E-Commerce

In a surprising twist, older consumers plan on doing more shopping online this holiday season than younger consumers, according to a new study of consumer holiday online shopping plans from Velaro, a provider of live chat software. In addition, lower-middle class households plan on doing the most online shopping. In a survey of 10,012 consumers, 53 percent of respondents plan on doing at least 25 percent of their holiday shopping online with the older demographic (ages 55-64) planning on doing the most holiday shopping on the web.

As the third screen after the PC and phone, the tablet is quickly gaining ground as a shopping device. Its use is very different from the smartphone, however. "Smartphones are used a lot for showrooming, comparing prices and pre-buying research, but their conversion rates are usually very low," says François Gaumond. "On the other end, not only is tablet traffic growing fast, but conversion rates on tablets are usually higher than on PCs — and much higher than on smartphones."

The average guy can't swing a dead lolcat on the internet these days without hitting an e-commerce site touting made-to-measure or otherwise customized-in-some-way dress shirts, suits or trousers. Want a nice-looking button-down, fresh suit or pair of slacks in just the right size? If you're a guy, no problem. All you need are a few standard measurements and you're clicks away from, say, a crisp new shirt from Blank Label, a three-piece suit from Indochino or a pair of wool dress pants from Modern Tailor, among many other choices.

Amazon.com's high fashion push continues. The e-tailer announced that it's leased a 40,000 square-foot space in what it's describing as the "emerging" neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to shoot product images for Amazon Fashion and the company's two other apparel sites, Shopbop andMyHabit. According to WWD, the idea behind a New York outpost is to streamline the process of on-model photography for the sites and introduce additional online editorial content for Shopbop and MyHabit.

Boding well for the holiday season, new data shows that online retail shopping remained strong in the third quarter of the year. Year-over-year, online retail spending increased 15 percent to $41.9 billion in the third quarter, according to new estimates from comScore. That represented the 12th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth, and eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said Wednesday.

Amazon.com announced the launch of Amazon Wine, a marketplace offering consumers more than a thousand wines crafted by wineries around the country. The new store features easy-to-use shopping tools to help consumers explore great wines, while also offering access to rich details directly from winemakers, such as tasting notes, recommended food pairings and total case production, according to a company press release.

For more than a decade, Amazon.com has carved out a niche for itself as the online shopping network for every niche. Since making everything available would be an impossible task even for the retail giant, Amazon has a Pro Merchant program for small businesses. In return for padding the enormous marketplace with even more wares, sellers get to ride the coattails of Amazon's search engine optimization. While the relationship seems symbiotic, the trouble occurs when sellers attempt to leave Amazon. When that happens, for whatever reason, Pro Merchants' empty storefronts remain open.

dots, the fashion specialty apparel retailer with 420 stores located in 28 states, announced the launch of the company's new e-commerce website. The new site went live yesterday. Complementing its brick-and-mortar business, the e-commerce site will provide consumers accessibility to dots’ fashions anywhere, anytime, 24/7.

Occupy Sandy isn't getting married. But it would like a gift all the same. The volunteer group — an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street focused on helping victims of the storm — is using an especially clever hack of an existing system, Amazon.com's gift registry service. Those displaced by the storm, the group realized, need blankets, flashlights, hygiene products. They need a bunch of things that are orderable — with that famous one-click efficiency — through Amazon.

It's more important than ever for businesses to be "holiday ready" in multiple digital channels this season. This survey and infographic from LivePerson reveals that today's consumer wants an optimized experience wherever they're connected with brands.