online retailer

PricewaterhouseCoopers made a forecast that Australian offshore online shopping will increase by $AU1.2 billion to $AU6 billion this year.

The forecast predicts that online shopping will move up 13% to $AU13.6 billion. The report says that about 44% of those online sales will be gained by offshore e-tailers.

PwC forecasts that over the following 5 years online spending will increase by 12.6% annually to achieve $AU21.7 billion by 2015.
 

HDguru.com's Gary Merson shared his story of logging into his account on Best Buy’s website where he noted that the system experienced some glitch corrupting many users’ accounts.

Merson found that his shipping address and telephone number had been changed to someone else's. If he'd bought something and whisked through the shipping info page without paying attention, his purchase would have ended up in Houston instead of his home in New York.

Once again that question of ecommerce taxation arose due to the proposal to be made by Senator Dick Durbin intends. A Democratic aide plans to introduce a bill on Internet sales tax sometime this month.

"Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over Main Street bricks-and-mortar businesses?" Durbin said in a speech in Collinsville, Ill., in February. "Out-of-state companies that aren't paying their fair share of taxes are sticking Illinois residents and businesses with the tab."

This week an ecommerce advocate made a forecast saying that proposed changes to European rules on product returns could cost online retailers 10 billion euros ($14 billion) a year which would prevent further growth and impose higher prices on consumers.

IMRG says that the cost of draft amendments to the European Union's (EU) Consumer Rights Directive, voted through last week, equated to 4 percent of the estimated value of Europe's e-commerce industry in 2012.

Shares of Best Buy Co declined over 15% on Tuesday as the largest online retailer reported an unexpected decrease in fiscal third-quarter profit and cut its outlook. The No. 1 U.S. electronics retailer’s (BBY 35.52, -6.18, -14.82%) profit dropped as lower demand for televisions, notebook computers and videogames led to a sales shortfall in the U.S. While margin widened slightly, analysts said they were concerned that it came at the expense of sales.

82 websites that sell counterfeit or pirated goods were seized by the US prosecutors this week in the coordinated law enforcement effort, known as "Operation In Our Sites II” timed with the start of the online holiday shopping season.

"As of today -- what is known as 'Cyber Monday' and billed as the busiest online shopping day of the year -- anyone attempting to access one of these websites using its domain name will no longer be able to make a purchase," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters.

Internet retailer Amazon.com has finally got a right to launch its own payment system in Canada. Previously the online giant could not do this due to the prohibition of Canada's patent office, however the decision of the Federal Court has raised a ban. Now Amazon can reapply to patent office and submit another application to patent their technology in Canada. 

According to Amazon they are going to launch a new service enabling users to purchase items only by a single click. This technology is widely used in the neighboring USA and in Europe. 

The world’s largest online retailer Amazon has proposed a takeover of the UK movie-rental firm Lovefilm which values it at close to 200 million pounds ($313 million).

A spokesman for Lovefilm declined to comment on the story while U.S. firm Amazon could not be reached for comment.

Amazon already owns a 42 percent stake in privately-held Lovefilm after combining its own European rental operation with Lovefilm in 2008 and through buying out one of the company's venture capital backers.
 

In a move to boost up its subscription service Amazon.com is launching a discount program for mum buyers. Now the online retailer is offering free shipping and other perks on baby items such as diapers.

The new program dubbed Amazon Mom, is aimed at new mothers, a consumer segment short on time and often cash. The service competes with relatively new entrants in the online baby market, such as Diapers.com, as well as established brick and mortar retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Costco Wholesale Corp, whose customers buy items that can be replenished in bulk.

Amazon has launched wireless only Kindle reader that is cheaper than its previous versions. The new e-book reader is priced at $139. The company hopes the new move will turn its latest electronic reader into a mass-appeal device as Apple Inc's iPad gains ground. Besides, Amazon also unveiled its third generation Kindle, some 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous version, but still priced at $189.

Online retailers in North Carolina can be freed from taxes and penalties in case they sign an agreement by August 31 to start collecting sales tax. The North Carolina Department of Revenue said it is working with ecommerce retailers who operate affiliate programs in the state to resolve issues of tax liability.

Any retailer that did not register for sales and use tax as a result of an affiliate program in North Carolina at any time is eligible to participate in the program, called the Internet Transactions Resolution Program (ITRP).

PayPal has partnered with China UnionPay to allow millions of its cardholders to use PayPal to shop online. The initiative thus provides international retailers with a huge opportunity to sell to a large base of Chinese customers.

The Merchant Risk Council (MRC), a merchant-led trade association focused on electronic commerce risk and payment strategies, reported the results of its Annual Merchant Fraud Survey, which was sponsored by CyberSource Corporation.

The report reveals that MRC Platinum Members (200+ of the largest online retailers in the world) set best in class sample at how to reduce revenue losses due to cyber theft.

The survey shows:

An Internet textbook retailer eCampus.com which offers used textbooks, textbook rentals, etextbooks, new textbooks online, partnered with PayPal to offer it as a payment option to customers. Now eCampus buyers can use PayPal for more than 6 million textbooks, books, and DVDs.

With PayPal, eCampus customers can now pay for items through account balances, bank accounts, debit cards, or credit cards without sharing their financial information.

According to the latest survey y IBM consumers want more retail stores to be more interactive and personalized online.

"It's a smarter consumer out there today, one who is really willing to engage with the retailer," said Shannon Miller, a business development lead for IBM's Global Business Services.

32,000 consumers were polled online for the research to figure out how much interactivity they want from the retail outlets they frequent. An overwhelming interest was shown for more online customization services.