e-commerce

It might not be getting as much coverage as the geolocation wars, but the battle for dominance in online daily-deals sites has been brewing ever since some start-ups decided they wanted a piece of leader Groupon's success. The latest development is that a second-tier player in the space, LivingSocial, announced Thursday that it's raised $25 million in a Series B funding round geared strictly toward growth and expansion.

The round was led by U.S. Venture Partners with participation from Grotech Ventures and Revolution, the firm chaired by former AOL CEO Steve Case. The goal with the funding … Read more

The online retail trade in both the U.S. and Western Europe is in store for double-digit growth over the next five years, according to Forrester Research.

The U.S. online retail business is likely to grow 10 percent a year compounded annually, reaching $249 billion by 2014, according to the report "US Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014," released Monday. Online firms in Western Europe, meanwhile, are eyeing an 11 percent annual gain over the next five years, hitting 114 billion euros ($155.7 billion) by 2014, according to a second Forrester report out Monday, "Western … Read more

Even if your PC is equipped with up-to-date anti-malware software, hardware and software firewalls, and other security measures, it can still become infected. The weak link in computer security is the wetware: the human beings who use the machine. And there's simply no fool-proof defense against operator error.

That's why any PC security plan has to assume that eventually, some piece of malware will breach the defenses. And these days, infections can do considerable damage without being detected. Here are five ways — some more practical than others — to reduce the risk of someone stealing the sensitive data on … Read more

Facebook's virtual currency, "Facebook Credits," is getting very close to its full launch: a post on the Facebook developer blog explains some of the full terms of the system and what developers can expect as the currency continues to roll out slowly.

"Today more than 500,000 applications exist on Facebook, and the virtual goods within those applications (particularly games) have become an increasingly valuable part of the user experience," the post explained. "By providing a single, cross-application currency, our goal is to [make] transactions simpler for users, leading to a higher conversion rate … Read more

There's a scene in the 1989 comedy "Troop Beverly Hills" in which rival bands of Wilderness Girls attempt to best one another in a fundraiser by selling boxes of the same cookies to the households of a single upper-crust neighborhood--and unfortunately for the underdog protagonists, their arch-enemies have beaten them to the punch at just about every house. That's what it may soon look like for the explosion of companies offering ultra-discounted, fire-sale daily deals for local businesses, which have fast become the Web's latest retail craze.

Here's how it works. You'll sign … Read more

Here's another one of Facebook's gradual moves into the e-commerce world: The company announced Thursday a "strategic relationship" with eBay-owned payment system PayPal to make its technology available for the purchase of self-service ads as well as the Facebook Credits currency.

"We want to give the people who use Facebook, as well as advertisers and developers, a fast and trusted way to pay across our service," Dan Levy, director of payment operations at Facebook, said in a release. "As our business has grown, offering local methods of payment has become increasingly important for … Read more

Discount coupon site Groupon has been in the press enough recently for its rapid growth, choice position in the venture capital spotlight, and the presence of a hundred thousand imitators, but it might be pushing its way into the media even more now. The Chicago-based company has launched what might be one of the most ridiculous social-media promotions that any brand has attempted to pull off: it's challenging a member to live off its deals for an entire year, and is offering a $100,000 prize if the guinea pig proves successful.

The contest winner, according to a promotion page, … Read more

On Tuesday, I was enlisted to help out with an event in conjunction with the New York arm of the "Social Media Week" conference-fest--called "Digital Divas," the cocktail affair was organized by a handful of women involved in various niches of technology and digital media. Yes, dudes were allowed too.

As the event grew closer, we decided that we wanted some kind of innovative way for guests to donate to support Doctors Without Borders' relief efforts in Haiti. So after some brainstorming we thought about using Square, the new mobile-payment company co-founded by Twitter Chairman Jack Dorsey. … Read more

eBay's latest move, some of the auction site's devotees say, is straight out of the Ministry of Truth's playbook.

The company made an announcement on Tuesday announcement about lowering the listing fees for items--even though, in many cases, final value fees will be raised. The company's discussion forums simmered with outrage over the executive decision, and frustration over the lack of other options for auction-style e-commerce.

"What a joke," commented one person on the eBay Seller Central forum, asking for advice about transferring the items from an eBay "store" to another … Read more