ecommerce 8

I just put together this little demo that scrapes John Lewis’ site and creates a MediaRSS file out of it. CoolIris has got to be the best way to shop. Apart from being really pretty, it’s quite useful when you know what something looks like, but don’t quite know how to search for it. For example, I was trying to look for a headphone-microphone (you know, the ones that connect into an iPhone or a Blackberry). I didn’t have a clue what it’s called. (TRRS, if you’re interested. I found out later.) The only way I could get it was to browse the wall… ...

Apple’s music store sold over 1 million songs in a week. To Mac users alone. At 99c (Rs 50) a song, I don’t see how that happened. Or why it’s better than P2P. via MetaFilter

Google catalog. For mail order catalogs.

Amazon’s honor system is a quick and easy way to sell content on the Internet. (They also have other ways of selling.) It’s available only for the US currently, though. Pity…

Yahoo’s auction listings fell 82% when they started charging for auctions. But the sales apparantly is steady, and quality of listings is going up. Amazon may follow suit. Looks like the pay-model is the one that will survive on the Net.

Now Yahoo! will charge a fee for auctions. No more free PCs. No more free ISPs. No more ad revenues. No more free auctions. The trend is clear. Pay! Unfortunately, they’ll also monitor what’s being sold – an indication that country-specific legal barriers are creeping into the Internet.

The Electronic Commerce Resource Center is the Yahoo of e-commerce. But if you want articles, go to Digital Commerce Center or internet.com.

The new Emerging Digital Economy report is out. I found the second and first extremely informative.