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It was a sweet bit of news from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Online spending jumped 15 percent from the second quarter to the third. Finally, there was something to balance the grim reports of dot-coms on life support. Couple the Commerce study with a strong start to the holiday shopping seaso...

Interactive digital TV may be the Asia-Pacific region's key to catching up with the rest of the e-commerce world, according to a report released Tuesday by Andersen Consulting. According to the study, the Asia-Pacific region boasts the highest rates of TV penetration in the world, along with a sub...

For the sixth month in a row, dot-com layoffs have reached record numbers, according to a report released Monday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC). The Chicago, Illinois-based firm said that during the month of November, 8,789 dot-com employees lost their jobs -- an inc...

The traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season on Friday fueled a 27 percent surge in online traffic from earlier in the week, according to data released Monday by Internet tracking firm Nielsen//NetRatings. "Shoppers flocked to e-commerce sites the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally one...

Further indicating that e-commerce is continuing to transform the traditional retail landscape, a new study released Tuesday by business services firm Ernst & Young shows that American consumers will make nearly a third of their total holiday purchases over the Internet in the coming weeks. T...

Half of the 22 publicly traded U.S. consumer e-commerce companies will need to raise cash before the 2001 holiday season, and those that fail to do so are likely to fall by the wayside, according to a report released Monday by Goldman Sachs & Co. By mid-2001, just 12 to 14 of the 22 are likely ...

Intuit, Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) rose 1 15/16 to 47 11/16 Tuesday after the company agreed to sell its online insurance services division to InsWeb Corp. in exchange for a 16.6 percent stake in InsWeb, worth about US$14 million. As part of a related agreement, Sacramento, California-based InsWeb will be...

European shoppers will spend US$2.2 billion online this holiday season, a figure that would nearly match total European online sales in all of 1999, according to a report released Monday by Forrester Research. "As the number of online shoppers grows over time -- in the first six months of this yea...

America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was up 25/64 at 44 23/64 early Tuesday following reports that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) delayed for the second time a meeting at which commissioners were expected to block the company's planned merger with Time Warner (NYSE: TWX). According to press rep...

Youbet.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: UBET) was down23/64 at 51/64 Tuesday after announcing that it will lay off nearly 30 percent of its workforce and that its president has resigned. In all, 34 jobs will be cut. The company said it is attempting to conserve cash so it canproceed with the ongoing aggressive de...

A word to the CEOs, venture backers or board members of any dot-com companies teetering on the brink of collapse: Please, do everything you can -- as long as it's not at the expense of your customers -- to keep your company up and running through the holidays. No one wants to find bankruptcy under t...

Despite an overall decrease in summer retail sales, e-commerce sales flourished from July to September, according to a report released Monday by the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The third quarter witnessed a 15.3 percent online sales gain over the previous quarter, while total r...

Although many e-tailers are frantically ramping up their offerings and services for the holiday season, 42 percent of consumers will not purchase gifts online within the coming weeks, according to a new survey by PlanetFeedback.com and BBBOnline, the Internet arm of the Better Business Bureau. Whil...

Leaders of 10 Southeast Asian countries gathered in Singapore on Friday to sign the e-ASEAN accord, urging member nations to make e-commerce safe and effective for consumers, to establish high-speed Internet connections, and to approve digital signature legislation. Association of Southeast Asi...

Online retailers are providing better customer service than their brick-and-mortar counterparts, according to the third quarter American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) released Monday. Overall, e-commerce scored 73.2 on the index, though there were significant variances among the different se...