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 > Merchant Voice
Anatomy of an online scam

March 26, 2014 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Have you ever been scammed in a business venture? I’ve become a victim of one. What happened to me is typical, I suspect, of online scams. 1. The Scammers Seem Legitimate Online ...
Business
B-to-B Ecommerce: How to Implement, Improve

March 26, 2014 • Dale Traxler

The number of mid-size manufacturers and distributors implementing initial ecommerce projects is rapidly increasing. Manufacturers are utilizing ecommerce to reach new markets, bring products to market more quickly, and protect ...
Payments
How to Identify Dubious Credit Card Processing Fees, Part 1

March 25, 2014 • Phil Hinke

Editor’s Note: This is “Part 1” of a three-part series. My article last month, “Credit Card Provider Sued for Deceptive Tactics,” generated questions from merchants regarding the suit, its impact, and the hidden,
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Raises Fee for Prime Shipping

March 17, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan

After floating the idea that it might raise the fee for Prime shipping to $119 from the current $79, Amazon settled on a $20 increase, to $99 per year. In ...
Business
How EBITDA affects valuation of ecommerce companies

March 12, 2014 • Manish Shah

I recently valued an Internet business that had a good looking website and all the desirable social media hooks with respectable follower and fan counts. The site has been in ...
Local Business
4 Reasons Small Brick-and-mortar Retailers Need an Online Store

March 12, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Small, brick-and-mortar retailers should also sell online to stay competitive and meet customer expectations. Ecommerce and physical-retail commerce are merging; businesses that exist in shopping centers and malls are expected to ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Anticipatory Shipping: Amazon’s Approach to Influencing Purchases

March 12, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan

One Amazon obsession is faster package delivery. When CEO Jeff Bezos shared his idea of delivery by drone with 60 Minutes, many ridiculed him. Now Amazon has a new idea ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Does Facebook’s WhatsApp purchase affect ecommerce?

March 11, 2014 • David Sasson

This post does not address whether Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp is a good one, though my opinion will be evident to the reader. There have been many articles written about ...
Business
10 Questions to Ask Ecommerce Payment Providers

March 11, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Accepting credit card payments is critical for ecommerce merchants. A payment provider should support a merchant’s payment needs, charge low fees, and scale as the business grows. Even though these ...
Business
Staples Increases Online Efforts, not Brick-and-mortar

March 10, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Office supply retailer Staples announced March 6 that it would close 225 brick-and-mortar retail stores by 2015, in part, focusing investments and marketing on the online channel. The move may ...
Business
Lessons Learned: Serial Entrepreneur Heels a Pain

March 6, 2014 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Like many serial entrepreneurs who build something from nothing, Jason Schultz was blessed with insight and good timing. Born and raised in California, Schultz began experimenting with Tandy and Commodore 64
Business > Merchant Voice
Beware retargeting

March 5, 2014 • Jamie Salvatori

Advertising is a pain in the butt. It’s expensive. It requires constant maintenance, and it’s not always measurable. In our industry, though, we tend to think that we can determine ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Adapt or die

March 5, 2014 • Richard Stubbings

Once you have a successful ecommerce site and the orders are flowing, by all means congratulate yourself for achieving what many do not. But do not rest there. The most ...
Business
12 Key Job Roles for B-to-B Ecommerce Success

March 3, 2014 • Dale Traxler

One of the biggest challenges that brand manufacturers and distributors face with their B-to-B ecommerce operations is hiring the right team. B-to-B companies need to identify required job roles, and ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
12 Apps and Resources for Shipping

March 3, 2014 • Sig Ueland

Product shipping is an essential task for most all ecommerce merchants. And efficient and reliable shipping is one of the best opportunities you have to make a positive impression on your ...
Business
February 2014 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

February 28, 2014 • PEC Staff

Each month we compile a list of the ten most popular articles we published that month, based on the number of page views. Here are our ten most popular articles ...
Business
4 Mistakes to Avoid with Ecommerce Customer Data

February 27, 2014 • Jerry Jao

Collecting data about shoppers is essential for ecommerce businesses. Demographic, social, and behavioral data provides insights to merchants for marketing campaigns, product improvements, and to offer better customer service. However, when ...
B2B
To Implement B-to-B Ecommerce, Empower Marketing not IT

February 18, 2014 • Dale Traxler

In “B-to-B Ecommerce: Big Opportunity, Big Obstacles,” I addressed the challenges manufacturers and distributors face as they initiate and grow their ecommerce operations. One of those challenges is to identify what department ...
Business > Merchant Voice
7 free ways to keep your customers happy and reassured

February 17, 2014 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

There are a number of things you can do that cost nothing but offer your customers satisfaction, reassurance, and acknowledgement. 1. Keep your customers informed This is such an obvious thing to ...
Payments
Credit Card Provider Sued for ‘Deceptive’ Tactics

February 13, 2014 • Phil Hinke

Heartland Payment Systems, one of the largest credit card providers in the U.S., stated in a press release that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Mercury Payment Systems, also ...
Business
How to sell your ecommerce business for a high valuation

February 13, 2014 • Manish Shah

I just finished reading Built to Sell, a book by John Warrillow that describes a fictional business owner who is struggling to sell his company. The cover of the book ...
B2B
4 Keys for Effective B-to-B Ecommerce

February 11, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Business-to-business ecommerce describes Internet-enabled transactions between businesses, such as a manufacturer and a wholesaler, a wholesaler and a retailers, or a wholesaler and a business user. The B-to-B ecommerce market ...
Finance
Amazon 2013 Financial Results Signal Changes in 2014

February 11, 2014 • Marcia Kaplan

After a few dismal quarters, Amazon turned a profit in the pivotal fourth quarter of 2013 and for the full fiscal year, despite losses in the second and third quarters.
B2B
B-to-B Ecommerce: Big Opportunity, with Obstacles

February 10, 2014 • Dale Traxler

Business-to-business merchants face ecommerce challenges that are different from their business-to-consumer counterparts. This has slowed the entry into ecommerce for many B-to-B manufacturers and distributors. Forrester Research projected 2013 B-to-B ecommerce ...
Business
Lessons Learned: Forced Time Off Sews a Passion

February 5, 2014 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Having multiple sclerosis-like symptoms became a blessing for Shelley Mitchell. Born in Taiwan, she relocated to Melbourne, Australia with her meteorologist father and music-teacher mother when she was 13. Her grandmother had ...
Business
5 Niches for a New Ecommerce Business

February 5, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Starting an online retail business begins with knowing what products to sell. Entrepreneurs have many reasons for starting an ecommerce business. For some, they have a passion for a particular product,
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
Does 2014 mark the beginning of the end for Amazon?

January 31, 2014 • Richard Stubbings

Probably not, but it is certainly going to be a difficult year for Amazon in Europe. Legislation in Europe is significantly different than in the U.S, in two major ways,
Business
January 2014 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

January 30, 2014 • PEC Staff

Each month we compile a list of the ten most popular articles we published that month, based on the number of page views. Here are our ten most popular articles ...
Business > Merchant Voice
The formula to online success, from ‘Lessons Learned’ merchants

January 29, 2014 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Since March 2012, I’ve been writing the monthly “Lessons Learned” column, which has profiled online merchants selling products ranging from remedies for intestinal problems (“Trusting your Gut to Online Success”)
Business
7 (simple, free) things to boost conversions

January 27, 2014 • Jordan Lindberg

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle Make it a 2014 strategic goal of your company to increase your web store’s conversion rate. Even a small increase in ...