Marcia Kaplan

Articles by: Marcia Kaplan

Marcia Kaplan

Marcia Kaplan is a longtime contributor to Practical Ecommerce, addressing capital markets, global online trends, and more since 2011.

She is also a seasoned business writer and technology market research analyst, having written for trade magazines and newspapers, including CRN, Silicon Valley Business Journal, and Ziff Davis. Her consulting clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as startups

Marcia holds an M.B.A. from San Jose State University in California and a B.A. in sociology from Binghamton University in New York.

Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in the Middle East: Small but Promising Market

August 24, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

The Middle East, long a laggard when it comes to online shopping, caught the attention of the industry earlier this year when Amazon purchased Souq, a local online marketplace. New ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Amazon’s Earnings; Walmart’s In-store Pickup

August 10, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series on news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll decipher Amazon’s Q2 2017 financial results and its recently-announced returns policy for certain marketplace ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Prime Day 2017 Smashes Sales Record

July 18, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon held its third annual Prime Day on July 11. The event actually began the evening of July 10 and offered 30 hours of deals instead of the 24 offered ...
Cross-border Selling
The Explosive Growth of Cross-border Ecommerce

July 12, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

While domestic online sales in the United States and the European Union will continue to increase — taking sales away from brick-and-mortar stores — growth rates will flatten out over ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
For Amazon, Is Whole Foods a Grocery Chain or a Distribution Network?

June 20, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

The announcement that Amazon is buying Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion, or $42 a share, generated an enormous amount of commentary, with financial and technology analysts chiming in on ...
Local Business
Will Shopping Malls Survive?

June 13, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

From the 1950s when they were initially built, through the early 2000s, shopping malls were the backbone of retail shopping — attracting consumers with convenient parking and a wide selection ...
Business
Teen Shopping Habits and Trends

May 11, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

While marketers are preoccupied with satisfying the needs of millennials, another demographic group with enormous spending power is nipping at their heels: teenagers. There are about 26 million teens in the United ...
Finance
Has Crowdfunding from Ordinary Investors Been Successful?

May 1, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

May 2017 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of Regulation CF crowdfunding for non-accredited investors. Some observers believe it is a disaster while ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Takes On the Digital Advertising Industry

April 13, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon, the ecommerce giant, is showing greater interest in the digital advertising arena, expanding its offerings and attracting a new type of client: big brands that advertise on television and ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
FedEx to Challenge Amazon for Ecommerce Fulfillment

March 15, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

1994. Ecommerce is in its infancy. A new company in Bellevue, Washington begins selling books online. Business analysts wonder if people will buy products online. Most people are skeptical. 2017. That ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Dissecting Amazon’s 2016 Financial Performance

February 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

For years when Amazon failed to show a profit, financial analysts were unperturbed. Now that Amazon is profitable, it is taking a hit for not being profitable enough and missing ...
Finance
2016 Holiday Ecommerce Wrap-up

January 12, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Despite concerns that political turmoil would dampen holiday spending, ecommerce sales made a strong showing in 2016. Even with a sluggish November start, revenues increased by 11 percent over 2015,
Finance
Ecommerce Companies Sought-after Acquisition Targets

December 22, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

2016 was a tough year for initial public offerings of venture-capital-backed ecommerce companies. However, it was a year of notable acquisitions of ecommerce companies by large retail chains and consumer ...
Finance
Sales Report: 2016 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday

December 1, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Amidst concerns that election results would dampen November holiday spending, consumers expressed confidence in the economy by spending a total of $12.8 billion online in the U.S. during the five-day ...
Cross-border Selling
China’s 2016 Singles Day Establishes New Sales Record

November 16, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Ignoring concerns about their country’s slowing economy, Chinese shoppers spent a record amount of money in the 24-hour period on Nov. 11 known as Singles Day. Written numerically, 11.11 represents “bare ...
Business
Shift in Holiday Shopping Benefits Ecommerce

November 9, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Analysts are predicting that 2016 holiday ecommerce shopping will break records as national economic indicators improve and consumer purchasing continues its shift from physical stores to the Internet. Following are ...
B2B
Amazon’s B2B Site Evolving, Growing Rapidly

October 12, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

When AmazonSupply became Amazon Business in April 2015, much more than a rebranding occurred. With AmazonSupply, the company was the only seller. But Amazon Business copied the very successful marketplace ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Juggernaut Rolls; Third-party Sellers Benefit

September 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon’s 2016 second-quarter financial statements for the period ending June 30 showed robust growth, extending its profitability to a fifth straight quarter after years of spotty results. Revenue was $30.4 billion compared ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
In Acquiring Jet, Walmart Seeks Younger, Higher-income Consumers

August 16, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Last week Walmart purchased online merchant Jet for $3 billion in cash plus up to $300 million in Walmart shares to Jet founders. While this is a lot of money,
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Israel: Cross Border Shopping Dominates

August 10, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

With a population of 8.2 million, Israel may not seem like a particularly lucrative ecommerce market. However because of unique domestic circumstances, Israel is an excellent candidate for cross border ...
Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Investments Open for Everyone

July 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

It took four years after President Obama signed the JOBS Act, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finally allows businesses to solicit people who are not considered wealthy to ...
Finance
Will LinkedIn Change after Microsoft Purchase?

June 15, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

On Monday Microsoft announced that it is acquiring LinkedIn — the social media site for business professionals — for $26.2 billion in a cash deal, its biggest acquisition ever. The ...
Customer Retention
Focus on Existing Customers for Better Profitability

June 9, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Should ecommerce merchants direct their resources to finding new customers or marketing to existing ones? The answer, according to most experts, is that companies achieve better return on investment by nurturing their ...
Platforms & Apps
7 SaaS Subscription-billing Solutions, for 2016

May 11, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

My 2012 article, “9 SaaS Subscription-Billing Solutions,” garnered many comments and requests for an update. So with this post, I am providing a new list of providers. This is not ...
Finance
6 Alternative Funding Resources for Ecommerce Businesses

April 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Small businesses often struggle to find affordable funds to keep their businesses running. Online lending solutions offer an alternative to conventional bank loans with the advantages of a much shorter ...
B2B
How to Attract B2B Buyers to Ecommerce

February 11, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Today’s B2B buyers have fewer constraints than those of 10 years ago. To decrease costs, even enterprise companies are streamlining their purchasing processes, including increased online purchasing without the traditional ...
Customer Retention
6 Benefits of Using Predictive Marketing Tools, for Ecommerce

January 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Big data can be a big headache. Collecting consumer data is only useful if the information can be leveraged for revenue and profit. Predictive-marketing analytics tools help companies manipulate data ...
Cross-border Selling
November Holiday Ecommerce Sales Go International

December 10, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

The final tally for the November holidays is in. Adobe Digital reported that Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday online spending at American ecommerce sites reached $11 billion, a 15 percent ...
Finance
Sales Report: 2015 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday

December 2, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Who won the November 2015 holiday sales battle? Online merchants. Shoppers opted to buy online rather than fight the crowds in brick-and-mortar stores. Brick-and-mortar sales on Thanksgiving Day dropped to $1.8
Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Rules Are Finally Set

November 10, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Three years after legislation passed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has finally approved final regulations that will implement equity crowdfunding. In the intervening period, many variations of crowdfunding have ...