Zeus Technology’s e-retail specialist Graham Moore discusses how to minimise shopping cart abandonment by improving website performance.

Farfetch, a fashion marketplace that links 400 international boutiques and sells clothes from more than 40 designers, has won new private equity multi-million dollar investment. The new money will be used to boost expansion around the world.

International lifestyle and sailing brand Henri-Lloyd has a new website. The new site, which replaces a suite of e-commerce websites with a single global website, was created by Amaze.

Online sales rose by 49% at M&S in the first 13 weeks of its financial year, at a time when UK like-for-like sales were up by just 3.6%. The Shop Your Way multichannel ordering service is now available in more than 400 stores.

The latest update on the Ocado flotation show its directors are heading towards a share price that could value the company at up to £1.1bn and put it straight into the FTSE250 Index. Is the price right for the online grocer that’s yet to make a profit?

House of Fraser is the latest department store to go multichannel. Led by multichannel expert Robin Terrell, previously of John Lewis Direct, it aims to make 15% of its revenue from the web within three years. New innovations will include Buy and Collect, while Order in Store is also being piloted.

Online retailer my-wardrobe.com is looking to overseas markets for expansion after winning investment worth almost £6m. New premium brands will also be added to the accessible luxury fashion site, while improvements are also planned for the website.

Sales may be flat at N Brown Group but the home shopping specialists are excited about the opportunities for recent acquisition Figleaves. Meanwhile, online sales are growing in importance.

Social media specialist Bazaarvoice has launched SocialConnect, a product that allows retailers and brand marketers to integrate content from Facebook, Twitter and other social channels with their own websites.

The cost of accepting payment cards is the number one frustration for UK online retailers, according to a new survey. But merchants are not concerned as they were about the threat of payments fraud, the same study shows.

By 2020, says the latest IMRG/Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, half of all retail sales will take place online, and the other half will be influenced by the internet. There will be an explosion in the value of online retail sales – but then the growth of the market will slow down as the industry matures.

Shoppers on Waterstones.com have downloaded more than one million e-books, contributing to what owners the HMV Group describe as an “excellent start” to the line of business.

A customer reviews website that boasts more than a million reviews from guaranteed users has won a second round of funding from its backers. Reevoo, says its founder Richard Anson, will use the cash to grow faster in Europe.

Restaurant vouchers are the most popular online discount for consumers, according to research from comparison website Moneysupermarket. Here, Guy Keeling, managing director of loyalty specialist Maximiles UK, argues that retailers should look before they leap into voucher promotions.

Abandoned shopping carts cost retailers almost £3bn a year, according to a new Royal Mail report. One key factor that contributes to carts being dumped is the discovery of the delivery charge, says its 2009 Delivery Matters Research.

Multichannel is thriving at Debenhams, where sales have grown by an impressive 90%, compared to the same time last, since the start of its financial year. But its overall like-for-like sales are down by 0.4% over the period. The company says it’s cautious about the outlook.

Brits are embracing mobile shopping faster than their European counterparts, according to new data out today by e-commerce auction site – which has itself sold £64million of goods through its app since 2009 – and a separate study by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)