E-Commerce

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.

While some have their shopping completed and presents wrapped under the tree, the holiday shopping season isn't over yet. There are a few critical shopping days remaining that savvy online retailers can take advantage of by following these tips:

eBay is partnering with three major retailers to get online shoppers to also buy at brick-and-mortar stores. The partnership is an obvious comeback to last weekend’s promotion by Amazon, which motivated consumers to browse in a retail store — but to walk out empty-handed.

The final six weeks of the year — Thanksgiving through Dec. 31 — are the most important for retailers, as robust sales can result in many closing their books in the black. For those who depend on an e-commerce site to deliver added holiday revenue throughout the season, ensuring that your site continues to operate effectively is of the utmost importance.

Millions of Americans are turning to Amazon.com to put the finishing touches on their holiday shopping. But don’t count the celebrity super couple of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie among the throngs browsing the virtual aisles of Amazon.

eBay’s PayPal business is aiming to challenge Groupon and LivingSocial in the market for online daily deals. It plans to start offering coupons tailored to users’ buying habits and mobile phone locations.

Ann Taylor may be better known as your mother's favorite store than your own, but thanks to a new campaign it looks set to become a fashion destination for those in their 20s too. The online lookbook takes its lead from street style blogs like Scott Schumann's Sartorialist and Jak and Jill, featuring girls from universities across the U.S. wearing the label's latest collections.

Any last-minute efforts to prepare and strategize can make a real impact this holiday season, but perhaps the most important area to focus on is payments. Simply put, a business can’t make money if it can’t accept money. It’s important that the payment experience be efficient, secure and reliable for both the customer and the merchant. Here are some easy ways to prepare for the holidays:

GfK's Future Buy research reveals that the online shopping experience is resonating more with consumers than the in-store experience. The study found that consumers rate online shopping significantly higher for nearly all attributes that result in a winning experience. In fact, there's not a single major attribute where the in-store experience is rated higher than online. One can surmise that retailers first priority should be to deliver the same shopping experience in-store as they are online.

Best Buy announced that its third-quarter net income fell 29 percent to $154 million from $217 million in the year-ago period, worse than analysts had expected. The company had 20 percent growth in online sales and 9 percent growth in mobile phone revenue in the United States, along with brisk sales in tablets, appliances, e-readers and movies.