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Love at second sight

The Internet was supposed to decimate conventional retailing, but while pure-play e-tailers drop out of "site" by the week, the Web is getting friendlier and friendlier toward malls and stores. ShoppingList.com, which recently signed a deal with Los Angeles-based Westfield America, allows shoppers to search through more than 250 product categories and 30,000 brands to see what's on sale at their local shopping center. "They have a million people looking at their site a month," Catherine C. Dickey, a spokeswoman for Westfield, told SCT. Meanwhile Taubman Centers, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is e-mailing customers each week about upcoming sales. And MyShoppingCenter.com provides a range of Internet services to shopping centers and their tenants, enabling them to set up Web pages, offer customers coupons and interact with vendors.

Dot-gones
Several small e-tailers have failed in the past year, but in recent months some prominent dotcoms have joined them. November was a particularly black month, with the demise of pet supplies vendor Pets.com, the first publicly traded dotcom; MotherNature.com, the vitamin and diet supplement supplier; and Furniture.com. Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Henry Blodget was predicting more carnage, warning in a report that three of the biggest e-tailers in their category—eToys, Webvan and Buy.com—were hemorrhaging money. Meanwhile, executives at beleaguered Priceline.com were jumping ship.

Petering out
J. Peterman Co. merchandise was sold on the Web recently, but not the way founder J. Peterman would have liked. The company's assets, including 173 autographed New York Yankee home plates and other collectibles, were bought and auctioned by Bid4Assets.com, a company that describes itself as a buyer of assets "from distressed situations," explained Michelle McCann, director of marketing. Last year, J. Peterman's owner, Paul Harris, the Indianapolis-based apparel company, announced it was closing the J. Peterman stores.

It's a World Wide Web after all
The United States might have blazed the trail for Web commerce, but consumers in many other countries are even more enthusiastic about buying over the Net than U.S. shoppers, according to a survey conducted by International Data Corp. and commissioned by eTranslate, an Internet business solutions provider. While 64% of U.S. shoppers said they are ready to buy books and magazines online, for instance, the enthusiasm was greater in 16 out of the 26 countries surveyed, including Brazil (81%), Germany (75%), Korea (74%) and China (66%). Shoppers in eight countries, including India, are more likely to buy music online than are U.S. shoppers, and Japanese, Germans and Koreans also are more prepared to buy apparel online. "This is a huge opportunity" for U.S. retailers, at least in countries where the enthusiasm is matched by widespread access to the Internet, Joshua Morris, vice president of corporate development at eTranslate, told SCT.

Online lifeline
Staples.com is not just providing small businesses with office supplies; it is offering them the means to buy them, too. It has teamed with LiveCapital to provide an instant credit application process at its Web site. "One of the toughest challenges for small business owners is finding and getting credit," noted J.B. Lyon, VP of Staples business services.

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