Voices

Late Surge in Web Buying Blindsides UPS, Retailers

A surge in online shopping this holiday season left stores breaking promises to deliver packages by Christmas, suggesting that retailers and shipping companies still haven’t fully figured out consumers’ buying patterns in the Internet era.

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Online Sales Jumped 37 Percent During Weekend

Retailers’ holiday sales have so far proved disappointing, but online sales again are a bright spot.

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Rampant Returns Plague E-Retailers

Free shipping and lenient return policies have given online retailing a huge boost. Now, chains are mining their order data to get shoppers to keep more purchases.

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Amazon’s German Workers to Protest in Seattle

Representatives of Amazon.com Inc. workers in Germany will take their beef with the e-commerce giant to the U.S. Monday, staging a protest at the retailer’s Seattle headquarters in tandem with strikes planned at Amazon sites in Germany.

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“Cyber Monday” Sales Up 21 Percent, IBM Reports

Online sales on “Cyber Monday” rose 21 percent, driven by strong growth in mobile sales, International Business Machines Corp. said, though the day’s growth rate continued to slow as retailers unveiled discounts earlier into the shopping season.

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Supreme Court Won’t Review N.Y. Sales-Tax Law For Online Retailers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a 2008 New York state law aimed at collecting millions in sales taxes from online purchases by state residents, rejecting a legal challenge by online retail giant Amazon.com Inc.

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German Cartel Office Drops Amazon Review on Pricing

Germany’s cartel office has dropped proceedings against Amazon.com Inc. after the online retailer satisfied authorities it has abandoned a pricing policy that limited competition.

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One Kings Lane to Roll Out Own Labels

One Kings Lane will for the first time roll out a private label of towels and bedding, potentially pitting the online home-goods retailer against the site’s traditional suppliers.

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Amazon to Hire 70,000 Workers for the Holidays

Amazon.com Inc. plans to hire 70,000 seasonal workers for its U.S. warehouse network this year, a 40 percent increase that points to the company’s upbeat expectations about the holiday selling season.

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Amazon Asks Supreme Court to Decide Sales Tax Fight

Amazon.com is taking a fight over sales tax in the state of New York to the U.S. Supreme Court. Exactly why is a little unclear.