E-Commerce

Whether web designers or developers choose to optimize images — and how they choose to optimize them — has been a longstanding area of opinion and debate. Optimizing images so that they render more quickly in the user's browser should be a priority for every site owner. There are a number of image optimization techniques — ranging from basic to advanced — that site owners can leverage. Here are six:

Ikea is infamous for its warehouse-size retail locations which are laid out like a maze, which leave consumers wandering around aimlessly for hours. I mean, who hasn't gotten lost in an Ikea? With its roots as a catalog brand, the company is getting back to direct selling — albeit in a different channel. Ikea's President and CEO Peter Agnefjail said in a conference call on Friday that the company is focusing heavily on making e-commerce a bigger part of its business.

Learn how savvy commerce marketers are delivering 1:1 marketing at massive scale with precise understanding the customer journey.

When you think of an e-commerce powerhouse, you probably wouldn't guess a 113-year-old retailer is at the forefront. But that's exactly where luxury retail chain Nordstrom is. Founded in 1901 as a simple shoe store, Nordstrom is transforming itself once again to expand beyond its brick-and-mortar origins. The company is embracing e-commerce and the strategy is paying off — and investors are taking notice. Nordstrom's stock has soared nearly 20 percent in the past year, outperforming the S&P 500 and its retail peers.

Sears found itself in hot water this week when online shoppers were outraged by a swastika ring being sold on its Marketplace website. The ring, which was posted to Sears.com by a third-party seller, drew a slew of social media criticism and prompted apologies from the retailer. 

Lauren Croke, director of web and e-commerce at luxury fashion brand Eileen Fisher, pointed to her company's collaborative atmosphere as the driver of its omnichannel success during a panel at Luxury Interactive yesterday in New York City.

U.S. warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale said it would open an online store in China using Alibaba Group's fast-growing Tmall online marketplace, entering the country's booming e-commerce market to combat slowing sales at home. Costco said the online store would provide customers in mainland China with both branded products, which would initially include food and healthcare goods, and also products under its Kirkland Signature private-label business.

For all but the most well capitalized young brands, opening physical retail stores is cost-prohibitive. With online sales of apparel and accessories growing faster than any other product category except consumer electronics, e-commerce offers emerging fashion labels a more attainable path to a lucrative direct-to-consumer retail channel. But building a standalone online store can also be a cost-intensive and technically daunting undertaking. Then, there's the

In September, Google made changes to its sitelinks search box, and some merchants are unhappy with the change. They say it's another way for Google to increase the money it makes from advertising. Google explains that with its sitelinks search box, people can reach the site owner's content more quickly from search results. For instance, if you want to find a video on Youtube, you might go to Google.com, enter a search for Youtube, click on the link, and then conduct the search on Youtube. The sitelinks search box removes that extra step. 

There's been a huge rise in subscription e-commerce companies that aim to redefine shopping. Some claim to eliminate the need to shop for clothing or to visit the drug store. In any case, these services allow you to put customers’ purchases on auto-pilot. Specifically, three models are gaining ground: discovering new products; automating commodities; and demoing products.