e-commerce – News Stories About e-commerce - Page 2

Cyber Monday
Was Biggest-Ever
Online Shopping Day

Nov 30, 2011 12:27 AM CST

Cyber Monday Was Biggest-Ever Online Shopping Day

Sales up 22% to $1.25B

(Newser) - This year's Cyber Monday was the biggest day in the history of online shopping, with a record $1.25 billion in sales, up from $1.03 billion last year, according to research firm comScore. Online sales were very strong all through the holiday weekend, but the following Monday "...

Best Online Shoppers:
Tablet Users

Sep 28, 2011 9:03 AM CDT

Best Online Shoppers: Tablet Users

... and store websites may change to accommodate them

(Newser) - Marketing in the modern age: It seems tablet users make the best online shoppers, reports the Wall Street Journal . Industry stats put the coveted "conversion rate" at 4% or 5% for tablet users vs. 3% for PC users. What's more, perhaps because tablet users tend to be wealthier,...

Shoppers Blast Microsoft, Apple for Ties to Anti-Gay Groups

Shoppers Blast
Retailers' Online
Anti-Gay Ties

Sep 26, 2011 8:25 AM CDT

Shoppers Blast Retailers' Online Anti-Gay Ties

Petitions prompt Microsoft, Apple to cut connection to charity group

(Newser) - Apple, Microsoft, and an array of other online retailers have found themselves at the center of a gay-rights battle, the New York Times reports. The retailers have been tied to an Internet marketer, the Charity Giveback Group, that receives a commission when it sends the retailers an online customer. There'...

Google Debuts Fashion Shopping Site

Nov 17, 2010 4:13 PM CST

Google Debuts Fashion Shopping Site

Store can learn your taste, visualize options

(Newser) - Google is looking to make its mark on an unexpected sector of business: fashion. The experiment comes in the form of an e-shopping website called Boutiques.com . The site is multi-faceted, combining the stores of hundreds of virtual boutiques organized either by designer or "curated" by celebrities, bloggers, and...

Biggest Threat to Endangered Species: the Internet

Mar 22, 2010 9:38 AM CDT

Biggest Threat to Endangered Species: the Internet

Online trading fuels demand for protected species

(Newser) - The Internet has become one of the biggest threats to at-risk species, allowing hunters to offload everything from polar bear pelts to extremely rare Iranian salamanders with ease, conservationists told the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Qatar. Thousands of endangered species are regularly traded online through message...

Holiday Shipping Costs Get the Heave-Ho-Ho

Nov 17, 2009 1:42 AM CST

Holiday Shipping Costs Get the Heave-Ho-Ho

Charges ditched as online competition heats up

(Newser) - Free shipping is quickly becoming the rule instead of a bonus as online and catalog retailers seek to lure holiday shoppers. Many shoppers searching for deals now abandon Internet shopping sites as soon as they find they must pay shipping costs, analysts are finding. Some 57% of retailers are offering...

Happy 40th, Internet (Maybe)

OPINION

Sep 2, 2009 7:20 PM CDT

Happy 40th, Internet (Maybe)

(Newser) - Forty years ago, two UCLA scientists exchanged data via computers, arguably making today the 40th anniversary of the birth of the Internet. "It would be more accurate to say some important seeds of the Internet sprouted with that data transfer," writes Stephen Shankland on CNET, but no matter....

E-Commerce
Revs Up on
Facebook

Aug 5, 2009 4:33 AM CDT

E-Commerce Revs Up on Facebook

Dozens of storefront applications due to open in months ahead

(Newser) - Facebook is poised to become a major destination for online shopping as more sophisticated E-commerce applications appear, reports the Financial Times. Floral gift retailer 1-800-Flowers opened a Facebook storefront last week and the software developer behind it says at least 20 more retailers will open for business via Facebook in...

No Christmas
Miracle for Retailers

RETAIL SALES

Dec 26, 2008 1:57 AM CST

No Christmas Miracle for Retailers

Even luxury sector sales in free fall

(Newser) - It was a bleak Christmas and promises to be a less than prosperous New Year for retailers with consumers tightening their belts and spending less, reports the Wall Street Journal. Retail sales dropped 5.5% in November and 8% in December, compared with the same months last year. Luxury goods,...

Makers of Whizzinator Plead Guilty

Nov 25, 2008 11:47 AM CST

Makers of Whizzinator Plead Guilty

Fake penis meant to scam drug tests could land pair in prison

(Newser) - The intrepid entrepreneurs behind the Whizzinator have pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy in US federal court, the BBC reports. George Wills and Robert Catalano sold the prosthetic penis, which helps customers pass drug tests by storing and heating fake urine samples, online for 3 years. They could face...

eBay Auctions: Going,
Going ... Gone?

Jun 4, 2008 12:49 PM CDT

eBay Auctions: Going, Going ... Gone?

Site making changes as one-click buying gains market share

(Newser) - EBay is the Internet’s top auction site—which would be great if consumers still liked auctions. Long gone are days when consumers happily stalked their prey, which went to the top dog in frenzied bidding. These days, most prefer quick, one-click, fixed-price shopping—and eBay is scrambling to accommodate...

EBay's Turnaround Bid: Users Not Buying It Now

Apr 16, 2008 8:57 AM CDT

EBay's Turnaround Bid: Users Not Buying It Now

Stagnant auction site's overhaul gets lukewarm reaction

(Newser) - When eBay releases its first quarter earnings today, investors and curious onlookers will get a good look at the auctioneer’s turnaround efforts. But conventional grumbling has it that the changes haven’t done much. EBay overhauled its fee structure and tried to encourage sellers to improve customer service, but...

Can New
CEO Keep
eBay on Top?

Mar 31, 2008 2:12 PM CDT

Can New CEO Keep eBay on Top?

Company faces slowing growth, competition

(Newser) - As John Donahoe takes over from Meg Whitman as CEO of eBay today, he inherits a grande dame where Whitman oversaw the rise of an e-commerce belle. Still dominant in online auctions, the company has nonetheless faced slowing growth and stiffening competition. But analysts think Donahoe, the former eBay Marketplace...

EBay Finally Settles Patent Suit

Feb 29, 2008 12:17 PM CST

EBay Finally Settles Patent Suit

Will buy three patents as part of agreement with MercExchange

(Newser) - After years of legal battling that escalated to the Supreme Court, eBay has settled a patent-infringement lawsuit by e-commerce technology company MercExchange. The companies aren’t revealing the financial terms, but eBay will buy the three patents that led to the suit. The auction giant said the agreement won’t...

eBay Slashes Listing Fee in Half

Jan 29, 2008 1:33 PM CST

eBay Slashes Listing Fee in Half

Company hopes to drive growth with new policies

(Newser) - eBay is chopping its listing fee in half and will take a bigger chunk out of the price of sold items, a change that should lower risk for sellers and encourage more listing, the AP reports. The online auction giant is also changing the way its search results work, the...

E-Commerce All Grown Up, Sales Growth Finally Slows

Dec 28, 2007 8:39 PM CST

E-Commerce All Grown Up, Sales Growth Finally Slows

Internet sales set new records, but rise more slowly than last year

(Newser) - Online sales continued to out-pace traditional retailers this season, boasting a 19% spike, but fell compared to 25-30% growth rates in past seasons, the New York Times reports. While e-tailers beat the scrawny 3.6% sales growth of traditional stores, experts attribute the slowdown to the maturing of online shopping.

Google Flunks Privacy Probe

Jun 11, 2007 10:33 AM CDT

Google Flunks Privacy Probe

"Don't be evil" motto questioned after search giant rated worst on web for user protection

(Newser) - Google ranks dead last among Internet sites for protecting user privacy, a new study by watchdog group Privacy International concludes. In its 6-month analysis of top e-commerce, social networking, e-mail, and search sites, PI singled out Google for what it called a "entrenched hostility to privacy," citing fuzzy...