ecommerce

Social-media and e-commerce site Fancy may not have Pinterest's 25.3 million users or even Fab's 8 million users, but what Fancy lacks in user numbers, the company says, it's making up in mobile traffic and, most importantly, sales.

Fancy, which recently raised another $26.4 million from investors, released some new numbers and announced its new gift card offerings today, touting its mobile success while taking the opportunity to ding its competitors.

Fancy has more than 2 million registered users now, and while that's much less than wildly popular social-media site Pinterest or growing e-commerce … Read more

Amazon has begun expanding its offline presence in the U.K. by allowing customers to have their orders delivered to thousands of small local stores across the country.

The scheme, currently running as a trial, will see items including books and clothes delivered to around 5,000 corner shops and news agents, the Telegraph reports. If it proves successful, the service will be rolled out nationwide.

The pilot program sees the Internet giant teaming up with courier company Collect+, which already works with retailers including eBay, Topshop, Asda, and Asos.

Collect+ works by allowing customers to send or receive parcels … Read more

The partnership between PayPal and Chinese e-commerce company DHGate has officially ended this week.

On August 6, DHGate stopped accepting payments completed through PayPal. "After a thorough annual business review by PayPal, both companies have mutually agreed to part ways due to different approaches to achieve their respective business goals and standards," the company said on its Web site.

DHGate is one of the biggest e-commerce platforms of its kind in the region, and still accepts other payment methods including Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer and Western Union.

Despite the end of the partnership, PayPal is keen to emphasize … Read more

As I write this column, I'm on my seventh day of waiting for a Nordstrom package to arrive, and I am fuming. My order was received April 6, it didn't ship until three days ago, and it's still not here. And all I can think is, "I wish I'd ordered that through Amazon."

That's the sentence that should, and probably does, strike fear into the heart of any company doing e-commerce retail today. So why is Amazon still one of the few companies successfully executing free and timely shipping?

"Free shipping is … Read more

Square is on a roll (heh).

After announcing Richard Branson as an investor and revealing a new version of its mobile wallet called Card Case, it released the latest iteration of the original product today that converts iPads, iPhones, or Android phones into point-of-sale systems.

The original Square let anyone make credit card transactions with a Square card reader (free) and Square application. The new version, Square 2.2, places new emphasis on customer loyalty.

"This feature not only allows merchants to recognize their most frequent customers when they enter their store," a Square representative said. "But … Read more

Who the heck wants to shop for wine on their mobile phone? All the pinch zooming, typing "Domaine de la Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru" and then having it autocorrected... ugh.

But today I have been converted. Now I think shopping for wine on your smartphone isn't such a bad idea. In fact, it will help Wine.com, an online wine retailer, close the nine percent of shoppers that log onto its website with their smartphones. Now there's a chance they'll actually make a purchase, thanks to Wine.com's just-launched and fully functional mobile website. … Read more

Mobile payment startup and PayPal competitor Square has a new way to pay that doesn't involve lifting a finger. Or even taking out your phone. You simply walk in to a business, place your order, collect your purchase, and walk out.

Today, Square released a version of Card Case, the app that acts as a mobile bar tab, that is driven by the concept of a business recognizing its frequent shoppers. In just a moment, you will have a vision of Sam the bartender from the sitcom "Cheers" using a Square-enabled iPad.

The first version of Card … Read more

Invitation-based, private sale sites like Gilt, Vente-privee, and Ideeli have become all the rage over the last two years as entrepreneurs and investors have looked for new ways to reach customers who have more disposable income than the recession-burdened masses.

On Thursday, Thrillist, a provider of daily e-mails highlighting cool things to do, see, and buy, announced it would acquire JackThreads, a guy-oriented shopping site that runs daily specials for invitation-only members. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Note: in this case, invitations are given to pretty much anyone who asks, and are used as more of a … Read more

It might not be getting as much coverage as the geolocation wars, but the battle for dominance in online daily-deals sites has been brewing ever since some start-ups decided they wanted a piece of leader Groupon's success. The latest development is that a second-tier player in the space, LivingSocial, announced Thursday that it's raised $25 million in a Series B funding round geared strictly toward growth and expansion.

The round was led by U.S. Venture Partners with participation from Grotech Ventures and Revolution, the firm chaired by former AOL CEO Steve Case. The goal with the funding … Read more