Business and Marketing

Amazon led online retail's holiday surge, along with other third-party marketplaces like Google Shopping and Newegg.

Amazon's same store sales for November were up 35.7% over last year, according to ChannelAdvisor. But third-party sellers as an aggregate—including Google Shopping and smaller players like Newegg and Rakuten.com (formerly Buy.com)—dominated online retail segments with a 41.6% increase. E-commerce as a whole grew only 16%.

Though noteworthy, sales growth among third-party retail sites has been volatile. The segment nearly busted the SSS meter with a 78.3% increase in May, then backed off to 24.2% in August before rebounding to a 65.5% increase in October.

EBay finished November with a 9.8% increase, up from October's 4.4%, but under the baseline e-com growth rate. Comparison shopping engines posted 12.3% growth, and search came in at 15.6%, reported Channel Advisor, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions.

Business Breaking News: 8 Surprising Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do Everyday

What do you picture when you think about a day in the life of an entrepreneur? Meetings with investors? Strategy sessions with the executive team? Going over financial statements and analytics reports? While these items all might appear on a business owner's schedule, there are some things that entrepreneurs may never have expected to do on a regular basis. Eight startup founders shared the one task they were surprised to add to their everyday to-do lists.

"We have always been told that you need to dress for success. We did not realize how tedious that task would be on a daily basis. We knew that this venture would include hard work with long, sleepless nights, but we also thought it was going to be balanced with relaxed, poolside conference calls. While there are definitely calm moments where you feel like a zen master, the fact is, being an entrepreneur also requires discipline. You always have to make sure your shoes are shined, your shirt is pressed and that you are ready for anything, because you never know who you are going to meet or where you are going to be. We are constantly networking and meeting amazing, new people and consequently, we always put our best feet forward, literally." – David Czinn and Josh Kahn, co-founders of Fruigees Organic Fruit Snacks

"Coming from the corporate world, I didn't realize as an entrepreneur that you have to strike the right balance between aspiration, ideation and execution every single day. It's like you're an improv performer in a one-man show, where you write, direct, produce and perform. When the day ends, you prepare yourself to start over and do it all again tomorrow — and then you listen for the applause." – Andrea Simon, CEO and founder of Simon Associates Management Consultants

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