Tag: Amazon

Amazon Hopes to Drive 3D Sales Via Consumer Education

Amazon has taken the initiative to educate consumers about 3D technology for the home, so it can sell more products that fall into that category. Still, for the home 3D technology space at large, this may prove to be a helpful act, as Amazon obviously plays a huge role in retail.

"While 3D is on the minds of a lot of customers, many are confused about this new technology and what they need to do in order to watch full HD 3D TV or movies, play 3D video games or use 3D on their computers," said Ben Hartman, director of Home Electronics at Amazon.com. "Our goal with the Amazon 3D 101 customer education center is to provide our customers with easy-to-understand information that will help demystify this new technology."

"We also provide product details to help customers figure out which 3D products best fit their individual needs," he adds. "We will continue to expand and evolve this customer education center as new 3D products and content are released."

Amazon’s educational resources for 3D include:

– Educational videos that help customers easily understand what 3D is and how it works

– Buying guides aimed at helping customers find everything they need to create the best 3D experience at home

– Interactions with the Amazon 3D team and other customers through Amazon discussions boards

– Frequently asked questions updated on a regular basis

– An interactive, intuitive layout that allows customers to easily access and find information

Just how big 3D is going to get is frequently speculated upon, but there’s no question that widespread adoption will not occur without some understanding of what all is involved, which is why besides being a marketing tool for Amazon, this education center could be a useful resource for those tinkering with the idea of purchasing 3D electronics.

April 26, 2010
Amazon First Quarter Earnings Up 68%

Amazon.com reported today that its net income for the first quarter increased 68 percent to $299 million, or 66 cents per share, compared with net income of $177 million, or 41 cents per share in the first quarter of 2009.

Analysts expected earnings of 61 cents a share on revenue of $6.87 billion, according to a consensus forecasts from Thomson Reuters.

"We remain heads-down focused on customers," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

"Amazon Prime has just celebrated its fifth anniversary, adoption of Amazon Web Services continues to accelerate, Kindle remains our #1 bestselling product, and earlier this week, Kindle selection reached 500,000 titles."

Net sales increased 46 percent to $7.13 billion in the first quarter, compared with $4.89 billion for the same period the previous year.

For the second quarter net sales are expected to be between $6.1 billion and $6.7 billion, or to grow between 31 percent and 44 percent compared with the second quarter of 2009.

Operating income is expected to be between $220 million and $320 million, or to grow between 39 percent and 102 percent compared with the same period the previous year.

April 22, 2010
Amazon Sues North Carolina To Protect Customer Data

Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the North Carolina Department of Revenue, seeking to block the state’s demand for the "name and address of virtually every North Carolina resident who has purchased anything from Amazon since 2003, along with records of what each customer purchased and how much they paid."

Amazon says in its complaint, that in December North Carolina requested information on sales to customers in the state between August 1, 2003, and February 28,2010, as part of its audit. The company said it turned over information to the sate to meet the request, including product codes for every item purchased. Amazon said it did not provide the "name, address, phone number, email address or other personally identifiable information of any customer."

Amazon said it has "fully cooperated" with North Carolina, but it objects to turning over its customer’s personal information. In the filing Amazon added, "the DOR has no business seeking to uncover the identity of Amazon’s customers who purchased expressive content, which makes up the majority of the nearly 50 million products sold to North Carolina residents during the audit period, let alone associating customers’ names and addresses with the specific books, music, and video content that they have purchased during the past seven years."

Last year, North Carolina passed a law that required out-of-sate retailers to collect sales tax in the state if they have marketing affiliates. Amazon responded by ending its affiliate program in North Carolina and currently does not collect sales tax in the state.

April 20, 2010
Google, Microsoft, Amazon Protest Data Center Standard

Some of the world’s top tech companies are concerned that their ability to build cost-effective and energy-efficient data centers may be compromised. Representatives from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and several other outfits have signed a letter protesting a standard established by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

The ASHRAE standard is meant to increase data centers’ energy efficiency, and the group of tech corporations opposed to it has no problem with that goal. The issue, it seems, is that the standard instructs companies how to go about becoming more efficient. And that it carries some weight, since it’s often incorporated into building codes.

So the open letter explained, "For example, the standard requires data centers to use economizers – systems that use ambient air for cooling. In many cases, economizers are a great way to cool a data center . . . but simply requiring their use doesn’t guarantee an efficient system, and they may not be the best choice. Future cooling methods may achieve the same or better results without the use of economizers altogether. An efficiency standard should not prohibit such innovation."

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nokia, Dupont Fabros Technology, and the Digital Realty Trust would prefer to just see required levels of efficiency established.

Whether or not they can win this argument may have a significant effect on the companies’ technical capabilities, or at least the amount of money they have to spend in order to achieve certain feats. We’ll be sure to report any significant developments.

April 12, 2010
Amazon Kindle Leads iPad In Brand Recognition

While eReaders are still becoming mainstream, the Amazon Kindle leads its competitors in brand recognition, with 61 percent of consumers having heard of the device, according to a new report from PriceGrabber.

More than half (55%) of consumers said they had heard of the Apple iPad. Thirty-four percent indicated they had heard of the Sony Reader, and 28 percent of consumers were aware of the Barnes & Noble nook.

While more consumers are familiar with the Kindle, the Apple iPad is the most popular eReader among consumers planning to make a purchase in the next year. Twenty percent of consumers plan to purchase the Apple iPad in the next year, while only 12 percent plan to buy the Kindle. This is followed by 6 percent of consumers planning to purchase the Sony Reader and 5 percent planning to buy the Barnes & Noble nook.

Consumers’ agreement about the primary use of an Apple iPad is undecided. When asked how they would use the iPad, 13 percent said they would primarily use it as an eReader. Twenty percent would use it as an additional mobile productivity device. Nineteen percent would use it as a replacement for a laptop or a netbook, and 10 percent would use it as an entertainment device.

PriceGrabber predicts the touchscreen feature alone likely will not convince consumers to buy an eReader, but eReaders have many features consumers find appealing. Forty-five percent said the touchscreen was an appealing feature of the eReader. Thirty-nine percent of consumers like the portable size, and 37 percent find the availability of eBooks appealing.

March 30, 2010
Which Payment Platform Will Dominate Mobile?

A recent study found that consumers are getting more comfortable with mobile shopping, and you best believe that will only continue, as people continue to spend more of their web time on their phones. So as everybody reaches for their mobile devices to make payments, which platforms are they going to use?

PayPal hopes to stay in the drivers seat in this area. WebProNews interviewed Francesco Rovetta, director of business development for PayPal Mobile at SXSW a couple weeks ago, who talked a bit about PayPal’s vision for mobile.

PayPal is certainly not the only player in this space though.

O’Reilly Media Founder Tim O’Reilly has posted a fascinating piece on the "State of the Internet Operating System," which explores in depth, just what the phrase operating system means in the age of the cloud, and the mobile web. While he talks about this with regards to search, media access, communications, identity, advertising, location, and a slew of other categories, one section of this lengthy article talks specifically about payments.

"Payment is another key subsystem of the Internet Operating System," he says. "Companies like Apple that have 150 million credit cards on file and a huge population of users accustomed to using their phones to buy songs, videos, applications, and now ebooks, are going to be in a prime position to turn today’s phone into tomorrow’s wallet. (And as anyone who reaches into a wallet not for payment but for ID knows, payment systems are also powerful, authenticated identity stores – a fact that won’t always be lost on payment providers looking for their lock on a piece of the Internet future.)"

"PayPal obviously plays an important role as an internet payment subsystem that’s already in wide use by developers," he continues. "It operates in 190 countries, in 19 different currencies (not counting in-game micro-currencies) and it has over 185 million accounts. What’s fascinating is the rich developer ecosystem they’ve built around payment – their recent developer conference had over 2000 attendees. Their challenge is to make the transition from the web to mobile."

UPDATE: PayPal contacted me, pointing out errors in O’Reilly’s numbers. "We now have 81 mil active registered accounts and 210 million accounts, in 190 markets and we support 24 currencies."

O’Reilly also mentions Google and Amazon as key players in the mobile payments space, with the Android Market giving Google Checkout a boost, and Amazon having only recently opened theirs up a bit to developers.

Then you have Facebook, who last year started letting users buy physical goods with virtual currency. As business sell more products through Facebook, which is happening more and more, Facebook may play an increasingly bigger role in mobile payments. Mobile Facebook users are usually signed into their accounts all the time.

Which of these payment services do you see yourself using most a year or two from now? Something else? Share your thoughts.

March 30, 2010
Amazon Releases Kindle For Mac App

Amazon.com has released its free Kindle for Mac application that allows users to read books from the Kindle Store on their Mac computers.

Kindle for Mac is Amazon’s latest application aimed at expanding Kindle content to a wider range of devices. Kindle books can now be read on the iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC and Mac. Amazon said it also plans a Kindle app for Apple’s upcoming iPad tablet. Also look for Amazon to possibly release a Kindle app for Android somewhere down the road.

"Kindle for Mac is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle.

"For those customers around the world who don’t yet have a Kindle, Kindle for Mac is a great way to instantly access and read the most popular new releases as well as their old favorites."

Kindle for Mac features Amazon’s Whispersync technology that automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read across devices. Kindle for Mac allows users to read some on their Mac and some on a Kindle, while saving their place.

Amazon says several new features will be added to the Kindle for Map app in the near future, including full text search and the ability to create and edit notes and highlights.

March 18, 2010
New TiVo Box Offers Access To Online Content

TiVo said today it will begin offering two new set-top boxes starting in April.

TiVo Premiere will sell for $300 and will have the ability to hold up to 45 hours of HD content or up to 400 hours of standard definition content. TiVo Premiere XL will retail for $500 and hold up to 150 of HD content or 1,350 hours of standard definition.

Premiere’s search functionality offers user the ability to find content on cable, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and Blockbuster On Demand.

Content is organized by category or topic with a full-screen menu that includes a display of movie posters and TV show logos. Users can also browse by specific movie collections or TV shows such as those that won an Oscar or an Emmy.

Premiere is built on Adobe Flash software and includes an on-screen disk space meter that shows how much rooms is left to record, a built in 30 second scan, along with a new video window which allows users to watch content while navigating the TiVo menus.

"TiVo Premiere is your new cable box, it’s your movie box, it’s your web box, and music box; it’s the one box that can give you access to almost anything you want, whenever you want it," said TiVo’s President and CEO Tom Rogers.

"We’ve taken millions of pieces of content and organized it for you in a way that makes so much sense you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it."

March 3, 2010

Amazon.com Tops In Brand Trust In U.S.

Amazon.com is the top performing brand in the U.S. based on "trust" and "recommendation," according to a new report from Milward Brown.

The report titled "Beyond Trust: Engaging Consumers in the Post-Recession World" was conducted in partnership with The Futures Company and introduces "TrustR," a new metric for understanding the relationship between consumers and brands.

"The ‘TrustR’ metric is very relevant in a global economy that is struggling to emerge from a gloomy recessionary period," said Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown.

"Consumers are less likely to spend hard-earned money on brands that they don’t trust. In fact, we found that the number one ‘TrustR’ brand in each of the 22 countries we researched was nearly seven times more likely to be purchased and consumers were 10 times more likely to have formed a strong bond with these brands."

TrustR is calculated by looking at consumer responses to the questions "how trustworthy is this brand?" and "would you recommend this brand?" the scores are indexed and combined to reach a TrustR score. The average score is 100, and anything over 105 is considered good.

Amazon scored 123, followed closely by FedEx at 122 and Downy, Huggies, Tide, and Tylenol all had scores of 120.

The Top 10 Most Trusted and Recommended Brands in the U.S.

Rank	Brand	TrustR Score
1	Amazon.com	123
2	FedEx	122
3	Downy	120
4	Huggies	120
5	Tide	120
6	Tylenol	120
7	Toyota	119
8	WebMD	119
9	Pampers	118
10	UPS (United Parcel Service)	118

Source: Millward Brown

Note: Study conducted over the course of 2009, prior to Toyota’s recent recall

"When a person recommends a brand they put their own personal trust and credibility on the line. They are only willing to recommend brands which themselves have proven reliable and trustworthy," said Nigel Hollis, EVP and Chief Global Analyst of Millward Brown.

"Amazon.com, the brand ranked first in the U.S. by TrustR, has achieved that status through exceptional service and providing its own recommendations to users. This combination has made Amazon the gold standard of trust and recommendation in the U.S."

February 22, 2010

Amazon Rolls Out Kindle App For BlackBerry

Amazon.com has launched "Kindle for BlackBerry," a new free application that can be downloaded from the retailer’s website.

Kindle for BlackBerry offers access to over 420,000 books and is available on variety of BlackBerry devices. Kindle for BlackBerry allows users to save and synch bookmarks on their Kindle devices, iPhone, iPod touch, PC and BlackBerry. Amazon said it has plans to do the same for Mac and iPad soon.

"Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle.

"Kindle for BlackBerry is a great way for customers to continue reading their current book wherever they are – in between meetings, at the grocery store or waiting in the doctor’s office. We think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on their BlackBerry."

Customers using BlackBerry devices on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and other U.S. carriers can get wireless access to Kindle books, most for $9.99.

Key features of Kindle for BlackBerry app include:

*Automatically synchronize the last page read between their Kindle-compatible devices

*Create bookmarks and view annotations they created on their Kindle, Kindle DX, or Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch

*Adjust the text size of books

*Read books in full color

February 18, 2010
Online Retail Spending Reaches $39 Billion In Q4
Online retail spending in the U.S. in the fourth quarter reached $39 billion, a 3 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to the latest report from comScore.

Total retail ecommerce spending reached $129.8 billion in 2009, slightly lower than the previous year’s total of $130.1 billion.

"The fourth quarter, with a 3 percent year-over-year growth, helped end what has been a disappointing year for online consumer spending on a more positive note," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

"As we head into 2010, there is reason for guarded optimism for online retail spending to continue to gain share of consumers’ wallets. At the same time, I expect absolute growth to be stymied by continued high unemployment and the deleveraging that is occurring in the economy as consumers exercise their new found propensity to save."

The largest online retailers, led by Amazon and Walmart, gained market share of ecommerce sales compared to small and medium-sized retailers.

Spending growth was driven by an increase in online buyers, while average spending per buyer saw modest declines.

Other highlights from the report include:
- Free shipping factored into more than 40 percent of e-commerce transactions during the holiday season.
- Tuesday, December 15 ranked as the heaviest U.S. online spending day in history at $913 million.
Related Articles:

>Cyber Monday Deals Attract Online Shoppers

>Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

>Online Retailers See Strong Cyber Monday Sales
February 9, 2010
Amazon Posts Strong Q4 Results

Amazon.com today reported strong fourth quarter profits that beat Wall Street analyst’s estimates.

The online retailer said its net income increased 71 percent to $384 million in the fourth quarter, or 85 cents per share, compared with $225 million, or 52 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Net sales increased 42 percent to $9.5 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $ 6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.

"Millions of people now own Kindles," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

"And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books. This is year-to-date and includes only paid books — free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It’s been an exciting 27 months."

Amazon said it expects its operating profit for the first quarter of 2010 to be between $275 million to $365 million, on revenue of $6.4 billion to $7 billion, for growth between 32 percent and 43 percent.

Shares rose 3.7 percent in after hours trading to $130.41 signaling investors were pleased with Amazon’s Q4 results.

Related Articles:

> Amazon Kindle Publishers and Authors to Get More Royalties

> Amazon Kindle Breaks Monthly Sales Record

> Amazon In eBook Deal With Best Selling Author

January 28, 2010
Amazon Opens Kindle to Third-Party Apps

Amazon announced that it is inviting software developers to build and upload "active content" that will be available in the Kindle Store. In other words, look for something like an app store for the Kindle in the future.

The company is releasing a new Kindle Development Kit, which gives developers access to APIs, tools, and documentation to build such active content. The kit starts limited beta mode next month, but developers can currently sign up to be notified when that begins.

"We’ve heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "The Kindle Development Kit opens many possibilities–we look forward to being surprised by what developers invent."

Participants in the beta will be able to download the kit, access developer support and text content on the Kindle, as well as submit finished content, once the beta goes live next month.

"Those wait-listed will be invited to participate as space becomes available," says Amazon. "The Kindle Development Kit includes sample code, documentation, and the Kindle Simulator, which helps developers build and test their content by simulating the 6-inch Kindle and 9.7-inch Kindle DX on Mac, PC, and Linux desktops."

On a related note, Amazon is apparently giving a money-back guarantee on Kindle devices. People can get their money back and keep the Kindle if they "don’t love it." It’s unclear how this "love" will be determined by the company, but Amazon has reportedly confirmed the legitimacy of the deal.

Related Articles:

> Amazon Kindle Publishers and Authors to Get More Royalties

> Amazon Kindle Breaks Monthly Sales Record

> Amazon In eBook Deal With Best Selling Author

January 21, 2010
Amazon Kindle Publishers and Authors to Get More Royalties

Amazon announced details of a new program in which it will provide a new 70% royalty option for the Kindle, meaning authors and publishers can earn more royalties from every Kindle book that is sold. Under this new option, authors would get 70% of the list price, net of delivery costs. The option will not replace the current option of the DTP standard.

"Today, authors often receive royalties in the range of 7 to 15 percent of the list price that publishers set for their physical books, or 25 percent of the net that publishers receive from retailers for their digital books," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. "We’re excited that the new 70 percent royalty option for the Kindle Digital Text Platform will help us pay authors higher royalties when readers choose their books."

Could higher royalties help push e-reader devices further into mainstream usage? Many think they are going to get much more popular anyway. When authors and publishers can get more money out of Kindle books, it’s going to help push more publication of e-books, if not Kindle-specific titles.

Rory Cellan-Jones at BBC News has an interesting piece, which asks, "Is publishing about to have an iPod moment?" It looks at the very real possibility that e-readers will become much more mainstream.

"…2010 is supposed to be the year that publishing’s digital revolution really gathers pace," he notes. "There is now a wide range of e-readers on the market – in the UK devices like the Sony Reader, the Cool-er, and Amazon’s Kindle are all making it relatively easy to download and read e-books."

We recently got an up-close look at the latest Cool-er devices at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas. You can check that out below.

As for the Kindle itself, DTP authors and publishers will be able to select the royalty option that best meets their needs. For that new 70% option, books must meet the following requirements:

– The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99

– This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book

– The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights

– The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.

– Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated off the sales price.

The option is only for in-copyright works and is not available for books published previous to 1923, which are public domain. The option will only be available for books sold in the United States.

Related Articles:

> Amazon Sells More Kindle Books Than Real Books On Christmas

> Amazon Kindle Breaks Monthly Sales Record

> Amazon In eBook Deal With Best Selling Author

January 20, 2010
Travel And Weather Websites See Big Gains In December

During December 2009, winter weather hit the country driving holiday travelers online, according to Compete’s latest top 50 website rankings.

Six of the top 20 highest growth website categories in December were travel and weather related. The airport travel category attracted 40 percent more unique visitors in December (2.1 million) than the previous month. News sites related to weather and traffic also saw big growth, increasing visitors by 34.8 percent over November to reach 52.5 million unique visitors.

Weather.com still has a clear hold on the online weather market. The popular forecast site attracted 33.6 million unique visitors in December, a 46.7 percent increase month-over-month and 22.1 percent growth over 2008. Wundergroud.com also continued steady growth, reaching 6.98 million unique visitors in December, which represents 19.3 percent growth year-over-year.

Shipping services attracted consumer’s attention in December as they logged on to track shipped packages and research shipping rates. UPS.com led the online shipping sites with 25 million unique visitors, a 51.9 percent increase month-over-month and 17 percent year-over-year growth. USPS.com trailed, attracting 23.4 million unique visitors, while 15.5 million unique visitors clicked on FedEx.com.

While the top 50 websites in December once again remained largely unchanged, there were two notable moves among the group. eBay moved up the ranks to take the number five spot on the most popular site list. With 88.5 million unique visitors in December, the site was previously ranked number eight edged out Amazon (85.9 million unique visitors) by growing 19.6 percent month-over-month.

Related Articles:

> The Top 50 Websites in the US

> Online Shoppers Have Bigger Holiday Budgets Than Offline Shoppers

> Compete Builds "Twitter Down" Case

January 18, 2010
Amazon.com Launches Kindle DX Globally

Amazon.com said today it is making its larger electronic reader, Kindle DX available in more than 100 countries.

Kindle DX features a 9.7-inch electronic paper display, about 2.5 times the surface area of the original Kindle. Kindle DX with Global Wireless is available for pre-order starting today for $489 and ships January 19.

"Kindle DX is great for personal and professional documents, cookbooks and textbooks – anything that is highly formatted. Documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display, that you’ll find yourself changing ink toner cartridges less often and printing fewer documents," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle.

Kindle DX wirelessly downloads books, magazines, newspapers and personal documents to a high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle DX includes a built-in PDF reader, auto-rotate option and storage for up to 3,500 books.

The Kindle Store offers international customers over 300,000 English-language books, which are typically priced less than physical editions.

The store also offers more than 100 newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Newsweek, and Financial Times, available for single purchase or subscription.

Related Articles:

> Barnes & Noble Says No Nook For Holidays

> Amazon Kindle Breaks Monthly Sales Record

> Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

January 6, 2010
Amazon Customers Most Satisfied Online Shoppers

Customers of the largest online retailers are more satisfied than ever according to ForeSee Results’ annual report on holiday shoppers.

The ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition) jumped 7 percent to 79 on the Index’s 100-point scale, a new all-time high. Websites for Macys, SonyStyle, The Gap, The Home Shopping Network and Overstock.com had the greatest increases in satisfaction year over year, with all five seeing increases of 10 percent or more.

"Even in this tough economic climate, e-retail continues to be the bright spot in a dark environment and last year’s declines are proving to be the anomaly," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.

"But those gains aren’t necessarily shared across the board. These are the biggest retailers on the web, and they’ve got the ability to invest in the web channel and even meet the price points that consumers are looking for in this economy. Smaller and midsized e-retailers may not be so lucky."

Amazon scored the highest with 87, improving 4 percent since last year and setting a new record for the Index. Eleven online retailers scored over 80, and none scored below 70. A number of companies made big gains in score, and the most improved among them include Macys (up 13% to 79), Gap (up 10% to 76), and Overstock (up 10% to 76.)

The study found that a highly satisfied online shopper is 65 percent more likely to purchase online, 44 percent more likely to purchase offline, 70 percent more likely to recommend, and 49 percent more likely to return than is a dissatisfied shopper.

"It’s no surprise that price is priority this year. It’s a reflection of these difficult economic times," said Kevin Ertell, Vice President of Retail Strategy at ForeSee Results.

"But simply cutting prices isn’t necessarily a business model for success, so prioritizing website improvements that customers value most is an absolute necessity."

Related Articles:

>Cyber Monday Deals Attract Online Shoppers

>Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

>Online Retailers See Strong Cyber Monday Sales

January 4, 2010