online retail

Online sales in the United States increased 12% in the first quarter of 2011, reported comScore. It is the fastest growth since before the 2008 financial crisis.

The research firm reported that online retail spending reached $38 billion in the first quarter, with the 25 most popular online retailers making up 67.7 percent of those sales.

Besides, comScore also added that the growth was driven by an increasing number of customers shopping online and more visits to online stores. However, the average size of online transactions fell 4 percent.

IBM is entering the ecommerce industry with its new initiative to help online businesses better service their customers. IBM has launched an ecommerce program that focuses on retail operation integration and analytics.

"Through technology, consumers have gotten much more empowered than they have ever been before," for the retail industry, said Craig Hayman, the general manager of IBM Software Industry Solutions, who heads the new practice.

Google is rumored to launch a new fashion shopping website. Fashion bloggers say that many of them have received an invitation from Google to attend an event in New York City next Wednesday evening. ‘High Tech Fuses With High Fashion’, the invitation reads. While there is no further explanation on what the event is about but journalist and “fashionalyst” Patty Huntington this morning pointed out that a tweet from an anonymous NY fashion PR revealed part of what’s coming late last week.

Taobao, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, has partnered with Wasu Media Internet Limited, a subsidiary of Wasu Digital Television Media Group, to jointly launch a digital products platform and interactive digital television shopping.

Taohua.com will offer single-stop sharing and purchase of video, e-books, music and other digital entertainment and educational products. Chinese consumers will be able to shop from home on the Wasu Television Taobao Mall via interactive digital television shopping technology, which allows selection of goods and services using their TV.

Nothing sums up the aspirations of the fast-growing auction business GraysOnline quite like its recent Project Murray.
The codename for the group's recent move to offering fixed-price sales to complement its existing internet auctions was in sly reverence to the US virtual store Amazon.com, which GraysOnline chief executive Cameron Poolman considers to be the best in the business.
"We called it Project Murray because we see ourselves as the little Aussie Amazon," he told.
"And we think that we can position ourselves as the Australian Amazon."

 The economy is not only impacting shoppers, it’s affecting online retailers, too. According to results of Shop.org’s eHoliday Study, conducted by BIGresearch, shoppers will see changes in retail marketing and promotions this holiday season in response to economic uncertainty. 

Latest figures for online retail sales turned out to be the lowest since records began, revealing growth of just 8% for May 2009. Online sales for May 2009 totalled over £3.7bn. Growth for May 2009 represented a 3.5% dip compared to April 2009 as people abandoned their computers to enjoy the Bank Holiday sunshine. But there is one positive impact - sales in the health and beauty sector shot up by 14.9% month on month.

Overlay.TV, a leader in user-generated clickable video, is seeking to find the opportunity provided by video e-commerce with the launch of its new e-commerce product, Overlay.TV for Retail. The enterprise platform allows a seamless integration of interactive video into product pages, brand experience pages, face-to-face video chat and user-generated video ratings and testimonials.