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
MonsterCommerce Co-founder Stephanie Leffler ‘Juggles’ New Venture

December 15, 2009 • PEC Staff

Stephanie Leffler started selling sun protection products online while in college. That was around the year 2000. She became frustrated with her web developer and she decided to produce, with her partner, a shopping cart herself. That cart became MonsterCommerce, an early day hosted ...
Fraud Prevention
The PeC Review: Filtrbox for Reputation Management

December 11, 2009 • Armando Roggio

An increasingly social Internet has transformed Facebooking moms, tweeting trend-followers, and Digging teens into powerful brand and product influencers. And as your ecommerce business grows, you should be concerned about what these social Internet influencers are saying regarding yo...
Business
Lessons Learned: Fairytale Brownies Relies on Catalogs, Empowers Employees

December 9, 2009 • Kate Monteith

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business executives to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed David Kravetz, the catalog and web team leader of Fairytale Brownies, an online brownie gift store based in Phoenix, Ariz. Fairytale Brow...
Business
Lessons Learned: Boyd Badten of PrintingForLess.com

December 3, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business executives to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Boyd Badten, director of technical service for PrintingForLess.com, a pioneering, online printing company located in Livingston, Mont. ...
Business
Merchant Talk: Self-published Author Migrates to Ecommerce

November 26, 2009 • PEC Staff

“Merchant Talk” is our weekly discussion with a practicing ecommerce merchant. For this installment, we visited with Jill Exler, the founder and CEO of Jexbo.com, an ecommerce site for ...
Business
Quick Query: Internet-related Patents In Jeopardy, Attorney Says

November 25, 2009 • PEC Staff

Doing business on the Internet requires the use of sophisticated software and complicated processes. Many of these innovative products have been patented. Google, Amazon and others hold many hundreds of patents, but the U.S. Supreme Court may be about to greatly restrict the issuance ...
Business
QuickBooks 2010 Helps Merchants “Go Paperless”

November 23, 2009 • PEC Staff

QuickBooks is the leader in small-business accounting software. According to Intuit, which produces QuickBooks, nearly 50 million people use it or a similar Intuit product. Intuit releases a new version of QuickBooks annually. The 2010 version was just released on Intuit's site. The ...
Business > Merchant Voice
UPS vs. FedEx vs. USPS. Which is best?

November 20, 2009 • Ken Kikkawa

The holiday craziness begins a week from today. But long before the anticipated ramp up in sales takes place, experienced merchants have already taken a look at an important component ...
Business
Bloglist: Sean Schofield, Creator of Spree Ecommerce

November 19, 2009 • PEC Staff

"Bloglist" is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce professionals the blogs that they read and why. For this installment, we asked Sean Schofield, the creator of the Spree open-source ecommerce platform and a Practical Ecommerce blogger.
Payments
When a Shopping Cart is Not PCI Compliant: Three Options for Merchants

November 19, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Earlier this week, Practical eCommerce shared three important questions to ask about your shopping cart. Today, as part of our ongoing PCI compliance series, I’ll take a look at options for ecommerce merchants currently using a shopping cart that is not PA-DSS (payment application data...
Payments
PCI Compliance: Three Important Questions to Ask About Your Shopping Cart

November 17, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

There are a number of matters an ecommerce business must address to become PCI compliant. For one, an online merchant’s shopping cart must be certified via the PCI's PA-DSS process. A merchant's web hosting environment and payment gateway have to be secure. And a merchant’s own inter...
Business
Quick Query: Shopping Cart Developer on PCI Compliance

November 16, 2009 • PEC Staff

Editor’s note: Payment Card Industry compliance is a requirement for ecommerce merchants. In an email to Practical eCommerce, PCI Security Standards Council General Manager Bob Russo stated, “All businesses that accept credit card data must be compliant with the DSS (Data Security Sta...
Business
The PeC Review: Onehub Enables Virtual Collaboration

November 13, 2009 • Armando Roggio

As an online merchant’s business grows, it is important to add new staff that will manage such things as operations, fulfillment, marketing, design, and customer service. But adding staff and growing an ecommerce business does not necessarily mean leasing office space and hiring locally...
Business
Lessons Learned: Micheline Hellwege of The Collector’s Hub

November 11, 2009 • Kate Monteith

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Micheline Hellwege, owner of The Collector's Hub, an online store based in Howell, Mich. The Collector's Hub sells collectibles, figurines and...
Business
Merchant Talk: Cynthia Snyder of YonderStar.com

November 9, 2009 • PEC Staff

Merchant Talk is a weekly discussion with an actual ecommerce merchant. The new Practical eCommerce segment gives small, online business owners an opportunity to hear from their peers in the ecommerce space. For this inaugural Merchant Talk we spoke with Cynthia Snyder, owner of YonderS...
Business
Lessons Learned: Will Seippel of GoAntiques

November 5, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed William (Will) Seippel, CEO and chairman of WorthPoint, the parent company of GoAntiques, a subscription-based information service for antique...
Business
Quick Query: NearbyNow Retools for the Recession

November 4, 2009 • PEC Staff

Running a business is challenging in the best of economic climates, but during a recession it can be especially trying. Scott Dunlap, CEO of NearbyNow, understands that. NearbyNow was founded in 2005 to simplify shopping for consumers who browse online but buy in physical stores. The...
Business
Lessons Learned: Lori Karmel of We Take The Cake

October 29, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

"Lessons Learned" is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Lori Karmel, owner of We Take The Cake, a bakery located in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. We Take The Cake's gourmet creations have been featured on F...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Fulfillment: Guidelines for Outsourcing

October 27, 2009 • John Lindberg

As the owner of a fulfillment company, I’ve gathered a number of tips and discovered an assortment of traps over the years. If you’re thinking about outsourcing your warehousing, shipping, and returns processing, let me suggest that you follow these guidelines. They will help you find a...
Amazon & Marketplaces
PeC Review: Sellit Makes Marketplaces Social

October 23, 2009 • Armando Roggio

A new "self-promotion" tool lets merchants selling on Yahoo!, CafePress, Etsy, or Cartfly promote their products on leading social media sites, access a social media advertising network, and post a Flash-based widget on their blog or other sites. Sellit is a "bolt-on" solution that pr...
Business
Ecommerce Know-How: Sole Proprietorship, S Corporation or LLC?

October 22, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Launching an ecommerce business can be confusing. An entrepreneur must choose a shopping cart and find sources for inventory. And, there are questions regarding accounting, liability, and filing regulatory documents. Those questions can create enough confusion to halt the journey befor...
Business
Lessons Learned: Enstrom Candies Co-owner Jamee Simons

October 22, 2009 • Ankush Agarwal

“Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Jamee Simons, co-owner of Enstrom Candies Inc., a ...
Business
Yahoo! Reports Third Quarter Earnings, Proclaims “Economy Starting to Loosen Up”

October 21, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Yahoo! Inc. reported third quarter earnings yesterday that beat Wall Street expectations but didn’t put to rest lingering questions about the health of the display advertising market, which generates a large portion of Yahoo!’s revenue. Reliance on Display Ads Yahoo! reported revenue ...
Business
Quick Query: Attorney Explains New FTC Blogging Guidelines

October 20, 2009 • PEC Staff

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has updated its rules concerning endorsements and testimonials in advertising. Beginning December 1st, the FTC will require bloggers and other reviewers to disclose any payments or free products they receive from advertisers. Julie O'Neill, with the W...
Business
Paid Reviews Subject to Fines Under New FTC Rule

October 13, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

The recently announced changes to the Federal Trade Commission’s "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" are prompting ecommerce merchants to take a closer look at how they advertise and interact with bloggers and reviewers. The changes address endor...
Business
DHGate.com Sources China-made Products

October 12, 2009 • PEC Staff

DHGate.com is an online marketplace of wholesale products from China. The company is located in Beijing and Diane Wang is its founder and CEO. Prior to launching DHGate, she ...
Business
Newegg.com: Common Stock Filing Reveals Fast Growing, Profitable Firm

October 8, 2009 • Kerry Murdock

Newegg.com, the electronics retailer, intends to raise some $175 million through the initial public sale of its common stock. The company filed registration documents with the U. S.
Business > Merchant Voice
Goal Setting with our Teams

October 7, 2009 • Ken Kikkawa

As merchants, entrepreneurs and business drivers we all wear various hats during the course of the day, week or month that sometimes are not part of any job description. One of my principle responsibilities is to set the overall direction and strategy for our company, both long term an...
Business
Lessons Learned: Allstate Sign Plaque Owner Relies on SEO

September 29, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons

“Lessons Learned” is an occasional series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we asked Mark Fick, owner of Allstate Sign ...
Business
Profile: Michigan-based Entrepreneur Reinvents for the eCommerce Age

September 24, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons

John Lindberg, president of eFulfillment Service, is no stranger to change. In 1969, Lindberg founded LPI Corporation in western Michigan, specializing in powder coating of metals used in cars ...