E-Commerce

Amazon cut a tentative deal with legislative leaders that would allow it to postpone collecting sales taxes from Californians for another year. The company in turn would drop its battle to overturn the state's new law that required it and many other out-of-state online retailers to collect the taxes.

Toys"R"Us is expanding its e-commerce business to keep up with the swift rise in online shopping. The toy retailer said it's enhancing its buy online, pick up in-store service that it launched a year ago. Now shoppers can designate an alternate person, such as a friend or family member, to pick up their order.

Word on the street is that Amazon is testing out something new in Seattle and it's not the Kindle tablet. We're talking about lockers at 7-Eleven mini-marts that will let online shoppers pick up their packages while they grab a hot dog instead of waiting for the UPS man at home.

For days our inboxes have been filled with tips and screenshots about Amazon.com’s redesign, which offers a cleaned up homepage without the old site’s iconic blue and orange navigation. Instead, the new site features a much bigger search bar, bigger buttons, and less clutter — all changes that practically scream “tablet-optimized!”

E-commerce powerhouses Amazon.com, Walmart.com and eBay.com remain as the top e-retailers in the STORES Favorite 50. The fifth annual ranking of the industry’s top online retailers reflects the views of retailers’ toughest and most important judges — consumers.

The former eBay executive who launched a social marketplace called YardSellr has launched a new shopping website. Danny Leffel's company Yardsellr launched Style.ly, a marketplace open to third-party sellers that's focused on fashion. The site describes itself as a social buying and selling marketplace where fashionistas buy and sell new, gently used and vintage women's fashion and accessories.

Google promoted a Groupon-like daily-deal offer on its homepage for the first time, a rare instance of the internet giant using its prized online real estate for advertising. The daily deal was the first time a Google Offers product has been promoted on its minimalist website and may signal an escalation of competition with Groupon.

Online home goods retailer CSN Stores is consolidating its 200-plus shopping sites into a single e-commerce website under one brand: Wayfair.com. The rebranding has long been rumored, and the company publicly stated that it would be consolidating its sites and changing its name to Wayfair.com when the massive financing round was announced, but today sees the actual launch of the new “mega-site."

Elle is giving H&M a gateway into e-commerce. Earlier this year, H&M postponed its plans to launch an e-commerce site in the U.S. until 2012, but that doesn’t mean the Swedish retailer is out of the game until then. Select items are available for purchase on Elle.com. The site will show four looks from H&M’s fall collection, with four or five pieces from each look that consumers can click to buy.

GoodThreads e-commerce platform will outfit nonprofits with a simple way to extend their brands while giving supporters an environment to create gear, share with friends, and donate to their favorite cause.