Depending on how you feel about the way real estate works now, the idea of sticking a house in your Internet shopping cart and clicking “Buy” may or may not appeal to you. Advances in technology mean that you can buy a new house without even going outside, and get a discount for doing so…in India. [More]
online shopping
Google Begins Testing Buy Button On Select Mobile Searches
By 7.15.15
Google has finally made good on those reports that it would simplify the smartphone shopping experience by allowing users to simply hit a “buy button” to complete a transaction straight from sponsored search results, rather than toggling between retailer websites. Today, the company announced it is officially testing what it calls Purchases. [More]
Could You Soon Be Making Purchases By Scanning Your Face? That’s The Plan At MasterCard
By 7.2.15
Who has time to memorize the special code or password when you could just scan your face to approve an online purchase? While using facial recognition as confirmation you’re, well, you, might seem a little far-fetched, it could be a reality this fall according to MasterCard. [More]
Amazon’s Roving Treasure Truck Delayed In First Weekend Of Business
By 6.29.15
After more than a week of cruising the streets of Seattle, Amazon’s Treasure Truck was supposed to start handing out goods on Saturday. But that didn’t happen, as the company announced in the early hours of the weekend that it would postpone its big debut. [More]
Amazon Reportedly Working On New Shipping Service That Turns Ordinary People Into Couriers
By 6.16.15
Looking to pick up a few dollars while making your way around town? Then Amazon’s latest attempt to quickly and cheaply deliver packages might be right up your alley, that is if the consumer-turned-courier program comes to fruition. [More]
Soon You’ll Be Able To Easily Buy The Stuff Showcased In Ads Played Before YouTube Videos
By 5.22.15
Have you ever sat through an advertisement before being able to watch that super cool, totally in-the-moment viral video on YouTube, and thought “Man, I really need that [insert random item you probably don’t need]?” No? Okay, but in case that ever is you, Google wants to ensure it’s as easy as possible for you to make a purchase right then and there. [More]
Google Reportedly Adding Buy Button To Sponsored Mobile Search Results
By 5.18.15
Searching for and buying a product with your smartphone is about to get a bit easier. Google is reportedly just weeks away from adding a “buy” button to mobile search results, a move that will increase the company’s rivalry with other online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon. [More]
Walmart Reportedly Working On An Amazon Prime Rival
By 5.13.15
Walmart’s latest attempt to stay competitive with Amazon reportedly includes taking the rival company’s iconic Prime service and making its own version. [More]
Amazon Prime Members Less Likely To Visit Target.com, Walmart.com When Shopping Online
By 4.6.15
In recent months big box retailers like Walmart and Target have attempted to thwart Amazon’s growing influence over consumers with a variety of new policies such as reducing the minimum purchase required for free shipping and allowing price-matching with the online retailer (although, that effort didn’t’ last long). But, according to a new report, those measure might amount to “too little, too late” when it comes to Amazon Prime shoppers. [More]
Target Reduces Free Shipping Requirement To $25, Now Cheaper Than Walmart & Amazon
By 2.23.15
Consumers no longer have to drop $50 to qualify for free shipping on Target.com. In an attempt to stay competitive with other online retailers, the big box store reduced the minimum requirements for free shipping to $25. [More]
Report: Amazon Uses Jedi Mind Trick To Convince Shoppers It’ll Always Have The Lowest Prices
By 1.14.15
If you ask someone why they decided to buy a product on Amazon, the answer will often be, “Well, they have the lowest prices.” But according to a new report, that’s just an Amazon mind trick at work to make people think that’s always going to be true. [More]
Here’s How Stores Trick You Into Spending 20% More
By 1.13.15
Many shoppers like the ability to order something from a company online and then go to a bricks-and-mortar location to pick it up, perhaps to avoid delivery snafus or keep a present secret from a loved one. It’s convenient for customers (though not always faster than just shopping in store), and yet at the same time, it’s part of a well-laid trap to get more stuff in front of your face in the hopes that you’ll buy it. [More]
Amazon’s Sales By Third-Party Sellers Hit 2 Billion Items, 40% Of Total
By 1.5.15
40% of the items sold on Amazon.com in 2014 weren’t sold by Amazon. Sure, Amazon collected fees, a percentage of payments, and storage fees for items stored in and shipped from Amazon warehouses. However, Amazon didn’t own the actual stuff, serving as a sales platform instead of a retailer for 2 billion items sold on the site. [More]
Always Double Check: Stores And Their Websites Still Sell Things At Wildly Different Prices
By 12.8.14
To we consumers, it feels like a store’s physical locations and their website are, y’know, all still part of the same store, and should be treated as such. But as we’ve found over and over, a chain’s retail storefronts and their web presence can be two very different beasts, with two different sets of inventory — and at two different sets of prices. [More]
Amazon Extending Some Prime Benefits To Partner Sites
By 11.6.14
The way an Amazon Prime membership works right now, all of the perks of online shopping, like free two-day shipping, are benefits enjoyed only while purchasing goods on Amazon itself. But now Amazon is dipping its toes in the pool of friendship, as it’s joining up with partner sites to extend some of those benefits to shoppers buying stuff on other sites as well. [More]
Consumers’ Evolving Shopping Habits Mean There Aren’t As Many Jobs In Retail
By 4.15.14
Some days it’s hard to motivate yourself to go to the mall to shop, it’s just easier to shop online. We’ve all had those days, okay, maybe it’s just me, but still, tendencies like that are creating a problem of sorts for retail workers. The more efficient we’re becoming at buying our goods, the fewer retail workers are needed a new report shows. [More]
Banana Republic Accidentally Lets Customers Stack Coupon Codes, Notices, Cancels Orders
By 3.18.14
Rules are rules, and getting some special deals requires playing by the rules. If a company’s website lets you use multiple coupon codes together, then that means that the codes can be combined, no matter what the coupon fine print says, right? Well, no. [More]
Online State Sales Tax Solution Remains Elusive After Congress Declares ‘Fundamental Defects’ In Senate Bill
By 3.13.14
After years of attempts to craft a federal law that would affirm states’ rights to tax online purchases, the issue may still be far from being resolved. The House Judiciary Committee has put the brakes on the Marketplace Fairness Act passed by the Senate in May. [More]
