Welcome to our new E-Commerce Insider newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the e-commerce industry, produced by BI Intelligence.
Click here to sign up for E-Commerce Insider today, and receive it every morning in your inbox.
PAYPAL'S BUY NOW, PAY LATER: PayPal is expanding a payments program in the UK that gives customers the option to pay for an item up to two weeks after purchasing it. After a purchase is made, PayPal will pay the seller and then itself be reimbursed 14 days later by the customer. "If the item doesn't arrive or isn't what you expected, you're covered by PayPal Buy Protection," said a letter sent to PayPal customers. Sellers are critical of the program because it promotes a mentality of buying, sampling, and then returning. (eCommerce Bytes)
HOW ZAPPOS USES SOCIAL MEDIA: It may not be a massive engine for directly driving sales, but Zappos feels confident about the value of its investments in social media, according to Will Young, director of Zappos Labs. We asked Young to explain why Zappos sees an opportunity in social media, when many retailers feel uncertain about the return on investment. Here is what Young said:
— "Social media is extremely important to us. I mean some things are better suited to driving sales — Facebook ads for example. But when we get creative with marketing campaigns on Pinterest and Instagram, what we are really trying to do is communicate with our customers."
— "I don't think social works for small retailers, because they don't have the resources to tie it all together. They can't place ad buys on Facebook, they don't have someone whose job it is to provide shopping recommendations on the fly, they don't have a large enough following to conduct impromptu surveys asking customers for product feedback."
— "Even if you're a billion dollar retailer like Zappos, I mean look, social is driving a very small percentage of our sales. But the value we see, and I think a lot of large retailers see, is customers engaging with our brand on social media."
— "We were one of the first companies to really use Twitter for customer service, and I remember someone asking [Zappos CEO] Tony [Hsieh] 'what's the ROI on Twitter?' And Tony said, 'we don't even look at it, if our customers want to talk to us on a channel, we'll talk to them on that channel. We're not going to tell them they have to pick up a phone and call us if they want to talk.' Customer service is very important to us." (BI Intelligence)
WELCOME, E-COMMERCE INSIDERS: This is our new newsletter covering all things e-commerce. Please email csmith@businessinsider.com with news and tips. Click here to sign up for E-Commerce Insider today, and receive it every morning in your inbox.
PAYPAL FINGERPRINT SCANNER: PayPal has released a native app that integrates with the new fingerprint scanner found on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 device. Users can now access their PayPal accounts from the S5 simply through fingerprint authentication, rather than signing in with a username and password. The app will work for online payments or at physical retailers that accept PayPal payments. The app also works with Samsung's new wearable devices, the Gear Fit and Gear 2, so that users can handle payments on their wrists. Using a watch or other wearable device to make payments could make it easier to purchase things in stores, so retailers should keep a close eye on new hardware. During the announcement PayPal cited a study which said that 53% of Americans are comfortable using fingerprint authentication over traditional passwords. ( (GigaOm, Mobile Commerce Daily)
GOOGLE WALLET MEETS RESISTANCE FROM WARY RETAILERS — Lauren Johnson for Mobile Commerce Daily. "Retailers are still skeptical on the Internet giant’s intentions … ‘Savvy merchants are well aware of Google’s intentions — it’s after data,’ said Jordan McKee, analyst for Yankee Group … ‘Larger merchants, and especially tier one merchants, want Google nowhere near their transaction data’ … Retailers, including Express, Starbucks and Wendy’s, are choosing to develop their own branded mobile payment apps … Google ... does have two factors working in its favor: Brand recognition and a solid user base." (Mobile Commerce Daily)
AMAZON EXPANDS SAME-DAY DELIVERY REACH: Amazon's same-day delivery service could be available to 31% of U.S. consumers by 2015, according to supply chain consultancy MWPVL. Currently, Amazon same-day delivery reaches 11 U.S. cities, making it available to 21% of the country's population. "The concept of same-day delivery is quickly becoming a competitive requirement rather than a nice-to-have service," said Marc Wulfraat, president of MWPVL. Amazon is facing increased competition from eBay and Uber, both of which recently rolled out same-day delivery services in select cities. (Internet Retailer)
Beauty retailer Julep is raising $30 million to further disrupt the cosmetics industry. Julep is bringing new beauty products to market much faster than its competitors, because it crowdsources customer feedback on social media and online forums, as well as in salons and stores that it operates. (TechCrunch)
China-based online cosmetics retailer Jumei has filed for a $400 million IPO in the U.S. Jumei.com is among the top 20 most visited online retail websites in China. (Business of Fashion)
Here's what else BI Intelligence subscribers are reading …
Facebook Is The Most Successful Social Network At Getting People To Use It On Multiple Devices
Here's Why Some Consumers Still Don't Like Using Shopping Apps
