E-Bay buys mobile shopping engine

E-Bay, an e-commerce site, has bought shopping engine Milo.com to help it reach more consumers looking for products in nearby stores and browsing for bargains with mobile phones, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

Milo.com is an item finder and eBay will weave the technology into its existing marketplace and mobile applications, the San Jose-based company said in a statement. It didn't disclose deal terms.

E-Bay CEO John Donahoe, halfway through a three-year turnaround campaign, is looking for ways to use the company's $5.4 billion in cash to lure customers and narrow a growth gap with Amazon.com, the e-commerce leader.

There are fears that UK consumers could pile on the debt by using their credit cards when enjoying safe shopping online, according to the latest figures, reveals Shop Safe.

Close to six million people in the UK buy goods and services on the Internet using credit cards to make the payments and among this group almost a fifth spend more than £1000 each month on credit card purchases.

This data comes from Sainsbury's Finance, which also concluded in a recent report that on average, credit card users spend £192 online with each transaction. This figure is slightly skewed by particularly rapacious spenders, as a closer look shows that over 66 per cent of credit card customers shell out under £100 online.

Groupon, an online coupon company, unexpectedly turned down a reported $6 billion offer from Google according to multiple reports, reveals msnbc.

The Chicago-based Groupon will remain privately held and may pursue an initial public offering in 2011, according to the Chicago Tribune.

A report from the digital news Web site, allthingsdigital.com, quoted a source close to the situation as saying the deal was "as over as these things get”.