Tag: features

Why is it so hard to buy a PlayStation 5 right now? ‘Grinch Bots’ are probably to blame

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Phil Nichols, 45, of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has been very good this year. In a concession to the pandemic, he’s managed his information technology job for the Internal Revenue Service from home and forgone weekly game nights, as well as restaurant and movie outings. To break up the monotony and also distract from his chronic pain, the disabled veteran plays video games. “You get to get out of your bubble, so to speak, and see a whole new world,” he said. So, when Sony released the new PlayStation 5 game console in mid-November, he decided to reward himself with an early Christmas present. But when we spoke, Nichols had been trying for more than a week to buy the console online without success. He blames bots, automated computer programs that people use to buy up in-demand items that they then resell for a profit. They function like ticket scalpers who have expanded into sneakers, toys, and electronics. While the nefarious software plagues e-commerce sites all year long, so-called “Grinch Bots” are especially active over the holidays, snatching up the season’s hottest gifts. When the PlayStation 5 consoles first dropped on November 12, the traffic crashed Walmart’s website . Nichols is sure that bots were beating him to the punch because every time Walmart and other retailers released more consoles, the products were gone in less than five seconds Read More …

‘E-commerce as entertainment’: An investor behind Goop predicts the wild future of retail

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Investor Frederic Court’s bets on e-commerce—his London-based Felix Capital has backed Farfetch, Goop, jewelry site Mejuri, among others—are poised to pay off on Cyber Monday and throughout the holiday shopping season as consumers eschew traditional stores during the pandemic. Now Court is turning his attention to the next wave of online retail, which he describes as “e-commerce as entertainment.” He notes that in China and other parts of Asia, hundreds of millions of consumers already buy via streaming e-commerce, a service that’s reminiscent of a digital-only QVC. He shared his predictions with Fast Company . The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Fast Company : What are the big trends you’re seeing in e-commerce, and are you seeing simply an acceleration of trends that you had already seen forecast? What’s new? Frederic Court : This year we’ve seen acceleration on both sides of the marketplace—and acceleration of demand. On the supply side, from fashion brands to beauty brands to local restaurants, there’s a realization that if your customer cannot come to you anymore, you’ve got to go to them. If we had spoken last year, five years ago, or 10 years ago, we would have said the same thing: Every Christmas is going to be bigger [than the last Christmas]. This year is going to be significantly bigger. We don’t know what’s going to be the impact in terms of people being concerned about an [economic] crisis or unemployment. But at the micro-level of our portfolio companies, we saw, across the board, an extraordinary November. FC : In e-commerce, there are sites like Amazon that are very transactional, brands like Goop that provide information and sell products, and retailers that are trying to recreate the in-store experience. Do you see e-commerce becoming more experiential? Read More …

The end of unlimited Google Photos storage is part of a bigger pivot

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There are two ways to look at Google’s recent announcement that it will discontinue unlimited Google Photos storage starting next June. The first is Google’s official explanation: People are uploading a lot more photos and videos than they used to, making the service harder to sustain for free. “When we launched Google five years ago, the upload velocity that we had then, versus today’s mobile world, is a lot different,” Google Photos VP Shimrit Ben-Yair told me recently. But there’s another explanation that Google didn’t make quite as explicit: The end of unlimited Google Photos storage marks a pivot of sorts for the search giant, away from being so overwhelmingly dependent on targeted ads as its dominant business model. The future of Google could be as much about subscription revenue as advertising, with Google Photos’ push for paid cloud storage as the centerpiece of those efforts. Beyond the ad business Google’s shift away from an ad-centric model isn’t entirely new. While advertising made up nearly 90% of the company’s revenues in 2015, that share has since fallen to 83.9% last year and 80.6% over the first nine months of 2020. Nonadvertising revenue comes from the apps and media people buy from the Google Play Store, sales of devices such as Pixel phones and Nest speakers, subscriptions to services such as YouTube TV, and Google’s enterprise business, which includes cloud computing services and business-class productivity tools. Still, there are signs that Google may be accelerating those nonadvertising efforts, with subscription revenue as the focal point. Last month, for instance, Google discontinued unlimited cloud storage for business users as part of its rebranding from G Suite to Google Workspace . Instead of getting unlimited storage for $12 per user per month, teams with at least five members will get 2 TB of storage per user at that price. Companies must pay $18 per month per user for 5 TB of storage, and Google doesn’t even advertise the price of unlimited storage, which it only offers through its sales department. Google also sharply increased the price of its YouTube TV streaming bundle over the summer, from $50 per month to $65 per month. While other live TV services have also raised prices, and TV networks deserve most of the blame for making pay TV too expensive, the price hike shows that Google’s become more intent on making the service profitable. Google’s also added a few new subscription services over the last year or so. In September 2019, it launched Play Pass , a $5-per-month bundle of Android apps and games from the Google Play Store. A couple of months later, it got into the cloud gaming business with Stadia . And just last month, Google started selling Pixel phones on a subscription basis to customers of its Google Fi wireless service, helping to ensure that they stay connected to the company’s cellular plans over the long haul. All of this suggests that Google isn’t feeling as confident in the advertising business as it used to, and for good reason: Threats to its longstanding cash cow are everywhere Read More …

For the best deals on almost anything, check these 3 sites first

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We’re now officially neck deep in holiday deal ads, even though it feels like the holiday shopping season lasts half the year. (Fun fact: I received my first Black Friday email on October 13 this year—it was from Best Buy, for those of you keeping score.) The problem with every store in the history of retail offering holiday deals is that they each expect you to visit their sites to sift through all the would-be bargains. There’s got to be a better way! There is a better way. A much better way. I haven’t paid full price for something since I happily overpaid for a Nintendo Wii bundle in 2006. I also have almost no time to shop. So how do I score the best cheapskate-friendly deals? Here are the three sites I visit every time I’m in the market to buy something. DealNews: for a little bit of everything You’re not sure what you want; you just want deals. For you, there’s DealNews Read More …

With its new checking account, Credit Karma wants to get into your wallet

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Credit Karma, the company that turned the promise of a free credit score into a business worth over $7 billion, is joining the ranks of “neobank” startups offering a checking account. The product will be folded into Credit Karma Money, which launched last year as a savings account available to the company’s 100 million members. Digital banking has been gaining steam for the last several years, with the pandemic only accelerating consumers’ interest in the options that neobanks are providing. In the U.S. and Europe, there are now over two dozen neobanks, which have collectively raised over $6 billion in venture funding. “We think this is a product for people who have been left behind in financial services,” Credit Karma cofounder and CEO Kenneth Lin says of his company’s variation on the theme. Credit Karma Money Checking will not charge fees and will include automated features designed to help users better manage their money, such as bill payment date optimization. Over time, data from Checking will also help the company better present its members with targeted advertisements for loans, credit cards, and more. “Historically, Credit Karma has been focused on helping people optimize their credit, optimize their borrowing,” says Lin. “Now we’re moving to the other side of that spectrum. We want to help you save for your future, and this is the connector to making all of the pieces work.” [Image: courtesy of Credit Karma] Credit Karma is entering an increasingly crowded market for digital-first checking and savings accounts. Read More …