E-Commerce Times: E-Business Means Business

Facebook has announced a $100M commitment of cash grants and ad credits to help as many as 30,000 eligible small businesses in 30 countries where the company operates. The program can help SMBs maintain their workforces, meet rent costs, connect with more customers, and cover operational costs. In addition, Facebook has earmarked $1 million in grants to local news organizations covering COVID-19. [More…]

Life goes on, though I keep thinking about the coronavirus and its impact on business, which is substantial. I am wondering if it’s time to count our blessings even as we remain vigilant. At this point the number of active cases in the U.S. is still small, relative to the population, though the bug has an annoying ability to do math in the form of exponential spread. [More…]

Does your customer relationship management strategy have what it takes to reach Generation Y? It’s estimated that by 2021, an additional $394 billion in revenue could be gained from artificial intelligence adoption in CRM activities in the U.S. As companies grow and technology evolves at a faster-than-ever pace, collecting, storing and providing data is becoming a bigger and bigger task. [More…]

Shopping hysteria in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is crippling Amazon’s ability to fill online orders and meet timely delivery promises. The company plans to increase pay in the U.S., UK and Europe for employees engaged in fulfillment operations, as well as open 100,000 new full and part-time positions to meet the surge in demand. Amazon has been was running out of household staples. [More…]

Consumers were becoming increasingly comfortable with the idea of ordering food online, either for pick up or home delivery, even before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Now many more shoppers are turning to online grocery shopping. “People have been comfortable ordering food such as pizza for delivery for years,” noted Commercetools Vice President of Americas Marketing Margaret Rea. [More…]

The sky starts to dump the first snow of the year. Looking down at your dress shoes, you make a mental note to order some sturdier winter boots. Later that day, you’re comparing two boot brands on your laptop and get distracted — no more online shopping at work. When you get home, you grab your tablet to continue browsing boots. Maybe you can find a recommendation on Twitter? [More…]

Reddit has launched Trending Takeover ads for its Search tab and Popular feed, on both mobile and desktop versions. One third of the more than 430 million monthly active users visiting Reddit view the Popular feed every day. The Trending Takeover ad unit is in the second slot of the Trending Today module on Reddit’s Popular feed and in the Trending Today dropdown in Reddit’s Search tab. [More…]

Way back in 1995, Amazon made its first-ever customer sale. Within two short months, Amazon was selling $20,000 per week in the U.S. and countries around the world. Today, Amazon has become the go-to marketplace for more than 310 million customers, and more than 54 percent of all product searches occur on Amazon. In other words, Amazon has replaced Google as the No. 1 search engine for products. [More…]

Several conferences I was scheduled to attend have been canceled in the past week. All of the sponsors cited an abundance of caution in the face of the unknown consequences of coronavirus transmission and outright COVID-19 pneumonia. That’s all to the good, but we need to get business done even in the face of the virus, because business has to propel itself forward or individual companies wither. [More…]

Heavy trading on Wall Street once again was too much for the Robinhood app to handle. The company reported issues with equities, options and crypto trading just before 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday. The incident is a case of bad deja vu. Robinhood customers potentially lost millions of dollars when the company’s app went down amid heavy trading last Monday, March 2. [More…]

If you’re an online retailer, congratulations are in order. Online holiday sales
grew 18.8 percent in 2019 compared with 2018, according to Mastercard. Armed with new systems and processes — as well as lessons from the past — etailers were able to fulfill more orders than in previous years. E-commerce business leaders are already thinking ahead to the 2020 holiday season. [More…]

Product vendors are facing a growing negative reaction from consumers concerned about product quality and fake or misleading product reviews posted online, according to new research. A large majority of consumers polled said they would flee a brand if the manufacturer sold them poor quality products, ran dishonest or misleading ads, or was associated with fake or fraudulent reviews. [More…]

Franchising is a tried-and-true business model with numerous permutations that benefit all participating parties. For the vendor it’s a great model for expanding without all of the downside risk associated with building a business, like finding all the financing and hiring people. The franchisor generally sells licenses to willing partners who agree to uphold the standards of the brand. [More…]

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced legislation that aims to protect online shoppers from purchasing counterfeit goods. The proposed Shop Safe Act would establish trademark liability for companies that sell counterfeits that pose a risk to consumer health and safety. It also would impose requirements online platforms to curb counterfeiting. [More…]

2019 was a milestone year for many in the payments industry, with contactless payments making up more than 50 percent of debit card transactions, and the good news doesn’t end there. The consumer drive for seamless experiences is continuing to push the industry toward new innovations that will change the face of payments. So, what will 2020 hold for e-commerce and m-commerce? [More…]