It’s just got a step easier for retailers to include Facebook in their ecommerce sites, following the integration of Facebook’s Open Graph platform into eBay’s ‘open source ecosystem’ X.commerce. But does that make Facebook a must have?

ASOS launched three new international sites in the latest quarter of its financial year, countering slow UK sales growth. Overseas sales, said chief executive Nick Robertson, ‘more than compensated’ for an economically-challenged UK customer base.

Karen Millen is to launch a German language website later this month, the first of three scheduled to go live in key markets by 2012. The site complements its four German stores, in locations including Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg.

Max Childs, senior marketing manager for EMEA, Adobe Scene7, considers the role that video can play in increasing shopper confidence before a purchase is made.

Some 67% of online shoppers researched products in a store but then bought online, in search of a better price, a new study from Kantar Media Compete found. Its Online Shopper Intelligence report found 69% made the store their first port of call to find out about products.

Aurum Holdings has launched a new transactional website for its upmarket Watches of Switzerland brand. The launch comes as customers grow in confidence about buying luxury items online.

Marks & Spencer’s new French website is now live, offering Gallic shoppers the chance to buy in their own language and currency. The move marks a multichannel return for the retailer to a country where it last traded directly in 2001 and is the first part of an international strategy.

Supermarket Sainsbury’s has bought digital and online entertainment company Global Media Vault for £1m cash. It says the move will give it a strong position in a growing online market.

Ecommerce sales rose by 17% at N Brown Group, which said it had invested in growth online, in stores, and overseas. Online sales now account for 48% of its home shopping revenues, and the company is preparing for a multichannel future in which a ‘significant majority’ of its sales come through online.

Sales at private fashion sales site BrandAlley rose by 70% in the first nine months of the year. The company says social media innovations and the hunt for luxury on a budget are behind a growing number of online visitors to the site.

Cornish outdoor clothing brand Finisterre, known for its use of recycled and eco-friendly fabrics, has launched a new transactional website. The site was built by

Shopping and travel comparison site Kelkoo says it aims to become the best of its kind in Europe, with a new look site that aims to become a one stop shop for shoppers looking for deals.

Global retailer Tesco is to launch a new Tesco Direct online marketplace for non-food goods early next year. ‘Selected’ third-party sellers will be able to trade through the site, which will be available through tesco.com. The news, revealed in Tesco’s half-year results, comes a day after it announced international deliveries for its clothing range.

Forecasters are already predicting snowfall in November and online shoppers are being warned to shop early for this Christmas to avoid a repeat of last year’s delays to deliveries. What does that mean for online retailers?

Homewares retailer Lakeland is set to introduce new multichannel services that connect the store to online. The new initiatives emerged at this week’s Internet Retailing 2011. Here we also round up of some of the highlights of the event.

Fraudulent losses in online shopping have fallen to their lowest level for at least five years. Financial Fraud Action UK figures show that fraud in online and other card not present transactions were down by 8% in the first half of the year.

Are you ready for the Christmas shopping season? If not, don’t panic. Simon Heyes, head of international media at Bigmouthmedia, has it in hand with a handy calendar to count down what needs doing before the big day.

Thorntons’ stores and direct channels both saw sales falling in the first 14 weeks of the financial year, the retailer said today. It said that orders were expected to pick up in the run up to Christmas.

Social commerce and what it means for retailers was a central theme for the keynote speakers at our annual conference, Internet Retailing 2011, being held today. Speakers in the session hailed from retailers including eBay, HMV and Facebook.

Four out of 10 UK online shoppers will now be able to get their purchases delivered within an hour and a half, following logistics company Shutl’s expansion to six more UK cities, the company said today.