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.

Shipping & Fulfillment
Consumers Want Fast Deliveries — and a Green Environment

April 20, 2021 • Elaine Porteous

Customers want fast deliveries. But they also care about the impact of shipping on the environment. Sadly, the “last mile” is notoriously eco-unfriendly.
Payments
8 Reasons to Avoid Cryptocurrencies for Ecommerce

April 18, 2021 • Mike Eckler

Cryptocurrencies are hot news. Merchants may be wondering if cryptocurrencies are ready for mainstream ecommerce. The answer is no. Here’s why.
Business
Home Gym Provider Overcomes Supply Disruptions, Thrives

April 16, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Imagine selling home gym equipment online at the onset of the pandemic. Athletic clubs were closed. Consumers were stuck in their houses. According to Kaevon Khoozani, the founder of Canada-based Bells of Steel, the demand for weight-training equipment was “obscene.” “We ran into two giant hiccups,” Khoozani told me.
Business
How Businesses Go Carbon Neutral

April 15, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan

Climate change is front and center in the news. How businesses can make a positive impact is not well understood. I'll provide an overview in the post. First, a few definitions.
Local Business
What if 80,000 Brick-and-mortar Stores Closed?

April 11, 2021 • Armando Roggio

A financial services firm has predicted that 80,000 or more physical store locations in the United States are likely to close in the next five years, reducing the total number of American retail outlets by approximately 10 percent. But what does that mean?
Business
Online Onion Seller Rises from Domain Auction

April 9, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Most entrepreneurs start with a business idea and then secure the domain name. Peter Askew does the opposite. He purchases domain names and then builds the business. Take VidaliaOnions.com, for example.
Shipping & Fulfillment
3PL Founder: ‘I’m in the Exceptions Management Business’

April 2, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Jay Sauceda launched his ecommerce fulfillment company, Sauceda Industries, in 2013 in Austin, Texas. He says packing and shipping products is easy. What's difficult, he stated, is managing unforeseen events. "The shipping business is, essentially, the exceptions management business," he told me.
Business
March 2021 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

March 31, 2021 • PEC Staff

Since 2005, we've published thousands of articles, podcasts, and webinars to help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles that we published in March 2021. Articles from early in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Business
Lessons from Vine Elevate Feat Clothing

March 26, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Having co-founded Feat Socks in 2015, Taylor Offer hired Aly Raisman, the gymnast, to design and promote a custom sock. It generated $500,000 in revenue. Influencer marketing was clearly effective, and Offer wanted more. "I started looking at the kids that got famous from Vine, the short-video app."
Amazon & Marketplaces
Walmart Expands Marketplace, Challenging Amazon

March 25, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan

Walmart’s U.S. ecommerce sales in the last quarter of 2020 increased by 69 percent year-over-year while its total sales grew only 7.3 percent. The message is clear: future growth will depend on ecommerce.
Local Business
Bike Retailer Solves a Pandemic-driven Problem

March 23, 2021 • Armando Roggio

Lots of consumers wanted to get outside when the pandemic hit last year. Among the beneficiaries was Erik's Bike Shop, a Minnesota-based retailer, which experienced a massive increase in web traffic and customer service requests — phone calls, emails, and chats. The staff was overwhelmed.
Business
16 Podcasts for Entrepreneurs and Innovators

March 22, 2021 • Sig Ueland

Podcasts can provide entrepreneurs with expert advice and practical strategies to launch, manage, and grow a brand. Here is a list of podcasts for entrepreneurs and innovators. There are shows that provide skills, such as growing an audience and managing a team.
Business
Do Consumers Care about Green Commerce?

March 21, 2021 • Charles Nicholls

Covid-19 has shone a light on the next big crisis: the environment. Younger consumers are especially sensitive about global warming and the world they are inheriting. Does it affect the way they shop? What can merchants do to make their operations greener?
Business
Drop Party Thrives with Turnkey Product Design, Testing

March 19, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Marco Marandiz is a musician turned software engineer turned product designer. He's worked for Capital One, HomeAway, and a failed startup. But it was consulting for ecommerce companies with unsold inventory that sparked his idea for Drop Party.
Business > Merchant Voice
The benefits of a thriving consumer forum

March 16, 2021 • Richard Stubbings

An ecommerce website can have content other than products for sale. Consider a forum, for example. What makes a good forum? In my experience, it is where participants can ask questions and receive relevant answers within a few hours, no longer.
Business
Retailers, Brands, Manufacturers Are Converging in 2021

March 15, 2021 • Armando Roggio

The distinction between direct-to-consumer ecommerce and traditional retailing has been vanishing for years. But in a post-pandemic 2021, the convergence could be accelerating.
Business
Show-stopper Wedding Rings Drive Manly Bands

March 12, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Shopping in-store for wedding rings does not appeal to all men. That was an insight of Johnathan Ruggiero and his wife Michelle when they founded Manly Bands, a direct-to-consumer online wedding-ring company, in 2016. The second insight was the rings had to be unique — really unique — to compete against established jewelers.
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in the Middle East: Covid Uptick

March 11, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan

Many countries in the Middle East have immature digital infrastructures and inefficient logistics. But a few have relatively young and affluent populations that are eager to utilize ecommerce despite the problems. This article will focus on three of the richer countries.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Sustainable Packaging Drives Customer Loyalty

March 7, 2021 • Pamela Hazelton

How merchants pack online orders makes a difference. One needn't look any further than Apple's product packaging to understand the cherished tradition of unboxing. But packing materials are as important as the overall appearance. More than half of U.S. consumers are concerned about the environmental impact.
Business
Hollywood Actor, Director Finds Success on Amazon

March 5, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Judson Morgan is a Los Angeles-based actor and director. He owns an agency that creates films and other visual content. He's also a successful ecommerce entrepreneur — with a purpose.
Payments
Pros, Cons of Credit Card Surcharges

March 3, 2021 • Mike Eckler

Credit card processing is expensive. "Surcharging" allows merchants to recoup some of the cost by passing a fee to customers at the point of sale. In this post, I’ll explain surcharging. I’ll address the rules and the pros and cons for merchants wishing to apply surcharges as a way of recovering processing fees.
Business
February 2021 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

March 1, 2021 • PEC Staff

Since 2005 we’ve published thousands of articles, webinars, and podcast episodes to assist ecommerce merchants. What follows are the most popular articles that we published in February 2021. Articles from early in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Business
Tomlinson’s Feed: Fresh and Relevant after 75 Years

February 26, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Kate Knecht is the fourth-generation owner-operator of Tomlinson's Feed, a family-owned retail business with 16 brick-and-mortar locations in Central Texas. The company is 75 years old. Amid the pandemic and the onslaught of online behemoths, can such a business transition to 2021 consumers? I asked Knecht that question and more.
Business
Major Brands Bet on DTC Ecommerce

February 25, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan

Selling directly to consumers online is no longer just for start-ups. As brick-and-mortar sales decline because of Covid-19 and store closures, established brands are focusing on digital sales. Even before the pandemic, the traditional model of manufacturers selling to wholesalers who then sold to retailers was faltering.
B2B
B2B’s Digital Shift Is Permanent and Incomplete

February 21, 2021 • Armando Roggio

The pandemic has forced many B2B companies to add ecommerce capabilities quickly to keep orders flowing. The transformation is almost certainly permanent, changing how the companies operate. It's also incomplete.
Business
DTC Seller of Apple Watch Bands Soars from College Project

February 19, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

Braxton Manley was a sophomore at Texas Tech University in 2017 when he attended a workshop on entrepreneurship. The purpose was to conceive a product based on market research. "My idea was cool Apple Watch bands," Manely told me. Fast forward to 2021 and his company, Braxley Bands, is a direct-to-consumer seller of elastic, colorful bands.
Business > Merchant Voice
The best way to select a software vendor

February 15, 2021 • Richard Stubbings

As a company grows, so does its reliance on software. The right software drives efficiency and profits. It can lower employment costs. But software cannot become an obstacle. It cannot prevent a business from growing or evolving. When it does restrict growth, change your software.
Finance
Raising Funds Becomes Easier with New SEC Rules

February 11, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has modified rules that affect how companies can raise capital via direct listings and equity crowdfunding. Previously, in a direct listing, a company could sell existing shares (from employees and private investors) on public stock exchanges.
Shipping & Fulfillment
When to Consider Ecommerce Shipping Insurance

February 10, 2021 • Armando Roggio

High-end products, high volume, and quality customer service are among the reasons for considering shipping insurance for ecommerce. Shipping insurance can protect businesses from costs associated with damaged, stolen, and lost packages.
Fraud Prevention
9 Cloud Storage Services with Encryption

February 9, 2021 • Sig Ueland

As businesses move their sensitive data to the cloud, security becomes an increasing concern. However, many cloud storage platforms now offer sophisticated encryption features for minimal cost. Here is a list of secure cloud storage platforms.