Business

PlanetRx.com said Thursday that its board of directors approved a plan to liquidate all of the e-tailer's assets, in an attempt to regain some cash for its shareholders. Holders of PlanetRx stock will vote on the plan -- which marks the abandonment of previous intentions to enter the US$14 billi...

Consumers spent US$3.4 billion online in February -- 13.3 percent more than the $3 billion spent online in January -- according to numbers released Thursday by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Forrester Research. "In light of the economic slowdown, we are pleased to see that the Internet...

When the Andersen professional services firm recently surveyed e-commerce customers, nearly half said that e-tailers who also sell from a physical location provide better customer service. More than three-quarters of respondents said they have had both online and offline contact with e-tailers. ...

A report released Wednesday by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economics professor denounces Orbitz, the controversial Internet travel site set to open this summer, predicting that it will become a "market power ringmaster" that will force U.S. consumers to pay US$183 million more ...

The number of dot-com job losses fell for the second month in a row, dropping 18 percent in March, according to a report released Tuesday by the job placement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC). In March, 9,533 Internet jobs disappeared, following February job cuts totaling 11,649. C...

The pressing question for e-tailers this year is whether consumer apprehension about the overall economy is going to cause a drop in online spending. So far, Internet spending levels have increased steadily year after year. But with consumer confidence hovering above a low, is 2001 the year th...

Internet shopping network Bigsmart.com has agreed to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that its e-commerce marketplace operates as an illegal pyramid scheme. The settlement calls for the company to pay US$5 million in consumer redress. Under the agreement, Bigsmart.com will als...

Looking to give their small business e-commerce services a boost, America Online and PurchasePro unveiled 10 new services Wednesday through a host of strategic partners. The deals, aimed at beefing up the offerings that AOL extends to small and medium businesses through its Netscape Netbusiness...

Not a day goes by without yet another report of massive high-tech layoffs and lowered financial expectations -- not to mention the economic slowdown, stock prices in steep decline and the ongoing series of dot-com closures. But underneath most radar screens, a group of e-commerce sites are get...

A new report from The Boston Consulting Group said that pure plays that have already achieved significant scale, and niche Internet players that have already built loyal online customer bases, are likely to achieve success in the next stage of e-commerce evolution. However, the report also said ...

Hours after saying it had made an offer for the assets of bankrupt e-tailer eToys, children's book publisher Scholastic announced late Monday that it would not submit a bid after all. The company said that it "concluded that the acquisition of selected eToys assets did not meet Scholastic's thre...

Ever-changing e-tailer Kozmo said Monday it will abandon a US$150 million plan to install video drop-off boxes in hundreds of Starbucks coffee shops across the United States. Kozmo spokesperson Stephanie Cohen Glass told the E-Commerce Times that the five-year agreement, announced in February 2...

Vitesse Semiconductor (Nasdaq: VTSS) fell US$4.44 to $29.50 in morning trading Tuesday, after the company reduced its outlook for the current fiscal quarter for the second time this month. Reports of downgrades at Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS Paine Webber helped fuel the decline.

Retail banking firms in the UK looking to ramp up their e-commerce operations will need to organize their financial services around PC-based transactions and account management, according to a study released Monday by Forrester Research. Because of the PC-focus, Forrester said other banking acces...

Consumer confidence in e-commerce took center stage Friday and Saturday when the European Commission (EC) met in Stockholm, Sweden to discuss the "eEurope 2002 Action Plan." Acknowledging that "business and citizens in the European Union have been slower in embracing this New Economy than [those...