Sloan Center for Internet Retailing - University of California, Riverside
June 22nd, 2008 — News and Events
The Internet experts at the eLab eXchange, using data from Nielsen/NetRatings and their own expert judgment, selected Become.com as the clear winner out of 8 sites in the best search and comparison web site contest. eLab eXchange members selected the Jellyfish Smack Shopping site as the best search and comparison web site from a set of 8 sites.
Jellyfish is a terrific site, but pales next to Become.com when considering
June 22nd, 2008 — News and Events
eLab eXchange members selected Zixxo.com as the online deal web site from a set of 10 sites and the Internet experts at the eLab eXchange concurred. Using data from Nielsen/NetRatings and their own expert judgment, the experts selected Zixxo.com as the clear winner.
Experts judged Zixxo.com best at finding deals for consumers. Zixxo is simple, easy to use, employs key Web 2.0 features like ratings and reviews of coupons and companies, and capitalizes on the Internet's ability to think global, but act local.
Consumers search for deals by Zip Code and obtain additional benefits by joining for free. Zixxo also makes it easy for advertisers to reach consumers interested in online deals and offers an affiliate program that takes advantage of the Internet?s unique advantages as an advertising medium.
Congratulations to eLab eXchange members - yet again they are on the mark!
May 6th, 2008 — News and Events
The eLab eXchange has just launched "The Web of Misery," a prediction market tournament with 10 markets that reflect new online indicators of economic distress. The Wall Street Journal blogged about it recently. Come and give it your best shot - forecast just how bad you think the economy is going to get in the next few months! Here's one of the markets:
During periods of economic hardship, conventional wisdom suggets that some people tend to increase their level of certain behaviors, for example, they may "cling to guns or religion," or perhaps turn to alcohol or gambling in an attempt to relieve any pressures they may be feeling about a "rough patch." Additionally, the skyrocketing costs of food, health care and gas, not to mention the real estate downturn, suggest that, in general, many consumers will become more careful about how they spend their hard-earned dollars. The Web of Misery captures 10 of these behaviors and let's you forecast their impact. The outcome of these 10 markets will be determined early in the third quarter of 2008 using Nielsen Online's NetView audience measurement service. It’s free to join and play and you can win prizes based on how close you come to getting it right. If your predictions are really good, you could even win the $500 mega-prize! Try your hand at judging the impact of the economic slowdown and sign up at eLab eXchange today! 
March 17th, 2008 — News and Events
eLab eXchange members were pretty accurate in their prediction of how much World of Warcraft would grow from 2006 to 2007 in terms of subscribers.
Members predicted that the wildly popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game would grow 27% in 2007, compared to 2006. According to Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft reached 10 million members worldwide at the end of 2007.
At the end of 2006, WoW had 8 million members. This amounts to a 25% increase: pretty close to the eLab eXchange prediction of 27%.
Congratulations to eLab eXchange members for once again proving they have a darn good crystal ball!
March 12th, 2008 — Observations
Speeding from "linked to prostitution ring" to "resignation" in a mere 48 hours is a stunning (de)feat no matter how it's chronicled. Has ever the mighty fallen so fast? So I can't help wondering about the role the Internet played in this sorry spectacle.
On Monday afternoon, I scratched my head when my handheld displayed a New York Times alert that Spitzer was linked to a prostitution ring. My immediate reaction was that he had somehow been caught up in some kind of money laundering or corruption scandal. Or maybe he was a kingpin behind the ring's operations. Still, this was hard to fathom given the Eliot Ness white knight persona he had so carefully crafted, especially in his days as New York AG. And when I clicked on the link, I thought surely I was reading it wrong when the story said he'd been captured in a Federal wiretap and identified as "Client 9." Imagine that! The prostitution ring linkage wasn't nearly as interesting as Spitzer turning out to be some kind of corrupt white-collar criminal. If only. Instead, The Honorable Elliot "Ness" Spitzer was just a john!
Within hours,
March 9th, 2008 — Observations
Riddle me this: how is it that three Southern California tract home model matches built within a year of each other and located within yards of each other (on three separate but very close cul-de-sacs) in the same neighbordhood could have such ridiculously different zestimates? (Model matched homes are tract houses with identical floor plans.)
Since Zillow has no way of knowing what these houses look like inside, nor which house has the nicer view, or the prettier street, or the best "upgrades," it just makes no sense whatsoever that the zestimates would range from, wait for it, $736,000 to $1,032,000!
That's right! Zillow's algorithm computes a difference of nearly
February 24th, 2008 — News and Events
eLab eXchange members were right on the money in this idea pageant. Members predicted that Monday, December 10, 2007 would be the most popular holiday online shopping day and according to Nielsen Online, they were right!
In terms of the top three most popular shopping days this past holiday season, eLab eXchange members hit two out of three, correctly predicting that Cyber Monday, November 26, 2007, would be the third most popular shopping day.
Members predicted that Monday, December 17 would be the second most popular day, but according to Nielsen Online, Tuesday, December 4 was second.
Congratulations to the members of the eLab eXchange for accurately predicting this market!
February 20th, 2008 — News and Events
eLab eXchange members overestimated how successful online holiday shopping would be in Q4 2007. Members predicted that fourth quarter 2007 online holiday sales would increase by 24.5% from Q4 2006. For the past several years, quarterly online holiday sales have increased nearly 25% each year. However, growth slowed this past year. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimated Q4 2007 US online retail sales increased only 18.2% from Q4 2006. (Estimates for 2007 and final estimates for 2006.)
If this estimate is any indication, it suggests we could be in for a rough year.
February 18th, 2008 — News and Events
eLab eXchange members correctly predicted the top two most popular consumer electronics online retailers for December 2007, although they got the order reversed. Members predicted that Apple would be the most popular, followed by Dell, but according to Nielsen Online, the most popular was Dell, followed by Apple.
The most popular was judged in terms of the total number of unique customers for each retailer in the month of December 2007. Unique customers are defined as people who completed one or more retail purchases on the site.
Congratulations to the members of the eLab eXchange for accurately predicting the top two winners in this market!
February 18th, 2008 — News and Events
eLab eXchange members correctly predicted that free shipping with no conditions would be the promotional tactic that was the most successful in encouraging people to shop online this past holiday season.
Not only did members correctly predict the most successful online holiday promotion, they correctly predicted four of the top five most successful promotional tactics, according to the 2007 Shop.org/BizRate eHoliday Mood Study (Wave 4). In addition to free shipping with no conditions, these include free shipping with conditions, saving with coupons, and online only sales.
Congratulations to the members of the eLab eXchange for accurately predicting the top four winners in this market!
