E-Commerce

Nick Swinmurn, the founder of Zappos, has introduced a new social media startup that uses monetary incentives to get users to share clothing they've already purchased. RNKD (pronounced "ranked") is a new kind of social site that both rewards consumers and benefits brands.

Overstock.com announced that it will offer sitewide free shipping through Dec. 25. "Our mission is to save people money," said Overstock.com President Jonathan Johnson. "Offering free shipping during the holiday season is another way we help our customers save money on our already low priced products."

Wal-Mart has lower online prices on a selection of toys this month than Target’s website and Amazon, according to a Bloomberg Industries analysis. Prices for a group of about 80 toys are 1.8 percent higher at Target and 0.7 percent more expensive at Amazon.

Most retailers are well aware of the enormous benefit of selling products on Amazon.com. Far and away the most dominant e-commerce site, Amazon reported net sales of $10.88 billion in the third quarter, a 44 percent increase vs. the same period last year. Amazon is simply the most powerful selling tool for any online retailer — and its influence just continues to grow.

Wal-Mart competes with almost everyone in retail, but increasingly suppliers see the giant focused on a new and, to some, surprising rival: Amazon. Wal-Mart could use a bigger dose of what gave Amazon 44 percent top-line growth last quarter.

The vision for the SKLZ website, which receives more than 100,000 visitors a month, is to inspire athletes to develop their skills. To meet that vision, the retailer made a commitment to add videos to its site and drastically expand its library of training-related video content. SKLZ believed that if athletes could watch instructional videos that incorporate its products, then they'd be more likely to see SKLZ as a legitimate source for training.

Adidas closed down all its websites last week after what it called a “sophisticated and criminal cyber attack.” The company doesn’t believe that any consumer data was impacted, but plans to continue its investigation.

If an online shopper is using an iPad to browse retail sites, that shopper is likely to make more purchases and spend more money than someone using an Android device or a PC to shop online.

According to the Shop.org eHoliday Study, 43 percent of retailers cited product videos as a top investment in their holiday marketing budget. This investment in retail product videos not only signifies more retailers are accepting that consumers are influenced by product videos, but that they now expect to see video as part of the online shopping experience.

Online retail spending reached $36.3 billion for the third quarter, up 13 percent versus a year ago, according to comScore. This growth rate represented the eighth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.