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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: online retailers

online retailers stories: 24 news summaries

1 - 20 of 24 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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Retailers Sell Flicks Online at Less Than Cost

Big-box giants drop price of 10 hottest
DVD titles to $10

Nov 6, 09 10:42 AM CST
(Newser) - Wal-Mart has spurred an online DVD price war by dropping prices on 10 must-have movies to just $10, which analysts agree is below wholesale cost. “We remain committed to offering our customers the lowest prices online at Walmart.com, and will continue to adjust our pricing accordingly,” a... More »

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online retailers • price war • Target • holiday shopping • Wal-Mart • movies • Amazon.com • DVDs

(Newser) - 1-800-Flowers.com continues its record of early technology adoption, Robin Wauters writes in TechCrunch, opening a storefront within Facebook. The company hit the Internet at the surprisingly early date of 1992, and was the first retailer on AOL two years later. It claims it’s the first retailer operating on... More »

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social networking • Internet • online retailers • Facebook • 1 800 flowers.com • flowers • mobile Internet

(Newser) - If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em. Amazon is shelling out about $900 million in cash and stock to purchase rival online retailer Zappos, reports TechCrunch. Zappos specializes in shoes, and the investment—the biggest in Amazon's 14-year history—suggests Jeff Bezos is looking to shore up his company's less-than-stellar... More »

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online retailers • shoes • Jeff Bezos • Amazon • Zappos

(Newser) - Manufacturers have gone on the offensive to stop discounters from selling their products for less than the minimum advertised price they set, reports the Wall Street Journal. But companies like eBay and Costco are pushing for laws to ban the minimum prices. Some retailers, like Circuit City, use workarounds to... More »

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eBay • Costco • online retailers • price fixing • online shopping • retail businesses

EBay Slashes Listing Fees 75% to Lure Back Sellers

The online auction giant sees 'Amazonification' as a path to profit

Aug 20, 08 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Looking to compete more aggressively with Amazon for users who want to sell items at a fixed cost, eBay is changing its pricing model, lowering listing fees by up to 75% and increasing its final sales commission, BusinessWeek reports. The goal is to increase inventory of items listed at a... More »

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eBay • online retailers • online auction • economy • Amazon.com

ANALYSIS

Retailers Struggle With Ruling That OK'd Price-Fixing

Enabling manufacturers to set minimum prices leads to collusion, some say

Aug 18, 08 10:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Supreme Court ruling that last year allowed manufacturers to set minimum sale prices for their goods is giving retailers fits, the Wall Street Journal reports. Manufacturers, barred from the practice for nearly a century, are being allowed to punish retailers who discount their products by cutting off supplies. Some... More »

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online retailers • antitrust • price fixing • US Supreme Court • retailing

Irked EBay Sellers:
Going, Going, Gone

Mom and pops are sold on niche sites

Aug 12, 08 5:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - Still soured by February's jacked-up fees and changed feedback policy, some sellers have left eBay for greener—and in many cases, smaller—online pastures, reports the Wall Street Journal. Alternative e-commerce sites such as Wigix, Silkfair, Etsy, and Oodle have wooed disgruntled merchants with lower fees, free how-to's and,... More »

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eBay • online retailers • Professional eBay Sellers Alliance • Amazon.com

New Service
Is Like Netflix
for Magazines

Maghound will give subscribers more choice, flexibility

Jul 5, 08 6:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Subscribing to a magazine was once a 1-year commitment, but Time Inc.’s Maghound is changing that, reports Folio. The Netflix-like service launching this fall offers “flexibility, choice, control and personalization,” says Maghound's president. The service allows customers to swap subscriptions at any time, liberating readers from... More »

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online retailers • magazine • subscribers • subscription • magazine industry • magazine publishing • Maghound • Dave Ventresca

 Retailers Also Have
 Stock in Playoffs 

Having the right merchandise on hand can be a gamble

May 18, 08 2:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - Fans aren't the only ones rooting for particular teams in the NHL and NBA playoffs: Retailers are hedging their bets as well, getting ready to print different shirts and hats depending on games' outcomes. If Pittsburgh clinches the NHL Eastern Conference today, thousands of commemorative garments will hit the stores... More »

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NHL • Pittsburgh Penguins • online retailers • Detroit Red Wings • merchandise • Philadelphia Flyers • Dallas Stars • NHL playoffs

EARNINGS REPORT

eBay Profits Jump 22% Under New CEO

Site raises projected revenue to $9B, exceeds estimates

Apr 16, 08 6:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - EBay's revenue soared 24% in the first quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports, with profits up 22%. Fueled by continued success with its online auction business and PayPal, its online-payment component, the company also raised its projected 2008 earnings to $8.7 billion to $9 billion, well beyond Wall Street... More »

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eBay • online advertising • online retailers • online auction • ad revenue • PayPal • net revenue • profit growth • John Donahoe • quarterly profits • first quarter earnings

Book Publisher Takes Stab at New Model

HarperCollins imprint won't allow returns
from retailers

Apr 4, 08 2:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - HarperCollins has decided to rock the book-publishing boat, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s launching a new imprint that won’t allow retailers to return unsold books—a potentially risky departure from tradition—and will offer little or no advance payments to authors. The imprint will focus on online... More »

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online retailers • publishing • HarperCollins • Borders • retail sales • book • Internet sales • Harcourt Brace Jovanovich • author advances

 Amazon Squeezes Publishers 

Print with us or sell elsewhere, company tells on-demand publishers

Mar 28, 08 12:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Publishers who print books on demand will have to use Amazon’s printing service if they want to sell their books on the leading online bookseller's site. Amazon's new policy means print-on-demand publishers will have little choice but to accept Amazon’s prices if they want to sell via the... More »

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online retailers • publishing • publisher • book • Amazon.com • on-demand publishing

Audio Books Lose Copy Protection

Major publishers' downloads can be played on all devices

Mar 3, 08 12:02 PM CST
(Newser) - Some major book publishers are planning to remove anticopying protections from digital audio books, allowing customers who download them to transfer the files between their computers and portable players. The world’s biggest publisher, Random House, will offer all its audio books as unrestricted MP3s this month, reports the More »

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online retailers • DRM free music • iPod • copyright • digital downloads • DRM • iTunes Store • portable media players • MP3s • Random House • Penguin Group • Simon & Schuster • audio books

States Look to Collect Tax on Internet Sales

Many are asking people to fess up
when they fill out their IRS forms

Feb 28, 08 10:26 PM CST
(Newser) - As tax time draws near, more Americans may be stumbling upon an extra line on their state returns, Forbes reports. About half of state governments—including New York, Michigan, California, North Carolina, and Ohio—are trying to collect their fare share of sales taxes from Internet sales. Chances remain slim,... More »

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California • retail • income tax • New York • online retailers • Ohio • North Carolina • Michigan • sales tax • state governments • state sales tax

Amazon 'S3' Server Offline for Hours

Friday outage leaves businesses
in the dark with customers

Feb 16, 08 8:42 AM CST
(Newser) - Part of Amazon.com’s 2-year-old Simple Storage Service went down for several hours Friday, leaving some customers in the dark and unable to access their own files, reports PC World. The pay-as-you-go “S3” service is used by companies to run websites and warehouse large amounts of data. The... More »

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Internet • online retailers • online shopping • web services • Amazon.com

Retailers Await Last-Minute Gift From Shoppers

Procrastinators find
big sales, long lines

Dec 24, 07 9:17 AM CST
(Newser) - Last-minute shoppers navigated long lines over the final pre-Christmas weekend, nudging retailers toward the modest growth in sales they’d expected. Deep discounts cut into profits, but retailers like Macy's and Kmart stayed open around the clock to accommodate shoppers, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The procrastinators finally got... More »

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online retailers • Macy's • retail sales • Christmas • holiday shopping • discounts • Best Buy • Kmart

Holiday E-Commerce Still Suffers Growing Pains

Net surfing window shoppers blamed for crashes, meltdowns

Dec 15, 07 10:14 AM CST
(Newser) - As online retailers post record sales this year, holiday e-commerce meltdowns show that stores still don't have the kinks ironed out of their sites. Despite increased capacity on retail sites, crashes such as Sears.com's eight-hour Black Friday crash and Yahoo Shopping's 10-hour Cyber Monday outage continue to plague holiday... More »

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Yahoo • online advertising • online retailers • retail sales • holiday shopping • Black Friday • Cyber Monday • Sears

'Cyber Monday' Breaks Records

Online shopping's biggest day rose 21%, to $733M; purchases made mostly from work

Nov 28, 07 6:29 AM CST
(Newser) - Online sales on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, soared 21% over the previous year to a record-breaking $733 million, Marketwatch reports. Some 60% of the purchases were made from work, say comScore analysts; the average dollars spent per buyer decreased 12% from the same day a year earlier. More »

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shopping • online retailers • holiday shopping • Cyber Monday

Done With Black Friday? Here Comes Cyber Monday

Online retailers offer big discounts to kickoff holiday shopping

Nov 25, 07 4:39 PM CST
(Newser) - Black Friday has worked out pretty well for brick-and-mortar retailers, but for their online counterparts the action is on Cyber Monday. Tomorrow, 75% of online retailers will have special promotions, CNNMoney reports, up from 43% two years ago. It’s not actually the biggest online shopping day of the year,... More »

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online retailers • holiday shopping • Cyber Monday

Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers

Online shoppers get jump on Black Friday sales, to the delight of merchants

Nov 23, 07 10:38 AM CST
(Newser) - Cyberspace may be this year’s favorite holiday destination as shoppers looking for bargains and trying to escape crowds eschew traditional brick-and-mortar malls for a cornucopia of retail opportunities online, reports Reuters. Retailers from Apple to Wal-Mart offered some of their best deals online starting Thursday, trumping the traditional Black... More »

MORE ABOUT:
online retailers • retail sales • holiday shopping

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