Become a Power Seller on Multi-Channel Marketplaces

eBay unveiled its shopbot technology almost two months ago (Oct 18 to be exact). Of course, it is a beta version and naturally embedded in Facebook's Messenger app. As eBay admitted , it has plenty of features and functions still in development. The Beta version also serves the purpose of collecting user feedback, and "train" the shopbot to better interpret human intention thus offer better shopping experience. When at launch, the "bot" can only accept dialogues about six product categories: electronics, fashion, health & beauty, home & garden, toys & hobbies, and sporting goods. Though eBay claims that the shopbot is backed by artificial intelligence, it is clear the machine-learning algorithms are built on a decision-tree type of structure through which the bot guides a shopper to narrow down his choices until confirming what he wants. This linear conversational pattern doesn't sound fun or engaging and it may even kill the fun when peopl...

Believe it, Starbucks will soon launch its chatbot. Calling it "My Starbucks Barrista," this chat-based application allows customers to place orders using text messages, or when hands are full, voice command. This virtual barrista will come to iOS device first in beta version from early 2017. I was disappointed that Starbucks did not give its chatbot a more human-like name, like "Jane" for male customers or "Zack" for female customers. Then I realized that this chatbot will go global someday. Starbucks perhaps tries to be cultural neutral instead of creating a bunch of names to be culturally acceptable. Speaking of localization, Starbucks now has a partnership with China's WeChat. WeChat users can now gift Starbucks coffee to friends, or pay for latte using WeChat Pay at store. I look forward to receiving a "red packet" someday with Starbucks coffee as an option--pure money is so boring. Of course, Starbucks has boring statistics to off...

In its most recent earnings report, Amazon.com for the first time shared the performance of its Exclusives store, a site where brands can test new products and buyers hoping for exclusive deals can find their likes. Amazon said that since launch early last year, the site has generated $50 million sales from about 120 brands that offer about 10,000 products in total. Amazon is apparently encouraged by this experiment, and plans to expand this store format. "We do expect the broadening of the product categories and geographical expansion," according to Peter Sauerborn, director of business development at Amazon who is in charge of this effort. It would be good news for retailers and small merchants that have truly unique merchandizes to sell. As the e-commerce market stands right now, the marketplace model opens up a great revenue opportunity for small and medium-sized retailers, but because a web store is so easy to set up, the marketplace model also invites what I c...