E-Commerce

Ever since she found out her niece was reading her Web site, Jen Singer began making sure the majority of her content was G-rated -- appropriate for a general audience. "Even though MommaSaid.net is a Web site for mothers, it appears that it's popular with quite a few tween girls, too," she told the...

Online retail giant Amazon.com announced Friday that it had the strongest holiday shopping season in its history. Customers ordered more than 6.3 million items worldwide on its peak shopping day, Dec. 15, which works out to about 72.9 items ordered per second, Amazon said. Amazon shipped to more tha...

As e-commerce gets more sophisticated and consumer expectations continue to rise, many retailers are considering prettying up their existing Web sites with improved graphics or new features in order to make them more attractive to consumers. While such enhancements can make your site more appealing ...

The game has changed for retail. In an era of increasingly competitive online business, failing corporate giants and consumer fear over the state of the economy, it's clear that small online retailers will face an uphill battle over the next several months. The good news is, e-commerce may be the on...

It is no secret that "retail therapy" -- whether in the form of shopping at a designer boutique, visiting a favorite online retailer, or even purchasing a preferred brand of shampoo from the grocery store -- can evoke feelings of happiness and well-being. A fascinating new study by marketing guru M...

Celebratory excess marks the holiday season, with its freewheeling use of credit cards, mountains of new toys, and piles of discarded packaging and wrapping paper after it's all over. The tree is green, the money's green, but the overall effect of the season is not particularly, well, green. So what...

Warner Music Group has started pulling some of its songs from YouTube, a move that apparently reflects a breakdown in the renegotiation of a licensing agreement between the two sides. Warner licensed its entire music catalog to YouTube just before the latter was acquired by search engine powerhouse ...

Microsoft is giving PC makers -- essentially, companies that make build-to-suit computers -- an additional four months to buy the Windows XP operating system. Redmond had originally designated Jan. 21, 2009, as the cutoff for shipping the OS. Now, these manufacturers can take delivery up to May 30.

That the term "carbon offset provider" has become part of the business lexicon may be an indicator that companies are finally getting serious about neutralizing their impact on the environment. Consumers are finding that the Internet can be a valuable resource in their own smaller-scale efforts to f...

The current economic environment has consumers tightening their purse strings, carefully scrutinizing each dollar they spend. Scaling back on expenditures, including investments, they're not taking any chances with the money they do have. There is little trust in the economy or the future. To get co...

In the summer of 1865, newspaper editor Horace Greeley offered this advice to a nation just then beginning to recover from the Civil War: "Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country." As America begins to recover from recent economic challenges, Greeley's best advice to merchants in 20...

Five years and 35,000 people later, the Recording Industry Association of America has apparently conceded a major battle over music file-sharing. The music industry trade group has decided to stop suing individuals it suspects of illegally downloading music via peer-to-peer Web sites. However, that ...

The virtual world of the Internet has become a hotbed of activity designed to ease the real-world pollution problem. The Chicago Climate Exchange, or CCX, is a regulated exchange whose members are committed to cutting their emissions. It is the only cap-and-trade system in North America for six gree...

Business networking company LinkedIn has undergone a changing of the guard. CEO Dan Nye is out and has been replaced by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. Former Yahoo executive Jeff Weiner has joined the company as interim president and will oversee day-to-day operations. Weiner will report to Hoffman ...

A heavily financed Internet startup has launched a new question-and-answer search engine with a twist -- users pay one another to get answers to questions. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Mahalo launched Mahalo Answers earlier this week. The search service is reminiscent of Yahoo Answers and search engin...