E-Commerce

In case you haven’t noticed the changes taking place in retail stores across the country, I'm here to report that orange is out and red and green are in. That’s right, the holiday season has officially begun. From tinsel to snowflakes, stores are already decked out in their holiday finest hoping to entice shoppers to open their wallets and spread some cheer.

The promise of convenience and cost savings online will bring more consumers than ever to shop on the web for the holidays, spending a greater share of their gift budget there than they have in previous years, according to a new forecast by eMarketer.

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."

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 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.

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.