This marks the third instance in which Terapeak data has been used by the Journal. Last year WSJ called upon Advanced for data support on a Tiger Woods article, as well as in 2009 when it initially asked for input regarding a high-end Dallas clothing store selling its excess merchandise on eBay. Advanced is proud to be a trusted source for accurate and timely pricing information on items sold in secondary markets. Click the above links to view the articles, and consider the limitless applications for Advanced’s data and APIs and how they can be put to work in your business.

Advanced board chair Mr. Ian Stewart, QC, announced this investment today on behalf of the board of directors of the company. “This investment by Georgian Partners represents a significant recognition by the investment community in the future value of our business,” commented Mr. Stewart. “Also, we welcome the addition of two representatives of Georgian Partners to our board of directors.”

“We support Advanced’s vision of providing e-commerce merchants with valuable insights into real-time online product popularity, sales and pricing trends along with advanced sales reporting, proven to help increase GMV,” said Mr. Simon Chong, Managing Partner of Georgian Partners. “We have been impressed by the global adoption of Terapeak solutions as well as the company’s demonstrated ability to aggregate massive amounts of data in real time and deliver this as an SaaS solution to over 450,000 merchants.”

“AERS chose to work with Georgian Partners because of their specific market knowledge of big data and applied analytics as well as their team of operational domain experts from the enterprise software and information management space who can support the management team in accelerating growth,” said Fred Speckeen, CEO of AERS.  “The funding and guidance from Georgian Partners will allow us to expand our product offering and truly establish ourselves as a global leader in real-time ecommerce analytics.  Our goal is to become the single source for aggregated, real-time, on-demand data that represents a large percentage of all online commerce. Together we are bringing what were formerly ‘big company’ data analytics and market research to all ecommerce merchants.”

About Advanced

Advanced is a leader in ecommerce market research and payment analytics and is the sole licensor of eBay data globally. The company provides Terapeak-branded SaaS solutions to e-commerce merchants around the world.  Terapeak products aggregate over 20% of all online commerce sales data to help merchants make faster, more-profitable business decisions based on real-time market trends, pricing, and transaction data.

www.terapeak.com
www.analytics.terapeak.com
www.researchadvanced.ca

About Georgian Partners

Georgian Partners is a growth equity firm investing in expansion and later stage information intensive software and information aggregation companies. Georgian Partners leverages its capital and its team of strong global operators to support the growth objectives of its investments. Georgian Partners is based in Toronto, Ontario. For more information on Georgian Partners, go to www.georgianpartners.com.

For more information:

Tim Dubroy
Director of Marketing and Communications
AERS and Terapeak
778-224-1002
tim@aers.ca

Terapeak is like the Billboard of eBay thanks to its Hot Media search feature. Above is this month’s Top 5 Music list which you may find either outrageous or validating. That’s the beauty of this list, it’s based entirely on pure, unbridled sales without dwelling for a moment on what some hipster might consider “good.”

Rounding out the number five spot is arguably the most talented individual ever to wear a lampshade for a hat, the one and only Lady Gaga. She probably should have gone on Dr. Phil long ago but she sure can belt out a tune.

In fourth, Susan Boyle is the 49 year old contest winner who dreamed big and put on a jaw-dropping performance for British television. She sang her way to stardom without the typical sexuality angle played by most. Seriously, like none whatsoever.

Kidz Bop Kids sing their little hearts out in 3^rd, and if that surprises you keep in mind that child singers have had a firm place in our world since The Jackson 5.

The boys from Sgt. Pepper’s are staying legendary in the number two spot and it should also be noted that they never drop below the top five. So if you ever swing by and don’t see The Beatles on our list you should look up – the sky might be falling.

Finally at number one is the incorrigible Eminem. You may find his subject matter to be in the absolute poorest of taste, but you can’t deny his success.

Retail store sales are one thing, but eBay is the biggest, broadest online marketplace on the planet and Terapeak is the score keeper. Items that are in high demand here are truly selling above the rest.

Tera-Speak: We want to know your Top 5 artists, leave a comment with your list!

Android has finally conquered the smartphone market in the United States. Smartphones running Google’s Android operating system accounted for one-third of all smartphones purchased in the April-June period. Terapeak Market Research confirms this and drills deeper into the smartphone market. The average eBay sale price for an Android phone is $305 dollars and the rate of successful sales is 70%. Compare this to the average price of a Blackberry device, $103 dollars with a successful sales rate of only 33.5%, and it’s easy to see how Android has edged its way to the top. The graph below compares the sales trends of the two brands over a 90 day period.

Terapeak can also provide insight into consumer interest. By examining the top searches on eBay we find that the iPhone is the third most-popular search overall. Despite this high ranking, Apple still lags behind Android and Blackberry in phone sales. But with eBay and every brick and mortar electronics retailer selling premium-priced iPhone accessories by the truckload, and the booming app store, it’s clear that Apple is interested in more than just selling phones.

A quick glance at Terapeak Market Research could have allowed one to predict this news well before it was reported. The chart above lists the top four searches on eBay.com. Apple products occupy three of these coveted spaces and the iPhone holds strong in third amid controversy.

In the midst of what has been called “Antenna-gate,” an antenna malfunction with iPhone 4, Terapeak provides a clear indication that interest in the iPhone isn’t slowing down. As eBay is an ideal sample market to draw insight from, it’s easy to predict a company’s revenues when they hold rank in the top search positions.

According to Terapeak Market Research, which tracks listings and sales on eBay, more people are selling the game on the auction site after the incident, but more people are also buying them, albeit for slightly less ($35.90 vs $36.68).

This is not the first time the WSJ has used Terapeak to illustrate a sales trend; in April 2009, the publication mentioned Terapeak in an article about a high-end Dallas clothing store selling its excess merchandise on eBay.

This new service, available exclusively via the eBay Selling Manager Applications platform, will pair AERS/Terapeak’s data analysis expertise with WorthPoint’s “Worthopedia”, an extensive online database that compiles antiques and collectibles data from eBay, auction houses, and other online marketplaces. Terapeak Collectibles will operate much like Terapeak’s existing eBay research tool, which allows users to search for specific products, and then see valuable analytics to help optimize his or her eBay listings.

Because antiques and collectibles require such specialized research—that is, it can be difficult to price an item that exists only in small quantities—the pairing of WorthPoint’s rich database with AERS/Terapeak’s delivery channel should be beneficial to all relevant sellers. Now, with access to the entire Worthopedia, sellers of ceramics, coins, stamps and other collectibles will have a market research option specifically suited to their needs.

To access Terapeak Collectibles, sellers must first be subscribers of eBay Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro. The application may then be added at this link.

The group of participating eBay sellers was selected randomly, and features specialists in collectibles, home safety products, antiques and more. Eight performance indicators were tracked for three months for each seller. Statistics related to each indicator were compared on a pre- and post-Terapeak basis, and were then used to determine a percentage of growth or decline.

Some sellers showed improvement in every business facet, while the improvement of others focused on specific statistics. And when averaged across the entire group, every indicator showed at least some improvement.

Below is a table of indicators tested, followed by sales growth statistics:

AERS has always stressed the value that lies within every ecommerce merchant’s transaction data, and with help from this Terapeak case study, that advantage is made clear.

Here are a few anecdotes shared by case study participants:

[Terapeak] has enabled us to identify a range of products that our competitors are selling that we previously weren’t! And, just as importantly, has helped us to decide which products our competitors have not been able to sell, and [which] we shouldn’t be stocking either! –economiccomics

That’s where Terapeak comes in handy for me. I call my husband (who is more than happy to stay at home while I foray to yard sales and auction previews), tell him to get on Terapeak and check out items while I’m still at a sale. In many cases, that’s been very helpful in determining what or what not to buy. –6regentspark

I must say that [Terapeak] has changed how I do business and it has also allowed me to look into other markets that I might not have perhaps looked at before. -global-gadgets

We love the Terapeak service. –shiponsiteyng

I cannot say enough [about Terapeak]. Our customers now know that when we say we “Terapeak-ed it” that it’s good info. It makes our life so much easier when we can show people the true ebay value of their items. –quick2sellpgh

AERS and Terapeak thank all those who participated in the study.

AERS is proud to announce a new partnership with 500RPM, a Japanese service provider for Japan-based eBay sellers. Known predominately for translation and eBay assistance solutions, 500RPM will soon provide a locally-translated Terapeak tool, along with a dedicated, Japan-based support team.

A big part of the AERS mandate has always been the importance of global brand representation, and Terapeak in particular has stressed the value of international markets. Now, with the introduction of “Terapeak Japan”, Terapeak is available locally in six countries: Canada, USA, France, Germany, China and Japan.

“We’re excited about teaming up with 500RPM,” says AERS CEO Fred Speckeen. “They’ve shown an ability to provide eBay sellers in Japan with a valuable set of services, which will now include Terapeak. The continued growth of ecommerce is a global phenomenon, and it represents an opportunity for our company to bring useful services and tools like Terapeak to a growing global community.”

The announcement complements a very international year for both AERS and Terapeak: in June, the company hosted its first international conference, while in July, founders Anthony and Andrew Sukow spoke at the G8 Young Business Summit in Stresa, Italy.

Again, AERS is happy and proud to welcome 500RPM to the Terapeak team, and we look forward to sharing news from Terapeak Japan.

Victoria, BC, Canada

Launching in the UK with Orange on July 10, 2009, the new TG01 will be the world’s first smartphone to be using the new Quantum processor with the dizzying processing speed of 1GHz. Will it succeed in the market? eBay is a common venue for early technology developers, so analysts like Brian Russo from CIBC World Markets use it to predict global consumer trends. Our own experience with eBay data leads us to believe that the level of success in the overall market will be able to be determined by the levels of early online auction activity.

So far, there has been trading activity on the eBay Germany platform for Toshiba TG01 items and accessories. Over half of the shipments of these items have been within Germany itself. None so far have been to the UK or the United States. Have their smartphone markets become saturated while Germany’s still has room for growth?

At this stage it is still too early to tell. In the US leg of the smartphone race we’ve seen Apple’s iPhone leading in sales revenues but RIM maintaining the highest volumes in the USA market- check out our iphone index at http://www.terapeak.com/widgets/indexes/iphone/#graph.

Stay tuned to this blog for future updates on the states of ecommerce sales for the TG01 and its competitors in the smart phone market. For further inquiries or information email us at info@researchadvanced.com.