In so many things, understanding comes by following the money. It works in many criminal cases, political decisions, and societal sentiment. It also happens in the world of eCommerce. That being the case, it makes sense that as more money is being spent on tablets, more money is being spent through tablets. That’s the premise supported in this study by our friends at Monetate: It’s easy to dismiss tablet computers as a passing fad, used only by hobbyists with time and money on their hands. But in reality, tablets are sweeping the nation – and, in many ways, totally re-inventing ecommerce. Here’s…

“Heading out for a Big Gulp and a Kindle,” you might end up saying to your loved one soon. In an eCommerce world where just about anything that people need can be purchased online and mailed to us, logistics and risk of theft of packages left at the door make for concerns, albeit minor for most. There’s the PO Box option, but the post office isn’t always located conveniently. One thing that is located conveniently in many cities across the country are 7-Eleven convenient stores. In an apparent partnership between Amazon and 7-Eleven, these delivery lockers are starting to roll out in Seattle. Geekwire…

Evernote, LinkedIn, Mint….Walmart? The retail giant is now among Mountain View’s leading startup companies following its purchase of Kosmix, the company behind real-time Twitter filter site TweetBeat, medical search engine RightHealth, and topic-specific engine Kosmix. The company has now been transformed into Walmart’s @WalmartLabs division, which aims to create technologies and businesses around social and mobile commerce. Kosmix founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, as well as the entire Kosmix team, are expected to stay on-board as part of the newly formed…

Brick and mortar stores are closing on nearly a daily basis. We have all seen companies like Blockbuster and Circuit City lose their wars to the online variations of their products. It isn’t just eBay and Amazon. Social sites like Groupon and Facebook are pushing online transactions, while other giants like Google and Apple are moving more products online than off. This graphic by our friends at BuySellAds takes a long look at the Ascent of E-Commerce, exploring the history of buying and selling online. Knowing where we’ve been can help give clues about where we’re going. Click to enlarge. …

The thing that truly sparked the initial growth of eCommerce has become the greatest point of abandonment on sites that try to sell us stuff. The online shopping cart – a once cool and integral part of the retail end of the Internet – has devolved over the years to cause many to walk away from shopping from their computer. What happened? “What didn’t happen” is the better question. It hasn’t changed. What once made things easier has failed to improve in functionality and ease and as a result, more people “bail” from the shopping cart page than any other on retail websites. People find products, prepare…

We knew it was only a matter of time. As the online world continues to gravitate towards Facebook as a central hub for many of our Internet activities, integration of business tools was the next step along the road to world domination increased profits for the social networking giant. By teaming up with startups, vendors, and even rivals, Facebook is poised to turn shopping into more of a social experience and become a supplement for companies currently using eCommerce to put their products where the consumers are spending large chunks of their time. That’s their hope as Facebook ramps up their…

The transition over the last decade from brick-and-mortar store purchases to e-commerce purchases has been dramatic. The 2nd quarter of 2010 showed nearly $40 billion in e-commerce sales, a 14% increase from 2nd quarter, 2009. Despite the mass-adoption, there are still many who avoid online purchases based upon certain fears. The infographic below by SiteJabber takes a look at the top seven fears as well as seven tips to ease those fears. (click to enlarge) …