Trendwatching.com: Enabling customers of participating retailers to receive their packages wherever it’s convenient, PickupZone is a network of neighborhood pickup points, from convenience stores to dry cleaners. The company is currently active throughout the Boston area, but aims to expand farther afield in the near future. Innovation Jubilation [Trendwatching.com]

Recession blues? This website has it all. Recession Junction has got recession-themed gifts like: Golden Parachute Skydiving Team T-shirts My Other Car is My House Bumper stickers Possum Sauce for the Recession Gourmet and Alms for the Poor Coffee Mugs All gifts are inexpensive from $3.95 to $13.95 to help all the budget minded savvy shoppers during these tough times. […]

Men around the world are ending up with dress shirts they aren’t entirely happy with. Two entrepreneurs from Denmark take up the challenge to change things around. They study the market, set the vision, write the strategy, plan the moves, and assemble a team, to bring you something out of the ordinary. The result is www.shirtsmyway.com, a premium platform that […]

Time (Fashion Week): If Saint Germain and Avenue Montaigne seemed a little desolate on this sunny Saturday afternoon in Paris it might be because all the chic shoppers had migrated up in the Bastille neighborhood to check out Paris’s newest concept shop, Merci, which opened Thursday. I stopped in this afternoon before the Comme Des Garcons show and the place […]

EcommerceGuide.com: A new product-recommendation tool called ChoiceBot personalizes the shopping experience for your customers by offering an interactive way for them to narrow their choices down based on individual preferences, which CEO and Founder Nick Desbarats said will lead to more sales. ChoiceBot can be integrated into a Web store in much the same way as you employ a widget […]

TrendWatching.com: British grocer Waitrose launched a locally-focused giving program that enlists customers’ help in focusing on issues closer to home. Waitrose’s Community Matters program assigns each store GBP 1,000 each trading month to donate among three local organizations such as community groups, schools or local divisions of national charities. Customers nominate the organizations to benefit, and Waitrose’s local democratic bodies […]

Groupon is different! Learn how it works! from The Point on Vimeo. Businesses in and around Chicago will offer a limited-time only special on Groupon (Group + Coupon) that will be good for 1 day. In order for the deal to become “active” a certain number of users must join and pledge to buy the special offered on Groupon. Once […]

Qoof, the Video Commerce company, is launching its “all-in-one” video commerce platform for retailers and merchants at Ad:Tech NY this week. Current clients included in the initial launch are Buy.com, Ice.com, Geeks.com and Gaiam. Its new video commerce widget includes all product information and direct response tools in one location, including: product details, customer reviews, buy now features, etc. Retailers […]

Springwise: As belts tighten ever more in a continuously precarious economy, it’s fairly certain more and more parents are turning to second-hand sources for children’s clothes and other items. While thrift stores tend to be hit-or-miss and online offerings are often buried within the likes of Craigslist, a new classifieds site for moms promises to aggregate such listings from across […]

Adverlab: The obvious future of in-store experience: you find something you like, reach into your pocket for a small device, scan the barcode, and the device tells you whether and were the same product is available for a lower price. Brick-and-mortar stores become little more than showrooms for merchandise bought elsewhere. This future just got one step closer today with […]