e commerce industry

Construction, some of it speculative, has returned to the industrial market around the country, and in the Baltimore region, as demand for warehouses hits developers from both sides.

Three Maryland agencies participated in the annual survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators. The survey compiled the top, worst and fastest-growting complaints.

Congress needs to close the online sales tax loophole.

Susan Aplin worked behind the scenes for two decades helping run some of the biggest retail brands around– Williams Sonoma, Sports Authority, Staples, The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Pottery Barn. But after traveling to Alaska's Prince William Sound, she found her true calling – retail with a cause and online retailer bambeco, seller of sustainable home furnishings, was born.

Amazon and L.L. Bean tied for best in consumer satisfaction during the holiday season, while Priceline.com came in last in an index released today. The ForeSee Experience Index (FXI): 2013 U.S. Retail Edition

Cyber Monday may be losing its significance as the biggest online day of the season, thanks to this year's earlier and more diluted kickoff to holiday shopping, both in stores and online.

Online retailer Amazon has partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to provide Sunday package delivery at no extra cost in two key cities, and plans to expand the program dramatically in the next year.

When Amazon.com opens a huge distribution center next year in Southeast Baltimore, consumers across the state who buy books, electronics, toys or anything else from the online seller will no longer be able to avoid the state's 6 percent sales tax on those purchases.

Credits for impoverished areas, loans make up incentive package.

Amazon.com is bringing 1,000 jobs to Baltimore, but reports about the company's employment practices give reason for concern.

Amazon.com will open a 1 million-square-foot distribution center that could employ 1,000 people at the site of the former General Motors plant in Southeast Baltimore, the company announced Tuesday.

Tech savvy millennials may be used to buying almost anything online, but they still do most of their shopping in stores, especially those that keep their offerings fresh and make the experience social, according to research from the Urban Land Institute.

The 1 million-square-foot distribution facility planned for Southeast Baltimore fits the profile of online retailer Amazon's rapidly expanding distribution network, according to shipping industry analysts.

Medifast, a maker of weight-loss food products in Owings Mills, said it will begin collecting sales and use taxes on all Internet sales where applicable starting in September.

Come Monday, driving around Maryland will cost more – both at the gas pump and the toll plaza.

Internet tax is about money for state, not about marketplace fairness

Peter Morici says taxing Internet sales is a matter of fairness, but more small businesses should be excluded

If online sales taxes are warranted, it should be by the state where the product is purchased from.

Cal Thomas writes that the Marketplace Fairness Act promotes not more fairness but more taxing and spending.

The Senate voted Monday to allow states to assess a sales tax on purchases from Amazon.com, eBay and other online retailers in a bipartisan measure that would also reduce the increase planned for Maryland's gas tax.

Gun control advocates have misrepresented existing background check requirements

Internet sales tax legislation offers an opportunity to level the retail playing field

WASHINGTON — Online shoppers would be more likely to pay state sales tax on purchases under legislation advanced in the Senate Monday — but as a result of legislative maneuvering in Annapolis, Marylanders could also wind up paying less for gas.

The Maryland General Assembly gave final approval Friday to Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed gas tax increase, raising costs for motorists while providing an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars a year for new roads and mass transit projects.

New business needed change in county law to sell online as well as in store

A loan for Kohl's Department Stores is being considered by the Harford County Council to help the company to make improvements to its e-commerce distribution, or fulfillment, center in Edgewood.

President of Maryland Retailers Association answers five questions about changing nature of retail

For the last dozen years, Vince Talbert has had his head down focused on one thing: Bill Me Later.

NASHVILLE -- Impacted first hand by colleagues being diagnosed by cancer, public relations officials from Major League Baseball and its 30 clubs announced Monday afternoon they have organized a unique auction to benefit Stand Up to Cancer.

Congress must take action to level the sales tax playing field

Cyber Monday spending sets record, outpacing last year's Cyber Monday sales by 17 percent

Cyber Monday sales expected to be higher than 2011

States are increasingly interested in applying sales taxes to Internet purchases as budgets tighten and the effects of federal cuts loom.

Cyber Monday big for online sales

National survey says 247 million shoppers made the retail rounds in person and online during Black Friday weekend, an increase of 9.2 percent over last year.

Many small businesses would be hurt by extending sales taxes to the Internet.

Maryland's lottery officials are considering plans that would vault them into the vanguard of Internet gambling — all without a direct vote by the General Assembly.

Playoff chase has boosted sales of O's gear nearly 300 percent

With the Orioles winning in all-night fashion and then calling up their ace of the future, they continue to be a national topic of conversation.

Officials are trumpeting a $69 million settlement in a nationwide price-fixing case against Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, but for most consumers it will be measured in quarters and dimes.

Tax policy wonks say sales tax holidays are a waste. But try telling that to retailers and consumers.

American Accordionists' Association celebrates the instrument in Baltimore meeting

On average, Baltimore City-owned cars and trucks are involved in more than two accidents a day. That much is easy enough to discover. But finding out details about those crashes, it turns out, is a far more daunting proposition, another dead-end trip into bureaucratic darkness

A local business woman might expand her food truck locations to a spot near Rodgers Tavern in Perryville

Best Buy and Cooking.com pair up for online store for cooks

Best Buy Co. and Cooking.com have teamed up to launch an online store for cooks.

Best Buy Co.and Cooking.com have teamed up to launch an online store for cooks.

Online shoppers prefer Walmart to Target. That's one of the findings of an index released today that scores the top 100 online retailers on customer satisfaction.