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
March 2020 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

March 31, 2020 • PEC Staff

Our mission since 2005 is to publish articles, podcasts, and webinars to help ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles that we published in March 2020. Articles ...
Finance
Will ‘Irrational’ Startup Valuations Continue?

March 30, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, IPOs for many start-ups with supposedly bright futures crashed when they entered the public market. Some didn’t even make it that far, canceling in 2019 their public offerings. A disturbing gap between the private and public valuations of venture-capital-funded start-ups has emerged. This divergence will likely continue as many start-ups are remaining private for longer periods of time.
Local Business
Covid-19 Is an Opportunity for Some Local Merchants

March 30, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic is bad news. It has shut down a significant portion of the world's economy and killed far too many people. If, however, you're willing to hunt for a silver lining, the shutdowns and social distancing could be an opportunity for some brick-and-mortar companies to finally get online.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Rethink Your Amazon Business after Covid-19

March 26, 2020 • Phil Masiello

For Amazon sellers, the Covid-19 situation is changing every day. As I write this, Fulfillment by Amazon is informing sellers to expect delays in the replenishment of non-essential items.
Business
Iraq War Veteran Fails, then Succeeds, with Men’s Underwear Brand

March 24, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

In 2008 Robert Patton was coming off his second deployment in Iraq with the U.S. Army. “I was going to do 20 years in the Army,” he said, “But I'd already been on two deployments and was scheduled to go back for a third. I had a family. I didn’t want to spend half of my time in Iraq. So I had this idea.”
Payments
Credit Card Processing FAQs, Part 1: Learning the Jargon

March 22, 2020 • Mike Eckler

Credit card processing fees are a longstanding pain for merchants. This post is the first in a series in which I'll answer common payment questions. The first challenge is understanding the industry jargon.
Business
The Coronavirus Could Drive Car Dealers to Ecommerce

March 19, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Managing the coronavirus pandemic in the United States has led to temporary store closures, social distancing, and economic concerns. People and industries are affected, including car dealers.
Inventory
How to Calculate and Interpret Inventory Turnover

March 18, 2020 • Armando Roggio

How quickly a business sells its inventory is typically a strong indicator of efficiency, cash flow, and general well being. Thus inventory turnover — and the related inventory turnover ratio — is a powerful key performance indicator.
Business
Ecommerce Lessons from the 2008 Crash

March 17, 2020 • Dale Traxler

Back in 2008, just before the Great Recession, I was managing a thriving ecommerce business selling jewelry supplies to crafters, artisans, and professional jewelers. More than 30 percent of our revenue came from selling sterling silver at a very high margin.
Shipping & Fulfillment
5 On-demand Warehousing, Fulfillment Providers

March 12, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

On-demand warehousing and fulfillment providers act as middlemen — a kind of Airbnb for logistics. Merchants search on a provider's platform for available warehouse space in the location they want. It's one way for ecommerce sellers to achieve faster delivery.
Staffing > Merchant Voice
What I look for in an employee

March 9, 2020 • Richard Stubbings

What should you look for in an ecommerce employee? In this post, I’ll describe my hiring process. To start, I list job duties. Then I list skill requirements in two columns:
Amazon & Marketplaces
3 SEO Lessons from Amazon for Ecommerce Product Pages

March 8, 2020 • Jill Kocher Brown

Product detail pages on Amazon rank for roughly 34 million keywords in Google in the U.S. In this post, I'll address three tips for optimizing the product pages on your own ecommerce site using lessons from Amazon.
Business
Ecommerce Owners on Morning Routines, Work-life Balance

March 5, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Last month I spoke with Ronnie Teja, an innovative entrepreneur who runs multiple ecommerce sites. The published interview focused on how he launched the business. We also discussed work-life balance. What follows is that portion of our discussion.
Staffing
What to Do When an Employee Leaves

February 28, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Employees quit. It is a reality of every business. Large companies with dedicated human resource teams have a process or checklist they follow when someone decides to leave. But small and mid-sized firms may not have a plan in place.
Business
February 2020 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

February 28, 2020 • PEC Staff

Since 2005 we’ve published articles, podcasts, and webinars to empower ecommerce merchants. What follows are the 10 most popular articles that we published in February 2020. Articles from early in ...
Inventory
The Keys to Lower Inventory Costs

February 27, 2020 • Phil Masiello

Managing inventory is among the most critical tasks of an ecommerce company. Poorly managed, inventory costs can escalate, and profits erode. In this post, I'll review five tactics of high-performing, multichannel sellers that greatly lower inventory costs while streamlining operations.
Business
Reset in the Direct-to-consumer Market

February 27, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

Direct-to-consumer brands were stars from 2018 through mid-2019. The storyline was that they were flawlessly executing while brick-and-mortar retailers were flailing. Now weaknesses in the DTC arena are emerging.
Amazon & Marketplaces
13 Marketplaces for Handmade Goods

February 24, 2020 • Sig Ueland

Merchants who sell handmade goods can list their products on specialized marketplaces. There, merchants can find potential customers along with a community of like-minded creators and sellers. Here is a list of marketplaces for handmade goods.
Business
Canada-based Entrepreneur Scales to 15 Websites, 30 Remote Employees

February 23, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Ronnie Teja immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 2008. He was 22. Fast-forward to 2020, and he owns and operates a thriving ecommerce company that sells watches and related accessories. I recently spoke with him about launching his company, acquiring sites, and the challenges of managing it remotely.
Payments
Why American Express Pushes for Higher Merchant Acceptance

February 21, 2020 • Mike Eckler

American Express announced last month that the number of merchants accepting its card is roughly the same as Visa and Mastercard. In this post, I'll explain how American Express’s business model differs from Visa and Mastercard’s. I’ll also examine the programs that enabled Amex to achieved parity.
Shipping & Fulfillment
First-party Logistics Could Transform Ecommerce

February 19, 2020 • Armando Roggio

In 2020, Amazon will deliver roughly 3.5 billion packages in the United States — more than FedEx. That could signal a trend toward first-party logistics, price pressure, and fragmentation in the package delivery industry.
Business
Managing Custom Prices in BigCommerce

February 18, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Not every customer pays the same price. Online merchants sometimes offer different prices to different sorts of customers. Businesses on BigCommerce's Enterprise plan can assign prices to customer groups, such as wholesalers or retailers.
Amazon & Marketplaces
19 Helpful Tools for Amazon Sellers

February 17, 2020 • Sig Ueland

Here is a list of tools to help Amazon sellers with product research, keyword research, analytics, feedback and review management, and more. There are niche tools to simplify tasks and all-in-one platforms for comprehensive management.
Cross-border Selling
Coronavirus Disrupting the Global Economy, Including Ecommerce

February 13, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

When the coronavirus outbreak emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Chinese authorities asserted that it was localized, albeit in an area with a large population and many manufacturing plants. Then the virus spread to other areas of China.
Inventory
3 Inventory KPIs to Drive Ecommerce Profits

February 10, 2020 • Dale Traxler

Basic inventory management involves tracking quantities by channel, location, and return rates. Key performance indicators, however, are far more critical for driving profits. In this post, I'll address three essential inventory KPIs: turnover, carrying costs, and opportunity costs.
Staffing > Merchant Voice
Need good employees? Be a good employer

February 4, 2020 • Richard Stubbings

Hiring and managing employees is among the most challenging tasks of business owners. An employee-employer relationship is much different than a social one. You'll spend many hours a day together. But employers should never forget that the relationship is about business.
Business
January 2020 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

January 31, 2020 • PEC Staff

What follows are the most popular articles that we published in January 2020. Articles from early in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones.
Amazon & Marketplaces
New U.S. Regulations on Counterfeit Goods Target Marketplaces

January 30, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan

On January 24, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a report signaling the federal government’s intention to crack down on ecommerce sales of counterfeit goods. In the report, the federal government all but declares that ecommerce is a threat to national security.
Amazon & Marketplaces
11 Key Metrics to Evaluate Potential Marketplaces

January 30, 2020 • Anna Kayfitz

There are dozens of worthwhile marketplaces worldwide. Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy are examples. What follows are tips for using data to identify (and optimize) marketplaces to sell your products.
B2B
The Benefits of Subscriptions for B2B Ecommerce

January 29, 2020 • Lori McDonald

Subscription-based ecommerce is increasingly popular for consumer goods. Examples include grocery products, pet supplies, and beauty items. But B2B merchants can offer subscriptions, too.