article-32573.xml
SOCIAL NETWORKING: Facebook introduced a new shopping service that allows users of the social-networking site to share personal purchase information—from product reviews to discounts—with their friends. Facebook plans to track the online shopping behavior of its members and allow marketers access to the accumulated data.…Loop’d Network, a social-media platform exclusively for online sports communities, launched a new online social community for Pacific Sunwear of California. On Loop’d Network, www.pacsunteam.com will offer sponsorship opportunities to amateur surfers, skaters and snowboarders, and provide a forum for them to interact with other athletes, fans and enthusiasts.
MORE WEB 2.0: Brookstone is developing an online 3-D representation of one of its 300 stores. The virtual store closely resembles what one might see in the Second Life simulated world and allows users to move freely through an animated space. When shoppers pause in front of a product in the 3D store, an item description appears, along with a link to a checkout page. The link brings customers to a checkout page on Amazon.com, which is a marketing partner of Brookstone. … Best Buy introduced a subscription-based online video-sharing service that allows customers to upload, store and share home movies, videos and blogs online. The Best Buy Video Sharing solution was created in partnership with U.K.-based Mydeo, which provides streaming-video hosting for home and business users. Best Buy will take a minority stake in Mydeo, but terms were undisclosed. Plans start at $6.97 for 100 minutes of video hosting and video lengths up to 30 minutes each.
INDUSTRY CHATTER: Days before the launch of its first U.S. store, Tesco opened the doors of the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain on the Internet. The U.K.-based grocer provides a tour of its first U.S. store in a video posted on www.freshandeasy.com/blog.