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Local Business
Physical Store Closures Hit a New High in 2019

December 26, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

2019 was not a good year for brick-and-mortar stores. As of November 1, U.S. retail store closures reached 9,302, a 59 percent increase over 2018 according to Coresight Research. The biggest contributor was Payless ShoeSource, which declared bankruptcy and closed all of its 2,100 stores.
Fraud Prevention > Merchant Voice
Plan for fraud (but try to prevent it)

December 23, 2019 • Richard Stubbings

As much as 7.5 percent of all online transactions are fraudulent in one way or another. They all cut into profits. Merchants should plan for fraud and build it into cost calculations and into the necessary margins to cover. Merchants should also strive to prevent it.
Payments
For 2020, Multiple Payment Options Are Essential

December 23, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton

Offering multiple forms of payment, especially for mobile shoppers, will be key in 2020. The payment methods your store accepts can make or break a sale. There are five main types of payments for ecommerce sites. Merchants should offer all of them.
Platforms & Apps
Are Big Changes Coming to the Ecommerce Stack?

December 22, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Headless content management systems and site generators are driving a new content-centric web. The changes could be coming to ecommerce, at scale, very soon.
Technical SEO
5 Obstacles to SEO Success

December 20, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

I’ve worked in SEO for 14 years. In my experience, the following five deficiencies will likely block efforts to improve organic search performance
Google Ads
How SEM Agencies Help Ecommerce Businesses

December 19, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Search engine marketing is an important sales driver for the ecommerce industry. But as an online business grows or faces new competitive challenges, it may need outside marketing expertise. What follows are several good reasons to consider an SEM agency.
Social Media
What’s the Value of Social Media?

December 18, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz

Ecommerce companies have different approaches to social media. Some view it as a way to generate brand awareness, such as with print and television ads. Others use it as a customer service portal for engagement. Regardless of the approach, a company that spends time or money on social media should measure the results.
Conversion
3 Ways Consumers Use Mobile Commerce

December 17, 2019 • David Shreni

Ecommerce store owners make assumptions about their visitors — the settings, surroundings, and the context in which they are visiting. Roughly 85 percent of mobile-internet use occurs in one of three experiences.
Technical SEO
Are SEO Audits Worth the Money?

December 17, 2019 • Bill Sebald

An SEO audit can cover any number of components — technical, content, competitive, backlinks, mobile, and analytics. Or it can be even more detailed. The risk of a generic SEO audit is that it scratches the surface, with little benefit.
Email & Text Marketing
5 Clever Email Marketing Tactics for Holiday Conversions

December 16, 2019 • Carolyn Nye

I've received many holiday email marketing messages since the busy Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend. In this post, I'll share five that are especially clever.
Social Media
13 New Social Networks for 2020

December 16, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Social networks can help merchants reach prospects, establish professional contacts, and research markets. They can also be a good way to share experiences and meet people.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: December 15, 2019

December 15, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates for mid-December from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on shipping, repeat purchasing, marketing services, cross-border selling, live-stream video, and public relations tools.
SEO
5 SEO Wives’ Tales That Won’t Go Away

December 13, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

There’s a wives’ tale that white wine will remove a red-wine stain. Another claims that eating an apple a day will keep a doctor away. Similarly, many wives’ tales surround search engine optimization. The five below I hear the most from clients and other marketers.
Business
How Do You Define Ecommerce Success?

December 12, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Entrepreneurs can feel inadequate — stressed, overworked, and defeated. But how you feel about your business — good or bad — depends on the rules you use to define success. You may be setting yourself up for failure.
Business
Ecommerce Briefs: Unilever’s Liquidation Site; Amazon’s Shipping Delays; Shopify; Jumia

December 12, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series on news and developments that impact online merchants. In this installment, I’ll report on Unilever’s new B2B liquidation site, Amazon’s holiday shipping delays, Shopify’s holiday shopping statistics, and the troubles of Jumia, the African ecommerce marketplace.
Business
Apply a ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ for Objective Business Decisions

December 11, 2019 • Armando Roggio

A "Blue Ocean Strategy" can help businesses identify market opportunities. But it can be misused — in a good way — to identify brand characteristics, resolve tactical conflicts, and help a business see itself from a customer's perspective. I'll address those misuses in this post.
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Mario Kägo of Wild Fix Media

December 10, 2019 • PEC Staff

“Reading List” is an occasional series where we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite books and blogs and tell us why. For this installment, we corresponded with Mario Kägo. He is CEO of Wild Fix Media, an ecommerce consulting firm
Design & Dev Tools
23 Free Web Design Tools from Fall 2019

December 9, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Free resources from the design community can add value to your ecommerce site. Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from fall 2019. There are designer and developer apps, coding resources, color tools, fonts, and more. All of these tools are free, though some also offer premium versions.
Conversion
‘Tis the Time to Capture Sales from Procrastinators

December 9, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton

Procrastinators prefer to buy several gifts in one shopping session. Sites that sell a variety of items will fare better, though stores that cater to a niche market may also realize great success. Follow these tips to ensure your business appeals to those late holiday shoppers.
Google Ads
Google Ads Now Includes Location Extensions Automatically

December 8, 2019 • Robert Brady

If you have not connected your Google Ads account to a Google My Business location, Google will now link them if it detects a shared domain and country. Once linked, Google will show location extensions in your Google Ads unless you opt out.
SEO
How to Make SEO Happen in 2020

December 6, 2019 • Jill Kocher Brown

Effective search engine optimization takes preparation and planning. Random action produces haphazard results. Here’s how to make your SEO plans come to life in 2020.
Analytics & Data
7 Ways to Analyze Black Friday, Cyber Monday Sales

December 5, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are complete. Marketers should scrutinize the results for insights on future promotions. There are multiple approaches. In this post, I'll review seven ways to analyze the results from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Finance
Sales Report: 2019 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday

December 4, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan

Adverse weather conditions in many regions and the ease of ordering via mobile devices contributed to record-setting U.S. digital sales for the 2019 Thanksgiving weekend. This is my fifth annual “Sales Report” for Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
Conversion
Mid-market Merchants Lag on Holiday Mobile Sales

December 3, 2019 • Charles Nicholls

Several shopping trends are already emerging from this year’s holiday season. The big story is that U.S. ecommerce sales on mobile are up by a whopping 50 percent. The bulk of the increase has gone to the largest merchants. Mid-market merchants have struggled on mobile.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for January 2020

December 3, 2019 • Armando Roggio

In January 2020, use historical events such as Utah's statehood, the introduction of the iPhone, or the first Super Bowl to inspire your company's content marketing. Done well, content marketing can help a business build lasting customer relationships. But it requires a stream of new content ideas.
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Product Releases: December 2, 2019

December 2, 2019 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of product releases and updates for late November from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on shipping, customer support, website builders, artificial intelligence, and shoppable videos.
Business
November 2019 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

December 1, 2019 • PEC Staff

Practical Ecommerce publishes roughly 45 articles each month. What follows are the most popular articles that we published in November. Articles from early in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Product Pages
10 Last-minute Strategies to Capture Holiday Revenue

November 29, 2019 • Pamela Hazelton

Gearing up for the post-Thanksgiving holiday selling season is never easy. It takes time and planning. Here are some last-minute strategies that may help.
Schools & Resources
Ecommerce Design Trends for 2020

November 27, 2019 • Armando Roggio

Dark mode, accessibility, and simple layouts with plenty of white space may be among the most popular ecommerce design trends for 2020. Most of the more than 20 ecommerce professionals contacted for this article believed that 2020 held few significant design-specific trends.
Payments
Ecommerce Strategies for a Whirlwind of ‘Pays’

November 26, 2019 • Mike Eckler

Facebook Pay is the latest entry into the world of digital payments, joining Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, WeChat Pay, Alipay, PayPal, Amazon Pay, Venmo, Masterpass, and Visa Checkout. It’s time to demystify all of these “pays” and to create a strategy that will advance your ecommerce business.