Design & Development Archives

March Survey Results: Ecommerce Merchants Not Prepared for Mobile

April 7, 2010 • Kate Monteith

The use of mobile devices for Internet access is growing rapidly. This got us wondering how our readers are responding to the mobile boom, and how many ecommerce firms are truly prepared to meet the challenges of mobile commerce. Survey results indicate that practically everyone uses mo...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: CompleteCart by Thin Air Media

April 2, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Marc Terrien, owner and president of Thin Air Media Solutions. The company is based in Crested Butte, Colo., and offers web development and design services and software, including its CompleteSite content management system and the online shopping cart module known as CompleteCart. Terrien estimates that the cart currently has around 30 users.

Design & Development

NetSuite’s View of Mobile Commerce

March 30, 2010 • PEC Staff

Mobile commerce will likely affect most every ecommerce merchant in one way or another. NetSuite is a leading ecommerce platform with many ecommerce customers. Malin Huffman is a principal product manager at NetSuite in charge of the company's mobile efforts, and he discusses NetSuite'...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: 1AutomationWiz

March 26, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Don Schnure, president of 1AutomationWiz.com. The company is located in St. Louis, Mo., and it provides online shopping cart software called 1AutomationWiz. According to Schnure, roughly 7,000 merchants currently use the cart. We'll also hear from a 1AutomationWiz customer, Kim Wilson.

Business

What Is a Denial-of-Service Attack?

March 25, 2010 • Kate Monteith

Nothing is more frustrating for ecommerce merchants than website downtime. Untold sales may be lost while customers are unable access the merchant's website. But, occasionally it is not the fault of a hosting company, but of hackers who have perpetrated a distributed denial of service a...

Code

Five Handy HTML Tags To Help Your Ecommerce Business

March 24, 2010 • Armando Roggio

There is an analogy between driving a car and operating an ecommerce business. With a car, you need to know a few basic things, like how to steer, accelerate, and brake. Likewise, the manager or owner of an online retail business really only needs to know how to process orders, manage customer service, and keep up with the accounting.

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: BigCommerce

March 19, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Mitchell Harper, co-founder and product marketing manager for Interspire, the company behind BigCommerce online shopping cart. Interspire's North American headquarters are in Austin, Texas, with engineering teams located in Sydney, Australia and London, England. "BigCommerce is the SaaS [software as a service] version of our licensed ecommerce platform

Schools & Resources

Mobile Commerce: Four Good Examples

March 18, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

Deciding what to do about the explosive growth of mobile traffic can be difficult. That’s why we’re bringing you some of our picks for the best of the mobile web, with mobile-optimized sites that bring a unique and useful experience for users. Some of these sites are from large retailer...

Design & Development

Take the Survey: Is Your Website Mobile Optimized?

March 17, 2010 • PEC Staff

Many experts predict that mobile commerce will eventually exceed traditional website sales. We wonder how many ecommerce sites are already optimized for mobile devices; and we're curious what your view of mobile commerce really is. The goal of this month's Practical eCommerce survey is ...

Design & Development

To Tap Mobile Buyers, First Determine Their Needs

March 16, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

As the mobile user base swells, it is becoming easier to classify mobile users based on their attitudes towards their phones and the features they use most often. Merchants should consider how mobile customers will prefer to access web content. From that, merchants can decide what kind ...

Design & Dev Tools

The PEC Review: LABjs for Better Site Performance

March 15, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Many small- to medium-sized online retailers are entrepreneurial companies. Their owners and employees often have diverse responsibilities, and it is common for a single person to handle multiple tasks, such as customer service, email marketing, order processing and website design. Unf...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: VevoCart

March 12, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from John Panyavorachart, co-founder and CEO of Vevo Systems, developers of VevoCart. The company is located in Bangkok, Thailand, and its shopping cart currently serves around 6,000 users. We'll also hear from a VevoCart customer, Stephen Bowden, director of marketing and operations for Tres Beau, a site that sells wedding accessories.

User Experience

Accessibility Review: Target.com

March 11, 2010 • Joseph C. Dolson

Target.com is well known in the world of web accessibility. It was sued in 2006 by the National Federation of the Blind, Bruce F. Sexton, Jr., and the National Federation of the Blind of California because its website was not accessible to visually impaired shoppers. The lawsuit was ult...

Platforms & Apps

The PEC Review: Chimpified Connects Two Powerful Platforms

March 8, 2010 • Armando Roggio

There are thousands of ecommerce-related products and services that small- to mid-sized merchants can use to improve their businesses. But often the challenge to engaging these products and services is not funding, or even the products' capabilities. Instead, it is the difficulty associ...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: BV Commerce

March 5, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Marcus C. McConnell, founder and president of BV Software, the developers of the hosted BV Commerce shopping cart and a licensed ecommerce package called BV Commerce Toolkit. The company is based in Richmond, Va. and its ecommerce software currently has around 5,000 active users. We'll also hear from a BV Commerce customer

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: CoreCommerce

February 26, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Matt DeLong, president and CEO of CoreCommerce, developers of CoreCommerce shopping cart software. The company is based in Franklin Tenn., and its software has been used to create between 12,000 and 13,000 web stores, according to DeLong.

Design & Development

Mobile Commerce Appeals to Young Adults

February 25, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

While it is true mobile devices are generating more web traffic, merchants should be aware of the demographics of mobile users and the products they are buying. Surveys taken in early 2010 have similar results in the age breakdown of mobile users. One survey by Retrevo, a shopping com...

Design & Development

Five Web Design Concepts Ecommerce Merchants Need to Know

February 23, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Editor's Note: Ecommerce merchants operate businesses using complex technologies. We launched our "Need to Know" series to help merchants obtain a basic understanding of these technologies, recognizing that most merchants are not web developers or programmers. In this installment, contr...

Design & Development

SEO Expert on Mobile Commerce Strategies

February 23, 2010 • PEC Staff

An increasing number of consumers access the Internet via mobile devices. This has looming implications for ecommerce merchants who must decide what platforms their customers will use in the future.

Platforms & Apps

The PeC Review: LemonStand is One Sweet Cart

February 22, 2010 • Armando Roggio

The shopping-cart platform that an online business chooses can have a significant impact on its sales success. Select a cart that is too simple or basic and it may not scale as your company grows or it may not offer the features you need to cross-sell, merchandise, or engage loyal cust...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: ezStore123 by Digital Things

February 19, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Michael M. Gioan, general manager for Digital Things, LLC, the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based producers of ezStore123 shopping cart software. According to Gioan, the cart currently has around 40 users. "Until 2009, it was sold as a custom application. It has now been 'productized' with standard features and corresponding

Design & Development

Simplicity Key for Mobile-optimized Ecommerce Sites

February 18, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

We recently reported how mobile Internet devices outsold computers in 2009. And, while the percentage of ecommerce sales conducted on a mobile device is still small (0.8 percent is a generous estimate), this number is increasing. Many ecommerce vendors are beginning to offer mobile sol...

Design & Development

Mobile Commerce: Experts Offer Strategy for Smaller Merchants

February 16, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

Depending on the source, analysts predict U.S. ecommerce merchants will generate in 2010 between $120 billion and $200 billion sales. Mobile commerce is a small fraction of this total. But as mobile usage becomes mainstream, and as a variety of devices expand the mobile web, online reta...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: PDG Commerce

February 12, 2010 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 500 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: Dextel Ecommerce Manager

February 5, 2010 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 500 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...

User Experience

Mobile Commerce: Better to Create an App or a Mobile-optimized Site?

February 4, 2010 • Brendan Gibbons

As an increasing number of mobile users access the web, merchants may be unsure exactly how to react. Should they build a mobile optimized site, design and submit an app to be approved by the Apple App Store or Android Market, or something else? Mobile users have different web needs th...

Platforms & Apps

Cart of the Week: Whirlwind eCommerce

January 29, 2010 • Kate Monteith

This week, we'll hear from Mark Wexler, a partner in Whirlwind eCommerce, a Bethesda, Maryland software development company, and the makers of the Whirlwind eCommerce shopping cart. According to Wexler, "About four dozen websites use the engine. Of those, about three dozen are ecommerce sites. It has a great content management system, which attracts a lot of publishing, hospitality and other non-ecommerce clients." We'll also hear from a Whirlwind eCommerce customer

User Experience

Four Strategies to Improve Shopper Experience

January 28, 2010 • Armando Roggio

How we shop is going to change. Digital interactivity at brick-and-mortar stores, mobile commerce, and rich Internet applications are going to have a significant effect on shopper experience in the next few years. But most of the changes to the shopper experience will not come overnigh...

Design & Development

Are PCI Standards Helpful? Take the Survey and Tell Us Your Views

January 26, 2010 • PEC Staff

Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards represent the credit card industry’s attempt to self-regulate and protect consumers’ credit card data. The PCI Security Standards Council, which five major issuers (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB) formed in 2006, organizes and ...

Design & Development

The PeC Review: Google’s Translator Toolkit

January 25, 2010 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce makes the world smaller. Or, so it might seem. Shoppers in Budapest can by products from the U.S., while an American teen could be downloading folk music from a site in Nepal. What's more, expanding your customer bases to include potential shoppers from around the world can s...