Archive

It's no secret that mis-targeted, misspent brand advertising dollars have gotten e-tailers into plenty of financial hot water over the past few years. However, there is at least one target audience for whom a large, consistent dose of brand marketing makes perfect sense. In fact, when it comes to...

With interest rates plummeting and an unstable economy that promises more layoffs and corporate downsizing, Americans are doing everything they can to reduce their expenses. Reducing an old home with an interest rate that begins with a "7" or an "8" to a low "6" is highly inviting. Online mortgag...

Homestore.com (Nasdaq: HOMS), the No. 1 online real-estate company, said it will cut as many as 700 jobs, or about 20 percent of its workforce, as it trims costs and reorganizes its operations. The Westlake Village, California-based e-business, which works with the National Association of Realtor...

NetRatings (Nasdaq: NTRT) has announced it will acquire rival Web measurement firm Jupiter Media Metrix (Nasdaq: JMXI) in a stock-and-cash deal worth US$71.2 million. The move combines two of the most widely quoted Internet measurement firms and two former rivals. As part of the deal, Jupiter w...

Whatever the future holds for online prescription drug sales, Drugstore.com is standing by its predictions of profitability by the year 2004, even after another quarter of reported losses. In fact, president and chief executive officer Kal Raman told the E-Commerce Times this week that his compan...

Continental Airlines said Wednesday it will no longer pay commissions on travel booked over the Internet, sending shares of online travel companies lower amid speculation that other airlines will follow suit. At Prudential Securities, analyst Mark Rowen downgraded Expedia and Travelocity, citing ...

Online auction leader eBay launched a local trading site in Singapore on Wednesday, beefing up a roster of overseas properties that have helped drive growth in recent quarters. eBay Singapore will be an English-language site aimed at both individuals and businesses, the company said.

At this time of year, the main topic among e-commerce pundits and industry observers is which online companies will emerge victorious during the coming holiday season. As was the case last year, when the dot-com shakeout began in earnest, this year's conversation has a sense of urgency, as we won...

Catalogs have proven to be a catalyst for online retail success. According to industry analysts, retailers that already had catalog operations in place have effectively adapted their offerings -- including known brands, sheer size and developed distribution networks -- to consistent success onlin...

eBay CEO Meg Whitman is smiling. And why not? The Internet powerhouse that she leads just reported strong third-quarter earnings. But something tells me that she'd be smiling even if eBay had stumbled badly. The eBay franchise, it turns out, isn't based just on its community or its great tech pla...

Business-to-business (B2B) marketplace provider PurchasePro said Tuesday it will cut its workforce in half, slash management salaries and shutter offices amid a search for additional financing or a strategic partner. PurchasePro said the moves are part of the second phase of its "turnaround strat...

Almost half of U.S. consumers who bank online would have no problem consolidating their accounts at a single institution, though others continue to have concerns about using one bank only, according to a report released Wednesday by Jupiter Media Metrix. The trend toward single-source banking is ...

The latest release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 should have been the perfect opportunity for e-tailers to show consumers they are serious about online privacy. Instead, it may turn out to be just the opposite.

Drugstore.com said Tuesday that sales grew and expenses fell during the third quarter, helping the e-tailer post a loss of about US$15 million, less than half of the financial loss it recorded for the same period last year. Still, Morningstar.com analyst David Kathman told the E-Commerce Times th...

Software maker PeopleSoft, which amid the struggling economy reported earnings of US$50 million for the third quarter of 2001, embraces online marketing as part of its overall advertising strategy. In a recent interview, chief marketing officer Nanci Caldwell told the E-Commerce Times that the We...