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Few segments of e-commerce have been more over-hyped, and more disappointing, than mobile commerce. Yankee Group mobile analyst Adam Zawel told the E-Commerce Times that companies have failed to convince consumers of the worth of m-commerce. "There needs to be a reason to make a purchase using yo...

An old-fashioned post-Thanksgiving shopping excursion to the malls raised several questions about online retail. Why doesn't e-commerce have more of a presence in the brick-and-mortar shopping world? Better yet, why are so many retailers failing to promote their Web sites in mass media?

Federated Department Stores said it will stop selling merchandise on its Bloomingdales.com Web site and will use the site instead as a "marketing site that supports the Bloomingdale's store brand." The change, effective February 1st, will result in the elimination of about 100 jobs and a charge o...

More than 50 million Americans took to the Web to shop during Thanksgiving week, with brick-and-click retailers continuing to gain market share, research firm Jupiter Media Metrix said in a new report. The 50.2 million online shoppers represented a 43 percent increase over the same week last year...

According to published reports, President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed into law a bill that renews the ban on key taxes related to the Internet and e-commerce. Bush reportedly said that the legislation would promote growth of the Internet, and that "holiday shoppers will not be burdened by ...

Shares of Internet marketplace firm FreeMarkets rose nearly 30 percent in early trading Thursday after the company, a pioneer in online reverse auctions, said that fourth-quarter business is proving stronger than expected and that results will be better than previously thought.

U.S. e-commerce spending rose in the third quarter compared to the same period last year -- much more so when online travel was factored in -- according to two new reports. The U.S Department of Commerce said Q3 spending was US$7.5 billion, up 8 percent from the same period in 2000, while Nielsen...

Efforts to develop viable alternative electronic payment systems resemble Wright Brothers-era attempts to build a functioning airplane. Somehow, someway, e-commerce is determined to get a new electronic payment system off the ground. So despite infrequent success, the new ideas keep coming. And p...

In a move that surprised absolutely no one, the U.S. government finally, officially declared the current economic "downturn" a bona fide recession on Monday. In fact, some of us have been asking whether the turnaround started even before the recession got its classification. The real question is:...

While Internet use in Central and Eastern Europe is growing fast, the required technology remains too expensive for most consumers, posing "formidable barriers" to e-commerce, according to a report released by the Yankee Group. Yankee associate consultant Graham Finnie told the E-Commerce Times t...

The next phase of e-commerce may cast the World Wide Web in a backup role. Often mistakenly equated to the Internet, the Web's shortcomings as a commerce medium have analysts forecasting a new era of Internet commerce. "[The Web] will be augmented and changed, not obsolete," Jupiter Media Metrix ...

Shaking off fears of continued economic malaise, roughly 37 percent of online consumers are expressing confidence that the holiday shopping season will be a strong one and plan to spend more as a result, according to a study released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Harris Interactive. "W...

Pop-up ads are annoying. There's little question about that. But they are also telling in what they say about the Web surfers that advertisers are trying to reach. Whether it's the X10.com ads for wireless cameras -- the ones with the scantily clad women -- or the offshore casino ads, the target ...

Before new car buyers go out to kick the tires at their local car dealer, nearly two-thirds of them first research auto makes, models and prices on the Internet, according to a report by J.D. Power & Associates. "The Internet provides automotive shoppers with information of real value that no...

When Furniture.com folded one year ago, many saw the end of online retailing for furniture. And six months earlier, when Boo.com became the first truly high-profile example of the e-commerce shakeout, serious questions were raised about whether consumers would ever buy clothes online in significa...