News
AI Empowers us to Compete on a Level Playing Field With Much Bigger Companies
3C: Tell us about Sarah Wells Bags. When and why did you start it, and how has it grown? SW: In 2011, after my first daughter was born, I needed a stylish bag for carrying a breast pump and keeping milk fresh. I spent weeks looking for something, but there just wasn’t anything on the…
OPINION: Social media tax would hurt Nebraska’s small businesses and communities
In 2020, I started a digital marketing firm in Kearney. Over the past six years, I’ve helped nearly 50 small Nebraska businesses grow and compete using data-powered digital ads and marketing.
“The Big Guys’ Technology Helps Little Guys Like Me Punch Above Our Weight”
3C Talks to Neil Abramson, Co-Founder of Leominster, Massachusetts-based ECi Stores, About Digital Tools’ Role In His Business’s Growth and Success 3C: Tell us about your business. What do you do? Neil: My wife and I run a small chain of consignment stores in Leominster, Massachusetts. We sell gently used clothes, furniture, and home decor.…
North Dakota Sisters Bring Better-For-You Pasta to Stores Nationwide
When North Dakota natives Mollie Ficocello and her sisters returned to their family’s Grand Forks-area farm, they helped introduce a new protein- and fiber-packed wheat variety into the farm’s crop rotation — and saw an opportunity to use it to create a better-for-you pasta that delivered the taste and texture of traditional noodles. In 2020,…
New Study Reveals Small-Business Enthusiasm for AI
WASHINGTON (Feb. 11, 2026) — A new study from the Connected Commerce Council (3C) shows that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are rapidly incorporating AI-powered tools into their business operations and strategies, with 70% of small-business leaders saying they’ve already invested in AI training and adoption or plan to do so. The study, based on…
What Data Privacy Policy Means for America’s Small Businesses in 2026
It’s National Data Privacy Week — a time to focus on how data privacy policy affects not just consumers, but the millions of small businesses that use digital tools to reach and understand their customers, grow, and compete in the digital economy. In the absence of a single national privacy standard, lawmakers across the country…
3C Marks National Data Privacy Week By Urging Congress to Advance a Balanced Federal Privacy Standard
WASHINGTON (January 27, 2026) — Rob Retzlaff, Connected Commerce Council (3C) executive director, today released the following statement at the outset of National Data Privacy Week. “National Data Privacy Week is an important reminder that consumers deserve strong protections for their personal information—and small businesses need clear, balanced rules that allow them to compete and…
3C Reacts to House Ways and Means Hearing on “Maintaining American Innovation and Technology Leadership”
WASHINGTON (Jan. 13, 2026) — 3C Executive Director Rob Retzlaff released the following statement in response to today’s House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing on “Maintaining American Innovation and Technology Leadership.” “Small businesses drive our nation’s economy, and they deserve a regulatory environment that fosters innovation, rewards success, and helps them grow. “Europe’s heavy-handed…
3C Supports Sens. Young and Cantwell’s AI for Mainstreet Act
WASHINGTON (Jan. 9, 2026) — 3C Executive Director Rob Retzlaff released the following statement in support of the AI for Mainstreet Act, introduced by Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). The Act directs the Small Business Administration’s nationwide Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to provide small businesses with the resources and training they…
Sign up to get the latest news and resources for your small business
Featured
AI Gives a 17-Person Agency More Time for Creative Work
AI Puts Sophisticated Digital Advertising Within Small Business Reach
Guardian Owl Digital Puts People First in Small-Business AI Adoption
