Blogging

Retailers are an extremely lucky bunch right now — the stock market crash really isn’t good for the bottom line, but the Christmas holiday season might just keep them in the black, assuming that people are feeling cheery enough to part ways with their hard-earned cash this winter season.

A recently conducted survey by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company, of 100 enterprises has determined that 55% of leading retailers are feeling the need to counter the selling strategies of competition amidst holiday pressure. Furthermore, 50% of these companies think that advanced online tools are part of the solution — dynamic Web content management is believed to play a significant role.

Go here to read the rest:
Retailers Turn to Dynamic Content Management

Bon appetit for Cooking.com: The kitchen appliance retailer announced Wednesday that it has pulled in $13 million in venture funding in a round led by Azure Capital Partners. ORIX Venture Finance also contributed venture debt to the round, and Azure partner Michael Kwatinetz is now on the company’s board of directors.

The new cash will be used toward a variety of goals at Cooking.com: expand editorial and social-networking operations on the site (a sound decision when it seems like everyone can’t stop talking about Bobby Flay and Mario Batali), opening a new distribution center in Ohio, and allowing more Web sites to offer “Powered by Cooking.com” stores. That’s something that some food-related brands already do, like Starbucks, Pillsbury, and the Food Network.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based Cooking.com has been around since 1998, still alive and kicking despite the fact that retail leviathan Amazon.com has been selling cooking appliances for years now.

“We are excited to have new investment partners and funding, which will allow us to enrich the Cooking.com experience and brand,” founder and CEO Tracy Randall said in a release, “and also further our goal to increasingly become a driving e-commerce force for some of the world’s most visited culinary sites.” In other words, just as many media companies are pushing their content out to multiple video-sharing sites, niche commerce sites are hoping to hook up with more retailers.

Read more here:
Cooking.com stirs up $13 million