eBay Acquires Shutl to Beef Up Same-day Delivery

| Tim Parry

eBay has acquired U.K.-based same-day delivery courier service Shutl, and will use the acquisition to boost its eBay Now to 25 markets by the end of 2014. Financial terms of the Oct. 22 deal have not been disclosed.

Toys R Us, Babies R Us, free shipping, ecommerce, holiday shopping, peak holiday season, 2015 holiday shopping, omnichannel retail, buy online pickup in store

Urcelay Promoted to CEO at Toys R Us

| Tim Parry

Toys R Us has taken the Interim tag off Antonio Urcelay and named him CEO on Oct. 16. The merchant also announced that former ServiceMaster and Walmart executive Hank Mullany has been named president, Toys R Us, U.S., effective Nov. 5.

Best Add to Cart Button Features

| Tim Parry

The add-to-cart button is probably the most important thing on a shopping site – so how do you get shoppers to drop products into their cart? Volusion took a look at the add-to-cart buttons of the top 50 ecommerce sites (i.e. Walmart, Zappos, eBay, Amazon) to see how they’ve designed their buttons to entice shoppers to do just that. So what color, wording and design work best?

NRF: Washington Gridlock to Impact Holiday Spending

| Tim Parry

Faced with continued economic uncertainty and used to doing more with less, consumers will take a conservative approach to spending this holiday season, according to National Retail Federation’s holiday consumer spending survey

The End of Black Friday? Research Shows Retail Holiday in Decline

| Tim Parry

Black Friday shopping may be on the decline, according to a new study by customer satisfaction technology and analytics firm CFI Group. The 2013 Holiday Retail Spending Report found consumers are placing less emphasis on the post-Thanksgiving event and starting their holiday shopping earlier in the season.

When a Package is Just a Cardboard Box

| Tim Parry

Your customer should be able to take one look at the box on his front step and say, “Hooray, my order from (X Merchant) is here” without having to squint at the shipping label to determine the sender. Here’s why a branded box can make all the difference.