As a new e-Retailer or a ‘brick and mortar’ operation needing an on-line presence, you have plenty on your mind as you build your website. The ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality that drove design activity in the past is now extinct. It’s more like an ‘if I build it, how can I get them to come, keep them on the site, present my products to them in such a way that they’ll want to buy them, and check them out quickly and securely’ paradigm that's now required. In today’s marketplace, you need a lot more than a search box, spec sheet, and item photo.

"The Payoff" has modest ambitions. When we bring you the latest news about payment systems, the point is not to "energize your consumer base" or inspire your employees or any of the other lofty claims we occasionally see for "gamification" or the "mobile Web".

Everyone talks about the customer. They complain about customer service, wonder what their customer is thinking, and worry about customer impact. The funny thing is, a lot of times we eCommerce/EDI professionals don’t even know who our customer is. Because we’re always ‘in the middle’, it’s not always clear.