Business

Just two weeks after lowering its fourth quarter earnings estimates, e-commerce software company Intershop Communications AG (Nasdaq: ISHP) announced Monday the elimination about 80 positions within its U.S.-based operations as part of a corporate restructuring. Intershop also plans to consolid...

Aiming to broaden its array of offerings and tap new sources of revenue, Internet portal Yahoo! on Tuesday launched a marketplace service targeting the business-to-business (B2B) market in three specific industry areas: electronics, software and hardware. Additional subject areas will be rolled out ...

As the 2000 holidays fade into the background, with e-commerce neither falling on its face nor proving that its growing pains are history, one might think that the industry is ready to take a step back and regroup for the future. However, if last year's post-holiday business was any indication, e...

The Worldwide E-Commerce Fraud Prevention Network, whose members include Amazon.com, American Express, Buy.com and Expedia.com, has announced the launch of MerchantFraudSquad.com, a new site dedicated to combating online fraud. MerchantFraudSquad is the first initiative of the Network, a non-pr...

Despite rapid-fire e-commerce closures and other setbacks in 2000, 57 percent of all online buyers -- and more than three-quarters of those who make frequent purchases via the Web -- are shopping less at traditional retail stores for the first time, according to a new study released Monday by busin...

While individual e-tailers have come under fire from some quarters for underwhelming holiday sales, many online shopping malls and portals doubled their growth rates over the same period, according to the Yankee Group. "The numbers are likely to be encouraging for portals to keep the mall concep...

Boosted by strong customer service reviews, QVC.com rose to the top of Forrester Research's General Merchandise PowerRankings, beating both Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. According to the report, a lack of privacy policy links on checkout pages, vague inventory status information and slow phone-base...

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Thursday that his state has filed a suit for alleged labor law violations against Walker Digital, the technology company owned by Priceline.com founder Jay Walker. The suit asks that the workers recently laid off by Walker Digital receive 60 d...

Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA) announced earnings on Thursday that beat estimates, but was nonetheless downgraded by half a dozen analysts who raised questions about the company's earnings and growth rate. The business-to-business (B2B) software provider reported that revenues for the first quarter of 2...

Napster unveiled its latest upgrade Thursday, complete with a link to CDNow -- the first commercial use for the controversial file-swapping service to date and the most visible sign of its new relationship with Bertelsmann AG. The appearance of a link to CDNow on the Napster page comes 10 weeks...

Priceline Europe, a licensee of the American "name-your-own-price" e-tailer, has secured US$25 million in funding from investment firm General Atlantic Partners, money that Priceline Europe hopes will allow it to continue building its expansion plans, the companies said Thursday. The latest infusio...

Yahoo! helped sink several dot-com stocks Thursday, a day after the company warned that earnings for 2001 will be hurt by slumping online advertising sales. Analysts said the company is setting its expectations very low, with the intention that Yahoo! would have nowhere to go but up. Yahoo! closed ...

Internet bellwether Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) fell $5.63 to $24.50 in after-hours trading Wednesday after meeting key Wall Street estimates by reporting fourth-quarter earnings of 13 cents per share, but warning that its first quarter and full-year 2001 earnings will be affected by the recent downturn ...

Online financial services provider E*Trade announced Thursday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire online mortgage originator LoansDirect. Morningstar.com analyst Alyssa Sibley told the E-Commerce Times that the acquisition is "another indication of [E*Trade's] commitment to diversi...

The automotive industry is lagging far behind others in terms of e-business progress, according to a study released Wednesday by consulting firm KPMG. Brian Ambrose, national industry director of KPMG's automotive practice, told the E-Commerce Times that both automotive suppliers and original equip...