Reading List - Week of October 31

Looks like the social media networks want a slice of the eCommerce cake! Instagram and Twitter are both improving their customer interaction services to help companies better attract and sell on their social platforms. And, it might not be a pure coincidence that UPS reported that this eCommerce holiday season would be the most epic one yet. Microsoft presented its new product, Teams, to compete against Slack. And Tesla has once again gone and blown our minds by announcing the production of a revolutionary solar roof. Keep scrolling for all the details.

Instagram is Getting Ready for eCommerce

Source: Wired

You probably have an Instagram account where you’re posting pictures of your holidays, food discoveries or even your cat. Well, Instagram wants to be more than that. The social network wants to become the last touch before any eCommerce transaction. With more than 500 million people using it, the opportunity to enter the eCommerce market is considerable. Retail partners will be able to tag products on pictures. If you click on a tag, you will get a more detailed description of the product. If you click a second time on it, you will be sent directly to the retailer’s website to buy it. These products tags will also allow companies to collect more data on what customers like.

Solar Roof for Everyone with Tesla

Source: Techvibes

The innovative company announced this week a brand new project; a solar roof that will provide the amount of electricity a house needs to stay powered. This new roof may well be revolutionary. Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, stated that this solar roof will "look better than a normal roof, generate electricity, last longer, have better insulation, and have an install cost that is lower than the cost of a normal roof plus the cost of electricity.” So where do you sign up? Tesla solar roof should will be available by the end of next year.

The eCommerce Holiday Season Looks Promising for UPS

Source: InternetRetailer

According to UPS eCommerce orders will skyrocket this year. Indeed, holiday package volume is expected to increase by 16%. There will be more than 700 million deliveries worldwide; 100 million more than last year. eCommerce return packages are also expected to grow, especially in the mid-teens, according to UPS CFO, Richard Peretz. Looks like Santa is going to need some extra help this year!

Microsoft Teams: Slack’s New Competitor

Source: TechCrunch

Big news from Microsoft this week, the American multinational technology company presented its new product "Teams”, a new collaboration platform for businesses. Basically, Microsoft is directly competing against Slack and Hipchat. Microsoft Teams will be part of Office 365 and it will also include video chat services. Right after the announcement, Slack published an open letter to congratulate Microsoft but also to request the company to make the platform open-source.

Twitter is Improving Its Customer Service Interactions

Source: VentureBeat

Twitter has decided to improve its customer service interactions for businesses. Indeed, available through the Twitter developer API, brands and retailers will be able to automatically greet their customers with welcome messages and reply quickly to their queries. Twitter has also removed the 140-character limit for these communications, and added CAT buttons to retailer websites to let customers message them directly.