Beth Cox

Giant e-tailer Amazon.com said it made a mistake in implementing a random price test for some products, and is refunding some money to nearly 7,000 customers who got less than the best deal on certain DVDs. The company, which took heat from a few privacy advocates several weeks ago after disclosing in a new privacy […]

K-tel International Inc. , at one time a contender in the e-commerce wars, said it has been notified that its common stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq National Market this week. And indeed, the stock was trading at about 75 cents a share this morning on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB). The action was […]

Name-your-own-price e-commerce site Priceline.com watched its stock drop 42 percent Wednesday after the company said third quarter revenues would be “below the range of analysts’ estimates.” The bad news followed a flurry of negative publicity for the company last week involving media reports about unhappy customers and spurious advertising. The company’s stock, which closed yesterday […]

Consumers who shop the Web this holiday season will have higher expectations than ever before, and many online businesses may not be prepared, says a new industry study. In polling the top management at 150 e-tailers and comparing their thoughts with those of 600 consumers, AT&T said it found that 97 percent of the consumers […]

Wedding site The Knot signed premier provider deals with Fortunoff, a New York area home furnishings and fine jewelry retailer, and Linens ‘n Things Inc. , a national retailer of home textiles, housewares and decorating accessories. Financial arrangements were not disclosed. Fortunoff becomes the premier provider of china, crystal and silver on The Knot Gift […]

New research on the e-commerce industry finds that the top 20 percent of online shoppers who spent at least $1,000 per year online account for about 87 percent of the total consumer online sales market. Analytical eCRM provider Cyber Dialogue said its research “underscores the importance of businesses identifying and targeting their most profitable customers.” […]

Carriers in Europe and the United States are making a critical mistake by failing to learn from Japan’s mobile commerce success, says a new industry report. In fact, it will take Western competitors two years to reach the $400 million of mobile commerce revenues generated in Japan today, says research firm Jupiter Research. Only the […]

Online retailer 1-800-FLOWERS.COM negotiated a new five-year agreement with America Online Inc. that extends their e-commerce partnership for two additional years, through August 2005. The new agreement, effective Oct. 1, replaces an existing four-year contract that was announced a year ago. Financial terms of the new deal were not disclosed, but the flower and gift […]

Driven by back-to-school spending on everything from clothes to computers, online retail sales increased from an estimated $4 billion in July to $4.2 billion in August, according to new survey results. Fifteen million households shopped online in August, said the survey for the NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index. The index was developed by the National Retail […]

Making another effort to win the hearts and (and dollars) of small-business owners, Microsoft Corp. launched Business Web Services, the first of several new integrated services planned for its bCentral small-business service. Business Web Services offers an integrated sign-up process and a fee of $24.95 per month .Microsoft said it is aimed at taking the […]

In an deal that should bring a smile to the faces of sports fans who just can’t get enough, satellite TV provider DIRECTV Inc. and Quokka Sports Inc. are teaming up to deliver new interactive sports programming to users of DIRECTV’s advanced set-top box. DIRECTV, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp., claims 8.7 million customers. […]

E-commerce portal provider Epicentric Inc. signed a partner deal with Loudcloud Inc., a provider of Internet Infrastructure services, that will enable Loudcloud to resell Epicentric’s portal solutions. The companies said that the agreement offers customers a unified package that “combines best of breed back-end and front-end services for fast growth Internet business initiatives.” Financial arrangements […]