eCommerce and

Freight companies are in a more heated competition with one another as customers begin to rely on them for timely, traceable deliveries.  UPS Freight is tackling the competition head on. In 2008 they have launched several new tools for freight customers. From integrating LTL shipments in WorldShip to their on-time guarantee, UPS freight is upping the ante for other freight companies.

LTL Shipments in Worldship

One of their new tools is the option to create LTL shipments in WorldShip, and even schedule a pick up.  The main benefit of this tool is time and convenience. Having to go to the UPS website, and enter all the shipping information is a time consuming task. When utilizing WorldShip, you can simply use the Keyed Import to dynamically import all the shipping information.

UPS On-Time Guarantee for LTL Freight Shipments

Another new feature is their on-time guarantee for LTL freight shipments. UPS Freight now gives an on-time guarantee in the 48 contiguous states, that assures your freight shipment will be delivered on time, or you can request the freight charges to be waived.  Jack Holmes, president of UPS freight, says, “It’s the next logical step in making UPS Freight the best in the business”

UPS Cross Border Freight Shipments and UPS Returns

The third feature that UPS Freight is offering is for cross-border freight shipments. They are now offering a comprehensive shipping solution to Canada and Mexico! With that, they have made a dramatic improvement in international returns. UPS Returns is accessible on the internet or through WorldShip, and includes fees for the return transportation, a return shipping label and any applicable duties and/or taxes.

While there are pros and cons with any freight company, it is obvious that UPS Freight is going the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction. With LTL shipments ranging from a couple hundred to tens of thousands of dollars, the company that offers the most protection of your goods is the best to go with. Easy returns, both domestic and international, WorldShip integration, and an on-time guarantee…that’s pretty customer friendly!

This year is flying by.  Happy Independence Day America!  I was talking with one of my fellow eCommerce pals this week and he reminded me that this would be his first 4th of July celebration since he moved here from Canada.  I thought that was interesting.  Kevin I hope you have a very Happy 4th!  Ok let’s get down to business.

• Gordian Project, our parent company, got its name from the idiom “cut the Gordian knot”.  To “cut the Gordian knot” means to get to the heart of the problem and solve it efficiently.  Similar to us is another entrepreneurial company called the Rubicon Project; their name comes from the etymology of the idiom to “cross the Rubicon”, which means to make an unchangeable decision.  The founder wrote a post this week about The Fear of Success.  I enjoyed it because in some ways it reminded me about the founders of our company; not just because they have had a lot of successes at a young age, or because of other reasons mentioned in the post, instead our fearless leaders seem to balance a lot of the equation that it takes to be successful, between one another. 
• I hope you aren’t viewing anything on YouTube that you wouldn’t want your Mom to know about, or Viacom for that matter.  Andy Beal reports on the news that a New York Court Orders Google to Hand Over Your YouTube Personal Data. 
• UK based SEOer, Richard Baxter, wrote a post this week on paginated links and the ability to use Google to find duplicate content.  He used one of our websites, OutdoorPros.com as the example for explaining his thoughts.  The post has actually sparked a discussion around here, so watch for a follow up post on the subject. 
• Last week I mentioned that marketers were embarking on strategies that may earn us a term equivalent to that of ambulance chasing attorneys.  Apparently I am not alone; Seth Godin wrote a post this week in which he remarks “Marketing culture has become a culture of lawyers.”  Check out the post though, as there is still time to save our reputation. 
• Marketers know how powerful word of mouth (WOM) can be to a campaign, company, product, etc. and with the social networking revolution of the LinkedIns, Twitters, blogs and more, viral marketing is growing by leaps and bounds.  Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide analyzes a recent study about WOM and if it is more effective and done more often online or offline. 

If you’ve ever leased commercial space you’re likely aware that parking spots can be an important concern.  In the past it has been for us.  How many spaces do we get, what lot are they in, is the lot shared, and so forth.  A good lease will answer all of these questions for all tenants involved.  Luckily in our current location the issue isn’t of much concern.  We do share a lot with our neighbor but there is ample space for all employees and visitors.  We’ve never once exhausted the available parking.  

None the less, a few days ago our neighbors decided to paint their business name on a handful of the parking spaces closest to their building.  Bare in mind, closest to their building means 20 steps closer than the furthest available space.  As one of my partners and I stood in the lot chuckling at this discovery we found ourselves thankful that (1) in this soft economy our business is busy enough that we don’t have time to unnecessarily paint parking spaces and (2) we knew all of our employees are graceful enough to gladly walk the extra 20 steps if it made our neighbor’s day a smidge better.  Just a fun share from the life of an entrepreneur.
 

Effective June 30, 2008, the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) has mandated that merchants must comply with Requirement 6.6. You know the one. It's the final requirement listed in Requirement 6: Develop and Maintain Secure Systems and Applications. It says:

6.6 Ensure that all web-facing applications are protected against known attacks by applying either of the following methods:

• Having all custom application code reviewed for common vulnerabilities by an organization that specializes in application security
• Installing an application layer firewall in front of web-facing applications.
  • Note: This method is considered a best practice until June 30, 2008, after which it becomes a requirement.

Changes in eCommerce 

What does this mean for us in eCommerce? Well, it means that you have a decision to make about how to secure your web-facing applications. Do you perform a manual code review or install an application layer firewall? How about both? Both are considered best practices for eCommerce security at this point and the PCI DSS standard will only grow to become more stringent, more specific, and likely extend beyond minimal security standards. So you may as well start now. There are four options for application code review, as outlined by the PCI SSC:

• Manual review of application source code
• Proper use of automated source code analyzer (scanning) tools
• Manual web application security vulnerability assessments
• Proper use of automated web application security vulnerability assessment (scanning)

If you don't have control over your source, make sure you're working with software packages/vendors that meet the new requirements.

Increased Vulnerability 

That's not all! I also received an email from McAfee, our Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV), letting us know that also effective June 30, 2008, the PCI SSC is requiring ASVs to change from version 1 to version 2 of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). What does the change mean for you? Well, it changes the way certain vulnerabilities are scored. Consequently, some low priority vulnerabilities from version 1 will now be scored as higher risk vulnerabilities and could cause a failing PCI network scan score, resulting in non-compliance until you can fix the issue. They pointed out that the top 5 vulnerabilities, statistically, are as follows:

• SSL Protocol Version 2 Detection -- Don't use SSLv2.
• Weak Supported SSL Ciphers Suites -- Don't use ciphers < 128bit encryption.
• Default Microsoft IIS Files and/or Frontpage Extensions Found -- Don't.
• OpenSSL Multiple Vulnerabilities < 0.9.8d -- Don't use OpenSSL below 0.9.8d; it's got a number of serious vulnerabilities.
• OpenSSL PKCS Padding RSA Signature Forgery Vulnerability -- Could allow an attacker to forge and RSA signature and pose as a trusted party.

You should work directly with your ASV if a vulnerability risk is uncovered. 

PCI Keeps us on our Toes 

Don't get comfortable once you've knocked these new requirements out. By October 2008, the PCI SSC will have released/required version 1.2 of the PCI DSS. The same 12 core requirements will apply. Supposedly, however, the newer version will "enhance the clarity of its technical requirements, offer improved flexibility..." (Thank God).

One last note: The PCI SSC website is www.pcisecuritystandards.org. Does anyone else think it's funny that when you visit http://pcisecuritystandards.org/ (sans "www"), that you get a security error? It's such an easy fix...
 

I’m back!  Thanks Ryan so much for keeping our readers updated in the world of eCommerce, and reminding me and everyone else that I lost the Lakers bet.  I hope you all missed me as much as I missed you.

Let’s talk some eCommerce (said in the voice of Joel McHale from the Soup on E!): 

• J.C. Penney is blaming their ad agency for an ad that surfaced on YouTube featuring the sellers logo and slogan. The problem is that the ad called “Speed Dressing” promotes teen sex.  The retailer is still investigating the issue. Pennies may have a better chance of combating this problem in the future if the powers that be take a lesson from this week’s Whiteboard Friday on SEOmoz.  In this episode Will Critchlow demonstrates how those in powerful positions can manage their brand reputations on the down low. 
• Yesterday we talked a little bit about the DSW suit against Zappos.com.  Apparently the tactic is catching on as Hearts on Fire sues Blue Nile for a similar issue.  Seriously marketers, is this what we are resorting to for linkbait?  If we don’t nip this trend now people will start referring to us as ambulance chasing attorneys! 
• What is your MySpace or Facebook “FriendRank”?  Companies like SocialMedia Networks and 33Across are revamping advertising via social networks.  In the words of the founder of SocialMedia Networks “We're trying to make ads suck less in social networks”. 
• Want to save 90% on Microsoft Office 2007?  Well, a religious goods internet retailer in Korea has come up with the Microsoft Church Package and according to the ad it is a 90% savings. 
• Does it make anyone else sad that the human population seems to love seeing the mighty fall?  Well it brings me down, but I guess I am in the minority since blogs are already discussing the demise of companies like Apple and Google. 
• In case you aren’t getting your fix of eCommerce and Entrepreneurship here, I thought I would share the Entrepreneur blogs that have been chosen as the 15 worth reading.  Plus we wanted to give kudos to our friends over at Get Elastic for making the list.

Zappos.com has been all over the blogging world lately, mostly due to DSW's lawsuit.  Considering a lot of people in the eCommerce community are speculating that this is a linkbait ploy on DSW's part, Zappos may be benefiting from the links as well.  Zappos.com is also trying some traditional marketing campaigns that may surprise you.

A few weeks ago I had the "pleasure" of passing through security at Ontario International Airport. On this trip, I took a drastic tack from my classic approach. I packed light. Really light.  I'm talking one bag that satisfies as a carry on for a trip almost a week long. Although this is old school to many, this is a monumental feat for me. In the past, my philosophy was to toss it all in, and be quite certain I packed any options I'd want, than to spend any time at all figuring out what I actually needed. However, now that getting in and out of an airport, plowing through TSA security, and flying in general, has become the second most inefficient process on earth (second only to the continental plates shifting to create new land masses) I've had to evolve.

Quest Through Security

So I checked in, showed ID, showed luggage, got our boarding passes, showed ID again, and headed to the Field-O-Metal-Detectors.

The family goes through the metal detectors first, without any hiccups, then I send the stuff through the machines for them to retrieve on the other side.  Now, it's my turn.

I take my laptop out of it's bag and stick it in the bucket.  I empty my pockets.  Out goes the iPhone, the keys, the wallet, all into the bucket.  Let's see if I can make it through the metal detector...

Beeeeep.  Nope.

The TSA lady points at my face, but she's really trying to point behind me.  "Go back through the metal detector!", she admonishes.

While trying to figure out what I should ditch next, she yells, "Take off your belt!"  Belt ditched; in the bucket.  Back through the metal detector...

Beeeeep.  Nope.

"Back through!", she scolds.

"Take off your watch!"  Watch ditched; in the bucket.  Back through...

Beeeeep.  Nope.

The line behind me is gaining in length, and losing in patience.

"What else do you have?", she chides.  "Nothing", I retort, while slapping my pockets.

No ones happy.  Not me, her, the crowd behind me.  Actually, everyone's getting frustrated.

She has an epiphany and looks down.  I follow her eyes.  Crap, my sandals are still on.  I'm not sure why I didn't ditch them yet.  Maybe I forgot.  Maybe I thought since they were small, light, and open toe, they wouldn't matter.

"TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES!!!!", she cries.  Like I'm an idiot.  Like I want to go through the freakin' metal detector four freaking times.  Like I want my family to have to wait for me with all our stuff on the other side.  Like I want the whole damn airport hung up.

Frustratingly, very frustratingly, shoes ditched; in the bucket.  Right now, I pretty much hate the airport, hate TSA, hate metal detectors, and hate, well, shoes...

But, this time, before I go back through, I notice a familiar face in the bottom of the bucket.  It's Zappos.com.  Here is what I saw.

The Zappos X-Ray Bucket Advertisement

The ad says...

IT'S MAGIC!
KIND OF LIKE THE X-RAY MACHINE.
Zappos.com
POWERED by SERVICE
PUT A LITTLE ZAPPOS IN YOUR DAY
MILLIONS OF SHOES, CLOTHES and BAGS.

How ironic.  Zappos.com reminds me they sell shoes, just when I hate shoes. (As an aside, they also reminded me of those advertisements on grocery store carts in that section of the cart where a baby rides.  Those ads always have pictures of people that look really shady.)

What is Zappos trying to do?

Recently, Zappos dumped their free overnight shipping and their 110% Price Match Guarantee.  Since then, I've noticed a decent amount of Zappos marketing directed at branding and other marketing campaigns that has difficult to measure ROI, such as these x-ray buckets. So with this campaign, is there more than meets the eye?  Are they trying to do more than create brand awareness?

Maybe Zappos is hoping that I'll be thinking about Shoes and Zappos simultaneously so that the next time I think about shoes, I'll think of Zappos?  Now, that would be great, as long as I also don't think about how absolutely freaking ticked I was and attribute that attitude to Zappos.

Maybe they are targeting the customer that is thinking about how they wish they would have worn an easier pair of shoes to slip on and off?  In the moment people might think like that, but in the morning, on the way to the airport, do people decide what shoes they'll wear and take with them on a trip, based on which pair will be most easily removed at security?

Maybe Zappos is thinking that people are getting to the airport earlier and earlier due to airport security, delays, etc., and that they can influence them to pass the time doing some online shopping?  I spent all my time going back and forth through the metal detector so that didn't work for me.
Maybe the idea is to get people to start thinking about shopping at online stores even when they aren’t online.  This is especially important since shoes are traditionally something that people like to try on before they buy.  Hence, Zappos' absent restock fee and free returns shipping.

Good Idea?

So is it a good idea for Zappos.com to remind me that they sell shoes, just when I hate shoes.  Good question.  I don't know the answer.  I know they convinced me to write a blog post about them.  AHA!  THAT'S IT!  It's a viral marketing campaign secretly targeting eCommerce bloggers who Zappos knows will question the value of their campaign.  Genius.  Just Genius.

By the way, once I ditched the shoes, it was smooth sailing through the metal detector.  Dang steel toe sandals... 

The short answer is “Yes?”. Your customer is the reason you’re able to stay in business, especially in these tight times. This does not, however, definitively mean that “the customer is always right”. Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges department stores in the UK in 1909, is credited with coining the phrase “the customer is always right”. Mr. Selfridge likely did not intend to be taken literally. Rather, he used it to change the psychology of his customers and employees. Customers would, perhaps, feel that a company cared for them. Employees would be continually exposed to the notion that a customer could not be wrong. Presumably, this would result in a prevailing attitude among employees to treat customers positively, regardless of how the customers treated employees.

The unfortunate thing is that customers have latched onto a widespread disposition that they cannot be wrong. Even more unfortunate, as a privately held, small business, we are not able to afford the Nordstrom customer service model. We have customer complaints. But, we were unable, financially, to accommodate every customer request. It may sound terrible to think that a company would take the stance that the customer isn’t always right, but it’s true. Please do not misunderstand. We love our customers and we absolutely want everybody to be delighted with their shopping experience. However, there are situations where a customer’s expectations are not met, but we have made every effort to build clear expectations for the customer before they buy.

I’ll give you an example. A customer buys a valve with low profit margin from PlumberSurplus.com without contacting our customer service team, thinking that the valve will work with their existing plumbing. The specifications for the valve are clearly stated on the product detail page. The customer must read and agree to our web site’s terms of use, including our returns policy, before they are able to create an account or place an order. The customer receives the valve that they ordered in good condition and their plumber tells them that this is not the right valve. The customer immediately contacts PlumberSurplus.com and tells us that they received the wrong product. In researching the issue, we discover that the product that the customer ordered was the product that was sent. The customer simply did not order the correct valve. No problem. We are able to accept the product in return. However, the customer feels that PlumberSurplus.com should make it more clear that the valve does not support all types of plumbing and does not want to pay to ship the product back to PlumberSurplus.com or pay a restocking fee. The customer has already read and agreed to the returns policy which makes both clear. PlumberSurplus.com has made every effort to stipulate what type of plumbing this valve will accommodate. So we say “No. Your order is subject to the policies that you agreed to upon buying”.

The customer then files a dispute with their credit card company. PlumberSurplus.com is charged a processing fee for the dispute that is greater than the profit margin of the valve. PlumberSurplus.com ultimately wins the dispute and we receive our money for the sale, but we still have to pay the processing fee for the dispute. You may ask yourself, “Why don’t you just change the returns policy?” We thought of that. The cost to pay to return the item to PlumberSurplus.com and the cost associated with processing the return is potentially even greater than the cost of the credit dispute processing fee! Either way, we lose.  On the flip side happy customers come back and we may be able to make up the costs then.

So, to recap, we set an expectation of what product the customer was buying and how the customer would have to return it, should they elect to do so. The customer agreed. The customer changed their mind when they discovered that they made a poor buying decision and asked PlumberSurplus.com to pay for the mistake. In this case, the customer was not “right”. At this point, PlumberSurplus.com has to evaluate whether or not it is valuable to lose money on this customer. For various reasons, it may be valuable to lose money on a given customer, but not “always”.

Well nothing crazy happened to me last Friday (phew), hope you were left unaffected as well. Vanessa is still out, so I’m covering the blog again. Disappointingly enough for Vanessa, the Lakers lost. She now owes Matt, a fellow coworker, dinner. If you are in the Southern California area I hope you are staying cool during these 100+ degree days. We are especially appreciative of the PlumberSurplus.com food program for providing ice cream sandwiches!

• If you live in California, new cell phone laws go into effect July 1^st. To make sure you are covered, I suggest picking up a hands free device soon. I’ve heard great things about the BlueAnt Supertooth Light available at Amazon (assuming they don’t go down again). For a low cost solution, purchase a plug in corded hands free device for your phone.

• Who else is getting worried about eBay and their desire to force PayPal as the only eBay payment option?

• Having trouble finding which social networking site your target demographic is on? RapLeaf (via Marketing Pilgrim) has some data which shows where these folks prefer to hang out.

• In case you were not one of the 8+ million users who participated in the world record attempt by Mozilla called “Download Day” and got FireFox 3, you can still get it at their site. I’ve been using it all week and it does seem to provide a faster browsing experience without any hacks.

• Looking for inspiration and innovation for your ecommerce site? Jason Billingsley at Elastic Path had a great webinar yesterday on Ecommerce Innovations. I can’t imagine implementing Coastal Contact’s “Try before you buy” feature on some products (shall I even mention toilets?) from our site…

• AdWords Quality Score is now influenced by page load times. If you run SEM, spot check some of your keywords for every domain you have ads for to ensure you have not been impacted by this change.

Now to all those I promised, its time for some pictures from Internet Retailer!

Channeladvisor Booth

Singlefeed Crew- Angela, Colin, & Ben

McAfee’s Shannon Carter

Jay from PowerReviews

The Smarter Ladies

Andrew and Ian from Google AdWords Retail Team

Siva and Larisa from TheFind.com

Jeary from LivePerson

On the heels of Google Docs giving me a 404 Error that doesn't follow Google's own guidelines and Amazon going down to the tune of a $2.3 million, the largest alternative payment method provider couldn't just sit on the sidelines.  PayPal, not to be outdone by Google and Amazon, has now joined the ranks of mega sites dealing with recent errors and outages.

This last Wednesday, I went to PayPal's homepage, paypal.com, by typing the URL directly into my browser.  The page only partially loaded, showing lots of empty whitespace, noticeably absent formatting, and little navigation.  A big, almost empty, rectangle included two links in the lower left.  The first link read "Click here to retry".  The second link ironically read "Return to the homepage".  The title of the page read "Page Not Found - PayPal".  Several refreshes didn't clear up the issue.  Neither did clearing my cookies, cache and temporary files, restarting my browser, and retyping the URL.  Several minutes later, PayPal.com loaded fine.

Here is a screen shot of PayPal's home page give me the Page Not Found error.

Man, what's in the internet water and who will drink it next?

I’ll be helping with this week’s variety post while Vanessa is out. Eek, its Friday the 13th! Having just returned (albeit much later than planned) from Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition 2008 in Chicago, I have so much to share with our team and our readers. You have to love being separated from your luggage, missing connecting flights, and staying in foreign places overnight, but it was all a small price to pay considering I just had the amazing opportunity to speak for the very first time at IRCE.

• Danny Dover posted on SEOmoz a “Beginner's Checklist For Search Conferences” which is especially helpful if you’ve never attended such an event. Luckily it wasn’t my first time at a conference, just my first time speaking. I strongly agree with his point that you should blog about your trip (I can check that one off the list) once you return.

• My flights were uber-delayed causing me to spend the night in Dallas. Don’t worry though I had awesome seats on every connecting flight thanks to SeatGuru.com. Use the SeatMap Key to find the best seats with power outlets and the most legroom.

• Last week Microsoft adCenter announced Microsoft adCenter Desktop (Beta), an application similar to Google AdWords Editor. I immediately signed up for the betaAdWords Editor 6.0 late last week. that day, and was just sent a link to download the application. I haven’t installed it yet, more to come from me on that later. Google just recently released AdWords Editor 6.0 late last week..

• If you attended the workshops on Monday at IRCE, you may have caught the session about Affiliate Marketing. I was asked many times what my stance is on the subject, and honestly, we love affiliates and what they are able to do for us by driving additional sales and revenue. We work directly with publishers to provide them special coupons and incentives. You can catch panelist George Michie’s response on the RKG blog. Other than doing some “affiliate hunting”, one way affiliate coupon sites and merchants can get along is to have well developed policies and terms.

• Speaking of policies and terms, Linda at Get Elastic recently touched on 9 tips for privacy policy usability. Linda is amazing; not only was she staffing the booth at IRCE, attending sessions and taking time to review passerby’s site’s (including ours), she still found time to blog!