Articles by Clare Saliba

The push to develop a viable online retailing channel in Southern Europe remains "paralyzed" by a host of roadblocks, according to a report released Wednesday by Forrester Research However, aggressive efforts by portals, outside marketers and grocers within the next year will help spur the region's e-tail industry to reach its full potential, Forre...

Despite the flood of dot-com failures, more browsers are turning into buyers for e-commerce, according to a study released Tuesday byInternet research firm GreenfieldOnline. The report found that 72 percent of U.S. online consumers made at least one purchase via the Web during the fourth quarter of 2000, marking the 10th consecutive quarter in whi...

Online travel sites racked up US$1.2 billion in sales in January, accounting for nearly a third of all e-commerce transactions for the month, according to a study released Tuesday by Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive The study said that online travel spending in January climbed 17 percent over December levels. According to the research fir...

The widescale deployment of broadband access, combined with intensified competitionamong communications, entertainment and technology firms, is likely transform current e-business models in the coming year, according to a study released Monday by Ernst & Young andCap Gemini Ernst & Young "Broadband connectivity will be the tide that lifts all ships...

As the deadline for filing U.S. tax returns draws nearer, a new reportreleased Thursday by the General AccountingOffice (GAO) may give some taxpayers pause about submitting theirreturns through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) electronic filing program According to the study, which was commissioned by Sen. Fred Thompson(R-Tennessee) to evaluate t...

In a bid to capture a larger market share of the personal financingindustry, Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN) announced Wednesday that it is expanding its mortgage service to allowborrowers to secure the lowest possible interest rates The new options will be offered through the e-tailer's licenseePricelineMortage and will follow the "name-your-own-price...

Amid relentless news coverage of the difficulties e-commerce firms have faced in reaching profitability, a study released Tuesday by ActivMedia Research found that half of online business-to-consumer (B2C) companies are bucking the current market downturn and operating in the black E-tailers that are managing to turn a profit in the face of the dot...

As the high-tech sector continues to take a battering on Wall Street, Amazon.com founder and chief executiveofficer Jeff Bezos is reportedly warning investors to steer clear ofInternet stocks In an interview with BBC television that is scheduled to air in the United Kingdom Wednesday, Bezos described the e-tail giant's stock as "volatile," accordin...

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued an advisory Thursday warning that several organized hacker groups, operating out of Eastern European hubs, have stolen proprietary information from hundreds of e-commerce and online banking sites, including customer databases and more than one million credit card numbers The FBI -- which is coor...

Online business-to-business (B2B) deals comprised 90 percent of all onlinesales in 1999, accounting for a "remarkably large share" ofoverall e-commerce activity, according to datareleased Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce. According to the government office, the statistics for 1999, atouchstone year for the Internet's subsequent hypergr...

While many e-tailers beef up their sites with a host of technologicalbells and whistles to lure online customers, a studyreleased Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that most of the new features do little to turn site visitors into buyers "The features that are most likely to increase the likelihood that an onlineshopper will make an online pu...

Internet book vendor Bibliofind.com reportedly said Monday that a four-month long security breach on its computer servershas exposed customer credit card information The e-tailer, which provides an electronic catalog of millions of used andrare books for sale by independent booksellers around the world, said the violation affected user data housed ...

With Canadian e-commerce players looking at an "enormous" expansion in online activity over the next five years, those thatdo not outsource their Internet technology needs are likely to run into a host of technological stumbling blocks, according to a study released Monday by ForresterResearch Because the country's online economy is set to reach hy...

In its fourth-quarter earnings report issued Thursday, Stamps.com saidit is sticking to earlier projections that it will be operating in the blackin the first quarter of 2002 "The initiatives we've put in place in the fourth quarter of 2000 and thefirst quarter of 2001 have put us in an even stronger position to achieveour financial goals of profit...

With record sales undermined by staggering losses, Internet grocer Peapod.com has issued a warning that it would run out of cash by the end of the year ifit does not secure additional financing. The e-tailer posted record fourth-quarter sales of $US23.7 million in its earnings report issued Wednesday. However, the company also was hit with its big...

General Motors(NYSE: GM) announced Wednesday that it has inked a deal with Autobytel.com to test an online shopping system that will show consumers which cars are available for purchase in their area. GM said the trial run, which is slated to begin May 1st and run for 90 days,will provide the company and its dealers with a blueprint for creating a...

Internet delivery service Webvan (Nasdaq: WBVN)announced Tuesday that it is exiting the Dallas, Texas market in a bid to conservecapital and bring its other regional areas of operation to profitability The Foster City, California-based company also said that approximately 220workers will be laid off as a result of the closure....

Online auction search site Bidder's Edge, which was barred last year by a court order from combing auctions that were listed on Internet heavyweight eBay, said that it will be shutting down its search service on February 21st Burlington, Massachusetts-based Bidder's Edge said that the business model of its portal site -- which allowed users to sear...

Amazon.com remained the top online retailerin January with roughly 2.3 million projected buyers -- more than threetimes that of nearest competitor Barnesandnoble.com -- according to a report releasedWednesday by market research firm PCData While Amazon also managed to double the number of shoppers it registered inJanuary 2000, the figure was half o...

Although the Internet advertising industry has taken a hit in recent months, a reportreleased Thursday finds that online firms should not be so quick to scaleback their Web-based marketing efforts in a bid to trim operating budgets According to data from online measurement firm Jupiter Media Metrix, the top 25newcomer Web sites in 2000 were fueled ...