Monday, 9 April 2012

Business Coverage on Mashable

Please click here if the email below is not displayed correctly.
Mashable
Monday, April 09, 2012
TRENDING STORIES IN BUSINESS & MARKETING
Why Gamification Can't Be Stopped
About.me iPhone App Launches With 'Who's Nearby' Feature
Sephora Gives Its Shopping Experience a Makeover
ALL STORIES IN BUSINESS & MARKETING

Sony to Cut 10,000 Jobs [REPORT]
5:43:14 AMStan Schroeder

Sony plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global workforce, Nikkei reports.

The layoffs will most likely happen in Sony's chemicals and small and midsize LCD operations, Nikkei claims, but it's not clear whether Sony will cut its workforce in Japan or overseas.

The move comes after a dismal yearly forecast and a change of leadership, with former executive deputy president Kazuo Hirai replacing Howard Stringer as president and CEO.

According to Nikkei's sources, Sony might also request that its seven executive directors -- including Stringer -- return their yearly bonuses.

Sony hasn't officially confirmed the report, but Hirai is set to brief the company's business plan on Thursday, March 12.

As of March 2012, Sony globally employes 168,200 people.



Sephora Gives Its Shopping Experience a Makeover
3:49:53 AMEmily Price

Sephora is getting a little more digital. Today the beauty chain rolled out an completely updated website with Pinterest and Instagram integration, an updated mobile site, and officially launched a program that will bring iPads to the store's sales counters and put iPod touch point-of-sale devices in the hands of many of its sales associates.

"Beauty has passionate shoppers, and Sephora is the mecca of beauty" Julie Bornstein, Senior Vice President of Sephora Direct told Mashable. She describes today's updates as "Where beauty meets intelligence."

Pinterest integration is something that many brands have started to embrace, however, Sephora is taking that integration a step further. Every item on Sephora's online store now has a "Pin It" button you can click to add the item to one of your boards on the site. Where Sephora takes its Pinterest integration to the next level, however, is in its own Pinterest account.

Starting today shoppers will be able to browse the Pinterest boards of Sephora employees, and see what products are their favorites. "These are people who get to try ever product," Bornstien says, which gives their opinions of what products are best a little more weight.

The company has also added a new feed on Instagram where you can get a behind-the-scenes look at Sephora and its staff, as well as what trends are hot in the beauty world -we hear a color called Tangerine Tango is making headlines these days.

In addition to the Pinterest integration, every product on the new website has been tagged with 25 different characteristics such as target age group, ingredients, and price so you can narrow down a particular search while you shop. The tagging process took a team of 50 employees 5,000 hours to fully index and tag. The result Sephora hopes is a incredibly targeted and personal experience when shopping on its site.

Products on the site also now have color views, so if you're looking for something like a purple eye shadow you can hover over the color and see what that product would really look like.

Sephora.com also now offers store availability information, so you can find out if the eye shadow you need is in stock, and keeps track of your past purchases and samples you've received (including those in store) so you can keep track of your purchases and use that information to make future ones. For instance, if you purchased a lip gloss you loved while on vacation, you'll be able to see exactly what it was on the site and be able to order it right then or find out whether it's available at the Sephora near you. That information is also available in the mobile version of the site.

While you're at a Sephora store you can use your iPhone to scan products off the shelves and read reviews. The company has also added iPads to the Beauty Center in 20 of its stores that can be used to navigate the website, as well as view the menu of services available at the center. Store associates are now equip with iPod touch point-of-sale devices -something that has been in testing for the past 6 months- that can be used to make purchases or reference the store's website while on the move.

Digital is a huge part of Sephora's business. The company has seen a 300% increase over the past year in mobile shopping on its website, with 70% of its mobile traffic coming from iOS devices. iPad traffic to Sephora.com is up 400% in Q1 of 2012 over the same period last year, and 20% of all of the traffic to the site comes from mobile devices.

"Digital is a must for the future of retailing," says Bornstein. "With social, digital, mobile and website updates, we're giving our clients the most personalized experience ever seen in the beauty industry, and connecting clients with our experts in ways that are most relevant to them. We're excited to makeover the future of shopping."



Levo League Offers Career-Building Resources to Gen Y Women
2:20:18 AMLauren Drell

The facts are clear and indisputable -- women make 77.5 cents for every dollar a man makes, and four in ten companies have no women in senior management. Even Facebook -- home to one of tech's most famous women, Sheryl Sandberg -- has no women on its board. Senior Analyst and Researcher at MoveOn.org in Berkeley, CA



Behind the Scenes at 9 Hot Tech Startups [PICS]
Sunday, April 08, 2012 7:45 PMLauren Hockenson

For the Startup Spaces Series, Mashable got to scope out the spaces of some of the hottest startups around.

Unsurprisingly, the offices of these companies have just as much personality as the products themselves. Full of killer perks, like ping-pong tables, kegs of beer and endless snacks, startup founders know how to reward their hardworking (and often still small) team with some good old-fashioned relaxation. These tricked-out spaces also reflected much of their own website's designs, including little visual homages to their logos and products in surprising and innovative ways.

Here's a roundup of the companies we toured, including in-depth photo galleries. To read more and check out the photos, click through to the full story.

1. DNA 11

DNA 11 had humble beginnings. In 2005, founders Adrian Salamunovic and Nazim Ahmed started the business with $2,000 and an idea -- using genetic science to create custom art. In 2009, the guys launched CanvasPop, a service that blows up your images -- even low-res, smartphone shots -- to full-on wall art.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

2. Yelp

While user reviews site Yelp formally calls San Francisco home, the company is making a serious splash in New York City. Yelp opened a Manhattan office in 2008, but relocated to new digs in the city's Union Square area late last year. Although the company currently has nearly 1,000 employees worldwide (and counting), the 70 staffers at the satellite NYC locale have embraced a more startup-like vibe in the small yet lively office.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

3. Vimeo

It isn't uncommon to watch the evolution of a company take place through the changes to its workplace.

That's the case with the video sharing service Vimeo. Founded in 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klen, Vimeo now boasts more than 65 million visitors a month and a dedicated community of independent filmmakers and artists. To us, what has always made Vimeo different from other video sharing sites -- such as YouTube -- is the focus on quality, quirkiness and community.

On our tour of Vimeo's offices in the IAC Building in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, we found that the community and quirky nature that is omnipresent on the site is also visible in the office itself.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

4. Foursquare

Checking in to Foursquare HQ is so meta -- and it's really flippin' awesome, too. The geolocation startup recently moved its HQ from New York's Cooper Square to a ginormous space -- two floors of 28,000 feet each -- joining other startups Thrillist, ZocDoc and 10Gen at 568 Broadway.

It's no surprise that Foursquare is growing -- the platform has 15 million users and more than 1.5 billion check-ins, and Foursquare is seeing more than 5 million check-ins each day. To help fuel this growth, Foursquare's team recently surpassed 100 people, who are split between New York and San Francisco. The New York office is home to 85 staffers, and it's littered with references to badges, Foursquare swag (Snuggies, anyone?) and plenty of treats in "Fat Denny's" cafeteria.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

5. Pinterest

In an unmarked office building on a beautiful suburban street in downtown Palo Alto, the burgeoning startup Pinterest does its magic.

Considering all the addicting beauty and visual orgasmica on Pinterest, the company's headquarters are in a surprisingly drab building. You'd think the up-and-coming social platform would want a giant sign that proudly proclaimed its name, given the company's meteoric rise. Inside these humble digs, Pinterest staffers keep things fun with foosball breaks, Nerf darts and lots of Dr. Pepper. But don't expect them to stay in one space so long - given Pinterest's astounding growth, there's a good chance the team will be expanding into a bigger and more (p)interesting space in the near future.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

6. Tumblr

Step into Tumblr HQ and you'll find the walls filled with artwork as colorful and quirky as your own Tumblr dashboard -- because that's where all of the artwork came from. Indeed, the company loves its microblogging community.

Tumblr has come a long way from its original office space five years ago. Though the company only moved four blocks from its first office on Park Avenue in October 2010, the team has exploded from two to more than 90 people. This exponential growth has supported the site's expanding user base, which increased 900% -- from 10 million users to 50 million users -- in just the past year. In a Flatiron-area building, Tumblr occupies two floors, which rock completely different vibes. One is an airy, vibrant common area for meetings, lunch breaks and (most importantly) ping pong, and the other is a quiet, softly lit open floor-plan where all the work gets done. All of the meeting rooms have New York themed names - and yes, you will find a "Haters Gonna Hate" poster on the wall.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

7. Aviary

Aviary's New York City office lives up to the photo startup's name. Tiny fake birds peek out from fake shrubbery and perch on top of pipes. Business cards, each with a different bird image, are posted on the fridge with magnets, and -- in case you missed the theme -- a giant bird mural takes up a prominent wall.

So why birds?

The startup's original product was a suite of web-based creative tools, and the tagline "creation on the fly" was too good to pass up. Each tool in the suite is named for a different bird, and the ornithology theme is present is the HQ, too.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

8. GetGlue

At GetGlue's headquarters in New York City, it's all about the stickers.

One of the most loved aspects of the entertainment check-in and recommendation service is the fact that users can get physical copies of the digital stickers they earn for checking into TV shows, movies, music albums or events. GetGlue's office space near Union Square in New York City is adorned with super-sized versions of these stickers. The stickers adorn the walls, the elevator alcove and the office areas. For CEO and co-founder Alex Iskold, the stickers aren't just a great way to decorate -- they're a constant reminder of the startup's vision and purpose.

Read the full story and check out the gallery here.

9. StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is all about discovery, and if you happen to stumble upon the company's San Francisco headquarters, you'll have plenty to see.

The tailored web-crawling platform currently has more than 20 million users performing more than 1.2 billion "Stumbles" per month. All that stumbling means the company needs a big team to keep things running smoothly. This growing team is based near Union Square in New York. Since StumbleUpon is all about uncovering great stuff from the Internet, all of the conference rooms in the building are named after great inventors - complete with tchotchkes related to the person's discoveries. The Edison room, for instance, contains baskets of light bulbs, while the Pasteur room includes a working microscope with slides.

Read the full story here.

BONUS: A Peek Inside Mashable HQ

What do you think of the offices at these startups? Let us know in the comments below.



 
Manage Subscriptions   Login to Follow   Jobs   About Us   Advertise   Privacy Policy

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to it from Mashable.com.
Click here to unsubscribe
to future Mashable Newsletters. We're sorry to see you go, though.

© 2011 Mashable. All rights reserved. Reproduction without explicit permission is prohibited

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home