Page 240 – Practical Ecommerce

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Shipping & Fulfillment
Shipping Rates: Flat Rate Boxes Usually Save Money

August 31, 2009 • John Lindberg

U.S. Postal Service flat rate envelopes and boxes can be a big money saver under the right circumstances. But you have to be careful. That's because there are now seven domestic USPS flat rate size and rate combinations, and potential cost savings depend on a fairly complicated comparis...
User Experience
The Shopping Experience: Newegg

August 28, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Newegg, the second largest ecommerce retailer in the U.S., provided a flawless shopping experience that made it easy to understand why the company has become one of the most trusted and respected electronics retailers, bar none. Newegg set an excellent example of how online retailers c...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: GoEmerchant

August 28, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 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...
Business
Quick Query: Network Solutions Exec Discusses Retooled Shopping Cart

August 27, 2009 • PEC Staff

There was a time, in the 1990s, when the only place to buy a domain name was at Network Solutions. That storied company has since had its ups and downs, but no one disputes the pioneering nature of its products. Recently, Network Solutions redesigned and repositioned its website and its...
Conversion
Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for September 2009

August 27, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the September 2009 installment. Help Customers Interact With Your Site "Invest in features that will help customers inte...
Schools & Resources
The PeC Review: “Online Marketing Inside Out” Is a Helpful Book

August 26, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Boiled down to its essence, ecommerce is really about marketing. In the brick-and-mortar world, a small retailer might have a half-dozen competitors citywide, and location, longevity, and luck can be as important as marketing. For example, there is a small, dirty bike shop I know that ...
Business
Profile: The Trick Shop Is eCommerce Magic

August 26, 2009 • John W. Dawe

In a time when traditional magic shops were going out of business, Sam Blankenship wanted to prove that a new magic shop could thrive. So he launched The Trick Shop in 2004 with a physical, brick and mortar store; he then launched the web component, TrickShopMagic.com, in 2005. Revenu...
Design & Development
Web Design Tips: Three Ecommerce Web Design Trends

August 25, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Like fashion and architecture, web design enjoys an ever changing ebb and flow as trends become popular, become mainstream, and then become passé. To maintain a modern and aesthetically-pleasing look, web designers should examine current trends, estimate their staying power, and impleme...
Keyword Research
Ecommerce Know-How: Understanding Brand-Influenced Search Queries

August 25, 2009 • Armando Roggio

When shoppers navigate to a search engine and begin their queries, they usually have some idea of what they are looking for. In many cases, that initial idea is the result of brand-influence. In very general terms, search engine queries fall on a specificity scale. On one end of this s...
Business
Quick Query: Digital Element Exec on Geographic Targeting

August 24, 2009 • PEC Staff

The ability to target consumers is important for many ecommerce businesses. Many businesses, in fact, could benefit greatly from knowing where a customer lives so that the offer, and even the language, can be tailored to that geographic area. There is a company that provides that level ...
Customer Retention
The PeC Review: Runa Converts Reluctant Website Visitors

August 21, 2009 • Armando Roggio

By some estimates, fewer than 20 percent of online retailers have conversion rates above 5 percent. Most Internet merchants experience sales conversions of only 2-to-3 percent. To compensate for such low conversion rates, many companies make significant advertising investments to boost ...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Beanbasket

August 21, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 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...
Business
Lessons Learned: TheShopFittingsStore.com Supplies U.K. Brick-and-Mortar Stores

August 20, 2009 • John W. Dawe

Lessons Learned is a biweekly series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Jonathon Hall, business development manager for TheShopFittingsStore.com, an Essex, U.K.-based online retailer of retail shop fittings,...
Marketing & Advertising
Bloglist: Full Sail University’s Jake Johnson

August 20, 2009 • PEC Staff

Staying abreast of Internet marketing trends and information is no easy task. But following several leading blogs can help. “I mainly focus on the topic of SEO, so I visit sites ...
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce Know-How: Translate Your Ecommerce Site

August 19, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Language translation is an increasingly important part of ecommerce marketing, as many small- to mid-size businesses seek non-English-speaking customers. But translating a product detail page into Spanish, French, Czech, or Chinese is, frankly, not as simple as hopping over to Google, ...
Design & Dev Tools
Five SEO Mantras for Website Redesign

August 18, 2009 • Jill Kocher Brown

I’m often asked to make search engine optimization recommendations during a site’s redesign process. From the clients' points of view, they’re making a major investment and they need to safeguard their existing SEO success in addition to growing their natural, post-launch search traffic...
Business
Bloglist: Silkfair Founder Albert Wu

August 18, 2009 • PEC Staff

Silkfair founder Albert Wu makes a habit of regular blog reading to stay abreast of technology trends and customer needs. Wu's company, Silkfair, provides an online marketplace, offering sellers a Silkfair Marketplace shop or a stand-alone hosted shopping cart with Silkfair Custom Shop....
Conversion
Conversion Review: Boulder Running Company

August 17, 2009 • Alan Cox

The Boulder Running Company is a Colorado-based specialty retailer with three stores across the Front Range. It has been operating an e-tail store since 2006. Director of ecommerce Jason Halberstadt explains that the company's biggest challenge is getting consumers to move beyond the sh...
Platforms & Apps
Twenty Design Examples of Magento Commerce-based Stores

August 14, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Magento Commerce is perhaps the most popular open-source ecommerce platform available today because of its rich feature set, excellent backend, and extremely flexible theme structure. Magento's theme structure is of particular interest to ecommerce web designers because it allows for a...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Fortune3

August 14, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 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...
Conversion
How-to Articles Can Boost Sales

August 13, 2009 • Jan Riley

Publishing how-to articles on your ecommerce website can be an effective way to boost sales. How-to articles can attract traffic, improve your search position, engage visitors, increase time visitors spend on-site, and help to establish your brand and expertise. Turn Visitors Into Cu...
Conversion
Ten Pay-per-click Questions An Owner Should Ask

August 13, 2009 • Greg Laptevsky

If you own or manage an ecommerce business, you may not directly execute your pay-per-click advertising campaigns yourself. Instead, you may delegate the execution of them to an employee or an outside firm. But owners and managers need to know that broad outlines and the successes and f...
Business
EcoMowers.com Founder Stresses Sense of Community

August 12, 2009 • John W. Dawe

Andy Humphrey started Ecomowers.com in 2006 with the goal of refining the niche “green” market even further. The store sells environmentally friendly lawn mowers and lawn equipment from its headquarters in Traverse City, Mich. Humphrey says the company's total revenue is "under $1 milli...
Analytics & Data
PeC Review: Clicky Web Analytics

August 12, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Web analytics newcomer Clicky offers real-time site data, Twitter activity, and custom data tracking for a nominal monthly fee, making it an attractive choice for some ecommerce businesses. Web analytics have become the definitive means of measuring marketing campaigns and search engin...
User Experience
Accessibility and the Checkout Process

August 11, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson

A crucial element of any ecommerce website is the ability for all customers to complete a purchase on the site, including those with disabilities. If a potential customer cannot navigate your online store's shopping cart or checkout process, it makes little difference what kind of acces...
Social Media
PeC Traffic Report: Generate Buzz and Traffic With Contest Marketing

August 11, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce marketers can use contests to boost traffic and improve sales. If I guaranteed you an additional $10,000 in annual sales just for reading this article and posting a comment, would you do it? What about if I said you had a 1-in-100 chance of getting an additional $10,000 in a...
Business
Google Checkout: Expert Cites Positives and Negatives

August 10, 2009 • PEC Staff

Michael E. Shatz is a long-time credit-card-industry veteran. He is now founder and CEO of The Merchant's Guide, a Mass.-based consulting firm that advises online merchants on credit card and other payment issues. We recently spoke with him about Checkout, Google’s non-bank payment exch...
Customer Retention
Ecommerce Know-How: Marketing to the Hispanic Community

August 10, 2009 • Armando Roggio

The Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing online consumer segments in the U.S. It represents some 11 percent of the total U.S. online market and it is, therefore, an important segment for ecommerce marketers to consider. According to comScore, an Internet trend tracking firm...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: CS-Cart

August 7, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 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...
Conversion
Stamps.com Hits $20.2 Million Revenue in Second Quarter of 2009

August 6, 2009 • PEC Staff

Stamps.com, a leader in online postage sales, recorded $20.2 million in total revenue in the second quarter of 2009. Net income for the quarter was $1.2 million, compared to $1.3 million for the second quarter in 2008. "In the current tough macroeconomic environment, we were happy with...