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 > 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 ...
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 ...
Business > 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 ...
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
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Are conferences worthwhile?

November 7, 2017 • Peter Keller

I remember going to the International Home + Housewares Show in 2006, when I worked for a large corporation. This was just before the Great Recession. Houses were being built ...
Inventory
9 Startups That Are Disrupting Inventory Management

November 7, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

The sweet spot for inventory management is to spend the minimum amount to have adequate stock for customer orders. There is no shortage of software to help with this. But ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
T-shirt Designers Thriving on Merch by Amazon

November 2, 2017 • Connor Gillivan

Merch by Amazon is an on-demand t-shirt printing service. Sellers can create t-shirt designs as product listings, and earn royalties on every sale. Amazon prints the t-shirts, and then ships ...
Business
October 2017 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

November 1, 2017 • PEC Staff

What follows are our 10 most popular articles for October 2017, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones. 13
Business > Merchant Voice
Black Friday opportunities — and pitfalls

October 30, 2017 • Peter Keller

It’s October, and that means ecommerce businesses should be in the thick of Black Friday preparation. I addressed the topic last year, in “A blueprint for Black Friday planning.” I ...
Business
Volusion C.E.O. Bullish on Smaller Ecommerce Businesses

October 24, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

In an era when many ecommerce platforms are migrating to large, enterprise-level clients, Volusion is doing the opposite. It’s focused on smaller and mid-size companies, even startups. To discuss it,
Business > Merchant Voice
What to consider when selling an ecommerce business

October 23, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

In light of recent industry upheavals, some retail businesses may soon close down. Sooner or later, owners of private businesses usually retire or move on. Whilst some will pass the ...
Fraud Prevention
28 Online Security Tools for Small Businesses

October 23, 2017 • Sig Ueland

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. For small and mid-sized businesses, it’s a good time to strengthen a security plan with some free or relatively inexpensive tools and resources. Here ...
Business
10 Retail Blockchain Vendors

October 20, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

In “10 Ways Blockchains Can Benefit Merchants,” my previous article, I addressed potential uses for blockchain technology. In this post, I’ll describe 10 service providers that already use that technology. Blockverify Blockverify ...
Finance
How Does Fintech Affect Ecommerce?

October 19, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Fintech is the practice of applying technology to the financial services sector. Traditional financial institutions utilize it mainly to manage accounting and other back-office services. More recently, thanks to advances ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
My favorite strategies, tools for selling on Amazon

October 18, 2017 • Phil Masiello

Amazon is a bridge between buyers and sellers worldwide. For business owners, Amazon can provide an excellent sales and awareness channel without incurring the high costs associated with branding or ...
B2B
Using Ecommerce to Attract B2B Customers

October 17, 2017 • Lori McDonald

B2B merchants often consider ecommerce as a tool for existing clients. Acquiring new customers is expected to happen through the sales team, not the Internet. The website becomes a way ...
Cross-border Selling > Merchant Voice
How to start selling in Russia

October 16, 2017 • Maksim Komonov

In 2016, ecommerce revenue in Russia grew 21 percent compared to 2015, to $16 billion. This is according to the Russian Association of Internet Trade Companies. The Association expects Russian ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Amazon and Kohl’s, Food Wars, Toys’R’Us

October 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series on news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address: Amazon’s new partnership with Kohl’s; activity in the U.S. online food delivery ...
Business
10 Ways Blockchains Can Benefit Merchants

October 5, 2017 • Gagan Mehra

The Internet is buzzing with how blockchains can solve problems and disrupt multiple industries. But what exactly is a blockchain and how can it benefit merchants? A blockchain is a “distributed ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
When to Use USPS for Ecommerce Shipping

October 4, 2017 • Armando Roggio

The United States Postal Service is a popular shipping solution for American ecommerce businesses. It stacks up well against other carriers in several situations. The USPS may be particularly effective when ...
Business
September 2017 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

October 1, 2017 • PEC Staff

What follows are our 10 most popular articles for September 2017, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones. 78
Business
Miva C.E.O. on New Investment, Amazon, Ecommerce Outlook

September 28, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

It’s been an eventful year for Miva, the pioneering ecommerce platform. Its longtime president became C.E.O. and the company raised $18 million of private equity, which is the first such ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Avoid ‘saving money’ content if you want higher-end clients

September 27, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

How do you position your ecommerce products and services? Are your items, on average, more expensive than your competitors? Do you offer high-end, custom products that shoppers can’t find elsewhere? Or ...
Local Business
Can Experiential Retailing Help Brick-and-mortar Stores?

September 25, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

The theory behind experiential retailing is that people are bored with buying tangible goods; what they really crave is experiences. When shoppers really need things, they can buy them online ...
Business
4 Predictions for the 2017 Holiday Shopping Season

September 24, 2017 • Armando Roggio

During the 2017 holiday shopping season, expect weather, mobile commerce, and self-gifting to contribute to an 18 percent growth in U.S. digital retail sales. For the last few years, I have ...