eCommerce

Petaluma, Calif. – E-commerce platform provider MarketLive has entered a strategic agreement with Amazon Payments, offering the ability for MarketLive retailers to help streamline the login and checkout process and increase conversion numbers. The integration of login and pay with Amazon with the MarketLive platform allows shoppers on MarketLive retail shopping sites to leverage their existing Amazon account to quickly login and select their shipping and payment information that they use for Amazon.

The @WalmartLabs unit of the retailer’s Global eCommerce division has done another deal in Silicon Valley, acquiring the social shopping site Luvocracy.

London - Almost half (48%) of U.K. online shoppers have made an online purchase with a retailer based outside the U.K. According to the latest eCustomerServiceIndex (eCSI) results from EDigitalResearch and IMRG, 60% of the respondents who have shopped cross-border said that they choose to purchase with a retailer outside of the U.K. because of better prices, while another 60% said that they made the purchase because they couldn't get the product they wanted in the U.K.

Seattle – Amazon.com has opened a 3D printed products store, an online marketplace that gives customers access to more than 200 unique print on-demand products, many that can be customized by material, size, styles and color variations, and personalized with text and image imprints. The new store features search tools, interactive 3D preview functionality and a product personalization widget.

New York - A majority of parents plan to spend more on their children's back-to-school shopping this year, driven by rising costs or necessity rather than greater spending power. According the Accenture Back-to-School Shopping Survey, which polled 500 U.S. parents of children entering kindergarten through college, nearly all (89%) plan to do most of their back-to-school shopping in a physical store, though many will still use online to browse and search, or "webrooming."

Albany, N.Y. - Retailers can maximize revenue from drop-shipping by adding health and beauty supplies while staying away from electronics. By analyzing 750,000 products added by retailers on its merchandising and fulfillment platform in a 12-month period, CommerceHub found that the number of health and beauty supply products grew by 92% while increasing revenue in the product category by 130%.

Chicago – Retail experts from professional services and investment management firm JLL are managing two new shopping centers. JLL has been retained by Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. to manage Beverly Connection, a 348,285-sq.-ft. shopping mall in Los Angeles, and also been retained by 759 Ventures LLC to manage the 58,280-sq.-ft. 2424 North Davidson Street center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The National Retail Federation has formed the Small Business Retail Council to organize, recruit and engage Main Street merchants and independent community retailers in grassroots advocacy activities.

The council will represent and be responsive to the needs, concerns and interests of local shops and provide the association’s small business members a forum to discuss the most pressing public policy issues and priorities.