e-commerce

Newegg last week won an important ruling that could have a profound impact on e-commerce.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week ruled (PDF) that Newegg has not violated patents held by a company called Soverain related to the function of shopping carts and other e-commerce technologies. The court found that Soverain's claims -- that Newegg was violating its patents through its online shopping cart -- were "invalid for obviousness."

Ars Technica was first to report on the judgement.

Soverain doesn't actually make use of its patents in an e-commerce business. … Read more

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has announced that he will step down from his company's chief executive post.

Ma sent an e-mail to employees today, saying that it was a "difficult decision," according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the note. He said that while he will be stepping down as CEO, he will stay on at Alibaba as chairman of the company's board of directors.

Ma and Alibaba have yet to name a successor, though Ma said his replacement would be announced May 10. It seems likely, given the tone of the 48-year-old Ma's … Read more

This is a rerun of a deal I posted last year. It was sweet then, and it's equally sweet now.

Is 2013 the year you make it big on the Web? Only if you have a home for your Web site. It's easy to find hosting packages for less than $10 per month, but 10 bucks for a whole year? Nice.

For the next 48 hours, Web Hosting Hub is offering your first year of Web hosting for just $10. That's $50 off the usual price.

Update: Sorry, folks, someone forgot to flip the switch: The deal … Read more

The phrase "shop by phone" took on new meaning in 2012, with U.S. consumer spending via mobile devices nearly doubling over 2011 levels.

Shoppers used their smartphones and tablets to make $25 billion in purchases last year, an increase of 81 percent over the previous year, according to data released today by market research firm eMarketer.

The researcher estimates that mobile devices accounted for 11 percent of e-commerce sales last year and expects that number to increase to 15 percent in 2013.

eMarketer expects consumers to make nearly $87 billion in mobile purchases by 2016, more than … Read more

Growing fears of an impending economic crisis in the new year apparently led to weaker-than-expected U.S. online holiday sales results.

Consumers spent $42.3 billion online during the November-December holiday shopping season, a 14 percent increase over 2011, according to data released today by ComScore. While online shopping set some spending records, overall growth was largely flat, the market analyst concluded.

"This year's growth rate is essentially on a par with last year's," ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. "But despite many positives for the online sector, this year's season did … Read more

Holiday cybershoppers in the United States have opened up their wallets to the tune of $21.4 billion so far, a 14 percent gain over last year, according to ComScore.

Measuring from November 1 through December 2 -- the first 32 days of the 2012 holiday-shopping season -- ComScore found that more people are buying online. Stats showed a 9 percent rise in the number of buyers to 128.7 million.

People are also freer with their hard-earned dollars. The average online consumer has so far spent $159.90, a gain of 5 percent from last year. Specifically, the amount … Read more

Here's a quick Thanksgiving/Black Friday question for you.

In the run-up to Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the other gift-laden winter holidays, would you rather go after a bargain by letting your fingers loll about on the screen of a smartphone or tablet -- or mix it up with the punch-throwing, gun-toting, um, customers at your local big box store?

We thought so. And if data from eBay is any indication, that instinct toward self-preservation is strong in many of us (or at least an increasing number of us). For the data shows that, since last year, Thanksgiving and … Read more

Fab keeps making friends in all the right spaces.

Daily deals site LivingSocial today started featuring gifts from the spunky e-commerce site as part of its holiday gift list.

Fab CEO Jason Goldberg wrote in a blog today that the inclusion of Fab products into LivingSocial's online store is a "perfect" partnership. "We could not be more excited about partnering with LivingSocial to bring Fab's curation to their large and highly engaged customer base," Goldberg wrote.

The move puts Fab's products in front of LivingSocial's 24 million U.S. members. While 50 … Read more

A quick perusal of Fiverr, a micro-services Web site, and your mouth might fall agape. You may think to yourself, "people are willing to do what for money?!" Or maybe the shock comes from realizing that buyers are actually willing to pay for some of these outlandish things. I'm not talking about anything salacious or illegal (Fiverr has strict quality control for those kinds of postings), but rather, the weird, absurd, or plain random.

As the name implies, goods and services are offered on the site for five bucks each. Or in some cases, in increments of five. For example, for $5, a man in Argentina will send you a video of himself acting like a sad mouse while wishing your friend a happy birthday. Yes, really. Or maybe you've been looking for a sketch of yourself as an Anime character. A seller in the Philippines can make that happen for only a five-spot. … Read more