Marketing Pilgrim

If you search Google Maps right now, you’ll see little gray generic icons beside the names of businesses to denote their field. Dollar signs for banks, fork and spoon for an eatery, a tiny shopping bag for stores and something that looks like a snail shell for art galleries. (??)

In the quest to make every single pixel count, Google is going to change some of those generic icons to tiny logos for popular brands. According to a report by Brandweek, Google has been testing the idea in Australia and now it’s opening it up to US users. Bank of America, HSBC, Target and Public Storage are the first icons you’ll see on your maps. Right now, Google says they are only offering the option to large brand names with multiple locations and they aren’t sure if it’s a feature that will stick.

ChannelAdvisors’ 2010 Consumer Shopping Habits Survey is out just in time for the holiday season. The free report provides valuable insights for anyone in the ecommerce, B2C space.

So, what jumped out at me?

Well, it wasn’t so much that 59% of those surveyed start their gift search at a search engine–with 28% heading straight to a marketplace such as eBay or Amazon–but what did intrigue me were the starts on just how inconsequential brand recognition is.

A surprising 67% said they would purchase an identical product from an unknown website if the retailer offered a better value. Better value? What do they mean by that?

Well, it appears low pricing and free shipping trump all:

There is one thing about research and statistics. No matter how obvious the findings there is still that moment of relief that comes from some form of validation of even the most obvious conclusions. eMarketer has highlighted a study done by the Pew Research Center from May of this year that verifies what many would see as obvious. More Millennials value their mobile phones than those quite a bit older than them.

Of course, this comparison is between two extremes and it would be nice to know how the rest of the world between the ages of 30-64 viewed these things right?

The next chart seems a little more telling in that when you look at the population as a whole regarding the importance of a mobile device. It is high but it’s far from the top of the list.

Be careful how you read that headline. This is not an announcement of a Facebook credit card. This is about the new ‘credits’ card that Facebook will be selling in Target stores, starting this Sunday, for the upcoming holiday season. I guess the semi-confusing terminology makes sense though since Facebook is never clear about much of anything these days other than its intent to drain everyone’s wallets.

Anyway, USAToday reports

Facebook is coming to a Target store near you.

The social-network giant is getting into the gift card business, starting Sunday, with Facebook Credits cards.

The new Facebook gift cards will be available in values of $15, $25 and $50 at all of Target’s 1,750 retail stores and at Target.com. Two or three more national retailers will start selling the cards in coming months.