Beth Cox

Kmart’s e-commerce arm, BlueLight.com, said that its holiday shopping season saw the company post a 1,000 percent gain in overall sales and an 823 percent jump in traffic, when compared to the same period last year, when Kmart ran the site as kmart.com. Meanwhile, Yahoo! Inc. said that holiday order volume at its Yahoo! Shopping […]

The down-but-not-out Priceline.com operation got back a little of its own today as the Connecticut Better Business Bureau said the Norwalk-based company has been fully restored as a member in good standing. “After a review of the ongoing enhancements Priceline.com is making to its Web site and customer service, we believe that (the company) has […]

There’s more of everything online this holiday e-commerce season, according to new research results: the number of online purchasers is up, with 49 million consumers spending, on average, 38 percent more on holiday gifts than last year’s online purchasers. That’s according to new research released today by The Boston Consulting Group and Harris Interactive. But […]

Despite the pervasiveness of online trading these days, most Web-based financial services have yet to win widespread acceptance among consumers, according to a new industry study. The report from Mercer Management Consulting, entitled “Digital Business Designs in Financial Services,” found that since July of 1999, online traffic from new customers and visitors at the Web […]

United Parcel Service said it has signed a deal to integrate its online shipping services into the online marketplace at eBay . The agreement “represents the first time a transportation company has established a shipping center in an e-marketplace,” UPS said. Financial arrangements were not disclosed. eBay does, however, have an existing agreement with Mail […]

Perhaps not surprising, given the business difficulties faced by Priceline.com in the United States, an Australian-based company created earlier this year to introduce the name-your-own price e-commerce platform to Australia and New Zealand has decided to back off big time. Myprice Pty. Ltd. said it “will not proceed with its planned entry into the Australian […]

Weaker-than-expected results for the current holiday season, dwindling cash levels and analyst downgrades ganged up on eToys today, sending the online toy retailer’s stock plunging to as little as 25 cents in early trading. Goldman Sachs, which has been hired by eToys to explore merger and acquisition opportunities, also downgraded the stock to market perform […]

MVP.com, the sporting goods and outdoors e-tailer that has as board members sports legends John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretsky, said it is closing down two offices and cutting 79 jobs, including 20 at its Chicago headquarters. Being shuttered are offices in Boulder, CO (39 people) and Austin, TX (20 people). The privately-held company […]

Despite a somewhat gloomy forecast for holiday season e-commerce sales, investment research firm Goldman Sachs says that some companies, including Amazon.com, are turning in good performances. And consumers still plan to spend more than last year and satisfaction remains strong, said the investment firm in reporting on Week 6 of its study of online sales […]

Virgin Entertainment Group North America CEO Glen Ward named a new executive team today, charged with uniting the company’s online and bricks-and-mortar operations. Effective in early 2001, customers logging on to the music and DVD/video site Virginmega.com will find a content-driven site “that will demonstrate an expanded ability to drive traffic and cross-channel awareness for […]

While the 1999 season peaked with a 40 percent growth in the number of home shoppers, this year the number of online shoppers has already risen 53 percent, setting a new record for the holiday season, according to the latest figures from Nielsen//NetRatings. The online measurement firm said that for the second week in December, […]

E-commerce mainstay Amazon.com has occupied the top overall online advertiser spot for eight of the past nine weeks, leading the retail segment, says a new industry research report. In fact, the report from ad measurement firm AdRelevance says Amazon.com has run holiday-themed ads totaling over half-a-billion impressions each week since October. Apparently the strategy is […]