E-Commerce

In what may be its most direct competitive move yet against e-tail giant Amazon.com, eBay has announced plans to consolidate its electronics listings into a single online store and to offer free shipping on some purchases. The free shipping move is likely a nod to the fact that Amazon recently exten...

3D e-commerce is a pair of jeans seen from every angle. It is the ability to mix and match shoes, dresses, coats or belts; to explore the nooks and crannies of an entire home; and to capture the most realistic, detailed view possible. It is also entering the mainstream as companies strive to win con...

When it comes to selling computers to consumers online, the easier, the better. Both Dell and Apple have taken this adage to heart -- but which online store is best? Dell's service options, such as a prominently featured toll-free order number and in-depth online help, trump Apple's FAQ pages and le...

Pop-up ads can interrupt, slow or even ruin a Web surfer's experience, but these annoying products of the online ad slump can be eliminated using a number of methods -- including free, third-party software that deflects unwanted browser windows. On the other hand, unsupported third-party software ca...

It may be an overused phrase, but it is still a fact that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and this rule certainly has held true in e-commerce. But there is still abundant opportunity for less-established e-commerce sites to trumpet their existence to the world -- or at least the part of the worl...

There are now an estimated 220 million active Internet users worldwide, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, but the value of that audience seems to be falling even as it grows in size and scope. Even so, the Internet audience is still a highly valuable commodity -- if it can be harnessed in the right ...

Use of the Internet to conduct business-to-business (B2B) transactions grew substantially in the second quarter, possibly signaling the early stages of economic recovery, according to a report from Forrester Research and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). "Organizations are buying significan...

Though they seem to be everywhere on the Internet, pop-up advertisements are used by less than 10 percent of all companies that advertise online, according to a report from Nielsen//NetRatings. Between January and July of 2002, companies bought 11.3 billion pop-up ad impressions, but that figure ...

Just as MTV changed the face of music, technology has resculpted the public relations landscape. For example, technology allows remote team members to share documents instantly, but e-mail use can result in miscommunication. "If you are in meetings for an entire morning, you will not be able to l...

They say the classics never go out of style, and the same can be said for good old-fashioned media fundamentals. We are beginning to understand that the only way we're going to make interactive advertising work is to apply traditional media strategies and benchmark them against traditional med...

Dot-com incubator CMGI said it has negotiated to end a 15-year, $114 million deal that called for its corporate name and logo to adorn the stadium where the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots play football. Razor and battery maker Gillette will take over the naming rights. While the move ca...

Analysts agree that Dell's build-to-order model for selling PCs and servers not only works well for current market conditions but also is likely to keep rivals chasing the company for the foreseeable future. Still, the company must overcome some potential long-term hurdles.

Further strengthening its position atop the search engine hierarchy, Google has inked a $100 million, three-year deal to provide paid search results to search engine Ask Jeeves, where it will displace rival Overture as of September. Lisa Strand, director and chief e-commerce analyst at Nielsen//NetR...

AOL chief operating officer Robert Pittman has resigned amid questions about how AOL structured ad revenue between 2000 and 2002. According to the Washington Post, the company attempted to make its long-term profit picture appear rosier than it really was in order to avoid jeopardizing its takeove...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced it plans to examine whether individual states are acting in an anticompetitive way toward e-commerce. According to the FTC, the states' actions might be costing consumers as much as $15 billion per year. "There's no question that there is a pa...