E-Commerce Blog

JL Hufford is a gourmet coffee company that started life with a small café in Seattle, Wash. The company went online six years ago and now boasts over 400 different specialty beverage blends as well as a wide range of “coffee lifestyle” products.

In this conversion review, I will evaluate the JL Hufford site at a high level, using it as if I was a potential customer. Specifically, I’ll pretend that “I’m really getting into good coffee and have recently completed a barista course. I’m now looking for a decent machine for home that will give me great espresso and frothed milk.”

Kyle Burke, JL Hufford’s marketing manager, describes the company’s unique proposition as a combination of excellent customer service, free giveaways, and risk-fr…

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Conversion Review: Coffee Purveyor Needs Clear Purchase Path

Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this, our “Cart Of The Week” feature, we’ll profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart and ask its management about its strengths and weaknesses. We’ll then ask a competitor or a customer about the cart, too.

In this installment, we’ve featured MightyMerchant a hosted cart that offers store owners a flexible platform, a rich content management system, and full-service design and PHP development. Michael Stearns is co-owner of MightyMerchant.

PeC: What are MightyMerchant’s biggest strengths?

Stearns: Advanced and custom functionality. From complex pricing structures, custom product ordering layouts, wholesale/retail environments, customized visual designs,…

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Cart of the Week: MightyMerchant Offers Full-Service Ecommerce Platform

Not all web traffic is equal and understanding the value of direct traffic can help online retailers hone their marketing.

“Direct traffic” is web traffic you get from people who already know about your website or store. They either click a bookmark to come to your site or type your site’s URL directly into their browser’s address bar. By comparison, “search engine traffic” comes from people that probably don’t know about your site. They were looking for a keyword or phrase and your site just showed up in the results on Google, Yahoo!, or MSN’s Live Search. Finally, “referrer traffic” describes web visitors that follow a web link or online ad to your website.

Direct Traffic Potency

Of these three traffic sources direct traffic is the …

Source:
Direct Traffic is Better Than Google Traffic

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council recently released a new version of its Data Security Standard (DSS), making minor but important changes and clarifications to the PCI compliance standard that responsible online merchants follow to protect their customers and avoid fines. On November 25 and December 17, 2008, the PCI Security Standards Council will host a series of complimentary webinars to explain the changes to the PCI standards.

Many of the changes were clarifications or expansions, but there are also new more detailed testing standards for some network situations.

Leading credit card brands (American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc.) formed th…

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New PCI Compliance Standards Take Effect

I like parties, and Social Couture is a high-end party supply website. On its corresponding MySpace site (always a good thing to have, but especially important if your gig is party supplies) Social Couture says, “whether your style is traditional or modern or whether your guests are young or old, our products and services will simplify the way you entertain.” Unfortunately, a descriptive statement like that doesn’t appear on the SocialCouture.com homepage or on any sort of high-level “about us” page. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The site is good-looking with nice graphics throughout. So let’s take it one step at a time and see what’s really under the tablecloth for this installment of “SEO Report Card.”

Home Page Content

As menti…

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SEO Report Card: Socialcouture.com Stresses Social Media