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-
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Latin America: Challenges, Opportunities
February 26, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Latin America presents a paradox to ecommerce merchants. It contains a rapidly growing middle class eager for a larger selection of quality goods, but the region has unreliable shipping operations ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Launching my third website business in 15 years
February 25, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
The countdown has begun: I launch my Australian wedding decorations website, my third ecommerce venture in 15 years, in eight weeks. And like many online retailers who sell items with ...
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Business
How to Combat a Shiny New Competitor
February 25, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Relative to leasing retail space, buying shelves, and investing in a store full of inventory, ecommerce offers a low barrier to entry. In fact, just about any entrepreneur with a ...
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Business
Using KPIs to Measure Ecommerce Performance
February 24, 2015 • Mac McSwain
I am a CPA who provides accounting services to ecommerce merchants. Many merchants often focus exclusively on sales, profits, and bank balances to determine if their business is successful. But,
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Business
Selling on Multiple Channels? Know Terms of Use
February 19, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis
Any company that sells products online or markets online typically uses multiple channels — such as its own website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Etsy, and Amazon. However, most companies don’t understand the rights they are giving ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 2
February 18, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
In “part 1” of this series, I addressed my desire to simplify our company’s ecommerce platform, to move away from Magento. I had decided to test WooCommerce, the WordPress plugin that is ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Orders
February 17, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks
Drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory, and orders. If you’re new to drop shipping, read my 4-part series on the ...
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Payments
EMV Credit Cards, Part 2: Point-of-sale Devices, Alternatives
February 13, 2015 • Phil Hinke
This article is mostly for brick-and-mortar retailers, as the October 2015 rule changes, which I discussed in "Part 1," are specific to card-present merchants.
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Business
Lessons Learned: Baking Site Says No to Shark Tank
February 11, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Many of the most successful online retailers sell products that solve problems. Daniel Rensing, who grew up in Levittown, N.Y., created a clever product that attracted press attention within 10 days ...
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Business
When Ecommerce Warms Your Heart
February 6, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Young Leo Forrest’s story is both very sad and heartwarming. It is the sort of tale that moves you to want to help, to do what you can to make ...
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Business
Apple Pay Adoption Continues; Looming Concerns?
February 4, 2015 • Gagan Mehra
Apple recently announced record-breaking sales for its 2014 fiscal year. Among the numbers for iPhones and iPads, the company also offered thoughts about the growth of Apple Pay, the mobile ...
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Business
To Start an Ecommerce Business, Solve Problems
February 4, 2015 • Armando Roggio
There is a mantra of sorts in entrepreneurial circles that says “don’t simply start a business, solve a problem.” If you solve someone’s problem and create a must-have product or ...
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B2B
How to Use SlideShare for B2B Ecommerce
February 3, 2015 • Paul Chaney
SlideShare, the presentation software platform, may be one of the most overlooked and underutilized tools for B2B ecommerce content marketing. There are several reasons to consider using SlideShare. The slideshow format ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
‘Thinking time’ improves an ecommerce business
February 1, 2015 • David Sasson
“Thinking time” is underrated by leaders and managers of ecommerce companies. We operate in a fast-changing environment — competing both in technology and commerce. In this post, I will address ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 1
January 30, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Every three years I conduct a major review of my ecommerce sites. This is typically more than my annual review; everything is under consideration. In previous major reviews I have ...
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Staffing
How to Hire an Ecommerce Consultant in 2015
January 26, 2015 • Armando Roggio
An ecommerce consultant can bring insights, information, and expertise that a small or mid-sized retail business doesn’t have. But hiring an ecommerce consultant can be relatively expensive, so you’ll want ...
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Business
14 Questions Before You Launch an Ecommerce Site
January 23, 2015 • Armando Roggio
An Australian entrepreneur recently earned more than $20,000 in online sales in just four days, only to stop taking orders and sell the business. Ultimately, the shop made money, but ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
The benefits of free product samples
January 22, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Whether you’ve been in business for years or you’re just launching a new website, sending samples of your products can grab the attention of shoppers. In this post, I’ll review ...
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Business
Lessons Learned: Paddle Board Company Encounters Sharks, Success
January 21, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Imagine seeing a group of sharks. Would you lose your nerve? Stephan Aarstol nearly did. He had nothing to lose but rejection by pitching his business, Tower Paddle Boards, to the ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Inventory Visibility
January 20, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks
If you’re new to drop shipping, read my 4-part series on the basics, for ecommerce. Drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory,
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Business
Steve Case on SMB Ecommerce; BigCommerce Investment
January 19, 2015 • Kerry Murdock
Steve Case, the co-founder of America Online, is by any measure an Internet visionary. His private equity firm, Revolution, invested, in 2013, $40 million in BigCommerce, a leading platform for ...
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Local Business
Beacons to Help Physical Stores Combat Ecommerce
January 15, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Brick-and-mortar retailers have been hard at work trying to lure online shoppers, who often visit physical stores to see and touch products, and then make purchases online. I previously addressed this ...
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Business
Legal: When to Review, Update Business Contracts
January 13, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis
As an attorney, I write a lot of contracts — terms of use, privacy policies, employment agreements, leases, and non-disclosure agreements, among others. However, what most people don’t understand about ...
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Payments
EMV Credit Cards, Part 1: Who Is Responsible for Losses?
January 12, 2015 • Phil Hinke
This article is mainly for brick-and-mortar retailers. The upcoming October 2015 rule changes regarding EMV-enabled credit cards are specific to card-present...
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Inventory
5 Tips for Buying Retail Inventory, for Ecommerce
January 11, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Smart wholesale buying can lead to ecommerce success and good profits. But the act of buying products to sell on an ecommerce site can be more of a challenge than ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Disaster planning for small businesses necessary?
January 9, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
I have frequently heard that disaster planning and risk assessment are for the large businesses, and that they are a needless administrative task for small companies. Disaster planning and risk ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Achieving a work-life balance
January 7, 2015 • Erica Tevis
Resolutions made in a new year are frequently discarded by the end of January. But a few years ago, when I was burnt out of running my own business, I ...
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B2B
9 B2B Companies that Excel at Social Media
January 6, 2015 • Sig Ueland
Businesses that sell primarily to other companies can use social media to expand a brand, convey a vision, engage a community, promote products, and even provide customer support. Here is a list ...
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Business
2014 Top 25: Our Most Popular Posts of the Year
December 31, 2014 • PEC Staff
As 2014 draws to a close, we’ve compiled a list of our 25 most popular articles of the year, based on the number of page views. Popular subjects included productivity tools, design,
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Business
2 Ecommerce Blunders to Avoid in 2015
December 29, 2014 • Armando Roggio
Businesses ultimately fail when liabilities exceed assets — when the company doesn’t have enough money to pay its bills and keep operating. While there are many reasons or ways that ...