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 E-Commerce

Forrester: Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook dominate e-commerce

February 09, 2012

Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook will continue to dominate online business, but Internet retailers and marketers should tread carefully in partnering with them, according to a Feb. 7 Forrester report.
 

Teenage apparel retailers struggle to integrate across marketing channels

February 01, 2012

Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters use diverse direct marketing approaches to sell similarly priced apparel to teenagers and young adults.
 

Study: CPG website visits boost in-store sales

January 30, 2012

Visitors to consumer package goods (CPG) e-commerce websites spend 37% more in retail stores than consumers who do not visit the brand sites, according to a Jan. 30 study by comScore, Accenture and dunnhumbyUSA.
 

Adobe: Tablet users spend 54% more than smartphone shoppers

January 18, 2012

Tablet users who visited e-commerce websites in 2011 spent 54% more per purchase than smartphone visitors and 21% more than desktop or laptop visitors, according to a Jan. 19 report by Adobe Systems.
 

Neil Ashe joins Wal-mart as CEO of global e-commerce

January 17, 2012

Marketing executive Neil Ashe has joined Wal-mart Stores as president and CEO of the company's global e-commerce business. Ashe is replacing Eduardo Castro-Wright, who is retiring but who will assist in the transition, the retailer confirmed Jan. 17.
 

Zappos data breach exposes names, email addresses

January 16, 2012

A criminal accessed Zappos consumer account information, the online retailer said in a Jan. 15 blog post.
 

Holiday sales increase, fall short of expectations

January 13, 2012

Total U.S. retail sales generated an estimated $400.6 billion in December, an increase of 6.5% compared with the same month last year, according to a Jan. 12 report from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Total sales for the 2011 calendar year increased 7.7% to $4.7 trillion compared with the prior year, the report said.
 

Yahoo can buy itself back into the display market

January 09, 2012

I don't begrudge new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson deflecting questions about Yahoo's display advertising prospects (even though he must have brainstormed his options considering talks with Yahoo began in November). But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a little fun and project some possibilities.
 

Five companies to watch in 2012

January 03, 2012

Groupon, Netflix, Sears, Draftfcb and Infogroup baffled and impressed us in 2011.
 

Lowe's buys online retailer ATG Stores

December 29, 2011

Home improvement retailer Lowe's acquired online retailer ATG Stores, the company said on Dec. 29. Lowe's spokesperson Karen Cobb said the acquisition closed yesterday afternoon but declined to disclose terms.
 

eBay, retailers partner on shopping promotion

December 16, 2011

Retailers Toys R Us, Aeropostale and Dick's Sporting Goods have partnered with eBay to reward online shoppers with coupons to be redeemed in-store. The initiative launched Dec. 16 and runs through Dec. 19.
 

RichRelevance acquires Searchandise Commerce

December 13, 2011

RichRelevance, a San Francisco-based retail marketing services company, has acquired Searchandise Commerce, a Beverly, Mass.-based retail search marketing services firm. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
 

American Express offers card members deals on Seamless

December 08, 2011

American Express has partnered with Seamless, an e-commerce provider for restaurants, to offer discounts to members of American Express' Blue Savings Program, both companies said Dec. 8.
 

Amazon launches promo to lure customers from retail

December 06, 2011

Amazon.com will launch a promotion on Dec. 10 to entice consumers shopping in brick-and-mortar retail stores to purchase products through Amazon at a discount.
 

Q&A: John Noe, CEO, Rokkan

December 01, 2011

John Noe, Rokkan's CEO, discusses the relationship between brands' websites and Facebook pages.
 

Brands step up free shipping game for holiday season e-commerce

Mercedes Cardona December 01, 2011

This holiday shopping season could finally make free shipping the norm among multichannel retailers — and free returns could be next.
 

EBay acquires recommendation platform Hunch

November 21, 2011

EBay has acquired recommendation platform Hunch. The acquisition closed on Nov. 21, eBay spokesperson Johnna Hoff said via email.
 

Department of Commerce: E-commerce spending up

November 17, 2011

U.S. retail e-commerce totaled $48.2 billion during the third quarter of 2011, an increase of 13.7% compared with the third quarter of 2010, according to Nov. 17 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
 

Staples revamps b-to-b e-commerce site, reports net sales increase

November 16, 2011

Staples, Inc. launched a new e-commerce site for its b-to-b division, Staples Advantage, said Laura Brooks, VP of b-to-b e-commerce at Staples. The new site is designed to feature faster and easier search navigation, alternative product recommendations and enhanced site customization, among other changes.
 

Office Depot names new international division president

November 14, 2011

Office Depot promoted Steve Schmidt to president of the international division, the company said in a Nov. 14 statement. Schmidt will replace Charles Brown, who was fired in September for having an "improper relationship" with an associate.
 

Sam's Club to launch iPad app

November 11, 2011

Sam's Club will debut an iPad app in the "next few weeks," said Matt Martin, senior marketing manager at the Wal-Mart Stores-owned retailer, during a session at the ad:tech New York conference on Nov. 10.
 

IBM: 15% of online holiday shopping will be done on mobile devices

November 04, 2011

Fifteen percent of e-commerce shoppers will log onto brand websites using a mobile device this holiday season, according to the IBM Coremetrics Benchmark Industry Report released Nov. 4. The study also predicts total online holiday shopping in November will grow 15% compared with last year.
 

Use your website to close the deal with consumers

November 01, 2011

Perhaps the biggest mistake direct marketers make is creating great campaigns that drive traffic to terrible websites. A brand may overspend on customer acquisition when really it is facing a conversion issue.
 

Q&A: Michael Stromer, director of e-commerce and interactive marketing, JetBlue Airways

November 01, 2011

Michael Stromer, director of e-commerce and interactive marketing at JetBlue Airways, says his company takes a conservative in-flight approach.
 

Web retailers get jumpstart on holidays

November 01, 2011

The start of November presents great opportunity for online retailers. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday still several weeks away, e-commerce companies can leverage holiday enthusiasm during that time to drive early sales and garner interest among consumers preparing for door-buster and Web-buster deals.
 

Golfsmith lowers costs with predictive response model

November 01, 2011

Golfsmith International, an Austin, Texas-based specialty retailer of golf equipment, sought to improve direct mail response rates, data merging costs and campaign response times. With 75 retail stores, an e-commerce site and a direct mail catalog, the company needed to track data across channels to better understand customer behavior and build more targeted, effective campaigns.
 

Q&A: Aaron Shockey, VP of advertising and digital marketing, Neiman Marcus

November 01, 2011

Aaron Shockey, VP of advertising and digital marketing at Neiman Marcus, discusses the retailer's online strategy.
 

Theater titans unleash multichannel
 strategies to fill seats

November 01, 2011

As the holiday movie season gears up, so do the marketing programs of theater operators AMC Entertainment and 
Regal Entertainment Group — marketing strategies that have come to rely upon online sales of tickets and partnerships with online ticket vendors.
 

Hearst constructs 
its digital castle

November 01, 2011

Digital or die. That's become the watchword of print brands, urgently harnessing the latest innovations — from social media platforms to smartphones to the iPad — to refashion their businesses for a new media age.
 

Glock uses silver anniversary as launch point 
for integrated marketing campaign

November 01, 2011

Pistol manufacturer Glock launched 
a 25th anniversary promotion with a new website, as well as print and digital ads featuring the well-known gun enthusiast R. Lee Ermey, aka "Gunny." An anniversary-themed sweepstakes, announced prominently on 
the site TeamGlock.com, offers consumers the chance 
to win a trip to the brand's birthplace and global headquarters in Austria.