While Amazon just recently dropped its free shipping minimum from $35 to $25, Target has made the baffling decision to go in the opposite direction, raising its minimum required purchase for free shipping to $35. [More]
e-commerce
Amazon Drops Free Shipping Minimum To $25
By 5.9.17
Online shoppers are benefitting from the e-commerce battle between Amazon and Walmart. Amazon has once again lowered its minimum for free shipping for non-Prime orders, from $35 to $25, undercutting Walmart’s minimum by $10. [More]
6 Things We Learned About Walmart’s Love-Hate Relationship With Online Sales
By 5.4.17
Despite decades of being the biggest name in bricks-and-mortar retail, Walmart has yet to repeat that success online. The company recently went on an e-commerce buying spree — snapping up Jet.com, ModCloth, MooseJaw, ShoeBuy, and possibly Bonobos — but will that be enough to compete with Amazon? [More]
Petsmart Adopts Pet Supplies Site Chewy.com
By 4.18.17
Big-box pet supply store PetSmart is expanding its presence in your pet’s life and in its food dish, acquiring the popular online pet supplies vendor Chewy.com. [More]
Amazon Debuts ‘Amazon Cash’ As A Way For The Unbanked To Shop Online
By 4.3.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Shopping online can provide savings and convenience, but more than 25% of U.S. households have either no bank account or rely on non-bank products and services to handle their finances. In an attempt to reach those potential customers, Amazon has launched “Amazon Cash.” [More]
Amazon Will Shut Down Diapers.com And Wag.com Parent Quidsi
By 3.29.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Seven years ago, Amazon acquired Quidsi, what was then a five-year-old competitor that ran the sites Diapers.com and Soap.com. Since then, the company has been running independently and expanded its offerings. Now Amazon is shuttering Quidsi’s brands, saying that it’s been unable to make a profit since the acquisition. [More]
Lloyd’s Of London Now Offers Insurance To Amazon Sellers Worried About Being Banned
By 3.23.17
Third-party sellers on Amazon often complain that the rules governing suspensions, bans, and reinstatement are vague, and that they feel at risk for losing their livelihoods at any time. Now one of the biggest names in insurance is underwriting plans that will pay out if a seller loses access to Amazon. [More]
Amazon Steps Up Effort To Rid Site Of Counterfeit Products
By 3.22.17 — Updated: 3.23.17
Amazon has previously said it would escalate its war on counterfeit merchandise this year, but now the online retail giant is providing more details on how it plans to accomplish that feat. [More]
Amazon Reduces Minimum On Free Shipping For Non-Prime Customers
By 2.21.17
Almost exactly one year after Amazon increased the free-shipping minimum on non-Prime customers from $35 to $49, the e-commerce giant has decided to revert back to the old $35 minimum. [More]
Walmart Continues E-Commerce Shopping Spree, Buys Outdoor Retailer Moosejaw
By 2.15.17
Just a month after Walmart continued its bid to boost online sales with the $70 million purchase of shoe-tailer ShoeBuy, the company has once again added to its e-commerce shopping spree with the $51 million acquisition of online outdoor retailer Moosejaw. [More]
Amazon Wants To Get Into Your Underwear Drawer
By 2.10.17
Amazon has already been making moves to get into customers’ closets with the in-house apparel brands it launched last year, and rumors that it’s planning a new line of workout clothing. Now, Amazon reportedly wants to slip into something more comfortable: your underwear drawer. [More]
Alibaba Says Companies Are Filing Fake Claims About Counterfeit Products
By 2.9.17
Five months ago, designer brands complained that Alibaba wasn’t doing enough to rid its site of counterfeiters. Now, the e-commerce megasite claims that it’s being victimized by fakes — not bogus products, but allegedly false complaints about vendors selling counterfeit products. [More]
Has Amazon Helped Indie Bookstores?
By 1.26.17
Bookstore chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble were among the first retailers to feel the sting of Amazon, with its vast variety of titles and speedy delivery times, not to mention its huge share of the ebook market. However, the online goliath doesn’t appear to be having the same diminishing effect on the number of independent bookstores. [More]
How Do Some Retailers Succeed While Ignoring The Internet?
By 12.21.16
Shopping online: it’s convenient for customers and brings in big bucks for retailers. But not everyone is jumping at the chance to sell their goods on the internet. HomeGoods and Marshall’s don’t have websites filled with products and TJMaxx has a sparsely filled online platform, and they appear to be doing just fine, thank you very much. [More]
Pizzas, Pot & Fields Of Gold: 7 Important Firsts In Online Retail History
By 12.16.16
How long have you been shopping online? People have been using electronic networks to buy and sell things for 40 years, and the first commercial transactions over the web took place over 20 years ago. Compared to bricks-and-mortar retail, where it took more than a century to evolve from catalogs, boutiques, and haberdasheries to big box stores, online retail has seen a significant amount of innovation in a very short amount of time. [More]
UPS, FedEx Already Struggling Under Avalanche Of Holiday Deliveries
By 12.13.16
One might think that after years of online shopping growing in popularity that major shipping carriers would finally be prepared for the Big Show, also known as the holiday season. And yet here we are again, heading into crunch time, and UPS and FedEx are having trouble keeping up with all those packages. [More]
Retailers Beef Up Ship-From-Store Operations To Fill Online Orders
By 12.1.16
For retailers that sell the same merchandise in person and online, shipping online orders from stores makes sense. Running out of hot items can mean ending promotions early or disappointing customers by canceling their orders, neither of which is a good idea during the stressful and crucial holiday season. Yet expanding ship-from-store is not as simple as it sounds at first. [More]
Monday Projected To Be A Record Day For Online Shippers
By 11.23.16
In news that will surprise absolutely no one, the major package carriers, UPS and FedEx, expect to handle record numbers of packages this holiday seasons. As Americans shift more of our holiday shopping — and more of our shopping in general — online, that makes this Monday particularly important for retailers. [More]
