FutureOfEcommerce

From MashupCamp

The Future of Ecommerce: Retailer APIs (Presented by Omar Abdelwahed)

(Attendees: Please feel free to add!)

Updates

• [11/23/08] added source code for Shelftalkers.

Notes

The Best Buy Remix API (http://remix.bestbuy.com/) allows developers access to product catalog and store information found on BestBuy.com. Developers can build interesting mashups utilizing this data. People can open their own stores on Facebook, or create a "wish list" that shows friends where to find presents for you on a Google map... and more! Registration and usage of the Remix API is free for any application, both commercial and non-commercial.

Two examples were demo'd:

"Shelftakers" is the beginning of a Facebook mashup that simply asks "What do you wanna talk about?" People that install the final version on Facebook will be able to post comments about their favorite band, for instance, complete with full-length tracks. Friends will be able to add their own comments and a threaded discussion will be maintained. At any time, people contributing or following the discussion can make a purchase. This is an example of applying social graphs to shopping. The assumption is that people generally follow the opinion of friends (ie: "taste makers") when making purchases more than faceless, branded web sites.

APIs used: Remix (http://remix.bestbuy.com/), iLike (http://www.ilike.com/developer/signup) and Google App Engine (http://code.google.com/appengine)

link: http://shelftalkers1.appspot.com

source code: http://www.agentdisco.com/downloads/shelftalkers.zip

"TwitterBot" is a simple polling mashup. Twitter users can "follow bbyremix" and search for products by tweeting. ex: @bbyremix find music u2. Results are tweeted back to the user.

link: http://twitter.com/bbyremix

more soon...