The mobile revolution is spawning a variety of business relationships to attract new customers. The latest is the partnership between credit card holder, American Express (AXP) and the social network Foursquare Labs Inc.

Both companies are capitalizing the growing segment of online purchasing. American Express had roughly $100 billion in online transactions last year. Online spending is growing at a 20% rate, compared to15% for overall spending, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading American Express Partners with Foursquare to Attract Customers

American Express Partners with Foursquare to Attract Customers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Will Best Buy (BBY) have a harder time competing with Circuit City gone?

Will Best Buy (BBY) have a harder time competing with Circuit City gone? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Holiday shoppers spent 3% less online in 2008

Holiday shoppers spent 3% less online in 2008 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gone are the days of holiday shopping in crowded malls and retail stores, it's all about point-n-click these days. Well, at least somewhat. With there still only being 24 hours in a single day and more stuff than ever to keep us all busy, online shopping is turning into a mainstream mode of buying products and services for people globally. Online shopping has been around for a while, you might say. You're right but in Britain, online shopping is expected to explode even further, tripling by 2011 according to a new survey.

Will that prediction come true in the U.S.?

Hard to tell, but online spending is speeding up by all measurements. Although the social aspect of shopping in person has quite a bit of weight behind it, online shopping is more conducive to the "time" variable these days since we have less of it than ever before. There are some retail purchases that will always require a personal visit -- but for quite a bit of shopping, nothing beats the convenience (and sales tax avoidance, if that's your thing) of online shopping.

One area that still has not taken off in the U.S. is food retailing over the web. Sure, you can buy quite a few items from Amazon's grocery section, but the experience is nothing like grocery shopping in person and fresh items like produce and meat aren't offered. Once that can be duplicated and the logistics can work -- which is a COO's nightmare -- nationwide online grocery shopping may become a reality. In my world, that's one of the last bastions left standing right now that still has not been fully attacked.

Online retail spending set to explode even further originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 May 2007 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) got some help from Santa Claus this year.

Fourth quarter net income was $98 million in the fourth quarter, or 23 cents per share, compared with $199 million, or 47 cents, because of an increase in income tax expenses. Revenue rose 34 percent to $3.99 billion, the Seattle-based company said in a statement.

Analysts had expected earnings of 21 cents on sales of $3.77 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Sales rose in after-hours trading. It also gave bullish guidance.

The company said first quarter sales will be between $2.85 billion to $3 billion, below the $3.77 billion analysts had anticipated. Revenue for the year will be $13 billion to $13.7 billion, above the $10.5 billion forecast by Wall Street.

Amazon's results were surprising considering the poor performance at Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE:BKS) and Borders Group Inc. (NYSE:BGP). The company credited Amazon Prime, a program which allows customers to get free two-day shipping for a yearly fee of $75, for helping to drive sales.

Bloomberg News reported that U.S. holiday shoppers spent more money online at Seattle-based Amazon than other retailers, citing data from comScore Networks.

Still, this stock makes investors uneasy. The company has spent lots of money on new initiatives such as Amazon Unbox, an online video download service. Plus, the company has some pretty tough competitors for price-conscious consumers.

That had an impact in the quarter as the company offered deals to help move more digital equipment and popular toys. Gross margins -- always a worry for analysts -- fell to 21.3 percent from 24 percent a year earlier.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know what you're expecting.

Amazon got a visit from Santa originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.