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eBay Looking To Give Deals That Move In On Groupon’s Turf

Poor Groupon. Ever since its IPO there has been nothing but difficult news. The most difficult is that the current stock price is languishing about 80% off its IPO price.

Now add yet another competitor in the increasingly crowded deals space and you wonder what else can get in the way of Groupon being what it claimed it would be.

The latest entrant is none other than eBay as reported by Reuters

EBay Inc has been quietly testing an online marketplace for deals on local services, expanding into a multibillion- dollar market currently led by Groupon Inc.

EBay is also re-designing its website, adding Facebook-like features it hopes will spur more sales.

Survey Says a Large Portion of Online Shopping is Done After Dark

When I get up in the morning, my inbox is filled with marketing messages from the brands I follow. I delete most of them without reading them. Why? Not because I’m not interested, but because I can’t deal with this deluge personal information at the start of my work day. If only these brands would send the emails in the evening when I’m sitting on the couch browsing with my iPad. . . (hint, hint.)

According to a new study from Yesmail, 60% of consumers say they’d rather interact with brands on social media between 6 pm and 2 am. 40% say they do their online shopping after 6 pm.

Conversely, only 5% of email campaigns are set to hit between 6 and 10 pm and the majority of Facebook campaigns launch during the day.

Would You Like a Facebook ‘Want’ Button?

Facebook and likes are synonymous these days. So much so that Facebook has practically succeeded in watering down the meaning of the word ‘like’ along with ‘friend’ and others.

Now the company is experimenting with the ability for users to create a wishlist of sorts by identifying things they desire with a ‘want’ button. Reuters reports

Facebook Inc is testing a feature that lets users of the social network create “wishlists” of home furnishings, clothing and other retail products, laying the groundwork for what some believe could be an eventual push into e-commerce.

Facebook said it is working with seven retailers, including Pottery Barn and Victoria’s Secret, to test the new feature that will allow certain users to flag images of desired products by clicking a special “want” button.

Just In Time for the Holidays, Facebook Gifts

Now we are getting somewhere.

Facebook is rolling out a service called, creatively enough, Facebook Gifts which allows Facebook users to buy gifts for friends from inside of Facebook. No, it’s not a virtual gift and yes it can be done from a mobile device. So Facebook appears to have killed two previously unwanted birds with this one deal. From the LA Times we hear

The social networking giant announced a new service Thursday afternoon called Facebook Gifts that will let users buy and send each other presents they can enjoy in real life.

To start, these presents include Starbucks gift cards, stuffed animals and cupcakes, but Facebook said it will continue to add more options every day.

If you like pictures to tell a story here you go.

Mobile Marketing Goes Postal with Holiday eCommerce Promotion

It may not seem like it, but mobile is actually the perfect compliment to the US Postal Service. When a customer uses their mobile device to buy something online, that something has to be mailed to them and there’s a one in three chance that that something is going to arrive via the US Postal Service.

In order to encourage this symbiotic relationship, the USPS is offering a special holiday direct mail promotion aimed specifically at mobile marketers.

The 2012 Holiday Mobile Shopping Promotion gives online merchants a 2% postage discount as long as they have a a mobile bar code or QR code that leads back to the web. (You’ll find the specifics here.)

Gasp! Survey Reveals That Many Online Reviews are Fake!

My world has been rocked, not once, but twice this week. First I found out that the reality series The X-Factor hid the fact that a 13-year old contestant was actual a Broadway pro in order to make the episode more compelling. That makes it more of a semi-reality series, doesn’t it? Appalling!

While I was still reeling from that shock, I checked into Mashable and found this: By 2014, 1 in 10 Social Media Reviews Will Be Fake. 

Say it isn’t so! I, like most internet users, trust those online reviews to give me the scoop before I check into a hotel, eat at a restaurant, or buy a new product. If 10% are fake, whom am I to trust?

Survey Shows Made in USA Matters

Back in July, the USA Olympic team hit a bump in the road when the news broke that their all-American athletic wear had been made in China. Considering the patriotic nature of the games, it’s not surprising that folks were upset but how do they feel about the origin of everyday items?

According to a shopper survey by Perception Research Services International (PRS), that “Made in USA” label is important enough to influence their buying decisions.

76% of those surveyed, said seeing a “Made in the USA” label made them more likely to buy the product but patriotism wasn’t the reason for the decision.

Most shoppers said the shopped USA in order to help the economy. PRS says it’s more likely that the real motivator is concerns about the quality and safety of products made overseas.