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Cross-border Selling
Luxury Ecommerce Merchant Farfetch Goes Public
October 14, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
In one of the largest consumer-facing IPOs of the year, Farfetch, an online luxury-fashion marketplace, listed on the New York Stock Exchange on September 21. Initially priced at $20 per share, the stock — FTCH — opened at $27 per share, rose to $30 and closed at $28.20, 41 percent above the target opening price.
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Business
Ecommerce Briefs: Casper, PayPal Options, Amazon Ads
September 26, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address how an online brand is providing an experiential option for consumers, new ...
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Finance
8 Successful Ecommerce Startups Founded by Females
September 13, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Despite the fact that startups with all female founders receive only 2 percent of total venture capital investments, tenacious women are still achieving success in ecommerce. Here is a list of eight successful ecommerce companies that were founded by women.
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Social Media
Should Merchants Sell on Social Platforms?
August 29, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Social media networks foster deeper customer relationships than standalone ecommerce sites, according to some marketers. However, except for younger, mobile-focused shoppers, social commerce has not gained a foothold.
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Finance
Does Dual-class Stock Hurt Independent Investors?
August 16, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
If you think buying stock in a public company guarantees you some input into how the company operates and who is elected to the board, you may be mistaken. Thanks ...
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Finance
Why Wall Street Loves Amazon, Not Facebook
August 2, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Wall Street has always been kind to Amazon, waiting patiently for many years for the company to become profitable. Facebook used to be a Wall Street favorite but never to the same extent as Amazon. Facebook's second quarter financial results were not what rattled analysts.
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Cross-border Selling
How the Trade War Affects Ecommerce and the U.S. Economy
July 25, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
On July 6 the United States placed tariffs on trading partners around the world. The European Union, Canada, China, and Mexico have all implemented retaliatory tariffs on American goods. These tariffs concentrate on agricultural and food and beverage products. The effect on U.S. ecommerce merchants varies.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon’s 2018 Prime Day Sets Record Despite Glitches
July 19, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Amazon’s 2018 Prime Day event got off to an inauspicious start at 3 p.m. Eastern time on July 16 when eager shoppers received error messages due to overwhelming site traffic.
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Cross-border Selling
Chinese Consumers Are Eager to Buy Foreign Goods
June 20, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
China is the world’s largest ecommerce market. What is unique about Chinese cross-border ecommerce is that large amounts of transactions flow both ways. Chinese consumers are heavy buyers of foreign ...
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Cross-border Selling
Africa: An Emerging Ecommerce Market with Many Challenges
June 13, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Africa has been a laggard in ecommerce for many reasons, including lack of internet access, poverty, a high rate of illiteracy, and logistical inefficiencies. Most of these problems persist but ...
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Fraud Prevention
Retailers (including Amazon) Crack Down on Return Fraud
June 6, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce customers value a lenient and free return process. The most successful online and omnichannel merchants have been willing to accommodate those wishes. Until recently. A survey by the National Retail ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart Wins Flipkart; Amazon Expands Prime; Target Beefs Up
May 23, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
In “Ecommerce Briefs,” I address news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll review Walmart’s purchase of a majority interest in Flipkart, India’s dominant marketplace. I’ll also address ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Has Superlative First Quarter, Raises Prime Fee
May 10, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce giant Amazon had a blockbuster first quarter. The period from January 1 through March 31, 2018 easily surpassed analysts’ predictions. Revenue jumped 43 percent to $51 billion, compared with ...
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Local Business
Ecommerce Merchants Embrace Brick-and-mortar
April 26, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
With all the talk of a “retail apocalypse,” you might wonder why any merchant would want to open a brick-and-mortar store. Yet several successful ecommerce companies are now operating physical ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart, Amazon Vie for Flipkart; Etsy and Adidas Refocus
April 11, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address the competition between Walmart and Amazon to acquire Flipkart, India’s dominant marketplace. I’ll ...
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Finance
ICOs Are the Newest Form of Alternative Funding
March 28, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
If words like cryptocurrency, cryptocoin, Bitcoin, and blockchain befuddle you, you're not alone. Even the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is having a hard time keeping up with all the new alternative funding mechanisms. The latest funding craze is an Initial Coin Offering, an "ICO," which is a new form of crowdfunding using cryptocurrency.
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Local Business
Costco Finally Embraces Ecommerce
March 15, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
While Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Albertson's compete for online supremacy in groceries and household goods, Costco has until recently remained aloof, firmly committed to serving customers at its physical stores. The company, which operates on a membership basis, has 49.9 million member households.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Walmart’s Ecommerce Sales Up 23 Percent in Fourth Quarter 2017
March 1, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Last month the Department of Commerce announced its estimate of U.S. retail ecommerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2017. The Department issues two sets of figures. One is seasonally ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Alibaba Eyes Kroger; Walmart Partners with Rakuten
February 14, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address grocery wars, international expansion by Amazon and Walmart, and Pepsi’s embrace of ecommerce. In an effort to diversify and expand, Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant, is following in Amazon’s footsteps with its “New Retail” initiative — acquiring brick-and-mortar stores in China and looking to make similar acquisitions overseas.
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Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Nordic Region: Affluent Market, Appetite for Foreign Goods
January 28, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Scandinavia is an affluent market with an appetite for foreign goods. The Nordic region — Scandinavia — encompasses Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Individually, each country may not seem to be an attractive cross-border opportunity for merchants. Combined, the population is just 26 million. However, Nordic ecommerce is primarily driven by foreign merchants that give consumers access to goods that they are otherwise unable to find in local physical stores.
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Local Business
2017 Ecommerce Round-up: 16 Percent Growth; ’Retail Apocalypse’?
January 11, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
2017 was supposedly the year ecommerce pummeled the brick-and-mortar retail sector, creating what analysts called a “retail apocalypse.” Yet, according to research firm Statista, ecommerce contributed only 9.1 percent to total retail sales in the United States and 10.1 percent globally. In other words, there is room for much ecommerce growth. However physical stores will fight back by luring customers with new approaches.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart, Whole Foods, Target, Shipt
December 21, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address the continuing omnichannel wars between Walmart and Amazon as well as some ...
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Finance
11 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking Business Financing
December 14, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Obtaining funding for your business, whether it’s new or established, can be grueling and frustrating. Success is not a certainty. But you can increase your chances of securing funds if ...
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Finance
Sales Report: 2017 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 30, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Robust growth marked holiday ecommerce revenue on 2017 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, bringing some much-needed cheer to nervous merchants. With sellers starting discounts earlier and extending them ...
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Cross-border Selling
Sales on China’s 2017 Singles’ Day Dwarf U.S. Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 19, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Alibaba again claimed the highest grossing ecommerce sales day ever on Singles’ Day, eclipsing last year’s record-breaking 24-hour period by 39 percent. The Chinese ecommerce behemoth reported that its 2017
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Cross-border Selling
Aramex Expands Ecommerce Logistics beyond Middle East
November 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Aramex is a United Arab Emirates-based shipping and logistics firm launched in 1982. It has found success in serving geographic markets that other providers ignore. While Aramex’s reach has been ...
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Finance
How Does Fintech Affect Ecommerce?
October 19, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Fintech is the practice of applying technology to the financial services sector. Traditional financial institutions utilize it mainly to manage accounting and other back-office services. More recently, thanks to advances ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Amazon and Kohl’s, Food Wars, Toys’R’Us
October 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series on news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address: Amazon’s new partnership with Kohl’s; activity in the U.S. online food delivery ...
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Local Business
Can Experiential Retailing Help Brick-and-mortar Stores?
September 25, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
The theory behind experiential retailing is that people are bored with buying tangible goods; what they really crave is experiences. When shoppers really need things, they can buy them online ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart Steps Up Acquisitions
September 14, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
One economic sector’s implosion is another sector’s lucky break. Physical store closures are disproportionately occurring in the apparel category, pushing more consumers to online clothing shopping. Seizing the opportunity for ...