E-Commerce

China's largest e-commerce company is making its first appearance in the U.S. with the debut of 11Main.com, an invite-only online marketplace that showcases small business retailers. Industry watchers will be paying close attention since 11 Main is owned by Alibaba, the e-commerce giant in China that filed for an initial public offering in the U.S. in May. Bigger than Amazon and eBay combined, Alibaba had

A mere five years ago, the idea of an online retailer opening a physical location would have seemed to be strategic lunacy. The rationale has been pretty straightforward: Why would an online retailer forgo its primary differentiators (i.e., the ability to be nimble and cost conscious without the burden of a physical store, employees and suboptimal inventory management)? While that question may not be so surprising anymore, the response from historically online-only retailers has raised eyebrows.

By 2017, 50 percent of all U.S. retail sales will be omnichannel. Enabling agile commerce is table stakes for your business. But who will drive these initiatives? Research shows that retailers expect the CFO to spearhead e-commerce. So, how will you demonstrate the return on investment of omnichannel fulfillment to your CFO? Sign up for this informative webinar and learn how to gain your CFO's endorsement on implementing industry-leading omnichannel initiatives that blend the best of online technology with offline fulfillment. You'll learn how to:

• leverage intelligent order routing logic;
• optimize your return policies and procedures; and
• prioritize financial sales attribution.

Upscale department store Nordstrom is reportedly looking for potential buyers for its private-label credit card portfolio. Joining fellow retailers Macy's and Target in unloading namesake store credit cards to banks, Nordstrom announced May 15 it will work with Goldman Sachs and Guggenheim Securities to search for a financial partner for its $2 billion credit card receivables, according to a Bloomberg News report. Macy's (under its then-parent Federated Department Stores) sold its credit card portfolio to Citigroup in 2005, and Target closed its credit card portfolio sale with TD Bank Group last year.

eBay said Friday that it has no immediate plans to compensate its customers or offer them free credit monitoring after news surfaced that hackers had gained access to about 145 million of its users’ records earlier this month. eBay is being probed by at least three states for the incident. The announcement comes after New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman urged eBay to provide free credit-monitoring services to customers impacted by the breach.

Last week, Arcadia Group CEO Sir Philip Green announced that he had taken a 25 percent stake in Mysale.com, an Australian flash-sales site aiming to reach revenues of about $300 million this year. "[It's a] very, very interesting space. I like the business model, and the reverse season," Green told Women's Wear Daily. The site owns only

In the ongoing retail war of brick vs. click, subscription ordering is now a key part of the strategy to grow e-commerce sales. Few consumers enjoy shopping for basic household items such as laundry detergent, toothpaste and vitamins, but everyone has to do it, and do it regularly. Retailers of all kinds are hoping to seize the opportunity to make shopping for consumables more convenient — and win the consumer over and over and over again as a result.

eBay issued a notice on its websites asking users to change their passwords, but took down the message a short time later without explanation. The message, on its PayPal online payment unit's press and community website pages, didn't say why passwords needed to be changed. eBay and PayPal representatives weren't immediately available for comment on the notice issued at 1:30 a.m. ET, which was previously reported by tech blog Engadget. The message headline was "eBay Inc. To Ask All eBay Users To Change Passwords," but had no other information other than the words "place holder text."

Marc Jacobs Beauty has launched an e-commerce website featuring more than 150 products in the Marc Jacobs Beauty collection, as well as exclusive access to limited-edition products. The site was developed with responsive design, and showcases a modern center navigation, high-definition product shots with zoom capability and true-to-life product swatches. Users are encouraged to engage in the product ratings and reviews, while checking out content such as the how-to videos and sketches and notes from Jacobs himself, which reveal behind-the-scenes insight into the creative process behind product designs. The site also has shopping capability on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

For years, retailers have put most of their stock in Generation X, people in their mid-30s and mid-40s. But consumer demographics in America are changing rapidly, and major retailers are