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Business
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Merchant Voice
The elements of a (successful) ecommerce strategy
May 30, 2018 • David Sasson
The importance of an ecommerce strategy is clear. What is not clear is how to develop a good one. Some strategy statements do not provide a lot of direction, such ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Are we essential to our customers?
November 21, 2017 • David Sasson
A few weeks ago I was at a local Wichita, Kansas Chamber of Commerce mixer. I hadn’t been to one in many years. But I decided to join the chamber ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Developing a new market for our art
September 28, 2016 • David Sasson
At the heart of every ecommerce business is the need to sell goods or services at a profit. In the past year, we at overstockArt have been considering how to grow our ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
To grow a business, work less (but better)
June 28, 2016 • David Sasson
I recently read a book that made a great impression on me. The book is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown. In this post, I’ll offer an ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Dollars per visitor more important than conversion rate
May 10, 2016 • David Sasson
Conversion optimization has been discussed in ecommerce circles since, well, the dawn of ecommerce. Improving conversions can have a major impact on revenue. Making small tweaks to your website — such ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
For PPC ads, filter by demographic data
February 23, 2016 • David Sasson
Driving traffic is at the heart of building a successful ecommerce business. There are so many retailers and so many options for consumers that you must continually find new ways to ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Lessons from changing ecommerce platforms
January 25, 2016 • David Sasson
My company, overstockArt, recently changed ecommerce platforms. It was a complete change of our website, not just look and navigation, but the entire underlying technology. We switched from the Yahoo store ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
The beauty of compound revenue growth
November 24, 2015 • David Sasson
When my company had sales of just $66,000 a year, I thought, “How will we ever get to a million dollars?” When we got to that level, I thought, “How ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
How I implement new ecommerce ideas
July 31, 2015 • David Sasson
I often take time during the workweek to think about new ideas and to look for new trends that can affect our company — positively or negatively. Sometimes the new ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
What drives ecommerce sales?
July 8, 2015 • David Sasson
Presumably all online retailers want to increase sales. I know we do at overstockArt.com. I came to the office on a recent Monday and, as usual, I checked our sales from ...
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Business
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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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Business
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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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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
The value of focus, within Theory of Constraints
December 12, 2014 • David Sasson
By pulling together ideas from a few different management paradigms, I’ve developed a methodology to drive growth for my ecommerce company by setting up a structure of focus on an ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
5 tips for more holiday ecommerce sales
November 19, 2014 • David Sasson
There is a saying I’ve heard since moving to Kansas: “You make hay when the sun shines.” Well, for virtually all retailers in the U.S., the sun shines during the ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Applying Theory of Constraints to our packaging process
September 27, 2014 • David Sasson
In “Theory of Constraints, for ecommerce companies,” my previous post, I discussed the basics of Theory of Constraints, a system of continuous improvement developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt, a physicist ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Theory of Constraints, for ecommerce companies
September 8, 2014 • David Sasson
Two or three years ago, in October, I left the office in the middle of the day and went to Starbucks to have a cup of coffee and think about ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Preparing for the 2014 holiday season
July 13, 2014 • David Sasson
Many retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar, make most of their profits in the fourth quarter. Consumers in the U.S. typically think about the holiday season only after Thanksgiving. But for ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
How to evaluate offers from ecommerce vendors
June 10, 2014 • David Sasson
Online retailers receive offers each day from marketing and technology companies promising great improvements and returns by implementing their products and services. The majority of offers revolve around improving three ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Digging for gold: supply chain made simple
May 6, 2014 • David Sasson
During the gold rush of the 1800s, prospectors chased each other to find gold nuggets in rivers and mines all over the west. They were all chasing gold and the ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Growing an ecommerce company starts with ‘why’
April 4, 2014 • David Sasson
Business leaders speak about programs to improve customer satisfaction. However, we all deal with companies that leave us mostly dissatisfied. It’s rare that we have an experience, as consumers, that ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Does Facebook’s WhatsApp purchase affect ecommerce?
March 11, 2014 • David Sasson
This post does not address whether Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp is a good one, though my opinion will be evident to the reader. There have been many articles written about ...
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
Trials and tribulations of inventory management
January 15, 2014 • David Sasson
Holding inventory can be an advantage and a disadvantage. It can be both a competitive edge and an incredible headache. Some retailers choose to only drop ship and others sell ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
What can online retailers learn from the Black Friday frenzy?
December 9, 2013 • David Sasson
Every year I make a trip to at least one store during the crazy first hours of Black Friday. I consider this a pilgrimage of sorts. As online retailers we ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Focusing on the top 20 percent of your customers
November 18, 2013 • David Sasson
By segmenting customer lifetime value and identifying the top 20 percent, an ecommerce company can develop a focused marketing effort to increase revenues with limited additional spend. As online merchants we ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Preparing for the holidays
October 31, 2013 • David Sasson
Consumers always seem to stress about the holiday season. They think about all they have to do in order to have a “good showing.” They need to buy all their ...
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Conversion
Notable Views: Improve Your Conversion Rate with a Manufacturing Approach
July 7, 2011 • David Sasson
Editor's Note: "Notable Views” is a series where we ask experts to address critical ecommerce topics. For this installment, we corresponded with David Sasson, the founder of OverstockArt.com, an online retailer of original art reproductions. The company is based in Wichita, Kansas, bu...