E-Commerce

China-based Wanda E-Commerce, which hopes to position itself as a rival against Alibaba, has raised one billion RMB (about $161 million) in funding from investment funds Shengke Limited and Hong Kong Xu De Ren Dao E-Commerce Investment Co. Wanda E-Commerce says this quadruples its valuation to 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion). Wanda E-Commerce was founded in

Fashion label Calvin Klein has initiated a global e-commerce expansion strategy, for which mobile and social will play significant roles in providing a seamless customer experience. The fashion label is seeing increased traffic and sales volumes via mobile, prompting a redesign. Closing in on customization, the new site aims to best accommodate the customer through their journey while exemplifying the brand's image. "This launch is impactful in both its geographic scale and level of customization," said Steve Shiffman, CEO at Calvin Klein. 

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba took 90 million counterfeit items offline and spent over 1 billion yuan ($160.7 million) fighting fake goods, from the beginning of 2013 to November this year. The online company's announcement highlights its massive issue with so-called "knock-offs" and its efforts to clean up its act ahead of the company's record $25 billion initial public offering (IPO) in September.

Black Friday is dead. While the death might seem to have been breathtaking and quick — a drastic 11 percent drop in sales over Thanksgiving weekend — it was actually a long time coming, and the scars from the experience promise to shape retail's future for a long time to come. In 2012, RSR declared Black Friday to be dead. My personal argument ran like this: consumers have total transparency into Black Friday prices weeks, if not months, in advance. This means there's no incentive for consumers to wait for Black Friday if they find a better deal earlier.

Christmas is a time of giving but, as far as retailers are concerned, it isn't necessarily a time of giving away. Yet on Saturday, some U.K.-based retailers were aghast as their wares were suddenly being sold on Amazon.com for one penny. No, this wasn't an attempt by Amazon to wipe out a recalcitrant book publisher or diaper maker. Instead, it was an alleged glitch that affected some of those on Amazon's Marketplace who used the Repricer Express function.

Back in the fall, reports were rampant that Amazon.com would open a physical store in midtown Manhattan in time for the holiday rush. The online giant had rented space across from the Empire State Building, according to reports, with plans to open a space that would double as a store and mini depot where select orders could be picked up and returned. But with the holiday season in full-swing, there's no Amazon storefront on W. 34th St. — and it doesn't appear any is likely in the near future. 

Amazon.com, pushing hard to pick up more business during the holiday season, wants you to make a deal. Taking a page from the likes of eBay and Priceline, Amazon is introducing a new dutch auction-style feature. Users can now "Make an Offer" on a product, suggesting a lower price to the vendor than the one listed on Amazon. Amazon is rolling this out across about 150,000 items initially and says that the plan will be to extend this to "hundreds of thousands of items" by 2015.

Women's apparel retailer bebe is the latest big-name store to fall victim to a breach exposing customers’ credit and debit card information. bebe detected suspicious activity in its in-store payment processing system between Nov. 8 and Nov. 26, the retailer said Friday. Hackers could have accessed cardholder names, account numbers, expiration dates and verification codes for customers who shopped in-store during that period. Online and mobile purchasers weren't affected in the breach.

Staples announced last week the launch of its new online platform that will better connect suppliers and customers. Staples Exchange is an option that enables vendors to sell their products directly through the company's e-commerce channels, according to a company news release. Because Staples doesn't require its vendors to use a third party to sell on Staples.com, suppliers can upload products and sell directly to customers without extra cost. The option also allows sellers access to real-time alerts and self-service tools for inventory management.

To capture a share of the growing online sales this holiday season, independent retailers have to take what they know about great experiences in-store and apply that to the digital world. Ready to get started? Here are a few tips for creating an online store that will inspire consumers to convert from browsers to buyers this holiday season.