Social Commerce as part of ‘Distributed Commerce’ through APIs »

There’s been some buzz about ‘social commerce’ this year, with a great WSJ article a couple weeks back: Retailers Embrace Social Commerce.

However, there’s not really such a thing as ‘social commerce’.

What these companies are doing is executing a ‘distributed commerce’ strategy.To really understand this profound shifft, it's worth watchign Sam Ramji's talk on  evolving business models in his Web 2.0 Strategy presentation: Darwin’s Finches, 20th Century Business and APIs.
 
A key point in this talk is how business is migrating from a direct to indirect model. 

The web revolution that gave birth to Amazon and eBay was based on a shift to a direct business model… retailers selling directly via their websites. 

Today businesses are figuring out how to execute an indirect model.  They are trying to put their product/service/content where their customers are. 

To use some retail-speak, the nuance is that commerce is now about more than about 'selling in' a channel, it is about selling ‘through’ a channel.

So where are customers?

Increasingly, consumers are on the move and on their smart phones.  They are on tablet computers like the iPad and on game consoles (xbox, ps3) and set-top boxes (roku, etc), and filling their car at gas stations. 

Consumers are also spending time on social networks… which brings us back to ‘social commerce’.

Borrowing Sam’s Finches metaphor, retailers are exploring their ‘niches’… reaching out into the places where customers are, and selling in that context.

So a Facebook store is just one niche, one place to reach customers where they are.   Gamestop is another retailer with a Facebook store.  However, Gamestop is also on mobile device apps and other social networks.  They are executing a distributed commerce strategy well.  In the same issue as the social commerce article, WSJ reported that Gamestop’s profit rose 6.9% on higher sales.

Another example of distributed commerce is Shopsavvy, a mobile app that searches for products based on location and brings back pricing, availability and product attributes.  Retailers want to be included in the shopsavvy app to have their products discovered by consumers in that venue.  Shopsavvy itself is exposing its engine to developers who are finding niches of consumers via wine-specific apps, “Lego apps”, etc

In the post-web world, forward-thinking retailers are executing distributed commerce strategies to reach consumers where they are, including on social networks. Where are your customers?  And what is your distributed commerce strategy to reach them?

APIs for connected devices - the rush is on »

My favorite Superbowl ad was for Vizio HDTV - it was great to see about a dozen leading Web APIs showcased right up there with Beyonce.

Yesterday Michael Zimablist posted on the New York Times Bits blog about how the NYT’s content must now support a growing range of devices like the Vizio, from web-connected printers to mobile apps to the new iPad.

And the Wall Street Journal's Martin Peers asks if the iPad’s e-book store is the new model for the television industry, citing how Netflix is streaming to over 50 different devices to build new audience. Blockbuster is pursuing a similar strategy to deliver it’s movies to “nearly every connected device.”

So the rush is on… just like a decade ago when companies scrambled for a ‘www’ address, companies today are rushing to create APIs - making their data and services available to execute a multi-channel, multi-device strategy.

Next: what are some considerations for your API in supporting an ever-expanding number of devices?

Paypal X: Open API as an Indirect Strategy »

On Tuesday, the WSJ ran this article about the launch of Paypal X, Paypal’s developer program.

Great to see an API showcased as the heart of an industry leader's core business strategy - and called out as such in the top business newspaper. 

Paypal is executing an indirect strategy by opening their core services via APIs in order to have their payment capabilities more easily consumed in other applications and services.

Ten years ago, you could read articles like this about companies launching their websites to execute a *direct* business strategy… selling directly to customers.

Just as it was a decade ago, companies will slowly wake up and realize that they need to have an indirect business strategy online, either because they see the massive business opportunity ahead of them, or they see their competitors already executing an indirect strategy against them.

We see 'indirect online strategies' like PayPal and TransUnion Interactive as the beginning of an emerging API Economy.   A company without an API in 2009 is like a company without a website in 1997.