Archive

Further signifying that e-commerce continues to make headway in the traditional retail arena, a study released Thursday by Forrester Research forecasts that consumers will spend at least US$36 billion on gifts purchased online by 2005. As part of its report, "Pulling in Online Gift Buyers," the Cam...

A record number of U.S. shoppers visited e-tail Web sites last week, according to numbers released Thursday by Internet measurement firm Media Metrix. Over 50 percent of online retailers say they are ready to handle the high volumes of orders that they hope the holiday shopping season will bri...

Amazon.com attracted more visitors than any other e-tailer during the first four weeks of the holiday shopping season, audience measurement firm Nielsen//NetRatings said Thursday. Overall, the Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce Index, which measures Web surfing in eight product categories, rose...

Gateway, Inc. (NYSE: GTW) plunged 10 9/16 to 18 15/16 in the first few minutes of trading Thursday after the computer manufacturer said fourth-quarter results will be well below Wall Street estimates. Because of sluggish demand for personal computers (PCs) this holiday season, revenue for the quar...

Small businesses in the United States are now more likely to use the Internet for advertising and promotion than for selling their products and services online, a survey released Wednesday found. The report from SuperPages.com and Gallup disclosed that the number of small businesses using the W...

PurchasePro (Nasdaq: PPRO) rose 1 to 14 7/8 Wednesday after the company announced a new chief operating officer. The Las Vegas, Nevada-based operator of business-to-business (B2B) online marketplaces said Shawn McGhee will take over the COO duties from Christopher P. Carton. Carton, one of the comp...

Further confirming that e-commerce is alive and well, the surge in online traffic triggered by the onset of the holiday season caused sporadic system outages over two days at Internet payment network PayPal. The Palo Alto, California-based company has over four million users, and its payment ser...

In a bid to achieve profitability, e-tailers slashed their spending on offline advertising during the third quarter and, as a result, cut their customer acquisition costs in half, according to a study released Tuesday by Shop.org and the Boston Consulting Group. The study also found that 95 percent...

More than 20 of the world's leading high-tech companies, including Microsoft, IBM, Commerce One and Intel, announced Wednesday they have banded together to form a think tank that hopes to address implementation challenges for e-business. One of the biggest tasks for the new non-profit corporation, ...

Workers at Etown.com and ShopAudioVideo.com have moved to become the first dot-com employees to vote on whether to have union representation. The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Monday seeking an election, afte...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Tuesday it has reached a settlement with two Connecticut residents who operated what the FTC called an "elaborate" Internet pyramid scheme that conned thousands of consumers out of more than US$430,000. FTC attorney Katie Harrington McBride told the E-Co...

Although many Internet firms are slashing advertising budgets in favor of direct marketing campaigns, a new study released Wednesday by Andersen Consulting and Online Insight warns that e-tailers often miss the mark when it comes to marketing initiatives. "Companies are ignoring the basic marketin...

Amazon.com added wireless phones and services to its expanding roster of products Tuesday evening. The Seattle, Washington-based e-tail giant said it will offer plans from several leading U.S. wireless companies, including AT&T, Sprint PCS and VoiceStream, and such phone makers as Nokia and Sams...

Drkoop.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: KOOP) tacked on1/32 to 23/32 Tuesday after the struggling health care Web company saidPricewaterhouseCoopers will stay on as its independent auditor. PricewaterhouseCoopers had planned to quit its association with the companyafter the completion of a US$27.5 million private...

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) fell 2 21/32 to 25 1/32 Tuesday after Banc of America Securities analysts said they expect the e-tail giant to experience a slowdown in growth next year. "We are becoming incrementally cautious on the stock, based on our belief that Amazon's rate of growth will slow consi...