Ecommerce Conversations

The use of video by ecommerce merchants can increase sales. One company that uses video in innovative ways is TRX Training, a retailer of exercise equipment. It has an extensive YouTube channel, and it features videos on its own ecommerce site. Ian Hackett is TRX Training’s senior director of ecommerce and user experience. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Strategies and ideas to reduce shipping expense appeal to most every ecommerce merchant. Our guest today is a shipping and logistics expert, helping merchants reduce their shipping costs. He’s John Haber, founder and CEO of Spend Management Experts, a shipping and logistics consulting firm.

There’s no bigger name in the ecommerce industry than Alibaba. It was launched in 1999 in China, but it now services millions of businesses and consumers, offering wholesale and retail products worldwide. Its vice president of global sales and service is Brian Wong. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss Alibaba, opportunities for ecommerce retailers on that site, and global trade generally.

The cost of shipping is material to most every ecommerce business. There’s a company that offers smaller merchants discounted shipping rates that are typically available only to high volume sellers. The company is EquaShip. Its CEO, Ron Wiener, speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

We’ve recently asked ecommerce merchants to share their 2011 experiences — good or bad — with us. For this installment, we are joined by Jamie Salvatori. He the founder and owner of Vat19, an established ecommerce business that sells unique gift items. He’s also a Practical Ecommerce blogger, at “The (Ecommerce) Corner Office.” He speaks with us about how his company fared in 2011.

A review of ecommerce sales for 2011 is the topic of our interview today. We are joined by an ecommerce entrepreneur and pioneer who will share his company’s experience. He’s Chad Weinman, CEO of Cat5 Commerce, which operates 10 separate ecommerce stores — including RunningShoes.com and TacticalGear.com — from its base in Missouri. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Every ecommerce merchant has a domain name. For U.S. based merchants, it likely ends in a .com, or a .net, or both. But there are over 200 country-specific top-level domains — such as .cn for China, or .co.uk for the United Kingdom. Should a non-resident merchant reserve those domains, too? And what happens if someone in another country steals a merchant’s name, and reserves it the local top-level domain code? To help us understand cross border domain-name issues, we are joined once more by Gretchen Olive. She’s an attorney and director of policy and industry affairs for Corporation Service Company, a trademark and domain-name service provider. She speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

For many ecommerce merchants, email marketing is a principal source of revenue. A merchant’s email list is critically important to the company’s success. But what happens when a list becomes dormant, and subscribers stop opening or clicking on the emails? Dormant email lists is our topic today. To explain strategies for managing dormant lists, we are joined by Ross Kramer. He’s co-founder and CEO of Listrak, the pioneering email service provider. He speaks with Kerry Murdock of Practical Ecommerce.

Email marketing is critically important to many ecommerce merchants. But what happens if a merchant’s email is blocked by an Internet service provider? Or, worse yet, what happens if the merchant’s name or IP address lands on a blacklist? Email deliverability is our topic today, and to help us understand blacklists and ISP email blocking, we are joined by Laura Atkins. She’s co-founder of WordToTheWise, an anti-spam consulting and software firm.

The range of possible domain names is about to greatly increase. That’s because ICANN, the authoritative body over Internet domain names, is about to add new top-level domains — the portion to the right of the period — to include brand names and other customized names. To explain these new top level domains to us, we are joined by Gretchen Olive. She’s director of policy and industry affairs for Corporation Service Company, which consults with companies on domain name and trademark matters. She speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.