Amazon.com

Facebook commerce was a big topic of discussion by attendees and speakers at the 2011 ChannelAdvisor Catalyst Conference, which took place in Durham, North Carolina this week.

Upon learning of the changes that Amazon was making to its product categorization mapping last summer, Signature Styles was faced with a di-
lemma: Make the necessary adjustments to its Amazon data feed in-house, or contract the work out to a third-party provider.

Retailers must answer the call to make mobile shopping easier and more engaging or they risk getting disconnected from the majority of mobile device users. While 89.7 percent of the U.S. population aged 18 to 64 have mobile phones, only 49.1 percent are using their phones to shop, according to Arc Worldwide, the marketing services arm of advertising agency Leo Burnett.

It’s where teenagers go to hang out. It’s where they gossip. And it’s where more than half a billion people spend a lot of their time. No, it’s not the mall. It’s Facebook. So could the social network also be the place you go to shop?

Within three years of launching on Amazon.com through an in-house approach, FootSmart found product sales to be leveling off. A deep dive into the situation unveiled a number of critical issues the FootSmart team needed to resolve immediately. The company's inventory management, pricing, and customer service systems were not properly configured or integrated with Amazon.com, causing a myriad of channel performance problems.

Amazon began selling applications for the Google Android smartphone in its new "Appstore" just days after Apple filed a lawsuit claiming that the digital storefront infringes its "App Store" trademark.

E-commerce in Canada generally sucks. The selection is crappier on the Canadian equivalent of U.S.-based stores, shipping is more expensive and the overall experience is much worse than in the U.S. And now, Zappos is shutting down completely in Canada.

Tax-free shopping is under threat for many online shoppers as states facing widening budget gaps increasingly pressure Amazon and other internet retailers to start collecting sales taxes from their residents. Billions of dollars are at stake as a growing number of states look for ways to generate more revenue without violating a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits a state from forcing businesses to collect sales taxes unless the business has a physical presence, such as a store, in that state.

Millward Brown released a report entitled “Value-D: Balancing Desire and Price for Brand Success,” revealing that only 7 percent of consumers truly buy based on price alone.

Wal-Mart, Target and other large retailers are ratcheting up a political campaign to force Amazon to collect sales taxes, sensing opportunity in the budget crises gripping statehouses nationwide. The big-box stores are backing a coalition called the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which is leading efforts to change sales-tax laws in more than a dozen states including Texas and California.