Amazon.com

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, said Tuesday that he will introduce an online privacy bill that will create standards for how consumer data is collected and used for marketing.

For patent lawyers, Bilski v. Kappos was the most eagerly anticipated Supreme Court decision in years — a decision on the patentability of business methods, the primary type of patent asserted against direct marketers that operate e–commerce websites. Unfortunately, when the Supreme Court finally issued its decision at the end of June, Bilski turned out to be this year’s Waterworld.

Online fashion shopping sites like Gilt Groupe and Rue La La have been a hit with women since launching over the last three years. A new push to get men to shop in these web boutiques is proving more difficult.

The mobile Web can augment the in-store shopping experience as many consumers check and compare competitors’ products and prices as they actually peruse store aisles and contemplate purchases. This was a key finding in Compuware Gomez Mobile Benchmark Review of May 2010.

Amazon.com Inc. has launched a grocery website in Britain.Customers will have the option of bulk-buying items, a well as niche products like ethnic, kosher and vegan foods.Amazon already sells groceries online in the United States and has recently launched in Germany.Market research firm IGD forecasted that online sales of groceries will almost double to $11 billion by 2014.

Borders Group has launched its first e-bookstore. The company said its goal with the new store and e-reader is to take 17% of the electronic book market by next July. Amazon has the Kindle e-reader and Barnes & Noble has the Nook, and all the players are cutting prices to lure shoppers.Borders was later to this market than its rivals but said it took time to craft its strategy, which rests on selling books that can be used across multiple platforms rather than just one device.

1. Online retail growth in the context of overall retail and Amazon.com. Online sales today far outperform retail stores, and they continue to be a bright spot in the industry and a growth driver in retail overall. But retailers should also think about the web's impact on offline sales. "Looking at the impact the web has on offline sales makes you think about things differently, and makes you think about the fact that online sales are just the tip of the iceberg," Silverman said.

PROBLEM: ElectricShopping.com, a London-based online retailer of electronic appliances and accessories, wanted to increase the conversion rate on its website while reducing bounces. SOLUTION: Implemented an onsite comparative pricing tool to prove to consumers that its prices were the lowest. RESULTS: Sales increased in last year's fourth quarter after the tool's launch, with the website's conversion rate up 18.7 percent and bounce rate down 7.2 percent.

A request by the North Carolina Department of Revenue for personally identifiable Amazon.com customer data that could be linked to purchases is unconstitutional because it violates Internet users' rights to privacy and free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. The ACLU, on behalf of seven Amazon customers, has intervened in a lawsuit that Amazon filed in April over an information request from the North Carolina Department of Revenue for all the purchase records of customers with a North Carolina shipping address since August 2003, as part of a tax audit.

As Best Buy faces heightened competition from rivals Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, the largest U.S. electronics retailer is confronting a longstanding disadvantage: fewer women shoppers. Best Buy's customers and worker are overwhelmingly male, a vestige from its days as a seller of speakers and stereo equipment. While Best Buy estimated earlier this year that it commanded roughly 22 percent of U.S. consumer electronics sales, its share of sales to women was just 16 percent, and only 31 percent of store workers are women. Now, the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer is trying to bridge its gender gap.