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.

Payments
Credit Card Processing: Beware of ‘Rate Reductions’

May 2, 2017 • Phil Hinke

In my experience, most merchants feel that their credit card account provider is more likely to increase their rates or invent new fees rather than offer an unsolicited rate reduction. The ...
Finance
Has Crowdfunding from Ordinary Investors Been Successful?

May 1, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

May 2017 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of Regulation CF crowdfunding for non-accredited investors. Some observers believe it is a disaster while ...
Business
April 2017 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

April 30, 2017 • PEC Staff

What follows are our 10 most popular articles for April 2017, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones. Google Analytics:
Staffing
5 Reasons to Hire Remote Workers

April 28, 2017 • Armando Roggio

Your ecommerce business is growing. You need developers, marketers, and customer service representatives. But how do you find the best employees? It’s simple: hire remote workers. Often ecommerce businesses start small.
Shipping & Fulfillment
ShipStation CEO on ‘Fast and Free’ Shipping Demands

April 26, 2017 • Armando Roggio

The process of creating satisfied customers starts with providing a level of service that’s greater than their expectations. For ecommerce, shipping is customer satisfaction’s frontline, and online sellers should aim to ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
7 Elements of a Return Policy That Sells

April 25, 2017 • Pamela Hazelton

Merchants give so much thought into making the sale that they tend to forget some of the post-sale components that savvy shoppers look for first. One of these is the returns policy ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Preparing to exhibit at a wedding expo

April 25, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

My Wedding Décor will soon exhibit at One Fine Day Wedding Fair in Melbourne, Australia. One Fine Day has been running high-end wedding fairs in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Can ecommerce marketplaces expand a brand?

April 23, 2017 • Phil Masiello

It’s funny how ecommerce brands fear established online marketplaces. When I discuss with those brands selling on Amazon, Walmart.com, Sears.com or any of the hundreds of online marketplaces, I often ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
My (unplanned) survey of Amazon resellers

April 23, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

In the last few days I have been conducting an unplanned survey of the customer service of hundreds of Amazon resellers. It is unplanned and unwelcomed because someone sent phishing ...
Business
Will New F.C.C. Policies Impact Ecommerce Merchants?

April 21, 2017 • John Di Giacomo

Big changes are coming to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and some may have ramifications for ecommerce merchants. With the appointment of Ajit Pai as the chairman of the F.C.C.,
Business
Tips for Rapidly Processing Ecommerce Orders

April 19, 2017 • Armando Roggio

Reduce the amount of time it takes for an online retail order to be picked, packed, and given to the package carrier, and your ecommerce business will have gone a ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Navigating Drop Shipping and Sales Taxes

April 14, 2017 • Jeremy Hanks

I’ve written a lot about the fact that drop shipping isn’t just another distribution method. It’s a new way of doing business that has unique operational and logistical challenges. The ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Takes On the Digital Advertising Industry

April 13, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon, the ecommerce giant, is showing greater interest in the digital advertising arena, expanding its offerings and attracting a new type of client: big brands that advertise on television and ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
BigCommerce CEO on Amazon, Other Channels

April 12, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

Many merchants view Amazon as a competitor, albeit one they are forced to sell on. Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce, disagrees. He believes Amazon can complement an ecommerce business. I ...
B2B
Tips for Migrating B2B Ecommerce Platforms

April 10, 2017 • Lori McDonald

I recently presented “How to Change Ecommerce Platforms,” an Essential Skills online seminar for Practical Ecommerce. I kept the content relatively general for all merchants — B2C and B2B. I didn’t ...
Business > Merchant Voice
My secret weapons — tools, groups, activities

April 6, 2017 • Peter Keller

I’m friends with many entrepreneurs. Oftentimes we talk about what services we use, what products we have, and the routines that allow us to be more successful. For example, there’s a ...
Business
Mid-market Ecommerce Firms Need Clear Roles, Responsibilities

April 5, 2017 • Armando Roggio

Defining and documenting clear roles and responsibilities may help mid-market online retailers move projects forward, leading to better execution. Retail businesses have a variety of tasks that need to happen over and ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Doesn’t Do Long-tail. Why Should You?

April 4, 2017 • Jeremy Hanks

The idea of “endless aisle” and “long-tail” retail has gained much traction since the publication in 2005 of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of ...
Business
March 2017 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

March 31, 2017 • PEC Staff

What follows are our 10 most popular articles for March 2017, recognizing that articles we published earlier in the month are more likely to make the list than later ones. FedEx ...
Business
6 Ways to Differentiate Your Online Store

March 29, 2017 • Dale Traxler

Why would a shopper buy from your online store? Do you offer unique products? Are your prices lower than Amazon and other competitors? Is your store more fun to shop ...
Inventory > Merchant Voice
Deleting slow-moving inventory

March 27, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

My Wedding Décor will celebrate its second birthday next month. When the website launched in April 2015, it began with 80 products, which had grown to almost 500 products at the ...
Business
7 Signs You Need a New Ecommerce Site

March 26, 2017 • Armando Roggio

An ecommerce site that is poor performing and hard to use can hurt its online sales. An online store’s appearance, usability, and features should convey trustworthiness and professionalism. How an ecommerce ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
5 Shipping Tips for Ecommerce Beginners

March 20, 2017 • Armando Roggio

Master shipping and you’ll just about master ecommerce. For new online retailers selling tangible products, the act of managing shipping — both in terms of actually packing orders and in ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
The problem of fake products on Amazon

March 20, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

One of Amazon’s strengths is its extensive catalog and its requirement that every retailer selling an item has to list its offer on the same page. This means that when ...
Business
Legal Issues for Membership-based Ecommerce Sites

March 17, 2017 • John Di Giacomo

Membership-based ecommerce websites — those that offer products, services, or additional benefits to members — have their own set of complex legal issues that do not apply to traditional online retailers.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Advertising options for Amazon marketplace sellers

March 15, 2017 • Phil Masiello

In “To drive sales on Amazon, optimize keywords,” my previous post, I discussed the importance of keywords on the Amazon marketplace, especially for sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon. Keyword optimization ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
FedEx to Challenge Amazon for Ecommerce Fulfillment

March 15, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

1994. Ecommerce is in its infancy. A new company in Bellevue, Washington begins selling books online. Business analysts wonder if people will buy products online. Most people are skeptical. 2017. That ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Data Platform Identifies Counterfeits on Amazon, Other Marketplaces

March 13, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

The dominance of Amazon and its marketplace is clear. What’s not so clear are the counterfeit items that are also sold there. Rob Dunkel is the founder of 3PM Marketplace ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
3 Benefits of Third-party Fulfillment Services

March 10, 2017 • Armando Roggio

Third-party order fulfillment services can warehouse products, pick and pack items as orders come in, and ship a merchant’s products to the customer on that merchant’s behalf. While all of ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Sales Tax Nexus Hits FBA Sellers

March 9, 2017 • James Thomson

When a seller uses Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon program to store inventory in Amazon fulfillment centers across the U.S., that placement of products can create a tax “nexus” — a ...