Online retailers are starting to test blogs to give their stores more personality - and their customers a reason to visit even when they're not buying - reports the New York Times. But blogs are so different from typical retail tasks that they're taking a bit of work to use effectively. Still, the biggest draw seems to be that blogs allow retailers to project their unique identities. "It lets us pull back the curtain and show how we're a company of hobbyists who love participating in the things they're buyers for," says a chief exec of a hobbyist site. "It humanizes us."

Similarly, for a retailer of premium coffees, blogs are an online weapon of choice for differentiating itself from Starbucks, writes Internet Retailer. Stone Creek Coffee's primary objective is to express the voice of the company, which a blog allows to do quickly and in a timely way. The company's bloggers will receive guidelines on what can be posted. The marketing and technology director will review the blog posts when they go live and make adjustments if necessary.

Executives at Bluefly.com, the discount apparel e-tailer, credit their blog (Flypaper.bluefly.com) with bringing in new customers, writes the Times. Flypaper, which was introduced in April, "is bringing some very positive things," says its chief executive. Apparently, Flypaper visitors who click to Bluefly are more likely to make a purchase than those who visit Bluefly directly.