Business

E-commerce will continue to be a driving force behind future economic growth worldwide, and may be especially important for developing countries, according to a report released by the United Nations. However, the group, made up of representatives of private and government agencies, also warns tha...

Looking to raise money for a small online business? Experts say that in today's difficult economic environment, some basic tenets for securing financial backing remain -- but other rules have changed, and it is as important as ever to be abreast of those changes. For example, Gartner Group analyst...

Americans expect to do most of their holiday shopping in stores rather than online this year, and those who do plan to turn to the Web say that convenience will be the key reason, according to two new reports released this week. One report found that consumers who have purchased gifts online over ...

Internet auction leader EBay said it will present what is believed to be the first nationwide online auction of new homes. EBay and Oakland, California-based iBidCo will partner to produce the "live" online auction of 20 new homes in Los Angeles County on December 17th. "We ensure that the seller...

Experts say that strategic and operational preparations by an e-commerce company for 2002 should have been set in motion well before today. With all the uncertainty ahead, analysts told the E-Commerce Times that the best defense for e-businesses is to get their own houses in order -- to shape up ...

A host of offline purchasing incentives triggered a downturn in online sales during October, with spending for the month falling about 10 percent from September to US$3.6 billion, according to data released Monday by Forrester Research and Greenfield Online. "I was surprised by the figures and it...

Former Amazon.com partner Overstock.com took dead aim at the leading e-tailer's core business Monday with the launch of a bookstore section and the promise that it would undercut Amazon's list prices. Salt Lake City, Utah-based Overstock, which was built on reselling overstocked and discounted it...

E-commerce giant Amazon.com has reorganized its business operations into five departments -- with an increased emphasis toward third-party services -- the company confirmed. "We obviously want to make changes to the organization that make sense for the business," Amazon spokesperson Patty Smith t...

Internet portal Yahoo! said Thursday it will cut 400 jobs worldwide as it refocuses resources away from unprofitable sectors. Yahoo! plans to add as many as 100 jobs in growing areas, however, including sales, resulting in a net job loss of about 300. Some of the job losses come as Yahoo! abandon...

To build trust and gain customer loyalty, online merchants and marketers need to let Web shoppers feel in control of the buying process, as well of the ways that personal information about them may be used, according to a report by McKinsey & Co. Just 4 percent of Internet users routinely reg...

Online travel site Orbitz told the U.S. Department of Transportation that its business has introduced new competition in the online travel sector, contrary to arguments made by Orbitz' travel industry rivals that it is likely to compete unfairly.

The 2001 online holiday shopping season began in earnest last week, with visits to Web stores surging 14 percent compared to the week before, according to a report released by Nielsen//NetRatings. Last year, the holiday traffic surge also first came during the second week in November, bringing a ...

'Tis the season for online shopping forecasts. A survey of this season's predictions reveals that most of the major research firms are actually fairly close in their forecasts, but with some important distinctions. "I would focus less on the absolute numbers and more on the growth," Jupiter Media...

The holiday shopping season is off to a fast start at America Online, the company said, raising hopes for a late-year revenue boost for Amazon.com and other e-tailers as well. AOL said that its members spent US$2.7 billion online in October, up 80 percent from last year. AOL director of e-commerc...

Popular search engine Yahoo! will trade high-profile positioning for dollars under a new agreement with Overture Services -- formerly known as GoTo. Beginning Thursday on Yahoo's main search page, Internet users will see both the company's own keyword matches, compiled by Yahoo! staffers, and the...