More plan to go online for purchases than in stores
Best price, free shipping, and trusted seller status are the highest purchasing influences according to results of the 2010 Consumer Shopping habits survey, in order of importance. More than half of consumers plan to purchase gifts online, that’s 20 points more than those looking to shop in brick and mortar stores. 67% of consumers are more likely to choose higher value over brand recognition. Public opinion is more important than ever, with 92% of consumers reading reviews and a majority (83%) report being swayed by what they read. Shipwire’s 10 tips for surviving the holiday season say to make sure all seasonal shopping technology is in place before October. Get seasonal, start thinking about an added touch to give seasonal packaging. They also say to be prepared for “impulse buys” of the season.
The Bing and Yahoo! merger takes one more step towards integration with a final end to Yahoo! powered search. Starting August 24th all search queries are now driven through Bing to Yahoo! in the U.S. and Canada. The deal signed over a year ago gives Microsoft 28.1% of the search market, compared to Google’s 65.6%. Yahoo! will continue to provide the Build your Own Search Service (BOSS) and Yahoo! Query Language, but closing SearchMonkey and integrating Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster. Microsoft plans to have merged the two engines for non-English countries later this year, and migrate advertisers from Yahoo! to Bing in the fall.
Facebook checked into the geolocation map with Facebook Places on Thursday. Users can check in to a location, tag friends in the update, and see who else has checked in by clicking “Here Now.” Business owners can claim locations by clicking “claim your business.” Once claimed it becomes a Facebook Page, which can be updated like a regular page. Yelp, Gowalla, Booyah and Foursquare will integrate check-ins to Places. Users can check-in using a smartphone or through the 
On Tuesday, Twitter released Fast Follow, an SMS service letting mobile users follow profiles without creating a profile. By texting “follow [username]” to 40404, users can receive mobile notifications from the profile and sign up for Twitter at a later time. The service could ultimately be used as a text based newsletter, predicts Mashable. Twitter also released an official Tweet button on Friday. The button gives a complete count of URLs shared or embedded to third party sites. The button has five optional settings, including recommending and inserting the most relevant twitter profile, suggesting other related accounts and three layouts. The default text and URL can also be overridden, for example including a trackable link from a shortner service.
Almost 50% of parents plan to start school shopping three weeks before classes are back in session according to a NRF/BIGresearch survey. Back to school spending is expected to increase to highs seen last in 2008. Back to college spending should remain steady, but Ellen Davis, VP and NRF spokesperson says not to ignore it. Back to college spending ($45.8 billion) is twice as much as back to school ($21.4 billion for K-12.) The survey also reports dads will spend 25% more than moms this season, and both plan to cut back on brand name purchases and extracurricular spending. College men will outspend women, notably in electronics, clothing, personal care and décor. At the top of the shopping list, according to American Express Spending and Saving Tracker are clothes, shoes and school supplies.
