An option for those who aren’t ready to upgrade to Office 2007

Posted on February 22, 2007
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Shuffling Word documents back and forth is part of the daily routine. It’s likely that by now you’ve received files in the new “docx” format created by Office 2007 and had to request that your party save back a level. Many of us aren’t ready to upgrade to Office 2007 just yet, and Microsoft knows this. To curb this frustration, Microsoft has released a compatibility pack that allows any version of Microsoft Office to read the new “dosx” format.

Fluid and FastPivot Partner to Deliver Enhanced Online Merchandising and Rich Interactivity

Posted on February 7, 2007
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Fluid, Inc., developers of Concept Retail interactive merchandising for The North Face, Bare Escentuals, Reebok and others, today announced a partnership with FastPivot, providers of ecommerce website development and strategic marketing for Fox Sports, The Waldorf-Astoria, 3M, Simple Human, and others.

With a joint vision to deliver integrated, conversion-driving interactivity and ecommerce solutions to internet retailers, the two companies have already collaborated to create new, richly interactive retail sites using FastPivot’s Yahoo! Stores development expertise and Concept Retail, Fluid’s award-winning interactive merchandising application, for Pickles and Ice Cream, the oldest and largest maternity clothing franchise in the U.S.; and Coolibar, the leading designer and manufacturer of sun-protective outdoor wear, active wear, and skin products.

For more information, check out the PRESS RELEASE.

National Consumer Protection Week - Feb 4-10, 2007 - AKA Don’t get Phished!

Posted on February 5, 2007
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The FastPivot/Ydesigns team take the opportunity of National Consumer Protection Week (February 4-10, 2007) to help educate consumers and merchants alike on how not to get Phished!

We noticed that PayPal is helping promote National Consumer Protection Week this week and decided to focus in February on helping make the Internet community a better and safer place for shoppers and merchants alike. After all, it is the month of Valentines and love and all that. Since we love our online merchant clients and their shopping customers, perhaps this small educational effort will help create peace, love, and understanding in the world with the same redemptive power the Coke Commercials had in the Super Bowl. This is the first of a few articles we will post in The FastPivotBlog will phocus on phishing. First you may ask-What is “phishing”? Well, webopedia defines it as:

phishing ?(fish?ing) (n.) The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information. For example, 2003 saw the proliferation of a phishing scam in which users received e-mails supposedly from eBay claiming that the user’s account was about to be suspended unless he clicked on the provided link and updated the credit card information that the genuine eBay already had. Because it is relatively simple to make a Web site look like a legitimate organizations site by mimicking the HTML code, the scam counted on people being tricked into thinking they were actually being contacted by eBay and were subsequently going to eBay’s site to update their account information. By spamming large groups of people, the “phisher” counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who actually had listed credit card numbers with eBay legitimately.

Now we are even seeing an epedimic of ambitious automated phishers submitting into lead capture forms and discussion forums simply to get valid email addresses. (Imagine getting phished to your pager!) More to come tomorrow, follow our blog to be safe online and to sell well online!

How Netzians can protect themselves from phishers, scammers and other unscrupulous merchants.
How reputable e-merchants can help communicate their track records of trust and reliability and thus increase their bottom line.

Ecommerce professionals recognize the challenges to online security and shopping hurt our clients bottom lines in reduced conversion rates and slowed sales growth. There are things merchants can do to help assure shoppers their information is secure and to build trust. Small increases in trust and consumer confidence in eretail sites can account for large increases in conversion rates and thus, revenue.

We are considering two upcoming webinars subject to client demand, they are:

How E-retailers and E-MERCHANTS can grow their bottom line by building confidence and trust and thus reducing shopper anxiety.
CONSUMERS-DON’T GET PFISHED! GUARDING AGAINST INTERNET-FRAUD TIPS TO SHOP ONLINE SAFELY

If you are interested in either of these online webinars email katherine (at) ydesigns.com for more details!

Google Base (Froogle) is Changing Product Listing Requirements

Posted on February 1, 2007
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In an attempt to improve their product search experience, Google Base (Froogle) is requiring a list of additional product information to be included in submissions by the end of Feb 2007. In order to continue live listings in Froogle, the following product fields will need to be included:

* id
* product_type
* title
* description
* image_link
* expiration_date
* brand
* condition
* price
* link

Google Base will no longer list items that do not meet the minimal number of attributes by the end of February 2007. For a full list of Google Base requirements.

- Google Base Requirements -
- How to Submit to Google Base -
- Google Base FAQ -

For more questions on Google Base and to learn how to automate the process, contact the FastPivot team.

Important information about Yahoo! store status temporarily affecting live stores

Posted on February 1, 2007
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Important information about Yahoo! store status affecting live storesYahoo! Has informed us that some stores are having intermittent issues with the shopper facing portions of stores across the network. This From Merchant Solutions System Status:

11:58 AM (PST) - Slow Page Loading / Page Not Found errors
Some shoppers may be experiencing slowness when accessing some Yahoo! stores. We are investigating this issue and will provide an update as soon as possible.
Update: 02/01/07 9:31 AM (PST)
We have received new reports from merchants indicating that some store pages are inaccessible, resulting in a 404 Page Not Found Error. We are actively investigating this issue and will provide further updates as they become available.
Update: 02/01/07 10:28 AM (PST)
We are continuing to investigate this issue and are working at the highest priority to resolve it as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates as more information becomes available.
Update: 02/01/07 11:24 AM (PST)
We believe that we have idenitified and resolved the issue at this time. This issue will remain open for monitoring. We will provide further updates as we deem necessary.We have been assured by Yahoo! They are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and appear to have done so. Please visit http://updates.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ for most current status.

This is a very rare occurance. In the decade or so we’ve been working in this environment we can remember very few incidents affecting the usability of stores and shopping. Thank you for your patience. Matthew Ledford, President-FastPivot.com