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.

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Daily Deals: A Good Investment for Merchants?

January 16, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan

Daily deal sites generated a lot of news and excitement in 2011 — mostly from the consumer perspective. I thought it would be useful to review some of the key factors in deciding whether participating in daily deals is a good idea for merchants. Some commentators have suggested that "d...
Payments
Layaway: Retro Purchasing Process Reappears Online

January 3, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan

Layaway made a big retail comeback in 2011, with stores such as Sears, Walmart, and Kmart encouraging customers to take advantage of this retro purchase technique. Walmart discontinued layaway in 2006 but brought it back in 2011 for fine jewelry, toys, and electronics. Sears and Kmart o...
Finance
Zynga Falters in Public Debut; Affects Facebook?

December 26, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

The market for technology stocks is closing the year on a less than happy note and the disappointing public debut of online game provider Zynga did nothing to change the mood. Zynga's Opening Day Zynga's IPO was highly anticipated despite the fact that in the days prior to going publ...
Finance
6 Internet Stock Offerings in 2011; Recap

December 19, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Although 2011 is not yet over, it appears it will be a dismal year for the IPO — initial public stock offering — market. As of September, according to statistics compiled by market tracker Dealogic and reported in The Wall Street Journal, 63 percent of all 76 IPOs were trading below the...
Conversion
Behavioral Differences Between Men and Women Influence Shopping

December 9, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Retail is the dominion of women; they shop to purchase both essential and discretionary goods, to relax, and to socialize. So it's not surprising that women account for over 80 percent of consumer spending, or about $5 trillion dollars annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Men,...
Conversion
Analyzing Cyber Monday Sales

December 2, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Black Friday and Cyber Monday were greatly anticipated by merchants and consumers and the results did not disappoint. Online sales on Cyber Monday reached $1.25 billion according to Internet tracking firm comScore, making it the biggest online spending day in history. Revenues increase...
Finance
Crowdfunding: 5 Things You Should Know

November 24, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

New crowdfunding sites are springing up every month and more and more entrepreneurs are looking to these sites for money. Despite all the hoopla, crowdfunding is not currently a good alternative for most start-up or small businesses. Here are five things you should know about crowdfundi...
Influencers & Affiliates
Celebrity Curators Help Personalize Ecommerce

November 18, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

How do you stand out in a crowded market with a sizeable number of players competing mostly on low prices and free shipping? By differentiating yourself. Several ecommerce websites are melding social media with personalization to create a more inviting and collaborative shopping experie...
Finance
Venture Capital Firms Bullish on Ecommerce

November 10, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

In "Ecommerce Companies Snag Venture Capital," I discussed several ecommerce firms that recently received venture capital funding. Most of them were ecommerce infrastructure providers. I was curious to find out if VCs prefer business-to-business infrastructure companies to consumer-ori...
Finance
Banks React to Durbin Amendment

November 4, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

When the Durbin Amendment regulating interchange fees on debit card transactions took effect October 1, it appeared that merchants could accrue some cost savings on debit card transactions and perhaps leverage their savings by encouraging customers to use debit cards in lieu of credit c...
Finance
Ecommerce Companies Snag Venture Capital

October 25, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

While venture capital funding has generally been in the doldrums this year, a few ecommerce software companies — and even some online sellers — have managed to attract equity investors.
Business
14 Online Resources to Help Start a Small Business

October 21, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

If you are a discouraged job hunter or someone who has always wanted to be an entrepreneur, you will be pleased to know that the Internet offers an array of resources to help you find the right path to being your own boss. Following are 14 online resources that offer assistance to bud...
Business
10 Online Legal Form Providers

October 19, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Hiring attorneys for issues such as incorporation, contracts, or business sales can be extremely expensive for small businesses. The Internet provides less expensive alternatives, with templates offered by a number of firms. The most commonly available forms are for incorporation or LLC...
Conversion
Selling Luxury Goods Online

October 14, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

The wisdom of selling expensive, high-end goods online has been debated since ecommerce became a reality. Many brands fear that products will lose their prestige if sold online. Purveyors of French luxury brands such as Chanel have been especially disdainful of ecommerce. In his book, T...
Google Ads
Paid Search: Can Anyone Challenge Google?

October 12, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

We can end the suspense right now. It's not likely that any other company is going to be a real contender in paid search anytime soon. The Search Alliance formed by Microsoft's adCenter and Yahoo! makes Bing the default search engine on Yahoo! pages. Although Microsoft has spent a good ...
Conversion
Understanding the Shift to Online Shopping

October 6, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Defying the general economic gloom, ecommerce sales have registered seven consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue gains since Q4 2009, with some in double digits. The last three quarters (Q4 2010 through Q2 2011) showed gains of 11, 12, and 14 percent respectively, the best perfo...
Finance
Amazon Becomes a Proponent of Uniform Internet Sales Tax

September 29, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Two months ago I wrote "California Joins the Internet Sales Tax Fray; Federal Legislation Coming?," a description of the latest efforts by states to get online sellers to pay sales tax. Several new developments warrant another look. California and Amazon Come to Terms After we publish...
Finance
Consumers Use Tablets for Shopping; 70 Million Units in 2011

September 22, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

When Apple introduced the iPad in April 2010, people ridiculed the name. Nobody is mocking it anymore. While other companies, including Microsoft, tinkered with tablets earlier, none of them made much of an impression on consumers. With its sleek design backed by Apple's marketing magic...
Finance
Amazon Prime: 5 Million Members, 20 Percent Growth

September 16, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

For $79 a year, Amazon customers who join the Prime membership program get unlimited free two-day shipping on eligible items with no minimum order size. For $3.99 an item, a ...
Finance
How to Read a Financial Statement

September 8, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Having a good accountant is important to the success of every small business. But do you really understand all the terms in the documents your accountant prepares? Relying too heavily ...
Finance
How to Choose a Business Credit Card, Part Two

August 26, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

In “Part 1” of this two-part series, I provided some tips for choosing a business credit card. In this “Part 2” installment, I provide details on specific cards as evaluated ...
Finance
How to Choose a Business Credit Card, Part 1

August 25, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Unhappy with your current business credit card? Cheer up. As a business owner you have many choices. But a card that is right for one business may not be advantageous for another. Cash flow, credit rating, and the amount of business travel can influence your choice of cards. This is "...
Finance
Will the S&P Downgrade Affect Smaller Ecommerce Businesses?

August 18, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

The downgrading of U.S. creditworthiness from AAA to AA+ by Standard and Poor's has dominated the news over the past two weeks. Since 1941, the U.S. credit rating has been AAA — the highest rating — denoting a safe investment. While S&P's action will doubtless have repercussions,...
Finance
How to Find Venture Capital Investors For Your Company

August 12, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

If you have a great idea for a start-up — or if you have an existing business that needs money to grow — the main options are to borrow from friends and family, borrow from a bank, or seek equity funding from a venture capital firm. Banks are skittish about lending to small businesses i...
Finance
Does the SEC Fail Small Internet Businesses?

August 5, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

As retailing migrates online, an increasing number of ecommerce and Internet business will seek to raise public capital. Many of them will be smaller companies. But a growing number of observers believe the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is failing smaller businesses and In...
Finance
Need Funding for Your Company? Look Online

July 29, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

It used to be that if you wanted capital for your business, whether a loan or equity investment, you had to prepare lots of Excel spreadsheets, put on a suit and tie or a dress, and spend an uncomfortable amount of time being grilled by potential funders. Today all that is unnecessary t...
Finance
California Joins the Internet Sales Tax Fray; Federal Legislation Coming?

July 21, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

The Internet sales tax issue continues to roil, with California the most recent state to enact a bill mandating that out-of-state online retailers with affiliates in the state collect state sales tax. Amazon and Overstock immediately responded by cutting off their affiliates in Californ...
Finance
Groupon Files for IPO: Rapid Growth, No Profits

July 15, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Founded in Chicago in November 2008, Groupon filed to go public last month after reportedly rejecting a $6 billion takeover offer from Google last December. As with other recent filings by ecommerce firms, a few surprises emerged. Groupon is a pioneering marketing company that has achie...
Finance
Zynga Opens the Kimono; We See Facebook

July 8, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

If you have ever played FarmVille, CityVille or Zynga Poker you're in good company — 148 million other people in 166 countries play Zynga's games monthly. And because people usually play more than one game each month, they account for 232 million monthly visits. All of this is disclosed...
Finance
Our List of Publicly-Traded Ecommerce Companies

June 30, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

The rise of online retailing has fostered many companies in that industry to become publicly owned, selling shares on major stock exchanges. We've been tracking publicly-traded ecommerce companies, and we've prepared a list of them, together with publicly traded, pure-play Internet com...