Items tagged with online shopping
Facebook is the most popular social playground on the planet, which is something we've been saying for quite some time now. The reason it's been able to avoid the same fate as Myspace is because it's constantly changing, adapting, and yes, even innovating. It's not just a social network anymore, but a place to play mobile games, keep abreast of current news, and soon it will be a place of commerce. As part of an plan to prioritize Pages on the site, Facebook has begun testing shops with integrated "buy" buttons. This isn't entirely new, as Facebook has already been testing buy buttons in ads, but now the social network wants to take things to the next level by offering...
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In case you forgot to mark your calendar, today is Prime Day, a special one-day shopping event created by Amazon to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Amazon says there are more deals than Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, though to participate you need to be a Prime member in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, or Austria. "Prime members can shop thousands of exclusive lightning deals with new deals added as often as every ten minutes throughout the day. With more deals than Black Friday, members will enjoy thousands of deals from sought-after devices and tools to popular toys and pet supplies," Amazon says. If you're not a Prime member, you can start...
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Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, and while that's not likely to change, Amazon is going to give it a run for the money on Wednesday, July 15, the eve of its 20th anniversary. Dubbed "Prime Day," Amazon promises to offer more deals than Black Friday, though you have to be a Prime member in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Ital, Germany, France, Canada, or Austria to participate. The global shopping event is valid to both new and existing Prime members. Those who are signed up with Prime will see enticing deals kick off at midnight, with new deals appearing as often as every ten minutes. There will be thousands of "Lightning deals" plus seven popular Deals of the Day, all...
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The next time you see someone taking a selfie, it may not be because they're getting ready to post their mug on Facebook or Instagram; they might be authorizing an online transaction. Say what now? Believe it or not, MasterCard is going to pilot a new program that will seek approval for online purchases by scanning images of a user's face.Once you've filled your virtual cart with whatever items you're buying and get to checkout, MasterCard will require you to hold your phone up and snap a photo of your face. MasterCard's thought process is that taking a selfie is easier than remembering a secure password. It also doesn't hurt that this generation is into taking selfies whenever possible, hence...
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A potential trial between Royal Mail, the postal service company in the United Kingdom, and what's being described as a "big retailer" underscores why it's important to take online privacy seriously. Should the two sides move forward with the trial, online users living in the U.K. will receive market materials via snail mail based on their online shopping habits. Let's say a shopper named Joe visits this so-called big retailer and adds an item to his virtual shopping cart. If Joe doesn't complete the transaction for any reason, he would receive a physical letter or product pamphlet in the mail encouraging him to buy the item he was looking at. Call me crazy, but I can't see this going over very...
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One of the challenges of online shopping is navigating a product's user reviews for fair assessments of its pros and cons. That's no easy task -- some people are habitual complainers who overstate the negatives, while others could be shills for a competitor. Still, some can be helpful, and to ensure those are the ones you see first, Amazon is going to use a machine learning platform to determine and uplift the better evaluations.This is a proprietary system that Amazon developed on its own. The idea is to prioritize newer and more helpful reviews so that they're the first ones you see and read when researching a product. In doing so, Amazon could potentially save shoppers lots of time by negating...
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Amazon has been obsessed with figuring out ways to get packages into the hands of its customers at a faster pace, hence services like Amazon Prime that offer free two-day shipping on millions of items and the rollout of same-day delivery in select areas. However, Amazon's next initiative may be more focused on saving the company money as delivery costs skyrocket.The reported service is known internally as "On My Way." Specific details are lacking, mainly because it's a concept at the moment and there's a lot that still needs to be figured out, but it would rely on regular people to delivery packages. They would be paid, of course, just like Uber drivers are compensated for trucking passengers...
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Have you ever been turned off to buying a low cost item online because the shipping charges were too high? Amazon feels your pain. The mega online retailer is reportedly introducing free shipping on thousands of smaller and popular items, things like mobile phone accessories, makeup, and other lightweight items and low cost goods.You don't need to be an Amazon Prime member, a $99 per year subscription service that offers free two-day shipping on millions of items, nor do you have to spend a minimum amount. The caveat? Shipping could take four to eight business days, depending on where you live in relation to a new shipping hub in Florence, Kentucky. Known as Fulfillment by Amazon Small and Light,...
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One of the main advantages brick-and-mortar stores have been able to maintain in the online shopping era is instant gratification. Whereas you can waltz into a store and leave with the desired item in-hand, online shoppers typically have to wait at least a few days after purchasing a product, though that's changing. In addition to Amazon waiving its $5.99 same-day delivery fee to Prime members who live in the 14 markets it serves, Apple has begun offering same-day delivery in the San Francisco Bay Area for certain products through its Apple Store app.There's a wide range of estimated delivery times on qualifying products. Depending on the item and location of delivery, estimated times could be...
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Among the numerous benefits and features of Amazon's Prime subscription service is a same-day delivery option, an amenity that's available in a dozen metro areas with planned expansions into San Diego and Tampa Bay. Normally the cost for near-instant gratification would cost Prime members $5.99 per delivery, though Amazon on Thursday dropped the fee.That's a pretty amazing deal, at least for those who are lucky enough to live in one of the 14 areas where same-day delivery is offered. Location isn't the only caveat. Qualifying orders must placed before noon or they'll arrive the next day, and orders must total more than $35. Lastly, the number of items available for same-day delivery is over 1...
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Leave it to the lawyers to find loopholes wherever they may exist. For Amazon and its legal advisers, that meant processing all European sales in Luxembourg, a comparatively low tax region that's been saving the online vendor a significant amount of money. It also drew the ire of European regulators, and in the midst of a series of probes into tax deals that companies like Amazon have struck with individual countries, the world's largest online shop has changed the way it pays taxes.Instead of processing all sales in Luxembourg, Amazon on May 1 began booking revenue from retail sales in individual European countries, with local branches in the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain, according to a report...
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Amazon made waves last December when it launched Prime Now, a one-hour delivery service for tens of thousands of daily essentials through a mobile app, to residents in Manhattan. Now four months later, Amazon has partnered with a few different vendors in the area so that customers living in Manhattan can also purchase local groceries, prepared meals, and baked goods. Specifically, Amazon inked deals with D'Agostino, Gourmet Garage, and Billy's Bakery to offer local store delivery to Prime Now users. The service is available in "select neighborhoods" and will expand across Manhattan in the new few weeks. In addition, Amazon said it plans to add more local stores to the fold, including upscale...
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Amazon has been virtually untouchable in the online shopping space and a big reason for that is Amazon Prime, a $99 per year membership offering free two-day shipping on millions of qualifying items. Looking to challenge the online behemoth is Walmart, the mega-chain that dominates offline shopping. In an attempt to give Amazon a run for its money on its home turf, Walmart will reportedly test a new unlimited online shipping service later this summer.According to Reuters, the pilot program will cost subscribers $50 per year in exchange for free shipping on select products found on Walmart's website. Shipments will take three days or less, versus Amazon's two-day window. As for the number items...
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Residents of Northern New Jersey are the newest to benefit from Amazon's local grocery delivery service. Known as AmazonFresh (one word), Amazon seems to have expanded into several new ZIP codes, including those for Hoboken, Weekawken, Jersey City, Newark, Paramus, Edison, Montclair, and New Brunswick, all of which are located in the northern part of New Jersey.It was a quiet expansion -- Amazon didn't make a big splash with a press release or any other kind of announcement. Nevertheless, checks of accompanying ZIP codes show that AmazonFresh is now available in the above mentioned locations, though it hasn't expanded all the way up north to places like Montvale and Sparta.Image Source: Flickr...
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Despite reviews that ranged from "mostly magical" to "steep learning curve" to "fancy, but not necessary" and a swath of middling "Will Buy" polling percentages, the Apple Watch is ringing the registers online and appears to be an out-of-the-box hit, as less than an hour after the opening of pre-orders at 12:01AM PST the U.S. shipping estimates for many versions of Apple's new device slipped from "4/24 to 5/8" to "4 to 6 weeks" to "June" (and in the case of the Apple Watch Edition Rose Gold, "July"). Lending a little cold water perspective, some stainless steel versions of the Apple Watch models listed delivery estimates past the April 24 official launch date at the start ("4 to 6 weeks" for...
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Tens of millions of members around the world enjoy Amazon's Prime membership service, though comparatively few have access to Prime Now, the online retailer's one-hour delivery program that's exclusive to Prime subscribers. Little by little Prime Now is expanding into new areas, the most recent of which include select ZIP codes in Miami and Baltimore. There are 10 ZIP codes in Miami and 25 in Baltimore that Prime Now is available immediately, and Amazon says it will expand service to additional ZIP codes within each city soon. Those who do have access to Prime Now can order in-stock items and have them delivered in one hour or less for $7.99, or for free if selecting two-hour delivery. Prime...
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One of the reasons Amazon is so popular is because it's always innovating. The e-commerce site's latest venture is called Amazon Exclusives, a digital storefront filled with new products directly from up-and-coming brands. There are a number of Kickstarter items on the site already, though Amazon says it will also carry some of the products featured on Shark Tank, the show in which budding entrepreneurs seek investments for their inventions in exchange for a stake in their business. Amazon is being selective with the content it carries. It's looking for unique items, and many of the ones already displayed have won innovation awards from industry associations. The products you see can either only...
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It was yet another record shopping holiday period for Amazon, this one being its 20th holiday season, which saw lots of online activity. More than 10 million new members tried out Amazon's Prime service for the first time, benefiting from free two-day shipping on millions of qualifying items, plus a host of other perks that comes from being a member. "We are excited to welcome more than ten million new members to Amazon Prime this holiday season, who benefited from unlimited free two-day shipping on their holiday gifts. Prime members can also borrow more than 700,000 books, listen to one million songs and hundreds of playlists, save unlimited photos and watch tens of thousands of movies and TV...
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The hustle and bustle of the holiday shopping season can be overwhelming, especially when there are so many other things on the never-ending to-do list. You know, like shop for an ugly sweater, print up a recipe book for the relatives, prepare the guest room for the holidays, and stock up on booze (you're going to need it). Before you know it, the deadline to shop online has passed, meaning you have to head to a crowded mall and shove your way through rude shoppers. Well, luckily for you, Amazon saw this coming and decided to extend its free shipping cutoff date. Now you have until December 19 (11:59 p.m. EST) to place an order that qualifies for Free Shipping and have it arrive before...
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Amazon's same-day delivery service helps to offset one of the advantages that brick-and-mortar stores have over the online shopping experience. However, it's only available in a select few areas, all of which are big cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago, and New York City. Nevertheless, the largest retailer in the U.S. feels it's ready to expand its same-day delivery service globally. Several job listings hint at Amazon's planned expansion -- there are more than half a dozen job openings for senior product and marketing jobs based at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle, three of which were posted this week. One of them states that Amazon's "long-term vision is that customers...
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For most folks, it's back to the daily grind on Monday, which is a double-whammy if you'd prefer to sit at your PC all day stocking up on deals courtesy of Cyber Monday savings. Well, don't despair -- it's becoming customary for retailers and e-tailers to jump the gun on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and you can count Amazon among them. Just as Amazon rolled out its Black Friday deals ahead of schedule, the curtain has been lifted on Cyber Monday, meaning there are big savings just a few clicks away.There's a bit of something for everyone, like $30 off the brand new Fire HD 7 tablet (see our review), up to $100 select Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 models, and a 71 percent savings on a Brother Designio...
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Talking to ghosts and spirits is all fun and games until they talk back or proceed to haunt your home with terrifying results. Or perhaps we've watched too many horror flicks. We're not the only ones, however, as Ouija boards are making a comeback in a big way this holiday shopping season. Piggybacking on the movie "Ouija," searches for "Ouija boards" are up 300 percent since October, Google says. That's helped the Ouija board become No. 5 on Google's list of top trending toys, which sits ahead of Peppa Pig (No. 6), Shopkins (No. 7), Nerf guns (No. 8), Barbie Dream House (No. 9), and Zoomer Dino (No. 10). Image Source: Flickr (Lisa Brewster) My Little Pony is also shaping up to be a hot selling...
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