'Customer attention is the new currency in ecommerce'

03/11/2008

An expert in online advertising and sales has stated that "customer attention" is the new key to a successful ecommerce firm.

Dr Andreas Weigend, former chief scientist for Amazon.com, asserted that page views are now dead and that the number of visitors to a site does not matter, reports the Straits Times.

According to Dr Weigend, it is crucial for content to be relevant and personal to each user of the site arguing that ecommerce is increasingly about targeted marketing on a "granular level".

He said: "The new world of ecommerce is more about people revolution than technology revolution."

While working at Amazon, one of the strategies he implemented and worked on was the personalised recommendations system the site is now famous for.

One of the more recent features is that the page bases some of the recommendations on information other than purchase and search history, such as Facebook entries and blogging activities.

In related ecommerce news, Amazon has released an application that will enable 30 million users throughout the world to share book recommendations with each other, reports the Seattle Post Inquirer.