Defining your customers by character, rather than by their past purchases, could be key to targeting marketing communications more successfully, argues Ian Stockley, managing director of direct marketing agency Indicia.

OleOle, the world’s largest social media platform for football fans, is using an exact match SEO campaign to drive sales of its ticket and travel packages for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

It’s easy to lose customers as they move between different channels of a multichannel business, suggests a new white paper from GSI Commerce. But allow instore online ordering and returns, and that can change.

Rail Europe, the travel company that allows travellers to buy their European train tickets online, has launched a new website aimed at making it easier to buy cross-Europe tickets.

UK retailers are getting worse year on year at using email marketing and are completely failing to get to grips with social marketing and the role of mobile finds annual benchmark study by dotMailer, an email marketing company

The World Cup, to be held in South Africa next month, is fast becoming the centre of attention for technology and sports retailers alike. We take a look at what some very different retailers are doing to make the most of the event.

Google plans to launch its digital books market as soon as this summer. But what will this mean for existing digital booksellers, Apple and Amazon – and for the rest of the book trade?

John Dixon of Applied Language Solutions assesses how new approaches to building customer relationships can prove fruitful. Adept use of social media, he says, is just one way to build demand.

High street discount store Poundstretcher has launched an e-commerce website, making it one of the only discount stores on the UK high street to enable online shopping. We take a look.

Multichannel retailer Best Buy broke its own records on the opening of its first UK store, following a social media campaign that helped build its UK profile online.

Multichannel retailer Boots enjoys the strongest corporate reputation in the UK, according to a new report from the Reputation Institute. John Lewis, M&S and Debenhams are also in the top 10.

Glue maker Evo-Stik rolls out an iPhone app that lets would be bonders assess what adhesive they need to join two different materials, find out whether its in stock and then order it by phone – all without getting their fingers gummed to the screen

Fashion shoppers will soon be able to sell as well as buy through the Asos website. Independent designers and retailers will also be able to sell their wares.

A staggering 53% of women in the US actively engage in mobile interaction with retail-driven mobile promotions, with 93% actively looking out for promotional offers sent to their mobiles or on the mobile web, finds a study by miBuys

With the news that Apple has sold a million iPads in just 28 days, is it time for UK retailers to make sure their iPad app is ready for the computer’s late May UK launch?

Consumers demand an online shopping experience akin to that of the high street, so why do suppliers and retailers think they can get away without quality imagery or current product data? asks Rob Tarrant, managing director of Brandbank.

As Premier League team Liverpool FC gears up to ship its latest home kit for May 6 delivery, making sure it gets there on time is vital, says the club.

The talk is that the new Never Knowingly Undersold ad has boosted John Lewis’ online sales by almost 40%. But is that really true, or are commentators getting carried away?

Smartphone users can now get to grips with their Tesco points on the move. We debate what that means for retailers and customers alike.

M-Retailing.net meets Laurence Pichot, head of shopping.com France and the company’s head of mobile strategy to talk about the company’s new strategy and how mobile – centred around its new iphone app to start with – is a key part of how the company is set to develop