e-Commerce: Complete. Configured. Connected.
E-Commerce 3.0
Plimus at Rise of Social Commerce 2010 “Entering the Gaming Market – New Techniques for Monetization in the Age of Social Networks”
Oct 12th
Last week’s Rise of Social Commerce inaugural conference appears to have been a huge success. Our very own Simon Jones was a featured speaker in the session “The Games Social People Play.”
During his session Simon spoke about ‘Turning on the TAP.’ He discussed the importance of understanding that success is represented by the three-legged stool of Technology, Audience and Process. To better articulate this tiered approach, Simon presented three case studies outlining key elements involved in driving online engagement, and revealed some of the key lessons we have learned along the way to help guide companies looking to enter the market.
Simon shared a Plimus case study as well as two customer case studies, Youdagames and Yummy Interactive.
Horst Streck, CEO, Youdagames:
Chris Hennebery, VP Software Distribution, Yummy Interactive
We truly appreciate the help from our customers and value their continued partnership with Plimus.
The basis for this presentation is built upon the ongoing growth of the social Internet. The social Web, and marketing games within, has become a vital business play for game developers looking to expand their reach, their fan base and revenue. With the ongoing explosion of social networking and online gaming, we at Plimus are quite confident this phenomenon won’t be going away anytime soon. However, the market is getting increasingly crowded, and the “build it and they will come” approach that blossomed in the last couple of years doesn’t work anymore. As a result, game developers must strive to create the perfect online environment in order to thrive.
At Plimus we are working to solve the needs of clients who are looking to optimize their investments in e-Commerce 3.0, the newly developing way in which online customers want to buy anytime, anyplace, anywhere, with as little hassle as possible. Call it a desire for ‘frictionless e-Commerce.’ Simultaneously, many game consumers have shifted their attention toward the social Web to supply them with their next distraction-of-choice. The combination of factors means that simply looking at one element of the mix won’t get the job done: you may have awesome technology, but if you don’t know your audience’s preferences, you’re toast, and vice versa.
Thanks to the Altimeter Group for the opportunity for allowing Plimus to participate in your event. It was a huge success and we’re already looking forward to next year’s show. I’ve included a few images of Simon’s speaking engagement below.
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/2326448445/
Elements of the Plimus Buy Anyware™ API
Sep 29th
It’s been nearly three months since the launch of our Buy Anyware™ API and we’ve seen great customer traction to date. This week, I wanted to outline the key elements involved in Plimus’ API. You know, share a bit of our secret sauce. At Plimus, we’ve identified 14 specific applications (or elements) that help online vendors create the perfect buying experience.
Plimus’ Buy Anyware™ API helps online merchants collect the information they need in order to place an order, then deliver it directly to Plimus for processing without requiring the customer/shopper to access a Plimus-hosted website. This means that customers can essentially buy whatever they want, wherever and whenever they want. The automated API compiles the information needed for a sale including specific items purchased, quantities requested, and shopper information (name, address, credit card information, etc.) and delivers it without leaving the vendor’s site.
So what are these 14 individual processes managed via the Plimus Buy Anyware™ API, you ask? Here you go:
- Retrieve SKU price
- Convert currency ad hoc
- Create a shopper account
- Access a shopper’s account details
- Update a shopper account
- Place order
- Read past order
- Get order fulfillment details
- Resend emails
- Regenerate fulfillment details
- Bulk operation submitting order and creating shopper account simultaneously
- Get order history
- Get subscription
- Update subscription
The above elements comprise the secret sauce of the Buy Anyware™ API, which enables online transactions to happen when and where it makes sense for the buyer, which in turn leads to higher conversion rates and increased revenue. The Buy Anyware™ API, gives merchants complete control of the customer experience, whether surfaced within a browser, plug-in or installed software title. This includes security-compliant, single-click re-purchase functionality as well as the ability to synchronize customer account information such as purchase preferences across multiple properties or brands. Plimus has made it easy for vendors to create a seamless, frictionless user experience.
If you’re interested in learning more, visit our website by clicking here.
Charles Born,
VP and Head of Marketing
Customer Profile: Yummy Interactive Talks Frictionless Gaming
Aug 27th
For today’s blog, I’d like to highlight one of our partners, Yummy Interactive. This week, Christopher Hennebery, VP of software distribution at Yummy Interactive, spoke with Rebecca Lieb from Econsultancy about making digital rights management as painless as possible. During the discussion, Christopher described how Yummy is now able to offer its customers a “frictionless” e-Commerce experience – with the help of Plimus.
Plimus announced its relationship with Yummy Interactive back in the middle of June at E3 and since then we’ve been working with them to offer a seamless online buying experience for gamers. Yummy Interactive’s GameShield In-Game Activation, developed with Plimus, provides game developers a way to turn the trial-to-purchase process into a hassle-free, immersive experience. This e-Commerce platform provides a one-click purchase experience, which helps maintain immersive gameplay throughout the transaction. This, in turn, gives these developers a new tool to use to increase revenue and convert trials into sales.
Rebecca’s post includes a great conversation with Christopher and provides some interesting statistics on how Plimus and Yummy Interactive are helping game developers increase their revenue streams, “We’ve seen one of our clients base a 19% increase in conversions from trial to purchase.” Click here to read the entire blog on the Econsultancy website.
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
E-tailers Capitalize On Web 2.0 Era
Aug 18th
Despite the economic downturn, there is at least one group that’s flourishing – e-tailers. I read an interesting article the other day in Forbes.com about all the things e-tailers are doing right. The article discusses how online retailers have been able to increase revenue, while traditional retailers are struggling in the down economy. While thousands of traditional stores closed their doors last year, and notable chains such as Circuit City declared bankruptcy, forward-thinking online merchants enjoy continued growth. In her piece for Forbes, Patricia Nakache outlines how different tools have helped online merchants attract more customers than their traditional retail counterparts.
It did not surprise me that over the past 10 years online sales have grown. Since 2001, Plimus has experienced the phenomenal growth of e-Commerce first hand; however I was shocked to read exactly how much online sales currently outpace traditional sales! By targeting technically savvy consumers, e-Commerce sales have grown 19 percent per year, a rate much higher than offline sales. So how are these online merchants doing it and what can traditional retailers learn from these successful online vendors? E-tailers are capitalizing and cashing in on the Web 2.0 era, that’s how.
Social media is a tool that has become pivotal in driving viral traffic to retail websites. The rise of the social Web has created communities that are changing the online buying process, shifting focus away from brand-owned properties toward peer-to-peer recommendations on social networks. With more than 500 million active worldwide users, 56 percent of which shop online, Facebook allows consumers to advertise their purchases and encourage friends to participate in group discounts. Similarly, sites like Groupon encourage consumers to publicize deals with their friends by only offering subscribers a deal if they get enough people to sign up for the daily newsletters. Platforms such as these have already led 11 percent of retailers to report social media as their most effective acquisition tactic, and this percent will undoubtedly continue to grow.
The success of e-Commerce seems to be a light at the end of a dark economic tunnel. Plimus’ e-Commerce platform will continue to help e-tailers smooth out the online buying process and make the experience enjoyable for consumers and benefical for vendors. As Web 2.0 and traditional e-commerce continue to mesh making way for the rise e-Commerce 3.0, Plimus will be here to help e-tailers “flourish.”
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3229663883/
The Social Web: This Changes Everything for e-Commerce
Jul 21st
The social web has irrevocably changed the way that web users interact with the Internet. Sharing thoughts, opinions, reviews, and personal responses to what we find online creates a vast pool of deeply valid consumer information. This empowers consumers to make choices that are informed by their peers, rather than relying on the PR and Marketing delivered by sellers. It also changes usage expectations: today’s buyer is looking for more than a storefront, a catalog, and a checkout page.
There is no greater indication of this shift than the rise of social applications, particularly games, within the wonderful world of Facebook. Zynga recently suggested that they expect to drive $1B in revenues through their games on Facebook – in 2010 alone! What drives the popularity of those games, and the resulting monetization? Sure, there’s advertising and PR, but fundamentally the drive for users to join the fun is the recommendations and comments of their connections within the network.
Simultaneously, we see the same shift occurring in the MMORPG world. The newest Lord of the Rings MMORPG is making headlines due to the announcement that it will offer Free-to-Play (F2P) access to absolutely anyone. The expectation is that monetization will happen within the game through the in-game commerce (and also that free players will convert to paid memberships, of course). The underlying assumption is high volumes of participation will drive more revenue through upsells and cross-sells than could have been captured via subscription payments alone. This is the network effect writ large!
The core of this shift is explained by some pretty simple behavioral economics: once a consumer has something, it is more valuable to them than something they simply want. When I read glowing accounts of Farmville from my friends, and watch the notifications that their farm is getting bigger and better, I’m already immersed – and want to participate more actively. Similarly, my spending patterns within my favorite MMORPG are driven by the desire to compete with my friends far more than a simple motivation to succeed.
Interestingly, casual game studios are in amazingly good shape to take advantage of this set of consumer behavior changes. Their games are already resident on players’ computers, and presence is, to re-write an old saw, nine tenths of the law. What casual game studios have known for years is that trials are infinitely better than storefronts: as soon as one is installed, the player feels they own the game. This makes it very much easier to fill in the missing links between the player’s impulse to buy, and the necessary steps to have them complete the process.
The tactics to take advantage of this are shockingly simple. During the first sale, ensure that a cross-sale or up-sale promotion is present – it’s amazing to me how high the customer-attach rate to these is, yet how few online sellers maximize their potential here. Once the sale is made, use the wrapper application you implemented to secure the game to provide messages and promotions to other items; those items can be completely free, because you know that your trials convert really well.
Go one step further, and ensure a customer creates an account somehow – add a check box to allow you to store that account in your checkout page. That way, when they come back next time, you can eliminate the friction of re-typing personal information and deliver a single-click experience. Eliminating that painful step can double your checkout conversion in a single stroke.
The bottom line is that casual game studios, while staring down the barrel of the threat of games moving to the social web, are also faced with a wonderful opportunity to build longer-term relationships with their players. Jumping in now represents a strong move to build strategic advantage in the marketplace – and don’t we all need one of those?
We’re at Casual Connect in Seattle this week – and will be presenting on this very topic on Thursday afternoon at 1pm at the Triple Door, so come by to hear more and ask your questions.
Simon Jones,
VP of Strategic Solutions
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/intersectionconsulting/4465834448/
Plimus Enables Frictionless e-Commerce with Buy Anyware™ API
Jun 30th
This week has been an exciting one for Plimus, as we announced the availability of our Buy Anyware™ e-Commerce application programming interface (API). We believe that our new API will be an industry-changer and for the first time will enable e-Commerce to be conducted from anywhere at any time unleashing the power of the web.
The Plimus Buy Anyware™ API allows for complete control of the customer experience, whether nested within a browser, plug-in or installed software title. The BuyAnyware API is not simply a streamlined checkout process that eliminates the requirement of a virtual storefront; it also empowers sellers to revolutionize the buying experience by offering new customer-driven processes and business models previously not possible. Online transactions can now happen when and where it makes sense for the buyer, which we are confident will lead to higher conversion rates and increased revenue by turning shopping browsers into buyers.
Buy Anyware™ is a true manifestation of the next generation of frictionless online purchasing and gaming. It provides end-users the ability to buy anything, anywhere, at any time; truly e-Commerce 3.0. Developed from the knowledge we gained over the past 10 years, in developing this e-Commerce 3.0 vision, we have had the pleasure of working with several innovative companies, including Yummy Interactive and Gigya. These companies and others we will announce in the future are doing some really cool things with the API that we think will help them reap the new monetization channels it enables.
You can read the entire release by clicking here and we have further information and application videos are available here. And, please, let me know if you want to learn more about Buy Anyware™ or our thoughts on e-Commerce 3.0, I’m happy to chat.
Charlie Born,
Head of Marketing
Plimus and Yummy Interactive
Jun 21st
I have exciting news to share with you. Last week, Plimus and Yummy Interactive together announced the development of an e-Commerce platform for casual game publishers. In-Game Activation interface enables not only a one-click purchase, but maintains the game experience throughout the transaction. So what does this mean for casual gamers?
Previously, all casual gaming and other online purchasing services were forced to deploy e-Commerce platforms that required users to leave the game environment in order to complete a transaction. To enhance their gaming experience, such as buying additional credits or purchasing the game after an initial free trial, users had to launch another Web browser page and were bombarded with a “friction-full” experience.
In-Game Activation interface is helping limit the hassle of online, in-gaming transactions. Using the Plimus e-Commerce application and its own GameShield™ licensing protection solution, Yummy Interactive has developed an e-Commerce interface that keeps the player immersed within the game environment during the transaction, which not only enriches the user experience but also increases conversion rates and revenue.
You can read the entire release here.
Charlie Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/244365591/
Casual Gaming – Who Knew It Could Improve Cognition?
Jun 4th
Last week, there was some very interesting news about casual gaming. While some may say those long hours spent on casual gaming is a waste of time or that it turns the brain into mush, those arguments no longer hold up. I knew it! Here’s why: initial results from a new study being conducted by East Carolina University’s (ECU) Psychophysiology Lab found that casual games may have a positive effect on cognition. The study is in its sixth month of trial and currently has 40 participants who are 50 and older. Specifically for this study, the subjects are playing PopCap’s games such as Bejeweled and Peggle though the company did not commission the study.
A recent an article in Gamasutra states, “Thus far, the study’s finding [show] visible improvements in short-term cognition among the participants playing casual games — promising news for health professionals interested in ways to provide mental exercise for the aging and those with dementia-family disorders like Alzheimer’s.”
Additional findings of the study showed that participants who played casual games for 30 minutes demonstrated an 87 percent improvement in cognitive response time and an overwhelming 215 percent increase in executive functioning.
So what does this mean? Experts from ECU believe that this makes casual gaming just about as effective as other medical treatments for cognition. The longer a subject plays a casual game, the greater the impact on their overall health. So, let me hypothesize that therefore, it is important for game developers, such as PopCap, to build games that provide a “frictionless,” e-Commerce 3.0 immersive gaming experience. Limit the number of distractions or unwanted variables during the gaming experience and it stands to reason developers can have a positive impact on the gamers’ cognition… and their revenues too!
Given the 30th anniversary of Namco Pac-Man and my current focus on being a master chef in Youda Games’ aptly-titled Sushi Chef, do you think maybe if I kick my game playing up a notch I could count on always finding where I put the car keys?
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lollaping/2853820634/
E-Commerce 3.0: A New Era of Online Retail
Jun 2nd
To reach 50 million users it took radio 38 years, TV 13 years, the Internet 4 years, and the iPod just 3 years. But Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months and iPhone applications hit 1 billion in just 9 months. Web 2.0 has blurred the boundaries between content and commerce. It has changed the way people engage with, produce, purchase, and consume content. As corporate brands give way to peer recommendations and lifestyle-oriented social media, consumers increasingly seek frictionless commerce – frictionless in that the transaction becomes part of the content experience.
This is e-Commerce 3.0 in action: simple to use frictionless interactions that leverage the power of a social network or from within an application, game, or content site – anywhere, anyplace, anytime. Yes, there could still be an online store front in this world (the first wave of online commerce didn’t kill bricks and mortar stores as many predicted) and e-Commerce 3.0 won’t necessarily kill the online retail storefront. However, it will change it dramatically and possibly render it obsolete or unnecessary in some markets.
Ultimately, the inevitable progression of e-Commerce is toward this distributed, e-Commerce 3.0 model. Social communities are beginning to dominate brand names and customers are already demanding comfortable and simple-to-use processes that match their true usage patterns. The vendors first to offer them will enjoy the benefits. Clearly, companies must rethink the way they engage with consumers in this new environment. And although the opportunities inherent in round-the-clock, round-the-world e-Commerce may seem tempting, the complexities of global payment processing, the marketing and sale of goods across diverse cultures, and support of a global customer base challenge even the most web-savvy companies. The emergence of commerce that is freed from the restrictions of domain and browser exclusivity will ultimately drive greater revenue volumes for all businesses and create new challenges for online merchants: the need to upgrade to e-Commerce 3.0, or risk being left behind. Friction full or Frictionless? I think the consumer is telling us the direction we need to take.
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracy_olson/872011539/
Death of the Online Storefront?
May 26th
E-commerce as we’ve known it is over.
Consumer lifestyles are morphing and the always-on, always-connected era is here for many. For example, who doesn’t leave home without their smart phone anymore? And, with it we can do more than just text or call someone. If we want, we can make secure purchases with always on Internet connectivity or buy a video and watch that final episode of Lost while riding the bus to work. Despite these lifestyle changes, one thing still remains the same – the transaction environment, the store front, is tied to a web browser.
However, there are forces today at play that are going to rapidly change the e-commerce landscape. The rise of the social web has created communities that are changing the online buying process, shifting focus away from brand-owned properties toward peer-to-peer recommendations on social networks. I predict in the near future we will no longer search for products and services – they will find us via the social web.
This is e-Commerce 3.0 in action – the vision to give the consumer ultimate flexibility and simplicity by leveraging the always-on, always-connected persistence of Web 3.0 connectivity. In this new world, consumers want content, not a sales pitch. The ultimate customer experience is the ability to buy anything, anywhere in the world, from any application, on any device, at any time. Simply, the “transaction,” or the selling point, must be part of the consumer’s content experience: They must be able to buy on the fly as part of a new “frictionless commerce” paradigm.
E-Commerce is changing – what does this mean for the traditional internet store front enabled by a single browser and limited payment methods? Stay tuned. There is more to be discussed on this topic.
Charlie Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/4079485053/
