Archive for the ‘Money’ Category
Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
 Would you bank with Apple Inc.? Toluna, a global pioneer in online polls, surveys and opinions, has revealed the startling findings of a new research study into the opinions of consumers towards the potential of technology giant, Apple, breaking into the banking sector.
The survey, using Toluna’s global research panel community of 4 million consumers worldwide, collected data from over 5,000 respondents, across the US and UK, and revealed that one in ten people (10%) would consider banking with Apple. Of those who are already Apple customers, 43% would consider switching to Apple for their day to day banking needs.
The impressive levels of trust generated between Apple and their customers was the main reason given for a possible switch to an Apple Bank, with around two-thirds citing their trust in the brand (66%) as the primary reason, and just over half claiming they think Apple would make their account easy to access and manage, as well as providing a reliable service.
It comes as no surprise that the majority (81%) of people who would bank with Apple are technology savvy and currently do their banking online.
Of those surveyed in the UK, almost one in five currently bank with Lloyds Banking Group (18%) or Barclays (14%), while in the US almost a quarter (23%) are with Bank of America and around one in ten with JP Morgan Chase (11%).
In terms of overall attitudes towards banking, the study also found that these consumers display great interest in using their smartphone for personal banking (62%), and are even of the opinion that call centres may not exist in the future as everything will be done online (53%).
MD of KAE, David Rankin, commented: “Apple would face no capital constraints in building a deposits base. With a proven ability to cross-sell additional products, along with the highest sales per square foot of any retailer and an affluent customer base, it wouldn’t take long for Apple to become one of the most profitable consumer banks in recent times.
Power of the Apple brand
“Once the power of the Apple brand and its options for growth are understood, it tends to prompt one of three responses from financial institutions: accelerated invention, defensive benchmarking or blissful issue avoidance. We know that not everyone would be impressed by the arrival of an ‘iBank’; we also know that the boldness of the next big Apple move will inspire and terrify in equal measure”.
“The strength of Apple’s relationship with consumers is a result of its ability to redefine the terms of competition in an industry and design emotionally rich ‘human’ experiences”, said Lee Powney, Chief Commercial Officer at KAE.
“This research tells us Apple customers perceive a fit where at first glance we would assume the brand could not travel. To observe a ‘wrong’ and ‘make right’ is a core characteristic of this business. Apple’s ethos, its way of being and way of doing is instinctively understood by its customers. This makes it a truly dangerous animal to a startling array of sectors”
On the likelihood of Apple entering into this sector, Powney also added “When you look at the possible cross fertilisation effects on purchases of moving this amount of cash into the model, and the resulting increases in preference for its platform from developers and content owners, it would take a remarkable display of discipline to resist. However it would be very ‘un-Apple’ to simply enter into a market without changing the terms of competition”.
Tags: Apple, Bank of America, banking, Barclays, brand power, JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds, Toluna, UK, US
Posted in Apple, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Money, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech life/Culture, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Friday, March 16th, 2012
 San Mateo, CA-based Bright Edge, a site, search and social management platform for global enterprises, has raised $12.6 Million in a series C round led by Intel Capital and joined by existing investors, Battery Ventures, Altos Ventures and Illuminate Ventures.
Bright Edge pioneered enterprise-grade search engine optimization (SEO) in 2008 by delivering the first and only cloud-based platform that systematically allowed enterprises to grow their web site traffic and revenue through organic search.
Today, it is the most widely used enterprise-grade search engine optimization (SEO) platform used by more than 2,000 brands and top digital agencies to attract customers from the billions of searches that happen on the web every day.
BrightEdge added support for Facebook page optimization, Social signal measurement, Global SEO, SEO recommendations, and SEO tasks and workflow.
“We revolutionized how enterprises manage to be found when potential customers search for terms relevant to their business. Demand for BrightEdge S3 has been massive, and we welcome this funding to further grow our dominant market leadership position,” said Jim Yu, co-founder and CEO of BrightEdge.
2011 a watershed year
“Last year was a watershed year for us. We saw more than 400 percent growth, and doubling of our employee base. 2012 will be an even bigger year as we expand our business operations across the U.S. and in Europe.”
“With consumer and business audiences competing for customers in search and social, BrightEdge’s platform is an elegant and effective solution that makes it possible to manage and optimize the process for companies that rely on the Internet for the last mile,” said Lisa Lambert, vice president at Intel Capital and managing director, Software and Services sector.
“Their big-data technology, experienced cloud/SaaS leadership team and commercial success to date position them to be one of the core platforms for companies that rely on digital channels.”
BrightEdge has experienced tremendous growth in the past 18 months. It now serves more than 2,000 leading brands around the globe. BrightEdge currently serves 7 of the top 10 retailers, 8 of the top 10 digital agencies, and software leaders such as Microsoft, Facebook, VMWare, Symantec, Intuit and Citrix.
The funding will be used to continue its team growth, which has doubled in size as well as help expand the company’s footprint with offices in NY and London.
Tags: Altos Ventures, Battery Ventures, BrightEdge, C round, Illuminate Ventures, Intel Capital, Jim Yu, Lisa Lambert, SEO, social management, venture funding
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing, Money, venture capital report | Comments Off
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
 With almost $200 billion in combined 2011 revenues, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are well positioned to take the lead in mobile payments landscape.
However, the top mobile payments spot is still up for grabs, as consumers trust PayPal, Visa, and their own banks for making financial transactions compared to mobile networks, social media, and online retailers.
“Companies will need to understand how their brand resonates with consumers in the three key areas of trust, innovation and privacy. Brands must partner with companies to achieve complementary strengths and widespread adoption in mobile payments.”
The report reveals the shift in consumer mobile behaviors over the past two years and spotlights emerging market opportunities for mobile wallets.
Mobile purchases skyrocketed
In 2011, consumers’ mobile purchases of physical goods skyrocketed to 41% from 14% in 2009, while those of ringtones, which once dominated the market, decreased significantly. This shift from “nice to have” to “needs” indicates how consumers are beginning to find more value in purchasing via mobile devices.
Using its TIP (Trust-Innovation-Privacy) Model, Javelin scored brand effects of social media, mobile networks, and financial institutions (FIs) on trust, innovation, and privacy.
While PayPal came closest to reaching “Gold Zone”, the high trust-high innovation-high privacy position, no brand placed in the coveted spot.
However, despite overall low scores in all three categories, FIs scored extremely well among their own customers, receiving the highest rankings for trust in security, protecting private information, and even innovation. Facebook and Sprint were the least trusted brands for financial transacting.
“Although consumers rate Apple as the greatest innovator, no brand will reach the Gold Zone without the right alliance,” said Mary Monahan, executive vice president and research director, Mobile at Javelin. “Companies will need to understand how their brand resonates with consumers in the three key areas of trust, innovation and privacy. Brands must partner with companies to achieve complementary strengths and widespread adoption in mobile payments.”
“Don’t count out banks, which are well respected in their geographic markets,” said Jim Van Dyke, president, Javelin. “Our data shows that banks’ own consumers ranked them higher on trust and privacy than payment providers, mobile network carriers, other banks, and the Gang of Four. FIs are viable partners for these mobile payment vendors.”
Javelin’s Gang of Four (and Possibly Five) Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon – and PayPal report analyzes consumer perceptions of mobile payments players of trust, innovation, and privacy and recommends strategies for social media and mobile companies and FIs to succeed in the mobile purchasing market. The report is based on survey data collected online from more than 5,800 consumers.
Selected Key Report Findings
- Mobile technology usage is on the rise, paving the way for increased mobile purchasing. By 2016, 72% of adults will use smartphones, while 40% of mobile phone owners will use tablets.
- Consumers’ mobile purchases of physical goods skyrocketed to 41% from 14% in 2009, while purchasing of ringtones significantly decreased.
- Consumers with primary banking relationships at FIs gave their own banks the highest trust and privacy scores over Visa, which received top scores among all consumers.
For additional details or to purchase Javelin’s report, click here Gang of Four (and Possibly Five) Apple Google Facebook Amazon – and PayPal: Positioning for Payments in the New Mobile-Social Technology Era
Tags: Amazon, Apple, facebook, FLs, Google, Javelin Strategy & Research, Jim Van Dyke, mobile payments, PayPal
Posted in Amazon, Apple, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Money, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
 The mobile payments market is incredibly diverse. There is no single model that’s been adopted by the entire market, but rather a variety of models depending on the type of mobile payment and the player involved.
In the proximity payment space—those payments made at a retailer via NFC or barcode scanning—trials are transitioning to commercial launches, and support for these solutions continues to build.
While infrastructure is weak, both on the retailer side and on the consumer device side, new NPD In-Stat research forecasts that proximity mobile payment transactions will approach 9.9 billion in 2016, up from 1.1 billion in 2012, nearly a ten-fold increase.
“The contactless or proximity mobile payments market is in its infancy and thus a variety of technologies are being explored and promoted,” says Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst. “2011, however, was a significant year in clarifying the future direction of market development.
Based on the vast support for NFC and the endorsements made by significant players in 2011, it is apparent that this will be the dominant contactless payment solution going forward.
However, there continues to be a great deal of support behind barcode-based payments as well (mFoundry and Starbucks, PayPal, and Home Depot), indicating that these types of solutions will continue to be supported in the coming years.”
Recent research findings include:
- Asia Pacific will dominate proximity mobile payments throughout the forecast period representing 41% of the transactions in 2016.
- Over half of survey respondents are familiar with mobile payments, up from just one-third in 2011.
- Remote mobile payments will account for nearly $226 billion in mobile payments in 2012.
New NPD In-Stat research, Worldwide Mobile Payment Market Marches Ahead examines the mobile payment market structure, outlining the various elements in this multifaceted market. Discussion will include mobile payment types and technologies as well as the relationships of participants in this complex ecosystem.
Tags: contactless, mobile payments market, NPD In-Stat, proximity
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Money, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 5th, 2012
 As SBA lending continues its return to pre-recession levels, now is a good time to consider SBA financing given the current rate environment, says Todd Harrington, Chief Sales Officer for CIT Bank – Small Business Lending at CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) cit.com, a leading provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies.
Opportunities Exist
Consumer confidence and consumer spending need to return to healthy levels to get small businesses growing again. “As key indicators improve, businesses that have successfully made it through the down market will have opportunities to acquire competitors and under-valued commercial properties,” says Harrington. “Lenders need to be able to understand these opportunities and be available to finance these transactions to allow the small business owner to capitalize on the near term value plays that will set the table for growth in years to come.”
Advantages over Traditional Banks
There are benefits of an SBA 7(a) loan over traditional bank loans. The SBA 7(a) program offers longer repayment periods (up to 25 years) than a typical conventional financing (up to 15 to 20 years).
“Additionally, they can offer loan to value terms of up to 90 percent on an owner-occupied real estate deal,” says Harrington. “This compares favorably with conventional real estate loans in the small business space that will usually offer a 15 or 20 year amortization with a balloon of 5 to 10 years of payments at the end. With an SBA structure, there are no balloon payments, so the SBA borrower does not have the worry of having to look for a bank to refinance that large lump sum that comes due.”
Securing an SBA Loan
There are still a number of challenges with regard to getting funding in today’s economic environment. Small business lenders look at a number of factors beyond the financial strength of the business. “You need to be aware that personal credit is an important component of a lender’s credit decision,” says Harrington. “A strong personal credit history can increase your chances of getting an approval just as a weak personal credit history can undermine the loan decision.”
It’s important to have a good business plan that shows the impact of the financing you are considering. “Include at least one to three years of projections and be able to address any major negative or positive trends in the numbers,” Harrington adds. “Lenders want to see that you are on top of the financial performance of your company.”
This topic is one of many discussed in CIT’s 2012 U.S. Small Business Outlook(cit.com/spotlightharrington), the latest in a series of in-depth executive Q&As featured in CIT’s Executive Spotlight series (cit.com/executivespotlight).
Tags: CIT Bank, CIT Group, SBA loans, small business lending
Posted in entrepreneurship, Internet/New Media, Money | Comments Off
Monday, March 5th, 2012
 Updata Partners, a leading technology-focused growth equity firm, says the sale of portfolio company iContact to Vocus for $169 million marks Updata’s third portfolio exit in three months, following the sales of Jobs2Web to SuccessFactors in December for $110 million and Numara Software to BMC in January for $300 million.
The sale represents a 2.7x return on invested capital and a 31% IRR for Updata.“Updata’s contribution was instrumental in iContact’s rapid growth and successful exit. Their strong operational experience and deep understanding of the software-as-a-service model catalyzed our breakout performance.”
In a recent interview, a Novak Biddle venture capitalist told the TechJournal that many large firms are flush with cash and he expects to see increased merger and acquisition activity as firms use M&A to grow. That’s good for the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Updata first invested in iContact in 2007
Carter Griffin, general partner at Updata Partners and iContact Board member said, “The outcome is the culmination of a lot of hard work by Ryan Allis and his team and the positive dynamics of their market. The transaction also serves to reinforce Updata’s strategy of backing high growth technology companies.”
 Research Triangle, NC-based iContact provides email marketing and social media marketing software-as-a-service to small and medium businesses. Updata initially invested in iContact in 2007, providing the first institutional capital.
Since the investment, iContact has grown rapidly and is now the largest privately-held provider of SMB email marketing software. The combination of iContact and Vocus creates the clear leader in cross channel integrated marketing software.
iContact Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Allis, commented, “Updata’s contribution was instrumental in iContact’s rapid growth and successful exit. Their strong operational experience and deep understanding of the software-as-a-service model catalyzed our breakout performance.”
Allis himself has been a strong advocate of “social entrepreneurship” and giving back to the community. He has authored a book about how he made his dream of creating a million dollar company come true — and has exceeded that dream.
For more information, please visit www.updatapartners.com.
Tags: icontact, Jobs2Web, M&A, NC, Novak Biddle, Numara, Research Triangle, Ryan Allis, social entrepreneurship, Updata Partners, Vocus
Posted in Acquisitions, entrepreneurship, Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
 Yelp, the online consumer review site, may not have made any profits since it was founded in 2004, but its shares soared 64 percent in mid-day trading following its initial public offering of stock.
The company priced its shares at $15 each Thursday night and debuted on the Nasdaq exchange this (Friday, March 3) morning. It was trading at 24.74 a share, up 9.74 or almost 65 percent, mid-day.
The company netted about $96 million from the offering.
Yelp is primarily known for its restaurant reviews, but also offers consumer opinions on everything from churches to strip joints.
It sells ads to local businesses.
In 2011 it reported a net loss of $16.7 million on revenue of $83.3 million, up 74 percent from 2010.
Paypal alumni Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons founded the site.
Yelp.com has 66 million monthly unique vistitors and hosts 25 million reviews and is used on 5.7 million mobile devices each month.
Personally, we’re not sure investors are wise putting so much money in services yet to turn a dollar profit, especially with competitors in the wings and considering the volatile nature of Internet commerce.
Some analysts agree, noting that now that it’s a public company, it will come under increased scrutiny and expectations for it to make money will ratchet upward.
Tags: online reviews, Yelp IPO
Posted in Internet/New Media, IPOs, Money | Comments Off
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
 By Joe Procopio
Last night at dinner, Windsor Circle’s Matt Williamson was a busy man. In between bites and drinks, he filled pages in a notebook with research on a number of investors who introduced themselves after his pitch. The beautiful thing was there was a veritable cornucopia of information to be had among the six of us at dinner, and by the time it was over, he was armed.
Williamson says, “It’s been an incredible experience being in such a tight concentration of venture capitalists. The overwhelming response is that we’re a compelling story for such a short amount of time that Windsor Circle has been around. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how helpful the VCs are.”
He said a lot more than that, but I blacked out. It was late.
He’s not alone. Several startups are making that upward swing from the pitches into meetings, and if yesterday was an explosion of activity, then this morning and afternoon should be buzzing with follow up.
Not Just Digital
PodPonics is an Atlanta based high tech agriculture startup, converting shipping containers into high tech controlled growing environments producing fresher, urban, weather-safe produce — in other words better and faster with incredible yield. These containers can be stacked 10 high to produce 150x yield per acre.
That’s a game changer.
CEO Matt Liotta will present this afternoon. But they’ve been networking and meeting people in preparation. They say it’s a good setup, allowing mass concentration of conversation is short periods of time and they’ve been able to generate interest before they even take the stage.
Not Just Deals
It isn’t just the dealmaking though. This year, I’ve met more entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs who are here just to get the lay of the land and figure out how to take the next steps with their idea or fledgling company.
The panels have also been refreshingly honest. The first sentence I heard in the Venture Capital Outlook session was that “the wheels fell off on August 15th.” Having been out in the field raising money at that point, I absolutely agree with that. It’s like the mirage vanished.
Overall, there seems to be a lot of activity in the $1 billion plus range, and a lot in the under $100 million range, with a big black hole in the sweet spot. This is troubling for those early-stage graduates, but with such an emphasis on customers and revenue over the last four years, it’s certainly not a shocker.
Crowd-funding
There is a lot of visceral reaction to crowd-funding, and you’re going to see a lot more in this space in the near future, and it will probably be volatile and filled with argument.
It’s tricky, to say the least. There was a lot of talk about how it can and should be done, not only from a legal perspective but also making sure that you can get follow on money and that there are no surprises going into your next round.
However it can’t be ignored. Kickstarter, though not technically crowd-funding but more beta-product pre-purchase (or free T-shirt), has done three $1 million plus deals already this year.
So while Groupon, Facebook, and Zynga dominate the exit talk, crowd funding made up a large portion of the entry talk.
Undercover Angel
But it wasn’t the only talk. Angels are making more noise these days, and a common theme, the lack of organization in the Angel community that makes it hard to get started, is still an issue, even post AngelList. One of the questions was “where do I find Angels” and the first answer was “LinkedIn.”
Coincidentally, TechCrunch did a post last night on AngelList potentially creating a common pitch-deck template. And while I don’t agree that that’s the right next step, it should be about more robust ways to build relationships between the entrepreneurs and the angels, it’s at least a step.
Tags: angel investors, AngelList, Atlanta, crowd funding, facebook, Google, Kickstarter, LinkedIn, Matt Liotta, PodPonics, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference, TechCrunch, Tysons Corner, VA, venture funding, Winsor Circle, Zynga
Posted in Columns, Events, Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, IT, LinkedIn, Money, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
 San Francisco-based Yammer, Inc., a top provider of enterprise social networks, has received $85 million in its fifth round of funding, bringing its total financing to $142 million.
DFJ Growth, part of the core team at leading venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, led the round, with participation by new investors Meritech Capital Partners; Capricorn Investment Group, the investment arm of Jeff Skoll; Khosla Ventures; and CrunchFund.
Previous investors Charles River Ventures, Emergence Capital, Founders Fund, Social+Capital Partnership, and U.S. Venture Partners also participated, as did angel investors Bill Lee, Max Levchin, and NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. Randy Glein, managing director at DFJ Growth, will have an observer’s seat on Yammer’s board of directors.
Yammer has 4 million corporate users
In less than four years, over 4 million corporate users have adopted Yammer, including employees at more than 85 percent of the Fortune 500. In 2011, Yammer tripled sales, employee headcount, and paid seats.
Yammer will use the additional financing to rapidly scale its sales and engineering teams in the U.S. and internationally. This growth round of funding will also allow Yammer to consider potential strategic acquisitions and invest in building brand awareness among enterprise buyers.
On March 1, Yammer will launch its first advertising campaign with print and online ads highlighting the value of Enterprise Social Networks.
“Yammer launched the category of Enterprise Social Networking and pioneered a new model that drove unprecedented adoption in the enterprise,” said David Sacks, founder and CEO, Yammer.
“This significant influx of capital provides us with the resources to expand quickly and strategically, innovate rapidly and extend our market leadership.”
Investors weigh in on Yammer
“In the past few years, Yammer has assembled a world-class team and built a pioneering social networking product for enterprises. Yammer’s customers absolutely love the product and its benefits for their organizations, turning them into brand advocates and helping fuel Yammer’s explosive growth. This financing will enable Yammer to extend its market leadership and seize the massive opportunity in front of them.”
– Randy Glein, managing director, DFJ Growth
“When we first invested in Yammer, it was because the company reminded us so much of the early days at Facebook. David and his team have built a truly unique business — an enterprise company with fundamental product value that grows like a consumer company through virality and product engagement. Yammer is the only company in the enterprise collaboration space that really understands how to build social products and look forward to more eye-popping growth in the years to come.”
– Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner, Social+Capital Partnership
“Yammer has a preternatural understanding of where the enterprise software market is headed, allowing them to remain one step ahead of the competition through constant innovation. We look forward to watching the company’s continued success as it builds on its strengths.”
– Stephen George, co-founder and CIO, Capricorn Investment Group LLC, the investment arm of Jeff Skoll
“Having worked with David previously at PayPal, I know his ability to lead a company to greatness. David and his team built Yammer to be social from the start and with their relentless focus on usability, Yammer succeeds across every industry and geography where it is deployed. Yammer was the first mover in the enterprise social networking space and is surely the best, making work massively more efficient.”
– Peter Thiel, partner, Founders Fund
“
Tags: Chamath Palihapitiya, Crunchfund, DFJ Growth, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners; Capricorn Investment Group, Peter Thiel, Randy Glein, social networks, Social+Capital Partnership, venture funding, Yammer
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Money, social media | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
 If content is king, distribution is King Kong. By Allan Maurer
If content is King, then distribution of that content is King Kong, says Grab Media’s CEO Alvin Bowles.
Dulles, VA-based Grab Media, formerly Grab Networks, evolved from from the merger of Anystream and Voxant in September of 2008.
Grab Media is a leading premium video distribution company. It connects premium video content from a wide collection of professional sources and brand-name advertisers to ideal viewers. Marketers rely on Grab Media to position their message in front of large-scale, engaged audiences, so they can focus on brand promotion.
The company is one of 60 innovative firms presenting to investors representing billions in capital at the Southeast Venture Conference today (Feb. 29) and tomorrow (March 1) at Tysons Corner, VA. Bowles says the company is interested in strategic relationships, not just raising growth capital. “We can go bigger,” he says.
The 32-employee company has an overall audience 350 million video views by 27 million uniques a month from 80 to 100 million short video streams and was cited as the second fastest growing online video firm by comScore last year.
The company gets video content from180 media firms such as Martha Stewart, Yahoo and Conde Nast. It uses only professionally produced short videos – no user created content.
 It provides 140,000 Web sites with a one-line of code video player to stream relevant content with advertising from movie firms, HBO, and other clients. “We stream the right content on the right site next to the right advertising,” Bowles says. It shares revenue from the advertising with the video producers and the publishers.
The whole concept is similar to TV syndication of shows, in which a station licenses content and sells advertising against it.
“The value proposition is about engagement, selling contextual relevance, behaviorial targeting and psychographic profiling,” Bowles says. Any ordinary content – sports, weather, news – is enhanced by video, he notes.
No squirrels on skates
He emphasizes that he’s not talking about “The squirrel on skates running across your living room” variety of user produced videos. “People will watch professionally produced video,” he says. “Whether they’re video-snacking or watching full-length shows.”
That’s why Google’s YouTube, Netflix, and others are launching original content channels.
It’s a huge market – estimated at $3 billion a year, with great growth potential, particularly in mobile. “Mobile is the only medium where there is more ad demand for quality content than there is supply.”
Only a few people are doing video the right way, Bowles says. What is the right way?
“Give people what they want, when they want it.”
Previously on the TechJournal:
Grab Networks wraps up $12M funding
Anystream merges with Voxant
Tags: Anystream, Dulles, fund raising, Grab Media, Netflix, online video streaming, SEVC, Tysons Corner, VA, Voxant, YouTube
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Money, Potomac, video, Virginia | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
 Sean Glass By Allan Maurer
Low interest rates don’t do much for a bank account, and that has had one good effect, says Sean Glass, partner with Novak Biddle Venture Partners. “There is more early stage capital around than ever because of the rate environment,” he says.
“When you have really low interest rates, people will take more risk with their portfolio. So there are a lot of angel investors who wouldn’t be in other times. More money available means more investors get a shot at it (creating a successful startup).”
That view contrasts somewhat with those of Jim Jaffe, president and CEO of the National Association of Seed and Venture Captialists (NASVF), who told us that the seed level funding of $100,000 to about $1.5 million can still be the “Valley of Death,” for many startups needing outside backing.
At SEVC this week
Both Glass and Jaffe are among the dozens of investors, entrepreneurs and 60 presenting companies participating in the Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Wednesday and Thursday (Feb. 29-March 1).
Glass, who is also founder and CEO of Employ Insight, and a founder and executive board member of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, says that while more early stage capital may be available, the flipside is that “We’re seeing a consolidation of late Series A rounds to mezzanine money”(often the final large round before an IPO or other exit).
“So,” says Glass, “We’re seeing a lot of entrepreneurs get started, but it’s getting harder to land that next round. They have to show traction a bit faster.” That contrasts with several years ago when companies that got seeded were fairly sure of a next round, he adds.
Glass says that signs the economy is getting better may not be such great news for entrepreneurs. “You would think it would be good for them, but it’s bad, because all of a sudden investors have alternatives with equal returns and less risk. It will take money away from the process.”
Glass says other changes are at work in the venture-backed startup economy.
Americane Entrepreneurs building a company now, for instance, “Will probably have to compete with someone outside the U.S., not just from firms in Boston and Silicon Valley. They may see competition from London, Rio, Santiago, and maybe Beijing. That’s why Groupon had to start going international early on, making sure it could win those markets.”
Pinterest could have done without so much early press
That means getting attention early on may not be the best thing for some companies. “My friend, the founder and CEO of Pinterest (Ben Silbermann) says he wishes the press hand’t started writing about them for another 12 to 18 months,” because the competition comes out of the global arena so quickly. “That makes it harder to build a new Facebook or Twitter,” says Glass.
Glass also says that many tech entrepreneurs don’t understand that many businesses may have good but limited potential. “A lot of tech startups can build nice $10 million to $15 million businesses but will never hit the scale needed to impact a venture firm’s portfolio.”
Businesses that do interest venture firms, he notes, “Need a large amount of capital to produce lots of profits quickly.”
Glass says entrepreneurs who can find a niche and build a company in a way larger firms can’t because they’re not geared to doing new things are going to “Get paid, because those big companies have cash and they want to buy growth.”
So, he says, “There will be options for exits and expect to see a lot of merger and acquisition opportunities.”
Interviewed by phone while in the Florida Keys, Glass says he sees evidence of an improving economy there. “There are people on the streets, restaurants are full, and the marina is full of boats – and they’re big boats.”
Glass says he’s looking forward to attending the SEVC, one of, if not the largest Mid-Atlantic venture event, this week. ”
Tags: angel investors, Ben Silbermann, early stage capital, Novak Biddle, Pinterest, rate environment, Sean Glass, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference, venture funding trends
Posted in entrepreneurship, Events, Maryland, Money, Potomac, Tech Culture, Virginia, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Professional networking site LinkedIn is raking in money at a faster rate than Google, Facebook or Apple Inc.
Since going public, the company has posted a 105 percent year-over-year growth. The numbers crunchers over at Statista created this infographic to show LinkedIn’s growth:
Tags: Apple, facebook, Google, LinkedIn, revenue growth, Statista
Posted in Apple, Facebook, Google, infographic, Internet/New Media, Money, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Monday, February 27th, 2012
By Allan Maurer
 Jim Jaffe, president, CEO, NASVF, is participating in the Southeast Venture Conference this week in Tysons Corner, VA. While state and private incubators and accelerators help, funding for startups is still really tight in the so-called “Valley of Death,” says Jim Jaffe, president and CEO of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds.
Jaffe, who is participating at this weeks Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, where 60 innovative startup firms will present their business plans to venture and seed investors representing billions in capital, says those firms are lucky to have such a well-heeled audience.
Jaffe notes that “Even getting in front of funders is enormously difficult. They’re inundated by people with interesting ideas and its not unusual for them to have hundreds of contacts a week.”
The most important issue
“That’s the most important issue, what can people do in this environment to get money in that space between $100,000 and $1.5 million, Jaffe says.
There are a couple of places where the money is, however. “Many states realized they need to help. So you’ll find many organizations (many of them members of NASVW) funded by state and regional economic development organizations such as TEDCO in Maryland and the Ben Franklin program in Pennsylvania.
“They frequently work with entrepreneurs providing soup to nuts services, mentoring and $25,000 to $100,000 in funding. Their chances of getting money after working with these organizations is better.”
Trying to raise money on their own, on the other hand, “Can be enormously difficult,” says Jaffe. Often, he adds, “New entrepreneurs think it (their firm) is about the technology, not about money, cash flow and scalability in two years.”
Instead, he says, they often think their technology is so great the world will beat a path to their door. It doesn’t work that way.
Compelling business plan necessary
“Among other things, they need a compelling business plan that solves a problem and fits a need. It’s not about having great tech. It’s about who’s pain you can do something about and how the tech eases that pain, compelling customers to buy something. It’s a focus many who develop technology do not understand.”
That is a sentiment echoed by Sean Glass, partner at Novak Biddle Venture Partners. Glass, who will be on a panel about entrepreneurship at the SEVC this week, told us in an interview today that “A lot of nice small businesses making $10 million to $15 million with good margins can be built on tech. But they will never hit a scale that would impact a venture firm’s portfolio. Being a tech business doen’t automatically make it a venture capital business.”
Those, Glass explains, “Need a large amount of capital to produce a lot of profit quickly.”
Jaffe suggests that tech startup founders should “Get yourself a business partner.” By that, he means one who understands running a business. “If you’re reluctant to find one on your own, hook up with one of the state-sponsored incubators.” He notes that many colleges and universities offer entrepreneurship courses. “They’re really valuable. The reality is that you won’t get to first base without someone who has business expertise.”
Jaffe himself was president/CEO of six different public and private companies. He has managed a private equity fund and spent nine years in Eastern Europe and Asiainvesting in small businesses in emerging economies.
Tags: early stage funding gap, Jim Jaffe, NASVF, Novak Biddle, Sean Glass, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference, state economic development, tech incubators, Valley of Death
Posted in Economic Development, entrepreneurship, Events, Money | Comments Off
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Consumers are increasingly gravitating toward online and mobile channels for daily financial management, and that tablet banking services will be increasingly in demand, according to the Fiserv Consumer Trends survey.
The survey was completed by 3,000 individuals representative of the U.S. online population of households in August 2011.
“Consumers’ lives are becoming more and more digital, and their financial lives are no exception”
Detailed findings from this year’s survey are available in a free research paper, “Financial Services Continue the Digital Shift,” at www.fiserv.com/research.
“Consumers’ lives are becoming more and more digital, and their financial lives are no exception,” said Geoff Knapp, vice president, Online Banking, Digital Channels, Fiserv. “They are increasingly turning to the online and mobile channels for everything from opening accounts to sending and receiving money, and their interest in using new devices like tablets for financial services is strong.”
Mobile Banking Gains Ground, Sees More Transactions
According to the survey, one out of four online households had used a mobile banking service in the past month, with users of other digital services, such as online banking, among the most likely to have used mobile banking.
The most common method of mobile banking access was via mobile browser (60 percent), followed by downloadable app (41 percent) and text messaging (32 percent).
Consumers are also moving beyond using the mobile channel solely for informational purposes, such as checking balances or locating an ATM, to using it for transactions such as bill payments and money transfers. Forty percent of mobile banking users have paid a bill using their mobile phone as compared to 28 percent in 2010. Thirty-two percent used their mobile phone to transfer money versus 25 percent in 2010.
See Graph: Mobile Banking is Becoming More Transactional
Strong Interest in Tablet Banking Among Current and Future Tablet Owners
According to the survey, 19 percent of online households currently own a tablet and another 20 percent expect to purchase a tablet, which means almost 40 percent of online households could own a tablet by mid 2012.
In addition, multi-tablet households are emerging, with 37 percent of households that already own one tablet stating that they plan to buy another.
Current and future tablet owners are interested in using their tablet to access financial services, with 45 percent saying they would like to use their tablet for banking. When asked which banking services they would like to access via tablet, consumers chose: view monthly statements (69 percent), pay bills (56 percent), view real-time account information (50 percent) and transfer money between accounts at the same financial institution (49 percent).
See Graph: Desired Tablet Banking Services
As tablet ownership grows, demand for tablet-based banking is likely to grow as well.
Online Channel Plays an Increasingly Important Role in Consumer Finances
The significance of the online channel in establishing and maintaining consumer financial relationships continues to increase.
One area in which this increase was particularly pronounced was online account opening, with the percentage of deposit, credit and savings accounts opened entirely or partially online increasing significantly from 2010 to 2011.
In 2011, half of respondents who opened a money market account did so online, up from 16 percent in 2010, while 42 percent of respondents who applied for a credit card did so online, up from 31 percent in 2010. Similar increases were seen across other accounts such as first mortgages and car loans.
From January 2010 to July 2011, the number of U.S. online households using online banking increased by nine percent. The number of households paying bills directly at company websites and at financial institution websites also increased, 11 percent in each case. Among online households, online bill payments now account for 50 percent of all bill payments, while checks account for 23 percent, almost a complete flip from when the initial Consumer Trends Survey was conducted in 2002.
See Graph: Online Bill Payments Account for Half of all Bill Payments
Tags: Fiserv Consumer Trends survey, mobile, mobile channels, online, tablet banking use
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile, Money, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Friday, February 24th, 2012
 By Allan Maurer
What are the dominant buzz words in today’s digital marketing world? No secret there: mobile and local. Atlanta-based LSN Mobile, which has relationships with more than 200 local TV stations and newspapers, giving it the largest local mobile inventory in the country, stands to benefit from both trends.
“The year of mobile has finally arrived,” says LSN Mobile CFO Neal Miller. “The industry estimates that mobile advertising will hit $3 billion in 2012, a significant increase over the last few years and the fastest growing advertising segment. We feel that with our locally focused inventory and very large publishing network, we’re well positioned to capture a significant share of that.”
Shifted focus in 2005
Founded in 2001 to provide Internet marketing services to broadcast stations and newspapers, the company shifted its focus in 2005 to selling local mobile marketing solutions.
Bootstrapped initially, the 31-employee firm raised a “super angel” round of $1.2 million and is looking for growth capital in the $3 million to $5 million range.
LSN Mobile enables local media and brand advertisers to extend their reach to the mobile consumer market via their handset. It has the nation’s largest network of local television news content, in both English and Spanish, currently offering news, weather, sports and more to more than 30 million mobile users.
Through its Direct Mobile Marketing & Advertising Group, LSN Mobile helps companies rapidly deploy direct mobile marketing campaigns to mobile users via text messaging, rich media content, and interactive mobile marketing campaigns across all wireless carriers and handsets.
LSN Mobile’s “Local News, Weather and More” mobile apps for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry platforms are among the top ten free downloadable local news applications.
Presenting at SEVC
 It is one of 60 innovative companies presenting at next week’s Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA (Feb. 29-March 1). The event sells out each year and is nearing a capacity audience.
LSN Mobile has about 300 customers and currently reaches 20 million consumers on mobile devices who account for 400 million monthly pageviews.
What distinguishes the company from many others focused on local mobile marketing is “The breadth of our relationships with local broadcast stations and newspapers. We can target mobile advertising down to the metropolitan area. That means advertisers can target who they want to geographically.”
So, Miller explains, “If you’re selling flashlights and batteries and want to market in a storm area, you don’t need that ad in Florida in the winter, but rather in the Northeast.”
The company sells its ads via its newspaper and TV station network, giving them a cut of the revenue, acting as a sales arm for them.
The company also offers a series of text message based systems for mobile offers, coupons, text-to-vote, and other uses.
“We’re one-stop shop for brands and advertisers who are looking to deploy locally,” says Miller
LSN Mobile works with Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and its customers include ABC, Fox, LG, Rackroom Shoes, Vertis, Infogroup, and other ad agencies, among many others.
Tags: LSN Mobile, mobile local marketing, mobile marketing, mobile publishing network, Neal Miller, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference 2012
Posted in Company Profile, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing, Mobile, Money, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
 As the economy has slowly started to recover, the hardest hit area has remained small business lending. A new survey from Omega Performance, however, indicates that tide is now shifting as well.
Seventy-four percent of the bankers surveyed globally responded that their banks were likely to increase their small business lending.
In the U.S., the number was slightly higher at 77 percent. Small business also dominated the areas banks were planning to actively pursue, coming in at 76 percent globally, and 78 percent in the U.S.
This news follows on reports we’ve run that say companies large and small plan hiring this year, CEO optimism is up, and the stock markets are having their best run since before the recession. All point to a gently improving economy, which, if it isn’t derailed by rising gas prices or political shenanigans, is poised to accelerate.
The shift is evidence of an improved outlook on the economy in general in banking–69 percent of global bankers said the economy will improve over the course of 2012. Bankers also listed credit training as being high on their list of priorities for 2012, with 92 percent of bankers citing its importance this year.
The full results of the survey are available at http://www.omega-performance.com/surveys.
Tags: banks, Omega Performance, small business lending
Posted in Economic Development, Money, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
 We don’t cover a lot of financing stories these days, but here’s a company that has something interesting to sell. InVision, makesnew prototyping software that empowers web and mobile application designers to create simulations that look and behave exactly as the finished product will.
InVision has secured a $1.5 million seed round from several investors, most prominently FirstMark Capital, a leading venture capital firm based in New York City. The funding will be used to add further innovations to the product, support marketing efforts and grow a customer base of happy, satisfied users.
First launched in June of 2011, InVision’s user interface (UI) prototyping tool allows designers to easily create simulations of web and mobile applications that fully express their ideas before writing a single line of code. Its customers already include some big names such as Companies like Google, eBay, Zappos and Whole Foods, IBM, USA Today, and intuit.
Highly interactive product
The product is highly interactive, visually rich and user-friendly enabling designers to build screens using the design software of their choice. Designs can range from a simple black-and-white wireframe to a pixel-perfect, full-fidelity design.
The social and collaborative capabilities native to the platform, enable stakeholders to express feedback in real time and accelerates time-to-market because designers can market-test the software before it’s actually built.
“Most software prototyping tools on the market today give designers a fixed toolbox of low-fidelity widgets and components — making it difficult for the designer to provide clients with an accurate idea of what the finished product will look like, or for stakeholders to give meaningful feedback,” said Clark Valberg, co-founder of InVision.
“Our product is truly a game-changer and is positioned to revolutionize the software design process. The funding raised today will help us continue to attract new users, add new features and functionality desired by designers, and set a course for rapid growth.”
In the past, designers might gather feedback from a limited number of stakeholders. With InVision, any number of key decision-makers and archetypal end-users can engage with the prototype online, leave meaningful feedback and contribute to design iteration.
Because design is fully integrated with social, it widens the circle of people who can give feedback on business software, ensuring that the needs of all stakeholders are met — from executives and investors to end-users.
InVision has secured hundreds of customers and captured the attention of the industry. They’ve already collected some impressive testimonials such as these:
- “InVision is our new secret weapon. It’s completely changed our design process,” said Jessica Mah CEO of InDinero.
- “InVision has made our product & process significantly stronger. We can now easily take designs, turn them into functional prototypes, and get them user tested without wasting valuable dev resources. It’s irreplaceable,” said Greg Fulton, Senior Director of Product at AdRoll.
- “InVision does exactly what we wish it could do. We iterate quickly on feedback and turn new product ideas into final designs with almost no diversions,” shared Thomas Knoll, Co-Founder at LaunchRock’s.
So what do you think? Does this sound useful?
Tags: FirstMark Capital, InVision, prototyping software, seed round, software design
Posted in entrepreneurship, Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Monday, February 13th, 2012
 Online advertising has been growing rapidly as dollars shift from traditional ad channels to digital ones. According to eMarketer, by 2015 advertisers will spend $132.1 billion annually for online advertising. Advertisers are increasing their investment in online advertising across multiple channels to drive greater lead generation, customer acquisition, and revenue.
One sign of that is how well companies in the digital ad industry are doing, both in terms of revenue and in fund raising.
For instance, this activity is fueling the expanding adoption of San Francisco-based Marin Software’s ad management and optimization platform.
In the wake of Marin’s success, Asia investment company Temasek led a $30 million round of funding along with SAP Ventures.
Joining the new investors in this oversubscribed round were existing Marin venture investors Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Capital, DAG Ventures, and Triangle Peak Partners.
The company sells online advertising management solutions, offering an integrated platform for managing search, social, display, and mobile marketing. The company provides solutions for advertisers and agencies. Marin’s technology powers marketing campaigns for over 1,500 customers managing more than $3.5 billion of annualized ad spend in more than 160 countries.
During the last year, Marin nearly doubled its customer base to 1,500 as well as the amount of annual spend managed on its platform to $3.5 billion.
Following Marin Software’s year of rapid international expansion, customer growth, and product innovation, and the closing of the recent financing, Frank van Veenendaal, President of Worldwide Sales and Services at salesforce.com, has joined Marin Software’s Board.
 Marin Software’s Dramatic Growth:
- Since its inception in 2006, Marin Software has grown into the premier provider of advertising management solutions worldwide. Marin currently serves clients in 160 countries with 25 currencies, increasing its international footprint in the last year with the opening of offices in Singapore, France, Australia, and Germany.
- More than 1,500 of the world’s leading advertisers and agencies manage $3.5 billion in annualized online ad spend through Marin Software. Within the last few months, Hotels.com, Brookstone, Coupons Inc., Rosetta, and Reprise Media have selected Marin’s platform to manage their search, display and social advertising campaigns. Longstanding Marin customers include iProspect, Neo@Ogilvy, Razorfish, Macy’s, Experian, and University of Phoenix.
- Spurred by increasing demand for its products worldwide, Marin Software hired more than 100 new employees during 2011.
Marin Software Funding:
- To date, Marin Software has raised more than $80 million in venture funding. Marin plans to invest this new capital to bolster product development, customer support, and service delivery worldwide.
- Temasek is an Asia investment company headquartered in Singapore, with a diversified S$193 billion portfolio as of March 31, 2011, concentrated principally in Singapore, Asia and growth markets. Through its partnership with Temasek, Marin Software will be able to accelerate its growth across Asia and other emerging markets.
Tags: Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Cpaital, DAG Ventures, digital ad management & optimization, eMarketer, Marin Software, online advertising, San Francisco, SAP Ventures, Temasek Holdings, Triangle Peak Partners, venture capital
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
 Catherine Tabor, CEO, Sparkfly. Sparkfly is one of 60 innovative firms presenting at the upcoming Southeast Venture Conference By Allan Maurer
Merchants and manufacturers spend billions annually on offers and promotions such as coupons, daily deals, online banner ads, sweepstakes, and more, but all have shortcomings, says Sparkfly CEO Catherine Tabor.
Founded in 2001 in Atlanta, Sparkfly was an early player in the electronic offers and promotions business, initially providing employee discount platforms to large firms such as Coca Cola and SunTrust and to Emory University.
That business grew covered a million employees nationally and $3 million in annual revenue, but Tabor says merchants in the company’s program really wanted to know what employees were doing once they came into their stores to claim a discount.
“I’ll partner with someone who can take these promotions to an in-store environment,” Tabor thought, but five years ago, “it didn’t exist,” she says.
After an “exhaustive search,” the company partnered with Softcard Systems, which had built a robust platform to track millions of high speed transactions, and built its new technology on top of that platform.
Raised capital for acquisition and platform development
Previously, Softcard had been tracking sales of sugar and flour and other packaged goods at grocery stores, but, Tabor notes, “it could just as easily track movie ticket sales or anything else.”
They were on their way to the “Holy Grail” for retailers, understanding their customers at the point-of-sale.
Sparkfly bought Softcard Systems in 2010, raising an angel investment north of $10 million to fund the buy and platform development. Development of its platform is now complete.
Will present at Southeast Venture Conference
Sparkfly is among 60 innovative technology firms presenting their business plans to venture capitalists and angel investors representing billions in capital at the upcoming Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 29-March 1. The company is seeking its first institutional round.
With the world going mobile, marketers have the ability to reach many more consumers, but they need ways to tie their promotions to actual purchase data.
Sparkfly sells a cloud-based solution that enables creation and distribution of personalized offers via the web and mobile devices that will be redeemed at point-of-sale. The patented technology does not require additional in-store hardware or software.
Owning redemption at POS
The product creates a dynamic code tied to buyers redeeming offers which zips back to its servers for authentication and tracking. It then unlocks any new offers to that buyer.
“What we’re trying to own is redemption at point of sale.”
 The system also can connect online advertising to brick & mortar redemption of offers, which is often the missing link in tracking ROI for online advertising.
Retailers and manufacturers can customize promotions based on individual purchase behavior to deliver and manage offers for specific products by location, time of day, and demographic variables. Customers can receive their offers via social, mobile, or web channels. Tabor says it leverages existing infrastructure in POS environments and adapts easily to multi-lane or multi-store operations.
It has integrated with POS providers, including NCR/Radiant, MICROS, Gilbarco, REtalix, IBM, POSitouch and Verifone. The company holds 16 patents with other pending.
Sparkfly is also testing its new integrated platform in pilot runs with several large brands.
The company gets paid for performance – by transaction.
It’s continuing to integrate its software with merchants, consumer package goods manufacturers, and publishers.
Tabor points out that while daily deals and online discount offers are a big business, it’s expensive to be a Groupon or a Foursquare – businesses that required hundreds of millions in startup funding.
“We have the opportunity to make all those businesses more viable,” says Tabor, “tracking people within those networks through point of sale, which provides an opportunity to reward frequent buyers and loyalty rather than just giving someone you’ll never see again a coupon.”
Sparkfly is starting a pilot program with its first national merchant, Auntie Anne’s (the pretzel chain) in the Atlanta market during February.
Tags: Allan Maurer, analytics, Atlanta, coupon offers, online discounts, point of service tracking, POS, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference, Sparkfly, venture fund raising
Posted in entrepreneurship, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
 Online retail spending reached $49.7 billion for the quarter, up 14 percent versus year ago, according to digital measurement firm comScore. This growth rate represented the ninth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.
For the entire 2011 year, U.S. retail e-commerce spending reached a record $161.5 billion, marking a 13-percent increase from 2010.
Retail E-Commerce (Non-Travel) Growth Rates
Excludes Auctions, Autos and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore, Inc. |
| Quarter |
E-Commerce Spending ($ Millions) |
Y/Y Percent Change |
| Q1 2007 |
$27,970 |
17% |
| Q2 2007 |
$27,176 |
23% |
| Q3 2007 |
$28,441 |
23% |
| Q4 2007 |
$39,132 |
19% |
| Q1 2008 |
$31,178 |
11% |
| Q2 2008 |
$30,581 |
13% |
| Q3 2008 |
$30,274 |
6% |
| Q4 2008 |
$38,071 |
-3% |
| Q1 2009 |
$31,031 |
0% |
| Q2 2009 |
$30,169 |
-1% |
| Q3 2009 |
$29,552 |
-2% |
| Q4 2009 |
$39,045 |
3% |
| Q1 2010 |
$33,984 |
10% |
| Q2 2010 |
$32,942 |
9% |
| Q3 2010 |
$32,133 |
9% |
| Q4 2010 |
$43,432 |
11% |
| Q1 2011 |
$38,002 |
12% |
| Q2 2011 |
$37,501 |
14% |
| Q3 2011 |
$36,308 |
13% |
| Q4 2011 |
$49,698 |
14% |
“The fourth quarter of 2011 capped off what was yet another strong year for online retail, one in which every quarter achieved double-digit increases versus the prior year,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “In the face of continuing uncertainty regarding the U.S. economy, consumers increasingly went online for their shopping needs. Price and convenience continue to be the critical value drivers for e-commerce, and unless those conditions change we can expect to see more channel-shifting to online in 2012 and perhaps even an acceleration in the current growth trend.”
Other highlights from Q4 2011 include:
- The top-performing online product categories were: Digital Content & Subscriptions, Jewelry & Watches, Consumer Electronics, Toys & Hobbies, and Computer Software. Each category grew at least 18 percent vs. year ago.
- Ten individual days in Q4 surpassed $1 billion in online spending, led by Cyber Monday (Nov. 28) at $1.251 billion. Monday, Dec. 5 ranked second at $1.178 billion, followed by Green Monday (Dec. 12) at $1.133 billion.
- 52 percent of e-commerce transactions included free shipping, representing an all-time high. The previous high was Q4 2010 at 49 percent.
- Smartphones and tablets played a growing role in online shopping, with consumers increasingly using smartphones to check prices and product features while physically in a retail store.
Tags: comScore, double digit growth in online retail, online retail spending Q4 2011
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Money | Comments Off
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