MEDIA: On June 2, Yahoo added a referral tag to its homepage, so now it can get credit for that traffic, Chartbeat explained in a blog post. When Yahoo moved its site to https two years ago, designed to protect users’ privacy and security, its referral traffic began to show up as unattributed, or dark traffic. As a result, Yahoo went from being the No. 16 referral source for publishers to No. 6 on June 2, after Facebook, Google Search, Twitter, Google News and Bing. This is based on traffic across a sample of 5,000 sites that are representative of the 50,000 sites that Chartbeat measures.
MEDIA: Starwood still doesn’t have a Snapchat account. The hotel chain has traditionally been an early adopter — it even recently introduced two robot butlers (called “Botlers”) to its Cupertino boutique Aloft hotel. The hotel chain lets its rewards members check in via the SPG app for Apple Watch. But the brand has trod carefully with Snapchat. Espinoza explained that this initiative is driven by W Hotels’ geofilter campaign back in October of 2015. When Starwood first developed the W Hotels geofilters, Snapchat gave the company an initial estimate on the expected views.
ECOMMERCE: But the company recognized its e-commerce site was at odds with the brand’s physical push. At the end of 2015, the company began working with the digital agency Engine Digital to overhaul its online experience. Launched last week, the new Kit and Ace website uses tools like live-chat customer service, a smarter search bar, international currency checkouts, updated in-store inventory, and faster page load times to heighten its digital shopping experience. It also invested heavily in editorial content.
ECOMMERCE: The invention of the internet was a turning point in the creation of two types of network — bureaucratic networks and non-bureaucratic networks. The bureaucratic networks that used to dominate control over our lives existed as newspapers, radio stations and television news networks, and supersaturated our information exposure. As the internet matured, the barrier to entry for being a “network creator” became lower, and not only did the existing bureaucratic networks migrate online, so did average people like you and me.
BRAND: When I publish, I get myself out there and I start telling people about it. i have a list of around a couple hundred other writers, influencers, entrepreneurs that I’ve built up a rapport with, one on one, for years. People I emailed out of the blue back when I had around 12 followers on Medium, people I asked to read my work when nobody else in the world did. Remember, I didn’t start creating content with a huge audience built in, I started with nothing, grew from nothing, and never stopped pushing ahead.
ECOMMERCE: eCommerce is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Think about it. Ten years ago, you couldn’t buy things off the Internet the way you can now. You can order something today and have it at your doorstep in a matter of hours. This is light years ahead of how the eCommerce industry worked just 10-15 years ago, and it is continuously growing. In 2015, eCommerce sales in the United States were over $347 billion, according to Internet Retailer. It is expected that they will rise about 65% by the year 2018.
ECOMMERCE: In social science, we talk a lot about replication, transparency and open data. We’re rightly concerned when researchers publish and publicize dramatic claims without sharing their raw data. Recent examples include Michael Lacour’s faked study on attitudes toward same-sex marriage and a controversial paper on “air rage” in which the data not released for business reasons and then questioned by an aviation journalist.
DATA: In late 2014, Taco Bell became the first major fast-food chain to roll out an order-ahead app. Finally, a Fourth Meal habitué could pay ahead, skip the line, join a rewards program, and creatively customize their Nachos Bell Grande without enraging a line of people behind them. Shortly after a very involved launch, Taco Bell even threw free Doritos Locos Tacos at mobile-app users. Despite all the fanfare, the Live Más app, while popular, was never the No. 1 free app in the Apple universe. Because, really, what fast-food ordering app would be?
ECOMMERCE: According to data from eBay, searches for ‘wedding presents’ are set to sky rocket this month, as many guests turn to online retailers to help them find the perfect gift. With a 33% surge this time last year compared to the two months previously, the summer is clearly a time for love and last minute gift shopping. But while wedding presents are again predicted to be in demand, eBay has also found an increase in online searches for everything wedding related.
BRAND: In 2011, Jamie and Lyndon left their jobs to devote their full energy to Herschel, which they named after a teeny-tiny town (population of 30!) in Canada that their relatives immigrated to from Scotland a century ago. The growth hasn’t slowed down. In 2011, the brothers sold 8,000 bags. In 2015, they sold 4.5 million. This year, Herschel, headquartered in Vancouver, is expecting to sell 6 million units in 72 countries.
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