Mobile Payments Competition: PayPal Here vs. Square

Fuente:http://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/mobile-payment-platforms-paypal-vs-square.html

Who will win? Doesn't matter--small businesses stand to gain as these mobile payment platforms try to out-innovate each other.

PayPal

PayPal has come out with guns blazing this week, announcing a new thumb-sized triangular credit card reader called PayPal Here that will let small businesses accept various forms of payment via iOS and (soon) Android devices. Sound familiar? It should—Square has offered similar—albeit square-shaped—technology for a while.

Now that PayPal is taking Square on head-to-head things are going to get interesting, but which company will come out ahead is a good question. A few things to consider:

Square Is Well-Loved by Users

 Square has been a darling of the start-up ecosystem since launching in 2009 because it lets anyone take a credit card payment from anyone else—all with a small card reader that plugs into an iOS or Android mobile device. It's so slick that even President Obama's re-election campaign has said it will use Square to process credit card donations.

There's no doubt Square has been disruptive. The company, co-founded by Twitter's Jack Dorsey and backed by billionaire Richard Branson, has been valued at $1 billion and is processing $11 million in payments per day via more than a million merchants using its platform. It also has scored retail agreements with Apple, Walmart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Target.

Even so, ask around and there are going to be plenty of small business owners who still don't know about Square.

Brand Recognition, for Better and Worse

 And that's where PayPal may make serious headway—with its powerful brand recognition and 100 million users worldwide.

For years consumers have trusted PayPal to be the financial go-between online—in instances where you don't want to hand over your credit card to a party you may not be able to trust. And if some part of the sale goes bad—say your Ebay purchase never shows up–PayPal gets involved and will refund your money.

But it's that intermediary role that also has given PayPal a bad rap from some users who say that the company goes too far in protecting buyers, sometimes wrongly freezing seller accounts based on these disputes.

But for the vast majority of people who have used PayPal without incident, the new mobile payment solution will likely be a welcome one.

The blue PayPal Here reader and its accompanying app look impressive. Not only can you swipe credit cards using the thumb-sized reader and mobile app, you can also use your device's camera to scan cards and paper checks as well as pay for things using your PayPal account.

And PayPal is undercutting Square's 2.75% transaction fee by just a titch, setting its flat rate at 2.7% for card swipes and PayPal payments. PayPal Here users also get a business debit card with 1% cash back.

Who Will Prevail?

 Hands-down domination in this space isn't likely to be something we're going to see soon. For one thing, it's a humongous market and many big players are investing heavily in digital wallet platforms.

In addition to its new payment device PayPal this week announced that its digital wallet will be released in May. With it, you'll be able pick a credit or debit card to use for a transaction or set up rules that designate which account should be used to pay for purchases involving various dollar amounts. PayPal's wallet also will let you create virtual accounts in which funds can automatically be deposited to save up for things like vacations or holiday shopping funds.

Square and PayPal aren't the only ones to watch.

The Isis digital wallet platform is ramping up to be a major contender. Earlier this month VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech and Equinox Payments announced they would be integrating Isis into their products. Other big names backing Isis include mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

And then, of course, there's Google Wallet to consider.

Google recently announced Sprint would introduce at least 10 additional phones with Google Wallet on board. Already about two dozen of the largest U.S. retail chains now let people buy things using Google Wallet by tapping their phones onto MasterCard PayPass terminals.

Wallet is a big deal for Google. According to the Silicon Valley's Mercury News, Google has been strong-arming developers to use Google Wallet and has warned some of them that if they continue to use other payment methods such as PayPal that their apps would be removed from Google Play (its version of an apps store).

Regardless of which platform comes out on top, one thing is certain: Consumers and business owners stand to be the real winners as all these powerful players seek to out-innovate each other.

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Nearly 90 percent of tablet owners using them to shop

Fuente:http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/12/nearly-90-percent-of-tablet-owners-using-them-to-shop/

"Only two weeks into the 2011 holiday shopping season and it is clear that tablet commerce is a critical and emerging channel for retail sales. In addition to actively spending, our survey reveals the personalities and intentions of this holiday season's tablet shoppers so that innovative retailer and brand marketers can better create customized experiences for this powerful new segment of shoppers," said W. Sean Ford, COO and CMO of Zmags.

• 87 percent of tablet owners are holiday shopping using their tablets and will spend an average of $325.  An infographic illustrating the survey results can be found online here.
• Nearly a third of tablet owners like to shop on their tablets because it is convenient. Twenty-four percent of tablet owners also like how the tablet experience facilitates easy browsing and helps them discover products via retailers' sites, digital catalogs and apps.
• Clothing, toys and luxury categories are quickly joining electronics for strong tablet commerce prominence this holiday season. More than half of tablet owners are browsing for clothes on their tablets, with 38 percent buying them via their device. Toys are browsed by 43 percent of tablet owners, with 38 percent purchasing them on their tablets. Jewelry is not far behind, with several tablet owners admitting to purchasing expensive diamond rings, watches and bracelets using their tablets.
• Tablet owners plan to engage in couch commerce for the long term. Next year, 49 percent of today's tablet owners plan to shop even more using their tablets, whereas only 19 percent of smartphone owners say they will shop more from their smartphones.
• Other survey findings include:
  • Fifty percent of tablet owners say the couch is their favored location for shopping but they can also be found shopping in bed (20 percent), at the kitchen counter, in the mall and at coffee shops as well as on public transportation.
  • More than half of tablet owners say shopping makes them feel happy and more excited, indulgent and generous than other forms of online, mobile or in-store shopping.
  • Tablet shoppers see themselves as savvy spenders (52 percent), spontaneous splurgers (14 percent) and luxury buyers (9 percent).
  • Men are bigger spenders on their tablets than women this holiday season. Fifty-two percent of the men estimate they will spend between $201-500 via their tablets, compared to 37 percent of female shoppers.
• The survey of 1,500 online shoppers, including 238 tablet owners, was conducted by Equation Research for Zmags. A broader report studying the profiles and behaviors of tablet, smartphone and Facebook shoppers will be released inJanuary 2012.

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Google se prepara para 'pensar' como un humano

Fuente http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/03/15/navegante/1331813742.html

Google ultima una actualización que cambiará la estructura en su motor de búsqueda. El gigante de Internet trabaja para ofrecer mejores resultados gracias a la incorporación de la búsqueda semántica.

El motor de búsqueda de Google se reestructurará para seguir el ritmo de su competencia y poderse mantener por delante de ellos gracias a que someterán a un cambio a su sistema, según ha publicado el diario The Wall Street Journal. Google compite con una amplia variedad de empresas en este campo, como Bing, Live Search de Microsoft o el motor de búsquedas Wolfram Alpha.

En los próximos meses el buscador de Google no cambiará el sistema actual de búsqueda por palabras clave, pero proporcionará resultados más relevantes y más directos, y dará algo más que una lista de "enlaces azules". Estos cambios afectarán a millones de sitios web que dependen de la actual clasificación de Google de páginas de resultados. Además proporcionará más formas diferentes de anunciarse.

Incorporación de la "búsqueda semántica"

Un alto ejecutivo de búsqueda de Google, Amit Singhal, ha anunciado que incorporarán a su sistema de búsqueda una novedad tecnológica llamada búsqueda semántica. Con ello realizaran un proceso para entender "el verdadero significado de las palabras", lo que permitirá ver mejores resultados de las consultas.

La búsqueda semántica asociará las palabras que son diferentes entre sí por lo que traten de decir. Puede diferenciar entre palabras con más de un significado, como "Jaguar" de la marca del coche y el animal. Según agregó el ejecutivo de Google, el motor de búsqueda de Google "se parecerá más a cómo los seres humanos entienden el mundo".

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Google URL Shortener(goo.gl), ¿datos accesibles publicamente?

Al contrario que otros acortadores como Bit.ly (permite indicar si todas tus "transacciones" vinculadas con ellos son publicas o privadas) , Google NO nos da opcion. Es todo publico, y podemos observar tanto el origen del contenido, como la analitica de cada vez que se accede (ubicacion, browser,momento...). 

Una pequeña "ventana indiscreta" que recoge todo lo que es movido por los usuarios (no creo que muchos sean conscientes de esto) de sistemas google (que necesita ser acortado...vamos,casi todo si lo llevamos ...por ejemplo, aTwitter), y en tiempo real. Además nos da alguna informacion extra sobre los parametros usados en las  campañas de marketing online de empresas (abajo, ejemplo de Grupon)

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4 Tips For Getting More Site Conversions

Getting people to your Web site is one thing. Getting them to do something while they're there is another. And then, of course, getting them to do what you want them to do is another beast entirely. But, as a marketer, that's your job; to get someone to your Web site in order to take a desired action. So is there any way to increase your chances at a conversion?

Absolutely.

If you're finding that customers are landing on your site but are either leaving prematurely or are leaving without doing what you'd hoped they do, below are four conversion optimization tips to stop that from happening.

1. Promote Benefits, Not Features

Your Web site doesn't sell a product or a service; it sells a customer benefit.

It doesn't matter if your business is set up to sell life insurance or overpriced toasters, realize that it's not the item itself that your customer is paying for. No one is interested in the features of that new toaster. What they are interested in is the benefit it will have on their life.

The benefit may be a lazy Sunday morning breakfast at the table with their family or that they save 15 minutes every morning because that toaster cooks frozen waffles faster. It's not the features themselves they care about – it's the benefit to their lives and the story behind it.

And that's what you have to promote. By promoting the benefits to your customers you show them what's at stake and give them a story they can't pass up. Promote that, not your four heating options.

2. Remove Distractions

You know what path you want someone to take when they land on your product pages. You want them to add the item to their shopping cart and either continue shopping or check out. That's it. Two things. So why are you giving them 10 different options and directing them to a sea of non-buying distractions? When it comes to design, less is more. People can't handle having more than a few choices. If you show me you have 500 different pairs of sneakers on your Web site and you try to show me ALL of them, as well as all your other apparel, I'm going to run away screaming. I can't process that many choices. And (unfortunately for you) your customers aren't much different from me.

Take a look at your Web site, especially pages designed to convert, and get rid of anything that does not serve the intended purpose for that page. I shouldn't be able to get from your shopping cart to your home page in one click. All I should be able to do is finish my checkout. Give me something to distract from a purchase and I'm going to pick that every time. Don't give me something and I'll have nothing else to do but enter my credit card information.

3. Create a Clear Call to Action

You may know what you want customers to do on your Web site, but do they? If they don't it's because you're not creating clear (or compelling) enough calls to action to make them move. Encourage forward movement by using color, visual cues, and site hierarchy to lead people toward a particular action. Don't be afraid to tell someone what it is you want them to do – buy, click, read, subscribe, follow, friend, etc. Your customers don't know what they're supposed to do until you tell them with a call to action that grabs their attention and keeps them on course. Craft CTAs around these site goals.

4. Be Smart About Placement

Placement matters. In the olden days when people got their information from newspapers (I know, we're going way back), journalists were careful to make sure the most important information was above the fold because that was their best chance of their audience seeing it. On the Web, we have our own above the fold. It's everything a user can see before they have to scroll down the page. But we also know there are other hot spots that a user's eye is drawn to — like the golden triangle. When you're working up your calls to action, make sure you're placing them directly in a user's line of sight. Study how people navigate your Web site and place these conversion-heavy items where their eyes are going to be.

If you're noticing that people are landing on your site but not converting, it could be that you're going after the wrong traffic. Or, it could be that you're simply not doing a very good job moving the traffic you have. The four tips above can help increase the number of conversions happening your Web site by keeping customers on task and removing any unnecessary distractions.

Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmallBusinessTrends/~3/3rXHF_pJgxo/site-conversion-tips.html

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