eCommerce
Good News Canada
Michael | September 5, 2008
Some good news for Canadians today.
The NewYorkTimes reported a 6.1% increase in unemployment south of the border today. The highest level in 5 years, this accounts for more than 84,000 slashed private/non-farm jobs in August.
North of the border on the other hand, our outlook is a little sunnier; not sunny, just sunnier. Canada added a modest 15,000 jobs in August, lowering our unemployment rate to… 6.1%.
It looks like our North American community (of two!) is continuing an ongoing trend of reaching parity on multiple fronts.
| 2.3 |
Benefit of running an online business #32
Michael | October 18, 2007
Good Magazine has a spread on world retailers who operate the most square footage across their stores. Some of the companies that made the list (like Walmart and McDonalds) are not suprising to see at all. Here’s the image (click to enlarge):
A few things I DID find suprising:
- Some of the others on the list (like blockbuster)
- Some companies who are not on the list (like Costco, Ikea or Circuit City for instance)
- How much space Walmart actually covers! (18k + Acres! or somewhere in the neighborhood of 850 million square feet!)
Where am I going with this? Think of the money that Walmart spends on upkeep related costs (lighting, heating/cooling, cleaning etc).
I took a quick look at a recent Walmart SEC filing and they sink some huge numbers into this stuff. My wife’s the accountant not me, so I may not be reading these right, but it looks like Walmart is claiming (#’s in millions):
- Operating expenses -$ 17 130 (or 17 Billion dollars)
- Accumulated depreciation of property and equipment - $ 26, 881 (yes… 26.8 Billion dollars)
All things that most of 1ShoppingCart’s merchants as online businesses, don’t have to worry about!
(from GoodMagazine)
| 2.9 |
What’s Facebook NOT Telling you?
Michael | September 28, 2007
Facebook is big… really big.
And things that big get picked on. Hey, it may not be fair but that’s just the way it is. Don’t cry for Facebook of course, they have about 146 million reasons (annual revenue + active users) to not care about prattle coming from nay-sayers.
This article is not about the nay-sayers though, nor is it about feeling sorry for Facebook…
I did want to talk about one comment that was made to me earlier this week though. I was told (paraphrased, I’m sure):
It’s really terrible that Facebook is opening up more and more all the time, especially now that they’re letting Google into the party… They should pay attention to where they came from and stay a closed system
But here’s a little secret for all the people against the opening up of Facebook:
Facebook knows something about the fundamental keys that will make up eCommerce 2.0… and they’re not telling you.
But I like to share so I will…
Ready for this? It’s really simple, but really huge…
People DON’T buy from friends.
See, simple. But core to eCommerce 2.0. And Facebook knows this.
(Image by thatgirl)
| 2.9 |
Topics: Facebook, eCommerce | Comments