Best eCommerce Blogs Resource Center 

CSE stands for "Comparison Shopping Engine," and as you might expect this blog is all about how etailers can use CSEs to drive their business. You should be aware, first of all, that there are many different kinds of CSEs beyond the ones you use to compare prices on your next electronics purchase. Yes, the big boys are important, but there are many niche comparison engines and you will find them -- and find out how to best utilize them -- right here.

Examples of very innovative comparison engines (at the time writing) were: 1) mydeco.com, which enables visitors to comparison shop furniture from different vendors and then build a virtual room to see how it all fits together; 2) HealthPricer, which is a comparison shopping engine for drugs, vitamins, supplements and beauty products, and; 3) and Stylefeeder, which allows visitors to put together must-buy lists of fashionable clothing based upon feeds of the latest products from online retailers.

As they say, "Show me the money." That is the heart of e-commerce, and here you will find "debate at the intersection of business, technology and culture in the world of retail electronic payments." We like this blog because it is has an international focus (it is based in London). This gives a global view of how the world is handling electronic payments.

At the time of writing, recent posts covered everything from micropayments, user experience with checkout systems and biometrics to musings on how the consumer feels about cash nowadays. It makes information that could be a bit on the dry side truly fascinating, which is quite a compliment. It's sponsored by Consult Hyperion, the organizers of the annual Digital Money Forum in London.

Most etailers pay much attention to search engine marketing and optimization in order to drive business to their online stores. This blog focuses solely on e-commerce and search marketing, and that focus is it's real benefit to retailers -- who most likely don't have time to slog through more general blogs about search marketing to find information that is relevant to them.

At the time of writing, posts included tips on how to view your e-commerce site from the point of view of a search engine spider, and how spiffy Flash presentations on your e-commerce site can integrate with search engine marketing (the answer -- not very well). ECommerce Partners is a digital agency specializing in all aspects of e-commerce for clients such as L'Occitane and Dannon.

This is a very good "something for everyone" e-commerce blog . Topics include conversion, merchandising, product photography, SEM, shopping cart abandonment and social shopping.

Many posts (especially those relating to search engine marketing) include step-by-step instructions (with graphics!). For example, at the time of writing there was a post on how to use the Google Research Tool to find very targeted keywords to link to your specific merchandising stories for your PPC campaigns. The blog also contains some excellent lists that every retailer needs, such as "75 Retailers Who Blog." And there's a weekly round up of posts from other e-commerce blogs that were found to be worthwhile. It is brought to you by Elastic Path Software for online retailers.

We can best describe the focus of this blog as "digital multichannel marketing." It offers a fascinating look at how Yellow Pages, electronic directories, local media and local search converge into e-commerce. This editor's first visit led her to realize that there is a whole other aspect to e-commerce that was not receiving enough attention in her daytime job.

For example, what about the concept of "local + social+ mobile" -- a world where smart phones take a consumer from Google Maps to a real world-store, which then leads to online purchases through targeted AdWords promotions? Or what about purchasing items via Amazon text ads on mobile phones? Oy. Kelsey Group is a consultancy specializing in e-directories, local search and local media.

The Shop.org blog is an open forum for members of this etail organization to post their thoughts, learnings and experiences. It is quite well-moderated, with insightful posts from etailers and etail eservice companies of all stripes.

At the time of writing, recent posts covered the topics of Internet privacy, online merchandising and social shopping, and offered links to technology and e-commerce reports that members found to be helpful. The benefit of this blog is that you are learning from etailers who "walk the walk," as Shop.org members tend to be larger organizations like Quixtar, Gap, Apple and Federal Express.

Online retailers are first faced with figuring out which shopping cart system they want to use to run their business. This blog tackles the many, many shopping cart providers that offer very decent options for what is usually a monthly fee. The authors literally take these systems out for a test drive and write about their benefits, shortcomings and unique features. They also provide a step-by-step wizard that first asks if you want to buy a cart, rent a cart or need a gateway system (which connects your current site to a payment process). It then evaluates your specific needs and churns out a variety of options for you to consider.

The site presents itself as an independent operation with information on at least 100 different types of shopping carts.

In our search for a great eBay blog, we ended up at the horse's mouth -- eBay's very own blog. It covers the nitty gritty of running a business on eBay. One feature that's really useful is that they write frequent posts about new features and improvements to the system. They also cover selling trends. For example, at the time of writing we learned that "Dark Knight" merchandise from the blockbuster (Batman) movie was not nearly as popular as Joker-specific products (the role performed by Heath Ledger). Who knew?

The other useful thing about this blog is that it frequently points to conversations about techniques and tactics that are taking place on the various eBay discussion boards. Given how many eBay sellers there are and how much money there is to be made, the discussions offer a a goldmine of information from the points of view of hundreds of sellers.

Omniture is a very well-respected analytics and online marketing system used by many major retailers. Their blog features the insights of several in-house gurus on the topics of online marketing, SEM, marketing integration, testing, targeting and analytics.

The posts are rich and meaty, and at the time of writing included a valuable multi-part series on how to measure visitor engagement. You will also find interviews with industry insiders that your average Joe e-commerce would not have reason to know about (but should). Disclosure: Omniture is an advertiser in good standing with Web Digest For Marketers.

Many retailers have joined the blogging universe, and we especially like the one put together by Walmart. The posts are written by members of the company, ranging from the buyers to the director of sustainability (who is responsible for turning every aspect of Walmart into an earth-friendly enterprise). The categories covered are home, garden, gaming, gadgets, technology and movies. In addition to finding out about upcoming deals and specials, this blog also serves as an introduction to products written by the people who really love the products they buy (and know them inside and out).

At the time of writing we enjoyed posts such as "the great thing about Walmart's milk," which describes where it comes from and how the dairy buyer is taking steps to find milk free of additives, and an enthusiastic introduction to the store's latest Blu Ray gear. If you're a retailer thinking about setting up a blog for your customers, you can learn from this one.