China's online shopping sales in 2009 are expected to reach 238.8 billion yuan, while in 2012 the figure is expected to hit 791 billion yuan, according to a report form Japan's Kyodo News. As of the end of 2008, the number of Chinese netizens has surpassed the U.S. totaling 298 million people, ranking the first in the world. And the scale of e-commerce has reached 2.4 trillion yuan. So Japanese businesses have begun to turn their eyes to China, and the rapid development of online shopping in China is considered as the key to opening the Chinese market.

Four Seasons Group (FSG), the specialist air conditioning building services group, has acquired JCW Ltd for an undisclosed sum. JCW is a successful heating, ventilation and air conditioning business operating in the UK, from the South West across to Cambridgeshire. The acquisition of JCW adds a further £12 million of revenue resulting in combined proforma revenue for the Group in excess of £25 million. This places Four Seasons Group as one of the largest air conditioning led building services Groups in the UK.

A recent national survey from ThomasNet shows that businesses are very optimistic about their growth and their ability to survive through the recession in spite of all the challenges they face in the current tough environment when customers’ are increasingly reducing their spending. The survey polled 800 executives, managers and engineers from small, midsize and large companies. 79% of the respondents said that they believe the US economy will improve by the second quarter of 2010 or sooner with 35% expecting their business to grow by the year end.

Blackhawk Network, a worldwide gift card distribution network responsible for the sales and activation of gift cards, prepaid credit cards and prepaid debit cards, announced that businesses will be offered Rewards Visa Gift Card through Blackhawk Network’s Incentives and Rewards business-to-business program.

Many businesses today are looking at establishing a social networking channel for their customers but still many of them remain hesitating. But as it was noted by a coaching organization at a recent webinar the process of establishing a presence in the social media world is not as complicated as it may seem.

A new report released by the Kauffman Foundation revealed that those startups who rely heavily on their credit cards are more likely to fail at their first year of existence. The research shows that every $1,000 of credit card debt increases the probability that a new firm will close by 2.2%. 59% of the businesses in the survey had no employees when they were founded, and only 18% had three or more, so this applies mainly to microbusinesses.

Skype revealed its intention to build a channel program, enabling company to offer enhanced services such as support, integration with third-party applications and interoperability, according to the statement of Skype’s General Manager and Vice President Stefan Oberg. That appeared to become a move into business settings as the new service would help companies to save money, boost productivity and stay ahead of the technology curve.

Coworking is an excellent way for independent professionals to get motivated and increase productivity. Done the right way, it combines the advantages of an office (a sense of community, collaboration, interesting conversations, dedicated work area) and home-based work (freedom and independence). No wonder that coworking spaces can be found in thousands of cities around the world, and more are constantly opening.

You know sometimes I think that if I sat with some analyst and argue on what is more profitable forex or Stock Market our discussion could be put down in three volumes. However it is necessary to note that such conclusion cannot be made on the profitability of any of those markets.

It has been found out that each PC left turned on overnight and at weekends costs British businesses £17 a year which in total makes up £300 million annually. Still, the situation is not as bad as it is in the US, where half of corporate computers are left turned on overnight and US firms pay extra $2.8 billion a year. 

The Internet search kingpin Google acknowledges a serious bug in the Docs sharing system over the weekend, though little amount of users had been affected: less than 0.05% of the accounts suffered from a bug after the documents were shared “inadvertently” with other users. Actually because of this latest bug some businesses could make a conclusion that pushing their personal information up easily put them under a security risk.

Virtual offices are being in demand that is growing during the last 2 years. That means that their number is increasing as well. You may ask as – why they are getting so popular attracting more and more businesses? Over the past decade technological progress made a great step forward having grated a variety of new services and facilities The Internet has given the users a possibility to find answers to any questions and to obtain information or knowledge within moments.

Wells Fargo & Company has launched the Wells Fargo® Card Design StudioSM service, which gives consumer and business customers the option to customize the design of their Wells Fargo Check Cards or Credit Cards.  “The reason we launched Wells Fargo® Card Design StudioSM is two-fold,” said Brenda Yost, Wells Fargo Debit Card marketing manager.

The Discover® Small Business WatchSM index has been reported to have fallen down to 71.4 in January, 1.4 points from December, which indicates that economic confidence among small business owners is decreasing. Fewer owners plan to increase spending for business development and healthcare of their employees.