The Marketplace Fairness Act and Online Retailers

The Marketplace Fairness Act is rapidly approaching a final vote (expected May 6^th). Although it looks like the Act will pass, there is quite a bit of debate in the retail industry regarding whether or not the bill really is “fair.” The Act requires online and catalog retailers with revenues above $1M to collect tax on transactions for tangible goods regardless of where they are located. To help retailers, the bill also requires that states simplify their state tax laws before they can collect. They can do this in two ways:

1. Adopt the Streamlined Sale and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA). Twenty-four states already use this model.

2. Meet the five simplification mandates listed in the bill. The mandates include:

I.         Notification of rate changes

II.         Appointment of a single state organization to handle tax procedure

III.         A uniform tax base across the state

IV.         Destination sourcing

V.         Free software for retailers

The intent is that these requirements will ease the burden on online retailers to collect tax across multiple states.

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Make sure all retail systems are GO for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

As with brick-and-mortar stores, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are critical days for B2C sales. Holiday e-commerce revenues account for up to 40 percent of annual sales for many companies. Be sure your website performs reliably on all types of browsers, mobile devices, etc., to maximize sales during these revenue intensive days.

Being proactive to prevent problems- it’s not too late

You are reviewing site operations daily to better understand the changes in traffic and to be proactive about solving problems before they turn into outages, delays, or worse yet inventory or supplier problems.

Online retailers must also focus on profiling and optimization for holiday readiness. Studies continue to show correlations between page load speeds and website responsiveness to increased revenue.  Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two days you want to be (more…)

Why You Need eBay/eCommerce Integration for Your Business

For online retailers, having a viable eCommerce strategy in place is essential for success. Even if a company is only operating through one web store, there are multiple channels in place that must be considered, whether it’s a brick-and-mortar location or a drop ship supplier.

With so many different avenues, an eCommerce solution already has plenty of benefits. It will tie all of your eCommerce channels together, syncing inventory and customer data to ensure accuracy across your entire business.

But now, many retailers are choosing to expand their presence online, and not just with another web store. Many businesses are selling products on eBay as a means of reaching a new audience or to part ways with extra inventory. Whatever the reason, more retailers are utilizing eBay as a major component of their eCommerce strategy, thus the need for eBay eCommerce integration. (more…)

eBay Integration with Microsoft Dynamics RMS

eBay isn’t just for consumer auctions anymore.   Retailers and Distributors are now taking advantage of eBay’s reach (as well as Amazon) to get rid of excess inventory and even reach new markets.  eBay has made launching an eBay store, Dutch Auction or even traditional auction a relatively easy endeavor, however without integration, managing items, inventory, sales orders and customers can become chaotic.

Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) provides retailers with a complete point of sale solution that streamlines operations and increases revenue. One of the strengths of Microsoft Dynamics RMS, (as well as the complete line of Microsoft Dynamics Business Solutions),  is its ability for developers to integrate it with different software solutions.  This is vitally important in today’s retail environment as many businesses look to extend their selling efforts to include  web stores and marketplaces. That includes a site like eBay, which can quickly provide expanded reach and  increased revenue streams for brick and mortar retailers.

Connecting eBay to Microsoft Dynamics RMS comes with a host of benefits, including: (more…)

Extending your Sales Channel to eBay – 4 Key Areas You’ll Need To Address

Extending Your Sales Channel to eBay

My good friend Miles of InDemand in Australia is the Managing Director of the largest eBay merchandiser down under.  While all of here in the states are enamoured with Amazon, our friends in GMT +10 don’t give Amazon a second look.  eBay is the dominant marketplace in Australia and as Miles will tell you, the rate at which companies are adding eBay to their multi-channel strategy is accelerating.

Extending your sales channel to eBay is not a simple project.  Consider a company that sells products through a traditional store and a web site.  In the store, the Point of Sale system has no need for helping a company categorize products for web shoppers.  ERP systems don’t care about categories and product classifications for web channels either which makes for an interesting exercise (and often neglected step…more about that later) when a (more…)