Unless you’ve been surfing Starbucks.com recently, you may not have noticed that something is missing — its online store. The Seattle-based coffee chain shut down its virtual shop on Sunday, citing a desire to focus on the customer experience in physical stores. [More]
online shopping
Here’s How Some Brands Are Fighting Back Against Amazon
By 8.7.17
From groceries and household supplies to electronics and clothing, Amazon has steadily been expanding its product categories in an effort to appeal to as many customers as it can. But some brands don’t want the e-commerce giant horning in on their business, so they’re fighting back. [More]
FedEx Ditching Most Holiday Shipping Surcharges This Year
By 8.3.17
It’s only August, but already the holiday shipping wars are heating up: After UPS announced recently that it would be tacking on new surcharges during the busiest time of the year, FedEx says it won’t be adding extra fees on most packages shipped near the holidays. [More]
Walmart Expands Use Of Giant Orange Vending Machines For Online Pickups
By 7.5.17
Walking into your local Walmart you could soon be greeted with a giant, orange vending machine, as the big box retailer expands the self-service kiosks in order to provide online customers with a quick option to pick up their orders without the apparent hassle of having to speak to a human being. [More]
Your Holiday Shopping Could Get More Expensive, Thanks To UPS
By 6.19.17
If you were planning to do your holiday shopping from the comfort of home, scooping up bargains with a click, you should know that you may have to pay a little more this year since UPS is tacking on a holiday delivery surcharge during the busiest weeks of the year. [More]
Some IKEA Products Are Now Available On Amazon
By 6.14.17
Well, that was fast: Not even a week after an IKEA executive said the company would start selling products online through third-party vendors sometime next year, various IKEA items have popped up for sale on Amazon. [More]
Amazon Changed Its Prime Logo And People Don’t Know How To Feel
By 6.12.17 — Updated: 6.13.17
Whether it’s a big change or a barely recognizable tweak, when a company changes its logo, people are going to notice — and odds are, some of those folks are going to hate it. Case in point: Amazon has redesigned its Prime logo ever so slightly, and many people are unsure how to feel about the change. [More]
IKEA Will Try Selling Its Products Through Third-Party Websites Next Year
By 6.8.17 — Updated: 6.9.17
In an effort to expand its online efforts beyond the confines of its own websites, IKEA is planning to test selling its furniture and other home goods through third-party sites starting next year for the first time. [More]
J. Crew CEO Says It Was A “Big Mistake” To Bank On Elitist Image
By 5.24.17
As J. Crew struggles to compete in today’s tough retail world and avoid going bankrupt like so many other brands, the company’s CEO is admitting that he wasn’t quite prepared for how its high-priced image would fail to lure customers amid competition from fast fashion retailers with cheaper clothing.. [More]
Is Walmart Catching Up With Amazon In The Online Shopping Race?
By 5.18.17
In the world of retail, bricks-and-mortar retailers have one common enemy: Amazon. Walmart may finally be catching up with the e-commerce giant, reporting a 69% jump in online sales last quarter. [More]
Amazon Also Wants To Sell You (Prescription) Drugs
By 5.17.17
When Amazon executives look around their virtual store, we imagine they must be tapping their chins and thinking, “Hmm, what else do people want?” The company already sells everything from books to riding mowers, and now, it’s reportedly getting very serious about the idea of expanding into the pharmacy business. [More]
Report: Amazon Blocked Walmart’s Shopping Bots From Getting Pricing Data
By 5.10.17
In the crowded arena of online shopping, speed is of the essence if you want to keep up with your competitors’ prices: If you aren’t quick enough, your rival could undercut you. A new report claims that Walmart is trying its hardest to automatically track Amazon’s prices, but it’s not having much luck. [More]
Target Quietly Raised Minimum Free Shipping Threshold From $25 to $35
By 5.9.17
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]
Walmart Adds Discount For Shopping Online, Picking Up In Store
By 4.12.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Shopping online and being able to pick up your purchase at the store is a minor convenience, but you still have to drive to the store, wait to be served, get your package, and drive home — and you may have paid more than you would at Amazon or some other online-only retailer. So to make this option more attractive to shoppers, Walmart.com will be discounting millions of items if you purchase them for in-store pickup. [More]
GameStop May Be The Latest Loser In Data Breach Roulette
By 4.7.17
Add a new certainty to the old pair of “death and taxes”: data breaches. GameStop may be the latest retailer to face this inevitability, with a new report indicating that customer data has been stolen from its website. [More]
Our Online Shopping Is Hurting Mail Carriers As Dog Attacks Increase
By 4.7.17
Online shoppers might joke that their habit only hurts their wallets, but it turns out, it could actually be hurting someone else: The number of mail carriers attacked by dogs is the highest it’s been in three decades. [More]
Amazon Vs. Walmart Battle Means Lower Prices For You; Headaches For Manufacturers
By 3.31.17
Amazon can now deliver many things in one or two days, so Walmart has to have lower prices for the many customers who can wait. Similarly, Amazon has to undercut Walmart’s grocery prices if it’s going to stake out any significant portion of that $800 billion market. For shoppers at either of these two retail giants, this can mean lower prices, but it’s also forcing manufacturers and suppliers to rethink how they do business. [More]
Amazon Launches Spanish-Language Version Of U.S. Site
By 3.10.17
Amazon is no stranger to selling in multiple languages, with sites in more than a dozen countries, but until now the U.S. version Amazon has never included an option to make it more accessible to Spanish-speaking users. [More]
