Ecommerce Conversations
Practical Ecommerce
Ecommerce Conversations is the long-running weekly podcast from Practical Ecommerce, hosted by ecommerce entrepreneur Eric Bandholz. •• Listen in as Eric interviews in-the-trenches founders and executives who address the essentials of launching, growing, and sustaining an online business. Hear their successes, mistakes, and plans — addressing customer acquisition, web traffic, marketing tactics, on-site conversion, shipping, favorite tools, funding, obstacles, and much more. •• New episodes every Friday. Subscribe to the podcast here, and then read a condensed transcript at https://www.PracticalEcommerce.com/tag/podcasts.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 22, 2014 • 21min
Dijipop Founder on Ecommerce ‘End-Caps’
Physical, brick-and-mortar retailers market products with end-caps and special placements in an aisle, where retailers are typically paid for those promotions by wholesale suppliers. Ecommerce merchants can now do similar merchandising, and receive similar payments, from a new ad platform. The platform is from Dijipop, and its founder and CEO, Ji Kim, speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.
May 22, 2014 • 17min
Affiliate Marketer On Impact Of Sales Tax Nexus Laws
The efforts by state governments to collect online sales taxes is impacting affiliate marketers. That’s because a group of states is attempting to expand the nexus definition to include affiliates in those states, and thereby force retailers with those affiliates to pay sales taxes. Our guest is an affiliate marketer, and he’s here to discuss how all of this is impacting his business. He’s Oliver Roup, founder and CEO of VigLink, an affiliate marketing management company. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.
May 22, 2014 • 16min
How To Spend $700,000 On A Domain Name
Most ecommerce merchants own several domain names, perhaps buying and selling them as opportunities occur. One merchant in Missouri just purchased a domain name. He paid $700,000 for it. The domain is RunningShoes.com, the merchant is Chad Weinman of Cat5 Commerce — owners of MilitaryGear.com, TacticalGear.com, HikingBoots.com, among other sites — and he joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss it all.
May 22, 2014 • 21min
Shopify Exec on Cloud Computing, Third-Party Apps
Cloud computing is a term that’s frequently discussed, and also frequently misunderstood. Google Docs would be an example of cloud computing, whereas Microsoft Office — locally installed on a computer — is not. In the ecommerce industry, there are many hosted, cloud platforms. One of the leading ones is Shopify. Its chief platform officer is Harley Finkelstein, and he joins us to discuss cloud computing and hosted platforms. He speaks with Kerry Murdock of Practical Ecommerce.
May 22, 2014 • 23min
Google's Orphaned Books Case, And Its Impact On U.S. Copyrights
The balancing of copyright law with the dissemination of information on the Internet can sometimes get tangled. And nowhere is that more evident than in the recent, so-called “orphaned books” case, which involves Google’s attempt to scan and distribute the content of out-of-print books. To help us understand that federal case, and the broader implications of applying U.S. copyright law to the Internet, we are joined by Ed Green. He’s an attorney with the firm of Coats and Bennett, and he’s an expert on intellectual property law. He speaks with Kerry Murdock of Practical Ecommerce.
May 22, 2014 • 22min
Sales-Tax Update from Streamlined Sales Tax Director
Attempts to simplify the administration and collection of Internet sales taxes might be the most daunting task in the ecommerce industry. There are thousands of state, county and city taxation districts in the U.S., and they all have different tax rates, and rules. But the Streamlined Sales Tax organization is attempting to make it easier for ecommerce merchants and its executive director, Scott Peterson, is here to update us on that organization’s progress. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.
May 22, 2014 • 19min
Credit-Card Exec On Reducing Processing Costs
There is nothing more confusing to ecommerce merchants than credit card processing. The rates wildly fluctuate and the monthly statements are hard to follow. But yet, credit card processing is key to virtually every ecommerce business. To help us understand how merchants can save money on their processing costs, we are joined by Sloane Bouchever. He’s a credit-card ecommerce pioneer, having left Authorize.Net in 2003 — as a senior vice president — to launch what would become a leading ecommerce credit card provider. His new company is Interchange Plus Solutions, and he joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.
May 22, 2014 • 22min
Miva Merchant President On Hostasaurus Acquisition, Saas Platform
Rick Wilson The evolution of Miva Merchant continues. That pioneering platform, which first launched in the late 1990s, was acquired almost four years ago by an independent investor group that included seasoned technology executives. They have moved to upgrade the platform, enhance the company’s revenue, and generally ensure its long-term survival. One of those executives is Rick Wilson, now the company’s president and chief operating officer. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss the company’s recent acquisition of Hostasurus — its largest third-party host — among other topics.
May 22, 2014 • 20min
Lingo24 Founder On Reaching Global Markets
There are many countries with fast-growing economies — and fast-growing Internet audiences — that are not natively English speaking. How do ecommerce merchants reach those countries, and those audiences? Through translation and localization, mainly. We’re joined by an expert on those topics. He’s Christian Arno, founder of Lingo24, a global translation and localization firm. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.
May 22, 2014 • 22min
PCI Council General Manager Bob Russo
Most merchants like the idea of the credit card industry policing itself, versus lawmakers getting involved. PCI Security Standards Council is the industry’s attempt to do just that. But how ecommerce merchants meet the PCI’s standards is confusing to many, and the penalty for not being compliant is hard to understand, too. Bob Russo, general manager of the PCI Security Standards Council, is with us today to help sort out these and other questions. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.
