New E-commerce
New E-Commerce and a Video Game Steal says e-commerce merchants should steal customization, collaboration and community from video game developers and explains how. 

StealThis: Got The Best Deal Page
Car abandonment drives ecommerce teams crazy. People get to the last stage of your checkout see the "coupon code" window and leave to look for coupons. This idea is so powerful RetailMeNot.com made a business out of giving YOUR traffic coupons at checkout.

Poster Print Factory put up a simple page that said, "If you are a new customer we automatically apply your new customer discount. No need to look for coupons, you have the best deal." That is BRILLIANT since it brings customers RIGHT BACK to you with confidence.

Be careful about your page title, but you should win yoursite.com coupons as a search AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A PAGE like this one. Brilliant simple marketing. And change your page title to include coupons and promo codes and guaranteed you will win the search since Post Print has a generic title and they win.

If you have a "promo code" box its an IMPLIED promise. When you explain the promise in a relevant way, in my case for new customers, you win and cart abandonment goes down.

When I was a Director of Ecommerce every .5% reduction in cart abandonment was $1M bucks, so this is one of those areas where TINY differences can mean big money. If you have a promo code option in your checkout make sure to have a page that explains your coupons your way instead of handing your traffic over to RetailMeNot.com.

IndyWeek.com Give Guide
The linked post is the "inside baseball" story of how a local free print publication created the first Indy Give Guide (http://give.indyweek.com/ ). The "Give Guide" is way to help local nonprofits raise funds and it is content, social and ECOMMERCE gold.

I am writing almost a bog post a day about the Guide and driving social links to our Story of Cancer Page http://give.indyweek.com/Nonprofits/Health-and-Wellness/Story-of-Cancer-Foundation ). Every Ecom Director's ears just perked up (lol).

Cause marketing done right rocks social maketing and an Ecom merchants register like no other conent marketing. The IndyWeek.com give guide is cause marketing done right because:

* Low cost, Big Reward (traffic, brand awareness, SEO).
* Emotionally resonate especially at this time of year.
* Focused altruism that builds a strong network of contributors for future years.
* Helps first and figures out money later (perfect for our Thank You based economy).

If your band, company or website hasn't figured out how to create something as cool as the IndyWeek.com Give Guide steal the idea and mashup a great and related list of nonprofits in your business vertical.

If you sell HVAC you might create a guide based on your customer's favorite charities. If you are a B2B agency ask your customers who they give to and mashup a guide from those connections.

The IndyWeek.com GiveGuide is a great example of how a little creativity and the right altruistic idea can make a HUGE difference in your Website's authority and SEO AND it helps local charities feed hunger tigers and cure cancer so that is cool too :).

Story of Cancer Foundation page on GiveGuide
http://give.indyweek.com/Nonprofits/Health-and-Wellness/Story-of-Cancer-Foundation

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Art Of The New Ecom
Doesn't this cool Tumblr feel like a new cool store? That is because it has an artists visual approach combined with a merchant's eye. Beautiful and strange like the new ecommerce :).