Bringing the Like, Want and Own to the GSI Commerce platform
By Jose Mallabo on Monday, October 24, 2011
Earlier this month, eBay Inc. made some big news from Innovate when it announced plans to integrate Facebook’s Open Graph into its commerce platforms – including GSI Commerce.
The release stated:
eBay Inc. also plans to integrate Open Graph functionality into its GSI business unit’s Social Media Services framework. This will enable large merchants worldwide to offer their customers similar ways to connect with their friends through shopping, using GSI’s existing Open Graph-enabled content management system. GSI’s commerce platform supports more than 180 retailers in the U.S. and globally, including many leading national brands.
Like my colleague Richard Brewer-Hay, chief blogger for eBay Inc., I have watched eBay move its community-based marketplace into today’s social web over the last couple of years – and now, we’re doing the same at GSI. After Innovate last week, I was anxious to catch up with some of the core team behind GSI’s Social Media Services to learn more about what it all means.
Are daily deals really dying?
By Jose Mallabo on Monday, October 17, 2011
Looking back at the near-record holiday shopping results from 2010, you could argue that this rise was driven by consumers feeling better about the economy. That’s probably true, but some of it was driven by the new innovations and technology that have made buying stuff easier.
Over the past 3-5 years, retailers have been doing better job of serving the consumer whether in store or online. Flash sales sites like Rue La La, Gilt Groupe and One Kings Lane were popular ways to buy premium brand goods at less-than-premium prices. Improvements in online stores, search engines, payments and data analytics have given marketers better mousetraps and tools to improve conversion. And, last year mobile became a significant player in holiday 2010.
On the Social Enterprise
By Duane Peck on Wednesday, September 28, 2011
On September 22 Mark Zuckerberg closed his presentation at Facebook’s annual F8 conference with a reference to Moore’s Law, the trend of exponential technology growth first observed in 1965 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore. Zuckerberg used the reference to make a point about the bevy of new Open Graph features the world’s largest social media platform had just announced. He said Facebook was “taking the next step” with additions that would enable more flexible interactions on the web, and invited those watching or in attendance to take future steps with them. Translated: change is constant, and we will continue to accelerate it.
Whoooooooooooooooosh. Did you hear that? It was the sound of a bullet train known as social media racing towards the horizon. And if you’re not already onboard, now is the time to get your ticket-- or at least try and grab the caboose as it whizzes by.
[VIDEO] Making sense of the data with David Braunstein at MBS Insight. Relevance matters.
By Jose Mallabo on Monday, September 19, 2011
I've been here almost 9 months and I've been working my way around our businesses knowing full well I'd have to start digging into areas that are outside of my comfort zone and past experiences. Database analytics is one of them. I'm barely qualified to type those words let alone wax on about what it means for retailers and ecommerce companies.
After a good amount of research it was time to make the drive up to MBS Insight on Long Island to be enlightened. After a day in their offices and a good talk with senior vice president of strategy services David Braunstein I can say I now know enough to be dangerous. Mostly, as I watched this video a few days later, I realize how my appreciation for analytics has grown. I may not know how to build a database for marketing analytics, but I know where to go when I need more insight to a campaign whether its email marketing, customer service, social media, point of sale or even creative.
I once read a quote about how everything is a good idea until the data says otherwise. That's true. But as David said in my chat "relevance matters."
Part 1 of my talk with David.
Watch more on David's points about email, social shopping, relevance and the proliferation of data in Part 2.
4 ½ Things I Learned/Un-Learned During My GSI Internship
By Meghan Lyons on Tuesday, August 2, 2011
What is GSI Commerce? Entering into a GSI summer internship within the corporate marketing team as a third year college student, I had 8 weeks to figure this one out. I didn’t go undercover, but my mission was clear—to be a sponge. Listen, watch, learn and ask questions. And, in my final week, I had the chance to reflect on all that I learned about ecommerce.
1.There’s a lot going on behind the scenes
During my first week at GSI, I was asked if I had ever purchased anything from Dick's Sporting Goods ecommerce site. Lo and behold my answer was yes. But how did this relate to GSI? The senior executive responded with an ear-to-ear smile. "You've already worked with us, and you didn't even know it."
eBay + GSI Commerce. Deal Closed!
By Jose Mallabo on Monday, June 20, 2011
On March 28, eBay Inc. announced that it had agreed to acquire GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion. Today the company announced the closing of that deal. As you may recall in the original announcement a couple of months ago, eBay CEO John Donahoe said:
“We intend to lead the next generation of commerce innovation. The acquisition of GSI, which offers the most comprehensive integrated suite of online commerce and interactive marketing services available, will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers worldwide. Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, we believe GSI will enhance our position as the leading strategic global commerce partner of choice for retailers and brands of all sizes.”
It’s Just Commerce Now: Internet Retailer Conference 2011
By Duane Peck on Thursday, June 16, 2011
Convergence. It’s a theme that’s been on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2011 in San Diego. It’s in keynote speeches and PowerPoint decks; on marketing brochures and booth graphics. Whether it’s the blurring of lines between offline and online commerce via mobile, social and local forces, the impending union of the Web and television, or even the collision of print and digital news media (the themes of the show’s first three keynotes, respectively), convergence is everywhere at IRCE 2011.
Talking With Simone Barratt
By Jose Mallabo on Friday, June 3, 2011
Last week, the company announced the appointment of Simone Barratt to president of GSI Global Marketing Services International. Simone was visiting the U.S. last week and was kind enough to entertain my questions. Having worked internationally, I was really curious about her take on digital marketing across all the regions and countries she oversees.
What is the biggest challenge to operating in a digital marketing service internationally?
Being based in the U.K. is both a personal challenge and an asset; having built the e-Dialog business in the U.K. and throughout Europe means that I know the market very well. This will be very helpful as we begin our efforts with GMS. Being located in the U.K. also means managing the distance between multiple time zones. But it’s not so much the time zones as it is the many cultures and languages of the markets within those time zones. That is the challenge. To do this at a world-class level, you have to intimately understand all of the consumer norms and behaviours of these markets. It’s not enough to translate into the 20 languages Skype operates in through Europe, we need to understand how their consumers behave around the communications we put in front of them.
The Forrester Tweet Jam with GMS
By Jose Mallabo on Monday, May 9, 2011
In case you missed last Friday's Tweet jam with Sucharita Mulpuru at Forrester and our Global Marketing Services companies, below is the Twitter stream from the 30-minute session.
[LIVE TWEET EVENT] A Talk with Forrester: How online buyers behave
By Jose Mallabo on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Join us on Twitter for a live chat with Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. You can follow #GSIchat to join the live chat. The event will be moderated by John Sheldon, senior vice president @TrueAction and include other GSI Global Marketing Services companies @FetchBack, @ClearSaleing, @eDialog and Pepperjam.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been holding executive briefings with Forrester Research for clients and interactive marketers in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles to discuss the findings and implications of the joint study GSI Commerce recently completed with Forrester: The Purchase Path of the Online Buyer. You can download the report here.
The findings about what worked for marketers over the most recent peak season were interesting and to some degree counter intuitive. We wanted to take that dialogue and open it up to our followers on Twitter. We hope you’re able to join in the discussion.
Find us Elsewhere
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The e-Dialog Marketing Blog
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Internet Retailer
Technology Is Changing the Way We Market—and Spend
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