E-commerce

The August 24 IndieCommunication newsletter features updates on a move to HTTPS everywhere, one-on-one meetings at the SIBA trade show, a schedule change for ACH transfers, and other news.

B&N announces CEO’s departure; Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Alabama; PEN/Nabokov Award revived to honor international writers; Christian Robinson to illustrate 2017 Children’s Book Week poster; Sesame Street and Running Press team up

Here is background on the American With Disabilities Act as it relates to retail websites, a look at changes ABA has made to the IndieCommerce platform, and action steps for ABA members with online stores.

Harlequin’s MIRA to launch literary fiction imprint; Amazon rumored to plan bricks-and-mortar bookstore for NYC; 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize winners announced

Binc Foundation names new development director; Amazon to open third brick-and-mortar bookstore; Patricia Hespanha appointed executive director of HarperCollins Brasil; Scholastic to publish new edition of Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts; Fodor’s Travel sold to Internet Brands 

Through an ABA affiliate program with Biblio.com, stores can give their customers instant online access to millions of used, rare, and out-of-print titles from more than 5,000 sources. Stores can also upload their own used book inventory to the site.

We Need Diverse Books partners with Penguin Young Readers for writing contest; Author Pat Conroy dies at 70; Poll examines barriers millennials face in starting a business; 28th Annual Lambda Literary Award finalists announced; Adam Johnson wins 2016 Story Prize; 2016 NAIBA Legacy Award winner announced; Amazon Books to open in San Diego mall this summer

On February 22, a federal appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that blocked Colorado from enforcing a law requiring out-of-state retailers to report use tax information to consumers and the Colorado Department of Revenue.

To encourage bookstores not currently using the IndieCommerce platform to give it a try, ABA is offering a special six-month promotion as well as a chance to win an entire free year.

At last week’s Winter Institute, Civic Economics and ABA released a groundbreaking new study, “Amazon and Empty Storefronts,” which details the overall negative impact that Amazon has had on Main Street retailers and jobs, and the communities in which they are located, across the country.

A recently updated study by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business drives home the point that the competitive advantage Amazon gained from not charging sales tax was as significant as Main Street retailers claimed — if not more so.

Groups representing booksellers and authors joined in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 2, to urge the court to review a lower court decision that found Apple violated antitrust law by conspiring to influence e-book pricing.

AAUP opens Washington, D.C., office; Houston’s Table Restaurant to add bookstore; Amazon opens brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle; Fledgling LGBT publisher Query Books reaches fundraising goal

On Tuesday, October 27, ABA launched a test designed to increase traffic to member stores — and to their e-commerce websites — by improving the online shopping experience for an initial purchase on IndieBound.org.

The September 9 edition of IndieCommunication provides details about new staff training options; features recently added to the Drupal platform; Authorize.net security updates; and maintenance to the IndieCommerce platform.