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 | B2B | Cross-border Selling | Finance | Fraud Prevention | Inventory | Local Business | Payments | Shipping & Fulfillment | Staffing-
Business
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Merchant Voice
8 ways to help customers with Christmas gift deliveries
October 30, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
When customers start placing holiday orders — and especially as deadlines loom — you need all the help you can get in ensuring their purchases arrive safely. There’s a few ways ...
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Business
Lessons Learned: VacuumSpot Founder Comes Clean, Inspires
October 30, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Alec Nelson grew up in the wealthy semi-rural Sydney suburb of Dural in a home that his builder father built in the 1960s. At age 11, he moved to Wagga ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
5 Things to Put in the Shipping Box
October 29, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Online retailers have a powerful tool for marketing to existing customers, potentially increasing sales, average order size, and profit. That tool is the shipping box merchants send to customers with ...
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Business
5 Productivity Tools to Help You Focus
October 29, 2013 • Jerry Jao
Being productive isn’t about the things you do. It’s about the things that you don’t do. By eliminating distracting tasks such as following people on social media or checking your ...
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Business
7 Questions Before You Buy Software or Services
October 25, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce entrepreneurs and managers have many options for software, marketing toolkits, and any number of retail- and marketing-related services, each of which promises to improve business operations and sales. While ...
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Business
Understanding Ecommerce Shoppers: Who, Why, Where, When, How
October 17, 2013 • Dale Traxler
Most ecommerce merchants can describe their customers in a general way. They likely know basic demographics — age range, gender, income level. But, do they understand the “why,” “where,” “when,”
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Business
The End of Third-party Cookies Should Not Hurt Retailers
October 16, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Changes to some of the world’s most popular web browsers may impact how advertising networks and cross-site analytics tools monitor consumer behavior online. Although the changes could affect some marketing ...
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Payments
Credit Card Processing: October 2013 Rate Changes, EMV Terminals
October 15, 2013 • Phil Hinke
Now is a good time for merchants to start noting how their provider is handling card company fee changes as well as any future rate and fee changes, especially if ...
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Business
Roundup of Privacy Initiatives, Effect on Ecommerce Merchants
October 14, 2013 • Gagan Mehra
There has been much activity in the privacy space in the last few months, including changes that could impact how consumers shop and how retailers collaborate with their business partners.
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Business
A Matter of Trust (Part 2)
October 11, 2013 • Jordan Lindberg
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” – Stephen R. Covey. Last month I shared seven ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
5 Ways to Save Money on Retail Shipping
October 10, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Free or low-cost shipping is a mainstay in the online retail business. It motivates shoppers to buy more. But carriers like UPS, FedEx, and even the United States Postal Service ...
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Finance
Amazon’s Loss Leader Strategy Results in No Profits
October 10, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
For the first time in many years Amazon posted a loss in two of the last four quarters. The second quarter loss occurred despite a revenue increase of 22 percent ...
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Business
SEO Changes Force Merchants to Diversify Traffic
October 9, 2013 • Dale Traxler
The days when your online store received 80 percent of its traffic from organic search on Google are over. Here’s why: More shoppers start their shopping process on Amazon, not Google; Google ...
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Payments
MasterCard Defines 5 Online Shopping Personas
October 8, 2013 • Armando Roggio
MasterCard, the payment industry leader, has defined five online shopper personas that defy traditional demographic boundaries and give online retailers a fresh way of looking at online marketing, personalization, and ...
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Business
6 Timesaving Automation Tools for Ecommerce Merchants
October 4, 2013 • Jerry Jao
Lack of time is common among business owners. Between sales, marketing, customer service, accounting, and everything else, it’s no surprise that many entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed. The good news is there is ...
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Business
Many Ecommerce Options for Brand Manufacturers
October 3, 2013 • Dale Traxler
There may never be a better time to be a manufacturer or private-label brand. As recently as 10 years ago, if you created your own brand of products, you likely ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Magento 1.8 Is Here: Upgrade or Not?
October 2, 2013 • Richard Stubbings
Magento 1.8 has finally been released. When Magento first came out, releases were frequent. But this time it has been over a year since 1.7 came out. It was beginning ...
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Business
How to Determine When to Sell Your Ecommerce Business
September 30, 2013 • Manish Shah
It’s easy to forget now, but Michael Dell was the Mark Zuckerberg of his day. Hailed as a young genius, he created the inexpensive, made-to-order personal computer in his University of ...
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Business
September 2013 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts
September 30, 2013 • PEC Staff
Each month we compile a list of the 10 most popular articles we published that month, based on the number of page views. Here are our ten most popular articles ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Alibaba User Experience Director on Design, Usability
September 27, 2013 • PEC Staff
The appearance and functionality of an ecommerce site affects its sales. Is the site attractive? Is it easy to navigate? Do core functions work? Is it fast? Does it render ...
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Business
U.S. Proposes ADA Compliance for Public Websites
September 24, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
When Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, the public Internet did not exist. Over the past 23 years, making the Internet accessible to those with disabilities ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Adding a wedding category could produce extra sales — and headaches
September 23, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
You may think you can’t tap into the wedding market if you don’t sell venues, honeymoons, caterers, dresses, hair and make-up, invitations, flowers, cars, jewelry, cake, nor entertainment. However, there could ...
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Business
Robust User Experience May Unlock Mobile Commerce
September 20, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Online sales from mobile devices are expected to exceed $41 billion in the United States this year, representing a significant opportunity for online sellers who are able to provide a ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Sell banner advertising? Yeah. Sell banner advertising.
September 19, 2013 • Jamie Salvatori
You should sell ads on your e-commerce site. I’ve yet to find evidence that putting banner advertising on your e-commerce site to be a bad thing. I know it sounds counter ...
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Payments
Avoid No-detail Credit Card Processing Statements
September 19, 2013 • Phil Hinke
I have addressed the importance of understanding credit card processing statements in previous articles. However, I’ve recently seen statements with little or minimal detail that make it virtually impossible to ...
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Business
Lessons Learned: Specialist ID Identifies a Niche
September 19, 2013 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Bartenders frequently ask young patrons to prove they’re over 21 to obtain liquor service. But there’s probably only one ex-bartender who has created a million-dollar business out of legitimate photo ...
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Business
Top 5 Mistakes Ecommerce Owners Make When Selling their Businesses
September 12, 2013 • Manish Shah
Recently I stumbled upon an article on Entrepreneur.com titled “10 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Business.” I found myself relating to five of them, from my own experiences brokering ...
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Local Business
Reverse Showrooming: Pinterest Helps Brick-and-mortar Retailers
September 12, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan
When consumers began using the sophisticated features of their smartphones to do price comparisons and make online purchases while browsing the aisles of stores, panic set in among brick-and-mortar retailers.
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Inventory
7 Tips for Good Supplier Relationships
September 11, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Good supplier relationships may lead to favorable prices, generous terms, improved availability, and even the occasional buyback. With these sorts of opportunities at stake, it can be very important for ...
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Business
A Matter of Trust (Part 1)
September 10, 2013 • Jordan Lindberg
“I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.” – Harvey S. Firestone. Years ago I had the good fortune to be able to take a two-day seminar in Chicago on ...