E-Commerce

Mobile marketing is the hottest buzzword around these days. With consumers using their smartphones to do just about everything, putting your marketing message in their pocket is clearly a good idea. But any time you’re talking about mobile, privacy issues raise their heads. While consumers have clearly shown their passion for discounts and coupons, some of them have concerns about sharing their location in order to get location-based deals sent to their phones.

Daily-deal site BuyWithMe laid off half its staff on Oct. 19, raising questions about its future as market leader Groupon prepares for its initial public offering.

Barnes & Noble said it's expanded its BN.com Marketplace, adding over 1 million new products to the catalog. The retailer also announced online third-party partnerships with Wayfair.com, Right Start, UnbeatableSale.com, School Specialty, Abe’s of Maine, Delivery Agent and more.

Neiman Marcus is known for the outrageously beautiful and unique merchandise showcased in its annual Christmas Book. For this holiday season, Google Catalogs has collaborated with Neiman Marcus to offer you a free, browsable copy of this year’s Christmas Book.

This holiday season could be one of the biggest mobile commerce events yet, with more people turning to their smartphones or tablets to buy gifts this year than ever before. eBay has already seen a ton of traffic from mobile phone usage, and is expecting even more this holiday season.

Men seeking the casual shoe, slider or flip-flop can now build their own custom shoe online at Urshuz.com. Consumers can purchase their customized “shuz” online and have them delivered. They simply choose from 23 styles and a sole with seven color options, add them to their cart and away they go.

The flash-sale business has lost some of its flash, forcing online luxury clothing merchants such as Gilt Groupe, ideeli and Rue La La to radically change their business models.

Walt Disney apologized to customers after demand for limited editions of its princess dolls crashed the Disney Store website. More than 1,200 Facebook users posted comments when the company acknowledged that the site was “extremely busy” and that it “won’t allow such high volume to check out simultaneously.”

The furor erupted when the company put the last five models in its Disney Princess Designer Doll Collection for sale on its website for $59.50 each. All of the dolls — the characters Tiana, Jasmine, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas — sold out the same day, the company said.

Ikea is teaming up with YouTube to bring us one step closer to never having to participate in reality. By accessing a customer's Facebook account, Ikea U.K.'s YouTube app uses social media information to build "everything you need to be happy in bed."

E-commerce shipping is an increasingly busy two-way street. In addition to its delivery strengths, the U.S. Postal Service is making sure it's the preferred shipper for packages traveling the returns lane as well.