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.

Shipping & Fulfillment
How Shipping Methods and Policies Affect Conversions

April 7, 2015 • Pamela Hazelton

Ask any group of online shoppers their top reason for abandoning a shopping cart and they’ll likely refer to shipping. However, it’s not always about the cost of delivery. The way ...
Business
Exactor CEO on Federal Sales Tax Legislation

April 2, 2015 • PEC Staff

The rise of ecommerce has reduced local brick-and-mortar retail sales and the corresponding sales taxes from those transactions — putting states and localities in a revenue bind. A hodgepodge of ...
Business
QuickBooks Online vs. Xero: Which Is Better?

March 30, 2015 • Mac McSwain

Most ecommerce merchants are familiar with QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online. Xero, a hosted accounting platform for small businesses, is less known. As a CPA for small-to-midsized ecommerce companies, I prefer ...
Business
Leading Brick-and-click Retailers Winning in Mobile

March 30, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Large multichannel retailers are using mobile commerce and mobile apps for in-store sales. Although trend-tracking firm comScore recently ranked Amazon and Ebay as the top two mobile-savvy sellers, there is ...
Business > Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 5

March 27, 2015 • Richard Stubbings

This is the fifth and final installment in a series of posts that describes my disenchantment with Magento and my consideration of WooCommerce as a new platform for my ecommerce ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Manage UPS, FedEx Dimensional Weight Pricing

March 26, 2015 • Michael Manzione

The days of being able to offer free shipping may be coming to an end for many ecommerce merchants. UPS and FedEx have implemented dimensional weight pricing for ground packages ...
Local Business
Pros, Cons of Facebook Local Awareness Ads

March 26, 2015 • Rodney Hess

These days, advertising is almost a necessity when promoting your small business on Facebook. In 2013, the average organic reach of a business page’s post was anywhere between 12 to 16 percent of its total audience — a number that has decreased steadily ever since. A 2014 report from Social@Oglivy found that the number is now closer to six percent.
Business
Supreme Court to Address Ecommerce Sales Tax?

March 25, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a closely watched decision in the Colorado “Amazon tax” case, Direct Marketing Association v. Huber. Marketing associations, affiliate marketing groups, online sellers,
Payments
Follow-up: EMV Credit Cards and AmEx OptBlue

March 24, 2015 • Phil Hinke

This is a follow-up to two topics I addressed previously on credit card processing: EMV chip cards and the American Express OptBlue program. I described earlier this year the changes affecting EMV ...
Business
6 Global, Online Shopping Trends that Could Impact Your Business

March 23, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Personalization, videos on product detail pages, and content marketing are among six important online shopping trends that are impacting ecommerce business practices, according to a new study. iVentures Consulting, a management ...
Local Business
13 Local Business ‘About Us’ Pages, to Inspire

March 19, 2015 • Kathleen Fealy

Analytic programs show that the About Us page is one of the most viewed pages on a website, second only to the home page. Below are examples of local business About Us pages intended to inspire you. These pages aren't perfect, but they communicate the story of the company and its owners, engage the consumer in a unique way, and represent the brand or personality of the company.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Fulfillment

March 18, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks

Recall from my previous posts that drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory, and orders. It all culminates with fulfillment and ...
Local Business
How to Use Yelp for Local Marketing

March 16, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Yelp enables people to search for local businesses based on customer ratings and reviews. It covers a broad range of industry sectors including food, beauty and spas, health and medical, home services, and many more. As a business owner, you can use Yelp to showcase your products and services, and connect with customers and prospects in your local area.
Business > Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 4

March 15, 2015 • Richard Stubbings

This is the fourth installment in my series of describing the process of migrating from Magento to WooCommerce. In “part 1,” I discussed my frustrations with Magento and the appeal ...
Local Business
10 Great Local Marketing Ideas for March 2015

March 13, 2015 • Web Marketing Today

Web Marketing Today asked ten industry insiders to share their best advice for helping local small businesses market online. Here’s what they had to say.
Finance
Can Etsy Keep Artistic Roots with IPO?

March 11, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Etsy, the online marketplace that offers artists, crafters, and vintage collectors a venue to sell their goods, filed for an initial public offering earlier this month. The company plans to ...
Business
Competing on Customer Experience

March 5, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce merchants seeking to acquire and retain customers will compete to provide exceptional customer experiences that may make price and even product quality less relevant, according to a new survey. Some 53
Business > Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 3

March 5, 2015 • Richard Stubbings

This is the third installment of a series in which I describe my decision to leave the Magento platform, and test WooCommerce. In “part 1,” I explained my disillusionment with ...
Business
7 Surprises When Adding Clicks to Bricks

March 3, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Adding an online store may help traditional retailers increase sales and, ultimately, grow and improve. But transitioning from brick and mortar to brick and click will not be without problems. There ...
Business > Merchant Voice
How to promote your ecommerce business

February 27, 2015 • Erica Tevis

During a recent discussion in a New Jersey wedding professionals networking group, a new member asked, “If you could promote your business through only one form of advertising, what would ...
Cross-border Selling
Ecommerce in Latin America: Challenges, Opportunities

February 26, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Latin America presents a paradox to ecommerce merchants. It contains a rapidly growing middle class eager for a larger selection of quality goods, but the region has unreliable shipping operations ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Launching my third website business in 15 years

February 25, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

The countdown has begun: I launch my Australian wedding decorations website, my third ecommerce venture in 15 years, in eight weeks. And like many online retailers who sell items with ...
Business
How to Combat a Shiny New Competitor

February 25, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Relative to leasing retail space, buying shelves, and investing in a store full of inventory, ecommerce offers a low barrier to entry. In fact, just about any entrepreneur with a ...
Business
Using KPIs to Measure Ecommerce Performance

February 24, 2015 • Mac McSwain

I am a CPA who provides accounting services to ecommerce merchants. Many merchants often focus exclusively on sales, profits, and bank balances to determine if their business is successful. But,
Business
Selling on Multiple Channels? Know Terms of Use

February 19, 2015 • Elizabeth Lewis

Any company that sells products online or markets online typically uses multiple channels — such as its own website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Etsy, and Amazon. However, most companies don’t understand the rights they are giving ...
Business > Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 2

February 18, 2015 • Richard Stubbings

In “part 1” of this series, I addressed my desire to simplify our company’s ecommerce platform, to move away from Magento. I had decided to test WooCommerce, the WordPress plugin that is ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Orders

February 17, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks

Drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory, and orders. If you’re new to drop shipping, read my 4-part series on the ...
Payments
EMV Credit Cards, Part 2: Point-of-sale Devices, Alternatives

February 13, 2015 • Phil Hinke

This article is mostly for brick-and-mortar retailers, as the October 2015 rule changes, which I discussed in "Part 1," are specific to card-present merchants.
Business
Lessons Learned: Baking Site Says No to Shark Tank

February 11, 2015 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Many of the most successful online retailers sell products that solve problems. Daniel Rensing, who grew up in Levittown, N.Y., created a clever product that attracted press attention within 10 days ...
Business
When Ecommerce Warms Your Heart

February 6, 2015 • Armando Roggio

Young Leo Forrest’s story is both very sad and heartwarming. It is the sort of tale that moves you to want to help, to do what you can to make ...