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Joe Consumer may never hear of the newest but most successful e-commerce companies, because those companies are no longer marketing themselves for shares of Joe's mind. They're hard at work far below the radar, inserting value behind the scenes and getting paid for it.

The next phase of e-commerce may cast the World Wide Web in a backup role. Often mistakenly equated to the Internet, the Web's shortcomings as a commerce medium have analysts forecasting a new era of Internet commerce. "[The Web] will be augmented and changed, not obsolete," Jupiter Media Metrix ...

As Web merchants head into the holiday season, e-tail marketers are looking at a whole bunch of skittish and penny-pinching consumers -- and trying to figure out how to get them to purchase gifts online. "To combat sluggish consumer spending, online retailers will be forced to come up with innova...

With the recent restructuring of Amazon, Bezos looks to be positioning his company to join a race that has barely begun -- Internet commerce that goes beyond the World Wide Web. Amazon's first stabs at third-party services condition users to a new kind of online experience, one that hints at how ...

The latest trend in recession-era innovation? It's smart, practical and potentially profitable. Gloom far outweighs glory in today's high-tech headlines, but don't despair. Lessons learned -- or perhaps just tenets rediscovered -- from the dot-com fallout seem to be top-of-mind for today's smart...

Today's e-tailers are laser-focused on expediting the purchasing process, so designers must justify their work in terms of usefulness first -- and aesthetics second. That is not to say interactive and multimedia Web design solutions are inherently counterproductive. "It has to do with a greater a...

Many former Internet and technology workers are too busy to hang their hopes on market prophecies. They're neck-deep in brand new careers. You can't pick up a newspaper or sit in a cafe these days without hearing stories about 180-degree career shifts. A software engineer labors happily at his ne...

In a characteristic trend-bucking move, EBay recently added Singapore to its roster of international trading sites. Prop that up against the backdrop of analyst reports that more than half of all Internet users reside outside the U.S., and you might ask yourself, "Why can't my company do that?"

Remember the phrase "content is king"? Content can mean many things, but I'm referring to information and functionality that directly aids online shoppers in making purchases, like selection guides, comparison charts and how-tos. Let's call it "commerce content." As an online shopper and a former...

Career planning in e-commerce is not for the weak-spirited. A struggling technology sector and an economy teetering on recession have severely limited the opportunities for middle- and upper-level managers. "With the way the market changes so quickly these days, it is very difficult to speculate ...

Online shoppers are like racehorses. They're on track, but they spook easily. Until the terrorist attacks of September 11th, consumer concerns about security and privacy on the Internet were on top of nearly every analyst's list of barriers to wide-scale e-commerce. Now, with U.S. security as fr...

Twenty-two-year-old chief executives are hard to find at e-commerce trade shows these days. Now, launching a career at the apex of a corporation is about as rare as a dot-com going public. For strong-willed and well-trained graduates, however, there are still plenty of opportunities to break in...

Faced with intense pressure to grow their businesses quickly, e-commerce executives have been forced to make countless critical decisions -- sometimes at odds with what had once been unassailable Old Economy practices. With online enterprises confronted by as many tests as ever, the E-Commerce Ti...

General Motors says that eGM, the internal organization created to key GM's online business development, is a transient entity. GM's hope is to absorb the learnings of eGM, disperse them throughout the company, and evolve into a whole e-corporation. In Part 2 of her interview with the E-Commerce ...

Automotive kingpin General Motors is serious about e-business. In 1999, GM created eGM, an internal organization intended to steer the company around costly e-mishaps and toward the best online business practices. Using the Web to draw customers is largely the job of eGM director of interactive m...

Is the strip-mall travel agent going to go the way of the dinosaur? With the surge of travelers turning to Internet sites to purchase their airline tickets, many are asking about the long-term viability of traditional travel agents, and even predicting their eventual demise. "The agent who can ge...

Can we conclude that as long as e-tailers carefully manage consumer expectations, and leverage technology and delivery partnerships, they can rest easy about their logistics processes? Not quite. Managing logistics costs continues to be a major hurdle for e-tailers, and is often the key reason th...

The difference between a satisfied online shopper and a disgruntled one often hinges on the crucial last step in the e-commerce process -- the timely and economical delivery of merchandise to consumer doorsteps. Even on occasions when a late delivery is the fault of the shipping service, e-tailer...

According to its main financial backer, Valassis Communications, online coupon provider Save.com will cease operations due to insufficient funding and a lack of advertisers. "A Web site that attracts consumers who are deal-seekers does not appeal to manufacturers," Forrester research director Rob...

Ford Motor Company heard from the U.S. Court of Appeals this week that its pre-owned vehicles Web site was operating in violation of Texas state laws. Working in partnership with auto dealers in Houston and in five other U.S. cities, Ford's Pre-Owned Showroom violated the Texas Motor Vehicle Comm...