their networks. Creators will earn 10% of all revenue from premium game purchases. Ning has also partnered with Chipin to allow non-profit creators to raise funds and collect donations from members. A number of networks have already been experimenting with the new channels, including The Veloist, Duke City Fix, and TuDiabetes. Of course, Ning is taking a cut of any revenue made through these channels (with the exception of funds collected through Chipin), but Rosenthal assures us that this cut is small and the majority of the revenue goes to the network creator. These revenue channels join Ning’s Run Your Own Ads option that allows creators to collect revenue from running display advertisements in their sites. Rosenthal adds that this is the beginning of a string of revenue channels that Ning plans to open up for network creators. While he declined to name any future channels, he did say they would be in the areas of e-commerce, gaming, group buying and more. Rosenthal added that they would be exploring any channels that are currently working on other similar platforms. It seems safe to infer that he probably meant channels that were working on Facebook, which could mean that Ning may get into the offers game as well, considering its success in social games and applications on Facebook. It’s clear that Rosenthal seems to have big plans for Ning when it comes to revenue for the network and its creators. He has told us in the past that the DIY social network arena focusing on subscription model could represent a $4 billion plus revenue stream. It should be interesting to see if Ning can capture a portion of this anticipated cash. CrunchBase Information Ning Information provided by CrunchBase
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After Going Premium, Ning Adds E-Commerce And Gaming Revenue Channels For Networks
