Spotlight Features

While at one time it was relatively easy to find and sign up for free services online, it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate no-cost offerings that provide more than a bare minimum. And although analysts said free services will continue well into the future, their audiences may shrink a...

A few years ago, much content and many services could be had for free, even though the companies providing those services were not posting profits. But then the bills arrived, online advertising revenue dropped, and the free-content providers had to tighten their belts and look for other ways to ...

For all the financial reeling and corporate belt-tightening in many e-commerce sectors, experts say no tears need be shed for the online porn industry. While exact revenue figures are tough to unearth, established players have not been significantly hurt by current economic woes, though competiti...

As online retailing enters the early stages of maturity and profitability becomes the rule rather than the exception, e-businesses might find they need only reset their goals rather than alter their entire approach. "A lot of what e-tailers were trying to do, in terms of customer attraction and r...

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...

With consumer confidence beginning to ebb, brick-and-mortar stores are implementing new strategies designed to lure consumers across their thresholds. But retailers trying to balance an actual store with an online presence must employ an array of tactics to prevent cannibalization. Fortunately, s...

As consumers seek relief from bleak news about war and the economy, experts say entertainment could spawn the next wave of lucrative niche opportunities on the Web. For example, Yankee Group program manager Paul Ritter told the E-Commerce Times that Hollywood could prove to be an online blockbust...

Just as a museum helps visitors learn lessons from the past, a monument dedicated to bad e-commerce ideas might offer a similar education to those who sell on the Web. Such a memorial might impart a key truth: While users will flock to sites that make their lives easier, they will not change thei...

As e-commerce goes mainstream and stands on its own two feet, experts say the industry can no longer count on receiving the kid-glove treatment from the U.S. government. Nevertheless, as long as the economy remains fragile, it is also unlikely that the government will lift the current tax morator...

Amazon.com has finally turned the corner on the road to profitability, eBay set earnings records in the second quarter, and brick-and-mortar chains are buying into the e-commerce channel in droves. Does this mean that the e-tail shakeout is finally over? That depends on whom you ask. Analysts hav...