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Waves of new customers are filling prescriptions and buying cosmetics, vitamins and other traditional health and pharmaceutical products on the Net, according to a new study by research firm ActivMedia The study, titled "Consumable Products: Building Consumer Loyalty Online," reports that these e-pharmacies have established a strong foothold in cyb...

After triggering an initial Wall Street flurry, the proposed monster merger of America Online and Time Warner is causing stockholders of both companies to have second thoughts In 4 p.m. trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of AOL tumbled $4.50 to $60 (US$), while Time Warner fell $5.81 to $79.25. Since Monday, AOL shares have de...

The honeymoon is over for e-commerce companies. A class action lawsuit filed in Washington state yesterday alleges that Toysrus.com spoiled Christmas for an untold number of children by failing to deliver goods in time for the holiday The suit claims that the e-tail branch of the brick-and-mortar toy giant deceptively accepted orders for Christmas ...

Despite recent gains, European e-commerce still lags behind online sales in the United States, according to a new study from International Data Corporation (IDC) The study, titled "European Internet and eCommerce," reveals that of the 10,600 households surveyed in the 12 largest European Internet markets, five percent of the total adult population ...

Web application platform vendor Allaire Corp. (Nasdaq: ALLR) moved to accelerate its e-commerce strategy this week by striking a strategic partnership with MERANT (Nasdaq: MRNT) to deliver data access and integration applications to its fledgling ColdFusion cross-platform Web application server product for Linux Under the terms of the agreement, Al...

Prosecutors attempting to decide the fate of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) following a court finding that the software giant constitutes a monopoly, reportedly have suggested a break-up of the company into at least two separate components According to a report in USA Today this morning, government lawyers, who have so-far been divided on how to pun...

Zale Corp, one of North America's largest specialty jewelry retailer, will add the sparkle of diamonds to WeddingChannel.com's online wedding planning service In an agreement announced Tuesday, Zale (NYSE: ZLC) and WeddingChannel have joined hands in a brick-and-click marketing deal to cross-promote each other's products and services.

E-Stamp Corp. announced today that it has signed a three-year agreement to exclusively sell postage through online auctioneer eBay's Web site Sources close to the deal have indicated that eBay will collect about $10 million (US$) for allowing E-Stamp to pitch computerized stamps to its online auction participants. eBay has attracted more than 7.7 m...

Sports.com Limited, a European sports content provider, announced today that elite athletes Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Shaquille O'Neal will lend some of their considerable resources and name recognition to a second-round funding of the company The subsidiary of SportsLine.com (Nasdaq: SPLN) said it raised $52.5 million (US$) through the issu...

Tokyo-based e-Convenience Co. Ltd will soon provide Japanese consumers with the ability to buy groceries over the Internet, with delivery in two to three hours after the order The newly formed company's backing consists of six firms, including SoftbankCorp., Japan's largest Internet investor, and Hikari Tsushin, Inc. Other backers include convenien...

The giant merger between Time Warner and America Online is poised to change the business landscape forever, and e-commerce is going to play an integral role in that transformation. In fact, AOL President Robert Pittman was quoted as saying that the merger will allow the two firms to "blow the roof off" their respective e-commerce packages by allowing unprecedented cross-marketing opportunities.

Amazon.com is reportedly among a group of several investors that is pumping $100 million (US$) into a startup bicycle delivery company called Kozmo.com, Inc The cash infusion comes only seven months after the company, which home-delivers movies, snacks and other items purchased online, began expanding its operations outside of its New York City mar...

According to a new study by management consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), business-to-business (B2B) purchasing in the United States will grow by 33 percent per year and reach $2.8 trillion (US$) in transaction value by 2003 BCG also said that the Internet will soon replace private Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) networks as the m...

After enduring a flood of negative publicity over a string of high-profile holiday failures, Toys "R" Us is now facing a class action lawsuit brought by a Seattle, Washington attorney Attorney Steve Berman of the firm of Hagens Berman filed the suit in Kings County Superior Court on behalf of a woman who ordered but never received Christmas gifts f...

Computer book and operating system publisher Macmillan USA announced Monday that it has tapped RSA Security (Nasdaq: RSAS) to provide security software for a Web server that will be included in upcoming Linux product releases In addition to licensing RSA's BSAFE SSL-C security protocol components, Macmillan will utilize the RSA Security Professiona...

Study results released yesterday by Andersen Consulting show that 96 percent of 1999 holiday Internet buyers anticipate using the Web for holiday shopping this year, and 72 percent intend to use the Internet for day-to-day shopping in 2000 The study also indicates that despite widespread shopping problems, 73 percent of Internet shoppers ranked onl...

Japanese Internet investor Softbank Corp. announced today that it will continue its aggressive global push by launching a $100 million (US$) fund aimed at the Latin American market The Tokyo-based company is expected to launch the new Softbank Latin American Ventures fund later this month. The venture marks the company's first foray into the nascen...

According to a new report by Forrester Research, many business-to-business Web sites ignore customer goals and fail to meet the basic requirements of a good user experience Forrester came to this conclusion after grading 30 business-to-business Web sites and finding that every one of them failed basic tests for value, ease and reliability.

Name-your-price pioneer priceline.com and NextCard announced yesterday that they will begin offering consumers a customized, name-your-own-terms credit card in the second quarter of this year Under the exclusive agreement, NextCard, which issues MasterCard and Visa credit cards online, will pay priceline a fee when a customer applies for a card. As...

While women now comprise 49 percent of online users, they still lag behind men in online shopping, according to the latest American Internet User Survey published by customer relationship management firm Cyber Dialogue Whereas 68 percent of men searched for products online in 1999 and 43 percent made purchases, only 54 percent of women looked for p...