eCommerce Blog

When it comes to processing payments, staying up to date on available technologies is crucial to protecting your business and your customers.

However simple it may appear on the surface, payment processing is a technical business largely focused on reducing fraud and staying ahead of the next cybersecurity threat. Apart from protecting your business, staying current also helps it run smoothly and deliver a delightful customer experience.

Luckily for you, there are some new technologies that[...]

All businesses need a website. In fact, in today's internet-focused world, the lack of a website will put any business at a disadvantage. With a website, a business can provide potential customers with up-to-date information, news, product and service announcements, and all the information needed to catch and retain customer interest. A website broadens a business's audience and helps to nurture customer relationships. Without a website, a business will miss out on these benefits and find[...]

For all of the effort, time, and money we pour into marketing and sales, how do we define success? It’s easy to point to revenue or customer acquisition, concrete metrics that boost your bottom line in a measurable way.

But there’s one thing your website has to do really well before we get there: build trust and credibility. No matter what you sell or who your customers are, without trust, there’s no sale. Every sale, every customer relationship depends on the customer’s willingness to trust in[...]

Whether you’re advertising your ecommerce business on another site or trying to direct your own traffic to a particular product, banners serve both purposes. Done right, they are visually appealing and can entice shoppers to buy more from your ecommerce store.

Amazon’s scrolling banner ads are a great example.

Even if you’re using other forms of advertising or marketing, banners can be a great addition to the mix. Why? Banner ads can help with brand recognition. When a shopper keeps seeing your[...]

Shopping cart abandonment has plagued online store owners for years. As new technology develops, we’ve been able to better understand and address the causes of abandonment. But with these new solutions, technology has also brought new challenges.

Mobile shopping.

Shopping done on mobile devices now accounts for over a third of all retail ecommerce. That number is only set to grow in the coming years, so it’s nothing to scoff at. If that sounds great, like your customers can shop from anywhere,[...]

Selling on Amazon is an exciting prospect. Your products can be out there on the world's largest marketplace, where every day millions of shoppers hunt for their most-desired items.

If you want to start selling on Amazon as soon as possible, this guide is for you. We'll walk you through account creation, listing your products, and more. We'll also provide you with tips to help you build your Amazon strategy and get more sales.

To start, the first thing you need to do is create your seller[...]

Having been in the eCommerce business for more than a decade, I find it mildly amusing when new members of our eCommerce training course say that their biggest concern is the actual building of a website. It is understandable; of course, I'm sure that I was pretty overwhelmed at the concept back in the day, although it was so long and so many websites ago, I can't really remember.

The fact is, actually building your online store is the EASIEST part of setting up a web based business. Ecommerce[...]

In today’s competitive landscape, brands see customer loyalty programs as one of the key facilitators to grow their business. According to the research group Colloquy, there are 2.65 billion loyalty program memberships in the U.S. alone. In fact, companies spend a staggering $2 billion on loyalty programs every year.

Although companies embark on these initiatives with great enthusiasm, they aren’t really aware of how well their loyalty programs are working. That’s because most businesses lack[...]

Marketing automation – heard of it? Over the last few years, software built to automate marketing has sprung up everywhere, and email marketing isn’t left in the dust.

The main selling point behind email automation is that it enables marketers to catch the consumer at the right moment, when they’re ready to buy.

Like any new technology, plenty of marketers hopped right on board. As an ecommerce business owner, you’re a little more cautious. You want to see how this new tech plays out, to find[...]

For every e-commerce company that exists, there is another with a similar offering and similar products.

Customers don’t have to shop with you and in most cases, they have no loyalty to you. So, if you want your e-commerce business to succeed you need to have a serious think about your pricing because it will play an important role in how well it sells.

More specifically, you need to think about how you optimize your pricing. Pricing optimization is an ongoing approach that seeks to help you[...]

People shop on eBay because they're looking for desired items at the best possible price they can get. You know they're looking for bargains, so you can make your own listings stand out from the crowd with eBay promotions. All customers everywhere are more likely to buy when a promotion is in effect, and in fact, 75% of eBay customers are hunting for promotions specifically!

You can set up eBay promotions with the eBay Promotions Manager, which gives you several options. To get started, enter[...]

Starting a business is a long, involved process, but you can make it a lot easier on yourself by following a structured plan.

The secret to completing any task is knowing what to do, and when and how to do it — and while starting a business might seem like a massive undertaking, it really isn't if you break it down appropriately. The process is long and involved, but like everything else, it's just a matter of completing the steps one by one until you get there!

This checklist will summarize[...]

Website development is a tricky concept that many retailers and businessmen are still trying to figure out.

Designing your own e-commerce website is definitely not an easy feat, especially if it’s your first time. E-commerce websites are not just a place where you find product listings and scores of catalogs. No, the platform offers customers a comprehensive shopping experience, and that includes the page design and payment options etc. as well. Building a shopping website is just the first[...]

Is your business making use of the ecommerce opportunity at your fingertips?

When we talk about ecommerce, most of us imagine retail powerhouses like Amazon or Wayfair – but the B2B ecommerce potential is even bigger. In fact, the business ecommerce market topped $7.7 trillion in 2017. That’s a huge opportunity.

Why the popularity of ecommerce for B2B transactions? There are a lot of reasons for ecommerce’s growth in B2B sales, but the biggest reason isn’t so different from the B2C world:[...]

The world of commerce is turning away from physical storefronts and going digital. It seems like customers can buy almost anything online nowadays, and more customers love the ease of online purchasing.

With big-name businesses like Amazon leading the way in the online frontier, it’s no wonder so many physical businesses are transitioning to the digital sphere. This transition is a natural step, but it’s easier said than done. There are a lot of things to consider when moving online, and you[...]

Shopping cart abandonment is an epidemic in the ecommerce world.

Recent data shows the average cart abandonment rate is almost 70 percent. That means only 3 out of every 10 people who places an item in their cart actually buys it.

Cart abandonment comes with the territory of owning an ecommerce store, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do about it. Customers abandon shopping carts for all kinds of reasons, but many online store owners commit the same common mistakes that drive up[...]

If you're interested in selling more online, you could be starting from a few potential points.

Maybe you already have an online store of your own and you're looking to break into a larger market. Maybe you're already selling on a large marketplace like eBay and you want to expand your reach. Or, maybe you're just starting out, you have no website or item listings anywhere, and you have yet to make a single sale.

These are very different situations, but they have a lot in common, and that's the[...]

Where do your new customers come from? Facebook ads? Google search results? Thin air?

Time and again, studies show that email marketing is the most effective channel for customer acquisition. Reports estimate 44% of all consumers made a purchase based on an email newsletter last year. McKinsey & Company found that email helps acquire new customers 40 times better than social media.

Conversion rates and click-through-rate in those emails are 3x better, and the value of those conversions can be[...]

The vast majority of shoppers these days browse from their mobile devices, and eBay shoppers make up a strong portion of them.

It's common for eBay users to rely on their smartphone even more so than most online shoppers — eBay users who bid on auctions like to be able to check them frequently with a device they keep close at hand.

Even if you don't auction your items and sell only for a Buy it Now price, you still need to optimize your listings for mobile devices in order to appeal to the huge[...]

From May 25^th 2018, the European Union will be enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While the law is designed to protect the personal data of EU citizens, the act is the first of its kind in a number of ways: it applies to all organizations with which EU residents can interact; compliance will be enforced globally; and fines will be far higher than existing rules.

With time running out to fulfill the new regulations before they are brought into effect, Sage have compiled[...]