online retailers

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Zulily Surprises Customers, Calls It Quits

The online retailer struggled to compete with Amazon

(Newser) - The US online retailer Zulily is closing down, surprising customers and laying off hundreds of workers after efforts to salvage the business failed. The Seattle-based company said in a notice on its website that it had tried to fill all pending orders and expected to manage that within the coming...

Online Shoppers, Today Is Your Big Day

With Black Friday, it's on to Cyber Monday, wrapping up 5-day Cyber Week for holiday shopping

(Newser) - Consumers are scouring the internet for online deals as they begin to cap off the five-day post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza with Cyber Monday. Even though e-commerce is now part and parcel of our everyday lives and much of the holiday shopping season, Cyber Monday—a term coined back in 2005 by...

Outrage Over Retailer's $2.50 Swastika Pendant

Consumers outraged by sale of casual prayer mats, swastika pendant

(Newser) - On Monday, budget fashion retailer Shein apologized for selling Muslim prayer mats as decorative carpets. On Thursday, it apologized for selling a "swastika pendant necklace" for $2.50. The advocacy group Stop Antisemitism called attention to the gold-colored necklace in a social media post. "It represents the mass...

House Panel Demands Bezos Himself Come Testify

Judiciary Committee investigating whether Amazon is cheating its own sellers

(Newser) - A recent Wall Street Journal investigation discovered Amazon.com workers had used proprietary data from independent sellers on the site to boost its own competing products, and that probe has now spurred a call to Jeff Bezos himself to appear on Capitol Hill. The Journal reports that the company's...

Amazon to New York: We're Coming After All

Amazon plans to house 1,500 employees there by 2021

(Newser) - Amazon has signed a lease for a new office space in Manhattan that will house more than 1,500 employees, less than a year after pulling out of a deal for a larger headquarters in the borough of Queens after politicians and activists objected to nearly $3 billion in incentives,...

On Cyber Monday, a 'Threat' Has Emerged Against Amazon

Target, Walmart, other retailers could suck share on what's set to be biggest online shopping day yet

(Newser) - Nearly 70 million Americans will be plopped in front of their computers or phones today, and not just because they're back to the grind after the long holiday weekend. It's Cyber Monday, an online extension of the Black Friday sales that have gone on for years, and Reuters...

Retailers Sell Space Inside Packages

A new company called UnDigital makes it happen

(Newser) - Thought your life had an ad-free moment? Sorry: A new service is allowing online retailers to sell space for paper ads in customers' boxes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Called UnDigital, the company already has 25 retailers offering slots, including Barnes & Noble, Zulily, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Companies have...

Walmart Touts Same-Day Delivery to Almost Half of US Homes

Grocery delivery sure is competitive

(Newser) - Look out, Amazon: Trying to keep pace with the online leader, Walmart is expanding its same-day online grocery delivery service to more than 40% of US households, or 100 metro areas, by year-end, reports the AP . Tom Ward, VP of Walmart's digital operations, says the retail giant is powering...

Amazon to Open Physical Store
 Amazon to Open Physical Store 

Amazon to Open Physical Store

Sources say retailer has picked prime NYC location

(Newser) - After 20 years of selling a dizzying array of products online—including bricks and mortar —Amazon.com may be moving into new territory with plans for its first brick-and-mortar store. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that the New York City store, in a prime 34th Street location across...

Now Amazon Is Picking Fight With Captain America

Disney films can't be preordered

(Newser) - Add another major firm to Amazon's list of enemies: As the retailer's battle with publisher Hachette continues, it's also taking action against Disney, the Wall Street Journal reports. Amazon has stopped offering preorders of DVDs and Blu-rays of movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Maleficent,...

Colbert Flips Off Amazon
 Colbert Flips 
 Off Amazon

Colbert Flips Off Amazon

Comedian makes Hachette beef personal

(Newser) - Amazon has been going to some extraordinary lengths lately to strong-arm publisher Hachette Book Group, and in the process it's made a powerful enemy: Stephen Colbert. Hachette and Amazon have been feuding over e-book pricing, and Amazon has responded by delaying shipments of Hachette's books and making them...

New Amazon Idea: Ship Your Item Before You Order It

'Anticipatory shipping' system in the works

(Newser) - Can Amazon see into the future? The firm is betting that it can predict shoppers' needs so precisely that it can start shipping orders before they have even been placed. A patent filed by the retail giant last month outlines "anticipatory shipping," in which products will be boxed...

We Spent More Online Yesterday Than Ever Before

Online sales jumped 21% this Cyber Monday compared to last year

(Newser) - Black Friday may have been a bit of a retail disappointment , but Cyber Monday certainly wasn't. Online sales were up 21% compared to last year, according to IBM figures as reported by the Wall Street Journal . (No media outlets seem to be reporting a final figure, but Cyber Monday...

Your Phone Is Helping Stores Spy on You

Retailers tracking your location, patterns

(Newser) - These days, it's not just online retailers that are tracking consumers' every move: Physical stores are doing it, too, thanks to video footage and the smartphone in your pocket. Companies want to know which customers are returning, which sections they're visiting, and even which way they turn after...

Tax-Free Online Shopping Hits the Chopping Block

Senate votes 74 to 20 to take up bill that could spell the end

(Newser) - The halcyon days of widespread tax-free online shopping may be numbered. The Senate yesterday voted 74 to 20 to take up a bill that would let states require Internet retailers to collect sales tax, the AP reports. It could be passed within the week, though it may have a tougher...

Amazon Pulls 'Keep Calm and Rape' T-Shirts Amid Outcry

Clothing company blames 'algorithm'

(Newser) - "Keep Calm and Rape a Lot" is apparently not a message Amazon wants to endorse. The online mega-retailer has deleted several T-shirts made by the US clothing company Solid Gold Bomb, all carrying similar messages of violence against women, the Guardian reports. But the Massachusetts-based T-shirt maker refused to...

Amazon Reigns Again Among Online Stores
 Amazon Reigns Again  
 Among Online Stores 

SURVEY SAYS

Amazon Reigns Again Among Online Stores

JCPenney, Apple, and Dell all see drops in satisfaction

(Newser) - There's no question who's king of the online retail jungle. Amazon came out on top once again in ForeSee's annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction index, which measures how happy customers were with their shopping experience. It's the eight straight year Amazon has come out on top, CNET...

Californians Stock Up on Amazon's Last Tax-Free Day

New sales taxes kick in tomorrow

(Newser) - It's a big day in California—the last one without sales tax on purchases from Amazon. So customers have been snapping up items like there's no tomorrow, the AP reports. With packages arriving at his office every day this week, "even the mailroom is laughing at me,...

Amazon Rewards Customers for Walking Out of Stores

...After checking an item with their Price Check app

(Newser) - In a scheme clearly devised to give brick-and-mortar retailers nightmares, Amazon is running a one-day promotion on Dec. 10 in which customers can score up to $15 in discounts for literally walking out of stores. Here's how it works: Download the Amazon Price Check app for your iPhone or...

Google's Next Big Idea: Same-Day Delivery

Would allow customers to purchase from nearby stores online

(Newser) - Google's online empire might be about to get a little bigger: In a move that would ramp up its rivalry with Amazon, the company is planning its own same-day delivery service, according to three insiders. Google won’t be selling things directly—instead, the system would allow customers to...

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