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In general, the items that sell best online can be peddled in large quantities and at low prices, and can be described to consumers with simple precision and accuracy. And with the right strategy and context, analysts said, there is an online market waiting to be exploited for even the most munda...

The e-commerce industry, dominated in the last six months by doom-and-gloom messages, is suddenly awash with profitable earnings reports and growth numbers. So, what is the true state of e-commerce health? "The e-commerce sector is in a good place relative to six months ago, but that's not saying...

As industry observers scan the horizon for signs of an economic recovery in 2002, several dot-coms are boosting hopes for an e-commerce renaissance by turning a profit. Each company's strategy is different -- but whatever their strategy, profitable dot-coms have something in common: They are maki...

Seamless integration between online and offline channels is the Holy Grail of brick-and-click retailing. But as with any worthy quest, a map is needed to point the way toward the elusive prize. "There are people saying the process needs to be totally seamless, where customers can do anything in al...

Although venture capitalists poured billions of dollars into startups in 2001, the vast majority of that money did not flow to e-tailers. The Yankee Group's Rob Lancaster told the E-Commerce Times that a business model must now be proven to work in other markets before it will get funded in the o...

Over the past couple of years, Super Bowl advertising by dot-coms has gone the way of the dinosaurs. In fact, only three dot-com advertisers -- HotJobs.com, Monster.com and E*Trade -- remain in the Super Bowl fray. The question is: Why are they still there, and perhaps more importantly, how? "It ...

If the saying is true that one person's junk is another's gold, then there should be plenty of wealth to go around for e-businesses these days. After all, the junkyard of bad e-commerce ideas has been piling up steadily for several years, including the high-profile failures of Furniture.com, E-St...

E-tailers are now faced not only with the enormous challenge of reaching and sustaining profits, but the even more difficult challenge of achieving profitability in a market that has passed the initial phase of spectacular growth and is a virtual melting pot of different target groups. "It's beco...

What would happen to e-commerce if transaction information, and the way in which private customer data is authenticated, were based on a single open Internet standard? Microsoft's .Net service aims to create just such a universal standard. But issues of consumer trust, pressure from the Sun Micro...

Few segments of e-commerce have been more over-hyped, and more disappointing, than mobile commerce. Yankee Group mobile analyst Adam Zawel told the E-Commerce Times that companies have failed to convince consumers of the worth of m-commerce. "There needs to be a reason to make a purchase using yo...

Efforts to develop viable alternative electronic payment systems resemble Wright Brothers-era attempts to build a functioning airplane. Somehow, someway, e-commerce is determined to get a new electronic payment system off the ground. So despite infrequent success, the new ideas keep coming. And p...

'Tis the season for online shopping forecasts. A survey of this season's predictions reveals that most of the major research firms are actually fairly close in their forecasts, but with some important distinctions. "I would focus less on the absolute numbers and more on the growth," Jupiter Media...

The E-Commerce Times recently took a look at the business opportunities that teenagers represent online, asking why teens should be an target and not an afterthought, despite their limited Internet purchasing power. The third installment of this series explores those Web sites that have what i...

Many companies are beginning to throw in the towel when it comes to getting adolescents to make a purchase online. However, it might be too soon for e-tailers to surrender to the teen e-commerce problem. What follows is an exploration of the attempts companies can make to cap the generation gap a...

It's no secret that mis-targeted, misspent brand advertising dollars have gotten e-tailers into plenty of financial hot water over the past few years. However, there is at least one target audience for whom a large, consistent dose of brand marketing makes perfect sense. In fact, when it comes to...

The latest release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 should have been the perfect opportunity for e-tailers to show consumers they are serious about online privacy. Instead, it may turn out to be just the opposite.

Most business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce technologies focus on automating the physical aspects of a company's fulfillment and order functions. However, the future success of B2B may lie in applications that hone in on the heart and soul of the Internet itself: the flow of information. For exam...

How many times have you stopped just short of completing an online order because you were not sure of a product's size, color or overall look? If you're like most online consumers, the answer is probably: many, many times. And e-tailers know it. As a possible solution, many e-tailers are turning ...

U.S. e-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2001 dropped 1.8 percent from the previous quarter, the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Thursday. However, not all news from the online sector is discouraging. Year-over-year e-commerce sales actually grew 24.7 percent, ac...

Another Net appliance has made an early exit. This time it's Sony's eVilla Net Entertainment Center, which lasted just two months. According to Sony, the eVilla online service is scheduled to end on September 13th. eVilla customers were mailed a letter from Sony the week of August 27th detail...