Era of E-Commerce is Over

Forrester Research e-commerce forecast

John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, has said that the concept of e-commerce is dead and buried, since consumers really don’t care about where they buy, so long as they get the cheapest price. You can thank increasing use of mobile technology for that change.

Now consumers are walking into retail stores, and using their phones to identify better prices for goods they like, and will use either online or offline purchasing to get the price they want.


“Over the last 12-18 months we at eBay have changed our view on e-commerce,” he explained. “We’re now seeing a profound change in how consumers are behaving, and we’re going to see more changes in the next three years than we’re seen in the previous 20 in terms of shopping and payments." 

NFC handset forecast

"Mobile devices are blurring the lines between online and offline at a rate no one would have predicted.” eBay boss declares era of e-commerce is over

As for eBay’s strategy, Donahoe said the company is presenting itself as a retailer-agnostic platform. Price comparison applications on the site will show a broad range of suppliers, all displayed on a level playing field with the competition. eBay will simply process the sale.

Google: 44 Percent Of Searches For Last-Minute Holiday Gifts Will Be Mobile

Google now predicts, based on the past two years worth of data, that in the upcoming 2011 Christmas and holiday shopping season, “44 percent of total searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms will be from mobile devices."

That's a fairly staggering prediction. Google believes that 44 percent of all searches for the gift shopping purpose will be generated by smart phones. There are some potential implications for mobile advertisers, who will have to compete for limited screen real estate.

But the findings also are illustrative for the broader trend of mobile use for real-world shopping activities. That has implications for use of mobile coupons, location-based check-ins and offers and mobile wallet applications, even in advance of a widespread shift to use of mobile payment services.

One of the clear "big trends" now is that mobile and online applications and features increasingly are being applied to offline commerce. 

44 Percent Of Searches For Last-Minute Holiday Gifts Will Be Mobile

Smart Phones Displacing Cameras, Flickr Data Indicates

Smart phones are displacing cameras as the devices used to take photos uploaded to Flickr, data from Flickr indicates. In fact, the iPhone 4 might soon become the single most-popular device used to take photos uploaded to the site.


The data in all likelihood understates use of smart phones, though. The graphs, Flickr says, are only accurate to the extent that Flickr can automatically detect the camera used to take the photo or shoot the video (something possible about two thirds of the time). Since that is not always possible with camera phones, therefore they are under-represented, Flickr says. In other words, the Apple iPhone 4 might already have become the most-used device.

There's another interesting angle here, namely the connection between social software and e-commerce. Since Flickr is tracking the devices used to take photos, it also can become a site where potential camera buyers can find out what devices other people are using, and get links to information, or buy those devices.

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