Covid-19
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Marketing & Advertising
Live Streaming Connects with Pandemic-driven Consumers
July 19, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Small and mid-sized ecommerce businesses can use live streaming to sell like QVC and HSN, introducing and demonstrating products as well as providing helpful content. And deploying live streaming now can take advantage of consumers' new, pandemic-driven buying habits.
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Business
Covid-19 Accelerates Retail’s Digital Transformation
July 16, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Retail's digital transformation, which is the concept of using new digital technology to address business performance, has been ongoing for decades. Covid-19 has forced retailers to invest more money into new technologies and implement those technologies much more quickly than otherwise planned.
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Business
Letting Workers Go Because of Covid-19
July 5, 2020 • Armando Roggio
During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many retailers have furloughed or laid off workers. While this is never an easy process, good communication may help make it relatively less emotional and painful for everyone involved.
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Payments
Are QR Codes an Option for Contactless Payments?
June 29, 2020 • Mike Eckler
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, many physical-store merchants considered contactless payments to be a fad. My previous article addressed near field communication, the technology that powers most contactless payment methods in North America. In this post, I will examine an NFC alternative: QR codes.
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Business
Will the Pandemic Impact Christmas 2020 Ecommerce Sales?
June 21, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic that shuttered much of the worldwide economy in the first half of this year may yet impact Christmas 2020. In this post, I'll address a few coronavirus-related scenarios and offer suggestions for how ecommerce merchants can assess the potential impact on their company's holiday sales.
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Payments
Covid-19, NFC, and the Future of Contactless Payments
June 2, 2020 • Mike Eckler
Once touted as the future, contactless payments never achieved mass popularity. Shoppers preferred the familiar swipe, dip, PIN-entry, and signature. The Covid-19 pandemic will likely change that as consumers are now more conscious of what they touch.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
New U.K. ecommerce businesses need guidance
May 28, 2020 • Richard Stubbings
It has been two months since we started the lockdown in the U.K. It seems longer. One thing has occurred during the lockdown that I did not predict but is obvious in hindsight: There has been an explosion of small internet businesses.
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Business
Building Community with a Remote Team
May 21, 2020 • Armando Roggio
A remote workforce has always had its advantages, such as access to a large pool of top-notch talent. But the coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies accustomed to physical offices to start working remotely.
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Customer Retention
Building Trust during the Pandemic Drives Long-term Loyalty
May 20, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
As most U.S. states start to reopen, it's easy to consider ditching temporary coronavirus policies. Instead, online businesses should focus on retaining customers and addressing concerns. Consider the following pointers.
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Business
Will New Ecommerce Sellers Squeeze Existing Merchants?
May 15, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic has forced some brick-and-mortar businesses to focus on ecommerce, but this shift in focus is not likely to stop many permanent closures. There is a parallel between the virus and its economic impact: Patients and businesses that are already in poor health are much more likely to die from the infection.
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Local Business
Bankruptcies, Layoffs Deplete the Retail Industry
May 14, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
At the beginning of 2020 several brick-and-mortar chain retailers were struggling, trying to restructure debt or find new lenders while dealing with plummeting revenues. The Covid-19 pandemic has closed stores and effectively made those efforts pointless.
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Shipping & Fulfillment
The Good News and Bad News for Ecommerce Shipping
May 10, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce sales are up and shipping carriers such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx have responded admirably to demand in the face of numerous coronavirus-induced shutdowns and restrictions. That is the good news for ecommerce sellers. Unfortunately, supply chains have suffered. That’s the bad news.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amid Covid-19, Amazon’s Q1 2020 Earnings Confirm Ecommerce Dominance
May 7, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
On April 30 Amazon announced its 2020 first-quarter results. As anticipated, its total earnings for the three months ended March 31 were exceptionally strong — about $33 million an hour in sales.
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Conversion
Pandemic Alters Retail Return Policies
May 4, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic has forced retailers large and small to make significant, temporary changes to their return practices. Since March, retailers have handled returns in two ways, generally.
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Finance
Alternative Funding Sources for the Covid-19 Crisis
May 1, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
The Paycheck Protection Program has mostly not reached the intended beneficiaries. There is not enough money, and loans to date have often gone to large businesses. What follows are some options for small businesses.
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Conversion
25 Global B2B Exchanges for Supply Chain Diversity
April 29, 2020 • Gagan Mehra
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted supply chains, forcing distributors and retailers to find alternative product sources. Global B2B exchanges have existed for years. What follows is a list of 25 leading B2B exchanges.
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Analytics & Data
Using Google Analytics to Respond to Covid-19
April 28, 2020 • Morgan Jones
Google Analytics can identify pandemic-related problems and opportunities for your ecommerce business. I'll explain in this post.
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Business
Coronavirus Shutdown Drives Click-and-collect Ecommerce
April 27, 2020 • Armando Roggio
Even before the coronavirus-induced shutdown, click-and-collect ecommerce was growing quickly. But now as many Americans stay at home or keep their distance to flatten the Covid-19 curve, some unexpected businesses are taking online orders for pick up, too.
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Customer Service
Need Sales in the Pandemic? Boost Customer Service
April 23, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
As the coronavirus keeps millions of people at home, traffic to online stores continues to increase. According to Statista, even non-essential purchases are shifting online. The keys for businesses are two-fold: encourage sales during the shutdown and retain as many new customers afterward.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Planning my business for a new world
April 23, 2020 • Richard Stubbings
Journalists in the U.K. keep pressing the government about ending the Covid-19 lockdown. Governmental leaders prefer not to say, concentrating on the here and now. A business, however, should plan now for the end of the lockdown. How will your company operate?
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Email Marketing
5 Email Marketing Tips during the Pandemic
April 21, 2020 • Carolyn Nye
Most ecommerce companies rely on email marketing. But the Covid-19 shutdown requires an evaluation of email frequency and tone, among other tactics. In this post, I'll address how to manage email marketing during the pandemic.
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Marketing & Advertising
Marketing in the Pandemic Creates Opportunities Afterward
April 17, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything. Retail shopping habits have been upended. Businesses that attract new customers and retain existing ones — right now — could recover or grow quickly when the economy reopens and moves forward.
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Finance
Impact of Covid-19 on 2020 Startup Investments, IPOs
April 16, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
Initial public offerings underperformed in the last half of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. That set the stage for an undesirable climate. Then came Covid-19.
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B2B
Covid-19 Accelerates Change for B2B Distributors
April 15, 2020 • Lori McDonald
Last year, in "How to Prosper as a B2B Distributor," I addressed the urgent need for wholesale distributors to evolve. I explained the necessity of migrating to a self-serve digital shopping experience. Covid-19 has accelerated that need.
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Customer Retention
Tips to Retain Online Customers after the Pandemic
April 14, 2020 • Pamela Hazelton
The coronavirus is raising the visibility of ecommerce among consumers. Merchants, especially those selling so-called "essential" goods, have experienced a boost in sales. What follows are tips to consider now, to help retain those new customers when the pandemic passes.
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Business
11 Online Tools for Video Meetings
April 13, 2020 • Sig Ueland
The usage of video conferencing tools is exploding due to the surge in remote workers from Covid-19. Video conferencing can facilitate meetings, particularly when many platforms offer extensive features for free or very little cost. Here is a list of video conferencing tools to run meetings.
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Fraud Prevention
Ecommerce Fraud Detection during the Pandemic
April 13, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic has led to significant changes in consumer purchase behavior and raised concerns about ecommerce fraud. Fortunately, overall ecommerce fraud does not appear to have risen disproportionately to the number of online purchases.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
How Covid-19 affects U.K. businesses
April 10, 2020 • Richard Stubbings
Unsurprisingly, many ecommerce businesses in the U.K. have reported an increase in sales during the pandemic. Sales of fashion, clothing, and luxury items, however, have dropped. The U.K. government has put in place measures that should help my business and many others.
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Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for May 2020
April 5, 2020 • Armando Roggio
The coronavirus pandemic will almost certainly be the top news story in May 2020 as it was in March and April. But there are still opportunities for marketers to publish content that will attract an audience.
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Staffing
TaxJar CEO on Managing a Remote, 160-employee Team
April 3, 2020 • Kerry Murdock
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing many companies to adjust to a home-based workforce. TaxJar, a sales-tax compliance platform, has been entirely remote since its founding seven years ago. All 160 employees work remotely, mainly from their homes. Mark Faggiano is founder and CEO of TaxJar. I recently spoke with him about managing a large, distant workforce.
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