E-Commerce

Compete released its ranking of the top 250 websites for April 2011. Notable changes during the month included NYTimes.com, which saw unique visitors decline during its first full month behind a paywall. Elsewhere on the list, daily-deal sites thrived and video site Ustream.tv climbed more than 200 spots.

There's been a lot of grumbling lately about Groupon and its clones because, frankly, how many half-price Brazilian waxes and 60 percent off yoga classes does the world need? The daily-deals market feels totally oversaturated.

WaterSkis.com announced it's launched Wakeboards.com, officially allowing both new and experienced wakeboarders the opportunity to order top quality equipment and start catching big air.

For a company best known at its inception as the "Netflix of textbooks," online textbook rental company Chegg has spent the last four years building relationships with college-aged consumers through an ever-expanding array of services. 

For consumers who use smartphones or tablets to manage their daily lives, they expect a certain level of interaction. Images and content are expected to be dynamic and able to be expanded or manipulated at will. This desire contrasts sharply to the model of online advertising that remains a flat and static image combined with text. Interactive online ads are a dynamic alternative that are improving in quality at a rapid pace, moving towards custom-produced commercials that give consumers access to the right product in less time.

Overstock.com today announced that it will award free Club O accounts ($20 value) preloaded with $10 in Club O Reward dollars to top customers in Connecticut, where the company canceled ad contracts because of the recently passed sales tax law.

Glenn Beck may not be the first name that jumps to mind when you think of discount deals on expensive chocolate ... yet. Beck and company announced that they're getting into the e-commerce discount business with a new website called Markdown.com.

Potentially helping Groupon break free of email inboxes, the deal giant is reportedly in partnership talks with location-based leader Foursquare. The arrangement is likely to see Groupon deals targeted to Foursquare users' check-ins, according to multiple sources cited by All Things D.

Newegg Inc., the largest tech-focused pure-play online retailer, announced the official opening of its first-ever "Will-Call" pickup location. Customers of Newegg.com and NeweggBusiness in the Los Angeles area now have the opportunity to save time and money by ordering online and then picking up their orders directly from the Newegg warehouse.

Not only is layaway again being embraced by brick-and-mortar retailers, online merchants are also getting into the act, and everything from computers to cruises are now only a mouse click away.