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
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Does U.S. Postal Service Subsidize China-based Merchants?

December 12, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

Merchants in certain countries, such as China, can ship very cheaply to U.S. consumers with rates that are unavailable to U.S. merchants.
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.
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 ...
Cross-border Selling > Merchant Voice
Made in Russia: 8 brands for cross-border consumers

December 6, 2017 • Maksim Komonov

Supported by the government and private investors, Russian manufacturers are seeking foreign customers.
Business > 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 ...
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 ...
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
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 ...
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 ...