E-Commerce

As of March 10, an estimated 254 applicants had registered their intent to apply for generic top-level domains (gTLDs) or so-called dot-brands, each one having up to 50 new gTLDs, although "the actual number of new gTLDs for which application will be made is still unknown," according to an official advisory.

An Office of Fair Trading investigation has found Groupon guilty of "widespread" breaches of consumer protection laws, relating to issues including the pricing, advertising and unfair terms attached to its daily deals.

Daily-deals darling Fab.com announced that it's sold 1 million items and already hit 3 million users in the last nine months. The company does fall into the tired category of daily deals, but it's quickly finding a place in the hearts of online shoppers. Fab's deal curators find truly interesting items that make you think, "Oh, so that's what my life could look like if I was really cool." Chief Executive Jason Goldberg expects the company to continue growing rapidly.

Today Amazon is offering $10 gift cards to its site for $5 through its daily-deal website AmazonLocal in a bid to draw consumers to the nine-month-old subsidiary. 

Floors Direct announced the launch of a new national retail website, floorsdirect.com.au, the first one-stop timber flooring store for online consumers in Australia. The new website enables consumers to review timber flooring products, compare pricing, and order and pay online from the convenience of their home or business.

NBC's new talent contest "Fashion Star" is a hit with the retailers it plugs, but not so much with the viewing public. The much-hyped premiere drew just 4.6 million prime-time viewers, but sales of the night's winning fashions soared.

As part of the launch of her cookbook, "My Father's Daughter," actress and GOOP newsletter publisher Gwyneth Paltrow partnered with home decor flash-sales website One Kings Lane to curate a one-day sale. Prior to the sale, Paltrow hosted an A-list dinner party where she cooked recipes from her book for guests like actress Cameron Diaz and chef Mario Batali.

The Greenbrier, an award-winning resort located in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, has relaunched its e-commerce site, The Greenbrier Store. The main goals of the redesign were to improve the overall visual presentation and flexibility of the online platform to provide customers with a more user-friendly shopping experience.

Steve Schlecht, CEO of Duluth Trading Company, describes himself as an uncanny merchant. Early on he realized that his company isn't just a cataloger, but a web-based and multichannel retailer. He didn't view the digital world as an add-on, but as a way to fundamentally improve his business model in terms of costs and customer benefits. 

Retail e-commerce sales continued to skyrocket in 2011. While seemingly great news for retailers, it does create additional inefficiencies in a fulfillment system and drive up operational costs. To prevent those costs from cutting into revenue, retailers need to make sure they're running as efficiently as possible. One way to improve fulfillment efficiency is through accurate contact data.