Ecommerce Conversations, By Practical Ecommerce

The process of testing different variations on a website can greatly enhance its conversions and performance. A leading A/B split testing platform is Optimizely. Its co-founder and CEO, Dan Siroker, spoke with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Ecommerce site search — including Google’s announcement that it is dropping its Commerce Search platform — is our topic today. Dr. Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems, a leading site search provider, is our guest. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

An ecommerce merchant deals with lots of data. There’s revenue, profit, customers, traffic, order values, Likes, followers . . . lots of data. One company that helps merchants sort through this data and make decisions is SumAll. Its CEO and co-founder, Dane Atkinson, speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Retailers increasingly use data to personalize an online shopping experience. Geo location, shopping and browsing history, weather — all can impact how products are presented to online shoppers. Among the leaders in personalization technology is Monetate. Its co-founder and CEO, David Brussin, speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Ecommerce merchants strive to answer questions from shoppers. Relevant, helpful answers presumably increase conversion rates. One company offers a solution that relies on past customers to answer questions from prospective ones. The company is TurnTo. Its founder and CEO, George Eberstadt, speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Ecommerce merchants strive for repeat business from existing customers. Our guest today owns a company that has produced a mobile app to encourage repeat orders. He is Dr. Alex Heiphetz. The mobile app is QRwave. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Say you are an ecommerce merchant with an angry customer. The customer is so angry, he posts bad, negative reviews on the Internet about your company that are not true. What can you do? How can you combat? Managing online reputation is the business of our guest. He is Cliff Stein. His company is Reputation Changer. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Most sectors of the retail economy do business on the Internet. That now includes pawnshops. Our guest, Don Battis, is the founder of Pawntique.com, a web-only pawnshop that serves all of the U.S. from its base in New Hampshire. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Every business, ecommerce or otherwise, should maintain accurate books and records. But for some entrepreneurs, the accounting function is intimidating and confusing. Outright.com aims to simplify the accounting process for all entrepreneurs, regardless of their accounting skills. Outright’s CEO is Steven Aldrich. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Drop shipping is the process of selling an item that is then shipped by a manufacturer or wholesaler. Many ecommerce merchants utilize drop shipping, at least in part, to reduce inventory costs and to expand their product offerings. But drop shipping can be complicated, too. We explore the pros and cons of drop shipping in this interview with Jeremy Hanks, co-founder and CEO of Dropship.com, a software platform that automates back-office drop shipping functions between retailers and manufacturers. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Many merchants dream of building a successful ecommerce business, and then selling it. Our guest today — who is now a Practical eCommerce contributing editor — has done just that. He’s Dale Traxler. His former business is Beaded Impressions, a collection of four separate jewelry sites. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to explain the process of selling.

The use of video by ecommerce merchants can increase sales. One company that uses video in innovative ways is TRX Training, a retailer of exercise equipment. It has an extensive YouTube channel, and it features videos on its own ecommerce site. Ian Hackett is TRX Training’s senior director of ecommerce and user experience. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Strategies and ideas to reduce shipping expense appeal to most every ecommerce merchant. Our guest today is a shipping and logistics expert, helping merchants reduce their shipping costs. He’s John Haber, founder and CEO of Spend Management Experts, a shipping and logistics consulting firm.

There’s no bigger name in the ecommerce industry than Alibaba. It was launched in 1999 in China, but it now services millions of businesses and consumers, offering wholesale and retail products worldwide. Its vice president of global sales and service is Brian Wong. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss Alibaba, opportunities for ecommerce retailers on that site, and global trade generally.

The cost of shipping is material to most every ecommerce business. There’s a company that offers smaller merchants discounted shipping rates that are typically available only to high volume sellers. The company is EquaShip. Its CEO, Ron Wiener, speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

We’ve recently asked ecommerce merchants to share their 2011 experiences — good or bad — with us. For this installment, we are joined by Jamie Salvatori. He the founder and owner of Vat19, an established ecommerce business that sells unique gift items. He’s also a Practical Ecommerce blogger, at “The (Ecommerce) Corner Office.” He speaks with us about how his company fared in 2011.

A review of ecommerce sales for 2011 is the topic of our interview today. We are joined by an ecommerce entrepreneur and pioneer who will share his company’s experience. He’s Chad Weinman, CEO of Cat5 Commerce, which operates 10 separate ecommerce stores — including RunningShoes.com and TacticalGear.com — from its base in Missouri. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Every ecommerce merchant has a domain name. For U.S. based merchants, it likely ends in a .com, or a .net, or both. But there are over 200 country-specific top-level domains — such as .cn for China, or .co.uk for the United Kingdom. Should a non-resident merchant reserve those domains, too? And what happens if someone in another country steals a merchant’s name, and reserves it the local top-level domain code? To help us understand cross border domain-name issues, we are joined once more by Gretchen Olive. She’s an attorney and director of policy and industry affairs for Corporation Service Company, a trademark and domain-name service provider. She speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

For many ecommerce merchants, email marketing is a principal source of revenue. A merchant’s email list is critically important to the company’s success. But what happens when a list becomes dormant, and subscribers stop opening or clicking on the emails? Dormant email lists is our topic today. To explain strategies for managing dormant lists, we are joined by Ross Kramer. He’s co-founder and CEO of Listrak, the pioneering email service provider. He speaks with Kerry Murdock of Practical Ecommerce.

Email marketing is critically important to many ecommerce merchants. But what happens if a merchant’s email is blocked by an Internet service provider? Or, worse yet, what happens if the merchant’s name or IP address lands on a blacklist? Email deliverability is our topic today, and to help us understand blacklists and ISP email blocking, we are joined by Laura Atkins. She’s co-founder of WordToTheWise, an anti-spam consulting and software firm.