E-Commerce

Amazon.com stepped into the handcrafted-goods ring on Thursday, opening an arts-and-crafts bazaar online that squarely takes aim at a niche but growing market dominated by the Brooklyn-based Etsy. The new marketplace, called Handmade at Amazon, went live at 3 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday with a lineup of over 80,000 items from about 5,000 sellers in…

With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching — or already here, depending on whom you ask — consumers will be going online to purchase gifts for family and friends. Is your brand positioned to capture those customers? Gifting represents a $200 billion market, with the average consumer buying more than 20 gifts annually. It's an…

Jet.com launched three months ago as an Amazon.com rival promising rock-bottom prices for members willing to part with $50 for its annual membership. But just as the e-commerce site's free trial is set to end, company officials have decided to ditch the fee model that was to be its prime revenue generator. Instead, it will rely…

QVC has evolved its business in recent years from a TV-centric retailer to a multiplatform brand, with digital being the driving force. Already the world's leading video and e-commerce retailer with $8.8 billion in revenue last year, QVC has made it a priority to position its business for future success by better meeting the needs…

eBay is giving most of its sellers a boost in the number of listings they can post with no up-front fees as well as the ability to list more items by increasing listing limits on their accounts. The moves are clearly designed to boost the number of listings available to holiday shoppers, with changes going…

By going direct to consumer, luxury bedding brand Boll & Branch has been able to keep its prices competitive without sacrificing the quality on which the brand has built its reputation (its products are made with certified organic cotton). In this episode of Total Retail Talks, Scott Tannen, co-founder and CEO of Boll & Branch,…

Thrillist is spinning off its e-commerce website JackThreads. Thrillist Media Group CEO Ben Lerer, discusses the focus of the company on this business.

As department stores and publishers join the ranks of those offering luxury goods online, they’re running into a new breed of competitor: makers of the designer clothing, handbags and accessories they sell. The shift is making the internet look more like the real world. Department stores, after all, compete with shops owned by the likes of…

Wal-Mart is rolling out its free pick-up service for online grocery orders to stores in new markets such as Atlanta and Charlotte as the discount retailer looks to catch up to Amazon.com and fend off Target in a growing area of e-commerce. The company said on Tuesday that in addition to the new metro areas, which…

In the fast-moving and ferociously competitive world of e-commerce, the pressure on small to midsized merchants to stay one step ahead of their often-larger rivals can be intense. However, much like the runner who loses momentum at a key moment by looking over his shoulder, worrying about what the other guy is up to isn’t always…