Retailer, Online Retailer | featured news

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is going for the jugular in the holiday retailing war, announcing Thursday that it will offer free shipping on nearly 60,000 online items _ with no minimum purchase requirement.

Amazon is selling a self-published book defending pedophiles, sparking discussions about the retailer's obligation to vet items before they are sold in its online stores.

Rumor of this buyout has been zipping over the web all weekend, but Amazon has finally confirmed: It's acquired Quidsi, the parent company of online retail sites Diapers.com, Soap.com, and BeautyBar.com. The deal is remarkably similar to the one it did last year with Zappos, purveyors of footwear to the Internet-minded.

The numbers are in. And they look good.

Experian Hitwise just released its Cyber Monday stats, with Amazon reportedly topping the list as the most visited retail website yesterday, seeing a 44% increase in visits compared to 2008. Amazon received 15.53% of the visits among the top 500 online retail sites.

Hitwise reports that among the top 500 retail websites, the percentage of U.S.

Retail Web sites kept amping up the deals Monday, the first day after Thanksgiving weekend's strong online sales, to try to maintain the momentum.

Online retailers hope the convenience of the Web, plus discounts and deals, spur still-nervous shoppers to spend more online this holiday season - even as traditional retailers brace for mediocre sales....

For now, it’s a battle of discounts, but Wal-Mart’s long-term goal appears to be stopping Amazon from taking away its business.

Internet retailer Newegg Inc. plans an initial public offering of stock worth up to $175 million, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Amazon says it has reached an agreement to purchase online shoe retailer Zappos.com.