Evan Schuman

One of the core beliefs among e-commerce cognoscenti is that the Web serves as the great equalizer, allowing 20-employee retailers to effectively compete with Fortune 100 giants with $100 million ad budgets. Of course, those Fortune 100 ad budgets certainly help consumers think about clicking over to the big Web sites; so the Webs populist […]

The world of e-commerce is starting to look at books differently. The 20th-century view was that a book was a single product to be sold in its entirety for a set price. The 21st-century view might end up being that a book is a collection of pages, which can each be sold on its own. […]

When the CIO of a $3 billion unit of Johnson & Johnson decided to make knowledge management a priority, he knew he was in for a classic corporate battle of the old ways versus the new. In Ethicon CIO Zackarie Lemelles case, the old ways won. While managing the IT needs of some 8,300 employees […]

When multi-billion companies are involved in an acquisition with 100,000 employees and more than $10 billion in combined revenue, executives typically must use statesman-like diplomatic phrasing to show that both sides are valued equally. But with the fierce backdrop of Las Vegas and casino giants Harrahs and Caesars, little is typical. The CIO of the […]

A high roller walks into the casino, ever so mindful of the constant surveillance cameras. Wanting to avoid sales pitches and other unwanted attention, he pays cash at each table and anonymously moves around frequently to discourage people who are trying to track his movements. After a few hours of losses, he goes to the […]

The Virgin Entertainment Group is trying to push the envelope on kiosk use, with plans to use the multimedia machines not just to play video clips, audio samples and game demos but to identify customers and to handle payments. “Our minds are racing where we can go with this,” said Robert Fort, the CIO for […]

When Office Depot sued Staples last week over search engine keyword purchases, it touched on more than marketing strategies. The suit could force the discussion of the ethics of Web advertising tactics, a discussion that many in the industry would rather not have. The particulars of the lawsuit are not that exciting. Office Depot accused […]

With so many retailers and manufacturers embracing RFID tracking throughout the supply chain, there is a strong assumption that an RFID label is still connected to the product it is supposed to be connected with. One vendor—Mikoh—is trying to challenge that assumption. Todays barcode is relatively easy to replicate and fake with an ordinary laptop, […]

Soaring gas prices have been pushed by natural disasters and an unfriendly global climate. But some e-commerce players are looking on the bright side: Maybe this will push people to drive less in the fourth quarter and instead log in and buy more online. Gas prices could impact e-commerce activity in two opposite ways: by […]

MasterCard International Inc. Vice President Oliver Steeley is working to make contactless payment available to millions of Americans. Contactless payment is where a customer authorizes a charge to a credit card without the credit card being touched, often by using a key fob, a smart credit card or a chip embedded in something else (such […]