Payvment, which powers 200,000 Facebook storefronts, said Monday it was shutting down its e-commerce platform and referring its merchant customers to a competing service. Payvment and companion site Lish.com will close down on Feb. 28 and transfer its accounts to Ecwid, a rival social commerce platform with more than 250,000 merchants worldwide. The companies say the partnership is aimed at insuring that customers have a smooth transition to the new service. “F-commerce” pioneer Payvment opened a virtual mall on Facebook in 2011 allowing users to shop at its thousands of stores without having to leave the site. Last year, it added Lish.com, an off-Facebook marketplace offering products that are trending across the social Web. Jim Stoneham, Payvment’s CEO, told AllThingsD, which first reported the service’s planned shutdown, that the company technically wasn’t going out of business. In a letter posted on its Web site, the company stated that its management team was joining another company, which is apparently not Ecwid. Stoneham declined to comment further. Former Payvment CEO Christian Taylor left the company last summer. Despite its enormous user base and high engagement levels, Facebook has yet proven to be a thriving platform for e-commerce. The underlying question is how interested people are in buying products when they’re going on the social network mainly to hang out with friends. In September, the company launched Facebook Gifts as a way for users to easily buy smaller-scale items for friends directly from the newsfeed from scores of retailers. For its part, Ecwid says purchases made through Ecwid-powered storefronts on Facebook increased 65% during the fourth quarter. It adds that inbound links from Facebook to its stores accounted for as much as 8.5% of their holiday-season purchases. The company offers an e-commerce app that it says can be embedded into any Web, blog or Facebook page in a matter of minutes. Its online store-building software is free for stores with 10 or fewer products, with monthly plans for larger stores starting at $15 for 100 products. “Payvment has helped Facebook commerce mature and become a productive marketplace for retailers, particularly small businesses,” stated Jim O’Hara, president of Ecwid, on Monday. “We are excited to partner with Payvment, and are anxious to support their sellers as they begin doing business through their Facebook stores using Ecwid’s platform.” San Diego-based Ecwid currently powers more than 40,000 Facebook storefronts through its shopping cart application geared to the social network. Started in Russia in 2009, the company has received $1.5 million in venture funding from Runa Capital. Financial terms of the deal with Payvment were not disclosed.
Pizza Hut is expanding its “Hut. Hut. Hut.” Super Bowl campaign by offering all Americans a free sample of its latest “product innovation” -- assuming one of the quarterbacks yells “hut” during the game. That is, of course, extremely likely. (“Hut” is heard an average of 90 times per football game, according to a Stats, Inc. statistic cited by Pizza Hut.) If the “hut” comes through, consumers can pick up their free samples (through carry-out or dine-in) at any of Pizza Hut’s 6,200-plus U.S. locations between 4 pm and 7 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 5 (no registration or membership required). The nature of the new product will be revealed during CBS’s pre-game show (integrated into the content). Pizza Hut is one of the show’s official sponsors. Meanwhile, the QSR is promoting this latest twist through its social media presences (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and through media relations outreach, reports Doug Terfehr, director of public relations for Pizza Hut. Additionally, the chain announced that fans will be able to earn chances to win other prizes by following the action on Twitter during the game using the hashtag #PizzaHUT. These new promotions follow on the campaign’s now-closed social/UGC competition, in which consumers could submit (between Dec. 10 and Jan. 20) creative 15-second videos that included someone saying “hut” through the pizza chain’s Facebook page, for a chance to have their clips chosen to be included in a TV spot to air immediately before the Super Bowl’s kick-off. In addition, videos not chosen to be in the commercial had the chance to be chosen for one of several cash awards totaling $25,000 ($5,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd place, $2,000 for 3rd place, $1,000 each for 4th through 13th place, and $500 each for 10 honorable mentions). According to its Facebook page, Pizza Hut has already chosen the winning video clips (18 clips featuring 56 fans will be in the commercial). The nearly 500 videos submitted are viewable in a gallery on the Facebook page. Pizza Hut estimates that it will sell more than 2 million pizzas and 5 million wings on Super Bowl day this year. On Bowl day, the chain is offering any pizza (any size, any toppings and any crust option) for $10, as well as promoting its Big Dinner Box ($19.99) and its $10 Dinner Box. The Martin Agency handled creative for the UGC TV spot, while Zeno Group is handling PR and social media for the Super Bowl efforts, according to Terfehr. The Super Bowl efforts are part of a broader campaign launched last April, based on Pizza Hut’s helping its fans have “Make it Great” moments throughout the year.
Payvment, which powers 200,000 Facebook storefronts, said Monday it was shutting down its e-commerce platform and referring its merchant customers to a competing service. Payvment and companion site Lish.com will close down on Feb. 28 and transfer its accounts to Ecwid, a rival social commerce platform with more than 250,000 merchants worldwide. The companies say the partnership is aimed at insuring that customers have a smooth transition to the new service. “F-commerce” pioneer Payvment opened a virtual mall on Facebook in 2011 allowing users to shop at its thousands of stores without having to leave the site. Last year, it added Lish.com, an off-Facebook marketplace offering products that are trending across the social Web. Jim Stoneham, Payvment’s CEO, told AllThingsD, which first reported the service’s planned shutdown, that the company technically wasn’t going out of business. In a letter posted on its Web site, the company stated that its management team was joining another company, which is apparently not Ecwid. Stoneham declined to comment further. Former Payvment CEO Christian Taylor left the company last summer. Despite its enormous user base and high engagement levels, Facebook has yet proven to be a thriving platform for e-commerce. The underlying question is how interested people are in buying products when they’re going on the social network mainly to hang out with friends. In September, the company launched Facebook Gifts as a way for users to easily buy smaller-scale items for friends directly from the newsfeed from scores of retailers. For its part, Ecwid says purchases made through Ecwid-powered storefronts on Facebook increased 65% during the fourth quarter. It adds that inbound links from Facebook to its stores accounted for as much as 8.5% of their holiday-season purchases. The company offers an e-commerce app that it says can be embedded into any Web, blog or Facebook page in a matter of minutes. Its online store-building software is free for stores with 10 or fewer products, with monthly plans for larger stores starting at $15 for 100 products. “Payvment has helped Facebook commerce mature and become a productive marketplace for retailers, particularly small businesses,” stated Jim O’Hara, president of Ecwid, on Monday. “We are excited to partner with Payvment, and are anxious to support their sellers as they begin doing business through their Facebook stores using Ecwid’s platform.” San Diego-based Ecwid currently powers more than 40,000 Facebook storefronts through its shopping cart application geared to the social network. Started in Russia in 2009, the company has received $1.5 million in venture funding from Runa Capital. Financial terms of the deal with Payvment were not disclosed.
Pizza Hut is expanding its “Hut. Hut. Hut.” Super Bowl campaign by offering all Americans a free sample of its latest “product innovation” -- assuming one of the quarterbacks yells “hut” during the game. That is, of course, extremely likely. (“Hut” is heard an average of 90 times per football game, according to a Stats, Inc. statistic cited by Pizza Hut.) If the “hut” comes through, consumers can pick up their free samples (through carry-out or dine-in) at any of Pizza Hut’s 6,200-plus U.S. locations between 4 pm and 7 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 5 (no registration or membership required). The nature of the new product will be revealed during CBS’s pre-game show (integrated into the content). Pizza Hut is one of the show’s official sponsors. Meanwhile, the QSR is promoting this latest twist through its social media presences (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and through media relations outreach, reports Doug Terfehr, director of public relations for Pizza Hut. Additionally, the chain announced that fans will be able to earn chances to win other prizes by following the action on Twitter during the game using the hashtag #PizzaHUT. These new promotions follow on the campaign’s now-closed social/UGC competition, in which consumers could submit (between Dec. 10 and Jan. 20) creative 15-second videos that included someone saying “hut” through the pizza chain’s Facebook page, for a chance to have their clips chosen to be included in a TV spot to air immediately before the Super Bowl’s kick-off. In addition, videos not chosen to be in the commercial had the chance to be chosen for one of several cash awards totaling $25,000 ($5,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd place, $2,000 for 3rd place, $1,000 each for 4th through 13th place, and $500 each for 10 honorable mentions). According to its Facebook page, Pizza Hut has already chosen the winning video clips (18 clips featuring 56 fans will be in the commercial). The nearly 500 videos submitted are viewable in a gallery on the Facebook page. Pizza Hut estimates that it will sell more than 2 million pizzas and 5 million wings on Super Bowl day this year. On Bowl day, the chain is offering any pizza (any size, any toppings and any crust option) for $10, as well as promoting its Big Dinner Box ($19.99) and its $10 Dinner Box. The Martin Agency handled creative for the UGC TV spot, while Zeno Group is handling PR and social media for the Super Bowl efforts, according to Terfehr. The Super Bowl efforts are part of a broader campaign launched last April, based on Pizza Hut’s helping its fans have “Make it Great” moments throughout the year.