Perfect your progress bars

Improve your conversion rates in online stores and surveys by paying more attention to progress bars and their underlying markup, says Craig Grannell

At Ease: Cool off and donate

The weather has been hot and cooling off has been at the top of everyone's list lately, so the next time that you visit one of the local air-conditioned shopping centers that is home to a Kirlin's Hallmark store, stop in and donate to "The Night Before Christmas " project.

Retailers push Christmas in July deals

There are 130 shopping days until Christmas and retailers are already trimming trees and cutting prices, hoping to get shoppers in the holiday spirit.

An Amazon-Facebook Alliance to Make Shopping More Social

On Tuesday, Amazon.com took a step toward making the shopping experience on its Web site more social. For many people, shopping is as much about socializing as it is about buying something a chance to run into neighbors at the farmers market or spend time with a friend at the mall.

Crazy Company Back-To-School Deals

It's back-to-school time, and retailers are fighting for consumer dollars. Here are some of the crazy marketing tactics you can expect to see this year.