Consumer Electronics

NOVATO, Calif. - Sears Holdings has launched a new online movie download service, Alphaline Entertainment (http://alphaline.roxionow.com), which enables Sears and Kmart customers to download entertainment online, including new movies on the same day they are released on DVD and Blu-ray disc. The service is being provided through Sonic Solutions RoxioNow platform.

Lexington, Mass. -- QVC provided the best online experience for its mobile website and Dell provided the best experience for its desktop site, according to Gomez, the web performance division of Compuware Corp. The company completed its seasonal report card of mobile shopping and websites by announcing the Top 5 retailers with the highest performance satisfaction index scores.

By Craig R. Johnson

Target.com was second only to Walmart.com in terms of the number of unique visitors its website attracted this holiday season, and as such is well positioned to capture a large share of this year’s record online spending. Total online holiday sales advanced 13% to nearly $31 billion, according to the online measurement firm comScore. For the 56-day period beginning Nov. 1 through Dec.

Amazon and Netflix are the top scorers in terms on online customer satisfaction, according to the sixth annual ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition). Both had a score of 86 on the study’s 100-point scale, with 80 generally considered the threshold for excellence. Here are the study’s top performers:

U.S. consumers spent an estimated $36.4 billion in online purchases during the period Oct. 31 to Dec. 24, according to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, registering a 15.4% year-over-year increase over the 2009 holiday season.

SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check.

LAS VEGAS - Sears announced that it has launched a new social media initiative called the Sears Blue Blogger Crew, which is dedicated to providing knowledgeable, industry bloggers the opportunity to engage in consumer electronics announcements, events and activities throughout the year. 

Reston, Va. -- A record $30.81 billion was spent online for the first 56 days of the November/December 2010 holiday season, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore. The most recent week (ending Dec. 26) witnessed $2.45 billion in spending, an increase of 17% versus the corresponding week last year.