Gagan Mehra - Practical Ecommerce

Articles by: Gagan Mehra

Get the Practical Ecommerce RSS feed

Gagan Mehra

Gagan Mehra is managing director of Deloitte Digital, an international consulting firm. He is an expert in ecommerce and data. He has worked in multiple industries, across four continents, deploying various ecommerce solutions and in the process has solved many ecommerce and Big Data challenges.

He can be reached at gaganmehra@gmail.com, or on Twitter: @ga2n.

Conversion
Clienteling Personalizes In-store, Online Shopping

December 10, 2020 • Gagan Mehra

"Clienteling" enables shoppers and personnel in physical stores to interact with online channels, such as web, mobile, and social. Saks Fifth Avenue, for example, has used clienteling for over five years. With clienteling, in-store associates to access an application that provides info about a shopper. The result is merchants can better serve customers and drive higher average value orders.
Management & Finance
Pros and Cons of Composable Commerce

October 29, 2020 • Gagan Mehra

The term "composable commerce" refers to joining multiple components to meet a merchant's specific needs. Example use cases include multiple sales channels, cost control, specialization, and the need for modular construction.
Management & Finance
25 Global B2B Exchanges for Supply Chain Diversity

April 29, 2020 • Gagan Mehra

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted supply chains, forcing distributors and retailers to find alternative product sources. Global B2B exchanges have existed for years. What follows is a list of 25 leading B2B exchanges.
Management & Finance
5 Tips to Overcome Covid-19 Supply Chain Disruptions

March 24, 2020 • Gagan Mehra

Covid-19 has disrupted the supply chain by shutting down manufacturers and suppliers in China, the U.S., and elsewhere. This post suggests five ways to overcome this challenge.
Management & Finance
Innovative Ideas to Automate Ecommerce Tasks

November 1, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the second in a series that focuses on innovation in ecommerce. My objective is to highlight improvements that can help merchants. The first post addressed advancements in drone delivery. In this installment, I'll review progress in ecommerce automation, to streamline routine tasks.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Will Drone Delivery Help Ecommerce?

September 17, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

Drones are already used for delivering products in Iceland and medical supplies in Tanzania and Rwanda. Denmark, France, and The Netherlands are soon to follow.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 5: Accessibility, Mobile, Localization

July 29, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This is the fifth and final post in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. For this installment, I’ll review mistakes related to accessibility, mobile usability, and localization.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 4: Shipping, Returns, Inventory

July 2, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the fourth in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. The first post addressed mistakes related to catalog management and pricing. The second described user management and customer service failures. The third post discussed glitches from shopping carts and order management systems. For this installment, I’ll review mistakes related to shipping, returns, and inventory management.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 3: Shopping Carts, Order Management

May 14, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the third in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. For this installment, I’ll discuss mistakes related to shopping carts, checkout, and order management.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 2: User Management, Customer Service

April 10, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the second in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. The first post addressed B2B mistakes in catalog management and pricing. For this installment, I’ll review mistakes related to user management and customer service.
B2B
Common B2B Mistakes, Part 1: Catalog Management, Pricing

March 10, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

This post is the first in a series in which I address common mistakes of B2B ecommerce merchants. For this installment, I'll review errors related to catalog management, pricing, and user experience.
Management & Finance
4 Safeguards to Prevent Credit Card Fraud

February 12, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

Ecommerce merchants continue to rely on credit card payments for orders. Credit cards are convenient and fast, but they also come with risk. Merchants in the United States lose approximately $190 billion a year to credit card fraud. In this post, I will explain how to minimize credit card fraud.
Management & Finance
10 Tips for Successful Cross-border Ecommerce

January 25, 2019 • Gagan Mehra

Cross-border ecommerce sales have grown dramatically in recent years. The industry is collectively learning dos and don'ts for penetrating international markets. In this post, I'll offer 10 tips to expand your ecommerce business into new countries and regions.
Design & Development
22 Cloud Storage Sites

October 24, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

Cloud storage is gradually replacing on-premise options. The benefits of cloud storage include: Access from multiple locations. Once the data is in the cloud, it can be accessed from anywhere. Expand or ...
Management & Finance
Blockchain Vendors with Solutions for Ecommerce

September 27, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

Blockchain uses are evolving, with many new vendors and participating merchants. The key benefits include lower costs, increased security, improved tracking, and enhanced convenience. In this posit, I'll list examples of vendors that use blockchain technology in their products.
Conversion
14 A.I.-powered Apps for Personalization, Higher Conversions

August 22, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

Artificial intelligence can provide a competitive advantage to a merchant. Leading ecommerce platforms integrate with many third-party apps that use artificial intelligence. In this post, I will list a variety of third-party, A.I.-driven apps for Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce.
Amazon & Marketplaces
58 Leading Online Marketplaces Worldwide

July 23, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

In this post, I will list all major worldwide marketplaces — B2C and B2B. I have categorized the marketplaces by their home continent.
Marketing & Advertising
10 Ways That Artificial Intelligence Helps Merchants

March 21, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

The term "artificial intelligence" refers to software that learns from experience. It mimics the human mind in that it changes responses based on data. Self-driving cars and voice-enabled devices rely on artificial intelligence. Retail businesses can also benefit. In this post, I'll list 10 use cases of how artificial intelligence helps merchants.
Management & Finance
Staying Ahead of Fake Product Reviews

February 18, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

In the competitive world of online commerce, not every merchant is honest. Some post fake positive reviews for their products to entice shoppers. Others post fake negative reviews of competitors' products to dissuade potential buyers. Both are examples of product review fraud. It's dishonest to competitors and, also, to shoppers that rely heavily on the reviews. If a retailer does not stop the fraud, shoppers could lose trust in the reviews and cease purchasing from the site.
Management & Finance
The Rise of Human-free Retail

January 26, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

A few days back the first Amazon Go convenience store opened, in Seattle. Shoppers can simply pick up the items they want to purchase and walk out. There is no need to stand in lines and go through checkout. Will Walmart, Target, and other competitors implement a similar technology? The answer is likely "yes." In fact, other companies are doing it already.
B2B
Tips for Selling and Buying on B2B Exchanges

January 9, 2018 • Gagan Mehra

In "20 Leading Global B2B Exchanges," my previous post, I shared B2B marketplace options for buying and selling products. In this post, I'll offer pointers on using those exchanges. Selling on a B2B exchange is an easy and inexpensive way for suppliers to get started with ecommerce. A supplier does not typically need its own website to list products on exchanges.
Shipping & Fulfillment
9 Startups That Are Disrupting Inventory Management

November 7, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

The sweet spot for inventory management is to spend the minimum amount to have adequate stock for customer orders. There is no shortage of software to help with this. But ...
Management & Finance
10 Retail Blockchain Vendors

October 20, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

In “10 Ways Blockchains Can Benefit Merchants,” my previous article, I addressed potential uses for blockchain technology. In this post, I’ll describe 10 service providers that already use that technology. Blockverify Blockverify ...
Management & Finance
10 Ways Blockchains Can Benefit Merchants

October 5, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

The Internet is buzzing with how blockchains can solve problems and disrupt multiple industries. But what exactly is a blockchain and how can it benefit merchants? A blockchain is a “distributed ...
Marketing & Advertising
105 Leading Social Networks Worldwide

September 27, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

Much has changed since 2015 when we last updated our list leading social media sites. Many more social networks have been launched. Some have been discontinued. This post will list all leading English-language social networks as of Sept. 2017. It will also indicate social networks that were added since the 2015 article, by placing “(New)” beside the name.
Management & Finance
Can Personalization Save Shopping Malls?

September 10, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

The rise of ecommerce is impacting shopping malls. Traffic and sales are down significantly. 2017 has been a particularly bad year for brick-and-mortar retailers, with hundreds of announced store closures. In ...
Marketing & Advertising
Using Google Home for Voice-enabled Shopping

August 11, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

My previous post, “10 Alexa Skills for Shopping (and Selling),” focused on Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, and the burgeoning number of third-party apps and APIs — “Skills” — for that technology.
Management & Finance
10 Alexa Skills for Shopping (and Selling)

July 26, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

In “The Growing Adoption of Voice Commerce,” my previous post, I addressed how Amazon’s Alexa is the leading voice-based assistant. I mentioned in the post that Amazon now offers Alexa Voice ...
Conversion
The Growing Adoption of Voice Commerce

July 2, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

Three years ago, in “Voice Commerce Ready for Prime Time?,” I presented the pros and cons of voice-activated transactions. Since then, voice commerce has grown significantly, with the adoption of ...
Management & Finance
Intelligent Ways to Manage Fraud

June 8, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

Fraud continues to impact online merchants. Some experience chargebacks, while others experience various forms of return fraud. Fraud hurts not only merchants but also consumers, as merchants often increase prices ...

1 2 3 4 Next »