E-Commerce

According to a new survey, merchants that have had positive experiences working with daily-deal providers like Groupon aren't flocking back to those services to sign up for more. What does that say about the daily-deal model? To investors, it suggests that it simply isn't sustainable, judging from the pummeling Groupon shares took on Jan. 3.

Employees with specialized skills that can help web retailers continue to drive higher customer retention rates and repeat business will be in big demand in 2012 and beyond, says one e-commerce recruiting specialist.

Customer experience analytics firm ForeSee released the results of its annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index, showing that after seven years spent jockeying for first place in the Index, Amazon and Netflix are headed in divergent directions.

comScore reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November through December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season to date, $35.3 billion has been spent online, marking a 15 percent increase vs. the corresponding days last year.

Some retailers have the practical policy that if the price advertised on their website for a product, that price will be matched in a physical store. Not so with Gap, apparently, as Consumerist reader Cara says she tried to get a price adjustment recently and was denied.

M&S Solutions, an e-commerce retailer of organic products, has introduced a new online store. "We're excited to start selling organic products online," said a managing member of M&S Solutions. "Through e-commerce and the boundless reach of the internet, we're now able to share our wonderful selection of products with everyone."

Shoppers spent 14 percent more online during the week ending Dec. 18, according to comScore. Online spending totaled $6.4 billion for the week, the most ever spent in one week. Shoppers have spent almost $32 billion online for the holiday season to date, a 15 percent increase from a year ago.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the convergence of retail and publishing and how media brands are hoping to replace lost advertising revenue by getting in on some e-commerce action. So when you see established media brands creeping onto your turf, one reaction is to try and further monetize your own website traffic by using some page real estate for display advertising. Before accepting advertising for your homepage, product pages or anywhere on your website, there’s some basic information you should know that will help you decide if getting into the advertising business is for you.

Dreams, a technology-driven, multichannel retailer focused on the licensed sports products industry, has launched Indiana University’s online merchandise store at www.indianauniversitystore.com. The site consists of an assortment of hard and soft goods, including apparel, headwear, gifts, novelties, home décor and collectibles. The site is supported by Dreams’ online marketing and proprietary e-commerce technology.

You know those holiday gift lists populating the media right now — e.g., top 10 gifts for dad, the kids and so on? In an ideal world, shoppers would be presented with the most perfect, on-target gift suggestions for all of their recipients every time they visited an e-commerce site. While retailers aren't quite at the point where they can read shoppers’ minds and extract items their loved ones will swoon over as soon as they come to their website, the process of personalizing the shopping experience, particularly during the holidays, can be much better.