Finance
All merchants deal with finance — borrowing money, raising equity, dealing with banks, and selling (or buying) a business. We address all those topics, plus U.S. regulatory changes, financial technology, earnings of public ecommerce companies, and more.
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Finance
Investment Robust in Retail, Ecommerce Technology
July 29, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan
The pandemic has posed obstacles for both brick-and-mortar and online merchants. Among the challenges are labor shortages, inventory problems, delivery conundrums, and the need for more personalization. New providers are addressing those needs, and venture capitalists and other investors are eager to fund them.
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Finance
Raising Funds Becomes Easier with New SEC Rules
February 11, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has modified rules that affect how companies can raise capital via direct listings and equity crowdfunding. Previously, in a direct listing, a company could sell existing shares (from employees and private investors) on public stock exchanges.
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Finance
SPACs: 2020’s Most Popular Method of Going Public
November 3, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
The traditional IPO has mostly been the domain of large, high-profile companies that had received hundreds of millions in venture capital over a period of years. This year, however, traditional IPOs have been overtaken by a method that has been around for roughly 20 years but has gained traction only in the past two.
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Finance
Alternative Funding Sources for the Covid-19 Crisis
May 1, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
The Paycheck Protection Program has mostly not reached the intended beneficiaries. There is not enough money, and loans to date have often gone to large businesses. What follows are some options for small businesses.
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Finance
Impact of Covid-19 on 2020 Startup Investments, IPOs
April 16, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
Initial public offerings underperformed in the last half of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. That set the stage for an undesirable climate. Then came Covid-19.
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Finance
Will ‘Irrational’ Startup Valuations Continue?
March 30, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, IPOs for many start-ups with supposedly bright futures crashed when they entered the public market. Some didn’t even make it that far, canceling in 2019 their public offerings. A disturbing gap between the private and public valuations of venture-capital-funded start-ups has emerged. This divergence will likely continue as many start-ups are remaining private for longer periods of time.
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Finance
2019 Holiday Sales Wrap-up
January 16, 2020 • Marcia Kaplan
The 2019 holiday shopping season exhibited mixed results, with online revenues growing substantially but brick-and-mortar sales showing meager or negative growth. The entire holiday season — November 1 through December 31 — saw a modest total increase in overall revenues.
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Finance
Sales Report: 2019 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 4, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Adverse weather conditions in many regions and the ease of ordering via mobile devices contributed to record-setting U.S. digital sales for the 2019 Thanksgiving weekend. This is my fifth annual “Sales Report” for Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
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Finance
Certified B Corporations Gain Ground in a Changing Business Environment
September 12, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Certified B Corporations are for-profit companies that have been evaluated by B Lab using rigorous social benefit criteria. The certification is becoming a competitive advantage as consumers, employees, and investors seek out companies that look beyond profits in how they conduct business.
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Finance
Jumia, Revolve, Chewy among Q2 Ecommerce IPOs
July 10, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Some prominent ecommerce initial public stock offerings occurred in the second quarter of 2019. In this post, I'll address three of them.
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Finance
Direct Public Offerings: Unconventional but Gaining Traction
May 9, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
The initial public offering has a challenger. Known as a direct public offering or direct listing, this technique avoids involvement from investment bank underwriters that buy shares at a set price in an IPO and then sell them to their clients. In a DPO, a private company lists itself on a stock exchange but does not raise money.
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Finance
Pinterest Files for an IPO; Focuses on Shopping
March 28, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
In a year that looks promising for tech IPOs, Pinterest has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange using the ticker "PINS." The company hopes to raise at least $100 million, in April.
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Finance
Shopify Excelled in 2018, Attracted More Merchants
February 27, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Operating in the shadow of online marketplaces and located in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify does not get as much attention as it should. A $41 billion market-cap business, Shopify is the choice of approximately 820,000 online merchants in 175 countries, growing from 600,000 in 2017.
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Finance
New Indian Investment Rules Limit Amazon, Walmart
January 29, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
The Indian government will soon implement regulations that will severely hamper the Amazon and Flipkart marketplaces from doing business in India. Effective February 1, 2019, the government is enacting restrictions that will challenge the entire business model of those companies.
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Finance
Ecommerce Briefs: Holiday Sales, Retail Chains, 2019 Predictions
January 17, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is an occasional series wherein I review news and developments that impact online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address final holiday sales figures, a change in brick-and-mortar location trends, and 2019 predictions.
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Finance
2018 Holiday Sales Wrap-up
January 6, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Consumers happily opened their wallets in the 2018 holiday season, resulting in a five percent increase in overall spending — online and brick-and-mortar. Online spending alone grew by 19.1 percent compared to 2017 and contributed over 13 percent to total holiday sales.
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Finance
Sales Report: 2018 Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 28, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Consumers embraced 2018 online holiday shopping with gusto starting on Thanksgiving Day and culminating on Cyber Monday, which became the highest U.S. ecommerce sales day in history with $7.9 billion in revenue. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday all exhibited healthy year-over-year sales growth.
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Finance
8 Successful Ecommerce Startups Founded by Females
September 13, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Despite the fact that startups with all female founders receive only 2 percent of total venture capital investments, tenacious women are still achieving success in ecommerce. Here is a list of eight successful ecommerce companies that were founded by women.
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Finance
Does Dual-class Stock Hurt Independent Investors?
August 16, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
If you think buying stock in a public company guarantees you some input into how the company operates and who is elected to the board, you may be mistaken. Thanks ...
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Finance
Why Wall Street Loves Amazon, Not Facebook
August 2, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Wall Street has always been kind to Amazon, waiting patiently for many years for the company to become profitable. Facebook used to be a Wall Street favorite but never to the same extent as Amazon. Facebook's second quarter financial results were not what rattled analysts.
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Finance
ICOs Are the Newest Form of Alternative Funding
March 28, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
If words like cryptocurrency, cryptocoin, Bitcoin, and blockchain befuddle you, you're not alone. Even the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is having a hard time keeping up with all the new alternative funding mechanisms. The latest funding craze is an Initial Coin Offering, an "ICO," which is a new form of crowdfunding using cryptocurrency.
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Finance
11 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking Business Financing
December 14, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Obtaining funding for your business, whether it’s new or established, can be grueling and frustrating. Success is not a certainty. But you can increase your chances of securing funds if ...
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Finance
17 Cryptocurrency Plugins for WordPress
December 11, 2017 • Sig Ueland
Cryptocurrencies have garnered much attention recently off of Bitcoin's meteoric rise in value — currently around $15,000. The Chicago Board Options Exchange has even launched futures contracts on Bitcoin for investors to bet on the currency’s rise and fall. While Bitcoin's volatility won’t necessarily attract users, cryptocurrencies offer low-cost peer-to-peer aspects that should be appealing to both merchants and consumers.
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Finance
Sales Report: 2017 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
November 30, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Robust growth marked holiday ecommerce revenue on 2017 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, bringing some much-needed cheer to nervous merchants. With sellers starting discounts earlier and extending them ...
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Finance
How Does Fintech Affect Ecommerce?
October 19, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Fintech is the practice of applying technology to the financial services sector. Traditional financial institutions utilize it mainly to manage accounting and other back-office services. More recently, thanks to advances ...
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Finance
Has Crowdfunding from Ordinary Investors Been Successful?
May 1, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
May 2017 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of Regulation CF crowdfunding for non-accredited investors. Some observers believe it is a disaster while ...
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Finance
2016 Holiday Ecommerce Wrap-up
January 12, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
Despite concerns that political turmoil would dampen holiday spending, ecommerce sales made a strong showing in 2016. Even with a sluggish November start, revenues increased by 11 percent over 2015,
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Finance
Ecommerce Companies Sought-after Acquisition Targets
December 22, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
2016 was a tough year for initial public offerings of venture-capital-backed ecommerce companies. However, it was a year of notable acquisitions of ecommerce companies by large retail chains and consumer ...
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Finance
Sales Report: 2016 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December 1, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
Amidst concerns that election results would dampen November holiday spending, consumers expressed confidence in the economy by spending a total of $12.8 billion online in the U.S. during the five-day ...
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Finance
Equity Crowdfunding Investments Open for Everyone
July 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan
It took four years after President Obama signed the JOBS Act, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finally allows businesses to solicit people who are not considered wealthy to ...