Finance
All merchants deal with finance — borrowing money, raising equity, dealing with banks, and selling (or buying) a business. We address all those topics, plus U.S. regulatory changes, financial technology, earnings of public ecommerce companies, and more.
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Finance
11 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking Business Financing
December 14, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Obtaining funding for your business, whether it’s new or established, can be grueling and frustrating. Success is not a certainty. But you can increase your chances of securing funds if ...
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Finance
17 Cryptocurrency Plugins for WordPress
December 11, 2017 • Sig Ueland
Cryptocurrencies have garnered much attention recently off of Bitcoin's meteoric rise in value — currently around $15,000. The Chicago Board Options Exchange has even launched futures contracts on Bitcoin for investors to bet on the currency’s rise and fall. While Bitcoin's volatility won’t necessarily attract users, cryptocurrencies offer low-cost peer-to-peer aspects that should be appealing to both merchants and consumers.
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Finance
Sales Report: 2017 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 30, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Robust growth marked holiday ecommerce revenue on 2017 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, bringing some much-needed cheer to nervous merchants. With sellers starting discounts earlier and extending them ...
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Finance
How Does Fintech Affect Ecommerce?
October 19, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Fintech is the practice of applying technology to the financial services sector. Traditional financial institutions utilize it mainly to manage accounting and other back-office services. More recently, thanks to advances ...
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Finance
Has Crowdfunding from Ordinary Investors Been Successful?
May 1, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
May 2017 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of Regulation CF crowdfunding for non-accredited investors. Some observers believe it is a disaster while ...
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Finance
2016 Holiday Ecommerce Wrap-up
January 12, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Despite concerns that political turmoil would dampen holiday spending, ecommerce sales made a strong showing in 2016. Even with a sluggish November start, revenues increased by 11 percent over 2015,
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Finance
Ecommerce Companies Sought-after Acquisition Targets
December 22, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
2016 was a tough year for initial public offerings of venture-capital-backed ecommerce companies. However, it was a year of notable acquisitions of ecommerce companies by large retail chains and consumer ...
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Finance
Sales Report: 2016 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 1, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
Amidst concerns that election results would dampen November holiday spending, consumers expressed confidence in the economy by spending a total of $12.8 billion online in the U.S. during the five-day ...
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Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Investments Open for Everyone
July 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
It took four years after President Obama signed the JOBS Act, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finally allows businesses to solicit people who are not considered wealthy to ...
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Finance
Will LinkedIn Change after Microsoft Purchase?
June 15, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
On Monday Microsoft announced that it is acquiring LinkedIn — the social media site for business professionals — for $26.2 billion in a cash deal, its biggest acquisition ever. The ...
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Finance
6 Alternative Funding Resources for Ecommerce Businesses
April 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
Small businesses often struggle to find affordable funds to keep their businesses running. Online lending solutions offer an alternative to conventional bank loans with the advantages of a much shorter ...
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Finance
Sales Report: 2015 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 2, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Who won the November 2015 holiday sales battle? Online merchants. Shoppers opted to buy online rather than fight the crowds in brick-and-mortar stores. Brick-and-mortar sales on Thanksgiving Day dropped to $1.8
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Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Rules Are Finally Set
November 10, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Three years after legislation passed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has finally approved final regulations that will implement equity crowdfunding. In the intervening period, many variations of crowdfunding have ...
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Finance
Ecommerce Attracts Investors, Becomes More International
August 6, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce continues to be a favored investment for venture capitalists — with a strong showing in the second quarter of 2015. While in the past American ecommerce firms were the ...
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Finance
Shopify IPO to Value Company at $1 Billion
May 4, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Canadian-based ecommerce platform provider Shopify filed for an IPO in the United States and Canada last month hoping to raise $100 million. The valuation is expected to come in at ...
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Finance
13 New Equity Crowdfunding Success Stories, for Ecommerce
April 16, 2015 • Sig Ueland
It’s been three years since the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was signed into law. Currently, Title II is in effect, allowing small businesses to solicit investments from accredited ...
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Finance
Can Etsy Keep Artistic Roots with IPO?
March 11, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan
Etsy, the online marketplace that offers artists, crafters, and vintage collectors a venue to sell their goods, filed for an initial public offering earlier this month. The company plans to ...
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Finance
Black Friday and Cyber Monday Losing Mojo?
December 3, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Although Cyber Monday and Black Friday online sales both broke records, analysts are seeing signs that the two big shopping days are losing some punch. Forrester Research ecommerce analyst Sucharita ...
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Finance
10 Ways to Finance Your Ecommerce Business
October 9, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
It has always been a challenge for small businesses to get financing. Circumstances worsened when banks tightened their lending criteria five years ago. Most banks lend only to businesses with ...
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Finance
Alibaba’s IPO to Impact U.S. Ecommerce?
September 22, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
The much-anticipated Alibaba IPO closed last Friday with shares initially priced at $68. Once trading got under way, the price of a share rose to $93. Demand was so strong ...
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Finance
Berkery Noyes Exec on State of Ecommerce Mergers, Acquisitions
August 8, 2014 • PEC Staff
Every day, it seems, we read of an Internet-based company acquiring another one, or raising capital, or expanding into a new segment. Mergers and acquisitions for Internet companies are booming.
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Finance
13 Notable Ecommerce IPOs for 2014
June 16, 2014 • Sig Ueland
Ecommerce companies have been getting recent attention for their initial public offerings (IPOs). Alibaba Group Holding, China’s ecommerce giant, plans to go public in what could be the biggest tech ...
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Finance
Intrastate Crowdfunding: Financing Option for Small Businesses
June 11, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Tired of waiting for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue final regulations for equity crowdfunding, several states have passed legislation enabling crowdfunding within their borders. Several more states ...
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Finance
18 Ecommerce Crowdfunding Success Stories
April 21, 2014 • Sig Ueland
In “9 Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance your Business,” my article last week, I outlined leading crowdfunding sites that offer equity stakes in startups and small businesses. As a result ...
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Finance
9 Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance your Business
April 14, 2014 • Sig Ueland
Thanks to the JOBS Act, startups and small businesses can now publicly raise equity funding via online crowdfunding sites. In September 2013, Title II of the JOBS Act went into ...
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Finance
Ecommerce Companies Raise Funds with New Approach
April 9, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
Will equity crowdfunding ever become a reality? This alternative to the usual financing mechanisms became legal two years ago when Congress passed the Jobs Act in April 2012. However, the ...
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Finance
Amazon 2013 Financial Results Signal Changes in 2014
February 11, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan
After a few dismal quarters, Amazon turned a profit in the pivotal fourth quarter of 2013 and for the full fiscal year, despite losses in the second and third quarters.
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Finance
Ecommerce Strong on Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 10, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
The much anticipated Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping extravaganza showed mixed results with online sales outpacing disappointing brick-and-mortar results. Brick-and-mortar Sales Brick-and-mortar retail sales on Black Friday were disappointing. The tactic ...
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Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Edges Closer to Implementation
November 12, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been widely criticized for dragging its feet in issuing implementing regulations for equity crowdfunding, which was enabled when the Jobs Act was signed ...
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Finance
Amazon’s Loss Leader Strategy Results in No Profits
October 10, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
For the first time in many years Amazon posted a loss in two of the last four quarters. The second quarter loss occurred despite a revenue increase of 22 percent ...
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