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.
Amazon & Marketplaces | B2B | Cross-border Selling | Finance | Fraud Prevention | Inventory | Local Business | Payments | Shipping & Fulfillment | Staffing-
Local Business
2017 Ecommerce Round-up: 16 Percent Growth; ’Retail Apocalypse’?
January 11, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
2017 was supposedly the year ecommerce pummeled the brick-and-mortar retail sector, creating what analysts called a “retail apocalypse.” Yet, according to research firm Statista, ecommerce contributed only 9.1 percent to total retail sales in the United States and 10.1 percent globally. In other words, there is room for much ecommerce growth. However physical stores will fight back by luring customers with new approaches.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Dissecting Amazon’s new ‘Pay by Invoice’ method
January 10, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
The new payment method is "Pay by Invoice." It is an attempt to entice new customers to Amazon that prefer to pay after receiving the goods. It is presumably based on the assumption that there are organizations — libraries, public bodies, larger companies — who do not let their staff pay in advance for an item. On the face of it, it seemed like a good idea.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Would relocating damage my ecommerce business?
January 6, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
When I met my English husband-to-be seven years ago, he had relocated to Melbourne, Australia. At the time, I lived in Sydney, roughly 540 miles (870 km) north of Melbourne. My mother lived on the Gold Coast, in Queensland, 540 miles (840 km) north of Sydney. On moving to Melbourne, I was easily able to relocate my ecommerce business, which sold hardbound and emailed astrology reports, boxed gift certificates, and telephone consultations.
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Cross-border Selling
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Merchant Voice
5 Russian fulfillment companies for cross-border ecommerce
January 5, 2018 • Maksim Komonov
In this article, I will profile five Russian companies that provide fulfillment services to foreign manufacturers and retailers, including customs clearance, returns, and marketing support. The market in Russia, according to the WBR Report, is number nine in the list of top expansion markets by U.S. brands. But small and midsized ecommerce merchants can expand into Russia, too, provided they master the local fulfillment and delivery challenges.
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B2B
How to Set Ecommerce Goals for 2018
December 31, 2017 • Lori McDonald
Now is the time to set ecommerce performance goals for 2018. To do this, know where your business stands now. Be clear on past performance before you set goals for the new year. Create a spreadsheet with the key metrics to track for 2018. Fill in those metrics from 2017. You may even want to insert 2016 as well. This scorecard creates good visibility and accountability for you and your team.
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Business
2017 Top 25: Our Most Popular Posts of the Year
December 29, 2017 • PEC Staff
As the year draws to a close, we’ve compiled a list of the 25 most popular articles published during 2017, based on the number of page views. Popular subjects included social networks, SEO,
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Business
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Merchant Voice
9 innovative ecommerce companies, for inspiration
December 28, 2017 • Peter Keller
2017 has been a good year for FringeSport. 2018 looks to be even better. Many ecommerce brands inspire my work. In this post, I will list several of them. I am a friend of the owners of some of these companies. Others I have no connection to. All of the companies are innovative.
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Fraud Prevention
7 Telltale Signs of Payment Card Fraud
December 26, 2017 • Armando Roggio
Purchases made with stolen payment cards cost the ecommerce industry billions of dollars a year worldwide. But, in at least some cases, merchants could have avoided losses had they recognized ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
10 Repricing Tools for Amazon Marketplace Sellers
December 21, 2017 • Connor Gillivan
Repricing products on the Amazon Marketplace can determine if you generate sales, or not. Unless you sell your own private label item, you’ll likely compete with other sellers for the ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart, Whole Foods, Target, Shipt
December 21, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address the continuing omnichannel wars between Walmart and Amazon as well as some ...
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Business
4 Challenges for Mid-market Ecommerce in 2018
December 18, 2017 • Armando Roggio
Changes in shopper behavior, improvements in technology, and pricing policies meant to “protect” small, brick-and-mortar retailers all represent significant challenges to mid-market ecommerce and mid-market omnichannel retail businesses in 2018. These ...
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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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Amazon & Marketplaces
Align with Amazon’s strategy for marketplace success
December 13, 2017 • Phil Masiello
Sometimes it seems that Amazon doesn’t support sellers in its marketplace. Seemingly nonstop restrictions on what can be sold in each category make it difficult for some sellers to list ...
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Cross-border Selling
Does U.S. Postal Service Subsidize China-based Merchants?
December 12, 2017 • Kerry Murdock
Cross-border ecommerce is booming, as is cross-border shipping. But the postage rates among countries for that shipping greatly vary. Merchants in certain countries, such as China, can ship very cheaply ...
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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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Staffing
For SEO, Better to Hire an Agency or an Employee?
December 8, 2017 • Jill Kocher Brown
The decision to hire in-house search engine optimization talent or to contract with an agency is not easy. Consider these points when deciding for your company. In-house SEO In-house advantages stem primarily ...
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Cross-border Selling
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Merchant Voice
Made in Russia: 8 brands for cross-border consumers
December 6, 2017 • Maksim Komonov
Exports from Russia consist mostly of natural resources — oil, gas, wood, gems, uranium. Russian consumer goods such as apparel, jewelry, and electronics do not have strong positions on the ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Why can’t Australians purchase gift cards from U.S. merchants?
November 30, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
The Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales phenomenon is beginning to make an impact online and in brick-and-mortar stores, in Australia. Five years ago, inspired by the U.S. Cyber Monday sales, Click Frenzy ...
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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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Business
November 2017 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts
November 30, 2017 • PEC Staff
What follows are our 10 most popular articles for November 2017, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones. 5
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Shipping & Fulfillment
5 Ways to Improve the Parcel Delivery Experience
November 29, 2017 • Manish Chowdhary
“The last mile” is now the Holy Grail of ecommerce shipping. A merchant can do an amazing job of selling and provide an outstanding shopping experience, yet if the package ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Every Amazon A-Z claim is a failure in customer service
November 28, 2017 • Richard Stubbings
Every Amazon A-Z claim is a failure in customer service. I could have avoided every one of the claims filed against my company, no matter how unfair it was. An Amazon ...
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B2B
B2B: How Manufacturers with Distributors Use Ecommerce
November 24, 2017 • Lori McDonald
I often speak with manufacturers that want to sell their products online directly to retailers or even end users. But they have an established distribution channel that they don’t want ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Are we essential to our customers?
November 21, 2017 • David Sasson
A few weeks ago I was at a local Wichita, Kansas Chamber of Commerce mixer. I hadn’t been to one in many years. But I decided to join the chamber ...
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Cross-border Selling
Sales on China’s 2017 Singles’ Day Dwarf U.S. Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 19, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Alibaba again claimed the highest grossing ecommerce sales day ever on Singles’ Day, eclipsing last year’s record-breaking 24-hour period by 39 percent. The Chinese ecommerce behemoth reported that its 2017
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Local Business
4 Marketing Lessons from Opening a Brick-and-mortar Store
November 15, 2017 • Armando Roggio
Lessons learned from opening a brick-and-mortar retail store may apply to online merchants, providing insights about promoting products, driving sales, and engaging shoppers. On November 9 through 11, 2017, I helped ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
4 ways to get legitimate Amazon reviews
November 13, 2017 • Phil Masiello
Merchants on the Amazon marketplace realize the importance of product and seller reviews. Products with more reviews and better ratings appear higher in Amazon’s search results. Buyers also tend to ...
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Cross-border Selling
Aramex Expands Ecommerce Logistics beyond Middle East
November 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Aramex is a United Arab Emirates-based shipping and logistics firm launched in 1982. It has found success in serving geographic markets that other providers ignore. While Aramex’s reach has been ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
5 Steps to Find Profitable Products to Sell on Amazon
November 9, 2017 • Connor Gillivan
There are many strategies for choosing products to sell on the Amazon marketplace. In this article, I’ll explore a 5-step strategy that uses information provided by Amazon on all products ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
7 Ways to Make Free Shipping Profitable
November 8, 2017 • Manish Chowdhary
Over 2 million Google searches each month in the United States include the phrase “free shipping.” Most online merchants have at least considered offering it. It’s a tough decision because ...