On Oct. 26, Sears made its local-only e-commerce move that would limit its displays to products sold by and available at the most local store. It would also display nonadvertised local sale items plus a preview of items slated to go on sale the following week.
E-Commerce
Amazon has become the 800-pound gorilla in e-commerce, but retailers of any size can capitalize on its powerful reach by selling on the Amazon.com platform. Diane Buzzeo, CEO of Ability Commerce, believes every online retailer should make Amazon a part of their selling strategy, and provides answers to the question, what are the five key things online merchants should know about selling on Amazon.com?
Amazon has made some big changes to its website in China including a new name and a new short URL. Formerly called “Joyo Amazon” after buying out Joyo.com seven years ago in order to enter China, the name has been simplified to just “Amazon.” The new Z.cn URL serves as an easy-to-remember shortcut to the ongoing Amazon.cn homepage.
An ominous bell is tolling for daily-deal sites. Groupon may be growing like kudzu, but it's losing money as more daily-deal sites like LivingSocial enter the marketplace. But don’t count out daily salemails yet. Daily-deal sites are recalibrating by offering a cache of products that drill down to a particular neighborhood, drum up repeat business and calculate metrics. What’s the real deal? Business owners can now design the right daily salemail to fit their brand experience.
Macy’s has launched a new online destination, called mBLOG, for fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle news and trends. Each day of the week is dedicated to a specific topic, and embedded e-commerce enables readers to purchase featured merchandise directly from macys.com.
When the first flakes of a snowstorm start falling in Philadelphia, it doesn't take nearby Home Depot stores long to position shovels and rock salt up near their front doors. At the same time, if a heat wave is blasting Phoenix, shoppers walking into their local Wal-Mart will be tempted to buy air conditioners, kiddie pools and slushy machines.
Online retailers have plenty to be joyous about this holiday season as new research shows companies are adjusting their holiday plans based on expected growth and strong demand from holiday shoppers.
Target confirmed that its website crashed for the second time in six weeks on Oct. 25, going down at approximately 12:50 p.m. EDT and then coming back up two hours later. Target.com also crashed on Sept. 13, after the retailer’s online introduction of its new line of Missoni apparel and items.
While many consumers remain focused on prestige pieces that will retain their worth, young consumers are racing to purchase "new luxury" accessories like high-priced handbags and shoes, according to a study just released by PM Digital, a New York-based digital marketing agency.
Bodymetrics, a London-based company with a thing for body scanning, has teamed up with PrimeSense to create a full, 3-D body scanner that could have a serious impact on online clothes shopping.