E-Commerce

Can your website hold an intelligent conversation with consumers each time they return to visit? Can it analyze their behavior individually and respond with appropriate navigation? Can its follow-up emails best meet their needs and objectives, and in a time frame short enough to keep their attention?

eBay has acquired MissionFish, which powers eBay's Giving Works charitable giving program. MissionFish was launched with its own auction marketplace where all of the proceeds went to charity. In 2003, MissionFish helped eBay create the Giving Works program so eBay sellers could donate a portion of their eBay auction proceeds to the charity of their choice.

Amazon has launched MyHabit.com, a site that mimics sites such as Gilt Groupe by holding brief online flash sales of clothes. Sales typically last 72 hours. The site launched with clothes from Doo.ri, Badgley Mischka and i.am clothing, the brand of Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am. The site will feature photos and video of the clothing on models, the internet retailer said.

JoS. A. Bank Clothiers is now allowing international customers to place orders on its website, as the retailer can now deliver orders to customers in over 90 countries. The retailer will use a third-party provider to facilitate the checkout orders and to export and deliver the orders to international destinations.

Groupon's latest battlefields are in the East, where it faces an uphill battle in China and is the underdog in Australia. Groupon's latest tactic to gain ground: acquire burgeoning deal site Crowdmass.

New York magazine is about to launch a weekly deals e-newsletter and online adjunct, but instead of matching offers play to advertisers, it will aggregate “the best of the best” of other e-commerce sites’ picks.

When Emily McNish shopped for jewelry online, she was overwhelmed by the options while searching for “gold necklace” on e-commerce sites or Google. Then she found a website called JewelMint that she lets shop for her.

Whether you just bought an airline ticket or a pair of jeans online, chances are an internet search preceded the transaction. Now Facebook hopes to make its vast web of online social connections another central ingredient in the complicated dance between retailer and consumer.

We consistently see a strong correlation between customer experience ratings and important business outcomes, whether those outcomes are purchase intent, conversion, return visits (engagement) or some combination thereof. In support of the argument that engaging website visitors by creating more satisfactory experiences will deliver results to your organization, here's a compilation of recommendations on the most effective ways to make websites stickier:

Oprah Winfrey will be closing down The Oprah Store in Chicago by June. In addition, Oprah’s outlet at Water Tower Place will stop operations, and she'll also be shutting the virtual doors of her e-commerce store all by the end of May, in preparation for her farewell show.