eBay is starting a new series of events to help small businesses and part-time eBay sellers "accelerate their businesses" on eBay, which has 90 million active users. The series is called eBay: On Location, and has dates set for Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and San Jose.

"eBay sellers are creative entrepreneurs who understand that eBay’s global reach and dynamic marketplace offer the ideal setting to start and build a business online," says eBay Marketplaces President Lorrie Norrington. "We invite our sellers to eBay: On Location to connect with each other and to take the next step in making their eBay businesses even more successful."

The goal of the series of events appears to be to let sellers network with one another and share ideas for maintaining a successful eBay business. There are also courses on "top seller secrets", productivity to boost sales and reduce costs, and utilizing social media to drive sales.

"eBay sellers have become savvier about how to use eBay in ingenious ways," says Jim Griffith, eBay senior manager, Seller Strategy and Dean of Education. "eBay: On Location is a great way for the seller community to come together and share those strategies—and learn something new from experts."

They are only letting in 500 people per event, and registration is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. It costs $45 to get in.


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Mon Feb 08, 2010 22:20 pm

Satisfaction with the top 100 e-retailers has increased from a decline this time last year, to an all-time high score of 78 points on a 100-point scale, according to new research from ForeSee Results.

The research found consumers are more satisfied with their online experiences than ever before. Nearly every individual retailer reached a score that matched or exceeded previous satisfaction levels.

"The state of the economy really forced e-retail to step up their game," said study author Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.

"Since so much of the financial downturn was out of their control, companies turned to those things they could improve, and now they are reaping the benefits. Customer satisfaction is not a byproduct of a healthy economy. Instead, a healthy economy is a consequence of satisfied customers."

Netflix ranked as the top retailer for the sixth year in a row with a score of 87, up tow points from last year.  Amazon trailed by a single point and maintained its second place position for the sixth year running.

In 2009, only five websites scored more than 80 (generally considered the threshold for excellence), but in 2010, 28 websites score 80 or higher. Not a single e-retailer scored below 70 (usually the cut off for bottom performers), an unprecedented event in the research's six-year history. Several companies made huge jumps in score, the most improved being MarketAmerica.com (+12 to 75), Etronics.com (+10 to 73) and Ambercrombie.com (+9 to 79).

The study quantifies that a highly satisfied online shopper is 73% more likely to purchase online/> [...]

Fri May 07, 2010 04:25 am

Google plans to hold a number of events across the U.S. this morning where the company will highlight its economic impact on local economies. Ahead of these events, Google just released detailed data about how much economic activity the company generated for local businesses, website publishers and non-profits in the U.S. in 2009. Nationwide, Google estimates that it generated about $54 billion in economic activity last year.

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According to Google, the company estimates its economic impact in each state based on "the economic value generated by Google Search and AdWords, Google AdSense and Google Grants in 2009." You can find a detailed description of the company's methodology here. Google did not try to estimate its impact on local consumers.

With $14.1 billion, California leads the pack among U.S. states, while Wyoming came in last with $24 million. You can download the full report with detailed numbers for every state here (PDF).

Given that these numbers were generated by Google itself, it's worth taking this data with a grain of salt, though Google's impact on the U.S. economy - and small busin/> [...]

Tue May 25, 2010 09:40 am

Apple announced today that the iPad will be available in 9 more countries starting May 28. The company had delayed international release to keep up with domestic demand.

  These countries include:

- Australia
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan
- Spain
- Switzerland
- UK

Customers from these countries will be able to begin pre-ordering their iPads as early as Monday, May 10.



In July, Apple plans to release the iPad in nine more countries:

- Austria
- Belgium
- Hong Kong
- Ireland
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Singapore

The company says local pricing will be revealed at a later date.

As recently reported, Apple sold over a million iPads in its first month, and customers downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store, and 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. Developers have created over 5,000 apps specifically designed for the iPad.

[...]

Fri May 07, 2010 08:35 am

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