How Online Retailers Should Handle Negative Product Reviews

It’s been years since online reviews began appearing on ecommerce sites. Amazon popularized product reviews by recent buyers, and companies like BazaarVoice and PowerReview then made it easy for retailers to capture and integrate the voice of the customer into the retailing experience. Product reviews are now (almost) everywhere online. But how should retailers handle
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2013 Yahoo! Merchant Summit Recap

Just back from the 2013 Yahoo! Merchant Summit in Santa Clara, CA. It was a hectic 48+ hours; talking to customers, prospects, partners, competitors, and Yahoo! company personnel. I’d rate it “better” than the last couple of years. Here are the key takeaways for me: 1. Attendee Optimism Optimism was much higher compared to the
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A Day in the Life of Fast Pivot Developer Chris Harman

After profiling FastPivot Developer Chris Harman, we decided to look at a typical workday in the Harman home. Here is how Chris describes his typical Day in the Life as a FastPivot developer: 6:30-7:00 am: I usually wake up around this time because this is when our one-and-a-half-year old son gets up. Admittedly, my wife
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Online Sales Taxes and the Marketplace Fairness Act: 5 Things to Know

After our high level introduction of the online sales tax issue, we’re going deeper today with a guest post from sales tax experts Avalara. Avalara answers five of the most important questions retailers have about the online sales tax issue. 1. When might Marketplace Fairness go into effect? While the potential effective date is indeterminate
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Making the Most of the 2013 Yahoo! Merchant Summit

The 2013 Yahoo! Merchant Summit is only two weeks away. Are you ready? This year’s edition is the 5th in the annual gathering of the Yahoo! Stores community. It’s a bit like the Internet Retailer Conference and Expo – only focused on the Yahoo platform. FastPivot has attended every year. (Here is a recap of
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What Online Retailers Need to Know About Online Sales Taxes

The first thing online retailers need to know about charging and collecting online sales and use tax (aka Internet taxation) is that it is coming. Here’s why: The value of goods purchased online grows. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates, 2012 online sales reached $225.5 billion. More retailing dollars switch from dollars exchanged
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Q&A with FastPivot Developer Chris Harman

FastPivot is the sum of the parts. We spend a lot of time making sure each new hire improves the team by a factor greater than +1. Here is what FastPivot developer Chris Harman brought to the table. It was a lot. What is your background? I’m a proud geek. I started coding in high
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Improve Your NetSuite SuiteCommerce Store-The ChickBoss Story

Curious About How to Improve a NetSuite SuiteCommerce Store? If you’ve been looking at your SuiteCommerce website, and wondering what you can do to improve it, download our new white paper. Imaginatively titled* “5 Ways to Improve Your SuiteCommerce Website,” it’s an overview of what you can do quickly and inexpensively. The paper borrows (a
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Iterative Design: When Small Tweaks Show Big Results

Many store owners hit a point where talks of a “redesign” come up daily. It is important to realize that while you may only have direct control over a limited number of design elements in your store, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is time to explore a complete redesign. If the store code base is
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Design Considerations – eCommerce Store 101: Learning Series

Creating an online business can be daunting. Establishing a brand (your logo, your tag line, your “look”) is pivotal. Also, knowing how to reach your audience cannot be overlooked. Without credibility, a user-friendly site and a crowd of consumers, you will not succeed. After you’re live, then what happens to the people you’ve used to
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