In “Don’t Self-host an Ecommerce Store,” my previous article, I explained how owning and maintaining web servers are poor options for most stores. In this article I’ll address a better alternative: renting servers from a professional hosting company. When you rent a server, you pay a company to use a computer in its data center […]
Comparing Web Servers: Dedicated vs. Virtual Private Read More »
Development frameworks such as PhoneGap and, more recently, React Native make it significantly easier for retail businesses to build and deploy mobile applications for consumers and internal teams. Radio-frequency identification readers are a common tool in retail warehouses. Fulfillment and logistics workers use them daily to process incoming freight and take inventory. They may even
Frameworks Such as PhoneGap and React Native Ease Mobile App Development Read More »
CSS Grid is a two-dimensional layout model that can be combined with CSS media queries to produce complex and responsive website layouts, including layouts for ecommerce stores. The Internet and the devices we use to access it have grown up. Websites have become interactive applications with significant capabilities. An online retailer’s customers, for example, can
A Short Introduction to CSS Grid Layout for Ecommerce Sites Read More »
Every ecommerce store needs to be hosted somewhere. But there’s little reason, in 2017, to self-host. In this post I’ll explain why. Self-hosting is where a company acquires physical servers and installs them in its own data center. This could be a spare office, or rented space in another data center. Self-hosting is the original
A good marketing plan can include a mixture of tried and true tactics and, also, somewhat unusual or uncommon promotions. With the 2017 Christmas shopping season closing in, your marketing department will want to have familiar and reliable marketing tactics in place. These include pay-per-click advertising on search engines and on social media sites (especially
6 Uncommon Marketing Tactics to Try This Christmas Read More »
Editor’s Note: We first published this article in 2015, as “28 Free Responsive Email Templates.” We updated it in Sept. 2017, below. With more of your shoppers on mobile devices, make sure your next email campaign uses a responsive design that looks good on any screen. Take advantage of free responsive email templates that have
Ten or 15 years ago many of the companies selling goods and services online would have described their ecommerce software as a “shopping cart.” Now, changes in software development could bring the term back. As ecommerce has changed, so has the software used to conduct business. It has evolved from a simple add-on meant to
From Shopping Cart to Ecommerce Platform and Back Again? Read More »
Enhance your website with free elements and tools from the design community. Here is a list of new web tools and design elements from summer 2017. There are designer and developer apps, fonts, themes, photos, and more. All of these elements are free. Free Web Tools Chain. Chain is a Sketch plugin to create dynamic
Editor’s Note: We first published this article in 2014, as “11 Open Source Ecommerce Platforms.” We updated it in Sept. 2017, below. Open source ecommerce platforms offer businesses an inexpensive and customizable option for launching an online store. Many of open source platforms also have active support communities and scalability, for growth. Here is a
Building a B2B ecommerce site requires a breadth of skills. It’s important to look not just at people or roles, but the expertise to accomplish the job. In this post, I’ll identify the critical skills that are necessary, in my experience, to build a robust B2B ecommerce site. 9 Critical B2B Development Skills User experience
9 Critical Skills to Build a Robust B2B Ecommerce Site Read More »
