Business

An ecommerce site is a business. Our Management & Finance category addresses online payments, funding needs, employee issues, merchant profiles, key metrics, multichannel and omnichannel strategies, cross-border analyses, inventory management, accounting topics, sales taxes, and much more.

Inventory
Supply Chain Bottlenecks from the Trenches

June 13, 2022 • Christopher Dobroth

Contributor Christoper Dobroth, a longtime ecommerce manager, purchases inventory for his employer, a seller of lighting and home decor items. He explains his reality of keeping goods in stock in mid-2022.
Business
PostPilot Is Klaviyo for Postcards

June 10, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Apple's iOS 14 privacy changes have upended Facebook advertising performance, forcing merchants to seek alternative marketing channels. Direct mail is back.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Network Effects Drive Ecommerce Marketplace Growth

June 9, 2022 • Armando Roggio

The collective value buyers and sellers provide to a marketplace is known as the network effect. Longtime contributor Armando Roggio discusses.
Staffing
Feeling Stuck or Burned Out? Get a Fresh Start

June 6, 2022 • Armando Roggio

When work performance is down, a fresh start might be just the thing to spark a breakthrough. Take Major League Baseball, for example.
Business
Cocktail Syrup Manufacturer Pivots to DTC

June 3, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Liber & Co., a maker of cocktail syrups, thrived by selling to bars and restaurants. Then Covid hit, decimating revenue. Co-founder Chris Harrison explains what happened next.
Finance
9 Europe-based Ecommerce Unicorns

May 29, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

Post-pandemic investments soar for many European startups. Here are nine notable ecommerce-related companies valued at more than $1 billion.
Business
‘Impossible Sleep’ Makes Sleep Possible

May 27, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Struggling to sleep, the founder of "Impossible" launched a nutritional supplement to help high-performing individuals improve rest and recovery.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Will Amazon Convert Shipping Expense into Profit?

May 26, 2022 • Armando Roggio

Amazon is on the brink of becoming the second-largest parcel delivery service in the U.S. Its shipping cost may become a profit center.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Fed-up Toy Company Responds to Knock-offs

May 20, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Viahart is a manufacturer of educational toys. Having experienced repeated intellectual property theft, its owner, Molson Hart, responded with a new company, Edison Litigation Financing.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Shopify Buys Logistics Company Deliverr

May 16, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

Shopify's acquisition of fulfillment company Deliverr will help it compete with Amazon and will otherwise jumpstart stalled growth.
Staffing
Efficiency Pro: Happy People Are More Productive

May 13, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Thanh Pham is the founder of Asian Efficiency, a productivity training company. He believes building in-person connections and nurturing relationships naturally enhances productivity.
Staffing
Employee Compensation Options, Near and Long-term

May 10, 2022 • Armando Roggio

A good employee compensation plan will provide near and long-term value to workers. The plan could have components that are guaranteed and performance-based.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Rivian Write-down Moves Amazon to Q1 2022 Net Loss

May 10, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon posted a Q1 2022 net loss, its first since 2015. Contributor and financial guru Marcia Kaplan looks at the numbers.
Business
Needing Deodorant, Curie Founder Made Her Own

May 6, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

In 2018 Sarah Moret, an accountant and athlete, couldn't find a suitable aluminum-free deodorant. So she made her own. Fast forward to 2022 and that deodorant business is now Curie, a thriving direct-to-consumer seller.
Finance
Secondary Markets Offer Pre-IPO Liquidity

May 2, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

Many startups are refraining from going public amid market uncertainty, putting early-stage stakeholders wanting to cash out in a bind. Here are alternative ways to achieve liquidity.
Business
For Supply.co, EOS Is A-OK

April 29, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

By late 2021, Patrick Coddou, the founder of Supply.co, was exhausted and burned out, having endured a harsh year for the business and himself. He turned to the Entrepreneurial Operating System.
Finance
Q&A: Alyona Mysko of Ukraine-based Fuel Finance

April 25, 2022 • Kerry Murdock

Fuel Finance is a Ukraine-based "financial department in the cloud." Alyona Myskyo launched the company two and a half years ago to provide easy-to-follow info to help merchants with quick decision-making.
Staffing
‘Embrace Growth’ Is Core to Atlas Staffing

April 22, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Joshua McKee founded Atlas Staffing 11 years ago. The company has grown. He advocates core values and communicates them to employees. "Embrace growth" is his favorite.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Daily Drone Deliveries Surpass 2,000 Globally

April 19, 2022 • Sig Ueland

Drone deliveries have taken off. Here is a list of companies leading the advancement, from drone technology and logistics companies to retail brands.
Business
Direct Mail Replaces Facebook for Barbeque Seller

April 15, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Lea Richards launched Pig of the Month, a direct-to-consumer seller of barbeque, in 2010. The company has thrived, with dozens of meat products and outsourced logistics for other merchants.
Finance
The SEC Reins in SPACs, Cryptocurrencies, More

April 15, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

Massive investments in SPACs, cryptocurrencies, and private companies have caught the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Business
Decision Frameworks Help (Fast-growing) Companies

April 13, 2022 • Armando Roggio

Unilateral decisions by a company founder or manager carry risks. A transparent process involving staff can lead to better outcomes. We explain.
Business
Ecommerce Copywriter on Tactics, Tools, More

April 8, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

High-converting ecommerce copywriting starts with research. That's according to Christopher Silvestri, the founder of Conversion Alchemy, an agency.
Business
Inflation Could Harm DTC and Premium Brands

April 5, 2022 • Armando Roggio

Inflation typically helps brands with lower-priced and essential goods and hurts premium items. Amid a heightened inflation outlook, merchants should scrutinize their product mix and adjust as necessary.
Finance
The SEC Asks Public Companies for Climate Info

April 4, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

A company's climate risk is increasingly a concern of investors. Proposed regulations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would require environmental disclosures of publicly-traded firms.
Business
Sutro Pivots from Drinking Water to Swimming Pools

April 1, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Ravi Kurani is an engineer who launched Sutro, a water sensor manufacturer, in 2012. His initial go-to-market strategy failed. So he pivoted.
Business
How to Use SUMIF, SUMIFS in Google Sheets

March 30, 2022 • Armando Roggio

Analyzing total site traffic by channel for a specific period can seem daunting. But Google Sheets SUMIF and SUMIFS functions make the process straightforward.
Staffing
‘People Development’ Drives AppSumo to $80 Million in Revenue

March 25, 2022 • Eric Bandholz

Ayman Al-Abdullah was CEO of AppSumo from 2015 to 2021. Annual revenue grew from $3 million to $80 million. How, exactly, did he do it?
Business
Are Apparel Brands Achieving Sustainability?

March 22, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan

Apparel companies are among the most environmentally damaging worldwide. But many are making efforts to improve. We cite examples in this piece.
Business
How Merchants Combat Inflation without Raising Prices

March 20, 2022 • Armando Roggio

Inflation could be an opportunity for merchants to improve their businesses. Subscriptions, updated products, new markets, heightened productivity — all are potential alternatives to raising consumer prices.