E-Commerce

RadioShack is giving shoppers the power to name their own deals with an interactive application on its e-commerce site where consumers can select the product and pricing, vote on and share the hot deals. On Nov. 27, consumers can redeem a limited number of coupon codes for "Name Your Deal" products at reduced prices. In addition, RadioShack has created holiday "Idea Centers" in its stores, featuring instructions cards for how to create some holiday fun using products from the surrounding shelves. 

Similar to showrooming at physical stores, consumers are shopping at some websites, but then going to other sites to make a purchase at a cheaper price. That's the view of John McCarvel, president and CEO of Crocs, in explaining why internet sales in the Americas region fell 32.8 percent in the third quarter. "We're certainly pleased to see that on Amazon.com in July, 23 of the top 100 styles sold were Crocs," McCarvel said on a conference call. "However, we believe we're seeing some of the same showrooming challenges impacting Crocs' direct growth of our own already significant e-commerce business."

China's Singles Day is a strange little holiday created in the '90s by university students who thought the date 11/11 looked like four solitary stick figures. Somehow, it's evolved into the country's largest e-commerce shopping event, with Western brands eager to cash in. And for good reason: Last year's Nov. 11 was so big the transactions overloaded banks, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba logged $3 billion in sales — two times what U.S. retailers achieved on Cyber Monday. China's e-tailing fest exploded out of nowhere. Alibaba launched the holiday just five years ago with 27 brands.

Global online retailer Modnique launched a responsive web design (RWD) version of its website this past September in an effort to optimize the experience of visitors using screen sizes as small as the iPhone and as large as 36-inch monitors. Here's a look at the brand's experience with RWD. 

In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd check in with North Mankato, Minn.-based HalloweenCostumes.com, a leading online Halloween costume destination, to see how it was faring this season. HalloweenCostumes.com was started 10 years ago out of a garage; today it receives hundreds of thousands of costume orders during the Halloween season. The company attributes its growth and success to several factors, including leveraging scalable technology from partners such as PayPal, Google and Amazon.com.

Retailers typically focus on improving the online customer experience through personalization, omnichannel integration, rewards programs and other incentives, but as Amazon, Google and Nasdaq demonstrated, none of the bells and whistles matter if your site is unavailable. Consumers today expect 100 percent availability, so during and after any outage, organizations typically have two questions top of mind: One, what caused the outage and two, what did the outage cost?

Target is getting ready for the holidays with a big multichannel push that includes expanding its in-store pick-up program for products ordered online to all of its U.S. stores by Nov. 1 — a service that's now available in about half of the chain's locations. Target will run an ad campaign Dec. 1 through Dec. 3 that promotes deals during Cyber Monday and the rest of Cyber week. Target's overall holiday campaign, themed "My Kind Of Holiday," will extend across all channels, including broadcast, radio, in-store, catalogs, digital and social media.

The leading trade group representing the retail industry lauded a bill introduced in Congress this week that would seek to curb frivolous but costly litigation targeting patent holders, a blight the National Retail Federation says is a growing problem for its members. The Innovation Act, backed by Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, would provide for numerous reforms to rein in abusive lawsuits brought by entities that hold patents but don't use the covered intellectual property in any products or services. 

Amazon.com has raised its free shipping minimum order to $35. The change came after a decade of free shipping to U.S. addresses on a minimum order of $25 on Amazon's site. It took effect Tuesday, just ahead of the holiday shopping season, according to Amazon Spokeswoman Julie Law. Amazon now finds itself in the mid-range of major retailers that offer free shipping on online orders. Wal-Mart and Target offer free shipping on many purchases of over $50, while Best Buy's minimum order is $25. Earlier this year, Amazon warned that its shipping costs were going to increase during the holiday season.

For the typical e-commerce startup that's selling a physical product, shipping is often an afterthought. Compared to splashy marketing campaigns and new product features, shipping isn't exactly the sexiest topic. However, efficient shipping operations directly affect revenue and future growth, and companies that don't adhere to best practices run the risk of having increasing sales without raking in enough profits. Consider implementing these six tips: