How to Integrate Magento and Sage

(This post was last published on March 11, 2015. We’ve updated it for accuracy and completeness.)

Installing an ERP like Sage is a crucial step for growing online businesses. ERPs are necessary tools to help manage inventory, purchasing and financial reporting. Even though necessary, adding another system to your technology stack complicates your business processes.

Instead of just working out of your eCommerce system like Magento, you now must worry about sharing that same data from Magento to Sage and vice-versa. This often requires you to hand-key online orders, inventory counts and shipping/tracking data between the two. Even during normal selling times, manual data entry can take employees several hours daily, slow down processes, and be error-prone.

When considering implementing an ERP like Sage, it’s important to consider how it will integrate with Magento. Integration eliminates manual data entry to ensure operational efficiency and data integrity across your organization. This article will provide a quick comparison of Sage’s various products and the best way to integrate with Magento. (more…)

Shopify Competitors: A Comparison of Shopify Alternatives

(This post was originally published on February 24, 2015. We’ve updated it for accuracy and completeness.)

Since 2006, Shopify has evolved from a start up to one of the fastest growing eCommerce platforms with over 800,000 active stores. However, Shopify isn’t the only platform that’s turned heads over the past several years. It’s easier than ever for merchants to set up online storefronts and there’s a multitude of shopping cart software options to choose from – whether you can write code or not.

Choosing the right eCommerce platform for your online business can be a bit overwhelming. So, we’ve put together this guide for merchants considering Shopify for the first time or looking to move elsewhere. (more…)

Ethical Issues in eCommerce: Are you violating any of them?

(This post was originally published in April 2015 and updated in November 2017. We’ve updated it for accuracy and completeness.)

We spend a lot of time talking about things that build our eCommerce business; things like marketing and SEO and data analysis. But, most people who expand their business to the web forget about some of the fundamental ethical issues at hand.

Josiah Stamp, an early 20th century economist, said, “It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” That was a century ago, but in a modern world, which is more transparent than ever, business ethics remain extremely important.

If you run an eCommerce business, you need to understand the ethical implications of your business. Ethics are good for the soul. But, they’re also good for the bottom line.

This post dives into the ethical issues in eCommerce that you should be thinking about.

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5 Signs You Need eCommerce Financing

(This is a guest post from our friends over at Payability, a technology firm that offers different financing options that give marketplace sellers daily access to cash.)

Are you ready to take your eCommerce business to the next level? If so, you more than likely need to invest in growth to actually get there — for example, by bulking up on inventory, or launching a new product, or expanding to another marketplace. Whatever the “next level” case may be, you won’t get there overnight or without spending some cash.

But as an eCommerce seller, it’s hard to invest in anything when your income isn’t paid out in real-time. That’s why many marketplace sellers like you turn to financing. So how do you know if it is right for you? Here are five signs you might be ready to leverage Ccommerce financing, plus how to know which option is right for you. (more…)

Top B2B Marketplaces (and How to Sell Successfully on Them)

(This post was originally posted on August 10^th, 2017. It has been updated for accuracy and completeness.)

Merchants should always be looking for ways to grow their business by selling more products to more customers. One way B2B merchants are doing this is by selling on online marketplaces.

For many B2B sellers, online marketplaces are an untapped opportunity as they provide easy access to large new audiences. In this article, learn what some of the top B2B marketplaces are and how you can successfully sell on them. (more…)