MARKETING

Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc., and other online commerce companies had a strong Black Friday, but the industry's growth rate lagged last year's surge in online buying on the traditional first day of the holiday shopping season.

Customers can avail an additional savings of 25 percent, if they use the code SAVE25 at checkout.

Google is taking measures to prop up its fledging social networking initiative, Google+, targeting a mass audience with its first commercial on national television.

Shares of the Chicago-based daily deals site fell once again Friday, closing down 0.88 percent to $16.81. Shares fell as low as $16.20 earlier in the day before the price went up near market close.

Fund managers keen to cash in on the cult of celebrity are being warned high-profile, pricey marketing campaigns in today's tough economic times could lose them more business than they win.

The holiday shopping season is in full swing on Thursday, with retailers hoping consumers will spend big despite worries about the fragile economy and their own precarious finances.

Apple is well ahead of rivals in building brand loyalty among its users in a mobile market where the key brands are rushing to build as large a foothold as possible, a study by research firm GfK showed.

Apart from the Saturday before Christmas, Black Friday ranks as the ideal shopping day of the season. However, a recent analysis by Consumer Reports and Decide.com, a Web site that tracks electronics products and their pricing, reveals that the day after Thanksgiving isn't necessarily the best possible time to get the best deals on many products.

Exports of Swiss luxury watches, particularly in Asia have reached an all-time high with China emerging as a major market for high-end products.

Wednesday's share plunge follows a nearly 15 percent fall in Groupon's stock price on Tuesday.

Shares of Groupon Inc fell for a third day on Wednesday, sinking below the company's initial public offering price of $20 less than three weeks after the daily deal company went public.

U.S. online spending should increase 15 percent this holiday season, outpacing even last year's torrid growth, as shoppers are enticed by more retailers offering free or low-cost shipping, analytics firm comScore said.

Shares are down more 14 percent at mid morning trading, as the company joins the ranks of this year's initial public offerings that are currently underwater.

U.S. online spending should increase 15 percent this holiday season, outpacing even last year's torrid growth, as shoppers are enticed by more retailers offering free or low-cost shipping, analytics firm comScore said.

Retailers face the official beginning of holiday shopping season on Black Friday, which falls on Nov.25, a day after Thanksgiving.

Wodka vodka stated on its Twitter feed that it will take down billboards advertising its discounted product with the slogan: Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing. These have been described and criticized as anti-Semetic.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the absolute best times to book your 2011-2012 winter vacation. Check out these incredible deals on travel, hotels, cruises and more.

he owner of the small London bakery -- Need a Cake bakery in Reading, Berkshire -- had to make 102,000 cupcakes in a money-losing proposition after a Groupon deal she did became wildly popular. The owner, Rachel Brown, offered a 75 percent discount on the Groupon deal for 12 custom cupcakes that typically sell for $40.

Shares of prominent Chinese digital media and advertising company Focus Media Holding Ltd plunged as much as 66 percent on Monday, after short-selling firm Muddy Waters accused the company of significant overstatement of the number of screens in its LCD network, among other charges.

Retailers are saving some of their deepest discounts on Black Friday for video game products, with large chains Wal-Mart and Best Buy putting some rock-bottom prices tags on hot games to lure shoppers into stores.

South Sudan's oil ministry said that foreign oil companies and potential buyers of its crude were on notice that no other nation or entity had been authorised to sell its oil.