One thing you can depend on: Innovation in the online world will continue in 2010. Granted, a lot of that may come from such well-known powerhouses as Amazon and Google. But you can also be certain that innovation will spring from lesser known names.
It’s a good idea for online marketers to keep an eye on innovators, because they often represent emerging trends that could become new ways of doing business. Two companies worth watching as we move into next year are Next Jump and Square.
Powered by Next Jump
Next Jump “may well be the most intriguing Internet business that you’ve never heard of,” writes Steve Lohr in The New York Times. Interestingly, Next Jump is not a new company, it’s just relatively invisible. For years, employee discount programs and frequent buyer rewards programs have used Next Jump’s technology platform. Over half of Fortune 500 companies use it for employee discount programs. But Next Jump just held a coming out party of sorts to announce that it is no longer just a back-end system. In fact, the company recently launched Corporate Perks, a website that for the first time allows small businesses and consumers to access its marketplace.
What’s so special about Next Jump? Founder Charlie Kim says it’s Next Jump’s “true microtargeting” capabilities. Next Jump gathers a lot of data from companies, customers, and credit card transactions and analyzes the data. Then the company carefully tailors offers to a tiny number of people, sometimes even individuals, sending email alerts or serving up appropriate Web ads. As a result, people see only offers that are most likely to interest them. Apparently, the system works: Next Jump claims for every eleven individuals who see an ad, they generate one sale. This is an unheard of ratio in e-commerce – it’s typically more like 1,000 to 1, not 11 to 1.
Chances are you will start seeing “Powered by Next Jump” on an increasing number of offer-driven sites. Yahoo Deals already displays this on its Personal Offers site. Next Jump just introduced applications for the iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry phones that point consumers to one of its sites offering deep discounts on merchandise.
Square Transactions
Square is the new venture launched two weeks ago by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. The “square” itself is a little plastic device that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone. What it does is pretty intriguing: Square makes it possible for anyone to swipe a credit card and make a payment via a back-end system created by Dorsey and his colleagues. Like PayPal, Square avoids the need for the user to be an authorized merchant, so the system opens up mobile payments to small businesses and consumers alike.
The Square application for the iPhone will soon be duplicated for the Droid and eventually for Blackberry. The implications are enormous – virtually any business can instantly become a merchant and accept payments. It could even facilitate simple consumer-to-consumer transactions, such as someone buying an item from a seller via a Craigslist ad. Square is creating a lot of buzz right now, and investors are reportedly lining up to fund the start-up.
Competitors are taking Square seriously. VeriFone, the leader in credit card payments, only days ago rushed out its “PAYware Mobile” application for the iPhone that includes a PAYware Mobile reader. Jack Dorsey was asked by blogger Michael Arrington of TechCrunch about the VeriFone application, and this is what he had to say:
Keep a close eye on Next Jump and Square in 2010. These are the kinds of innovative companies that will help drive online marketing to new heights.
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