Spotlight Features

Not a day goes by without yet another report of massive high-tech layoffs and lowered financial expectations -- not to mention the economic slowdown, stock prices in steep decline and the ongoing series of dot-com closures. But underneath most radar screens, a group of e-commerce sites are get...

Already reeling from the plummet in online advertising revenue, the major Internet portals are busy answering another question posed by their Web merchant partners: Are portals still able to turn Web surfers into Web shoppers? A study released this month by Consumer Reports Online found that p...

The Web sites are fancy, and the merchandise is nicely arranged with descriptions telling you exactly what your hard-earned money will buy, but these e-tailers aren't selling books or blenders. They're virtual brothels, offering sex for sale. "Online prostitution has proven to be a highly profit...

With the deadline for filing U.S. tax returns barely a month away, Intuit and H&R Block have shown no sign of abandoning their dominant status in the online tax preparation and filing sector. However, despite battling to a certain extent for control of the same consumers in a specialized m...

They say that for the one-year anniversary, paper is the appropriate gift. For the one-year anniversary of the Nasdaq Composite Index's all-time high, the almost unavoidable choice is a loss on paper. On March 10, 2000 the Nasdaq hit its all-time high of 5,132.52 -- an 88 percent increase f...

There's only one directive that seems to hold true across the e-commerce landscape these days: to survive, literally, at all costs. While some e-tailers are desperately seeking new revenue sources and better gross margins to stave off hostile investors, others are completely reinventing them...

As the dot-com shakeout nears the one-year mark, many companies might have a bad case of the E-Commerce Blues. Some analysts say that overspending and over-expansion, at the expense of monitoring cash flow and focusing on profitability, have doomed many e-tailers before they really ever began. Can...

Georgia and Texas are among the U.S. states grappling with the issue of Internet alcohol sales, after a federal law went into effect last month giving states more control over alcoholic shipments to consumers in their states. Girding up on one side of the debate are those who believe that allow...

Analysts disagree on whether Tuesday's downbeat economic news, including a reported drop in consumer confidence to its lowest level in nearly five years, is likely to drag down e-commerce spending levels. Forrester analyst Christopher Kelley told the E-Commerce Times not only that "consumers are de...

Layoffs. Consolidations. Tumbling stock prices. When will the madness end? According to industry analysts, the dot-com shakeout is going to get much worse before it gets better -- and it won't be getting better anytime soon. More shutdowns and layoffs lie in wait for the online world. "If you lo...

Despite the shakeout that has led to the closure of Web sites selling furniture, garden supplies and pet food, there's another e-tail sector that is on fire: Web-based tobacco sales. The online merchants are apparently thriving, but the budding industry faces more than one legal hurdle. Not on...

Home delivery of groceries and other sundries ordered online will endure, according to industry observers, but some leading Internet providers might not, unless they can adapt to marketplace demands and find offline partnerships to become profitable. Yankee Group analyst Christine Loeber told th...

The news of labor strife at Amazon.com, Webvan and Etown has industry observers asking this question: Are unions responsible for the struggles of online businesses, or do e-tailers only have themselves to blame for the dot-com union movement? Because investors are usually sitting on the fence abou...

This weekend is your virtual last chance to use the Web to send chocolates in time for Valentine's Day. Because there's quite a variety of chocolate shops on the Net, the E-Commerce Times has taken a bite out of the issue for you, testing both the sites and the sweets. Romantic consumers and e-...

Nominations for the Oscars -- the film industry's most glamorous honor -- are big business. The Internet would seem to be the perfect place to generate Oscar ammunition while keeping marketing costs down. Guess again. "If they're doing anything in particular [on the Net] for Oscar buzz, I don't...