Ecommerce Blog Posts
The Growing Impact of Ongoing E-commerce Supply Chain and Fulfillment Issues
It’s been more than two years since the first substantial wave of impacts hit the economy, and we’re still feeling the aftershocks. Supply chains continue to buckle under the pressure of increased demand and months of disruption across the globe, and fulfillment has become an urgent, ongoing concern for most companies. A recent Accenture survey shows that 94% of Fortune 1000 companies saw supply chain disruptions in the last two years, and 55% of those companies have downgraded or plan to downgrade their growth outlook as a result. If the big guys can’t weather the storm, how are small businesses… Read More
4 Things to Know Before Setting up an Amazon Seller Account
Amazon is the world’s largest marketplace, offering third party sellers a chance to participate in more than $150 billion in annual sales. But unlike marketplaces of the past or more open-ended markets like eBay, Amazon has a number of rules and regulations you’ll need to follow before you are even approved as a seller on the site. To help you prepare for the process of starting your own Amazon Seller Account, we’ve outlined four things you need to know to get started. Article text continues below video version. This video is made using InVideo.io 1. Should You Become an Amazon… Read More
How E-Commerce Companies Can Use Instagram to Drive Sales
With 800 million monthly active users, Instagram has a built-in audience for e-commerce companies. The social media network only sits behind Facebook and YouTube when it comes to monthly users, and it only trails Facebook in daily users. Instagram users don’t just look at pictures. Many have deep pockets, and they are more than willing to spend that money. Sixty percent of Instagram users find new products on the site. That’s no surprise when you consider that Instagram has the highest follower interaction rate of any social media network, if you are going to be working with influencers be sure… Read More
How Ecommerce Companies Should Handle Returns
Returns are a necessary part of any ecommerce business. Business 2 Community reports that customers return 30 percent of all online orders while they return only 8.89 percent from brick and mortar stores. It’s especially true when the buyer is sending a gift. While you can’t do anything about hurt feelings, a company that handles returns well with a clear policy can keep customers loyal even when they have trouble. Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re handling ecommerce returns. A Policy for Handling eCommerce Returns Businesses used to see returns as only a problem. It costs… Read More
What Does the GDPR Mean for Your Ecommerce Business?
If you make international sales through your ecommerce business, you may have heard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) recently enacted by the European Union, but you might not really understand how it will impact you. However, with the GDPR going into effect on May 25, 2018, it’s important to be aware of the new requirements it will put in place concerning the ways you collect data from your customers and the steps you’ll need to take to ensure the security of that data. What Is the GDPR? The GDPR is a new regulation that governs the collection, storage… Read More
eBay Sales Tax Fraud
Possibly some of the most difficult and confusing tax laws that online sellers have to deal with are sales tax laws. Part of what makes these laws such a headache is that they are different for every state, and the nature of your business combined with a particular state’s laws will determine if you have to collect and remit sales tax on purchases made by customers in that state. These determinations must be made for each state, and for any state you do have to collect sales tax in, you first have to register for and receive a permit to… Read More
Your Ecommerce Business – Choosing What to Outsource
Time is money. It’s not just a saying – there is a physical limitation on how many hours you can work in a week. Many entrepreneurs are workaholics, but often it’s because we try to do too much. We think success will come just by putting in more hours. Instead, we need to consider how to work smarter, and a key element to that is to determine which tasks you can outsource and finding a reliable resource to handle that work. Reducing the number of tasks on your to-do list, especially “grunt work”, can lead to increased profitability for your… Read More
Ecommerce Trends to Prepare for in 2018
As the end of the year gets closer, it’s important to start looking ahead to 2018 and make preparations for your business moving forward. The ecommerce landscape is ever-changing, and in order to stay competitive, you need to be on top of the latest trends. Of course, a new year doesn’t mean a complete overhaul of the way things are done, and so a lot of what is to come is simply a continuation of what’s going on now in the online retail marketplace. However, because of the fast-paced nature of changes in this area, it’s essential that you review… Read More