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
Third-party Cookies vs. Consumer Privacy

November 26, 2013 • Dale Traxler

In “The End of Third-party Cookies Should Not Hurt Retailers,” we addressed how third-party cookies affect privacy and ecommerce. After reading that article, I reviewed privacy issues and what other ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Amazon Prime, ShopRunner Forcing Faster Free Shipping

November 22, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Amazon Prime and ShopRunner, which both offer online shoppers free two-day shipping with an annual membership, are changing customer expectations and forcing small and mid-sized online retailers to consider faster ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Focusing on the top 20 percent of your customers

November 18, 2013 • David Sasson

By segmenting customer lifetime value and identifying the top 20 percent, an ecommerce company can develop a focused marketing effort to increase revenues with limited additional spend. As online merchants we ...
Staffing
How to Hire Holiday Ecommerce Help

November 15, 2013 • Armando Roggio

Booming holiday sales require online retailers to pack and ship more orders, respond to more chat sessions, emails and calls, and closely manage marketing campaigns like pay-per-click advertising or promotional ...
Payments
Feds Eyeing Credit Card Processing Industry?

November 14, 2013 • Phil Hinke

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission included merchant account providers in two separate lawsuits it filed against telemarketers earlier this year. The ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Data Feeds Critical for Multichannel Success

November 14, 2013 • Dale Traxler

What do Amazon, TheFind, Sears.com, Rakuten.com, Shopping.com, Google Merchant, mShopper, Nextopia, SLI Systems, Catalogs.com, Shopzilla, Commission Junction, and Vendio have in common? They all require a data feed of your products.
Business
5 Steps to a More Productive Ecommerce Business

November 13, 2013 • Jerry Jao

Ecommerce owners and managers seek improved productivity. Whether you’re looking to scale your business faster, launch new features, or streamline your operations, here are five productivity tips that I practice ...
Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Edges Closer to Implementation

November 12, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been widely criticized for dragging its feet in issuing implementing regulations for equity crowdfunding, which was enabled when the Jobs Act was signed ...
Business
Large Retailers Redefining Ecommerce

November 11, 2013 • Dale Traxler

When showrooming became popular a few years ago, brick-and-mortar retailers realized they needed to change, to compete with lower-priced online stores. Amazon became the target of many brick-and-mortar companies. But ...
Business
Why some owners sell sooner, not later

November 7, 2013 • Manish Shah

When Sam Hogg went into business for himself, he probably never really expected the company he founded to take off as fast as it did. Launched in late 2008, his ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Further Christmas thoughts

November 5, 2013 • Richard Stubbings

It is impossible to ignore Christmas this time of year. It is the single most important season for most ecommerce sites. This is why there are already two excellent columns ...
Business
October 2013 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts

November 1, 2013 • 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
Preparing for the holidays

October 31, 2013 • David Sasson

Consumers always seem to stress about the holiday season. They think about all they have to do in order to have a “good showing.” They need to buy all their ...
Business > Merchant Voice
Are you using social media all wrong?

October 30, 2013 • Jamie Salvatori

Social media is probably the worst advertising vehicle for small ecommerce merchants I’ve found. Well, perhaps advertising on a park bench would be worse, but social media is pretty darned ...
Business > 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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,”
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 ...
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Business > 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 ...