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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 > Merchant Voice
Minimising “lost” Deliveries over Christmas

December 1, 2012 • Richard Stubbings

One of the often forgotten costs of Ecommerce is theft. Either in transit, or “never arrived”. In the current recession too many chancers try to fund their Christmas from the retailer's pocket. Obviously we do everything we reasonably can to minimise this, but no matter what we do, ther...
Shipping & Fulfillment
3 Tips for Holiday Returns and Exchanges

November 28, 2012 • Armando Roggio

When the giddy days of holiday sales end, online retailers frequently need to deal with the inevitable returns and exchanges barrage. But when customer contacts are seen as opportunities, even returns can be a tool to improve an ecommerce business. Online returns and exchanges are a po...
Business > Merchant Voice
Building traffic the right (aka hard) way

November 16, 2012 • Jamie Salvatori

Building an online business starts with traffic. Without traffic, you have no purpose. So, how does one do this? It will take a long time, a lot of hard work, and probably a bit of luck. But you can do it. My website currently receives nearly 50% of its visitors via direct traffic. Thi...
Finance
Third-Quarter Ecommerce Results Bode Well for the 2012 Holiday Season

November 15, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan

The growth in online purchasing continues. In a survey of 1,989 online consumers conducted during the last week of October, digital-tracking firm comScore found that In Q3 2012, online sales grew 15 percent over the same period last year, compared with a two percent year-over-year growt...
Business > Merchant Voice
Why free content can give you excellent SEO but poor subscriber growth

November 15, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Getting customers to sign up to your newsletter – and to keep them – is a challenge most of us face. Those who’ve bought from you once are more likely to buy from you again (especially following an email), and those who are newsletter members are more likely to convert into purchasing ...
Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 4: Negotiations

November 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor's Note: This is "Part 4" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics," "Part 2: Attitude," and “Part 3: Preparation” we published previously. Before starting any negotiations, make s...
Business
Strategies for Free Shipping

November 8, 2012 • Dale Traxler

With the holidays quickly approaching, it's a good time to review your shipping strategies. Free shipping is ubiquitous as ever, even though shipping costs are increasing. If you choose to charge for shipping, even a nominal fixed amount, like $4.99, you risk a shopper abandoning your c...
Business > Merchant Voice
Magento and multi channel selling

November 3, 2012 • Richard Stubbings

These days it is not enough to have a single web site. The E-commerce market keeps evolving and you have to move with it to keep up. When I first started 15 years ago, it was relatively new. It was an extension to your B&M store that brought in extra income. So you have two sales c...
Business > Merchant Voice
7 marketing avenues that have been a waste of time and money, and 4 that haven’t

October 29, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I’ve made plenty of mistakes in running my website business, and spending money on certain marketing vehicles is one of them. 1. People ignore banner ads online When was the last time you clicked on a banner ad online? And bought anything from it? I certainly haven’t and I know fro...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Getting Started with eBay

October 23, 2012 • Armando Roggio

eBay is a global marketplace and an opportunity for online sellers, including businesses as small as garage-based, family operations — or as large as major ecommerce merchants. In the second quarter of 2012, eBay's marketplace helped to sell approximately $3.1 billion in clothing, shoe...
Business
Lessons Learned: T-shirt Retailer Launches in Dorm Room

October 18, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

You’d think running a fledgling beer t-shirt business as a finance and marketing student would get you extra points with your New York University lecturers. But instead, in 2004, it ...
Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 3: Preparation

October 11, 2012 • Phil Hinke

This is "Part 3" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics" and "Part 2: Attitude" we published previously. Note that this series is specific to ecommerce merchants. It can be used as a g...
Business
Descriptive Product Content Produces Sales

October 9, 2012 • Dale Traxler

My wife and I are opening a new business. We are buying a lot of equipment, and I’ve spent more time shopping on ecommerce sites than I have in several years. As a former merchant, I judged those sites themselves almost as much as I did the products I was researching. And I was amazed a...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
The Perils of Amazon Re-Pricing Software – or Beware Amazon Being Helpful

October 4, 2012 • Richard Stubbings

When Amazon first opened their market place to third party sellers, it was mainly books. These sellers had catalogues of tens of thousands of titles, sometimes hundreds of thousands. The competition was fierce and very much price driven. Sellers had little or no chance of competitively ...
Business
Using Past Customers to Help New Shoppers

September 26, 2012 • PEC Staff

Ecommerce merchants strive to answer questions from shoppers. Relevant, helpful answers presumably increase conversion rates. We recently spoke with George Eberstadt, founder and CEO of TurnTo, about his company's system that relies on past customers to answer questions from prospectiv...
Payments
Swipe Fee Settlement Bad, Retailers Say

September 25, 2012 • Armando Roggio

Several retail trade groups and merchant advocates intend to fight a pending antitrust settlement that has Visa and MasterCard paying merchants some $7.2 billion in cash and discounts. The groups claim that the court-approved agreement would perpetuate unfair trade practices, cripple in...
Business > Merchant Voice
Mimic Amazon at your own peril

September 20, 2012 • Jamie Salvatori

Amazon is the largest internet retailer. Copy them and you, too, could end up just like them. Do this at your own peril! In their most recent quarterly results (Q2 2012), Amazon turned in “impressive” results of $7 million in net income on $12.83 billion in sales. That’s the equivalent...
Business
Lessons Learned: Eco-friendly Products Require the Right Ettitude

September 17, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Melbourne-based Phoebe Yu is CEO and founder of Ettitude, an Australian ecommerce site that sells eco-conscious clothing and household goods. Yu’s first role after completing her bachelor's degree at Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade was as a sales and marketing executive for Shangh...
Business > Merchant Voice
12 tips for creating a great customer birthday program

September 16, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

What’s the one thing people are most fond of, after their name? Their birthday! Annual events like Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day roll around every year, and while not everyone celebrates them, everyone has a birthday. Even if something like 19 million people (7 billion ...
Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 2: Attitude

September 12, 2012 • Phil Hinke

This article is "Part 2" in a four-part series on how to lower your debit and credit card costs and obtain more favorable terms and conditions. "Part 1: The Basics" we published last month. Note that this series is specific to ecommerce merchants. It can be used as a general guide b...
Business > Merchant Voice
Oh No, Its Christmas Again

September 6, 2012 • Richard Stubbings

Its September, and Christmas is coming. Like many gift retailers Christmas is our busiest time of the year. Orders double, then triple, then go through the roof. It is a very hectic time of year. It is always better to plan ahead. No doubt you will concentrate in what to stock, and what...
Business
Lessons Learned: Selling Specialty Handbags Expensive

September 6, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Las Vegas-based business duo Christopher Nelson and Tamara Leuty created patented designer handbags with built-in lights that enable you to see what's inside. Then they started a business — Glass Handbag — in late 2010. They received U.S. and international patents for their invention. T...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Top 10 Comparison Shopping Tools of 2012

August 28, 2012 • Armando Roggio

Shopping comparison sites and services let online shoppers compare products' attributes and prices in a relatively neutral environment. These services also give merchants a channel to market to some of the web’s savviest consumers. Several companies track and analyze shopping compariso...
Finance
Ecommerce Shines in the Second Quarter of 2012

August 23, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan

The first half of 2012 continued the 2011 fourth quarter trend of strong ecommerce growth. In Q2, online retail grew nearly four times the rate of total consumer spending in the U.S., according to ecommerce research firm comScore. The Census Bureau reports that U.S. ecommerce sales in Q...
Staffing
Outsourcing v. Hiring In-house: Pros and Cons

August 22, 2012 • Dale Traxler

Looking back at my 10-years of managing a growing ecommerce business, I realize that online retailing is not simple. It requires many specialized skills and resources to succeed. I've listed some of these, below. Website design and development. A moving target, with new releases, d...
B2B
Use a PIM to Manage Cross-Channel Product Details

August 21, 2012 • Armando Roggio

As an online retail business grows, managing product data can become a monumental task. Product information management solutions can help keep track of product data — descriptions, photography, and even pricing information — improve accuracy, and ensure good customer shopping experience...
Inventory
3 Tips for Making Better Product Decisions

August 16, 2012 • Armando Roggio

Purchasing inventory wisely is an important part of any online retail business, since buying too little of a product might leave virtual shelves bare just when shoppers want something and buying too much can diminish capital and restrict cash flow. Often the secret to making better pur...
Business > Merchant Voice
Whatever I’m doing, I’m not doing it right

August 16, 2012 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

One of the best things about Practical eCommerce is that you can learn from the wonderful articles and from the advice that online retailers give. However, sometimes a little knowledge is worse than none at all. I'm doing something, but whatever it is isn't right... More unique visito...
Payments
How to Lower Credit Card Processing Costs and Obtain Better Terms, Part 1: The Basics

August 13, 2012 • Phil Hinke

Editor’s Note: Contributor Phil Hinke is a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now consults with merchants to help lower their processing costs, believing the credit card industry ...
Finance
Ecommerce Acquisitions, Mergers, and Partnerships — What You Need to Know

August 8, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan

In the late 1990s, ecommerce vendors looked to brick and mortar retailers for marketing tips and best practices. Now, as more people shop online and abandon brick and mortar stores, retail chains are turning to online merchants for advice. That's because web-only sellers have shown th...

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