It's no fun shopping alone. That's the theory behind social shopping, a trend that combines social networking with e-commerce. It's a trend that's coming into its own as increasing numbers of online shoppers turn to the sites for fun, companionship, and camaraderie with other shoppers. 8 Aug 2008
A recent advertising campaign has eBay exhorting consumers to "Shop Victoriously," and, it's true, winning an online auction can be fun. My recent score - vintage hand carders to process wool for spinning, won for a mere US$15 - was a hoot. I got solid tools for an obscure craft at less than one-third the price they cost new. 4 Aug 2008
The biggest mystery about the 2008 Mandela coin, also known as the 90th birthday coin, is not why anyone would want to pay more than R5 for a coin that is worth exactly R5. The mystery is how is it possible that no one in the South African Reserve Bank saw it coming? After all, there have been precedents: the 1994 Mandela Presidential Inauguration R5 coin, as well as the 2000 Mandela R5 coin. 1 Aug 2008
First Amazon transformed itself from simple online bookseller to general e-tailer. Then it spread into the world of Web services and distributed computing. Now the online giant is entering the alternative payments game. 31 Jul 2008
The idea was simple: Build a large catalogue of consumer items and make it accessible in a structured format, unlike what already exists in wide-open search engines like Google. Give users tools similar to what they get on financial web sites. Give a unique online business experience to both the buyers of the goods and the sellers. 30 Jul 2008
South African online technology superstore targeting sub-Saharan Africa, Click2BuyIT.com, launched yesterday with the backing of international online retail IT knowledge and a multi-million Rand start-up investment in the company. 29 Jul 2008
As though in defiance of current economic trends, Amazon delivered second-quarter earnings that gave investors little to complain about. 25 Jul 2008
Digital Mall, one of South Africa's longest standing online retailers, is set to launch a host of new stores on its site with the addition of consumer electronics and IT goods to its product offering. 17 Jul 2008
In the case of Tiffany vs. eBay, a US district judge has presented the e-commerce giant with the best gift it could get in this litigious, digital age: a victory in a four-year-old trademark protection lawsuit. 16 Jul 2008
Lauren Bloch and Daleen Atherton, the owners of the online wedding directory Wedding Secrets, recently launched Secret Gifts - an online gift registry offering upmarket gifts to the discerning customer. 14 Jul 2008
The entire United States is debating whether the country is in the midst of an economic slowdown. Some of the signs are fairly explicit: steadily rising fuel prices and their cascading effects on the average consumer, unemployment rate bumps and the continued fallout from the housing market bubble. Independent of which side of the debate you fall, there is one sector of the business world, outside of the oil industry, that continues to defy even the toughest economic naysayer: online businesses. 10 Jul 2008
MiWay, the newly launched direct financial services provider, has introduced its official online rewards store, mirewards.co.za. 9 Jul 2008
If you're headed to a brick-and-mortar store or a restaurant, don't leave a receipt on the table, and be sure to check your credit card bill to make sure the staff didn't heist your credit card number. Those are common-sense behaviors for real-world commerce, but similar security measures are in order when shopping online. 7 Jul 2008
With the advent of new personalisation technologies and the integration of user-generated content, social networking, RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, multichannel interaction and Ajax-based user interfaces, online retailers are rushing to upgrade their e-commerce sites to provide better user experiences and increase customer acquisition, retention and loyalty. These upgrade projects can be large and often involve deploying a new e-commerce platform. 2 Jul 2008
What's a man's life worth? More than £1 million (US$2 million), it seemed, when bidding began for all of Ian Usher's worldly goods, plus his friends and job. However, when the gavel went down in cyberspace Sunday, ending one of the world's most unusual auctions, the English expatriate's life was snapped up for a more modest £192,000 (US$382,000). 1 Jul 2008
On the surface, building a big, well-recognised brand with a small budget would appear to be an unattainable goal - but NetFlorist, one of the country's largest online gifting services with an annual turnover of R37-million, has proven than it can be done. 30 Jun 2008
In March 2008, online product sourcing directory SaleHoo conducted an e-commerce behavioral survey of its members. SaleHoo's members are dedicated online sellers and retailers, and they are knowledgeable and savvy e-commerce users. The survey was comprised of eight questions - four demographic questions and four individual response questions - and it was a follow-up to a similar survey conducted three years earlier. 27 Jun 2008
Vendor meetings and site stress tests are just a couple of the typical daily tasks for IT department executives at e-commerce companies. Then there are long-term goals - such as overall site redesigns - that they try to work toward each day. 25 Jun 2008
