A recent article by Janet Morrissey in Time predicts that (after a better-than-expected holiday shopping season), retailers should expect to see continued improvement. To John Canally, a bullish economist at LPL financial, retail sales may even rise as much as 3.5% this year, a full percentage point higher than was…

A recent MediaPost article, written by Sarah Mahoney, featured forecasts that the retail sector is expected to bounce back in 2010. After suffering for over a year, two retail industry organizations say that 2010 retail sales will see gains of at least 2.5%. The National Retail Federation has predicted decreased…

Apple has produced some of the most innovative and iconic hardware products since the brand’s 1977 launch. In the last decade, Apple’s new product releases – and even announcements – have generated a flurry of media buzz. And for good reason. From the Apple II to the iPhone, the brand…

The results of ComScore’s 2009 global search market study were released last week and further analyzed on the search marketing news blog, searchenginewatch.com. In a snapshot, the increasingly robust global search market grew a massive 46 percent in 2009. Overall, the U.S. holds the lion’s share of the global search…

Laurie Burkitt posted an article at Forbes this week, commenting on what she refers to as the ‘stupidity of display ads’. The stupidity she says, is evidenced by the fact advertisers have not found ways to effectively cater to consumers, say, in the same way that forward-thinking brands have been…

Marketplaces have always created value. Since the early inception of marketplaces, to the development of a mobile marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers has always been the focus. This linking, in creating a buy-and-sell environment – whether in a physical, or virtual (cyber) way – has always been about reducing friction…

Internetretailer.com recently highlighted the findings by two search engine marketing firms for Q4. One firm, Efficient Frontier, reported that its retail clients spent 17% more on search engine marketing in the fourth quarter of 2009 than in the same period a year earlier, as well as a 46% increase over…

Earlier today, Forbes posted an article by Robert Olsen, discussing the rapidly expanding e-commerce market in China, which is expected to nearly double in 2010. According to this article, web activity in China appears to be business as usual despite recent discussions regarding the Google’s controversy. According to the China…

Retailers saw modest gains in total sales this past holiday shopping season, including the online sector. According to the National Retail Federation, total holiday sales saw an increase of 1.1%, an unexpected but welcomed surprise after 2008’s -3.4% contraction. According to ComScore, online sales rose 4% this past holiday season, ...

Motorola released the findings of their Global Holiday Shopping Survey on Motorola.com this week. This survey revealed that 51% of consumers, across 11 countries, used their mobile phones while in retail stores this last holiday season to access peer feedback and price comparisons, as well as to download coupons. The…

The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that the US consumer electronics market is in a state of recovery and should exceed $166 Billion in 2010. This is quite the accomplishment for an industry and an economy that has largely contracted since 2007. In any event, one cannot deny the rate and…

An article by Nat Ives was posted earlier this week on Adage.com about existing media companies and their experimental foray into e-commerce. This comes at a time when media companies in general are looking for new ways to monetize their websites. Some of the recent, notable examples include, well-known brands…

The New York Times published an article this weekend about the rapidly growing interest in retail marketing data. Online retail is rapidly becoming a realm for testing how analytic software can be used to determine household spending trends as well as online behavior. Research in this arena has been ongoing…