Daily Tech Snippet: Thursday, March 12

• Hot Billion $ News :Alibaba is investing $200 million in Snapchat at $15 billion valuation – after it declined 3B offer from facebook: With the latest deal, Snapchat would be ranked behind only mobile car-booking application Uber Technologies Inc. and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp., according to data compiled by researcher CB Insights. Xiaomi is pegged at $45 billion, while Uber’s latest round valued it at $40 billion. Snapchat lets people take and draw on photos, then send them to select friends or add them to a public “story.” The photos and videos disappear seconds after the recipient views them. The company says its users -- the app is popular among teens -- send more than 700 million disappearing “snaps” and view more than 500 million stories daily. Evan Spiegel started Snapchat in a Stanford University fraternity house in 2011 and turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook Inc. in 2013. He raised funds from 23 investors at a $10 billion valuation last year. That increase has corresponded with a surge in venture spending to the highest level in more than a decade. Venture capitalists pumped $48.3 billion into U.S. companies last year, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

• Google launched a cheap cloud storage service – promises data retrieval in 3 secs: Google is offering a new kind of data storage service called Nearline, for non-essential data. Like an AWS product called Glacier, this storage costs just a penny a month per gigabyte. Microsoft’s cheapest listed online storage is about 2.4 cents a gigabyte. While Glacier storage has a retrieval time of several hours, though, Google said Nearline data will be available in about three seconds. The name is meant to evoke the idea of being nearly online at all times, It is also designed to move easily into other Google storage products, with sub-second data retrieval. That could make it a way to sell more expensive storage, as well as more analytics tools. Google’s long game, in other words, is positioning itself as the cloud computing company for all kinds of data analysis, something that it at the heart of its search engine business.

• Instagram new marketer’s fave –teens cite its "the most important" social network”: Instagram is luring brands away from Facebook, according to a new report from research firm L2, which found that brands now post more content on the photo-sharing app.The reason? Brands know everything they post on the platform will appear in fans' feeds, the study says. But on Facebook, if brands don't pay to promote their posts, much of their content doesn't appear in followers' News Feeds. That trend is turning Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, into a growing marketing force. The report outlines how brands have been building their followings on the app, which recently topped 300 million monthly users. Another reason Instagram is a marketing darling at the moment is it's attracting younger users than Facebook, according to L2. While an estimated 3 million U.S. teens abandoned Facebook between 2011 and 2014, the same demographic now cites Instagram as "the most important" social network, the report says.

• Hot Billion $ Rumor#1 : Google may buy InMobi for $1B: Google Inc is in early talks to buy Bangalore-based start-up InMobi, in a move that would strengthen its offering in the increasingly competitive mobile advertising space, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.InMobi, which helps companies target phones and mobile devices in their advertising, was launched in 2007 and claims to have over 1 billion users across 200 countries. It counts Japan's SoftBank, an early backer of China's Alibaba, and early stage venture capital firm Sherpalo among investors.

• Hot Billion $ Rumor#2: Snapdeal might raise $ 700 million from Foxconn(Taiwan): Snapdeal.com, has attracted interest from Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, one of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturing firms, to raise as much as $600-700 million in a fresh round of funding, at least two sources familiar with the matter told Techcircle.in. However, the talks are still at a preliminary stage and the company is yet to issue a term sheet. “Foxconn is world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer. But they are now finding new growth drivers as revenue from the contract manufacturing business is slowing down. India being a huge retail market, this is a great opportunity for them,” said one of the persons mentioned above.

• Online retail had a bumper year ($326.6 billion), key to 2015 success: Payments, CustomerFirst, Data:Overall, the retail industry posted solid growth last year and e-commerce really knocked it out of the park. Total retail sales reached approximately $4.12 trillion in 2014 and online retail made up about 7.9% of that ($326.6 billion). Compared to 2013, 2014 “nonstore retailers” sales, which includes e-commerce, grew by 7.7%. The last quarter of 2014 was strong for e-commerce, as online sales increased by 2.3% between Q3 and Q4. After being adjusted for seasonal variance, the US Department of Commerce estimates that online retailers sold $79.6 billion worth of goods. This made up 6.7% of total retail sales, which reached $1.2 trillion. Tips for this year: Increase Payment Options: About 54% of shoppers like having the option to use payment methods beyond credit and debit. This often boils down to security concerns. Consider offering alternative payment options, such as PayPal, to give customers choices and make them feel safer. Put the Customer First: Approximately 83% of consumers require some sort of customer support while making an online purchase and if you can deliver, you’ll reap the benefits. Roughly 86% of consumers said they’d pay more for a good customer experience, and that is possible through live chat. Be clear on what shoppers are looking for, provide helpful recommendations, and answer questions in real time. Use Data Effectively: There are different kinds of data, and even more ways to use them. Even though it can be overwhelming, it is crucial for e-commerce success. It can allow retailers to provide a more personalized experience and target shoppers better when they abandon their cart. Know what they’ve added to their carts and use those items to remind them to come back. Provide great recommendations based on what they’ve previously ordered to create loyal customers. Data can even give retailers a better idea of what price is best on products based on the competitive landscape, demand, and more.