Amazon as an ISP

According to Wired, Amazon since introducing the first cloud services back in 2006, it now carries as much as 1% of all internet traffic.

Most people still think of Amazon as the internet’s giant shopping mall — a purveyor of gadgets, books and movies — but it’s quietly become “a massive utility” that is either on the sending or receiving end of 1 percent of all of the internet traffic in North America, says Craig Labovitz, a well-known internet researcher and co-founder of DeepField.

It’s popular with companies that see big spikes and drops in computing demand. Netflix uses it to handle the back-end of its streaming service, which is in hot demand on Sunday nights and then gets quiet a few hours later. And a supercomputing company called Cycle Computing even managed to build one of the world’s 50 most powerful supercomputers on the Amazon cloud.

Mercent a Leading Sponsor at 2012 Magento Imagine Conference for eCommerce

SEATTLE, WA, Apr 17 (Marketwire) –

Mercent(TM), a leading technology company that enables retailers to

profitably reach and convert more shoppers online, today announced it has

taken a leading sponsorship role in the second annual Magento Imagine

eCommerce conference taking place April 23-25, 2012 at the M Hotel in Las

Vegas.

As a Magento Gold Partner, Mercent will host a marketplace exhibit space

and showcase its award-winning Mercent Retail(TM) performance marketing

platform to retail conference attendees. Participants interested in

learning about Mercent Retail(TM) and its suite of Magento-supported

products — including the new Mercent Retail(TM) Marketplace Price

Optimizer extension now available in the Magento Extension Marketplace –

can pre-schedule 1×1 meetings. Mercent executives will also be on hand to

share thoughts and insight on prevalent eRetailing trends impacting

Magento community members and share client success stories.

Mercent CEO Eric Best commented, “We are delighted to be a leading

sponsor for the 2012 Magento Imagine conference. Through participation we

are focused on deepening our engagement with the Magento retail community

and gathering direct insight on their eCommerce initiatives and use of

Magento-supported technologies like Mercent Retail(TM) and our

Marketplace Optimizer for Amazon. Feedback in this form is invaluable to

Mercent and our drive to continuously enhance our suite of retail

products and services.”

Through its award-winning technology, Mercent helps large brand name

retailers, including retail members of the Magento community, drive

retail product and offer visibility across a comprehensive set of digital

channels that includes comparison shopping sites, paid search platforms

(Google AdWords, Microsoft AdCenter); online marketplaces like Amazon and

eBay; product ad platforms including Google Product Search (GPS), Amazon

Product Ads, and Google Product Listing Ads (PLA); social shopping and

shopping search sites; and affiliate networks. The Mercent Retail(TM)

platform complements this with deep retail analytics that highlight

products, categories, brands, promotions, ads, and channels contributing

most to online performance and ROI and tools that allow retail marketers

to take action on these insights.

To learn more about Mercent and its full product portfolio, or for an

in-person demo, contact Mercent Sales at 206.832.3900 or

sales@mercent.com. Information regarding Mercent Retail shopping feed

management technology, Mercent Performance marketing services, and a list

of online marketing channels in the Mercent Shopping Network is also

available at www.mercent.com.

About Mercent:

Mercent ensures the world’s leading retailers are

visible, competitive and profitable where consumers shop online. Through

its award-winning Mercent Retail(TM) SAAS technology and Mercent

Performance(TM) professional services, Mercent helps the world’s most

successful online merchants including 1-800-Flowers, Bass Pro Shops,

GUESS?, L’Occitane USA, HSN and others, maximize their online marketing

performance to drive inventory velocity, customer acquisition, revenues

and profits. Supported online shopping destinations include Amazon.com,

Google, eBay, Bing, comparison shopping engines (CSEs), affiliate

networks, social shopping sites, and paid search and display advertising

campaigns. The company was founded by Amazon.com veterans, is

venture-funded, and is based in Seattle, WA. For more information, visit

www.mercent.com.

Amazon Repricing Deal

Mercent is offering one month free of Amazon repricing with a one year agreement. My readers know I work for Mercent but this is a heck of a deal if you do significant business on Amazon. Win the buy box…win the business. I have IR 500 clients getting triple digits revenue growth inside of 3 months with most seeing around 30%. If you are interested, let me know and I’ll get you some more info.

If you are looking for excitement, this video isn’t for you, but if you want some details, it might be worth a look.

Amazon FBA Offering

Amazon is running an FBA promotion, to entice merchants into joining the program.

• Get up to $500 back when you ship your inventory to Amazon using their discounted Amazon partnered carrier.
• Get up to $1,000 back in fulfillment fees based on how many items you sell and they ship.

Pretty good offering.

Your Mom Smells :-)

On this day in 1982 the joke/smiley face emoticon is born.

From Wired :1982: At precisely 11:44 a.m., Scott Fahlman posts the following electronic message to a computer-science department bulletin board at Carnegie Mellon University:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman
From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use:

With that post, Fahlman became the acknowledged originator of the ASCII-based emoticon. From those two simple emoticons (a portmanteau combining the words emotion and icon) have sprung dozens of others that are the joy, or bane, of e-mail, text-message and instant-message correspondence the world over.

Is Google Monetizing Google Product Search through Paid Search Ads

In an article by Frank Kochenash Vice President Performance Services, Mercent, Frank thinks that Google is monetizing Google Product Search through Paid Search Ads and has the numbers to back it up.

Really fascinating stuff and when I combine this post with what a little birdie at Google shared with me….well, if you don’t listen  you could be left behind the curve. It’s time to stop looking at Google PPC, PLA and GPs as distinct channels and start looking at blended metrics to get a better picture of performance.

“What’s going on with Google Product Search (GPS)?” is a question I’ve received a lot lately.  GPS was a smoking hot channel for most of the last 18 months.  But traffic and sales comps since about March 2011 have been down, in some cases substantially.  Well, several things are going on, but I think a major one is that Google is starting to more aggressively monetize GPS by shifting traffic away from Google Shopping results and toward its revenue generating programs – Adwords (paid search ads) and Product Listing Ads (PLA).  This is a hypothesis of mine, and I have no inside or other information from Google confirming or denying this.  Below I share why I think this is happening and some of the implications for retailers.

First, some very brief history on GPS performance:

• 2010 January-September:  GPS performed awesomely.  We were realizing YOY comparable store sales well over 100%.  In addition to great work by us and our clients, this was due to easy comps against the 2009 recession and some tactical missteps Google made on GPS in 2009.
• 2010 October-December:  Q4 2010 YOY comps got harder because (among our client base) the consumer spending recovery started in Q4 2009.  Also, Google changed some aspects of the user experience that negatively impacted GPS traffic.  In particular, in mid-October they made changes that emphasized local results and, we believe, larger stores.  We saw a dramatic downtick in traffic and sales, but Google acknowledged the mistake and corrected it before the brunt of the buying season.  Short story is that GPS still put up very impressive numbers in Q4, but not like earlier in 2010, meaning comparable store sales were in the 20-50% range.  (In hindsight, their experiments in October and November 2010 look like initial forays into monetizing GPS that had too much of a negative impact on GPS traffic.)
• 2011 January – June:  The comps started declining further.  Declines accelerated in April, May, and June.  By late spring we were seeing comparable same store sales for GPS in the single digits and lower.  Median account yoy sales growth for GPS only, went negative by late spring.  Essentially, Q1 2011 was still pretty good for GPS in terms of YOY growth, but Q2 was poor to very poor.

Several things are probably affecting GPS results, but I believe one of the biggest is that Google is monetizing GPS by shifting traffic away from GPS and toward its revenue producing channels.  The industry has speculated about whether and how Google would monetize GPS.  Some have speculated that Google would eventually make GPS a CPC program like other comparison shopping engines.  This is a legitimate option, but I think what we’re starting to see is that Google will stick to their tried and true revenue generator, paid search ads, as the vehicle to monetize traffic that comes to Google for shopping.  PLA, in this perspective, is a mere experimental riff on paid search ads.”

Shop.org Cocktail Party, Dinner

Get your drink and feed bag on at the Mercent, FiftyOne and SLI hosted event at Shop.org in Boston next week. I’ll be there all next week so expect minimal new postings. Try not to miss me too much.

If you are going to be at the show, look me up at Mercent’s booth #830.

 

Top Ten Things to Do @ Shop.Org in Boston Next Week

While we’ll all have to wander the exhibit hall trying not to make eye contact with pushy vendors pushing yet another stress relief ball and abusing our livers at after parties. Here is a top ten list of things to do on your free time:

TD Banknorth Garden

100 Legends Way
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 624-1050

Since its grand opening in 1995, more than twenty-four million people have come to the TD Garden to see the arena’s famous tenants, the NHL’s Boston Bruins, NBA’s Boston Celtics, and NLL’S Boston Blazers, as well as world-renowned concerts, sporting events, family shows, wrestling, ice shows and so much more. The state-of-the-art Boston tourist attraction is a year-round, 19,600-seat arena, fully equipped with three (3) private restaurants – Banners, Legends and The Premium Club restaurants, 90 executive suites, 1100 club seats, a multi-million dollar video scoreboard (Garden HDX) and complete 360-degree LED technology.

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Faneuil Hall Marketplace

4 South Market Building 5th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02109
(617) 523-1300

In the heart of Boston, Faneuil Hall Marketplace is adjacent to historic Faneuil Hall and is bordered by the financial district, the waterfront, the North End, Government Center, and Haymarket. It is a well-traveled part of Boston’s “Freedom Trail” and essential component to your list of things to do in Boston. The Marketplace is a five-minute walk to the New England Aquarium, The Children’s Museum, The Old State House, and Paul Revere’s House.

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New England Aquarium

617-973-5206

Founded in 1969, the New England Aquarium is a global leader in ocean exploration and marine conservation and family fun Boston attraction. The Aquarium is one of the premier visitor attractions in Boston, with over 1.3 million visitors a year, and a major public education resource.

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Boston Common

145 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 426-3115

The starting point of the Freedom Trail, Boston Common is the oldest park in the country and ideal for Boston sightseeing. The park is almost 50 acres in size. Today, Boston Common is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that winds through many of Boston’s neighborhoods. The “Common” has been used for many different purposes throughout its long history. Until 1830, cattle grazed the Common, and until 1817, public hangings took place here. British troops camped on Boston Common prior to the Revolution and left from here to face colonial resistance at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775. Celebrities, including Martin Luther King Jr., Pope John Paul II, and Gloria Steinem (advocate of the feminist revolution), have given speeches at the Common.

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Museum of Science

1 Science Park
Boston, MA 02114-1000
(617) 589-0300

The mission of the Museum of Science, Boston is to stimulate interest in and further understanding of science and technology and their importance for individuals and for society. To accomplish this educational mission, the staff, volunteers, overseers, and trustees of the Museum are dedicated to attracting the broadest possible spectrum of participants and involving them in activities, exhibits, and programs that are available at this attraction in Boston.

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Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic American treasure. Preserved and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1958, when the wrecking ball threatened, the Freedom Trail today is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.

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Paul Revere’s House

19 North Square
Boston, MA 02113
(617) 523-2338

On the night of April 18, 1775, silversmith Paul Revere left his small wooden home in Boston’s North End and set out on a journey that would make him into a legend. Today that home is still standing at 19 North Square and has become a national historic landmark. It is downtown Boston’s oldest building and one of the few remaining from an early era in the history of colonial America.

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Harvard University

Massachusetts Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-1000

Harvard University, which celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units.

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Boston Children’s Museum

300 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 426-6500

Founded in 1913 by a group of teachers in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Boston Children’s Museum began a “hands-on” tradition long before that phrase became commonplace. Today, after 90 years, Boston Children’s Museum exists to help children understand and enjoy the world in which they live.

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Bunker Hill Monument

The 221-foot granite obelisk marks the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution. Completed in 1842 and dedicated on June 17, 1843, in a major national ceremony, the monument is open for climbing, unless deterred by bad weather. The exhibit lodge was built in the late nineteenth century to house a statue of Dr. Warren.

 

ps Red Sox suck.

Ben & Jerry’s New Flavor for the Holiday: Schweddy’s Balls

Getting ready for the holidays can be a stressful time. That’s why I like some nice Schweddy Balls in my hands and in my mouth. Nothing is quite as relaxing as enjoying Shweddy Balls in the privacy of my own home or even out in public. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered rum balls and malted milk balls…sounds good to me.

You Stay Classy Yahoo: CEO fired over phone

Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz was ousted with more than a year left on her contract. She will be replaced in the interim by CFO Tim Morse.

Carol sent an email to all employees at Yahoo saying:

“To all,

I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.

Carol”

Getting fired over the phone? Didn’t she have Yahoo Messenger installed? You stay classy Yahoo.