Over the last few years I have had the pleasure of being involved in a number of e-commerce projects on behalf of clients. And in that time, as the internet has grown more and more in popularity and as more people have seen it as a possible route to riches, I have recognised a growing trend – an increasing amount of people who want to build an e-commerce business, but have given very little thought as to what their specific products will be, who their target market is and how they are going market their business and create sales. They just want to be like Amazon or Dell. Then as long as they get a solution with all the bells and whistles, with a bit of SEO everything will be fine. Then comes the disappointment – the orders don’t flood in.

In order to be successful in online e-commerce, the same basic business principles apply. You must research your market – there must be a need or desire for your product. You must asses the competition, who else is doing what you want to do and how are they doing it? What are the market segments or niches within your chosen market? Are there obvious areas of opportunity or are certain areas saturated? Then look at your own goals and objectives, will your business give you the returns you’re looking for, both personally and financially.

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PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a security standard that applies to companies handling credit card numbers. The PCI level of enforcement differs based on the volume of transactions that a company handles. The lowest level is level 4, which applies to eCommerce sites processing less than 20,000 transactions annually. The highest and most stringent is PCI level 1, which applies to merchants processing over 6 million transactions a year. Ultimately, the goal is to increase security for all Web sites accepting payment via credit card. 2Checkout completes an annual audit for PCI compliance, which we take pride in maintaining consistently.

Level 4 merchants are typically subject to completing an annual self-assessment questionaire, which contains approximately 220 questions. Furthermore, annual external quarterly scans are a common requirement. The exact requirements are typically set by the merchants’ bank.

Smaller eCommerce sites that have credit cards compromised can be fined between $20 and $30 dollars per each stolen credit card up to $500,000 dollars. Additionally, depending on the size of the breach, the site could be required to hiring an external forensic investigator. The cost of an external audit typically begins around $10,000.

A report published recently by ECommerce-Guide.com identifies increased scrutiny that PCI Level 4 eCommerce sites are being subjected to.

The cost of becoming PCI compliant can be substantial. Especially if your Web site was not initially designed with security being a focus. The requirements cover all aspects of business: technology utilized and how it is implemented as well as business processes and workflow.

Becoming a 2Checkout supplier can quickly enable PCI compliance for your eCommerce site, while keeping the cost of doing business lower in the long term. A 2Checkout supplier will not be required to complete any PCI compliance forms. No changes to your servers or business processes will be required! This is one of the many areas where 2Checkout provides more value to you, our customers and suppliers.

Article was updated on 9/21/2009 clarifying requirements for “PCI Questionnaire A.”

Article was updated on 11/9/2009 to eliminate possible ambiguity in supplier obligations.

Yesterday, Acculynk released a white paper detailing pilot results for PaySecure, the company’s Internet PIN debit payment method integrated and utilized by 2Checkout.

The paper highlights a number of fascinating consumer usage statistics that to date, Acculynk has been able to gather from the project.

Of note, the report identified that one out of every two consumers presented the PaySecure PIN-pad as a payment option, are choosing to use PaySecure and are entering their PIN successfully. Also, considering the newness of the technology, customers are assessing the PIN pad, recognizing what it is, and entering their PIN quickly – in an average of 37 seconds – which is expected to dramatically reduce once online purchasers become more familiar with the product and use the system with regularity.

Acculynk also discovered that since the PaySecure system provides customers the opportunity to “opt out” of PIN entry at any point during the purchase (on both the entry splash page and the PIN-pad), that once consumers are on the PIN-pad, only 10% do not complete the PIN entry process. This demonstrates that a large majority of consumers are comfortable enough with the product to finish the transaction as PIN debit.

At 2Checkout, PIN debit is LIVE and here to stay. The payment method’s popularity with consumers is sweeping the nation and the world. In fact, at last month’s Direct Response Forum, in a session titled “Is Now The Time For PIN Debit,” the presenters mentioned that for the first time, as of February 2009, debit passed cash as the most widely used payment method. This is a monumental and historic shift in the fundamental way consumers purchase products. With this in mind, any e-commerce solution not accepting PIN debit as a payment method, is an incomplete solution.

Online PIN debit will continue to grow and we are proud to be blazing the trail with Acculynk to ensure 2Checkout users have access to the most convenient and complete list of payment methods available.

Many people believe that their logo is their brand, and that they should make it as large, prominent and flashy to stand out from the crowd as much as possible- you know- to get noticed!

And that is why many advertisements fail.

What often gets lost in the ‘branding’ process is that your brand is much more than a cute logo, or your face, or how you write your company’s name. I work with many businesses that thought that if they displayed their expensive logo as large as possible people will walk/call/E-mail them and hand them thousands of dollars and say “Wow- you’ve got a very impressive logo- I couldn’t wait to give you my money! Thank you for taking it from me!”

So I ask you- how often have YOU had that conversation with someone you decided to do business with? Heck, when is the last time you paid more than a 20% premium on the “Brand Name” with no other clear differences? My guess is, as the savvy shopper I bet you are… is a long, long time ago.

So what is a brand really- and what builds up real, bankable brand equity?

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We talked about using site metrics earlier, in a general manner. Here, I would like to provide some practical uses for site metrics to help you increase your sales.

“If you don’t have documentation, then it didn’t happen,” is what my boss used to say when I worked in a warehouse. What he meant was, if I didn’t have a receipt for every time a customer checked out a specific product, it would be essentially my word against his when it came time to report on inventory. I’d be out of a job and he’d be a few hundred bucks worth of merchandise richer.

The same thing applies to your on-line business. If you don’t have a paper trail (or electronic trail, as the case may be), you can’t prove anything. Did a customer visit your site three, five, or zero times? You don’t know unless you keep track with some kind of analytics/metric tracking program. The more detailed the program, the better.

The total number of visitors you get in a day, week, or month may look impressive on your annual report, but it usually won’t help you figure our things like: How many are repeat customers? How many pages did they visit? What days/times did they visit? These are things you need to know.

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