Tag: Small Businesses

Pandemic Reinvention Is Real For SMBs, Says Bill.com CEO

“I believe SMBs deserve innovation,” says Bill.com CEO and founder Rene Lacarte. “That innovation that we focus on is around the digital processes that are lacking in the back office of SMBs. We’ve seen it in part with the pandemic showing that there’s a need for being digital and to be able to run your business from anywhere. It’s a requirement now. The pandemic reinvention is real and something that we think is going to stick around.”

Rene Lacarte, CEO of Bill.com, says that the pandemic reinvention is real for small and medium-sized businesses and that they need to innovate and digitize the back office:

SMBs Deserve Innovation

At the core of why I started the company is that I believe SMBs deserve innovation. That innovation that we focus on that I really believe is missing out there is around the digital processes that are lacking. We digitize the back office. Then we connect that back office to the banking system so money can move, to the accounting system so records can be reported, and to the accounting firms that they’re involved with.

All of that connection creates a connective tissue that operates and automates the financial operations. Because of that it’s driving demand, it’s driving opportunity, and it’s driving growth across our existing customers as well as the new customers coming in. That’s how we do it. That’s how we bring the back office into the back pocket.

Pandemic Reinvention Is Real For SMBs

Nobody gets into business to actually do the back office. I grew up in small businesses. My parents had small businesses. My grandparents had small businesses. A lot of our friends had small businesses. This was always the bane of existence. This is what people had to do on Friday night. Who wants to do this on a Friday night? That’s what people are doing when they’re trying to run their business from their back pocket when they don’t have the tools. They have to do it at night at home.

We take care of that. We automate the processes. That’s what’s driving the demand, it’s the opportunity. We’ve seen it in part with the pandemic showing that there’s a need for being digital. This opportunity to be able to run your business from anywhere is a requirement now. The pandemic reinvention is real and something that we think is going to stick around.

Pandemic Reinvention Is Real For SMBs, Says Bill.com CEO Rene Lacarte

February 10, 2021
What Is Industry 4.0 and How Will it Affect Us?

Informally, Industrial Revolutions are referred to as Industry “Points O’s.” The First Industrial Revolution, or Industry 1.0, took place between 1760 and 1830, the second following up shortly after between 1870-1914. Between 1950-2002, the world underwent “digitalization” as a result of the Third Industrial Revolution, or Industry 3.0; and since 2011, we have been undergoing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, more commonly known as Industry 4.0. As a result of digitalization, data intelligence has been a primary driver in prospective industry revolutions.

As a result of Industry 1.0, machines and tools were able to replace animal and human labor. This was especially monumental for its time (1760-1830). How? The use of iron and steel for machinery began to skyrocket. As a result, working class citizens were able to create new resources, such as steam and internal combustion engines – which went on to drive a sector of the economy in itself.

Under Industry 2.0 (1870-1914), workers of the mass production industry saw many days of sunshine. For the first time, assembly line efficiency and productivity was lightened and shipping was made easier due to the invention of railways and telegraphs – another product of Industry 2.0. More along, new materials such as stainless steel and plastics were introduced as societal benefits.

Things got more technological under Industry 3.0 (1950-2002). The Third Industrial Revolution introduced electronics and IT, as well integrated them into manufacturing procedures. As a result, society saw a massive rise in telecommunications, computers, and even nuclear power. There was also a noteworthy widespread in factory automation, such as the incorporation of robots and PLCs to contribute to the general workflow.

Since 2011, interconnectivity has been the key focus. Already, Industry 4.0 is set to provide higher-level automation driven by artificial intelligence, as well as optimized manufacturing using real-time data and sensors. Additionally, this Industrial Revolution is focusing on a way to integrate cyber-physical systems throughout the supply chain.

In its outcome, Industry 4.0 will have used big data and machine learning to automate plants, warehouses, machines, and more. Furthermore, Industry 4.0 will have created smart machines that will be capable of collecting and analyzing data, as well as communicating the right information at the right time.

In other words, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will lay improvements across 3 new sectors: smart communication, data quality, and smart devices.

Smart communication allows manufacturers to rapidly respond to changing demand, inventory shortfalls, or equipment faults. Data Quality helps companies quickly locate problems so they can respond to them quicker. Additionally, data quality can be refined through organization-wide networks. Smart Devices create increasingly autonomous ecosystems that act as a catalyst for the future of the industry. Examples of these include driverless vehicles and drones. Driverless vehicles can navigate factories and warehouses, and drones can be used for maintenance and inventory management.

With that being said, business owners should seek insights on the ways they’re being impacted by Industry 4.0 In other words, this is a great time to prepare an effective data structure, focus on high-fidelity data creation and communication, standardardized business and data process, and understand your business’ use case. If even one important portion of the data is missing, it can break the digital thread – causing the flow of data to stop.

Is your data ready for Industry 4.0? Find out in the infographic below.

November 24, 2020
Yelp: 61% Of Restaurant Closures Permanent

By far, the hardest hit segment of the economy impacted by the forced government closures mandated by various state governor executive orders over the last six months has been restaurants. According to a Yelp COVID Impact Report, 61 percent of restaurants closed during the pandemic will never reopen. Remember, these are businesses that never should have closed in the first place considering that Walmart, Target, Kroger, and hundreds of so-called ‘essential’ businesses remained open.

The obvious question that the media seems oblivious to is if social distancing and preventive measures could be implemented in the busiest of all retail establishments like Walmart, then why on earth couldn’t they have been implemented at restaurants, small businesses, and other chain stores also? In fact, they are being implemented now, months later, which proves that just like Walmart they could have been implemented six months earlier and saved thousands of businesses and jobs.

“The restaurant industry continues to be among the most impacted with an increasing number of closures – totaling 32,109 closures as of August 31, with 19,590 of these business closures indicated to be permanent (61%). Breakfast and brunch restaurants, burger joints, sandwich shops, dessert places and Mexican restaurants are among the types of restaurants with the highest rate of business closures. Foods that work well for delivery and takeout have been able to keep their closure rates lower than others, including pizza places, delis, food trucks, bakeries and coffee shops.
Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020

Yelp says that a total of 163, 735 business on Yelp have closed since the pandemic closure mandates and reopening restrictions started. Yelp focuses on restaurants, services businesses, and retail, many of which are locally owned and family-owned establishments. As one would expect, the mandates hurt these businesses very badly. In fact, according to the study, over 60 percent of all businesses that closed will never reopen. That equates to 97,966 businesses closed for good.

The last Yelp Economic Average showed a decreasing number of overall closures, 132,580 in total. As of August 31, 163,735 total U.S. businesses on Yelp have closed since the beginning of the pandemic (observed as March 1), a 23% increase since July 10. In the wake of COVID-19 cases increasing and local restrictions continuing to change in many states we’re seeing both permanent and temporary closures rise across the nation, with 60% of those closed businesses not reopening (97,966 permanently closed).
Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020

Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020

According to the Yelp report, Hawaii, California, and Nevada have the highest rate of total closures and permanent closures. They are also the three states with the highest unemployment rates. The states with the least business restrictions, West Virginia and the Dakotas, not so coincidentally, also have the lowest closure rates. The cities with the highest number of permanent business closures also tend to be in areas where the government has been the harshest on businesses imposing full closures for the longest periods and only allowing partial reopenings. The top five states with the most businesses closed are Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Dallas.

Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020

September 18, 2020
GoDaddy Partners With Spree To Offer eCommerce Solutions To Small Businesses

Last year, GoDaddy moved away from super models to focus on small businesses and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Since then, the the company has entered into a number of key strategic partnerships to help out small businesses with everything from email management to eCommerce solutions.

GoDaddy announced today that it has partnered up with Spree Commerce to offer its open-source eCommerce platform to small businesses. The partnership is another step in GoDaddy’s strategy of democratizing technology for small businesses.

“Many of our customers do not have the technical expertise to build a successful online store, yet they all want to serve their customers who are increasingly online and mobile,” said GoDaddy Head of Product for Presence and Commerce Sandeep Grover. “With GoDaddy, our vision is to make it simple for any small business to create an eye-catching store that will stand out and help them sell more. With Spree Commerce on the back-end, we’ll be translating the great open-source work of the Spree community into a store experience available to the masses.”

It’s noted that the eCommerce segment is expected to hit $370 billion by 2017. GoDaddy wants to be part of that growing trend by getting as many small businesses as it can online before then. With Spree, it will be able to do just that.

“We’re pleased to partner with GoDaddy to provide a technology solution that can scale to tens of thousands of stores,” said Spree Commerce CEO Sean Schofield. “We also look forward to GoDaddy joining our worldwide open source movement, which is constantly innovating together to improve our platform’s capabilities.”

As Schofield mentioned above, GoDaddy will be joining the open source movement with this latest partnership. In exchange for using Spree’s technology, GoDaddy will be contributing back to its open source community.

“GoDaddy is embracing open ecosystems and communities in open source. This commitment not only allows GoDaddy to be a leader in the hosting and domains industries by adopting and contributing to the latest innovations in open source, but also expand our large-scale systems expertise,” said GoDaddy CTO Elissa Murphy. “Over the next year, GoDaddy will adopt and contribute new innovations focused on the VSB (very small business) customer to these communities.”

Those using GoDaddy for their small business needs will be able to utilize Spree Commerce starting this Spring.

Image via GoDaddy/YouTube

February 26, 2014
Microsoft, GoDaddy Team Up To Offer Office 365 To Small Businesses

If you own a small business, you’re going to need some productivity software for your employees. If you use GoDaddy as your Web host, you won’t have to look far.

Microsoft and GoDaddy announced today that the two are teaming up to offer Office 365 as GoDaddy’s “exclusive core business-class email and productivity service.” The agreement will see Office 365 integrated seamlessly into GoDaddy’s other enterprise offerings, including “professional email connected to their domain names, cloud storage and a full suite of Microsoft productivity solutions.”

“Combining our small-business expertise together with Microsoft’s productivity offerings opens new doors for small businesses to easily get the tools they need to get more done in their day,” said Steven Aldrich, senior vice president of Business Applications, GoDaddy. “We’ve created a simple way to attach Office 365 to a domain name, helping small-business owners look professional and work anywhere, making the business of running their business easier.”

The partnership is good for GoDaddy, but it’s even better for Microsoft. The company that built Windows is looking for more revenue streams as the PC market is slowly being taken over by the likes of Android and iOS. Office is arguably the company’s most well known product and its usage in enterprise environments is a given. By integrating Office 365 into GoDaddy’s own enterprise services, Microsoft can now target even more enterprise customers.

“We’re excited that GoDaddy has chosen to exclusively offer Office 365 to its small-business customers, giving them easy and supported access to productivity tools being used by some of the most successful businesses in the world,” said John Case, corporate vice president, Microsoft Office. “GoDaddy’s relationship with small businesses combined with Office 365, the fastest-growing Microsoft product in history, will help bring the benefits of Office 365 and modern cloud services to even more companies, whether they’re seeking to modernize how they do business or simply starting up.”

So, how much is this going to cost you? GoDaddy is offering what it calls Email Essentials, which includes 5GB of email storage, the ability to sync email, calendar and contacts across device and 2GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, for $3.99 per user per month.

To actually get access to Office Web apps, including Word and Excel, you’re going to have to pony up $8.99 per user per month, but you also get 25GB of cloud storage and 50GB of email storage.

If your employees need the desktop versions of Microsoft Office, you can opt to pay $12.49 a month to get access to everything in the previous tier plus access to the Office for desktop and Office 365 for mobile. It should be noted that this tier only allows you to install Microsoft Office on up to five PCs or Macs.

Image via GoDaddy/YouTube

January 13, 2014
How Optimistic Are Small Business Owners Going Into 2014?

The rise of the internet has certainly made it easier for small business owners to build and market their livelihoods. However, these opportunities are tempered by the fact that small businesses must work extra hard to stand out in the largest crowd imaginable.

Standing out from the crowd online is especially challenging given the quickly-evolving nature of the internet. Though most businesses have managed to get a foothold in social media in recent years, new evidence is showing that the sands of the internet may be shifting once again. Young people are now using traditional social media such as Facebook less, favoring more personal and closed off platforms such as WhatsApp and Snapchat. It’s not surprising, then, that small businesses are often kept on their toes, scrambling to market themselves on a variety of platforms that may or may not prove effective.

How will you market your business in 2014? Let us know in the comments below.

In 2013 small businesses were greeted with a myriad of opportunities large and small, yet many small business owners are still unsure of what may be coming in the new year. A new Gallup poll released this week shows that about half of U.S. small business owners (49%) are neither more optimistic nor less optimistic about their business’ future heading into 2014. A full 28% of them are less optimistic about the new year, and only 23% are more optimistic about what 2014 could bring.

Certainly some of this unease can be pinned on the fact that small business owners must always be wary of the new and unexpected, plenty of which could easily sink a small business.

Gallup’s survey found that owners are still very concerned about the state of the economy, which continues to remain staid five years on from the beginning of the recession. Other outside factors that small business owners must contend with include the new Affordable Care Act (colloquially known as “Obamacare”) healthcare rules and other government intervention, including regulation and taxes.

Gallup’s poll also found that small business owners are still worried about traditional small business concerns such as finding new customers, generating stable revenue, and hiring good employees.

What are your concerns for your business going into 2014? Let us know in the comments.

With unemployment still high and consumer spending increasing, it would seem that things in the U.S. are on-track for a small business renaissance in 2014. Likewise, economic indicators show that the country’s economy is slowly crawling back to relevance. So why should it be that so many small business owners have scant optimism going into 2014?

The wider rollout of Obamacare certainly has implications for small businesses in the new year. Major provisions of the healthcare law are set to begin on January 1, potentially increasing the overhead of some businesses. The changes could be particularly hard for those businesses that have counted on fixed lower healthcare costs for some time.

The Obamacare concerns also feed into overall concerns about the government. Though congress actually managed to pass a compromise budget in the closing days of 2013, the government shutdown in October highlighted just how dysfunctional the legislative branch of the U.S. government currently is. The current congress managed to reach record-low disapproval rantings, leading a majority of Americans to declare it the worst congress they’ve seen in their lifetime.

Though the “do-nothing” congress could be seen as a good thing for businesses wary of any legislative intervention, it is also a constant source of possible major changes. Take, for instance, this year’s fight over states collecting sales tax from internet sales. While physical retailers would no doubt benefit from legislation such as the Marketplace Fairness Act, online retailers most certainly wouldn’t. This means that some segment of small businesses will be harmed either way, and having such legislation constantly up in the air means uncertainty for everyone, which could be yet another source for small business owners’ lack of optimism.

For small businesses that rely heavily on Google for online traffic and new customers, 2013 was also a very unsteady year. In May Google rolled out its Penguin 2.0 update for its search algorithm, shifting search optimization (for better and worse) once again. Though that update doesn’t seem to have been as catastrophic for search rankings as previous updates have been, the additional Penguin 2.1 update in October added to the uncertainty that Google’s algorithm changes always create. This, for certain businesses, could be fueling the unease the feel around attracting new customers.

Any or all of these factors are good reason for small business owners to temper their optimism going into the new year. Uncertainty is anathema to good business and is especially dangerous for small businesses. However many new tools and opportunities small businesses get in the new year, old issues such as the fear of government intervention and the constant scramble for new customers are as real as ever- and certainly enough reason to keep optimism in check.

How optimistic are you for small businesses in 2014? Tell us in the comments below.

December 31, 2013
Google Checkout To Shut Down On November 20

Back in November 2011, Google announced that it was retiring Google Checkout in favor of Google Wallet. After that announcement, Google Checkout remained operational for another year and a half until Google announced in May of this year that it was no longer accepting new signups for the service. It also said the service would permanently shut down in six months, but now we have an actual date.

Google announced that Google Checkout will shut down once and for all on November 20. Google says the “decision was not made lightly,” but it felt that its “focus is best concentrated on other areas of the payment space.” It knows that a number of online businesses will be impacted by Google Checkout’s closure, and Google has a few options for all retailers that used its service.

Before we get to that, however, you’ll need to know the timeline of Google Checkout’s demise. First, the service will shut down on November 20. This will be the last day that merchants using Google Checkout will be able to charge orders. A day later, on November 21, will be the last day merchants can ship orders. After that, all outstanding orders will be canceled on November 27. Finally, merchants have until December 20 to process refunds.

So, what is Google doing to help merchants transition away from Google Checkout? For starters, it wants any and all merchants selling goods through Google-hosted marketplaces (e.g. Google Play) to know that they will remain unaffected through all of this as all transactions will automatically switch over to Google Wallet if they haven’t already. As for merchants selling digital goods, they can also easily switch to Google Wallet. You can find out more here.

The only merchants getting the short end of the stick here are those who sell physical objects as Google will not be replacing Google Checkout with a comparable service. Instead, Google has teamed up with three third-party alternatives to offer Google Checkout refugees discounted services:
Payment Processing: Braintree Payments
Hosted storefront: Shopify
Email invoicing: Freshbooks

While Google Wallet can’t serve all the needs that were fulfilled by Google Checkout, the company does have two services that it wants merchants to use for their business:

Google Wallet Instant Buy: Quick and easy payments on mobile, desktop, and in-app
Google Wallet Objects: Digital commercial objects and stronger third party issuer-consumer relationships

Before merchants can start replacing Google Checkout, they’ll have to remove it from their Web site first. To help out with that, Google has a number of helpful tutorials that cover every level of Google Play integration from email invoicing all the way to custom built integration through HTML/XML. You can learn more here.

If you want to learn more about Google Checkout’s death or what to do with your current Web site, you’ll want to check out Google’s exhaustive FAQ here.

[Image: katokazu/YouTube]

October 22, 2013

Online Security, Are We All Potentially At Risk?

How safe are we really? One may wonder if large corporations, small businesses, and individuals are all subject to online fraud. Financial Fraud Action UK has recently reported that losses incurred due to online security failures are increasing.

Though there is no surefire way to safeguard against all potential risks, individuals have options regarding where to invest their money. Choosing the bank best suited to a person’s needs is important in such situations. Which? recently delved into the world of online bank security by researching ten of the UK’s biggest banks.

The ranking dimensions included the following: login security, logout security, security established for transferring money, avenues in place to change personal account details, the site’s navigational capabilities to use forward and back buttons while logged in, and encryption as well as protection of information against threats.

Which? listed the banks in the following order from most secure to least secure.

1. NatWest/RBS – 76%
2. The Co-operative Bank – 72%
3. HSBC – 72%
4. Barclays – 71%
5. Norwich and Peterborough BS – 70%
6. Lloyds TSB – 69%
7. Nationwide BS – 69%
8. Smile – 68%
9. Halifax – 67%
10. Santander – 47%

Santander ranked last on the list, but responded to the study with positive news for bank members. The statement from Santander read, “We have taken on previous feedback from Which? and enhanced the visible and invisible layers of security in our systems. This means when you log off, you are completely logged off and cannot get back in without re-entering security details. While we ensure online banking is safe and secure, we also have to make sure it’s user-friendly as well, to strike the right balance.”

Small businesses can align themselves with website security companies as Verio Inc. has recently done. Verio Inc., which provides business solutions to SMBs, has partnered with StopTheHacker to educate small businesses about ensuring security for their websites. Though services offered will vary in the amount of fees, this initiative allows small business to consider online security options starting at $10 per month.

According to StopTheHacker’s Vice President of Sales, Ridley Ruth, “We are very excited to partner with Verio as they understand the importance of website security. We see that 90% of all the malware in the world is being distributed by legitimate small business websites. This valuable, free website security report will further serve to educate Verio’s customers to this growing problem while presenting products that will help protect them from becoming one of the over 9,500 websites that Google blacklists every day.”

[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

Will Yelp’s Lawsuits Curb Phony Reviews?

As phonebooks become a thing of the past, local and small businesses now rely more than ever on the internet to get the word out about their services. However, the social nature of today’s web makes it hard work for business owners to control how their business is perceived. A bad review can stick around forever, and the anonymous nature of the net can make it impossible to investigate claims or offer recompense.

On Yelp in particular, bad or vindictive reviews can often hurt the reputation of a small business. Millions of people each month rely on the site to find local businesses, and low ratings can mean the difference between sales and bankruptcy. Add to this the fact that Yelp’s business model runs on selling advertising to the very business’ that inhabit its website and the situation becomes one that can cause resentment from business owners who are trying hard to promote their services on a limited budget.

Have a Yelp horror story? Let us know about it in the comments.

Within this climate, it isn’t surprising that Yelp has been sued multiple times by people who all but claim (though some explicitly claim) that Yelp is extorting small businesses. These claims include the hiding of positive reviews and the placing of competitor ads on business review pages.

For its part, Yelp has strenuously denied being a racket and has generally come out on top in lawsuits. Through multiple blog posts and reports, Yelp has tried to explain how it attempts to filter out reviews that it sees as fake. These would include reviews from business owners themselves, as well as reviews from companies that sell false Yelp reviews.

Now, after being on the defensive in lawsuits and implementing features such as consumer alerts on its website, Yelp appears to be going on the offensive. Yelp is now suing sites that sell false reviews for its website. As recently as June of this year Yelp filed a lawsuit against the provocatively-named website BuyYelpReview.com (it’s gone now). This week, a new Bloomberg report points out that Yelp may even now be targeting individual business owners who file false reviews.

The report centers on a San Diego lawyer named Julian McMillian who sued Yelp in small claims court over an ad deal and actually won. He then began soliciting other businesses who had grievances with Yelp. Though his victory was overturned on appeal, Yelp seems to have used the case as an opportunity to dig into McMillian’s Yelp comments. Yelp is now suing the man for more than $25,000 for allegedly planting fake reviews on his business page.

Being sued by Yelp is a notion that could easily strike fear into the hearts of small business owners – and that’s likely the point. By making an example of an unscrupulous business owner, Yelp could be hoping to deter others from creating their own astroturf reviews or turning to fake Yelp review sellers. It’s a tactic that the MPAA embraced years ago, suing individuals (including clueless parents) who had pirated copyrighted content using Bittorrent. And as with piracy, the tactic would be unlikely to work for Yelp.

On a basic level, suing small business owners directly could easily increase resentment from those that struggle with poor reviews. For those who already believe that Yelp gives review-filter favors to business that advertise with them, this could simply be seen as Yelp shutting down their competition.

On a technical level, Yelp uses an algorithm to determine what reviews should be hidden on a business Yelp page. As Google knows, it can be hard to stay a step ahead of scammers trying to game an algorithm. It’s a constant process that takes expertise and creativity to manage, and even then the legions of spammers working against an algorithm always seem to find a way to game it.

It’s a problem that will almost certainly never be fully solved. There simply isn’t enough manpower to check every Yelp review thoroughly. Though Yelp likely accounts for some amount of false reviews in its star ratings system, individual reviews would still require a human touch to completely verify. For better or worse, Yelp and small business owners seem to be bound to each other out of necessity – with false reviews making it difficult for both sides to trust the other.

Is there some way for Yelp to filter fake reviews that doesn’t risk hurting small businesses? Let us know your ideas in the comments.

Are Small Businesses Properly Represented In Online Sales Tax Debate?

The Marketplace Fairness Act has been regularly described as a bill that would help small local businesses compete against the large online businesses that dominate the playing field due to them not having to collect sales tax. This description is a little unfair, however, as it often ignores the growing number of small businesses that are courting consumers online instead of through a physical storefront.

Do you think the Marketplace Fairness Act would benefit large and small businesses equally? What about small businesses that primarily deal in online sales? Let us know in the comments.

The Seattle Times recently reported on the interesting case of a small online retailer called Puget Sound Instrument. The owner, Peter Ollodart, became increasingly concerned by the progress that the Marketplace Fairness Act was making through Congress. The bill, which would require all online retailers, including his, to collect sales tax on purchases, would cut into what little profit his small business makes.

To put this into perspective, Ollodart says that his 2012 tax return shows that he made $350 in net profit. This was after his company sold $3.5 million worth of electronics to mostly out of state customers. He suspects that having to file state sales tax for 44 states would put him out of business.

With his business’ livelihood on the line, Ollodart flew out to Washington D.C. to ask that lawmakers oppose the bill. Unfortunately, only his local Congressman, Rep. Dave Reichert, met with him. The lawmaker wouldn’t say whether or not he would vote yes on the bill, but his spokeswoman later told the paper that he didn’t “want to place any undue burdens on small businesses.”

Despite Ollodart’s and many other small online businesses’ efforts, the Senate voted in favor of the Marketplace Fairness Act back in May. In fact, the bill was passed by a wide margin with 69 senators voting in favor of it while only 27 voted against it. Of course, the bill’s success in the Senate doesn’t necessarily mean that it will do well in the House. In fact, House Speaker John Boehner has said that he probably wouldn’t vote in favor of it.

Of course, minds can change when money is involved. That’s where the lobbying comes in, and it’s where big business has a big advantage. Amazon has been spending millions of dollars over the past few years to ensure that Congress passes the Marketplace Fairness Act. Why would an online retailer support the legislation? For starters, Amazon already pays sales tax in every state where it has a physical presence, and it’s building more fulfillment centers in new states all the time. As you can see, Amazon has little to lose with the passage of the bill.

Aside from Amazon, big retailers like Best Buy and Sears are pushing for its passage via the National Retail Federation. The lobbying group had this to say when the bill was passed by the Senate:

“This bill and its companion in the House will level the playing field for all retailers – both online and off – while safeguarding states’ rights. And the bill does it all without raising taxes, new government mandates or adding to the deficit. NRF and our broad cross-section of members will work closely with our bipartisan sponsors in the House, Reps. Womack and Speier, and Chairman Goodlatte to ensure that efairness is debated honestly and on its merits. When brought to a vote, we believe the House will pass the bill and it will be signed into law.”

Both big business and small business can agree that the debate over the Marketplace Fairness Act is about fairness. It’s what that fairness entails that gives rise to debate though. Big business claims that its losing customers to online businesses due to their ability to offer lower prices on account of not having to collect sales tax. Small online businesses, however, claim that having to collect sales tax would only make their lives more complicated, and cost them thousands of dollars more a year in hiring accountants to take care of said taxes.

This is where the opposite comes in. A number of small online retailers, Americans for Tax Reform and eBay have all been pushing against the legislation. eBay in particular feels that the Marketplace Fairness Act would negatively affect small businesses. That’s why it’s pushing for an exemption that would make it so that any business that brings in less than $10 million a year annually would not have to pay out-of-state sales tax. The current exemption is $1 million in annual sales so it’s easy to see why small online businesses like Puget Sound Instrument have much to fear from it.

That’s why Ollodart and other small online business owners are going to continue fighting against the bill. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of hope among them as they are consistently outspent by the big box retailers that continue to claim that they’re doing this with the small mom and pop shops in mind. Those mom and pop shops and increasingly turning to the Internet to do business, and the passage of this bill would severely limit their ability to do said business.

It’s the ultimate irony – big business rushing to save small business with a bill that may end up only hurting both in the long run.

Do you think small online businesses should be exempt from the Marketplace Fairness Act? Should big retailers take into account how small businesses have changed in their debates? Let us know in the comments.

[Image: House Press Gallery]

UPS Explains How 3D Printing Can Help Your Small Business

Last week, UPS announced that it would be bringing 3D printers to its retail stores. It’s the first retailer to do so, and it thinks that small businesses will get plenty of use out of it.

So, how exactly can 3D printing help out a small business? In the below video, Daniel Remba, small business technology leader at UPS, says that small businesses and startups can use 3D printers to create prototypes or promotional materials. Of course, there are more uses than that, and people are finding new uses for 3D printers everyday.

It should be noted that The UPS Store will only be offering its 3D printing services to small businesses and startups for now, but that could change. Many desire to use 3D printing for a variety of reasons and more businesses will start to offer the technology as it starts to become a viable business. In short, The UPS Store may be the first retailer to offer in-store 3D printing services, but it won’t be the last.

So, where can you get started on your own 3D printing journey? UPS says that it’s launching a pilot program at its San Diego store now and will launch a second program at its Washington D.C. store soon. There will also be four more test locations announced shortly.

Oh, and before you ask, The UPS Store won’t print any gun parts. You’ll have to pony up and buy your own 3D printer for that.

[h/t: Stratasys blog]

Starbucks to Sell Square’s Mobile Card Readers in Store

Would you like a mobile payments processing unit with your caramel macchiato?

Square and Starbucks are further bolstering their relationship, building on one that already includes millions in investment and a payment option deal. Starting soon, Starbucks customers will be able to purchase Square mobile card readers at their coffee giant’s 7,000 stores.

The Square card reader normally sells for $10, but the company offers a full rebate for new Square-using businesses.

Last August, Square and Starbucks entered into a (slightly more important) partnership that saw Starbucks’ 7,000 stores offer Square as a payment option. Square now processes Starbucks’ credit and debit transactions, and customers can also use their Square Wallet (cardless app) to buy their morning cup of coffee.

Starbucks’ further investment in helping Square become the top mobile payments option in major stores around the country is no surprise considering Starbucks is a major investor in Square. Last September, Square closed a round of funding that included $25 million from Starbucks.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also joined Square’s Board.

At the time, Square boasted that it was now processing over $8 billion in payments annually. To keep that growth, more small businesses will need to start using Square as their mobiel payments option. And getting their card readers in 7,000 of the most popular retail stores around is a pretty good start.

[via TechCrunch]

Facebook Offers Gets Global Update

Facebook offers, the program that allows businesses to promote special offers to their Facebook fans, was first mentioned as a pilot program at fMC in February. A few months later, Facebook opened it up to more small businesses.

You’re probably familiar with Facebook Offers even if you think you aren’t. Users have been seeing more and more of them on their news feeds in the past few months. You may see that a page you like has “posted an offer” – maybe “buy one shirt get one free,” or something to that effect.

You may have also seen something like “John has claimed an offer from _____” on your news feed, and that is the real draw behind offers for businesses: Spread the word.

Today, Facebook has announced two major changes to the Offers platform.

First, businesses who create offers can now include bar codes and unique codes within the offers. Facebook says that this was one of the most requested updates, as it allows businesses to easily track the effectiveness of their offers campaign.

Second, Offers are no longer free to run:

We’re also making it easier for people to find the Offers that are most relevant to them. Over the months since the beta launch, we’ve seen that targeting and advertising help get the right Offers in front of the right people, resulting in more happy customers sharing your offer with friends and better sales. Also starting this week, we will require that businesses include targeting and advertising as part of using Offers. Businesses will be able to run offers for a minimal fee, but more advertising budget will lead to greater distribution to your audience. Offers will remain free for people to claim and easily sharable with friends. These changes will help businesses reach the right people more effectively, and will create a better experience for users.

Facebook says that pairing an offer with an ad will help businesses spread the word, and they’re probably right. But this also gives Facebook another source of revenue.

Facebook Offers are available globally to any businesses with 400+ “likes.” Businesses can create offers directly from their pages by clicking the little yellow square offer box inside their sharing tool.

Foursquare Extends AMEX Small Business Deals

Foursquare is extending a promotion that allows users to check-in to certain participating small businesses to receive cash credits on their credit cards.

The original deals debuted on Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday set aside to shop locally, and support all of those small to midsize businesses that shoppers often neglect on the preceding day.

All users had to do was sync their Foursquare account with their American Express card, and check-in to the participating stores. Once users checked-in, they were given an option to “load to card.” After that, all they had to do was purchase $25 or more at the local merchant and they would be credited $25 back to their card within the next 5 business days.

On November 26th, over hundreds of thousands of businesses were part of the initiative.

Now, Foursquare is extending these deals as they were apparently a huge hit last month. This time the deal has lessened a bit – down from $25 for $25 to $20 for $10 – but it works in the exact same way. Users can tack on the $10 credit at participating stores even if they already unlocked the $25 credit.

Check in at a merchant with a Special (more details below), load the Special to your card, and then pay for your over $10 purchase with your American Express ® Card. No need to show your phone to a cashier or anything – you’ll receive the credit on your Amex statement within 5 business days.

You can find dozens of deals in your area just by hitting ‘Specials’ on the ‘Explore’ tab on your foursquare app (there are hundreds of thousands of participating businesses).

Once you sync your card, the explore tab on your Foursquare app will show you nearby AMEX small business deals. Foursquare asks that you help promote the deals and alert others to participating stores in their area by tweeting with the #4sqShopSmall hashtag.

Groupon Now Goes Live

Groupon is looking to expand beyond their current one-deal-per-day model by offering local deals throughout the day. Groupon Now has just launched in Chicago, and will come to more cities in time.

Using either the website or a mobile app, customers can find up-to-the-minute deals in their current location. Most deals that pop up throughout the day will only be valid for a short period of time and have a limited quantity.

Even though businesses can limit the amount of customers that are allowed to purchase each deal, unlike the daily deal model there is no minimum number of purchasers required to active the NOW deals. If a customer purchases a NOW deal and it expires, they can still redeem it as a gift certificate for the purchase price.

For merchants, Groupon NOW could be an opportunity to attract customers during slow periods as well as make use of the “limited time offer” style of the deals. Businesses can set small deals that are only available for the first few buyers and expire within hours. This could create buzz through the “exclusivity factor.”

Businesses can set deals to repeat daily, creating their own personalized happy hours of sorts. A local record store could run something like “Half off 80’s vinyl every day from 4 to 7.”

Basically, Groupon Now looks to make deals feel even more immediate that their previous model. What do you think about it? As a customer or as a merchant, are you excited to see this come to your city?

Google And SBA Team On Helping Small Businesses Grow Online

Google and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) have formed a partnership aimed at providing resources and tools to help small business owners grow their businesses online.

Google and SBA introduced "Tools for Online Success," a website featuring tutorials, videos, and tips from small business people who have used the Internet to become more efficient, cost effective, and successful.

"One fifth of searches on Google are related to location, which shows that people are looking to the Internet to make decisions about where to go and what to do in their daily lives," said John Hanke, Vice President of Product Management, Google.

"We want to connect our users with the businesses that provide the goods and services they need, but the first step is for those businesses to have an online presence. We’re excited to team up with the SBA to make that process easier for business owners across the country."

Some of the videos on Tools for Online Success include tips on helping small businesses establish an online presence, promote using free online marketing, grow with paid online advertising and measuring results with web analytics.

Tag: Small Businesses

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