E-Commerce

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Technology companies are largely considered resilient in natural disasters. When one server goes down, a redundant one across the country lights up to pick up the slack. And when employees can't make it to the office, they work remotely with a laptop and a broadband connection. But last week, superstorm Sandy proved that even virtual organizations have their kryptonite.

E-commerce's growth has been well documented. With competition over pricing and public awareness, having excellent customer service can set your e-commerce site apart from your competition. While online retailers may get customer service questions via email, consumers still prefer to pick up the phone to ask questions. Whether you choose to keep your customer service team in-house, use call-center software or outsource, make sure those on the phone understand service is the top priority.

How did Sandy treat you? Did it have a positive effect on your business? A negative effect? Did you have to close stores or hold off on deliveries? Let us know by going to Retail Online Integration's Facebook page to comment.