PEC Staff
Practical Ecommerce is a leading online magazine for ecommerce businesses. Its mission is to provide independent editorial and commentary to help merchants of all sizes.
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Business
ChannelAdvisor CEO Discusses Shop.org
September 21, 2011 • PEC Staff
Shop.org is a leading trade association for ecommerce merchants. It's the online division of National Retail Federation, which represents 3.6 million retail businesses worldwide. To discuss Shop.org and its role in helping online retailers, we spoke with Scot Wingo. He's the CEO of Chan...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Konstantin Molchanov of CS-Cart
September 15, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with Konstantin Molchanov, promotion speci...
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Business
Site Search Complements Navigation, Says SLI-Systems CEO
September 13, 2011 • PEC Staff
By almost any measure, high-level site search increases sales. The need for sophisticated site search is becoming increasingly important for ecommerce merchants, who serve an increasingly sophisticated consumer base. To discuss trends in site search and new developments in that industr...
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Design & Development
Ask an Expert: ‘Is An SSL Certificate Necessary If I Use a Hosted Payment Solution?’
September 8, 2011 • PEC Staff
Is an SSL certificate necessary if a use a hosted payment solution? When customers purchase a gift basket from my site, they are routed to PayPal’s site to collect the payment information. I don’t see that information, including the customer’s name. Do I need an SSL certificate?
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Business
Lessons Learned: Computer Retailer Suffers Heavy Losses, Rebounds
September 2, 2011 • PEC Staff
"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce owners to share their experiences, good and bad. For this installment, we corresponded with Elchonon Hellinger, founder of Miami, Florida-based Thrifty Computer, a retailer of new and refurbished computers, cell phones and electronic...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steven Nash of Open Study College
September 2, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Email & Text Marketing
Listrak CEO on Email Versus Social Media; Segmentation Strategies
August 18, 2011 • PEC Staff
Email remains among the most popular marketing vehicles for ecommerce merchants. But the email marketing business is changing, with new auto response tools and customer acquisition strategies — and social media alternatives. To address the use of email for ecommerce merchants, we spoke ...
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Business
5 Planning Tips for Physical Retailers to Migrate Online
August 16, 2011 • PEC Staff
As physical, brick-and-mortar retailers contemplate the online marketplace, they should consider their online stores in the same sense as if they were building another physical location. While it probably won’t be nearly as expensive to begin selling online as it is to build another phy...
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Business
PCI Council Exec on Criticisms of Security Standards
August 10, 2011 • PEC Staff
The major credit card brands of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover have adopted standards to protect consumers' credit card data. The standards are self-regulation — not government law — by those companies, which have also created an organization to administer it all. Tha...
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Business
Innovators: 3 Unusual Ecommerce Models
August 4, 2011 • PEC Staff
In the ecommerce business, there are innovators and trendsetters, those companies and individuals who think ahead and produce changes. We've asked an expert ecommerce observer to help us identify some of these companies and individuals. The observer is Harley Finkelstein, chief platform...
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Conversion
How U.S. Merchants Can Target U.K. Consumers
August 2, 2011 • PEC Staff
The United Kingdom offers expansion opportunities for United States-based ecommerce merchants. But to do it correctly requires much thought and planning. There are domain name issues, search-engine-optimization strategies, localization considerations,
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Josh Colter of Elias Interactive
July 27, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steve Castro-Miller of Bold Software
July 20, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Business
Miva Merchant President Discusses eBay, Facebook
July 19, 2011 • PEC Staff
Ecommerce executives manage their own companies. But they are also experienced observers of online retailing in general. It's in the latter capacity that we recently spoke with Rick Wilson. He's president of Miva Merchant, the hosted shopping cart. He's also a 12-year veteran of ecomme...
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Conversion
How Small Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Succeed Online; 4 Keys
July 13, 2011 • PEC Staff
Editor's Note: We welcome Bret Williams as a new contributor. He is founder and president of Novusweb, an ecommerce development firm. He is also a former online merchant. His contributions for us will focus on the issues faced by small, brick-and-mortar retailers when they migrate onli...
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Business
Understanding the New ‘Durbin’ Debit Card Rates; Exec Explains
July 8, 2011 • PEC Staff
The Durbin Amendment to the U.S. Dodd-Frank legislative package affects ecommerce merchants. That's because the Amendment greatly lowers the rate — called interchange — that Visa and MasterCard charge for the processing of debit cards. The final rate, as determined by the U.S. Federal ...
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Business
Sen. Durbin to Introduce Federal Sales Tax Legislation, Says Affiliate Marketing Exec
June 30, 2011 • PEC Staff
Many states in the U.S. are contemplating — or enacting — changes to their sales tax laws to include online affiliates as establishing a physical nexus. New York, California, Illinois, Texas and other states have passed laws that require Amazon and other online merchants that have affi...
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Design & Development
OverstockArt.com Goes Mobile; CEO Explains
June 23, 2011 • PEC Staff
Most every ecommerce merchant is at least contemplating a mobile strategy, whether a specialized mobile app or a mobile optimized site. Mobile development is the topic we discussed recently with David Sasson. He is the president of OverstockArt.com, an online retailer of original paint...
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Design & Development
Staples.com Exec on Lessons from Mobile Website
June 20, 2011 • PEC Staff
Staples, the office supply retailer, recently launched a new mobile-optimized ecommerce site. The company designed the site to drive product sales across multiple channels, as well as to offer shopping tools to its small business customers. It's the second mobile site from Staples; the...
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Conversion
Innovators: 3 Sites that Benefit from Seasonal Events
June 17, 2011 • PEC Staff
In the ecommerce business, there are innovators and trendsetters, those companies and individuals who think ahead and anticipate changes. We’ve asked an expert ecommerce observer to help us identify some ...
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Business
Durbin Amendment to Lower Debit Card Processing Rates
June 16, 2011 • PEC Staff
Debit card processing rates are soon to be dramatically lower for all U.S. merchants. That’s because of the “Durbin Amendment” to the massive Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, enacted last year.
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Conversion
Cisco Exec on Growth of Worldwide Ecommerce, Cultural Differences
June 10, 2011 • PEC Staff
Industrialized countries like the United States and the United Kingdom lead the world in the development of online retailing. But many other countries are gaining ground, with their own cultural ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Tomer Tagrin of Yotpo
June 7, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Conversion
Dijipop Founder on Paid Product Placements, Digital Merchandising
June 3, 2011 • PEC Staff
Brick-and-mortar retailers often promote products with end-caps and special placements within a store aisle, and the retailer is typically paid for those promotions by wholesale suppliers. Ecommerce merchants can now merchandise products in a similar fashion, and receive similar payment...
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Business
Affiliate Marketer on Sales Tax ‘Nexus’ Legislation
May 23, 2011 • PEC Staff
The efforts by state governments to collect online sales taxes is impacting affiliate marketers. Several states are attempting to expand the nexus definition to include Internet affiliates in those states, and thereby force retailers with those affiliates to pay state sales taxes. To ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: HiConversion Founder Zee Aganovic
May 17, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Conversion
Domain Name ‘RunningShoes.com’ Sells for $700,000
May 10, 2011 • PEC Staff
Most ecommerce merchants own several domain names. One merchant recently purchased the domain name RunningShoes.com for a whopping $700,000.
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: ZippyCart Co-Founders Nick Grant and Amy Balliett
May 6, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with Nick Grant and Amy Balliett, co-founders of ZippyCart, an ecommerce solution provider offering shopping cart...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Optify CEO Brian Goffman
May 3, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Conversion
20 Popular Twitter Feeds from Retail Companies
May 2, 2011 • PEC Staff
Twitter is filled with potential for businesses, but a Twitter account is only as good as its content. Sometimes just observing how top businesses take advantage of this communication platform is a good way to learn. Here are 20 popular retail brands’ Twitter feeds. Follow them on Twit...
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