10 New Ecommerce Books for Summer 2024

School’s out, summer’s here, and with it, new books for ecommerce pros. Here’s our quarterly rundown — a selection of recent and forthcoming titles that present fresh takes on economics and finance, AI, startups, marketing strategy, Amazon, and more.

Ecommerce Books: Summer 2024

Your AI Survival Guide: Scraped Knees, Bruised Elbows, and Lessons Learned from Real-World AI Deployments by Sol Rashidi

AI Survival Guide

Rashidi, who helped launch AI implementations, including IBM’s Watson, demystifies AI deployment with hype-free, real-world examples and practical advice.

The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power by Dana Mattioli

The Everything War

This detailed exposé of Amazon’s no-holds-barred competitive tactics by an award-winning Wall Street Journal reporter is hailed by reviewers as “blistering,” “riveting,” “explosive,” and “masterful.”

Cash Is King: Maintain Liquidity, Build Capital, and Prepare Your Business for Every Opportunity by Peter W. Kingma

Cash Is King

Kingma, a corporate consultant, argues that cash position is just as important as sales, costs, and service, providing case studies and tips on ensuring your company always has cash when needed.

Reignition: Transforming Stuck Startups into Breakout Winners by Dave Hersh

Reignition

Entrepreneur and investor Hersh aims to help entrepreneurs get unstuck — or better yet, avoid getting stuck in the first place.

Think Like a Brand. Act Like a Startup. Drive Growth and Innovation by Balancing Stability and Agility by Lauren Perkins

Think Like a Brand

Drawing on her experience working with companies of all sizes, Lauren Perkins shows entrepreneurs how to combine the best aspects of established brands and innovative startups for growth and stability.

Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, and the End of Financial Control by Sean H. Vanatta

Plastic Capitalism

Ecommerce as we know it wouldn’t be possible without credit cards. Vanatta’s accessible financial history explains how plastic came to dominate the consumer economy.

Simple Marketing for Smart People by Billy Broas, Tiago Forte, and Ali Abdaal

Simple Marketing for Smart People

With so much advice on marketing strategies and tactics, it can be easy to get lost in the weeds. This book aims to cut through the clutter to focus on the basics for maximum effectiveness.

The 10-Second Customer Journey: The CXO’s Playbook for Growing and Retaining Customers in a Digital World by Todd Unger

10-Second Customer Journey

A 30-year digital marketing veteran offers a step-by-step guide to becoming your own “Chief Friction-Reduction Officer.”

Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms: How to Assess True Macroeconomic Risk by Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak and Paul Swartz

Shocks, Crises, False Alarms

How might global events — pandemics, wars, inflation, recession — affect your business? Two seasoned economists show how to get past frightening headlines to assess the potential risks.

Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire by Andrew Wilkinson

Never Enough

What’s it like to make a lot of money? Wilkinson shares his journey from starting a business in high school to becoming a billionaire — and beyond — with some surprising lessons learned.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Content Marketing,
AI, Social Media, Podcasting, Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly, 9th Edition by David Meerman Scott

New Rules of Marketing & PR

And finally, a new version of an international bestseller. The updated ninth edition of this perennially popular classic is set to publish in August.

Get a Handle on AI with These 10 Books

Forecasts for artificial intelligence’s impact range from a better society to mass layoffs or worse. Here are 10 respected books to help grasp AI’s promise and pitfalls for business and beyond. Eight titles are new in 2024, while two are industry classics.

Books to Grasp AI

Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing) by Salman Khan

Brave New Words

Khan Academy’s founder argues that AI technologies can transform education by creating customizable learning tools. He explores its implications for teachers, parents, students, and society.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

Co-Intelligence

One of Amazon’s top-rated AI books of 2024 and a bestseller since its publication in April, Wharton professor and AI expert Mollick analyzes the impact of AI in education and business through real-life examples and advocates learning to work with it effectively.

Welcome to AI: A Human Guide to Artificial Intelligence by David L. Shrier

Welcome to AI

Shrier, an authority on technology-driven innovation, discusses how accelerating advances in AI will affect how we learn, live, and work.

51 Essential AI Terms Explained for Leaders: A Non-Technical Guide by Marco Ryan

51 Essential AI Terms

This alphabetical guide, written by the former chief digital officer at British Petroleum, provides definitions, plain-language explanations, and real-life examples to help those without technical experience understand key AI terms related.

The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired and Why We Need to Fight Back Now by Hilke Schellmann

The Algorithm

Schellmann, a New York University professor and contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and National Public Radio, explores how AI tools are already used in human resource management and how faulty algorithms compound human biases. He advocates for more thoughtful practices in hiring, evaluating, and managing employees. The New York Times Book Review named it one of the five best books on AI, stating it “treats AI as a tool used by people, avoiding grand theories and wild speculations.”

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma by Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar

The Coming Wave

In this multi-award-winning book, Suleyman, who has led AI initiatives for Google and Microsoft, warns of the possible dangers of rapid technological advances such as quantum computing, synthetic biology, and AI while remaining optimistic about meeting these challenges.

Generative AI for Business Leaders: 2024 Edition by I. Almeida

Generative AI for Leaders

This collection of three practical guides provides an overview of the potential risks and benefits as well as ways to reduce negative consequences and enhance business outcomes.

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on AI by Harvard Business Review and multiple authors

HBR’s 10 Most Reads on AI

This addition to Harvard Business Review’s “10 Must-Reads” series collects expert articles on using AI in business. It covers topics ranging from pricing algorithms to AI ethics.

The Business Case for AI: A Leader’s Guide to AI Strategies, Best Practices & Real-World Applications by Kavita Ganesan

The Business Case for AI

Ganesan aims to demystify AI for business leaders looking to identify its opportunities. Though published in 2022, her book is still highly recommended by reviewers and experts for its real-world examples and jargon-free language.

The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values by Brian Christian

The Alignment Problem

Christian, an award-winning author and science journalist, examines how to align AI technology’s behavior with human values, which has become even more urgent with advances in AI technology in the four years since this book was published.

Favorite Books of Ecommerce Pros Q2 2024

With the plethora of ecommerce and technology books — Amazon offers hundreds of new and forthcoming titles for categories such as “starting a business” — it’s tough to isolate the gems.

Curious, I reached out to ecommerce and digital marketing pros, asking, “What books are the most informative, useful, and inspiring?”

More than 30 responded, including founders, owners, sales and marketing executives, and search-engine specialists from industries ranging from precision manufacturing to festival fashions, from Texas to Australia.

In all, they recommended more than 60 books across diverse ecommerce interests, including analytics, global marketing, web design, UX, leadership, personal development, and iconic brands such as Amazon, Zappos, and Nike.

Eight titles were clear favorites, with multiple enthusiastic endorsements.

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Reis

Lean Startup

Published in 2011, “The Lean Startup” remains a go-to resource for today’s entrepreneurs. A quote highlighted by 20,000 Kindle readers sums up its key message: “Lean thinking defines value as providing benefit to the customer; anything else is waste.” Brian Lim, who founded and operates three online retailers of rave and festival clothing, says Reis’s “validated learning” method of using data for decision-making “reduces the risks associated with launching new products and helps ensure that your business strategies are based on real customer feedback rather than assumptions.”

Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence — and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk

Crushing It!

One recommender, Victor Trasoff-Jilg, vice president of sales at Bombing Science, an online retailer of graffiti and art supplies, calls this “a motivational and practical guide for anyone looking to build their personal brand and leverage it for business success … both inspiring and actionable.” Vaynerchuk’s “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” also received mentions.

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

Hooked

Kayden Roberts, chief marketing officer of Camgo, a chat and dating app claiming more than 7 million users worldwide, says Hooked is “especially relevant for e-commerce businesses because it explores how to create a user experience that turns casual visitors into repeat customers… This is essential for e-commerce managers looking to enhance customer loyalty and drive long-term growth.”

SEO 2024: Learn search engine optimization with smart internet marketing strategies by Adam Clarke

SEO 2024

Clarke updates his long-running, popular search engine optimization guide yearly. Respondents recommended both the 2022 and 2023 versions. The 2024 edition is now available.

Digital Marketing for Dummies by Ryan Diess and Russ Henneberry

Digital Marketing for Dummies

Laviet Joaquin, head of marketing for TP-Link, a worldwide provider of consumer networking equipment, calls this “a must-read for every ecommerce business wanting to boost online visibility“— in other words, all online merchants!

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

Contagious

Bonnie Ruan, chief product officer at Beska Mold, a manufacturer of precision machining parts, gives Berger’s book top marks because it “delves into why certain products and ideas become popular, and how you can use these insights to craft marketing strategies that encourage word-of-mouth sharing online.” Berger’s “Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior” also received recommendations.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

Influence

“This book has been a game-changer for our sales and marketing teams, helping us craft more effective messaging and build stronger relationships with our clients,” says Daniel Meursing, CEO of Premier Staff, an event staffing provider.

E-Commerce Evolved: The Essential Playbook to Build, Grow & Scale a Successful E-Commerce Business by Tanner Larsson

Ecommerce Evolved

Trasoff-Jilg of Bombing Science calls this book “particularly valuable for its in-depth look at creating a sustainable ecommerce operation, not just quick wins.”