James Maguire

As detailed

The concept of “conversion” is one that online merchants live and die by. An online store’s conversion rate, which is the percentage of site visitors who make a purchase, is the figure that determines that store’s bottom line. But for all the focus on conversion rates, many merchants note that the concept is ill defined, […]

Okay, you’ve built your new online store, and now all you need is a large crowd of customers. But you face a major problem: without customers, you can’t afford advertising — but without advertising, you can’t attract customers. The solution is to use effective shoestring marketing methods to begin building a customer base. Once you […]

As noted in Part I and Part II of this series, setting up an online business requires gathering a number of tools — in essence, building the technical infrastructure required to serve your customers (and to maintain your sanity). Three of the truly critical tools you’ll need are a merchant account, a Web hosting provider, […]

The holiday stampede is coming: shoppers, huge crowds of them, all equipped with credit cards and all eager — even crazed – to buy. Forrester Research predicts that online sales will increase 22 percent to $172 billion in 2005. Much of that growth will take place in the season we’re now entering. That’s great news, […]

In part one of this story, we talked about the various details you need to think about before starting an e-commerce business. Now it’s time to start building. Selecting which software you’ll use to build your online store is a critical decision. It’s like laying the foundation: all the other tools, from your credit card […]

Congratulations — you’re thinking of starting an online business. You certainly know how to spot a growth area when you see one. The rest of the economy might be shaky, but e-commerce enjoys rosy predictions for years to come. More and more people are spending more and more money online every year. Of course, if […]

The stereotype of the older Internet surfers is far from flattering. In the eyes of some younger people, those surfers, who are age 65 and older, are seen as doddering and easily confused. Simply booting up a PC and navigating a browser is challenging for them, much less handling the complexity of online shopping. But […]

In the mid ’90s, entrepreneur Anne Kelly saw that larger women were having a hard time finding attractive and well-made sports clothing. To meet their needs, Kelly founded Junonia, a company that describes its apparel line as “exclusively devoted to the 40 percent of American women who wear a size 14 and up.” Launched as […]

When the Trek Bikes Web site switched its software platform, it made an unusual change. The well-known seller of bikes and related gear moved from a custom-built platform — usually considered the most desirable solution — to a platform made by MarketLive. Why the switch? “We had outgrown our old software,” says Tonja Green, Trek’s […]

The Safelite AutoGlass site “had become a little dated — and that’s probably an understatement,” says Denise Klapper, the company’s director of marketing. Originally built in 1998, little had been done to update Safelite’s site for several years. In 2004, Safelite worked with Resource Interactive to completely redesign its site. The company conducted consumer usability […]

Clearly, ShavingCream.com has identified its target customer. Site founder Mark Williams points out that the market for men’s grooming products is booming, as more men become style conscious. It’s the most image-focused of these men, usually younger, to whom Williams hopes to sell. “We think our customer ranges from a young metro sexual to a […]