E-Commerce

Hold on to your credit cards ladies, because Miu Miu is finally launching its first e-commerce site on April 6th. The site includes a fashion show selection offering exclusive key looks from Miu Miu’s Paris runway, a top zoom function that helps simulate a live shopping experience, and a newsletter for special online-only products, events and brand initiatives.

eBay is launching its deepest integration with Milo on its search platform. Milo’s local availability results will show eBay shoppers which local stores currently have a desired item in stock and how much it costs at each location. Milo currently provides access to millions of products from approximately 50,000 stores across all 50 states.

Just when you thought Facebook couldn't get any bigger, a recent study from Webtrends shows that Fortune 500 brands are seeing more web traffic go to their Facebook pages than their websites.

Best Buy is expanding its online-only assortment in key product categories as a way to clear up some of the static that has clouded its financial picture in recent months. Revenues for the retailer's fourth quarter, which ended February 26, 2011, declined 2 percent (to $16.2 billion) compared to the same period the previous year, while same store sales dropped 4.6 percent.

Gap has opened an online store on China's biggest e-commerce platform Taobao, in an effort to lure savvy Chinese shoppers outside wealthy cities. Gap opened its store on Taobao Mall, alongside the likes of Adidas, Levi Strauss & Co and Japan's Uniqlo.

The more active a brand is on Facebook, the better chance consumers will "Like" it. This was the key finding from a recent study on retailers' growth on Facebook and Twitter conducted by marketing agency Media Logic. However, a follow-up study released this month shows that the majority of brands on Facebook saw their growth on the social media site lose steam as the holiday season came and went.

After teaming up with Groupon to get daily deals on its websites last summer, McClatchy Co. has decided to get into the business on its own. McClatchy, the third-largest newspaper company, won't be breaking up with Groupon, but will launch its own deals service in April, bringing the two companies head-to-head.

Artspace, an online marketplace for contemporary art, has announced the closing of a $1.2 million round of financing from professional and superangel investors. 

In what seems like a generation ago — before the internet — catalog orders came in one of two ways: via the mail or phone. Source code capture rates of 85 percent were the norm and it was easy to read the results from each mailing list. Then along came the internet and measuring catalog response rates became complicated. The percentage of online orders continues to grow, making the attribution of orders very complicated. Consumers receive catalogs, emails, online ads and many more advertisements. Knowing which marketing vehicle should get credit for an order is a challenge.

E-commerce is already the most valuable player on Williams-Sonoma's team, and the retailer is committing major money to keep up its star's winning streak. The multichannel retailer will invest $75 million in e-commerce and the information technology and supply chain solutions to support it in fiscal 2011, with $25 million earmarked specifically for long-term international e-commerce growth.