Robert Blaise

Archive for September, 2008

So, you can thank Google for raising your online customers’ search expectations through the roof. The 900-lb. gorilla of Internet search delivers such quality results — in just tenths of a second, as the results page tells you — that online shoppers won’t settle for anything less than blindingly fast search results from thee-commerce sites they visit.

1.Are the results relevant?
2.Does your company have the resources required to run and maintain the site search?
3.Does the vendor give you control over the site search?
4. Will the vendor enable you to repurpose data from search?
5. Will the search solution constantly improve?

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04 Sep, 2008

The myth of tax free internet sales

Posted by: Blaze In: Consulting

Frequently in my conversations with our clients the question of taxes for online purchase is brought up. The most common questions are; should I collect sales tax? do I collect based on the State? Am I required to pay taxes for online sales? I am not an internet sales tax expert however in my research what I discovered was that whether you need to collect sales tax depends on where both you and your customers are located. If your customers are in the same state as the physical location of your business, they owe sales tax on items they purchase from you.

For an excellent resource for information on state tax rates and rules, check The Sales Tax Clearinghouse, www.thestc.com. Click on the link to “state tax rates and DoR Web pages” to find a link to your state’s sales tax authority. You can also click on “LOOKUP RATES” to find the sales tax — state, county, local, etc. — for any address.

These common mistakes can ruin your computer or invite identity theft

1. Assuming Your Security Software Is Protecting You
2. Accessing an Account Through an Email Link
3. Using a Single Password for All Online Accounts
4. Downloading Free Software
5. Thinking Your Mac Shields You From All Risks
6. Clicking on a Pop-up Ad That Says Your PC Is Insecure
7. Shopping Online the Same Way You Do in Stores

Now find out what you can do to prevent these pitfalls

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01 Sep, 2008

What is Magento Commerce?

Posted by: Blaze In: Technology| eCommerce

If you are asking this question, you must have heard of the magnificent open source ecommerce platform that makes it easy for manufacturers and buyers to meet each other’s requirements. Magento platform offers flexibility and control. Flexibility and control benefits both the products source and the consumer in many ways.

How is Magento eCommerce Platform beneficial to the storeowner?

Magento ecommerce platform offers an advanced catalog and shopping cart price rule system. It allows the storeowners to customize the storefront and all other features including pricing, colors options, and offers right in one screen.

01 Sep, 2008

The order fulfillment plight

Posted by: Blaze In: Consulting| eCommerce News

Okay so you finally made the leap of faith and invested in your online store. After a few weeks of tweaks on your Google Ad campaign you finally have your first sale, awesome. From this point forward How your business handles orders will have a major impact on your customer experience, from encouraging initial interest to prompting repeat business. While several factors - price, quality of product or service, range of goods, stock availability - are vital to achieving sales in the first place, a responsive, fully automated order fulfillment procedure plays a key part in overall customer satisfaction


Consulting

At this current time I am not available for any new consulting assignments however I would still love to hear from you so please feel free to drop me a line or post on the blog.