e-commerce

Meet Stitch Fix, the Personal Shopping Service That Mixes Data With a Human Touch

Liz Gannes in Commerce on May 21 at 6:00 am PT

Silk blouse in your size and a statement necklace, coming right up.

Voices

Alibaba Buys Into Mapping Company

Juro Osawa and Paul Mozur, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on May 10 at 9:17 am PT

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is spending again to gain the upper hand as it competes to sell to China’s rapidly growing number of smartphone users.

News Byte

Social-Shopping Website OpenSky Relaunches as Full-Fledged Online Marketplace

Lauren Goode in Commerce on May 1 at 4:00 am PT

OpenSky, the two-year-old e-commerce site that took a stab at social shopping by allowing members to follow celebrity and expert curators, has relaunched as a full-fledged marketplace for small businesses. Merchants can open up their own “stores” on the site for free, and can sell to OpenSky’s 2.5 million members, with OpenSky taking a commission on items sold — like Etsy, but with a social twist, more established sellers and a much smaller community of shoppers. Items listed range from cosmetics to clothing to kitchen supplies. OpenSky is based in New York and has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital funding to date.

Former Groupon President and COO Solomon Joins Accel Partners

Kara Swisher in News on April 30 at 12:50 am PT

Every time a bell rings, a VC gets its wings.

Voices

Amazon Profit Falls but Margin Widens

Ben Fox Rubin, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Commerce on April 25 at 1:53 pm PT

Amazon.com Inc.’s first-quarter profit declined 37 percent as the e-commerce giant continued to see its results dragged down by its aggressive expansion plans, but gross margin widened to 26.6 percent from 24 percent.

Square Snags Ex-Googler for Business Lead Post

Mike Isaac in Commerce on April 25 at 9:45 am PT

A biz dev hire for the commerce startup.

Go Far West, Young Startup: SoftBank Capital and Yahoo Japan in $20M Fund to Bring U.S. Entrepreneurs There

Kara Swisher in News on April 24 at 12:00 pm PT

Breaking into the Asian market is not easy.

Voices

eBay, a Gusher of Cash, Seems a Rare Find

Spencer Jakab, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 17 at 7:30 am PT

Your chances of snapping up an undiscovered Rembrandt in an online auction? Not that much lower than those of eBay Inc. lagging behind Wall Street’s consensus estimates on Wednesday, when the company discloses first-quarter results.

An Amazonian Challenge: Jason Del Rey Joins All Things Digital, Covering Online Commerce

Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg in Commerce on April 15 at 7:06 am PT

As the Internet of Things escalates and the offline and online worlds continue to combine, this reporter will chronicle it.

Voices

eBay Says It Is “Now Playing Offense”

Greg Bensinger, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Commerce on March 28 at 2:46 pm PT

eBay struck a confident tone Thursday at its biennial analyst event, promising to continue the growth its marketplace and payments businesses enjoyed last year.