E-Commerce

E-Commerce

where I worked in the early 2000s in its rather pioneering e-commerce business (which launched, among other things, the first click and collect service). Argos was jostling with Tesco for first place at Christmas, and I've found myself reflecting on why DTC has become such a major issue for several sectors that have not traditionally had a direct path to purchase over the last few years.

When you think about what we do, we facilitate payments all around the world, so that provides a really interesting data set across all sectors, across all countries, 220 countries and territories. Last year we're about 160 billion transactions through our network, so it does provide quite a unique view. The past holiday season, 3.9% was the year-over-year growth. So that's a strong holiday season. You think political uncertainty, you think trade alignments and all these kinds of things, but the consumer held up well.

With the spring approaching, it's time to start thinking about how you'll file your taxes. Unfortunately, with the recent demise of Direct File, there isn't a free, government-provided alternative to TurboTax in 2026, and you'll need to look to other federal programs, including IRS Free File, to file your paperwork. If you don't qualify for Free File, chances are you'll need to dish out cash for Intuit's software.

Sure, the big game is the main event, but your Super Bowl party can be a real celebration! Make your at-home bash unforgettable by keeping your guests laughing, playing, and entertained from kickoff to the final whistle. Shop our top picks of Super Bowl party games. Pop-A-Pass Electronic Arcade Football Toss Game Let your guests compete for party champion with this fast-paced electronic football toss.

It's happened to all of usyou meticulously plan and budget a trip for months, maybe even years, and then the week before your departure, you spend an exorbitant amount of money on various travel needs. Whether you need a new outfit to fly in, packing cubes, or a portable charger, last-minute purchases quickly add up and can easily ruin your set budget.

Hello, influencers Influencers often refer to themselves a "creators." Sometimes, retailers will use a more ambiguous "community" framing or even "talent relations." The most unabashed will speak openly of a social affiliate network. But call them what you like, social influencers had a major presence this year. Walmart, for example, sent Sarah Henry, its VP of content, influencer and commerce, to discuss the retailer's creator programs.

Carraig Donn have been made aware of several websites posing as Carraig Donn. The websites look very genuine. They have our logo, products and all products are being sold at up to 90pc off. Some are advertising that we are having a closing down sale. Carraig Donn said the websites are part of a "sophisticated online phishing scheme" and warned that customers will not receive any goods and may not get their money back if they use them.

eBay's Money Back Guarantee policy promises item delivery to the buyer not just their ZIP code. The guarantee only says the delivery must have the recipient's address, showing the zip code (or international equivalent) that matches the one on the order details page. It says nothing about only checking or verifying the ZIP code in a dispute. When you provided USPS's evidence, eBay owed you a human intervention. Federal Trade Commission rules against deceptive business practices require companies to honor advertised guarantees.

Amazon has never failed to make the most of a holiday weekend with a sale event, and this upcoming weekend is no exception. But while the retailer undoubtedly has an impressive trove of deals worth your hard earned cash, there's also a selection of items- travel gear, in particular-that you may want to skip in favor of some more thoughtful (and useful) picks.

Mood lighting is always in high demand - and when the internet finds it, social media is quick to blow it up for everyone to obsess over. That's the case with this now-viral HomeGoods lamp, where one shopper just stumbled upon the "mother lode" of mood lighting. It's a vintage-esque lamp that resembles other centuries-old styles, and although she found the last one at her HomeGoods location, you can snag a similar one online.

When it comes to finding the best vacuums on Amazon, our editors are seasoned pros. We've been testing every model on the market from the most sought-after cordless vacuums to robot vacuums for years now, including longtime best-sellers as well as new and notable picks from names like Dyson, Levoit, and Eufy.

If Q4 is the holiday shopping season, then Q1 might be the season of returns, or more specifically the season of return fraud. Retailers and ecommerce merchants are seeing a growing trend of returns and fulfillment scams that drain profit margins after big sales. This fraud was the impetus for Thursday's launch of Pinch AI, a startup that aims to mitigate such losses to fraud and marketing scams, with $5 million in venture backing.

Online reselling platform StockX said Nike was its top-selling sneaker brand in 2025 - and its fastest-growing in the separate shoe category. StockX ranked the brands based on the number of trades that occurred the previous year in its annual trend report, released this week. The sportswear giant is typically a top seller on StockX, a popular place for buying and selling sneakers.

Shifts in consumer behaviour play a pivotal role in shaping the retail landscape. Today's consumers anticipate seamless shopping experiences that blend the best of online and offline worlds. Having that in mind, successful businesses must consider several factors as they navigate the ever-changing retail landscape-from reimagining omnichannel tactics to assessing the evolving value equation. Here's why tracking consumer spending trends is crucial for London businesses today.

To illustrate just how AI is starting to reshape the shopping experience, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and incoming Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner announced a partnership resulting in shoppers now able to shop Walmart and Sam's Club products directly on Gemini, Google AI chatbot. In addition, Google also introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an AI commerce framework aimed at becoming an industry standard that allows AI agents to interact directly with retailers' commerce systems.

Amazon last January launched a Retail Ad Service that allows outside retailers to tap into the e-commerce giant's ad tech to run and manage campaigns while helping advertisers to discover new media networks via Amazon Ads.

SPINS wanted to expand into MikMak's space - which is to say, serving online ads and driving online conversions - as an extension of its in-store purchase and shelf-monitoring data offering. The conversation quickly changed to, "actually, what would it look like if these two entities came together?" Margolis said. For MikMak, the appeal, according to the startup's CEO and Founder Rachel Tipograph, is that SPINS "has a proprietary data asset that we always wish we had."