Overnight Amazon has announced it’s acquisition of Zappos for around US$920m in stock.  Zappos has built a legendary reputation around customer service and open communication, which is at odds to Amazon’s communication strategy.
The post by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is here. In a letter to employees he writes:
We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos — continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture, and our business. From a practical point of view, it will be as if …

Patrick Stafford from  Smart Company has reported on eBay Australia’s latest announcement to increase the exposure of “buy it now” listings on ebay.com.au.
From 10 September all store listings will have increased exposure as they will appear within the main eBay search results.  This will provide sellers with increased exposure on search results pages, however eBay is also introducing monthly store fees, ranging from $19.95 to $499 per month.
eBay Australia managing director Deborah Sharkey said that 50 per cent of eBay’s global sales were now fixed price and that, in the …

MIS reports today that the Colorado group is preparing to take the plunge into online retailing again after suspending it’s ecommerce operations a few years ago.
The company upgraded it’s 500 stores to a wide-area network to assist with real-time information transfer between stores.
“Not a week goes by without us receiving emails from people asking when they will be able to buy from us online, so we are very keen to get back into the space,” Ms Ryan, Colorado Group’s chief information officer said.
Read the full article at MIS Australia

Australian retailers trying to reach and retain consumers online will underperform if they fail to learn from the mistakes made by their counterparts in the US, according to the Paul Marshall, executive director of Salmat DigitalForce.
Speaking at the Retail World Summit in Sydney, Marshall warned that retailers risk losing market share if they do not synchronise their strategies across different channels – otherwise known as cross-channel retailing.
“The internet has opened up a whole new channel for retailers to reach consumers, however, it’s critical that a retailer’s ecommerce business is not …

CRN today reported Aussie manufacturer and online retailer of consumer electronics, Kogan, is opening a US warehouse which will pave the way for the company’s global expansion.
Kogan’s Australian head office will manage the Kentucky-based warehouse and products manufactured in China will be shipped directly to the US.
Ruslan Kogan founder and CEO said the company is in the final stages of opening the US branch after three years of growth in Australia.
He said the US market is 20 times bigger than the Australian market and shoppers purchase online there, which directly …

RetailBiz has reported on the latest ecommerce benchmark figures from Coremetrics.
According to Coremetrics, which surveyed the buying habits of more than 75 million shoppers worldwide, Australian and New Zealand shoppers are returning to the world wide web in droves to peruse global e-commerce websites and make online purchases.
Since the global economic downturn, consumers have been naturally careful about their spending habits but it seems that online opportunities are proving too good to pass.
“These figures represent a smarter modern shopper; one that takes time to visit e-commerce sites all over the …

Overstock.com, Inc. today announced its launch of international sales to customers in Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. This announcement now brings to 37 the total number of countries in which Overstock is selling products to customers.
These International shoppers can now search, browse and purchase over 600,000 quality discount products, all priced in local currency, from the company’s website: http://www.overstock.com.
“International markets are underserved by online retail,” said Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com chairman and CEO. “With the weakness of the dollar the time has never been better for international customers to buy bargain …

In an interview with eTailToday.com.au, dStore’s CEO Andrew Cooper announced they will open their first bricks and mortar store in Brisbane before Christmas.
“It will be a test of the multichannel shopper theory and will be more of a destination where you can pick up a product you’ve ordered online, make a return or buy the product you saw available online,” Cooper said.
“People shop online, they research online, they shop offline and sometimes they research offline and then go and buy online. What we’re providing is an additional channel for customers.

The economy is forcing online retailers to change their marketing tactics in order to acquire and retain customers, according to findings from The State of Retailing Online 2009, the 12th annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). The survey of 117 online retailers also found that, while the number of companies focusing on customer retention has nearly doubled in the past year, many retailers see the recession as an opportunity to capture market share from weakened competition.