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.

Business
A Passion for Cosmetics Leads to $1 Million in First-year Sales

September 18, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

The YouTube-to-ecommerce business model may be the best way to build an audience of customers. It worked for my company, Beardbrand, when I posted beard-grooming videos on YouTube. And it worked for Lisa and Paul Jauregui. Lisa’s passion for cosmetics led to her YouTube channel, which educates consumers on the use and selection of those products. And that audience generated customers for BK Beauty, a direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand that the Jauregui’s launched in August 2019.
Business > Merchant Voice
After 20 years of ecommerce, change is the only certainty

September 17, 2020 • Richard Stubbings

Designing, building, and launching a website is just the beginning of an ecommerce business. Attracting and converting visitors is the next, all-important step. A website alone does not guarantee anything. But the most critical factor in long-term success is the ability to change and adapt.
B2B
Getting Your B2B Team on the Digital Train

September 16, 2020 • Lori McDonald

The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of many B2B companies. Implementing ecommerce and other digital tools requires rethinking how your organization operates and how it interacts with customers. It's an opportunity to improve sales and back-office efficiencies.
Payments
4 Payment Methods to Integrate for the Holidays

September 14, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton

Convenience and security increasingly impact online selling. That's especially the case for the upcoming holiday season, as consumers will likely seek flexible, seamless payment options. Here are four payment methods to consider for this year's holiday selling.
Cross-border Selling
Success in Europe Requires ‘People on the Ground,’ Says Danish Entrepreneur

September 11, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

American businesspeople tend to view Europe as a single market with like-minded consumers and cultures. But Rasmus Cort knows better. His company, Sorry Mom, sells tattoo ointments and lotions throughout the continent. I asked him how a U.S.-based company can succeed there.
Business
5 Predictions for the 2020 Holiday Shopping Season

September 10, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Despite strong increases in the past several months, predicting this year's holiday ecommerce sales made me feel a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge. I wanted to be optimistic about the Christmas sales, but three of my five predictions are negative overall. The other two, click-and-collect ecommerce and gig-economy delivery, are generally positive.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Holiday Shipping Surcharges Are Coming

September 10, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

Selling during the upcoming holiday shopping season will not be normal. For the first time in its history, the United States Postal Service is imposing a holiday surcharge on commercial packages. The price increases will begin on October 18 and run through December 27, 2020, and range from $0.24 to $1.50 per package.
Payments
Understanding P2P Payments for Merchants

September 9, 2020 • Mike Eckler

P2P payments occur between two people. The term stands for both "peer-to-peer" and "person-to-person." Instead of using credit cards, consumers are now purchasing goods and services with P2P apps, and merchants increasingly accept P2P payments. In a sense, many merchants have become “peers” to capitalize on the trend.
Business > Merchant Voice
9 exercise tips for desk-bound workers

September 7, 2020 • Peter Keller

It's easier than most people think to get stronger, fitter, and healthier. That's especially true for desk workers, such as digital marketers and ecommerce merchants. Here are nine tips for desk-bound personnel to get stronger and healthier.
Business
Quality Control Drives Ugmonk.com to In-house Fulfillment

September 4, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

By 2017, nine years after launching his t-shirt company, Ugmonk, Jeff Sheldon had expanded into posters and workspace products. Gather, Ugmonk's modular desk organizer, had just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign with two shipping containers of custom manufactured organizers en route, to send to customers.
Business
August 2020 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

August 31, 2020 • PEC Staff

Our mission since 2005 is to publish articles, webinars, and podcasts to help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles that we published in August 2020. Articles from early in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Amazon & Marketplaces
25 Top Amazon Marketplace Sellers Based on Number of Reviews

August 31, 2020 • Sig Ueland

Reviewing the top sellers on Amazon's marketplace could provide ideas on products, descriptions, and customer service. Here is a list of top sellers on the Amazon marketplace based on the number of reviews.
Business
Supply.co Founder: Day of Reckoning Is Coming for DTC Brands

August 28, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Patrick Coddou has little patience with the concept of lifetime customer value or paying more to acquire a customer than he can recoup on the initial purchase.
Business
Ecommerce in Q2 Takes a (Much) Bigger Share of Total Retail Market

August 27, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that ecommerce as a percent of all retail sales jumped from 11.8 percent in the first quarter of 2020 to 16.1 percent in the second quarter, representing a 31.8 percent increase to $211.5 billion. The data also shows a 44.5 percent bump from the second quarter of 2019, adjusted for seasonal variations.
Payments
What Merchants Should Know about ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’

August 24, 2020 • Mike Eckler

"Buy now, pay later" allows consumers to purchase goods and pay in installments, similar to a credit card. Why is BNPL gaining popularity? I’ll answer that question and more in this post.
Business
A ‘Love for Making’ Propels Schmidt’s Naturals to Worldwide Sales

August 21, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

The progression for most direct-to-consumer entrepreneurs is to conceive a product idea and then locate a manufacturer to produce it. But Jaime Schmidt took the opposite approach when she launched Schmidt's natural deodorant in 2010. "I started in our kitchen with batch sizes of maybe 20 deodorants on the stove," she told me.
Business > Merchant Voice
The 3 rules of ecommerce design

August 20, 2020 • Richard Stubbings

My ecommerce website went through many visual changes in the 20 years that I operated it, from 2000 to 2020. Sometimes I retained a designer, and sometimes I did it myself using the ecommerce software I was using at the time. One of the worst designs was by a professional in 2002 who persuaded me that my demographic of science-fiction geeks would love it.
Payments
‘Payment Request API’ to Streamline Ecommerce Checkouts, Improve Security

August 17, 2020 • Armando Roggio

A standard application programming interface is helping to eliminate website checkout forms and improve the ecommerce experience on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. Ecommerce businesses that adopt the approach early could gain a competitive advantage.
Business
Banned by Google Ads, SpyGuy.com Ponders Alternative Channels

August 14, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Ecommerce entrepreneurs understand the need for multiple revenue channels. Relying exclusively on, say, Facebook or Amazon or Google can lead to disruptions. And that's what happened to Allen Walton's company, which depends on Google Ads for most of its traffic and revenue.
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in France: Loyalty to Domestic Sellers

August 13, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

France has the third-largest population in Europe with 65.3 million residents and the second-largest ecommerce market. French consumers are loyal to their national brands and often shun cross-border ecommerce. Roughly 60 percent of French shoppers make only domestic purchases.
Fraud Prevention
Share Customer Data Anonymously to Combat Fraud

August 11, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce fraud prevention depends on good data. That data can come from payment card providers, credit bureaus, address listings, and, more recently, other merchants.
Payments
Is Apple Entering the Payment Acceptance Business?

August 11, 2020 • Mike Eckler

In July, Apple acquired Mobeewave, a relatively unknown payments-technology startup in Montreal, Canada for, reportedly, $100 million. For nine years, Mobeewave has been developing technology to convert conventional smartphones into payment-accepting devices without requiring additional hardware components.
Business
Holiday Selling without the Crowds

August 9, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Pandemic-induced social distancing, reduced hours of operation, and even continued lockdowns and closures could dramatically change Christmas shopping behaviors in 2020, requiring retailers to find new ways to serve holiday shoppers and generate sales.
Business
2PM Founder: Successful Entrepreneurs Are Polymaths

August 7, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Having founded and sold multiple ecommerce companies, Web Smith believes successful entrepreneurs must be polymaths to understand opportunities.
Business > Merchant Voice
Amid Covid-19, it’s time to build

August 4, 2020 • Peter Keller

"It's Time to Build" is a popular blog post by Marc Andreessen, the Internet pioneer and investor. He wrote it in April 2020 at the onset of the worldwide pandemic. Ecommerce businesses are lucky. Amid the global pandemic, our industry is thriving and pushing forward.
Local Business
The First Steps in Adding Ecommerce to a Brick-and-mortar Store

August 2, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Brick-and-mortar retail businesses are turning toward ecommerce to generate revenue — online and click-and-collect. As they make this digital transformation, those merchants will likely have questions about ecommerce platforms, themes, and design. While all of these are important, a company's focus should be on products and marketing first, in my experience.
Business
July 2020 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

July 31, 2020 • PEC Staff

Our mission since 2005 is to publish content to help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles that we published in July 2020. Articles from early in ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon, with Demand Surging, Transitions FBA

July 30, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon is experiencing a dilemma that other ecommerce companies wish they had: a demand that exceeds supply chain infrastructure. In a note in mid-July, Amazon told sellers using Fulfillment by ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Lessons from 20 years of ecommerce

July 28, 2020 • Richard Stubbings

My first ecommerce site was a supplement to my brick-and-mortar shop in 2000. There was little online competition. Amazon sold only books. Most of my competitors were small independents like me, and it was easy to stand above the crowd. I advertised the site on shopping bags, on leaflets at conventions, and in an occasional magazine. This post is the second in a series on starting and growing an ecommerce business.
Business
‘Build Businesses for the Cash Flow,’ Says Repeat Entrepreneur

July 24, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Entrepreneurs tend to become emotionally entwined with their businesses. "It's my baby," an entrepreneur might say when describing his company. But not Rohan Gilkes. "There's no emotion," he told me. "I have no babies. I build businesses for the cash flow."