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
Jody Hartwig Of Netconcepts On Microsoft’s Live Search Cashback

June 5, 2008 • PEC Staff

Jody Hartwig is the Vice President of eBusiness at Netconcepts, a company specializing in natural search marketing and ecommerce. She joins Practical eCommerce Publisher Kerry Murdock to discuss Microsoft’s new ...
Business
Shopping Carts: The Umpteenth Time’s The Charm

May 28, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons

Name: Chris “Cartel” English Title: Director of Online Sales Companies: HipHopNow, PetsRight, Ramco Worldwide URLs: Petsright.com (under construction), Ramcoworldwide.com Used Miva Script at first “I originally had a hosting account with SimpleNet before Yahoo! purchased it, and Sim...
Business
Exporting Requires Formal Agreements

May 28, 2008 • Hal Selim

When considering exporting to foreign markets, you must protect yourself legally. It is crucial that your business relationship with the foreign entity representing you is documented in an agreement. Furthermore, you must also take the appropriate steps to protect your intellectual asse...
Business
Field Test: Shopping Carts, Part Two Of Three

May 27, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce has gathered twelve seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month's topic is shopping carts. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Justin Hertz, Mut...
Business
Field Test: Shopping Carts, Part One Of Three

May 21, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce has gathered twelve seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month's topic is shopping carts. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Justin Hertz, Mut...
Business
Lessons Learned: Scanpancookware.com Owner Allan Regenbaum

May 12, 2008 • PEC Staff

"Lessons Learned" is an occasional series where we ask seasoned ecommerce professionals about their mistakes and successes. For this installment, we've asked Allan Regenbaum, owner of Keylan, Inc., a company that sells cookware, coffee machines and fitness products online. Keylan, Inc. ...
Business
Damon Schechter, CEO and Founder of Shipwire

May 9, 2008 • PEC Staff

Damon Schechter is CEO and Founder of Shipwire, a shipping and storage solution for ecommerce merchants. He joins Practical eCommerce Publisher Kerry Murdock to discuss Shipwire and how it can ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Shopping Search Engines: Six To Consider

May 7, 2008 • Bill Hartzer

If you consider yourself an online retailer, you most likely are familiar with the major pay-per-click (PPC) search-advertising providers: Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN. Advertising on these search engines can bring sales to your site. However, you may be missing out on a lot...
Fraud Prevention
Many Effective Tools to Detect Stolen Credit Cards, Part 3 of 3

May 5, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

This is the third and final installment in a series outlining and explaining tools to identify and prevent credit card fraud. Previously, we discussed different methods of verification and geographic order tracking. Here are a few more methods you can use to combat fraud. Fraud scoring...
Business
Conversion: Proflowers.com Ranks High

May 5, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

When Nielsen Online releases its list of highest converting ecommerce websites, Proflowers.com is frequently in the top ten. The latest numbers has it at a stunning 15 percent conversion rate. I'm always open to learn from the best, and while I'm not going to do a page-by-page review o...
Fraud Prevention
Effective Tools to Detect Stolen Credit Cards, Part 2 Of 3

May 5, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

Many online merchants are already on board with fraud-detection technology. To fill in the gaps, here is part two of a comprehensive list of fraud detection strategies. Previously we discussed authorization and address and credit card verification. Here are five more ways to catch fraud...
Business
Jason Keenan, Media Advisor with ICANN

May 2, 2008 • PEC Staff

Jason Keenan is the Media Advisor with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers, which regulates domain names globally. ICANN was created in 1998 to perform various Internet ...
Business
Saatchi-gallery.uk.co Promotes Art And Artists

May 1, 2008 • PEC Staff

In 1973 advertising executive Charles Saatchi bought his first painting. It was a realist work that depicted suburban houses. He’s since been called the world’s most voracious collector of contemporary art. In 1985, he opened his own gallery, The Saatchi Gallery. In 2006, the gallery la...
Fraud Prevention
Effective Tools to Detect Stolen Credit Cards, Part 1 Of 3

April 30, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

There are hundreds of branded tools that ecommerce merchants can turn to for help in catching fraudulent credit card orders. Some tools are free, and some come bundled or offered as additional features in payment processing systems like Authorize.net and Google Checkout. Others can be s...
Business
Rhett McNulty, Chief Operating Officer of ShopIt

April 25, 2008 • PEC Staff

Rhett McNulty is Chief Operating Officer for ShopIt, a social networking sales application for ecommerce merchants. He joins Practical eCommerce's Kerry Murdock to discuss ShopIt and the value of social ...
Fraud Prevention
Interview: Authorize.Net President On Fraud Prevention

April 23, 2008 • PEC Staff

Authorize.Net, a CyberSource Solution, is a leading payment gateway company with many years experience in combating credit card fraud. We asked Roy Banks, President of Authorize.Net, about common errors that merchants make with fraud prevention. PeC: What's the biggest fraud-prevention...
Fraud Prevention
Credit Card Fraud: How Big Is The Problem?

April 23, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

Reports of website data breaches, identity theft and credit card fraud are increasingly in the news. But is the problem as widespread as the coverage suggests? Anyone who collects payments or customer information online runs the risk of being targeted by thieves. However, the likeliho...
Business
Insuring Against Fraud, Data Breaches

April 17, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

A few insurance companies provide policies for credit card fraud and data breaches, covering both a merchant's hard cost of fraudulent sales and any liability for data breaches. AIG, the publicly-traded insurance company, was one of the first. AIG's insurance policy AIG has offered W...
Business
Merchants Liable For Data Breaches

April 17, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

What do online merchants Art.com, Geeks.com and Bananas.com have in common? They're three in a small, but growing, list of ecommerce sites hacked for their customer's credit card data. Not only are there legal ramifications for not protecting customers' private data, but breached comp...
Business
Legal: Security Regulation Is Coming

April 16, 2008 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

Let's consider the problem first. It wasn't until 1997 that credit cards could be "securely" used online. Obviously the definition of "securely" was rather subjective, but the consuming public was told to trust the new world of ecommerce. Ten years later, data breaches and related ident...
Business
Michael Stebbins, CEO and Co-founder of MarketMotive

April 11, 2008 • PEC Staff

MarketMotive CEO and Co-founder Michael Stebbins joins Practical eCommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss MarketMotive’s subscription-based consulting, lessons and strategy help for ecommerce merchants.
Business
Lessons Learned: Wetsuitwearhouse.com's Moleskie

April 9, 2008 • PEC Staff

"Lessons Learned" is an occasional series where we ask seasoned ecommerce professionals about their mistakes and successes. For this installment, we've asked Chris Moleskie, owner and president of Wetsuit Wearhouse, Inc., a Hagerstown, Md.-based online retailer of wetsuits and accessori...
Business
Quick Query: PayPal Exec On Payment Disputes

April 7, 2008 • PEC Staff

Many ecommerce merchants allow customers to pay for their products using PayPal, the popular payment service that's owned by eBay. But some of these merchants say PayPal unfairly sides with customers if the customers dispute legitimate purchases. We asked Colin Rule, PayPal's Director o...
Fraud Prevention
Field Test: Fraud Prevention, Part 3 of 3

March 31, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is fraud prevention. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Chris Stump, Only Hamm...
Business
Interview: ICANN Official On The Domain Name Infrastructure

March 26, 2008 • PEC Staff

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers, or ICANN, coordinates the domain name system globally. ICANN was created in 1998 to perform various Internet administrative tasks previously done by a range of bodies including universities, private companies and the U.S. governme...
Business
Vertus President and CEO James Carr-Jones

March 26, 2008 • PEC Staff

Carr-Jones and Kerry Murdock talk about Bling! It, Vertus’ new photo-editing software designed to improve product photos.
Business
Bloglist: Eric Leuenberger

March 24, 2008 • PEC Staff

Name: Eric Leuenberger, Owner Company: Enhanced Concepts, Inc. In Bloglist, we ask ecommerce professionals to identify their favorite blogs. For this installment, we asked Eric Leuenberger, ecommerce conversion expert and owner of Enhanced Concepts, Inc. Entrepreneurs-journey.com T...
Fraud Prevention
Field Test: Fraud Prevention, Part 2 of 3

March 24, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is fraud prevention. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Chris Stump, Only Hamm...
Fraud Prevention
Field Test: Fraud Prevention, Part 1 of 3

March 19, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is fraud prevention. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Justin Hertz, MuttMart...
Business
Exporting Your Products: First Learn The Terminology

March 10, 2008 • Hal Selim

To sell products overseas, you will need to learn the international buying and selling terminology, also referred to as "Incoterms 2000" (or, International Commercial Terms). These were first developed in 1936 by the International Chamber of Commerce , which adopted 13 Incoterms to make...