Netflix = No Email Support

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=97379&f=23&single=1

New Music Models

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/13/strayform-tries-a-indie-new-music-model/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/30/meebo-hits-the-live-music-promotion-road/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/30/meebo-hits-the-live-music-promotion-road/

Social Networking Tools

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/14/34-more-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/

Widgets

Widget goes “Ding,” rings up sales
A Southwest Airlines’ advertising widget that announces updates on discount fares using the “ding” sound familiar to frequent fliers and viewers of Southwest’s TV ads, has been installed by an estimated 2 million users. According to the company, $150 million in ticket sales were generated by use of the widget. It’s just one way Southwest is using technology to keep in touch with its customers. Adweek (8/20) 

What ideas do you have for widgets that would add value for our customers i.e. snow conditions widget?

Mobile Commerce

Interesting article about moosejaw, and mobile phone marketing. We need to get in the times.

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/dept.asp?s_id=0&dept_id=421&ad_id=MAILER&key_id=BZ20070718

-Ricky

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=23077

This article talks about some of the technologies used and more of a transactional m-commerce model rather than the informational model described in the Moosejaw article.

Price Protection Service

Free Web service keeps track of retail price changes

Many retail companies offer to refund the difference if a customer purchases an item that later goes on sale, and the offer often tips the scales in favor of an immediate purchase. However, most consumers forget to check if the price was ever lowered. New Web site Priceprotectr.com tracks product prices and sends an e-mail to consumers who sign up when the cost goes down within the refund period. Yahoo!/PC World (7/17) 

Could be cool to use something like this on our customers behalf.

Facebook = Social Operating System?

Facebook’s plan to hook up the world

[excerpt from the article in Fortune about the Facebook F8 announcement] 

NEW YORK (Fortune) — Imagine that when you shopped online for a digital camera, you could see whether anyone you knew already owned it and ask them what they thought. Imagine that when you searched for a concert ticket you could learn if friends were headed to the same show. Or that you knew which sites – or what news stories – people you trust found useful and which they disliked. Or maybe you could find out where all your friends and relatives are, right now (at least those who want to be found).

“We want to make Facebook into something of an operating system so you can run full applications,” Zuckerberg told me. He said Facebook is becoming a “platform,” meaning a software environment where others can create their own services, much the way anyone can write programs for Microsoft’s Windows operating system on PCs. Facebook, he explained, is a technology company, not a media one.

What’s your idea of a social operating system? How can we leverage the Facebook platform?

Social Shopping

Like Shopping? Social Networking? Try Social Shopping

[excerpt from the NYT article listed above]

Sites like ThisNext and a handful of services like Kaboodle.com, Wists.com and StyleHive.com are spearheading a new category of e-commerce called “social shopping,” that tries to combine two favorite online activities: shopping and social networking. These sites are hoping to ride the MySpace wave by gathering people in one place to swap shopping ideas. And like MySpace, the sites are designed for both browsing and blogging, with some shopping-related technology twists included.

Also, I was reading in Tech Crunch today about Wishpot and their launch of mobile features this week that seeks to extend social shopping to the brick and mortar world.  Mobile support with Wishpot allows users to save and share all “interesting things” they find by sending a text message or picture to Wishpot from their mobile phone. When online, users can later view saved items, research prices, view ratings and reviews, ask friends for opinions or share recommendations.

What’s your view on social shopping?  What social shopping service should we patner with?

Here’s another one: www.stylemob.com

Personalized Fit Technologies

There are three vendors offering personalized fit technologies.  Is this pie in the sky or a viable way for us to drive down our largest reason for returns?

Intellifit:  Here’s basically how it works.  A customer steps into a kiosk that sends a safe, low power radio wave towards a customer’s fully-clothed body and, in about ten seconds, collects 200,000 data points that are used to calculate numerous, accurate body measurements. After stepping out of the kiosk, a consumer receives a printout listing the brands, styles and sizes in that mall or store or on-line that will fit them best.  Intellifit also aggregates this information and provides it to manufacturers so that they can develop better product sizing.

Biz Model: Fixed installation, selling to retailers.

MyShape.com: ShapeMatchTM is our patent-pending system that matches clothing to an individual. Our system matches garment characteristics and measurements to a member’s profile. A member’s profile consists of her measurements, shape and preferences. Your measurements determine your body shape (M, Y, S, H, A, P, E) as well as the fit of the clothing. Preferences include things such as how you like to wear your clothes, what type of clothing you like, and what types of fabrics you prefer.

Biz Model: Online retailer

My Virtual Model: My Virtual Model Inc. has set the standard for online apparel shopping. Two core technologies—My Virtual Model™ Dressing Room and My Fit—enable consumers to “try on” clothes on the Internet. The year 2002 saw the introduction of a third product, My Virtual Model Imail™. This innovative marketing tool offers a unique, fun and simple interactive MVM Dressing Room integrated in an e-mail. For merchants, deploying My Virtual Model technology improves bottom-line profitability by increasing revenues while cutting costs. Shoppers using My Virtual Model solutions spend more, buy more and return far fewer items—resulting directly in reduced shipping and handling costs.

Biz Model: Web-based technology; selling to retailers