
E-Commerce

Amazon.com's Health & Beauty category has turned ugly for third-party sellers, and some say it's risky to sell in the category. In October, we wrote about the challenges sellers faced in selling cosmetics and certain beauty products, with Amazon banning sellers from listing many name brands. This month, some sellers say Amazon is again cracking down in Health & Beauty. In one discussion thread, a seller said Amazon had recently been removing many, many products in the health section for being "prescription," including Visine, Nyquil, Afrin, generic Benadryl and Gyne-Lotrimin.
The field of players offering same-day delivery of orders placed online is getting increasingly crowded. But only a handful are likely to succeed in wringing a profit from this high-cost service. Many of the biggest names in e-commerce have already launched some form of same-day or expedited delivery, including Amazon Fresh, eBay Now, Uber Rush and Google Shopping Express. In addition, a number of smaller entities are trying to squeeze into service niches that will allow them to survive among the giants.
Is that television-size box of graham crackers at Costco really a better deal than a standard box at Wal-Mart? Soon, online consumers won't have to do the math to figure it out. Some of the country's largest supermarkets and drugstores have agreed to display prices by unit of measurement, as well as by item, on their websites and mobile apps, to help shoppers slice though the confusion that sometimes arises from different packaging and discounts. Major retailers including Wal-Mart, CVS and Costco have agreed to the deal.
With immodest pride, Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce powerhouse, announced it would launch 11Main.com. This will be the first time American customers will be able to buy merchandise from an Alibaba affiliate. The site is now in a beta stage and will soon open its doors to customers. The offerings will be strong competition to Amazon.com and eBay. According to reports the site will offer "hundreds of thousands of products" from 1,000 to 2,000 upscale specialty fashion shops for women, men and children.
How has Joyus, the San Francisco-based video shopping platform startup that's raised more than $19 million in funding, been able to realize success from its use of online video? Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, chairman and founder of Joyus, explained how via three lessons during her keynote presentation at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago yesterday.
Amazon.com has found a new place to sell and it doesn't have anything to do with books, DVDs or physical products. Later this year, the Seattle company will dive into local services, launching a marketplace that will connect regional professionals and businesses to consumers who could need anything from vocal lessons to a kitchen remodel. The company will unveil the new development, which was first reported by Reuters, on a city-by-city basis, similar to what's being done for its grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
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.
Click here to view this webinar.
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.