MARKETING

Online retailer Dangdang Inc, considered as China's answer to Amazon.com, aims for sales of general merchandise to exceed that of books and other media as it diversifies in the highly competitive e-commerce sector.

Google is in talks with smaller players in the online discount coupon market after Groupon turned down the web giant's $6 billion buyout offer, the New York Post said, citing a source close to the situation.

The company had previously put into place a 15 percent restocking fee on all returns.

The lifeblood of retail expansion is same store sales. If same store sales do not increase, any store count expansion becomes a death march. But the big retailers keep expanding out of touch with reality.

Online spending in the United States rose 12 percent to $27.5 billion till date this holiday shopping season. Free Shipping Day punctuated an exceptional week in which consumers spent more than $5.5 billion online, representing a 14 percent increase from last year, research firm comScore said.

The National Retail Federation raised its holiday sales forecast, saying stock market gains and higher income have lifted consumer confidence and given shoppers the ability to spend more this year.

U.S. dollar losses deepened on Monday, with traders chalking up the currency's broad decline to a combination of firmer risk appetite, year-end positioning and some concerns about strained U.S. finances.

Despite having strong sales on Black Friday, most consumers are still being cautious about holiday spending, with the majority of them saying they plan to spend about the same as last year, according to a report by NPD Group.

comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) said online holiday spending in the United States exceeded $17.5 billion for the first 35 days of the November-December shopping season. Free shipping surged to more than 50 percent of all the E-Commerce transactions.

A strong turnout by shoppers for Black Friday boosted U.S. video game sales 8 percent last month, marking the strongest November on record, but sales for the whole year are likely to be flat at best, according to retail research firm NPD Group.

Internet auction site eBay Inc is generally not liable for trademark infringements committed by users on its site, a European Court of Justice legal expert said on Thursday, ahead of a final court ruling.

Internet auction site eBay is generally not liable for trade mark infringements committed by users on its site, the European Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion issued on Thursday.

Microsoft Corp is offering customers of Salesforce.com Inc thousands of dollars in rebates to switch over to its own customer relationship management system.

A 23-year-old Russian man pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he operated a spam e-mail business that may have accounted for a third of global spam, and he was ordered held without bail.

U.K.'s Greene King Plc, the brewer of Old Speckled Hen ale, reported a 17 percent rise in interim pretax profits, driven by strong like-for-like (LFL) sales growth at its Retail division.

Amazon.com Inc is investing $175 million in online coupon company LivingSocial, a preemptive strike against Google Inc which a source has said is looking to buy Groupon, another coupon provider.

EBay Inc has acquired shopping engine Milo.com, underscoring the growing allure of local services even as fellow Internet giant Google ponders buying discount coupon site Groupon.

U.S. online retail sales on Cyber Monday hit an all-time high and surpassed $1 billion for the first time for any single day of web shopping, according to research firm comScore Inc.

Consumers spent $1.028-billion online during Cyber Monday, up 16 percent from a year ago, and first time such spending surpassed the billion-dollar level. It was also the busiest online shopping day ever.

Online group discount website Groupon said on Wednesday that it has acquired three deal websites in Asia, expanding the company's reach across East and Southeast Asia.

Cyber Monday sales were up, with mobile shoppers making a significant showing for the first time.