Business

IBM and VeriSign are teaming up to boost e-commerce security by developing new products and services for their big-business customers. IBM will supply the software and infrastructure, and VeriSign will contribute its expertise in Web identity, authentication and online payment. "If IBM plans on of...

Shoppers who make a purchase on BestBuy.com will encounter a new payment engine designed to speed the sales process and minimize fraud. Gartner analyst Avivah Litan told the E-Commerce Times that Best Buy falls "into the category of a site that is highly prone to fraud attacks because of the natu...

Looking to grab a share of the US$7 billion per year timeshare industry, Internet auction giant EBay said it will launch a marketplace exclusively for the buying and selling of the vacation getaways. Timeshares, in which individuals buy the rights to certain weeks rather than an entire vacation p...

If the saying is true that one person's junk is another's gold, then there should be plenty of wealth to go around for e-businesses these days. After all, the junkyard of bad e-commerce ideas has been piling up steadily for several years, including the high-profile failures of Furniture.com, E-St...

E-tailers took the first three spots on the latest list of the top 10 fastest-growing sites, according to a new report released by Jupiter Media Metrix for the month of December. The research firm also reported that Internet malls widened their audience reach in December more than any other type ...

Retailers in Europe are not taking advantage of a growing market for television-based commerce, according to a new study released by Gartner. The reason, according to Gartner G2 analyst Davnet Cassidy, is that retailers "have not linked their interactive TV presence to TV programming." The televi...

Although e-commerce purchasing and Internet use are divided almost evenly among men and women in the United States, global Web use continues to be dominated by men, according to a Nielsen//NetRatings report. The differing demographics at home and abroad may pose a strategic challenge for a host o...

Banks are keen to offer their customers Internet type services at ATM machines, but analysts are unsure when, or if, the vision will become a reality. Giga analyst Penny Gillespie told the E-Commerce Times that she expected to see banks trying out Internet-enabled ATM applications last year, but ...

Although retail revenues were down overall during the 2001 holiday season and for the year, online retail saw double-digit growth. Does that mean online shopping is recession-proof? Most analysts say no, and point to a number of reasons why e-tail is still growing, although not at the exponential...

Internet powerhouse Yahoo! reported better-than-expected results for the quarter ended in December, and said its long-time president, Jeff Mallett, will step down in April. Revenue for the quarter fell to US$188.9 million from $310.9 million in the same quarter last year and the net loss narrowed...

Nearly half of all large U.S. corporations are now using the Internet to cut down on their supply costs, according to a report released by Forrester Research and the Institute for Supply Management. "The Internet has become a necessity for large purchasers," said Bruce D. Temkin, group director a...

SAP has opted out of a joint sales relationship with Commerce One involving the two companies' procurement software, SAP Markets spokesperson Paula Stout told the E-Commerce Times. This snub from its most important partner, a substantial shareholder and one of the biggest names in software, is a ...

Bolstered by a strong holiday shopping season, online auction giant EBay reported record fourth-quarter revenue of US$219.4 million and pro forma net income of $38.5 million, easily beating analyst expectations. The quarter was the 13th consecutive profitable one for the company. For all of 2001,...

The online grocery business has seen some tough times, with Webvan liquidating its assets and Peapod struggling to get back on its feet. Undaunted, Safeway just dove into the mix. Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, will be the initial markets for its new Web shopping service, Safeway ann...

The market for online music is not doing as well as analysts at Jupiter Media Metrix had thought six months ago. The research firm on Tuesday lowered its outlook for the industry, citing a weak economy and delayed launches of new subscription products. But there is still hope for the industry, sai...