E-Commerce

Staples continued its mission of reinvention on Monday with news that it's acquired PNI Digital Media, a provider of personalization software for retailers. Retailers can use PNI's SaaS product online, through mobile devices or from in-store kiosks, offering retailers a turnkey personalization service where consumers can custom design products ranging from business cards to wedding invitations. While Staples ranks high on the list of the world's largest internet retailers, the company's brick-and-mortar stores have been battling the showrooming fight along with the rest of the retail industry.

Online marketplaces are a considerable accelerator of e-commerce adoption around the world. Marketplaces make it easy to buy online by offering a variety of products and deals, storing payment and shipping information, providing easy mobile access via apps, and allowing buyers to read and compare product reviews for multiple retailers.

Force Factor, a sports nutrition brand founded in 2009 by two Harvard University rowers, launched a display advertising campaign in April for its Test X180 Ignite supplement. The campaign has delivered a clickthrough rate (CTR) of 0.86 percent, which is more than eight times above the industry standard. The ad, a 300x250 above-the-fold placement, runs across SportingNews.com, a top 10 U.S. sports site that reaches millions of unique sports fans daily.

Publishing content is a unique breed of marketing and promotion. Unlike traditional means such as banner ads, live events, offers, etc., content marketing isn't directly promotional. Rather, it's about coming up with content that informs, entertains or inspires your audience. So how exactly can you use content marketing to your advantage? Below are a few best practices and examples of what you can do to take your e-commerce content marketing to the next level:
 

Shopping for a smartwatch or other wearable gadget? You may want to head over to Amazon.com. Unveiled on Tuesday, the retail giant has opened a new store dedicated to wearable tech products. The Wearable Technology store sells smartwatches, activity trackers, healthcare devices, wearable cameras, and even wearable trackers for the family cat or dog. The store is set up just like other Amazon stores. You can browse the virtual shelves to discover new products or search for a specific item.

Is a 20-year honeymoon coming to an end? When it comes to suspending disbelief about a lack of profits — the only thing that ultimately matters when it comes to stock valuation — Amazon.com has been in a class of its own. Its price-to-earnings ratio, a common measure of stock valuation, has at various times topped 3,000 (the market average is about 18), and that's when it actually has had a profit. Investors never seemed to care. 

eBay has already disrupted local and person-to-person commerce, now it wants to literally bring garage sales online. The e-commerce company was recently granted a patent for "On-Line Garage Sale." "This application relates generally to garage sales, and more specifically to systems and methods for online listings of items in a garage sale. The application also relates generally to the creation and presentation of garage sale listings using a portable electronic device." eBay filed the patent in 2012. eBay explains that sellers can enjoy "parallel publicity" and additional exposure to potential buyers by including garage sale items in mainstream online offerings.

Wal-Mart has unveiled a new store-to-store money transfer service launching later this month, aimed at helping its customers send cash to loved ones and directly competing with outfits like Western Union. The new service will also compete with Wal-Mart's current in-store money transfer service, operated by MoneyGram, fueling speculation over the future of its contract. "Walmart-2-Walmart" will be operated by Ria Financial Services, a subsidiary of electronic payments company Euronet. It'll allow shoppers to transfer money to and from 4,000 Wal-Mart stores nationwide for up to 50 percent less than competitors, according to research by the retailer.

This past holiday season was unfavorable for many online retailers that struggled to deliver orders in time for Christmas, provided subpar customer support, faced inventory and out-of-stock issues, and, at times, even delivered the wrong product. Website functionality also fell short as a large portion of online retailers’ shopping experiences consisted of outdated websites with limited functionality, slow load times and insufficient product details. This caused frustration and disappointment among consumers, driving them to shop at brick-and-mortar retailers. Online retailers need to take action to enhance customer satisfaction. Here are three steps e-merchants can take to solve some of the most common online shopping experience mishaps:  

eBay, Etsy, PayPal and others had advice for online merchants who are worried about the Heartbleed bug. A bug in a system used by many e-commerce sites that was supposed to encrypt data such as passwords and credit card numbers means sites were vulnerable for the past two years, and by all accounts, it's a disaster of massive proportions. Small sellers shouldn't assume the problem will go away by itself, according to one vendor. Z-Firm's Rafael Zimberoff said it's urgent that every e-commerce seller who has an open source or PHP-based system on their website take action immediately.