E-Commerce

Gomez's second annual Best of the Web awards for the best performing web and mobile sites provide a benchmark for performance across six industries and highlight the leaders who provide superior web and mobile site experiences that enhance customer loyalty, reduce costs and increase revenue.

E-commerce in Canada generally sucks. The selection is crappier on the Canadian equivalent of U.S.-based stores, shipping is more expensive and the overall experience is much worse than in the U.S. And now, Zappos is shutting down completely in Canada.

Tax-free shopping is under threat for many online shoppers as states facing widening budget gaps increasingly pressure Amazon and other internet retailers to start collecting sales taxes from their residents. Billions of dollars are at stake as a growing number of states look for ways to generate more revenue without violating a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits a state from forcing businesses to collect sales taxes unless the business has a physical presence, such as a store, in that state.

When you start a presentation by posing the question, “Who here thinks that sex sells?,” you’re likely to grab the audience’s attention. Which means you can then pose the next question, “Who thinks that video sells?” Both — unsurprisingly — get people raising their hands to say, “Me, I do!”

Online retailing is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Marketers have access to information about every aspect of customer interaction: number of website visits, time spent on the site, email open and clickthrough rates, conversions, and purchases. With today’s sophisticated analytics, marketers can fine-tune their messaging and offers to optimize results and move beyond a simple first-click visit.

Wal-Mart, Target and other large retailers are ratcheting up a political campaign to force Amazon to collect sales taxes, sensing opportunity in the budget crises gripping statehouses nationwide. The big-box stores are backing a coalition called the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which is leading efforts to change sales-tax laws in more than a dozen states including Texas and California.

The young woman in the Zappos.com video wears little makeup with her hair in a ponytail. She's cute, but she's no supermodel. What she is: A Zappos employee chosen for her pep and "real people" look to wear and talk about shoes for sale on the company's website.

Consumers generally go to a website with an agenda. That agenda could be to comparison shop, research, make a purchase, among other things. However, it's quite common for consumers to get frustrated with certain website issues and seek what they want elsewhere. A new whitepaper from Peppers & Rogers Group and iPerceptions titled Ten Tips for Making Websites Stickier offers new insights and 10 ways to help you keep consumers glued to your website.

Facebook will soon begin testing a service that will provide its members local discounts, a move that will put it in direct competition with daily-deals giant Groupon.

eBay said it will allow sellers on its auction site to list up to 50 items for free, a bid designed to draw more business in the wake of slowing growth for the online marketplace.