Analysis of Ten Years of Data Predicts L...

Analytics is central to how successful e-commerce companies analyze and make personalized recommendations for customers. At Rearden Commerce, our Deem platform relies heavily on analytics to match customers with hotels they’ll like, flights that meet their specified needs, and even relevant discounted offers for products and services in any location where they may be. As an example, one of the most important pieces of information we account for is on-time performance for flights.  Accost a random traveler from the business rank and file and ask him how he avoids...

2012: A Transformational Year for Deem

The birth of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s led to a Cambrian explosion of innovation and a euphoric sense of transformational possibilities. From the beginning, there was a palpable sense that all aspects of our society would benefit from the democratization of information and the ability to collaborate in completely new ways. The reach of the Web’s transformational and disruptive attributes went beyond simply sharing information and establishing new forms of social connections. It was expected to fundamentally revolutionize commerce of all kinds –...

Andy McGraw on Joining the Ecommerce Rev...

Over the last ten years we have witnessed stunning progress in ecommerce. Now, we are party to a revolution in the way buyers and sellers engage. And that engagement, for the first time, promises to be meaningful and absolutely relevant. For several years industry buzz has focused on convergence – of business and personal choice, consumer and SMB and enterprise. The tipping point is upon us with ever-increasing bandwidth, big data, analytics and smartphone proliferation. The dawning of this reality is why I am so jazzed to have joined Team Deem. What do I mean by...

A Look Ahead into 2012: Smart Commerce T...

With 2011 coming to a quick and demanding close, I offer my perspective on the imperatives of 2012, which promises to be the year that several significant advances of the past five or so years finally take their foothold.  As I see it, this is the year that the Smart Web — specifically Smart Commerce — is realized. Here’s what I’m most looking forward to in 2012: Relevant Commerce will Emerge: The data-driven ‘Net is here, but the overall industry has not yet fully evolved to leverage the capabilities of big data, statistical modeling and semantic science to...

Taking Responsibility for Online Privacy

If we learned one thing this week, it’s that online privacy continues to be an issue for each and every one of us.  Whether you are shopping online, or friending as many people as you can before the holidays, it’s increasingly clear that retailers know more about us every time we get online.  Is online privacy a thing of the past?  New York Times columnist Nick Bilton said this week, “As much as it pains me to say this: privacy is on its deathbed.” He quotes Maneesha Mithal, the associate director of the Federal Trade Commission’s division of privacy and...