Google’s New Privacy Policy

As written about by Danny Goodwin, Google explained their privacy policy before Congress. As noted by others including Danny, the change is pretty straight forward. Google has accumulated and grown a number of services over the years, but these products were patched together with different privacy policies. Essentially, this revision allows Google to treat all of their programs as one, so a Google search can take into account recent YouTube activity to tailor results, for example. Simple.

However, Congress has batted this around, concerned by things such as violating HIPPA policy, which is a good question, but ultimately not a legitimate concern. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, while normally a group I advocate listening to, is suing Google saying this violates an aggreement which Google made with the FTC while developing Google Buzz. This case does fall into EPIC’s main focus, however the opt out portion is pretty clearly stated by Google, and in the case of advertising, is pretty safe compared to less scrupulous means of tracking.

European Developments

Europe’s stance on internet related actions always serves as an interesting contrast to the American approach. One such topic should be monitored as European Union is enforcing a new law in May 2012, which will require all users of a website to consent to have their information tracked, and a cookie to be placed on their computer. So, imagine clicking on a foreign comparison engine, being directed to a retail site, and then having to opt-in to allow your activity to be tracked. It’s safe to say many consumers will decline, which raises all sorts of tracking and attribution related issues for businesses. To think, May is right around the corner.

Occasionally France is good for a laugh, and that’s true with their recent decision to penalize Google for offering Google Maps for free. France is famous (or notorious depending on your perspective), for protecting their national interests, including those of competing French mapping companies. To be fair, this same treatment helped create the French fashion industry, by helping to maintain the prestige of key brands. So, this seems to be a case where Google must simply pay up to do business in France ($660K in this case).

On the other side of the coin, my distant kin in the Czech Republic have allowed Google Street View to continue their work. Some key points have been worked out including allowing citizens to petition for the removal of personal information. So, at least Google has some good news across the pond.

Taxes, Taxes, and Taxes

Did someone say online sales taxes were coming closer? Virginia recent voted to close a loop hole which allowed Amazon to avoid collecting sales tax in the state, so momentum builds  for some type of solution. In New Jersey, Amazon is working with legislators for a 22 month amnesty before collecting sales taxes at the Garden State, allowing for warehouses and jobs to be created in the state. This holds with Amazon’s strategy of conceding the payment of sales tax around 2014. Whether this is because Amazon expects to have physical stores by then, or just expects the sales tax issue to be handled federally, or both, is still unclear.

RIP: SOPA and PIPA

I wouldn’t be doing my part without lending some additional thought to SOPA and PIPA. Recently the Recording Industry Association of America (RRIA) President Cary Sherman, criticized Google and Wikipedia for becoming politically active instead of taking a neutral stance in the matter, comparing Google to a television station’s position of giving neutral coverage. Of course this is a pretty narrow point of view of the issue in criticizing Google for defending a key principle of the internet, but to be fair, SOPA and PIPA were founded on fundamentally good intentions of helping to curb online piracy of content. Noting that the music industry’s company VEVO showed pirated content at their own event, it’s pretty obvious that there is a fine line in sharing content, and intentionally stealing content for personal gain. While I would love to embrace Chris Anderson’s view that we are moving toward free information, there simply must be mechanisms in place to make sure content is controlled how it’s creator intends. It’s more and more obvious that copyright law is outdated overall, including how to enforce key provisions of unique content. In the new world of digital communication, a new way of operating is needed. The most important question, is how that should happen.

Voting is one of the great honors and privileges we enjoy in the US and the free world. The future is waiting for each of us to decide and this is a way to determine that future.

Find a voting center near me

Expanding business overseas is a favorite topic here at CD, and Michael’s Shop.org article breaks this down pretty well. Good to glance over in thinking about life after Q4.

http://google.com/insights

Google’s new keyword search tool gives a great view into regional and time based patterns related to search. Using several features (that I am still exploring), you can drill down to see how search popularity has changed by region, worldwide. For those enterprising ecommerce cowboys who are looking to integration worldwide online sales, this should help. For those local business looking to tap into the newly profitable local markets based on rising gas and shipping costs, then you need to take a look too. I encourage anyone who wants to relate trends over time and region to take a look here:

(Click for a larger view)

For a long time now American culture has been pushing it’s tentacles into the rest of the world. Whether its Coke, McDonalds, or Levi’s jeans, American culture has been infiltrating other countries for over 30 years now. I remember specifically traveling to Italy back in 1992 and seeing a House of Pain album displayed prominently in a record store (remember the mesmerizing beat and hook for ‘Jump Around‘? – if not, do yourself a favor and click on the link).

New Movement in Mass Culture 

The major difference to me now is that the styles and trends are becoming much more pervasive. Previously untouched markets are now merging with what had been a Euro-American dominated cultural movement. A few weeks ago, I noticed a write up  on how the Shaolin Temple is now selling online. What!?!?!

The kung fu diseminating, Wu-Tang inspiring, Shaolin Temple has now worked itself so much into popular culture that they have created an online store. In looking through their hosting site, I came across a number of goods being sold in China that look unmistakably…well…very American. Even trendy enough to not quite make it to Walmart/Target yet. See for yourself:

Items at Taobao.com

Looking over all this, it seems apparent we are seeing what is the key ingredient for a true world culture. That is a shared identity.

Before when people looked differently, talked differently, had different histories, it was too easy to draw lines of separation and ultimately exclusion. However, similarities are becoming more dominant and inclusion will become the norm. Why write about this in an ecommerce blog? Simple – with new consumers coming with similar tastes as current consumers, the world is getting much smaller and new opportunities now exist. Keeping an eye on these changes should ultimately make a light bulb go off in each of our heads about what will be possible in the coming years.

Business owners and those that are running those businesses should have accepted at this point that high gas prices are here to stay. All of Detroit has accepted this fact (see closing of car factories and rush to get fuel efficient cars out the door). The difference between now and the early 70′s is that most experts agree this is here to stay. Yes, times are changing…again.

The beautiful thing is that some experts are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, including urban renewal, more opportunities for local business, more opportunities for international business (actually selling outside of the US instead of just manufacturing outside the US), and many other things.

For a quick list, just click on the article, or you can check out the evangelizing international business post -

The reason is both logical but also as a bit of public service. Let’s start with the logical.

A recent Nielsen Online Survey as seen in InternetRetailer reported that global internet online shoppers have increased 40% in the last two years. Many of the technological hurdles present for many countries are being overcome. Increased bandwidth is making online shopping much easier as can be attested to anyone who remembers switching from dial up to DSL a few years ago. Especially amazing is the United States is only ranked 8th worldwide in terms of adoption of online shopping. Approximately 94% of internet users in the US have made a purchase online, which puts the country behind more online savvy countries like Japan, Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Reaching out to this international population is essential for many businesses as evidenced by recent outreach efforts by computer manufacturers like Dell, to produce low cost units which can be made widely available to populations that traditionally could not have afforded a computer.

For retailers, the greatest hurdle is ensuring accurate payment processing and shipment. The good news is there are many companies working to solve these issues. However, some problems have a way to go, as evidenced in China where many times a payment is made by sending a bicycler to the consumers home to collect funds. Luckily, credit card adoption is catching up in foreign countries as well.

The second reason to push into international business adoption is focused on the general health of the US economy. I am not someone who could be considered a nationalist in any sense, but I do pay attention close enough to know a perpetually worsening trade deficit is hurting the long term prospects of the US economy. When you have leading investors like Warren Buffett leading a push to invest internationally because of poor long term growth here, many should begin to reconsider if we need to begin changing direction.

It’s ridiculous to expect the United States to continue to have such a substantially higher level of wealth compared to the rest of the planet, and equally ridiculous to justify this should be the case. However, I am increasingly concerned the US is in the same state as the Roman Empire, when the wealth of the empire was being spent on foreign and imported consumable goods, resulting in a drain of resources and eventually a hollowing of the entire infrastructure . Of course, as an undergrad in History, I can tell there is a lot more to the story, but the point can be made. The US is in decline and things will get worse unless the country and it’s businesses find more substantial things to offer to the rest of the world besides credit cards, music, and hamburgers.

To ensure the US continues to lead in some fashion, businesses need to be more innovative and offer more creativity than is currently the case. Giants like Microsoft and Google are doing a good job, as are traditional corporations like Walmart. The typical American business should do more as well to lead the way. Especially now as the currency is declining and no longer a benchmark as countries like China cash out by unloading their investments in US currency because of it’s decade long instability. This creates a huge opportunity as devalued US currency means any goods and services offered to the rest of the world will essentially be cheaper to other countries. Now is a golden moment to begin to take your company’s offerings overseas because the Euro, Yen, and Pound will buy so much more.

If you have not thought about expanding recently, then now is the time to develop a plan and put it in motion.

Going alphabetically:

ChannelAdvisor : Provides self service tool and full service marketing and account management. Several options available. Based in Morrisville, NC.

ChannelIntelligence : Provides self service tool and full service marketing and account management. Several options available. Based in Celebration, FL.

Mercent : Provides self service tool and full service marketing, agency and account management. Several options available. Based in Seattle, WA.

MerchantAdvanatage : Provides self service tool. Based in Miami, FL.

SingleFeed : Provides self service tool. Based out of Silicon Valley.

If I missed anyone, or if anyone would like to leave comments to provide more options and information, please feel free to do so.

All of these solutions differ in places and I would encourage anyone considering these to investigate details such as average returns, supported engines, details on analytics and tracking, additional options or add ons, and costumer references.

Hope this helps for companies looking for solution providers in the growing space of e-commerce management and marketing services.