-
Marketing & Advertising
Study: 5 Star Reviews Not Necessarily Helpful
October 9, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
With the holiday gift-giving season just around the corner, product reviews take on added importance. While common sense would seem to indicate that merchants should strive to achieve nothing less ...
-
Shipping & Fulfillment
Will Robots Take Over Ecommerce Warehouses?
September 10, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Robots have always played a prominent role in movies, television, and children’s toys. They are now navigating a new arena — warehouses — and changing the way businesses handle their ...
-
Finance
Ecommerce Attracts Investors, Becomes More International
August 6, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce continues to be a favored investment for venture capitalists — with a strong showing in the second quarter of 2015. While in the past American ecommerce firms were the ...
-
Cross-border Selling
Canada: Opportunity for U.S., U.K. Ecommerce Merchants?
July 9, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Canada is the top choice of 84 percent of U.S. merchants who sell cross-border, according to the 2014 Multichannel Merchant Outlook report. Obvious advantages are a common language (most of ...
-
Finance
Shopify IPO to Value Company at $1 Billion
May 4, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Canadian-based ecommerce platform provider Shopify filed for an IPO in the United States and Canada last month hoping to raise $100 million. The valuation is expected to come in at ...
-
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Sues Fake Product Review Websites
April 23, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce merchants know the importance of favorable customer reviews. Results of a 2013 survey of 1,046 American consumers by research firm Dimensional Research show that 90 percent of consumers who ...
-
B2B
B2B Ecommerce Growing; Becoming More Like B2C
April 9, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
While B2C ecommerce gets the most media attention, B2B ecommerce is the bigger revenue generator, both globally and in the United States. The entry of ecommerce giants such as Alibaba ...
-
Finance
Can Etsy Keep Artistic Roots with IPO?
March 11, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Etsy, the online marketplace that offers artists, crafters, and vintage collectors a venue to sell their goods, filed for an initial public offering earlier this month. The company plans to ...
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
Cross-border Selling
Mexico Poised for Ecommerce?
December 11, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
With Mexico’s reputation for unrelenting poverty and crime, it’s difficult to think of the country as a good place to do business. Yet, with a population of 122.3 million and ...
-
Finance
Black Friday and Cyber Monday Losing Mojo?
December 3, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Although Cyber Monday and Black Friday online sales both broke records, analysts are seeing signs that the two big shopping days are losing some punch. Forrester Research ecommerce analyst Sucharita ...
-
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Russia: Another Emerging Market?
November 12, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
While ecommerce continues to take a larger share of overall retail sales in the United States and Western Europe, the biggest growth rates are occurring in emerging markets such as ...
-
Finance
10 Ways to Finance Your Ecommerce Business
October 9, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
It has always been a challenge for small businesses to get financing. Circumstances worsened when banks tightened their lending criteria five years ago. Most banks lend only to businesses with ...
-
Finance
Alibaba’s IPO to Impact U.S. Ecommerce?
September 22, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
The much-anticipated Alibaba IPO closed last Friday with shares initially priced at $68. Once trading got under way, the price of a share rose to $93. Demand was so strong ...
-
Amazon & Marketplaces
ShopRunner Joins Forces with Alibaba to Sell in China
August 14, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
When I last wrote about ShopRunner two years ago, the company’s main marketing pitch was its free two-day shipping and free returns with a $79 annual membership or an $8.95
-
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in India Takes Off; Potential for U.S. Sellers
July 10, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
While China has certainly been the star of international ecommerce, India — the second most populous country in the world — is starting to show some genuine energy. Even Alibaba,
-
Business
Will 3D Printing Disrupt Ecommerce?
June 25, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Invented in the mid-eighties, 3D printing was once restricted to the B-to-B market. Now as prices for 3D printers come down, the technology is making its way into the consumer ...
-
Finance
Intrastate Crowdfunding: Financing Option for Small Businesses
June 11, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Tired of waiting for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue final regulations for equity crowdfunding, several states have passed legislation enabling crowdfunding within their borders. Several more states ...
-
Amazon & Marketplaces
Alibaba IPO Likely Largest in U.S.; Analysis
May 15, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
The Alibaba Group, the Chinese ecommerce juggernaut founded in 1999, is likely to become the largest U.S. IPO of all time. The company earlier this month filed papers to begin ...
-
Payments
Should Ecommerce Merchants Accept Bitcoin?
May 7, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Bitcoin, the best known of several virtual payment currencies, has made inroads into mainstream commerce, including brick-and-mortar retailers. Some ecommerce sites are already accepting Bitcoin and if you are considering ...
-
Finance
Ecommerce Companies Raise Funds with New Approach
April 9, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Will equity crowdfunding ever become a reality? This alternative to the usual financing mechanisms became legal two years ago when Congress passed the Jobs Act in April 2012. However, the ...
-
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Raises Fee for Prime Shipping
March 17, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
After floating the idea that it might raise the fee for Prime shipping to $119 from the current $79, Amazon settled on a $20 increase, to $99 per year. In ...
-
Amazon & Marketplaces
Anticipatory Shipping: Amazon’s Approach to Influencing Purchases
March 12, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
One Amazon obsession is faster package delivery. When CEO Jeff Bezos shared his idea of delivery by drone with 60 Minutes, many ridiculed him. Now Amazon has a new idea ...
-
Finance
Amazon 2013 Financial Results Signal Changes in 2014
February 11, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
After a few dismal quarters, Amazon turned a profit in the pivotal fourth quarter of 2013 and for the full fiscal year, despite losses in the second and third quarters.
-
Business
Utilizing ‘Voice of the Customer’ for Competitive Advantage
January 9, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
In the extremely competitive retail environment, merchants are always looking for a competitive advantage. If you haven’t considered using “Voice of the Customer” (VoC) feedback, you may want to give ...
-
Marketing & Advertising
6 Tips for Marketing to Millennials
December 31, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
Millennials are the roughly 65 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 34, a coveted demographic for brands and merchants. They spend a lot of money, even if they ...
-
Marketing & Advertising
Ecommerce Merchants Should Not Ignore Older Shoppers
December 16, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
Conventional wisdom suggests that when seeking customers, ecommerce merchants should pursue teens and people in their twenties. These are the people who own the most electronic devices, are the most ...
-
Finance
Ecommerce Strong on Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 10, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
The much anticipated Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping extravaganza showed mixed results with online sales outpacing disappointing brick-and-mortar results. Brick-and-mortar Sales Brick-and-mortar retail sales on Black Friday were disappointing. The tactic ...
-
Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Edges Closer to Implementation
November 12, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been widely criticized for dragging its feet in issuing implementing regulations for equity crowdfunding, which was enabled when the Jobs Act was signed ...