Last Sunday and Monday were the busiest days of the year for online retailers, according to figures released by Hitwise.

So far, only 27% of consumers have used ‘Click to Chat’ and 21% have tried ‘Click to Call’, but almost everyone believes it would help them with their online shopping, according to a new survey by ATG.

WebIntent enables any ecommerce site to personalise each visitor’s experience and the company is offering Internet Retailing readers the chance to test it out free of charge for 60 days.

The etail giant has moved quickly to deny a report in The Sunday Times that it is looking to open a high street presence in the UK.

Consumers are looking for a straightforward buying experience and quick delivery when they shop online, according to new research.

Electric Shopping is using videos generated from product stills to engage customers and boost conversions by as much as 200%.

Bargain hunters will be disappointed this Christmas according to the KPMG/Synovate Retail Think Tank, which predicts that post-Christmas trading will also be important this year.

The company caused quite a stir this summer when it revealed its @DellOutlet Twitter account had generated US$3m in sales. Now, just six months later, the company has tweeted its way to more than $6.5m.

Peak trading on the first Monday in December saw £1.4 million being spent online in just one minute and total sales of £33 million between 1pm and 2pm.

Over a thousand UK online stores have been shuttered following a police investigation into counterfeit goods and credit card fraud.

An analysis by Keynote Systems of uptime and response rates for top UK internet retailers on Monday’s busy online shopping day shows a significant improvement over last year’s patchy performance.

Customer service staff training time has been cut from up to two weeks to just one day with the introduction of a new ecommerce platform from BT Fresca.

The web security specialist has published a white paper investigating the major reasons shoppers abandon carts, how long the average delay is between first visit and final purchase and the reasons why shoppers delay a purchase.

The huge volume of marketing emails sent on Cyber Monday in the US caused delivery queues at ISPs that led to spam filters going on high alert and only 76.2% of emails making it to the recipient’s inbox, according to an analysis by Pivotal Veracity.

69% of respondents to an international survey conducted by Strongmail plan to integrate social media and email marketing next year — but only 42% of those who have already done so have seen a lift in the performance of their campaigns

Amazon, Argos and Play have retained their positions as the top three UK online retailers in the latest IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List, whilst Apple enters the top ten at number four, John Lewis is new in at number nine and Tesco Direct is the new number ten.

The majority of online retailers have yet to embrace the idea that more delivery choices can improve their customer proposition, with only 9.7% offering AM/PM options and just 6.9% offering evening deliveries, according to a new survey.

Sales were up 11% overall this year compared to last year, but several major retailers had problems keeping their sites online.

Customers can now order online or in store and can opt for either home delivery or collection from store.

Retailers should take full advantage of the ‘dead zone’ between Christmas and New Year, says Emailvision.