Industry News

Google News

·         Google has added a new feature to AdWords which allows you to show your Google+ follower count next to your ads. They already show your online reviews next to your ads, and you need at least 100 Google+ posts in order to qualify for the new feature. Having this additional level of detail show with your ads could provide a huge boost in ROI from AdWords.
https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1722132?hl=en

·         Google has added a new feature to its Blogger platform which allows you to show your Google+ comments and stats within your Blogger blog.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/bringing-google-comments-to-blogger.html

·         Clearly, Google is pushing Google+ very hard to its business user base.

o   Users show their trust for web content by +1ing websites.

o   Website with more +1s show higher in Google’s search results.

o   Users who are logged in to Google Plus see customized search results, based even more heavily on Google+. (http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/04/google-plus-author-tag-feature.html)

o   Google+ is now the second largest social network worldwide. (http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-plus-surpasses-twitter-to-become-second-largest-social-network/57740/)

·         For every $1 our customers spend with Google on display advertising, we can generate $5.57 in orders.

Bing/Yahoo News

·         According to ComScore, 76% of the people who search Automotive terms on Bing/Yahoo are unique to Bing/Yahoo and do not subsequently search anywhere else.

·         According to this same ComScore survey, the 47m unique searchers in the US who use Bing/Yahoo Spend 30% more than the average Google searcher.
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2263585/Yahoo-Bing-Network-New-Details-on-Searchers-Not-Using-Google

·         Combined, Bing and Yahoo controlled 28.7% of search market share in the US in March.
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2261927/Bing-Yahoo-Steal-Tiny-Bit-of-Search-Market-Share-From-Google

·         According to Bing, more than 50% of their users click on the first search result, and less than 1% of users click on the 8^th link on the page.

·         Starting in mid-April, Bing has begun to change up their search results, now showing anywhere between 4 and 14 results – where formely they always showed 10.
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2264843/Bing-Search-Now-Delivers-Anywhere-From-4-to-14-Results

·         According to a survey by digital firm AdGooroo:

o   CPCs on Bing/Yahoo were significantly lower than Google AdWords - between 37% and 77% of the cost.

o   They calculate the average CPC in the “Shopping and Classified” category on AdWords at $0.72 and on Bing/Yahoo at $0.44.

o   Click Through Rates (CTR) for AdWords were found to be between 2.4 and 5.9 times higher than on Bing/Yahoo – more people who saw ads on AdWords clicked on them.

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2259377/Google-AdWords-vs.-Yahoo-Bing-Network-A-PPC-Performance-Comparison

·         For every $1 our customers spend with Bing/Yahoo on display advertising, we can generate $4.49 in orders. So, take ComScore’s research with a grain of salt.

Amazon News

·         Amazon currently operates 46 warehouse/fulfillment/distribution centers in the US and 43 overseas, each roughly 1,000,000 sq ft in size.

·         Amazon’s sales in 2012 totaled $61.09b, of which $26.28b were International.

·         In 2012, Amazon spent 7.5% of total revenue ($4.56b) on technology related expenses.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/04/30/amazon-keeps-spendingand-growing

·         Amazon has just this month set up their first office in Russia, currently Europe’s largest Internet market according to a recent study from ComScore.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/19/amazon-is-finally-setting-up-shop-in-russia-says-report

·         This month Amazon completed its purchase of Evi, a smartphone app that responds to voice queries – much like Apple’s Siri and Google’s Voice Search – generating speculation that Amazon (who already makes and sells Kindle tablets) may be considering entering the smartphone market too.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/17/amazon-snaps-up-siri-esque-evi-but-why/

eBay News

·         EBay has identified Russia as it’s “number one priority” for expansion for both Ebay and PayPal. In 2012 alone, people in Russia bought over $400m in goods on Ebay.

·         Year over Year revenue was up for the eBay family of brands in Q1 2013 by 14% to $3.7b

·         PayPal’s network transacted $41b in volume in Q1 2013, both on and off Ebay, and contributed $1.5b in revenue toward the family total.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/17/thanks-to-paypal-and-marketplace-growth-ebays-q1-2013-revenue-up-14-percent-to-3-7b

Apple News

·         Since September 2012, Apple’s stock has dropped in value by the equivalent of an entire Google or a Microsoft.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/17/apple-has-shed-the-equivalent-of-a-google-or-a-microsoft-since-september-2012/

Microsoft News

·         Microsoft has struck a patent-licensing deal with Foxconn this month, in which Foxconn must pay a royalty to Microsoft for every Android and Chrome device it manufactures. Foxconn manufactures more than 40% of the world’s Android phones, as well as Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Apple’s iPhone and Apple’s iPad.

·         Microsoft has also filed against Motorola and Barnes & Noble in the recent past, and claims to have agreements in place with manufacturers of more than 50% of the world’s Android phones (including Samsung, LG and HTC).

·         The patents in question include data management, flash drive management, contact databases, user interface and the way short and long file names are implemented in file systems from the MSDOS days.

·         It is believed by some that Microsoft is making more from patent royalties charged to phone makers than it is making from its own entire Windows Smartphone business. An interesting idea, as Google and Apple both compete with Microsoft on so many fronts, and rely so heavily on revenues from their smartphone businesses.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/17/foxconn-becomes-largest-microsoft-patent-licensee

Internet Sales Tax

Movement towards approval of an Internet Sales Tax (“Marketplace Fairness Act”) continues in the Senate and House. This act would give states the ability to collect sales tax from online sellers, even if they do not have a physical presents in the state where the order is being shipped. We are still some ways away from passage of this act, but do please stay tuned.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/295115-senate-poised-to-back-internet-sales-tax
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/04/24/qa-on-proposed-internet-sales-tax/

Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigation Report
Verizon analyzed more than 47,000 security incidents and 612 confirmed data breaches for their 2013 report, and found the following:

·         29% of all attacks started with “phishing” – an attempt by hackers to get people to reveal information (names, passwords, etc). Phishing techniques include bogus emails, phone calls and contacts through social networking.

·         76% of all attacks exploited weak or stolen credentials. It is critical to use strong passwords, change them regularly, and not use the same password across multiple services.

·         19% of all attacks analyzed were perpetrated by state actors – that is, they were a form of espionage.

·         14% of all attacks were initiated by employees or insiders.

·         0% of attacks analyzed involved data in transit – meaning the information you (or your website) sends via the Internet is not as risky as information you store on your servers.

·         66% of all breaches took months or years to be discovered.
http://www.verizonenterprise.com/DBIR/2013/