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
8 Ways to Boost Average Order Value

December 3, 2015 • Armando Roggio

An increase in the average order value for an online retailer has a strong correlation to an increase in profit. When an ecommerce retailer can sell more on each order,
Amazon & Marketplaces
Getting Sales Tax Setup Right on Amazon

December 3, 2015 • James Thomson

Every seller on Amazon has the responsibility of paying sales tax in those U.S. states where it has tax nexus. When the tax isn’t paid, that seller builds a tax ...
Finance
Sales Report: 2015 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday

December 2, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Who won the November 2015 holiday sales battle? Online merchants. Shoppers opted to buy online rather than fight the crowds in brick-and-mortar stores. Brick-and-mortar sales on Thanksgiving Day dropped to $1.8
Shipping & Fulfillment
Streamline Ecommerce Fulfillment with 5S Methodology

November 30, 2015 • Michael Manzione

Whether your order volume is 10 orders a day or 10,000 and whether you’re shipping orders from a garage, small warehouse, or a large automated facility, you can benefit from learning and ...
Business > Merchant Voice
The beauty of compound revenue growth

November 24, 2015 • David Sasson

When my company had sales of just $66,000 a year, I thought, “How will we ever get to a million dollars?” When we got to that level, I thought, “How ...
Business
Slack app frees me from my desk

November 20, 2015 • Kenny Kane

I’ve written about using third-party apps on my Bigcommerce store. But there are many apps that merchants can use regardless of their ecommerce platform. One of my favorites is Slack,
Business > Merchant Voice
YouTube: The coolest social media platform

November 19, 2015 • Eric Bandholz

YouTube is the coolest social media platform. I don’t know why it gets overlooked in the business community. If you ignore YouTube, you are missing out on a great community.
B2B
Using Facebook Ads for B2B Targeting

November 18, 2015 • Michael Stancil

If you had asked online marketers a couple of years ago to name the best channel for B2B targeting, most would not have said Facebook. In fact, it wasn’t until early ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
How to Sell an Amazon Marketplace Business

November 16, 2015 • James Thomson

Most Amazon sellers have enough on their plates keeping their businesses running and maintaining sales and profits. But no matter how long a merchant lasts on Amazon, there may come a ...
Business
Successful Ecommerce Entrepreneurs Love the Process as Much as Profits

November 11, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Small business owners presumably create their ventures with the aim of making profit. Some want to supplement an income. Others want to replace one. But if an entrepreneur doesn’t enjoy ...
Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Rules Are Finally Set

November 10, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Three years after legislation passed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has finally approved final regulations that will implement equity crowdfunding. In the intervening period, many variations of crowdfunding have ...
Business
Year-end Legal Checklist for Ecommerce Owners

November 9, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis

As the end of the year approaches, business owners should review their financial and legal obligations for 2015 and prepare for 2016 and beyond. While each business is unique, the ...
Local Business
Local SEO: 9 Ways to Take Advantage of ‘Near Me’ Search

November 9, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Google searches that include terms like "near me” or “nearby” have doubled since 2014, with 80 percent coming from mobile, according to a Google Trends report.
Business
5 Problems Small Ecommerce Retailers Could Face in 2016

November 3, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce continues to grow, representing an increasing share of total retail sales. As more and larger online stores open, small sellers may face new business-threatening problems in 2016. Ecommerce has long ...
Business
Former Amazon Exec on Marketplace Selling Strategies

October 30, 2015 • Kerry Murdock

Selling on Amazon’s marketplace can be challenging. There are, to be sure, millions of prospective customers. But there are also many competitors selling there, often at prices that are difficult ...
B2B
Preparing a 2016 B2B Ecommerce Budget

October 28, 2015 • Lori McDonald

It’s time to pull together the 2016 budget for your B2B ecommerce site. Budgeting for a B2B ecommerce site typically has four phases: information gathering, reflection on priorities, assigning numbers, and ...
Local Business
10 Text Messaging Tools for Local Business Marketing

October 28, 2015 • Kathleen Fealy

Text messaging, also known as SMS (Short Message Service), lets businesses communicate with consumers through their cell phones in 160 character messages. It gives businesses the opportunity to present relevant information, enhanced customer experiences and service, and special offers.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Fulfillment: How to Speed up the Picking Process

October 27, 2015 • Michael Manzione

In “Holiday Checklist for Ecommerce Operations,” my article last month, I shared steps to assist in your preparation for the upcoming seasonal rush. In this article, I’ll offer tips to your warehouse team, to ...
Payments
Credit Card Processing: American Express OptBlue Rates Often Wrong

October 26, 2015 • Phil Hinke

Did you change credit card providers or renegotiate pricing with your existing provider in the last year? If so, did you verify that you were actually receiving the rates and ...
Business
Benefits of third-party ecommerce apps

October 23, 2015 • Kenny Kane

One of the good things about being on a leading ecommerce platform — Bigcommerce, in my case — is the ability to easily connect third-party apps to your store. Apps are ...
Business
3 Holiday KPIs for Your Ecommerce Store

October 22, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Three tried-and-true key performance indicators may help online stores focus on what matters most during the busy, high-volume Christmas shopping season. “Really there are three things a retailer has to do,” said ...
Business
Jet vs. Amazon: A Quick Comparison

October 20, 2015 • Gagan Mehra

Jet launched a few months back, claiming that it will be the Amazon killer. Jet’s original model was similar to Costco, where consumers must pay a membership fee to shop ...
Local Business
Hyperlocal Marketing: 5 Ways to Drive In-store Traffic

October 19, 2015 • Paul Chaney

The dictionary defines the term hyperlocal as “relating to or focused on a very small geographic community.” Hyperlocal marketing, therefore, consists of marketing activities that also concentrate on a tight geographic circle. Most local business marketing fits within the hyperlocal category.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Published Shipping Policies Can Protect Merchants

October 15, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis

As we head into the holiday season, shipping of products goes into high gear. Ecommerce merchants must make sure that they have updated their shipping policies prior to Black Friday ...
Business
‘Internet of Things’ Helping Ecommerce Merchants

October 8, 2015 • Gagan Mehra

The adoption of Internet of Things has grown in the retail world since I last wrote about it in December 2013. While larger companies are benefitting from this technology, many ...
Business
5 Tips for Starting an Ecommerce Business

October 7, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Online retail sales are growing fast and creating significant opportunities for entrepreneurs. In fact, there may already be as many as 650,000 online stores earning more than $1,000 each month.
Amazon & Marketplaces
How to Overcome Negative Feedback on Amazon’s Marketplace

October 7, 2015 • James Thomson

Say you are shopping on Amazon and you find the perfect product to buy. But you notice that the seller offering the product has 90 percent positive feedback. Yes, one ...
Payments
Check Credit Card Processing Rates before Holiday Rush

October 2, 2015 • Phil Hinke

Sales over the next three months will be crucial to the profitability of many ecommerce merchants. Credit card processing costs over this timeframe will affect profitability, too. This article is ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
The (Many) Benefits of Offering Free Shipping

October 1, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Free shipping is a competitive necessity for some online retailers. While there are certainly costs associated with free shipping, there are also some reasons to feel good about offering it. When ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Holiday Checklist for Ecommerce Operations

October 1, 2015 • Michael Manzione

We’re fast approaching the time of year that typically accounts for more than 20 percent of annual retail sales. It usually defines whether a company is profitable or not. Communication, organization,