E-Commerce

Local retailers are heading to Beacon Hill in Boston today as part of a new fight to force e-commerce sites like Amazon, Overstock and Zappos to collect sales tax from local residents.

David Granger, editor and chief of Esquire, told a crowd at the Publishing Business Conference & Expo that the magazine is readying an online retail site called Clad. According to eMedia, the site will offer men's clothing and attempt to bridge the gap between the pages of the magazine and shopping. 

Video game retail giant GameStop has opened up a store to sell games on its Facebook fan page. The store will sell physical games that users can receive in the mail or pick up at a local store. The move is part of GameStop’s strategy to stay relevant in the age of digital distribution of video games, since it doesn’t want to go the way of the now defunct Hollywood Video and Tower Records chains.

Startup internet company GroopEase has announced the launch of its group-buying, members-only music website, offering daily deals on digital albums featuring emerging independent bands and solo artists.

Overstock.com has long opposed state laws designed to force out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax merely for using in-state ad services. The company has mounted court challenges, citing Supreme Court decisions rendering these laws unconstitutional. It also has cut ties with local advertisers in all four states passing these laws.

Omaha Steaks announced the launch of its new mobile website. Developed in-house, the new mobile site is designed to make it convenient for users to shop Omaha Steaks from a variety of mobile devices including the iPhone, Droid and BlackBerry operating systems.

Every retailer understands that direct mail can't do it all. Any campaign needs the other channels to work together, to some extent — and ideally on the same page. While the closely coordinated direct mail and email campaigns are both popular and successful today, perhaps the most effective demonstration of the offline-online marriage are personalized URL (PURL) campaigns.

Compete released its ranking of the top 50 websites for February 2011. As expected, the number of site visits declined across Compete’s top 250 sites for February, the shortest month of the year.

Google launched a third generation of its commerce search tool that is specifically designed for retailers' e-commerce websites. Note that Google Commerce Search is not geared for the small seller — pricing starts at $25,000 per year and is based on the number of product SKUs and number of search queries.

Vogue and Elle have long influenced what image-conscious consumers buy. Now, in a bid to reverse flagging sales and stay relevant, fashion magazines may sell the products they feature in their articles.