E-Commerce

In order to grow revenue and gain new customers, small and emerging merchants are increasingly noticing the importance of becoming multichannel retailers. Blake Nordstrom, president of upscale department store chain Nordstrom, discussed customers' evolving role in shaping the future of multichannel retailing.

Aeropostale's comparable store sales for January have been better than most peers in the teen segment, though room certainly exists for improvement. The company's comparable store sales for the month increased by a modest 1 percent while net sales for the month increased by 7 percent, largely driven by growth in its internet and catalog orders.

According to a recent study by Janrain, 75 percent of consumers take issue with being asked to register on a website and will change their behavior as a result. The study was conducted during the height of the 2010 holiday shopping season among a nationwide cross section of consumers.

Marks & Spencer has poached Laura Wade-Gery, Tesco's e-commerce director, to lead its campaign to sell more goods over the internet and telephone. Wade-Gery, who had agreed to become the commercial director of Tesco's non-food operation in March, changed her mind to take up the newly created position of executive director of multi-channel ecommerce at M&S.

Illinois is dangerously close to making an already challenging economy even more difficult for thousands of small businesses with a new e-commerce tax. Lawmakers recently passed the measure without regard for the potential impact on Illinois' technology businesses.

The case for community on Facebook is clear: 600 million users, half of whom engage with the brand daily and contribute on average 90 pieces of content a month. Case closed. The case for commerce is emerging.

Reader's Digest U.K. has launched a digital push to accelerate e-commerce sales and increase magazine subscriptions. The publisher has appointed twentysix, Digivate and I Spy to build its online presence and ramp up e-commerce revenues for Reader's Digest's books, CDs and DVDs retail arm.

In a move that's about as subtle as a sledge hammer, Groupon sent out a "Super Coupon" offering $20 of merchandise from Barnes & Noble for $10. This appears to be in direct response to LivingSocial and Amazon teaming up and offering gift cards for $10 following the retail giant’s $175 million investment in the number two daily deals site. That offer sold 1.3 million vouchers for a total of $13 million.

In Japan, consumers have been scaling back their purchases of big-ticket luxury brand items and searching for bargains due to the country's continued economic malaise and deflationary pressures. Meanwhile, e-commerce sales have been gaining traction, making it a good time for Gilt Groupe to launch in the country.

comScore's Q4 2010 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates showed that online retail spending reached a record $43.4 billion for the quarter, up 11 percent vs. a year ago. This represented the fifth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second quarter of double-digit growth rates in the past year.