Business
An ecommerce site is a business. Our Management & Finance category addresses online payments, funding needs, employee issues, merchant profiles, key metrics, multichannel and omnichannel strategies, cross-border analyses, inventory management, accounting topics, sales taxes, and much more.
Amazon & Marketplaces | B2B | Cross-border Selling | Finance | Fraud Prevention | Inventory | Local Business | Payments | Shipping & Fulfillment | Staffing-
Fraud Prevention
18 Online Security Resources for Small Businesses
June 29, 2015 • Sig Ueland
Recently, cybersecurity company FireEye announced a partnership with Visa to develop products and services for merchants, as well as card issuers, to detect and respond to attacks. The announcement underscores ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
5 Tradeoffs for Selling on Amazon
June 23, 2015 • James Thomson
For six years I worked for Amazon, most recently as head of Amazon Services, that part of Amazon that recruits 100,000 new sellers to the Amazon marketplace each year. During my tenure, feedback ...
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Business
APIs Bring Ecommerce to Any Page, Service
June 22, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Application programming interfaces (APIs) from payment processors and service providers make it possible, if not easy, to bring ecommerce to essentially any page or any service. Often the first thing that ...
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Business
Balancing ecommerce profits with a nonprofit mission
June 18, 2015 • Kenny Kane
In “Using ecommerce to support cancer survivors,” my last post, I discussed how Stupid Cancer launched an online store, and ultimately, a lifestyle brand. Since its inception in 2012, the ...
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Merchant Voice
9 tips for working with suppliers
June 16, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
I launched my third ecommerce venture, My Wedding Decor, in April. Since then, I have been working with over 40 wedding-product suppliers. Here’s what I’ve learned so far. 1. Maintain your ...
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Business
Language Translation Tools for Ecommerce Sites
June 16, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
The Internet has made it easier to sell products and services worldwide. But easy access without an engaging customer experience cannot guarantee sales. Presenting site content in a local language ...
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Merchant Voice
Fast Internet connection creates internal network glitches
June 15, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Many articles about ecommerce address customer-facing issues, such as website design, search engine optimization, content, marketing, and order fulfillment. One often-ignored topic is the basic hardware required —the internal network ...
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Business
How to Buy a Small Ecommerce Business on Flippa
June 15, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Flippa is a leading marketplace for buying and selling websites, including active online stores, those with established site traffic, revenue, and profit. One of the sites available at auction on Flippa at the ...
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Business
How to Protect Against Credit Card Chargebacks
June 9, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis
Ecommerce business owners dread credit card chargebacks. It often takes just one chargeback for a merchant to question her procedures, to stop another one from happening. Luckily, if you prepare ...
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Inventory
Inventory Labeling Basics: SKUs, UPCs, EANs
May 27, 2015 • Michael Manzione
The barcode was first scanned in 1974, on a packet of Juicy Fruit gum. Since then, the technology used in scanning products in the retail marketplace has become commonplace. In ...
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Payments
Beware Hidden Increases from Credit Card Providers
May 26, 2015 • Phil Hinke
The fact that some credit card providers periodically sneak in cost increases to their merchants isn’t new. The providers often do this with a notice like this to their merchants:
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Business
Using ecommerce to support cancer survivors
May 22, 2015 • Kenny Kane
In March 2012, I decided it was time for Stupid Cancer, the nonprofit I co-founded, to move beyond CafePress and open our own online store. We had previously been offering ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
Ecommerce Shipping Innovations Just Over Horizon?
May 22, 2015 • Armando Roggio
How orders are delivered to ecommerce shoppers might change dramatically in just the next few years as retailers and carriers come up with ways to reduce shipping costs and speed ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Invoices
May 21, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks
Drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory, and orders. The final step in the drop shipping process occurs when the supplier ...
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Merchant Voice
Secret sauce for an ecommerce supply chain
May 18, 2015 • David Sasson
I recently spoke at a conference regarding supply chain collaboration. As I was preparing my presentation, it occurred to me that ecommerce companies can greatly benefit from improving their supply ...
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B2B
B2B Ecommerce Success Starts in the Boardroom
May 18, 2015 • Dale Traxler
Business-to-business ecommerce revenue in the U.S., at $780 billion in 2015, is roughly twice the size of B2C, according to Forrester Research. But that amount represents less than 10 percent ...
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Merchant Voice
Selling in Europe? Beware strict consumer protection laws
May 16, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
The world is getting smaller, and ecommerce selling is open to competition worldwide. As such, I am beginning to see more U.S. sellers in the U.K., where I live. However,
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Merchant Voice
First 3 weeks of my new business
May 15, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
After eight months of planning, I launched MyWeddingDecor.com.au on April 23. I founded the business to appeal to Australian couples that seek personalized, unique, and unusual wedding decor. Today, May ...
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Business
Lessons from Prison: Satisfy Customers, Follow the Law
May 7, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis
In “Can Lawsuits Remedy Bad Online Reviews?,” my article last month, I focused on whether lawsuits can remedy bad online reviews of businesses. In the cases that I addressed, there ...
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Business
3 Bad Ecommerce Customers You Should Fire
May 6, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Online sellers, including business-to-consumer retailers and business-to-business wholesalers, need to occasionally fire a bad customer, if for no reason other than to benefit good customers. In ecommerce, a bad customer can ...
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Finance
Shopify IPO to Value Company at $1 Billion
May 4, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Canadian-based ecommerce platform provider Shopify filed for an IPO in the United States and Canada last month hoping to raise $100 million. The valuation is expected to come in at ...
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Inventory
How to Set Up Inventory and Fulfillment to Manage Growth
April 27, 2015 • Michael Manzione
Many new ecommerce businesses become overwhelmed with managing inventory and fulfillment. What started in a garage, with little fanfare, now requires more space and more organization. Perhaps the business is ...
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Fraud Prevention
25 Online Security Tools for Small Businesses
April 26, 2015 • Sig Ueland
Recent cyber breaches at Target, Sony, and The White House reveal one simple truth: Online security is everyone’s concern. As larger businesses take steps to secure their networks, less secure ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Sues Fake Product Review Websites
April 23, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce merchants know the importance of favorable customer reviews. Results of a 2013 survey of 1,046 American consumers by research firm Dimensional Research show that 90 percent of consumers who ...
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Merchant Voice
Mobile friendly, but just barely
April 22, 2015 • Erica Tevis
Google’s long awaited “mobile friendly” algorithm change occurred yesterday, April 21. Sites that weren’t mobile friendly (as determined by Google) presumably experienced a reduction in mobile-search rankings. In this post,
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Business
How to Build a Trustworthy Ecommerce Brand
April 22, 2015 • Armando Roggio
When customers trust your business and recognize your brand they will often make repeat purchases, pay a slight premium for your products and tell others about your store. To encourage ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Returns
April 16, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks
Drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory, and orders. The order integration and workflow culminates with fulfillment and shipment from the ...
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Finance
13 New Equity Crowdfunding Success Stories, for Ecommerce
April 16, 2015 • Sig Ueland
It’s been three years since the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was signed into law. Currently, Title II is in effect, allowing small businesses to solicit investments from accredited ...
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Merchant Voice
China-based merchants ship to U.S. for free
April 13, 2015 • David Sasson
As ecommerce leaders and professionals, it is our responsibility to occasionally look at the landscape of the ecommerce industry as well as our specific space within ecommerce and explore potential ...
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Local Business
6 Local Business Online Marketing Platforms, Apps
April 13, 2015 • Paul Chaney
For a small business, managing multiple online marketing channels is a complex process that can require a sizable amount of the owner's time and resources. Knowing how to produce content that resonates with customers and prospects, learning the nuances of how various channels work, and understanding the contribution each makes to ROI, only adds to the challenge.