10 Blogs Every eCommerce Professional Should Be Following

It’s not easy keeping on top of the latest news and happenings in the world of ecommerce, especially since there is a huge amount of blogs and other content to be found on the web. Not all blogs are created equally though and that means that you can waste a lot of time searching through the web to find useful information. That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you and searched out the best ecommerce blogs out there for you to add to your bookmarks.

1

Get Elastic

Named as the top ecommerce blog by PostRank and as one of the 15 entrepreneur blogs worth reading by the Wall Street Journal, Elastic publishes industry news, tips and advice three times per week. The blog is brought to you by Elastic Path, which provides ecommerce software for Adobe Marketing Cloud.

The blog covers all aspects of ecommerce, from web design to conversion optimization and is packed full of excellent content that’s at the very cutting edge of the industry. Perfect for newcomers to online commerce and experienced site owners, the Elastic blog is definitely worth subscribing to.

2

Groove eCommerce

Groove is a creative digital agency based in Maryland, Baltimore, USA. The blog covers all aspects of digital business including SEO, SEM, marketing, ecommerce, design and much more. You should also check out the Vlog if you like to watch video as well as read. The Groove blog has a wide diversity of authors as well as subjects and the content is fresh and expert.

3

eCommerce Fuel

The mission statement of this blog says that it aims to become “the web’s best community for independent ecommerce merchants” and the blog is intended to help support smaller merchants and independents to achieve success. As such it’s packed with interesting and actionable content that focuses on strategy and offering practical tips and advice on how to get ahead in the sector.

Content isn’t posted daily or often even weekly, but that doesn’t detract from how useful it is. Make sure that you bookmark it and check back often for updates aimed at making you more successful.

4

Shopify

This company provides store creation software for ecommerce and its blog is one of my favourites in this niche. There’s a huge amount of information to be found here so it really should be your go-to site for ecommerce related content. There’s even a wiki and free tools such as the store grader tool which examines your site and sends you a comprehensive report on its optimization, details of any technical issues and more.

Here you can also find:

• Generators for T&Cs, privacy policies, refund policies.
• Forums on all aspects of ecommerce
• Guides to everything ecommerce related (downloadable content)
• Video guides

The site also provides an ‘eCommerce University’ and you can sign up for networking so that you can meet up with others in the niche in your local area. The blog itself is regularly updated and is packed with so much useful and interesting information that you may find yourself spending an awful lot of time on it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

5

Practical eCommerce

This site has been around for almost 10 years now, being first founded in July 2005, and has a sister site founded in 1995, Web Marketing Today . The blog is authored by a range of people working in the industry, as well as journalists and offers, as the name suggests, practical and down-to-earth advice which aims to help ecommerce site owners. The blog covers design and development, shopping carts, marketing, management and conversions and posts daily.

6

Internet Retailer

One of the older sites out there, Internet Retailer Magazine was launched in 1999 by Faulkner and Gray before being acquired the next year by Vertical Web Media which has since gone on to become “the largest publisher in the ecommerce (sic) field.” The site publishes a huge amount of content daily, as well as:

• Produces the Top500 Guide which publishes the top 500 online retailers based on top earnings
• A wealth of research on all things ecommerce-relating, both as online information and in eBook form
• Vendor directory
• Resource library
• Webinars

The blog has a very strong business focus and contains lots of useful information on e-retail, mobile commerce, B2B, marketing and technology. A must for all serious ecommerce entrepreneurs.

7

CMS Wire

This site focuses heavily on niche areas of ecommerce and publishes content on customer experience management, online marketing, events, software and more. This is another site which is very business-orientated and as such, the information that it offers is pretty high-end which those outside of the industry would have trouble understanding. There’s a lot of white papers that offer even more in-depth information, an events calendar so that you can plan out conferences and so on, and a nice long list of webinars for you to trawl through.

CMS Wire has been around since 2003 and due to the amount of content it produces, should be the one you hit first every day when you sit down with your morning coffee.

8

eCommerce Times

Owned by ECT News Network, one of the biggest e-business publishers in the US, eCommerce Times has a slightly more technological focus than many ecommerce blogs to be found online. It publishes regular daily content on e-business, enterprise IT, mobile, security and more. Here, you can also find a software buyer’s guide and content covering all of the latest trends in ecommerce and IT.

Ideal for those that deal with the nuts and bolts of site development and maintenance, this site provides information on privacy, security and the cloud.

9

National Retail Federation

Despite the name suggesting that this is just for the US, the National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association and represents retailers in more than 45 countries. Its blog section publishes the latest news, advice on ecommerce and retailing, information on the law and much more.

There’s lots of content on all aspects of retail, including buyer guides, technological standard requirements and so on. This is a great resource for those in ecommerce, especially those setting up for the first time who may be unsure about laws surrounding compliance and such like. Whilst it’s not just for ecommerce, it’s a useful site for all things retail related and a must to add to your bookmarks. It also provides an event calendar to help you to get networking with others in the sector.

10

Shift4Shop

3dcart provides a complete ecommerce platform including web hosting, site building and inventory management tools for businesses of all sizes. Since the company aims to be friendly to businesses just starting out, they maintain a wide selection of free resources on their website including generators for everything from barcodes to privacy policies. This collection of tools can serve as a valuable shortcut for small businesses.

Readers seeking to improve their working knowledge of ecommerce will find plenty of detailed, actionable information in the 3dcart eCommerce blog . 3dcart's blog updates 4 days per week with articles covering every aspect of running an online business, including such topics as payment processing, website design, shipping and much more. Those interested in longer-form tutorials can visit 3dcart's eCommerce University for in-depth explanations of everything from SEO to email marketing to product photography. Whether a beginner or an expert, 3dcart has valuable resources for every level of eCommerce knowledge.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to ecommerce, there’s not actually that many decent blogs that are dedicated just to online retail. Lots of other sites such as those that focus on all aspects of digital marketing offer relevant, useful and interesting ecommerce-related news and advice though so it’s worth bookmarking many of those too. Of the ecommerce blogs that are out there and listed above however, they offer a lot of information, so you shouldn’t really ever find yourself short of reading material.