While e-tail fulfillment problems have been a steady source of dissatisfaction among online consumers, a report concludes that they also often dampen efforts by Web merchants to achieve profitability. According to an analysis of e-commerce infrastructure by Jupiter Research, 44 percent of Interne...

In a bid to cool the energy meltdown that ignited rolling power blackouts in California, Governor Gray Davis said that the state is going to hold an Internet auction to secure long-term, low-cost electricity contracts. "I expect these bids on long-term energy contracts should stabilize the market...

With their proposed merger still under federal scrutiny, Internet research firms Jupiter Media Metrix and NetRatings said they will go ahead with a patent infringement lawsuit that had previously been put on hold as a condition of the acquisition. Jupiter and NetRatings said they modified the ter...

Although retail revenues were down overall during the 2001 holiday season and for the year, online retail saw double-digit growth. Does that mean online shopping is recession-proof? Most analysts say no, and point to a number of reasons why e-tail is still growing, although not at the exponential...

Looking to drum up new sources of online advertising revenue, powerhouse portal Yahoo! announced Monday that it has stuck a deal with Arnold MPG to develop new Internet marketing campaigns for the media buying and planning agency's clients. As part of the deal, Arnold MPG has agreed to purchase m...

Buoyed by the strong preliminary showing of its fourth quarter results, Drugstore.com said that it expects to hit its profitability target in 2003, approximately one year earlier than the pure-play retailer had previously projected. Despite the recent strides, the e-tailer's latest rosy revenue f...

For the first time, the number of women who used the Internet for holiday shopping outpaced the number of men who did so, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Of the 29 million online users who made purchases online during the holiday season, approximately 58 perc...

Few people quibble over smart card functionality. The cards -- embedded with a memory chip that can store everything from bank balances to prescription information -- can be used for online shopping, network security access and even decoding paid-for digital content such as music and movies. On t...

Internet drugstores have had a tough time finding a cure for sluggish sales and weak consumer adoption rates in their sector. "Retailers like Rx.com and PlanetRx.com thought they could steal away some of the mail-order prescription business and be viewed from an insurance perspective as a mail-or...

Many of the top e-commerce companies are enjoying a happy holiday season, with Internet heavyweights Yahoo! and Amazon among the sites enjoying significant sales gains. Yahoo! said its sales volume surged more than 86 percent during the post-Thanksgiving buying period over last year's levels. Ama...

While many Internet sellers have seen their traffic slow this holiday season due to deep retail discounts that drove consumers back into brick-and-mortar stores, Internet heavyweight Yahoo! said that its sales volume surged more than 86 percent during the post-Thanksgiving buying period over last...

While online merchants were forced to contend with costly Web site outages and misfires during the holidays of past years, the 2001 season is shaping up to be a relatively uneventful affair. "This fear factor has caused people to pay more attention to the right things," Forrester Research directo...

With the holidays drawing nearer, consumers stepped up their online shopping during the first week of December, spending roughly US$2.6 billion, according to data released by Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings. The figure represented a 91 percent spike from the $1.4 billion...

Automobile manufacturers and sellers need to continue revving up their online research capabilities, because prospective buyers increasingly view the Internet as a valuable means to compare makes, models and prices, rather than as a tool to close the deal, according to a new study by Jupiter Medi...

Automobile manufacturers and sellers need to continue revving up their online research capabilities, because prospective buyers increasingly view the Internet as a valuable means to compare makes, models and prices, rather than as a tool to close the deal, according to a new study by Jupiter Medi...

Automobile manufacturers and sellers need to continue revving up their online research capabilities, because prospective buyers increasingly view the Internet as a valuable means to compare makes, models and prices, rather than as a tool to close the deal, according to a new study by Jupiter Medi...

Amazon.com has inked a content agreement with venerable product-testing organization Consumers Union -- the publisher of Consumer Reports and Consumer Reports Online -- that will allow the Internet giant to publish "unbiased" product advice summaries, merchandise information and ratings on its si...

Despite their concerns about the security of personal information given online, only 3 percent of shoppers thoroughly review Web privacy policies on a regular basis, according to a study released by Harris Interactive. To help bridge the gap, the study recommended that businesses simplify the pro...

Although many Internet firms are slashing advertising budgets in favor of direct marketing campaigns, a study released by Andersen Consulting and Online Insight warns that e-tailers often miss the mark when it comes to marketing initiatives. "Companies are ignoring the basic marketing principles t...

Shaking off fears of continued economic malaise, roughly 37 percent of online consumers are expressing confidence that the holiday shopping season will be a strong one and plan to spend more as a result, according to a study released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Harris Interactive. "W...