Spotlight Features

Despite Microsoft's legal woes, it has forged ahead in a number of areas, including e-commerce. According to research firm Giga Information Group, the software giant generated $135 million in revenue from e-commerce products and client services during 2001. But as the company grows its e-business...

When Amazon.com executives said earlier this year that they planned to build their business by lowering prices whenever possible, the statement raised more than a few eyebrows. "All of our research shows that consumers are most interested in convenience, not price," GartnerG2 research director Da...

Numerous products and services are now available to shield consumers and businesses from the ever-increasing barrage of spam. But experts warn that if users are not careful, they could end up blocking some e-mail that they actually want. "What's spam to you could be useful company information to ...

E-commerce is garnering converts at an increasing pace, even though it is not grabbing the headlines it once did. Analysts say this quiet explosion is making its mark in back-office streamlining, business-to-business dealings, and efforts to assist customers via self-service Web channels. "The em...

EBay may have an imperfect business model, as Yankee Group analyst Rob Lancaster told the E-Commerce Times, but users clearly are buying into that model, and the auction giant eventually could overshadow other e-tailers as it extends its reach into other areas of e-commerce. Andrew Bartels, an an...

Although e-commerce can breathe a bit easier now that a long-standing moratorium on blanket online taxes has been extended, most observers say there will be little more than a brief pause before the battle is joined again. "Until the states can get together on how it's going to work, online retai...

As wireless providers search for the right mix of services to spawn a boom in mobile commerce, they also must develop a data pricing strategy that clicks with customers. According to Yankee Group research director Adam Zawel, the practice of charging based on bytes or kilobytes of data baffles many ...

Shopping online is a far different experience than it is offline. With few exceptions, when people shop online they are on their own. How did consumers come to accept such a double standard? Among other factors, a slump in the quality of brick-and-mortar customer service may underlie this apparen...

Despite a lengthy shakeout that has thinned the ranks of e-tailers, consumers still face a dizzying array of choices when deciding where to shop online. But the market is already starting to become better defined. Some categories -- such as online toys, where Toysrus.com has broken out of the pac...

Credit cards remain the predominant mode of payment in e-commerce, but other online transaction methods have entered the market in recent years. According to experts, mediated payment services are particularly successful when used at online auction sites, and the clear winner in serving this mark...

A couple of years ago, money was no object when it came to e-commerce. Companies spent lavishly on technology in their rush to establish a Web presence. The economic picture has changed significantly, and companies now are much more careful when it comes to such spending. "The realization has sun...

Instant messaging (IM) can help e-commerce sites capture potential sales, but cost, service and technological hurdles must be cleared before IM can have a major impact, according to analysts. "Web sites have horrible problems with shopping cart abandonment rates. Having instant messaging, in many...

Corporate matches made in heaven are rare occurrences. In many cases, M&A analysts find more fault than forte in company unions. Opponents of the much-hyped HP-Compaq merger, for example, deride the deal as futile. Similarly, some industry watchers puzzle at the viability of Ameritrade's $1.3

It is not an easy time for startup companies. The economy may be starting to recover, but investors are still leery about pouring money into new businesses, especially in the tech sector. In fact, the best advice for would-be entrepreneurs may be to wait until the economic climate takes a more po...

Contrary to what Microsoft's .NET spin doctors would have users believe, the software powerhouse is not likely to dominate e-commerce the way it now rules the desktop. ".NET will not radically change Microsoft's position within e-commerce," Giga Information Group analyst Andrew Bartels told the E...