March 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

There are many countries with fast-growing economies and fast-growing Internet audiences that are not native English speakers. Ecommerce merchants can reach those countries and consumers through translation and localization. We talked about it recently with Christian Arno, the founder o...

March 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

Merchants know that the code and script languages that power ecommerce sites are difficult to learn and are best left to developers. But the do-it-yourself ethos is at the heart of ecommerce. For that occasional small code adjustment — where hiring a developer is too expensive — code-ge...

March 8, 2011 • PEC Staff

Group-coupon offers from companies like Groupon and LivingSocial are becoming very popular. But, is it a marketing approach that is right for every small business, especially those that lack a brick-and-mortar presence? A number of pure-play ecommerce companies are beginning to tap in...

March 7, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Luis Hernandez, Jr., CEO and owner of The ...

March 4, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about tracking website trends, cost comparisons, competitors products and inventory. The question comes from Bonnie Leigh, owner of Avant...

March 3, 2011 • PEC Staff

Group shopping can increase revenue and introduce your brand to potential customers. But all group-buying sites are not equal. Merchants must select the right group-buying platform that best benefits their businesses — especially small business owners unable to mark products down enoug...

March 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about tracking website trends, cost comparisons, competitors ...

March 1, 2011 • PEC Staff

Google provides products and services that impact ecommerce businesses and, oftentimes, help those businesses run better, faster and more profitably. Google's employees blog about many of these products and services, offering free tips and tricks to get the most out of running a busines...

February 25, 2011 • PEC Staff

Coming up with compelling content that readers will come back for is only half the battle of a great blog. The other half is all in the presentation and style. For a unique design, avoid the pre-made themes for your blog platform and instead customize your own theme. There are tools th...

February 23, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we corresponded with Christian ...

February 17, 2011 • PEC Staff

Merchants know that the effort it takes to fulfill and ship out orders can be very time consuming. Oftentimes, because of this, cost is the last thing to be taken into consideration. For many merchants, third-party order management software helps expedite the shipping process. Others r...

February 15, 2011 • PEC Staff

There is a steady stream of products and tools coming out of Google Labs. Many of these are free — and underutilized — by the community that would most benefit: ecommerce businesses. Need up-to-the-minute financial data? There’s a Google tool for that. Need to translate a product descr...

February 11, 2011 • PEC Staff

Editor's Note: Chad Weinman is owner of Cat5 Commerce, a seasoned ecommerce firm in St. Louis, Mo. that operates HikingBoots.com, TacticalGear.com, and MilitaryBoots.com. He wrote us recently, stating, "I was writing a memo to my vendor relations manager that illustrated some techniqu...

February 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

”Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about converting online shoppers into paying customers. The question comes from Patricia Brown, owner of LordsArt, an Ozone Park, N.Y.-ba...

February 10, 2011 • PEC Staff

Although CSS code is more complicated than HTML, it ultimately gives merchants much more flexibility in formatting and style for websites. Just a rudimentary understanding of cascading style sheets can open up new possibilities for the way text and images function on your site. Embed ph...

February 9, 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 ...

February 8, 2011 • PEC Staff

You don’t have to be a web developer to build your own mobile app for your site. If your budget does not allow for a full custom app or you just want to try a mobile app on for size and test the app marketplace, these app building tools will help you get up and running. Non-developers,...

February 7, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about collecting lost customer data from abandoned ...

February 4, 2011 • PEC Staff

Most merchants prefer the idea of the credit card industry policing itself, versus lawmakers getting involved. PCI Security Standards Council is the industry's attempt to do just that. But how ecommerce merchants become compliant and meet PCI standards is confusing to many, and the pena...

February 3, 2011 • PEC Staff

Editor’s Note: “Day in the Life” is a series where we ask leaders in ecommerce about a single day in their professional lives. For this inaugural installment, we corresponded with Brian Horakh, founder and CEO of Zoovy, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based ecommerce platform provider. Brian Horakh...

February 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

Ecommerce merchants know that sometimes just selling on your own shop’s website isn’t enough to keep the company growing. Selling your wares in a brick-and-mortar boutique or setting up a booth at designer shows, expos and other events can be a good way to increase profits and brand awa...

February 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. In this installment, we spoke to ...

February 1, 2011 • PEC Staff

Ecommerce business owners can use mobile apps to help run a website. Whether you are interested in blogging, social networking, marketing, customer support or even design and development, there is a mobile app tool for just about anything an ecommerce website may need. I looked at the ...

January 27, 2011 • PEC Staff

The holiday selling season is important for many online merchants. This includes David Sasson. He is the founder and CEO of OverstockArt.com, a retailer of reproduced oil paintings. The company saw a 25 percent increase in 2010 holiday sales, versus 2009. We spoke with Sasson to see wha...

January 26, 2011 • PEC Staff

Once you have your blog set up, start the process by brainstorming compelling topics that are related to your industry, business, products or services. First, identify your audience. Look at the demographics of your store — what are the personal details of your customer base?

January 26, 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 ...

January 25, 2011 • PEC Staff

Running an ecommerce store can mean wearing many hats. Occasionally, that means dropping in some HTML code into your site. Just a rudimentary understanding of HTML can open new worlds for your website.

January 20, 2011 • PEC Staff

Many ecommerce merchants are attracted to selling products to consumers in other countries. But the complexities of international sales can include tariffs, customs and export laws. For United States-based merchants, the U.S. Department of Commerce can help. It has just published a free...

January 20, 2011 • PEC Staff

January 19, 2011 • PEC Staff

Shipping, tracking, and calculating time and cost of shipments are at the heart of ecommerce businesses. Merchants are usually tied to a desktop to make all these choices for shipping ...