March 11, 2016

Pinterest: Helping Shape the Future of Ecommerce

The Social Media Platform That’s More Than Just an Image Sharing Site The fact that social media can be a seriously useful tool for ecommerce is no great secret. However, even some fairly savvy merchants and marketers might not be fully leveraging one of the best and fastest-growing platforms in the social media game. No matter what you’re selling, Pinterest …

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February 29, 2016

Entrepreneurial Success: 3 Essentials You Can’t Do Without

Three Things That Powerfully Impact an Entrepreneur’s Success Entrepreneurship is a career path chosen by many, but few succeed. Why? What helps ensure success for those who seek it? I was recently reminded of three powerful ideas that can significantly improve the odds of turning your entrepreneurial venture into a success. Turning Your Ideas Into Reality I was recently asked …

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February 24, 2016

Shopping Cart Abandonment: Ecommerce’s $4 Trillion Money Pit

The Struggle to Boost Ecommerce Conversion and Reduce Cart Abandonment According to Listrak, more than 75% of ecommerce shoppers over the last 6 months have abandoned their shopping cart. According to Business Insider, that translates to nearly $4 trillion annually in lost sales opportunities. Fortunately, there are numerous simple fixes which can help merchants recover those lost sales. Why Do …

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February 9, 2016

Do Mobile Card Readers Leave Merchants Vulnerable to Fraud?

Mobile Card Reader Fraud

A “Square” Deal on EMV Liability For many independent merchants, especially those with portable operations or who only handle occasional card transactions, the arrival of mobile card readers like the Square Reader and PayPal Here was a godsend. On the surface, it appears that merchants simply sign up for the service, get their reader and start accepting credit cards. However, …

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January 20, 2016

Card-Not-Present Fraud: 10 Things Merchants Need to Know

Think You Understand Card-Not Present Fraud? Think Again. For online merchants, card-not-present fraud is a viable threat to their revenue. Unfortunately, most eCommerce merchants don’t fully understand the realities of this ever-present danger. The recently released True Cost of Fraud report revealed that for the first time, card-not-present merchants lost over 1% of revenue to fraud. The bad news? The …

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January 8, 2016

Converting Bitcoin to PayPal: A Losing Game

Why PayPal is NOT the Answer for Converting Everyone’s Favorite Cryptocurrency It’s not hard to understand why one might want to convert Bitcoins into US Dollars, Euros, Yen or some other currency. Bitcoins are currently exchanging at a rate of more than $400 each, and despite the incredible exchange rate, Bitcoin acceptance, especially outside of the net realm, is still …

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December 14, 2015

Motivation…Courtesy of the Chief Innovation Officer Summit

Reaffirming My Personal Pledge to Innovation Just like any other business owner, I appreciate opportunities to grow and fine-tune my leadership abilities. However, I’ve found that situations that challenge me to carefully examine my thinking and motives are the most opportunistic. I recently walked away from a situation asking myself, “Am I really doing enough?” After all, it seems stagnant …

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December 8, 2015

2015 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales Recap

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday: The Final Sales Results of the 2015 Holiday Shopping Weekend How did the final results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday compare to the analysts’ expectations? Did sales follow the expected trends? Were there any surprises? Letdowns? Holiday Shopping Overview The 2015 holiday shopping season kicked off with what many had hoped would be …

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November 12, 2015

Why Female Business Owners Are Most Likely to Succeed

Women’s Competitive Edge Over Their Male Counterparts There are a variety of factors that have led to the rise of women entrepreneurs: some societal, some technological, some the result of women’s natural tendencies. All these contributing factors have converged in a period of time that has created opportunity for women like no other point in history. The Changing Face of …

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November 4, 2015

Red Flags: Warning Signs of Potential Credit Card Fraud

Beware! Potential Indicators of Credit Card Fraud Card-not-present merchants face special challenges in the fight against fraud. Recent statistics paint an alarming picture. By the Numbers As more consumers turn to ecommerce for convenience, more criminals are drawn to ecommerce for their own gain. How can the merchant fight fraudulent activity and reduce chargebacks? Is there a process that can …

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