Micropayments. What are they you say? Simply put from the greek word micro ( I have no idea if it is of Greek origin) meaning small and payments from the capitalist dictionary, meaning pleasure. I jest, but in reality, the trend in micropayments is more than just a trend, it makes sense, and profits. Just ask Tumblr.
I logged on to Tumblr and was greeted by a message from the staff letting me know that I had the option to highlight my posts, if I so choose. I was a little fuzzy, because, I thought all my posts were special. Why would I want to highlight one post over the other? According to Tumblr, I may have an “extra” special photo, or a special promotion for a product, etc. This started to make sense. Tumblr is stepping up the monetization game. I can’t hate on that!
For the small price of one dollar, you can customize a sticker that will follow your post, allowing it stand out among the stream of posts that users view when they log in to their Tumblr account. One Dollar? Smart move!
In my memory, CD Baby was my first encounter with micropayments. CD Baby was revolutionary a few years ago. This was before I had heard of iTunes, (if it was even invented yet). CD Baby would allow independent artists or at least labels seeking online distribution to sell individual songs as well as an entire album of tracks for digital download. Brilliant. I no longer have to spend 12 to 15 bucks on a CD for the one song that I like. iTunes took this model and now dominate the digital download market. Since then, pretty much digital downloads are the new musical commodity. Micropayments!
Next spectacular encounter with micropayments was the recently public company called Zynga. Zynga managed to make a fortune selling virtual goods. Talk about disposable income. Fans of social media games like Farmville, and others spend plenty of money to decorate their playing environment with items that are much more spectacular than the items players can use their “credits/coins etc” to purchase.
Another recent example of the power of micropayments was done by a comedian by the name of Louis C.K. The Comedian paid for the production costs to put on a show, taped it, and then distributed the show by himself for $5 . One million dollars in 12 days.
So if you are wondering which way the e-commerce trend is headed. You may want to hire a consultant. Call me 
