Next Generation Shopping

Finally a Half.com API?  I just got word that the Half.com product inventory will now be available through the eBay Shopping Web Services.  It seems that it is actually just an additional API call (FindHalfProducts) rather than a full API itself.  I (and other developers) have been wondering for some time now why eBay hasn’t made this feature available to its web publisher and developer network. 

This API feature had been slated for release during July ‘07 according to the eBay Road Map.

More news coming next week.  Right from the e-mail:

• How does this help me?

  • Half.com product and pricing information will now be available via a Shopping API returning data in near real time. This will allow you to provide your shoppers with accurate and up-to-date information.
• Where can I get more information?
  • Information will be available at developer.ebay.com. The API name is “FindHalfProducts” and it is available as a Shopping Services API.
• How do I sign up and begin ramping up using the API?
  • Signing up is simple and free: You must have a developer account at developer.ebay.com. Documentation for the new FindHalfProducts API will be available at:
    developer.ebay.com/DevZone/shopping/docs/CallRef/index.html
• When will this be available?
  • We are shooting for the API to be available next week! Watch for a follow-up notice to announce availability!

Web Publishers: Half.com has a separate affiliate program running on CJ.

By the time I had checked my feed reader this morning, Brian Smith had already covered Shopping.com’s latest press release.  If you are a reader of Brian’s blog then you know he has been very critical of Shopping.com the past couple years.  So I was sure I was dreaming when I read his post title “Shopping.com Gets With The Program.”  Alas, I was not dreaming… They are planning to release the following quality innovations for merchants:

• Product Performance Reporting
• SKU Level Bidding
• Shopping.com Cart
• Distributed Commerce Program

These will be accesible through a merchant portion of the Shopping.com API, slated for beta release in 2008.  You can read the details about the items mentioned above in the press release or on Ed’s etaildtail blog entry.

Now, what does this mean to a Partner in the Shopping.com Developer Network?  Simply put conversion will effect your CPC rate.  Directly from Shopping.com:

“the revenue per click to publishers will also be adjusted based on the merchant CPC. We evaluate the quality of traffic from our distribution partners by measuring the conversion to sale and adjust the merchants’ cost per click accordingly.”

More…

• All existing agreements to remain the same
• To continue to receive a share of the merchant revenue
• To be evaluated based on a new metric: Quality Score. This metric will determine the value a partner receives on each click and will be available in the Partner Account Center upon launch of VBP.

I’m hoping that Shopping.com will ensure publisher partners have the information neccessary to increase their conversion and provide a higher quality of clicks.

This will change the landscape dramatically, especially for those pumping low quality clicks through SDC.  But at the end of the day, its all for the better.  From Shopping.com:

“Value-Based Pricing will encourage merchants to increase their investment with Shopping.com, driving a mutually beneficial relationship between partners and merchants and reinforcing our ecosystem.”

I often post from the point of view of eithier a developer or an industry analyst. This post is not one of them.

Lately, I’ve run into trouble as an online consumer. Specifically getting shipments. Here is a real-life post from being an everyday consumer:

I ordered a Nintendo Wii from CircuitCity.com on August 30th. I got it right before they sold out. Everyone here was really excited about it. Well, it still hasn’t been delivered yet. Here is my FedEx SmartPost tracking log:

Today is only one day after the estimated delivery date, but it hasn’t moved from the Edison NJ warehouse in 4 business days. I’m starting to think something is wrong so I decided I’d try to find out.

I started out by calling FedEx.

FedEx Rep 1:
Rep 1: Thanks for calling FedEx…
Me: Hi, I’m trying to track a SmartPost package…
Rep 1: We don’t track FedEx SmartPost, you have to call your local post office.

Ok, calling the post office

Local Post Office Rep (Pat):
…
Pat: Do you have a tracking ID?
Me: I believe so. (Read the number).
Pat: That looks to be a FedEx number. We probably haven’t received any information from FedEx yet.

Back to square 1. I call FedEx again.

FedEx Rep 2:
Rep 1: Thanks for calling FedEx…
Me: Hi, I’m trying to track a SmartPost package…
Rep 2: Let me transfer you to SmartPost department.
Me: (Thinking why the hell couldn’t you do that the first time?)

Wait to be transferred…

SmartPost Rep (Mary):
Mary: Hi, how can I help you?
Me: (Explains the whole situation)
Mary: We are a 3rd party organization that hands off packages from FedEx to the Post office for finally delivery. We usually have a 1-3 business day turn around once it enters the Sortation (that can’t be a real word) facility. Since it hasn’t moved since September 7th, I would say there is something wrong with your package. Perhaps the package, packaging or label was damaged. I would call Circuit City and tell them you talked to us, and we feel that the package has been damaged or lost.

Great, now to call Circuit City…

Circuit City Rep (Michelle):
Michelle: You can only report lost after 15 business days from shipment.
Me: So I can’t do anything until September 20th?
Michelle: I’m sorry sir, but we can’t report it lost until 15 business days from the shipment.

End of Story

I’m still hopeful that I might get my package, but this whole thing has turned into a nightmare. I thought I’d save a couple bucks for free shipping. I should know better. Now some kid who works at the Edison FedEx sortation facility is probably playing my stolen Nintendo Wii right now; or maybe its on the back off an unmarked truck to be sold on the black market… who knows, but at least I’m optimistic.

Lessons learned

• Never use free shipping from Circuit City again.
• Never receive or ship using FedEx SmartPost (I’m not the only one that has problems).
• Stop shopping online its not worth it =)

I was just reading over on the E-Commerce Optimization blog about Pronto’s latest social shopping site launch. This not truly new news as it had been written up last month on Mashable, but this was the first time the official word came from Pronto. Let me first say I think they did a good job in integrating some of the community features. Unfortunately, I found something very bothersome before I even reached their site. E-Commerce Optimization had the screen capture shown below:

$45,000 to anyone who can identify what is wrong with the listing above… See it yet? I found myself wondering if the person who took this screen capture was paying attention to the listing. A Rushmore DVD for $45,000? Um, I’m not really sure that price is accurate! I figured it was just a fluke in Pronto’s pricing system. Flukes are still very common in price comparison engines. I’ve seen plenty on the others (Shopping.com, PriceGrabber, etc.). However I’ve never seen one so extreme.

When I clicked “compare prices” I was taken to the product page. There I noticed a “most liked” section to the right of the main product information. I thought “Hey, this is a cool little tidbit.” Then I got to thinking that the information “Marie C. from Boulder, Colorado was the first person to like it” wasn’t all that useful to me. But hey it’s a good start as far as social shopping goes…

Now, I’m not a big Pronto user, but I found it disturbing that again the pricing information seemed skewed. Office Space DVD from $3 to $529? I did some further digging. The low price ($3) was from GreatArrow.com. Never heard of them, but I checked it out anyway. They sell Greeting Cards, no DVDs found on their site. I checked the high price ($529). Turned out to be Office Space by Creatas (Software) from FotoSearch.com. Ugh, that was enough for me.

Ok, enough criticism about the price and product matching. Pronto did some quality community integration work. I saw some similarities to our own My Shopping Facebook application, specifically the short review box, and the “I own it” and “I want it” parts, found in the modal popup that appears when clicking the “Like” button. This makes it easy to share additional information.

I found their Local Liked Products section to be a very innovative idea, and something they could build on in the long-term. As described by Pronto:

“Users can track the hottest trends in their city by searching the most “Liked” products by region.”

Another very important “social shopping” piece that they have included are the Brand and Store Likes:

“Users can express their interest in particular brands and stores in addition to their favorite products, providing other shoppers greater insight into their tastes and style.”

They seem to be off to a great start in the social shopping space. For more information, Scott Wingo has a pair of writeups (Part I / Part II) including Q&A and some tips… worth the read. You can read the official press release here.