I wouldn't for a moment think that anyone working late on something frightfully significant in Redmond would conceive of alcohol as a means to help them through their engineer's block.
But just in case there is one tortured soul who might be tempted to have a six-pack delivered to his cubicle, I have some difficult news.
i-Booze, the Seattle-based folks to whom you used to be able to turn online for a swift delivery of soothing liquids, seems to have fallen on difficult times.
For Techflash has delivered the information that not only has i-Booze failed to secure a license to sell liquor but that its enterprising founder, Karim Varela, uncorked a plea bargain on two misdemeanor charges of selling alcohol without a license and illegal possession of alcohol with intent to sell.
In truth, i-Booze isn't i-Booze any more. While the idea reportedly came to Varela when he was in jail for DUI, there were those who felt the name might be something of an incitement to excess. So the company recently changed its name to Dilky.com.
Which some might find a more neutral moniker, but I find my neural association membrane immediately goes to "alky."
In speaking to Techflash, Varela did not sound confident of Dilky's resurrection: "We are still working with the city and the liquor control board to regain a license, but it is a difficult battle."
Prohibition is not quite at hand, though. Anne Radford of the Washington State Liquor Control Board said the board will look into the matter over the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, Varela is hoping that former customers and those who would like to be current customers might lobby the board with a human rights appeal. Or perhaps offers of a free wine-tasting trip. (Some details exaggerated here.)
What hope he has, Varela is putting into the presence of a new Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, who replaced someone called Tom Carr.
"We feel our downfall was mostly due to ex City Attorney Tom Carr's battle against bars, clubs, and alcohol in Seattle and we just got caught up in the middle when really we're providing a beneficial service for the community," Varela told Techflash.
A beneficial service, indeed. I would happily use it were it to descend to the Bay Area. However, it might also have helped if the service had benefited from a name such as i-Pinot or i-(De)liver rather than the somewhat provocative i-Booze.
Cyber Monday came and went, but online retailers had a much better day than last year, marketing-optimization firm Coremetrics has found.
According to the company, which received Cyber Monday sales data from many of its 2,000 online-retail partners, including Macys.com, Office Depot, Nordstrom, and Abercrombie & Fitch, to name a few, sales were up 13.7 percent, compared to those during the post-Thanksgiving Monday last year.
Consumers also spent more per Cyber Monday order than they did last year. In a Tuesday report, the company said consumers this year spent an average of $180.03 per order in 2009, compared to $130.24 in 2008. That increase represented a 38.2 percent gain in sales over the prior year.
While consumers spent more, they also got more for their money. Coremetrics found that consumers bought almost 30 percent more items per order this year, compared to Cyber Monday 2008.
The success of online sales on Monday was felt across several sectors. Coremetrics said apparel and jewelry retailers enjoyed the "biggest jumps in the average dollar amount consumers spent per online order, up 26.4 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively." Department stores attracted a whopping 33 percent more consumers this year than they did on Cyber Monday 2008, Coremetrics found.
See also: Cyber Monday bargain hunters out earlier
E-commerce giant Amazon.com plans to close three facilities, as the company rejiggers its distribution network, according to an Associated Press report Thursday.
Distribution facilities in Munster, Ind., Red Rock, Nev., and Chambersburg, Pa., will be shuttered, with the 210 affected employees offered a chance to either transfer to nearby facilities, or terminate their Amazon employment and receive eight weeks of severance, according to the report.
Representatives from Amazon.com were not immediately available for comment.
Amazon opened the Munster facility in late 2007, but with its closure, it will have two distribution centers in Indiana. The closure of the Red Rock facility, opened in 2001, will leave it with one center in Nevada. And the closure of the Chambersburg site, opened in 2003, will result in Amazon operating three sites in Pennsylvania, according to the report.
Jobs, taxes, and travel captured the interest of U.S. Internet surfers in January, marking double-digit to triple-digit gains over the previous month, according to a ComScore report released Thursday.
The number of unique visitors heading to tax sites climbed 176 percent to 24,703 in January, as users geared up for the upcoming tax season, according to ComScore.
Travel sites, meanwhile, posted a 46 percent increase to 13,028 visitors last month, as users took advantage of falling fuel prices and a desire to plan ahead for their vacations, while job search sites climbed 42 percent to 26,702 visitors, in January.
(Credit:
ComScore)
With unemployment running at 7.6 percent nationwide in January and Americans across all industries concerned about their job security, it's not surprising job-related sites are gaining an increase.
According to a January ComScore survey, U.S. residents earning less than $50,000 have had the highest unemployment rate, while those earning $50,000 up to $100,000 are extremely concerned with losing their jobs.
(Credit:
ComScore)
That type of concern may not bode well for giving a kick-start to e-commerce spending, noted Gian Fulgoni, ComScore's executive chairman, during a press conference Thursday to discuss the January e-commerce results.
The middle-class, for example, accounts for 46 percent of online retail spending, while the upper-class represents 34 percent, he noted.
And although these two groups posted a 2 percent and 8 percent increase in January year-over-year retail e-commerce spending, respectively, this type of concern over job security could lead to belt-tightening down the line, he noted.
During January, U.S. retail e-commerce spending rose 2 percent over the previous year, according to ComScore.
E-commerce spending on sports and fitness rose 42 percent in January over the previous year, while books and magazines captured a 37 percent increase and home, garden, and furniture climbed 14 percent, the report noted.
Yahoo has sold its European comparison-shopping site Kelkoo to private-equity investors, according to a TechCrunch report.
Yahoo, which acquired Kelkoo for approximately 475 million euros ($579 million) four years ago, reportedly sold its wholly owned subsidiary for less than 100 million euros to U.K. private-equity firm Jamplant this holiday shopping season.
In a copy of an e-mail obtained by TechCrunch, Glen Drury, Kelkoo's managing director for the United Kingdom, had this to say about the organization's sale and rumors about its future. The "Toby" he mentions is apparently Toby Coppel, who heads up Europe for Yahoo, and "Laila," who co-signed the letter, is apparently Kelkoo's Laila Dahlen:
It has been since summer since I gave you update e-mail. I have waited because there are so many things nearing launch that I thought it best to wait till they had happened to give the update.
Firstly, I would like to end the speculation from the last few months about the future of Kelkoo. Both Toby and I have announced that we were exploring strategic options for the business. One of the options that Laila and I were exploring, in fact pushing for, was to find it a new home for Kelkoo. I am pleased to announce, today, that we have done just that!
The new owners of Kelkoo are a U.K.-based private-equity company called Jamplant, funded by several angel investors, and in their own words: "Jamplant Limited is very excited about the price comparison space, and being able to help Kelkoo continue its rapid growth.
Philip Smyth, chairman of Jamplant, believes that with our backing, Kelkoo should be able to accelerate its growth much faster as a standalone company. We are looking forward to working with the highly experienced and established management team at Kelkoo."
Laila and I are also very excited about this new phase in the history of Kelkoo, accelerating the growth strategies we have put in place over the last year, and exploring new opportunities for all of us.
With the dour economy playing grinch this holiday season, e-commerce retailers may want to focus on offers of free shipping and online coupons, according to a recent survey by comScore.
In a survey of more than 1,000 consumers taken in mid-October, comScore found 73 percent of respondents planned to save money this holiday season by buying fewer gifts and 69 percent by buying less expensive presents, while 37 percent planned to use coupons.
comScore also found that in the third quarter, 25 million Americans visited coupon sites, up 26 percent from the previous quarter. And it's not just the low- and middle-income folks who rely on these money savers, either.
The number of users visiting these coupon sites, with an annual salary of $100,000 or more, increased by 37 percent in the third quarter, compared with the same time last year.
Electronic coupon clippers who earn $50,000 to $99,999 saw the number of users turning to such sites increase by 25 percent, while those earning less increased their reliance on such sites by 16 percent, according to the report.
"Clearly this is an activity that is coming to the online world and smart retailers will pay attention to this trend," Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, said during a conference call to discuss the survey results.
And in another cost cutting move, survey respondents noted that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, 72 percent noted they would use another e-commerce site that did offer free shipping.
"Free shipping is a game changer," Fulgoni said, who advised e-commerce sites to find other cost-cutting means this holiday season, than eliminating free shipping offers.
And with one less weekend in the critical holiday shopping period between the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas eve, online retailers, as well as brick-and-mortar retailers, are jumping the gun in this weak economic climate. Online jewelry sites like Blue Nile greats users with snowflakes, a red ribbon and diamonds, while Amazon.com offers up a Christmas present nesting in a tree at the top of its page.
And who among the various economic groups actually plan to spend more this holiday season? Yup, those earning $100,000 or more.
The survey found that 54 percent of survey respondents in this economic bracket plan to spend more this holiday season that last year, where as 37 percent of the middle-income folks indicated similar plans and 39 percent for those users earning $50,000 or less.
Retail e-commerce growth rates climbed a modest 6 percent in the third quarter compared with a year ago--far below the double-digit growth of 18 percent to 20 percent in the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, video games, consoles, and accessories, in part aided by strong sales of Wii and Xbox, increased a whopping 60 percent in the third quarter over last year, but consumer electronics, excluding PCs, came in as a blip with a 1 percent gain. Computers, peripherals and PDAs where flat.
Investors pushed eBay's stock down for a third consecutive day Thursday, after the e-commerce giant reported third-quarter earnings and reduced its fourth-quarter forecast amid a meltdown in the economy.
Shares of eBay fell as low as $13.69 in intraday trading, down 12 percent from Wednesday's close. But by the market's close, eBay's shares were down a mere 2.35 percent to end the day at $14.97, as the broader markets closed out with gains.
Earlier in the day, eBay's shares were whacked as Wall Street weighed in, with a number of analysts reducing their earnings estimates and price targets.
UBS Securities dropped its 2008 earnings estimates for eBay to $1.70 a share from $1.73 a share. It also reduced its 2009 estimates to $1.61 a share from $1.73 a share and reduced its six-month price target to $17 a share from $18.
In a research report by analyst Ben Schachter, UBS noted the following:
The company reported seeing weakness in the business from mid-August on, particularly in the retail and auto verticals, and also pointed to slowing overall e-commerce trends...We expect a broader economic slowdown will serve to exacerbate eBay's primary company-specific problem area (and the main obstacle to getting the stock moving again, in our view): slowing growth in its core Marketplaces business.
Schachter noted that although eBay is making moves to stabilize and increase transactions on its site, through such plans as increasing marketing and offering coupons in the fourth quarter to sellers, Wall Street expects competition to be fierce this quarter as e-commerce players duke it out over what is expected to be sparse pool of potential customers.
Schachter further added:
We continue to view eBay as in the midst of an identity crisis, in some respects. The company wants to stay true to its heritage as the destination for buying interesting/used/value goods and collectibles through auction listings; however, it also clearly wants to compete in fixed-price listings (an area where we don't believe the company has a natural advantage) to spur growth in its core. It's exceedingly unclear if the company can do both.
Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, cut its eBay earnings estimates for the fourth quarter, as well as for the fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
Goldman reduced its fourth-quarter eBay estimates by 16 percent, to 41 cents a share, cut 2009 estimates by 13 percent, to $1.64 a share, and cut 2010 estimates by 16 percent, to $1.74 a share.
We do not expect eBay's stock to perform until investors have more confidence that the earnings it is reporting are compatible with renewed GMV (gross merchandise volume) growth; 4Q 2008 earnings weakness appears to flow from macro issues and slowing GMV, rather than from eBay transitioning its business model, which may still lie ahead.
JPMorgan Chase analyst Imran Khan, meanwhile, downgraded eBay to "hold" from "buy," as well as cut its earnings estimates for the e-commerce company for a second time this week. Khan now estimates that eBay's GAAP earnings next year will be up only 3 percent, verses his previous forecast of 15 percent.
Khan said eBay's woes lie in its technology platform:
We believe eBay's biggest challenge is an inferior technology platform, which is making it difficult for the company to compete with other e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon's. In our view, the company has yet to deliver meaningful improvements in search functionality or user experience, which we believe is evident in the inverse relationship between the listing growth rate and conversion rate. We think that if eBay fails to improve the user experience, it will inhibit future growth, even when the economy recovers.
But Brian Pitz, a Bank of America Securities analyst, believes that eBay's platform is "not broken."
Instead, Pitz noted in his research report that eBay is suffering from the same aliment as other e-commerce players, which is a lack of consumer demand in this current economic climate.
Like other analysts, Pitz reduced eBay's 2009 expectations and price target. He forecast eBay to see a 2 percent reduction in revenues in 2009 and to see its earnings per share fall by 7 percent.
Pitz reduced eBay's 12-month price target to $25 a share from $29 a share.
Meanwhile, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein were seeing green:
We think that the sell-off was an overreaction. Management's reduction of 4Q:08 guidance was in anticipation of continuing consumer weakness, dollar appreciation, and the earnings dilution caused by the BML acquisition (expected to close in 4Q:08).
Sanford noted that it is maintaining its "outperform" rating.
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