E-Commerce

One size daily deals don't fit everyone — not even Groupon. In an effort to diversify revenue and maintain its rapid growth, Groupon, which has temporarily shelved its $750 million public offering, is fast evolving its business model.

A new consumer survey about online shopping, navigation and trust reveals the obstacles brands face in having offline marketing efforts materialize with online sales. Three-quarters of consumers are likely to go online after visiting a store to find a better deal before buying, and most start with search engines.

When Target made headlines with the launch of its limited partnership with designer Missoni, it probably didn’t expect demand for the fashion line to crash its website. While we usually hear about retail website crashes on or near Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Target’s recent site outage is remarkable for its atypical timing, severity and length.

The Limited will enter the women’s plus-size business, called eloquii by The Limited. It will launch online in October, with stores to follow next year, a report said. The merchandise mix will include sportswear, dresses and accessories, with sizes ranging from 14W to 24W.

OneStopPlus today announced the launch of fullbeauty.com, a website for plus-size bras and lingerie representing a comprehensive range of brands, styles, sizes and colors.

Roberto Cavalli's special e-commerce initiative, The Glam Gallery, a selection of iconic Cavalli red carpet gowns, will be available for sale at RobertoCavalli.com in October.

Overstock.com, which is in the process of rebranding its marketplace to O.co, announced the acquisition of the domain name O.info for a new consumer information website. The O.info site is scheduled to launch in March 2012.

The fashion design house of Oscar de la Renta has emerged as one of the leaders in social media marketing within the fashion industry and, though best known for $4,000 cocktail dresses, plans to be a leader in social media commerce as well. "We expect Facebook will become a major channel of e-commerce," says CEO Alex Bolen, in a wide-ranging interview with Lauren Indvik for Mashable.

Microsoft search engine Bing announced that it’s dipping its toe into the daily-deals space as well — as an aggregator. Appealing to savvy shoppers who may have overstuffed their inboxes with too many deals, the search engine is taking a “decision engine” approach to the coupon world. Bing Deals pulls together coupons from Groupon and LivingSocial, as well as retailers including Nordstrom and Target.

While many people know that live chat can cut support costs and boost online conversions, estimates of live chat penetration are still woefully low. Bold Software's research with online shoppers suggests that one in five choose live chat as their preferred method of communication with a retailer. If you’re interested in adding this communication and conversion tool to your site, you’ll be faced with many choices. How can you select the right solution for your needs?