E-Commerce

Baynote surveyed 500 U.S. shoppers about their online experience this holiday season. Shoppers provided their thoughts on online retailers’ behavioral retargeting and privacy practices, mobile and social features, offers and promotions, and product merchandising approaches.

Luxury marketers have been given an around-the-clock opportunity to sell, as more and more affluent shoppers are heading online through computers and increasingly via mobile device to make purchases.

Some may say 2010 was the year of the "flash-sale" site. Given the economic climate, it's no surprise these sites caught on — the majority of them offer members limited-time deals at drastically discounted prices. In fact, the three most visited flash-sale sites, Hautelook.com, Gilt.com and ideeli.com, all saw at least a 60 percent increase in traffic per month compared to 2009, one study found. And as of press time, Gilt Groupe was on track to hit $450 million in revenue for 2010.

As two out of nearly 50 retailers participating in Click It To Gift It Day, Staples and CHEFS relied on the power of the internet and gift cards to squeeze every dollar possible out of the busy holiday shopping season.

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and retailers are hoping consumers are using the old "How much does he love me? Let me count the ways" saying as motivation for earning brownie points with their loved one by purchasing Valentine's Day gifts this year.

There are many holy grails in online commerce, but one that's frustrated executives and engineers alike is how to produce better recommendation algorithms. Produce better recommendations, and you'll sell more stuff.

Canadian shoppers have a new friend on Facebook, as the world's largest social network launched Facebook Deals in Canada, bringing its location-based marketing technology north of the border.

Beyond Commerce, a multifaceted media hub for high-traffic web properties, announced the launch of a new daily-deal website, pricecrusher.com. The site will offer one daily deal each day. Each item will be sold to customers at deeply discounted prices. 

Urban Outfitters will debut a wedding brand called BHLDN on Valentine's Day. BHLDN's first collection will be offered through its online boutique, www.bhldn.com. The collection will bring together a curated selection of heirloom-quality wedding gowns, bridesmaid frocks, party dresses, assorted jewelry, headpieces, footwear and lingerie.

Amazon reported a 36 percent surge in fourth-quarter sales but still fell short of Wall Street's estimates, sending shares of its pricey stock sharply lower in after-hours trading. Amazon reported its first-ever quarter with more than $10 billion in sales; however, expectations were high as the company was seen benefiting from consumers increasing the number of purchases made over the Internet this holiday season.