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.

Online Retail Giant’s Grocery Delivery Service AmazonFresh May Launch in San Francisco Next Week

Is a nationwide rollout on the horizon?

Buying a Videogame Console on Black Friday? Here’s What You Need to Know.

A buyer’s guide to the deals you can get — and the differences among the game consoles — for anyone partaking in America’s consumerist holiday.

News Byte

Walmart.com Matches Amazon’s $35 Free Shipping Minimum for the Holidays

Walmart said on Wednesday that it is lowering its free-shipping minimum at Walmart.com from $50 to $35 for the holiday season, effective on Thursday. The announcement comes a month after Amazon raised its own minimum from $25 to the same $35 threshold.

Voices

Price War Looms for Electronics

Electronics retailers are bracing for a tough holiday season, as already-narrow profit margins are expected to be shaved even thinner.

Amazon Will Donate Some of Your Purchase Amount to the Charity of Your Choice

The company will let shoppers direct up to 0.5 percent of their purchase orders to charity. That could be huge — and good for Amazon, too.

News Byte

Walmart Expands Same-Day Grocery Delivery Test to Denver

Walmart said on Tuesday that it would soon expand its same-day grocery delivery experiment beyond the Bay Area to Denver in an invite-only test. Denver residents interested in the service, which will same-day-deliver groceries ordered before 8 am, can sign up here. Companies from Amazon to Google to Instacart seem intent on resurrecting the idea of speedy grocery delivery that vanished following the dot-com bust.

How Jeff Bezos Crushed Diapers.com So Amazon Could Buy Diapers.com

Tales of ruthlessness in leadership and competition from Bloomberg Businessweek journalist Brad Stone’s new book about Amazon.

These iPhone 5c Price Cuts Are Coming Dangerously Close to a Trend

Are the moves just an effort to boost the retailers’ sales of a hot product or a sign that demand isn’t as strong as expected?

Voices

How $10 Million Can Lose You $250 Million

Mobile is the connective tissue that binds together all marketing efforts.

Walmart to Test In-Store Locker Service