Saturday, March 31, 2018

Best eCommerce Web Hosting 2018

By: Michael James 
March 29, 2018

Here is our look at the Best eCommerce Web Hosting in 2018. Ecommerce websites are perhaps the most challenging sites that require more attention to detail and more robust web hosting. In this article, we’ll go over what you need to create a successful eCommerce website along with our recommendations on eCommerce web hosting and website builders.

Introduction

As online selling continues to grow in popularity, eCommerce websites are becoming even more prevalent on the web. Ecommerce sites also require more planning and work on your part than other types of websites. However, these days web hosting companies are providing more helpful eCommerce features as they attempt to tailor their hosting to the growing eCommerce customer base. And that’s not all. There are now many website builder alternatives that make creating your eCommerce site even easier.

eCommerce Website Requirements

> Domain Name
> Merchant Account
> Payment Gateway
> Web Hosting Plan
> SSL/TLS Certificate

The first step you need to take is to purchase your domain name. You can either opt for a .com domain or you could choose one of the newer more descriptive domain extensions—although they usually cost more money. While you can buy a domain from your web host or website builder company, I recommend purchasing and keeping your domain separate from your hosting. I prefer to use GoDaddy as my domain registrar, but there are other good choices such as Namecheap.

If you’re selling items online, you’ll need a merchant account to accept credit card payments online. You can apply for an account at your bank or use an outside service. You’ll also need a payment gateway service to authorize and process online transactions.

Next, you need to purchase your web hosting plan. We’ll get into more specifics on choosing your web hosting a bit later.

And finally, your eCommerce website needs to be secure, which means you need an SSL/TLS certificate applied to your domain so you can run you site using the https protocol.

Website Builder vs Web Hosting
If the above steps seem like too much work, you can choose instead to use one of the website builder companies to create your eCommerce site. The process requires less effort on your part and your website can be created more quickly. There are some tradeoffs though when using a website builder versus web hosting.

Read More >> https://webhostingcat.com/best-ecommerce-web-hosting/

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

A Simple Ecommerce Marketing Plan Worth $118,000+

By: Jason Quey

Would you write one article a week if I said you could make $118,000 in your first year? And $708,000 in revenue in year 2?

Would you do it?

I know I would. And I will. In this article, I’m going to show you a simple marketing plan that I will use to grow a men’s style ecommerce site from 0 to 50,000 visitors/month in 12 months.

After doing some research, I will write just one article a week, do some content promotion, and let Google do the heavy lifting for me. And just for funsies, I will do very little link building too (more on why in a moment).

Don’t believe me that traffic is worth $708,000?

Let’s do some quick math. The process I’m about to show you is something I use for all my clients.

Why?

Because if you know the true value of your work, you will know whether that investment is worth your time.

Here’s how I arrived at an estimated traffic value of $708,000:

1. To go from 0 to 50,000/month visitors in year 1, I estimate I will receive 100,000 total visitors.
2. If my traffic numbers stay flat at 50,000 visitors-a-month in year 2, I will receive 600,000 visitors.
3. The average conversion rate of a website that uses content marketing is 2.9%. The average conversion rate of a site without a content strategy is 0.5%. For this example, let’s be conservative and use 2%. That means in year 1, I will get 2,000 new customers. In year 2, I will get 12,000 new customers.
4. According to RJ Metrics, the average lifetime value of a customer in the fashion industry is $108. Again, let’s be conservative and drop that number in half to $59, because I am creating a new business.
5. That means in year 1, I would generate $118,000 in revenue. And year 2 I would make $708,000 if no customers from year 1 buy from me again.

Read More >> https://www.abetterlemonadestand.com/ecommerce-marketing-plan/

Monday, March 26, 2018

Am I Ready to Sell My Ecommerce Business? Here's How to Find Out.

By: Desirae Odjick

Question:

I'm pretty sure that I’m ready to sell my store. I don’t have the time to focus on it anymore, and I want to prioritize other projects (including another store). The thing is, I'm still not 100% sure. I spent a lot of time building the brand, and I’m feeling hesitant to hand over the reins to someone else. What if I'm letting go too soon and giving up on a winner, or I sell it to the wrong person? Do you have any advice on how to go through with it and feel good about my decision?

Answer:

Letting go of your business isn’t always easy, but there’s still a base level of comfort you want to have going into the decision. After all, you built this, and you want to make sure you’re making the best choice you can for yourself and your business—not to mention the other ventures you want to spend time pursuing.

We asked Nicholas Montgomery, Growth Lead for Exchange, a marketplace by Shopify for buying and selling online stores, to weigh in on your question. The very first thing he said was that the most important factor in moving on from a business is always going to be personal.

What’s your “why”?

There are as many reasons to sell a business as there are business owners.

“If you’re thinking about selling your business (or, for that matter, buying a business) there are any number of reasons you might be considering the decision,” said Nicholas.

“One merchant’s grandfather passed away, so he wanted to sell his business and take time off to travel across the country. He was disconnecting from all internet for 6 months, so he was selling his store. Another person had a child, so that was their new focus.”

First and foremost, step back to examine what made you consider selling your store. It’s a great way to evaluate your options, and find some peace with either choice, selling or not. More personal factors may lead to a much easier decision, but if that’s not the case for you, all is not lost.

Where is your business?  

Even if you don’t have a major life event prompting your thoughts of selling, understanding where you’re hoping a sale can take your business is another great way to evaluate the pros and cons.

“Depending on what’s motivating you to sell, it can guide what you look for in a buyer, and help you get more comfortable throughout the process. As an example, if you’re selling because you’ve lost interest, but you have a strong brand, it’s in your buyer’s best interest to maintain that brand. You’d want to ask them about their plans to build and strengthen the brand before you sold, to make sure they’re a good fit.”

If that’s not the case, or your business is at a place where your brand wouldn’t be considered a strong asset, you’re right to be a bit concerned—and much more cautious—about how a buyer will handle it.

“If you're selling a business that has a lot of excess inventory a buyer would liquidate, and you're just trying to get it out the door, your brand isn’t going to be as important for the buyer. In that case, you should be a lot more cautious, especially if the brand has always been tied to you personally.”

To vet potential buyers, it’s considered quite normal and accepted to have conversations about their plans for the business, and why they’re interested in the opportunity. Nicholas shared two key questions you can ask when interacting with potential buyers.

Read More >> https://www.shopify.com/blog/ready-to-sell-ecommerce-business

Sunday, March 25, 2018

B2B Ecommerce: How the Best in B2B Sales Succeed Online

By: Aaron Orendorff

B2B ecommerce — short for business-to-business electronic commerce — is the marketing, selling, and distribution of products or services from one business to another through an online or digital portal.

With an action-packed definition like that, it’s no wonder B2C gets all the attention. But, here’s the thing …

While B2C ecommerce is expected to hit $2.4 trillion worldwide by the close of 2017, it’s less than a third of B2B’s $7.7 trillion.

Good news for B2B ecommerce merchants? Well, sort of. Despite the allure of big numbers …

$7.7 trillion is worthless for making real-world decisions.

Comforting? Sure. Click-worthy? Maybe. But helpful? No.

Navigating the advantages of B2B ecommerce means understanding nine trends reshaping how B2B sales succeed online. Here’s an overview of where we’re headed:

1. Give B2B Ecommerce the B2C Treatment
2. Head Off the Deal Breakers Before It’s Too Late
3. Generate B2B Ecommerce Leads through “Agnosticism”
4. Teach Commercial Insight Instead of Thought Leadership
5. Provide Funnel-Based Content for Every Stage
6. Anticipate Multiple B2B Ecommerce Decision Makers
7.  Humanize Your B2B through Social Media
8. Go Beyond “Just Business” Relationships
9. Price B2B Ecommerce with Automation and Negotiation

Read More >> https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/b2b-ecommerce

Saturday, March 24, 2018

GDPR for Ecommerce: The Definitive Guide for Getting Ready [+Free GDPR Checklist]

By: BERNARD

The General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR for short) is set to take effect soon and impacts anyone who handles EU citizen and resident personal data.

Looking at the GDPR for ecommerce especially, there are lots of questions and concerns that merchants have at the moment.

With huge fines and other serious consequences, it is very important that ecommerce merchants understand what these rules mean for their business and how they can prepare for them.

Please note: we are not lawyers. Therefore, don’t take this educational content as being legal advice. As it is a law that hasn’t been implemented yet, there will be many specific situations and even exceptions. If you have specific questions, consult an attorney with knowledge of the new GDPR.

Also note that, if you’re on Omnisend, there’s no need to worry. Huge new laws can be seem very scary, but Omnisend is making sure the way you collect and store personal data is GDPR-compliant.

Over the next few weeks we’ll unveil effective, GDPR-ready ways to make sure you’re covered when it comes to your marketing automation.

What is the GDPR and when does it take effect? 

The GDPR concerns the personal data protection of European Union citizens.

It determines the ways that personal data about EU citizens can be handled, within the EU and outside the EU in other countries.

The GDPR takes effect on May 25, 2018.

The main aim of the GDPR is to actually give the control of the data back to the citizens and residents of the EU. That means that they will be able to determine who has access to their data.

This includes the ability to demand that any personal data stored previously by a business, including an online store, be deleted or modified quickly and permanently.

The GDPR will also simplify the regulation requirements for international businesses, who often had to comply with different sets of rules for different counties in the EU.

The new GDPR will replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive. Unlike the previous directive, however, which required each participating nation to adopt legislation for the rules, the GDPR bypasses that and is directly applicable.

That’s why it’s important that you understand how you can be impacted by the GDPR and what you need to do in order to get ready.

Read More >> https://www.omnisend.com/blog/gdpr-for-ecommerce-definitive-guide-free-gdpr-checklist/

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Best Beauty Ecommerce Sites: 15 Brands More than “Skin Deep”

By: Special Guest Contributor
Mar 22, 2018

The beauty industry is tough, darling. But so are you.

Today’s beauty moguls are obsessing over more than the next long-wear formula or highlighter you can see from space.

Instead, industry leaders are focused on technological innovation, ethical sourcing, organic biochemicals, pairing quality with affordability … all while making waves in how their products are shared, sold, and purchased online.

With the online cosmetics market projected to hit $675 billion by 2020, let’s turn our attention to 15 of the most stunning …

Best beauty ecommerce sites in the world:

1. Morphe Brushes: Multi-Channel Community
2. Pat McGrath Labs: Disrupt the Market
3. Sephora: Education Meets Experiences
4. Thrive Causemetics: Beauty with a Conscience
5. ColourPop: Collaborate to Compound Growth
6. 100% Pure: Automating Global Beauty
7. Ulta: Omni-Channel Inside and Out
8. Makeup Geek: The Education of Beauty
9. Cosmetics: Keep ‘em Wanting More
10. My Makeup Brush Set: Take It to the People
11. Fig + Yarrow: Naturally Inspiring
12. theBalm Cosmetics: Tailored for Every Beauty
13. Kopari: From Beach to Boardroom
14. CoverFX Skin Care: Choice Made Easy
15. ake Cosmetics: Sweet Sells

Read More >> https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/best-beauty-ecommerce-sites

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

B2B Ecommerce Best Practices for Today and 10 Years in the Future

By: Brad Smith

Every day, there’s a new hack …a new tip, strategy, and trend.

Staying ahead of the curve is wise. But it can also be detrimental to long-term success. Experts call it the tyranny of the urgent — the pressing need to constantly update, iterate, refresh, and reset.

Nowhere is this tyranny more acutely felt than B2B ecommerce. Already responsible for $7.7 trillion in worldwide GMV, the B2B market is expected to grow even more aggressively in the years to come.

There’s perhaps no better example of long-term thinking than Amazon. Known for being at the forefront of all things new, it might surprise you to learn that “new" is often the last thing Jeff Bezos cares about:

“I very frequently get the question, ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two.’”

In the spirit of “what’s not going to change,” here are five B2B ecommerce best practices based on enduring principles for today and 10 years in the future …

B2B Ecommerce Best Practice #1: Personalized Marketing
“Personal” is a dangerous word online.

It hints at a big, vague, nothingness … like “engagement,” “love your customer,” and other inane marketing-speak. Alternatively, it conjures up images of Big Brother spying on your each and every online move.

Thankfully, B2B personalization is none of those things.

Instead, B2B ecommerce will become even more personal not because it’s en vogue or on-trend. But because it results in more profits.

89% of B2B buyers research online before connecting directly with a supplier. In most cases, this means they will have performed a dozen searches:

Read More >> https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/b2b-ecommerce-best-practices

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

20 Best Shopify Apps to Increase Sales and Conversions

By: Iggy

If you’re using Shopify to sell online, then you surely must know about the Shopify apps store. Shopify has a dedicated section where app developers have created extensions for Shopify stores that allow you to significantly improve both your eCommerce store’s functionality and sales. There are Shopify apps available for a multitude of purposes – from increasing sales by keeping potential customers longer on your site, to optimizing conversions, upsell apps, support apps and many others. There are both free Shopify apps and premium ones available at the app store. Some even require you to pay monthly fees to keep them on your Shopify website.

We’ve rounded up a collection of 20 best Shopify apps will be extremely useful to you. This hand-picked collection of 20 Shopify applications will ultimately help you increase sales and conversions and will result in a more profitable Shopify store. Integrate them into your Shopify website to significantly improve your sales and to make your eCommerce website more profitable and user friendly.

In this roundup you will find best Shopify apps for adding elements such as shipping bar, announcement windows, optimizing your images, coupon pop-up windows, sales countdowns and much more.

If you’ve previously purchased or installed a free shopify theme from the Shopify’s official theme store, you are probably already used to top notch quality and customizable, mobile-friendly design of your eCommerce website. The apps featured in this roundup also have customizable designs and are fully responsive so that they will display perfectly on any device. Browse through all of these must have Shopify apps and integrate them into your Shopify websites to make them look more professional.

Shopify Sales Pop

Sales pop is a great Shopify application that will definitely help you improve your sales. This app has a fully responsive design that will adapt perfectly to any screen size. Some of its featured include real-time customer notifications when someone makes a purchase on your website, which has been proven to increase conversion rates. After all, people tend to repeat what others are doing, and if they see others are purchasing from your eCommerce store, they will too. Shopify Sales Pop app helps to make your online store appear busy, which is a good thing for online shoppers. The added bonus is that Shopify Sales Pop app is extremely easy to install, with just a single click. It is also very light in code and doesn’t slow down your online store.

Free Shipping Bar by Hextom

In the age of Amazon, we’re all very much used to free shipping being offered with any online purchase. Even if the shipping costs are built into the price, offering free shopping is still much better than charging for you. Free Shopping Bar by Hexton is an app for your Shopify store that will help you promote the fact that you offer free shipping. You can add a very useful shipping bar to your website to attract more customers and let them know how much they need to add to their cart in order to qualify for free shipping from your Shopify store. This Shopify app does not force its own branding and allows you to add an unbranded bar to your online store. One of its really useful features is the geo-targeting functionality. If your Shopify store sells merchandise to more than one country, you can add different shipping bars depending on the country. Shipping Bar a free Shopify application too, which is an added bonus.

Quick Announcement Bar by Hextom

From the same company that brought you the Shipping Bar, Quick Announcement Bar is another extremely useful app for Shopify. It is particularly useful if your Shopify store offers special holiday sales or promotions. You can customize the Quick Announcement Bar app to display coupons for Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day and all other major holidays. You can also add any other information to the Quick Announcement Bar Shopify app, such as when you release new products that you want to promote, promoting bundles of products and much more. With this free Shopify app, the possibilities are endless.

Happy Customers – Free Promotion Bar

This free Shopify app enables your online store to display the number of processed orders and happy customers in a fully customizable bar at the top or bottom of your website. This Shopify app is useful for building trust for your eCommerce store, even if you haven’t made many sales. This app allows you to set a “minimum” or “starting” number of sales, after which this app will automatically add after each sale and display in the promotion bar. This Shopify application is somewhat similar to the Quick Announcement Bar app, however it differs in functionality and design.

Read More >> https://line25.com/articles/best-shopify-apps

Monday, March 19, 2018

Step-by-Step: How to Start 11 Different Types of Ecommerce Businesses

By: Richard Lazazzera 

Here at A Better Lemonade Stand we often say that the best way learn about starting a business is to just start one and learn through your mistakes and experiences. While we will always stand by that advice, there’s something to be said for taking guidance from someone who’s already “been there, done that”. There are so many different types of businesses, each selling different kinds of products in different ways to different customers, that having guiding advice from someone who’s walked the same path ahead of you can result in immense value, usually in the form of time saving tips and pitfall warnings.

That’s why these 11 posts from the Shopify Blog are so great. They are industry-specific articles designed to give you focused insight on one specific type of business, with the intention of helping you learn exclusively about that business and industry, so you can learn more about the finer details. Use these 11 posts to dive deeper into each of these vastly different industries and understand more about what it’s like to sell their kinds of products online whether it be fashion, food, electronic accessories, jewellery, art, enamel pins or vintage clothing.

If you’re interested in learning more about what it takes to start up one of these 11 industry-specific businesses then read on for our excerpts and check out the Shopify articles for the full details.

How to Start a Fashion Line: Secrets from a Project Runway Designer

Starting a fashion line has to be one of the most popular businesses that people always seem to want to know more about. How to start one for themselves, how to manufacture clothing items, where to source suppliers from, and just general information regarding the whole process. This post by Shopify has caught up with designer, boutique owner and Project Runway contestant Sarah Donofrio to get her insight into the fashion industry.

Donofrio discusses skills and training, branding and trends, inspiration, design and development, production, fabric sourcing and textile design, ecommerce stores, social sales and more, plus her own insights and experiences having worked in the fashion industry for over a decade. She started out working as a retail buyer, moved into product development and now owns her own boutique and runs an ecommerce store though Shopify. Her skills range from design, production, teaching, ecommerce, wholesale, consignment and retail.

If you’re interested in starting your own fashion line, the information shared in this article will put into perspective the realities surrounding this seemingly sought-after industry. Donofrio discusses her experiences candidly and doesn’t glaze over how she’s managed to achieve success with her fashion business. For an interesting glimpse into the fashion industry and to gain insight into what a fashion designer needs to take into consideration to operate a successful clothing line, check out this article.

How to Start a Phone Case Business: The Ultimate Guide

Starting a phone case business is definitely one of the most accessible options. Based on the advantages shared in this post, there are an astronomical amount of mobile devices in the world, nearly half of mobile phone users upgrade their devices every two years and phone cases are a fun way for people to accessorize their phones while adding extra protection.

This article discusses why a phone case business is an accessible option for new entrepreneurs: the inventory is small and thus easier to house, they’re pretty low-cost to produce, you can sell them online or offline, you can print, package and fulfill them through a drop shipper, you can create an infinite amount of prints on the same type of phone case, and every time a new phone model comes out you get to sell a new product.

Selling accessories is one of the best ways to get in on the electronics game; you don’t have to have any technical experience or knowledge and you can easily play into trends and help your customers increase the functionality of their devices. This article will help you understand aspects of the mobile phone device market that will help you to create a successful business around selling accessories for it. It discusses the different types of phone cases that exist, where to get designs for phone cases, how to know which designs will be popular and where you can sell phone cases.

If you’re interested in starting a business in a low cost, fast paced, constantly evolving industry, then check out this article to learn more about starting a phone case business.

Read More >> https://www.abetterlemonadestand.com/how-to-start-an-x-business/

Sunday, March 18, 2018

4 Best Shopify Apps for Ecommerce Startup Success

By: Shane Barker

In 2016, there were 322.17 billion ecommerce sales in the United States alone according to Statista, and 2017 is projected to see 353.68 billion. This suggests that ecommerce continues to be a thriving industry. But just because there’s growth in the industry doesn’t mean ecommerce startups will automatically experience success.

Building a successful ecommerce business is a challenge, especially with so many reputable stores like Amazon and eBay to compete with. To make your job easier, Shopify apps are designed to speed things up.

Some of these tools will enhance customer experience, while others will help establish trust with your target customers. Combined, these tools can help you drive conversions, which is crucial for ecommerce success.

Yotpo

The BigCommerce report also found that trustworthy reviews influence the purchase decision of 68 percent of Americans. In addition to this, 69 percent of shoppers want more reviews available at online stores. But since you’re an ecommerce startup, it’s likely that you don’t have a lot of reviews yet.

Collect more authentic reviews using the Yotpo Reviews app available on Shopify. Using this tool, you can send out timely follow-up mails to your customers after they’ve made a purchase and encourage them to leave a review. You can even offer rewards to shoppers for leaving reviews. This has a good chance of driving more customers to write their review.

Not only this, Yotpo also lets you curate user-generated photos and reviews, which you can then use to design compelling ads. And if you’re marketing on Instagram, this tool will let you create a shop-able gallery that imitates your Instagram feed and enables shoppers to easily make their purchases.

Sweet Tooth Loyalty Reward Points

Who doesn’t love a good offer? BigCommerce reports that discount offers influence the decision to purchase for 71 percent of Americans. So for the success of your ecommerce startup, you should consider the kind of offers and deals you can provide to your customers.

his is crucial especially since you’re still at the stage of getting people to trust your business. An attractive discount could convince first-time shoppers to make their first purchase. And to design and manage your offers, you can use the Sweet Tooth Shopify app for Loyalty Reward Points.

Sweet Tooth lets you reward your customers in more than ten different ways. You can create a reward program to incentivize shoppers for making a purchase, referring a friend, creating an account, following you on social media, and more.

Findify      

Simple site navigation influences the purchase decision of 64 percent of Americans, according to the previously-cited BigCommerce report. In fact, 21 percent of Americans find it frustrating to shop at a website that’s unattractive or hard to navigate. This suggests that people want to be able to find what they need without much hassle.

The Findify Search app is just want you need to cater to this need in your customers and enhance their experience shopping with you. The tool implements Artificial Intelligence to deliver accurate and personalized search results for your shoppers based on their behavior. You can also use this tool to make product recommendations that are relevant for your shoppers and will most likely result in a purchase.

Fomo

If you’ve heard of Cialdini’s principles of persuasion, you’d know that factors like social proof and urgency play a huge role in driving conversions. And for your ecommerce startup, you can implement these principles using the Fomo tool.

Fomo lets you display notifications when other customers have bought the product a shopper is currently viewing. This not only acts as social proof but also creates a sense of urgency in the shopper as they might feel compelled to buy the product before stock runs out. You can easily customize the messaging, style, and timing of your notification to ensure best results.

Source >> https://tech.co/shopify-apps-ecommerce-startup-2017-06

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Get Off the Ecommerce Sidelines

By: Bill Davis

It feels both recent and a long time ago that ecommerce kicked off in the early '90s.

Recent because in the year 2018, some businesses still scoff at ecommerce. For example, a firm I purchase from for my ecommerce site took almost two weeks to fulfill an order because it does not have, nor does it see any need for, an ecommerce site (even though it offers no way of checking what's in inventory). 

A long time ago because it’s been over 23 years since I first got started in ecommerce. As the saying goes, “the more things change, the more things stay the same.”

A Walk Down Ecommerce Memory Lane
So how did we arrive to the current state of ecommerce? One look at Amazon's growth in the last year alone will show how far we've come: from roughly $124 billion in ecommerce sales in 2016, to approximately $160.5 billion  in 2017, marking over 29 percent revenue growth.

Given the magnitude of its revenues — that’s billion with a B — that’s a phenomenal growth rate and one that accelerated faster than its 2015 to 2016 ecommerce growth. It's estimated that Amazon accounted for 44 percent of all U.S. ecommerce sales in 2017 and almost 4 percent of all U.S. retail sales (yikes). And its growth will likely go uninterrupted for the foreseeable future.

The early 1990s were a different and exciting time. The internet was finally opened up for commercial purposes in 1992, with Congress passing the Scientific and Advanced Technology Act, which formally permitted The National Science Foundation to connect to commercial networks in support of research and education.  From there, numerous companies emerged in 1994 with the aim of commercializing the internet. Phil Brandenberger made the first secure transaction over the world wide web in August 1994 and the pace accelerated greatly with the release of Netscape Navigator in October of the same year.

In the early days the technology wasn’t mature enough to develop really sophisticated ecommerce sites. Buying online was still a relatively new phenomenon and had yet to gain widespread acceptance. The dot com crash of the early oughts acted as a further obstacle, causing many businesses to write off the ecommerce business model while companies like Amazon, eBay and others persevered.

Read More >> https://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/get-off-the-ecommerce-sidelines/

Thursday, March 15, 2018

10 Best E-commerce platforms for your online business

By: Matt Mullens

If you are thinking of expanding your business and ready to take a step forward by building an online store, then you might have face a problem which platform to use, which is best for my business. With the global Ecommerce market’s expansion a load of eCommerce platforms have become available. Making a suitable choice is a difficult decision if you don’t have prior technical expertise.

To make it simple, there are two types of Ecommerce platforms you can choose from. One is Hosted ecommerce platforms and other is Content management system platforms commonly known as CMS system.

Hosted eCommerce platform is hosted on a server which you can directly access. It has its own benefits which include:

>> Lower maintenance and development Cost – Hosting is shared so the server costs are reduced effectively. There is no need of development team as coding expertise is not required at all.
>> Technical support – Highly proficient teams of technicians helps you with any of your issues.
>> Less Complex Work – As the back end is mostly user friendly; a non-technical user can easily access it.

Some of the most popular Hosted eCommerce platform:

Shopify

Shopify is one of best e-commerce platform out there. With over 200,000 users, it is at the top of the market. It has an easy and user friendly dashboard area for easily and quickly adding products, manage site and much more. It endows you the facility to import products from previous store to Shopify with ease.

It comes with a CMS, through which you can create your web pages and blog posts. It also endows a large deal of templates and themes which give your website a gorgeous and professional look.

Pros:

>> Ease of access and maintenance
>> Product import from previous platform
>> Vast collection of professional and beautiful themes.
>> 14 days free trial
>> Social site integration
>> Offer vast selection of Apps and add-ons
>> 24/7 excellent customer support

Cons:

>> Slightly expensive than other e-commerce platform.
>> Not multilingual
>> Customization can be annoyed sometimes as technical knowledge is required

Read More >> http://www.bestdesign2themes.com/10-best-e-commerce-platforms-for-your-online-business/

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

How To Use Paid Social For Your eCommerce Store

By: anthony Carranza

Businesses today must cater their promotions for products and services for social media platforms. This includes targeting their brand messaging in a way that resonates with most potential consumers who are shopping for a great deal.

Currently, the sales generated from ecommerce equals $100 billion in the United States. This number will only continue to grow over time. How businesses of all sizes succeed in the ecommerce market involves strategy, analytics, and continuous optimization.

It’s not enough for business to simply setup a website and add all their products or services. To attract more potential customers, social media is an incredibly lucrative platform.

Unlike the earlier days of social media platforms reaching your audience organically and for free, paid options are transforming the rules of the game. And Shopify is a proven tool for boosting paid social media campaigns.

The following infographic explains this trend:

he visual graphic above covers the essential areas of how to drive engagement and grow your brand. To get your money´s worth — or in this case, paid return on investment (ROI) — you’ll have to strike a balance between owned social, paid social, and earned social:

>> Owned social is the narrative related to your company´s brand. This includes your brand’s personal messaging, and what other brands are saying about you.

>> Paid social is what brands pay to make themselves more visible to their targeted customers.

>> Earned social is what about people have to say about your brand.

It’s not enough for your business to just share updates on social media. Content curation and reaching out to influencer marketers are key components to an effective social campaign for your ecommerce store. This combination can yield success on social media, bring in business, and generates more revenue sales.

Utilizing Shopify for your e-commerce strategy

Shopify is a Canadian-based ecommerce platform that is growing and adapting rapidly. Conforming to TechCrunch, the company posted a 75% increase in revenue and totaled 500,000 merchants for this second quarter.

Whether you’re on an existing platform or are looking to try out a new one, Shopify makes your efforts easier and more effective. The enhancements include dozens of integrations, plugins and other tools for accurate targeting segmentation, and automation.

After installing Facebook pixel shopping on your site for products or services becomes that much more flawless. All nine website events like “Add to Cart”, Website Search”, and “Purchase” are automatically tracked by Facebook Pixel.

Use Facebook Business Manager and install the Facebook Pixel

Managing your Facebook page and your campaign ads through a personal account is limiting — not to mention difficult for working with third parties. You could end up missing out on business if you don’t have all the functionality and capability to promote your products or services.

The Facebook pixel monitors traffic and successfully completed purchase events on your site, from a single visit to a purchase. Facebook provides demographic and behavioral information about the users completing these actions, and allows you to optimize your ads to reach more users.

Create Product Feeds and Sets via Facebook Product Catalogs

Creating product feeds and sets is a streamlined process when you’re using Shopify and the Flexify Product Feed plugin. If you’re not using Shopify and don’t have a huge inventory of products, you may want to build this feed manually.

If your inventory is large, you can consider building a Best Sellers feed. Product Sets will let you group certain products for advertising purposes. This could be used for sale products, for specific brands, or individual product categories.

Set up Retargeting with placements on Facebook & Instagram 

Retargeting via Dynamic Product Ads is a low funnel, always-on campaign that remains automated once you’ve set it up.

Instagram is a great placement for retargeting (given your target audience uses the platform), and Facebook lets you advertise on Instagram without having an Instagram page.

Set up Daily Automated Reports 

Daily automated reports will give you a customized daily snapshot of how ads are performing.

These reports can be broken into categories like age, gender, region, placement, time of day, etc. All the demographic information becomes relevant when you analyze it in relationship to your conversions.

Use Pinterest

Product pins have incredibly long lifespans on Pinterest, which essentially acts as a search engine for low-funnel shoppers. Pinterest users know exactly what they’re looking for and use the search bar to pull up relevant pins.

Detailed pin descriptions allow your products to be organically visible when matching with users’ search terms.

Tip: If you’re using Shopify, this is simple and automated using the Pinterest store plugin.

After generating some performance data, look at which pins are performing best. From there, you can invest part of your available budget behind those pins to promote and get gain greater visibility.

Given you have website retargeting set up, any users who move from Pinterest to your site will be retargeted on Facebook and Instagram.

Takeaways

Social media marketing is about having a clear strategy, and targeting your audience. Utilizing paid social media campaigns is one effective way to boost your brand´s visibility.

You will have to monitor conversations on the various social platforms, and be active engaging people interacting with your content. After all, everything that transpires on social media is about creating, and providing solutions.

Using Shopify, Facebook Business Manager, creating daily automated reports, and others are just one of the avenues to improve your brand´s presence.

Source >> https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2017/08/how-to-use-paid-social-for-your-ecommerce-store/

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

How to Grow Your Shopify Store: Tips for E-Commerce Success

By: Jerry Cheung

Most online businesses biggest challenge is getting more traffic to their online store. It is very crucial to know how to withstand the competition and where to start and how to drive more traffic to your website, it is a difficult challenge it is not impossible to do.

The sudden improvement in the online shopping world has made it hard for an eCommerce website to steer a wide range of visitors required to continue in business. Finding different strategies that can help you improve your online traffic and community to help you increase sales is one the vital factor for any successful business. Use these strategies and tips that are suitable for your business and in just a matter of time you will notice that your business will grow tremendously.

According to the statistics, over 375,000 online shops are using Shopify to bring their products to this competitive market. Shopify software is the best and pleases even experienced retailers and popular businesses. Also, it is one of the simplest software that even the normal and small businesses can use this software to launch their business quickly and earn some income.

But, many people say that, now, creating an online store is a very simple process and it is not a big problem at all. However, maintaining and continuing the shop is the crucial part. This is because there is so much competition because of the limited hurdles to withstand the competition. It is not as easy as said to start creating sales.

If you are also facing the same kind of the challenges, then you should know that you are one among many people who are facing similar challenges. Every year, several online store owners worry about their store and they get frustrated because they don’t know why many people are not buying their products.

However, every business owner should know that there is no alternative to hard work and commitment. You should not get into the assumption that once you open your online stores, then you will get a lot of visitors visiting your websites. Also, you should know that you will get more traffic only if you provide unique products to the customers.

Here you can find some of the best tips that can help you steer your targeted traffic to your website. The best way to improve your business is through the Shopify Store without causing any hindrance in your budget or it does not risk your business.

Make your Online Store Available to Mobile Devices:
Earlier, only desktop computers are the reason for the large range of online sales and traffic. But, now, mobile devices, Smartphones, and Tablets, etc, also help you grow your online services. In North America, over 60 percent of sales are through internet only, also, in Europe also some situation, most of the sales are happening through the internet.

This is because currently, most people are doing shopping through their mobile devices only, and most of the internet usage is also through mobile devices only. That is why you should have a mobile app, which is very important or else you are going to lose your potential customers and opportunities to support and convert your website traffic before you even go live.

The apparent protest to the mobile app is that many people are still not getting the real concept of how to get more mobile app sales. In the year 2015, only 15 percent are responsible for all eCommerce profits. But, it doesn’t matter, why because:

The Mobile online shopping has less competition that means even getting only 15 percent of mobile profit is considerably quicker than selling to the desktop users.

In general, most people spend a lot of time on their Smartphones than watching TV, and it is going to continue more in the future. If the mobile shopping increases, then automatically there will be increase eCommerce and your business is sure to grow successfully.

If you don’t want to miss this opportunity and don’t want to miss your targeted online audience, then consider this Shopify software. This software can help you enhance your online business and help you get more traffic to your online store.

Read More >> https://blog.79ecommerce.com/how-to-grow-your-shopify-store-tips-for-e-commerce-success-2c16299219ba?gi=8a78aad66d44

Monday, March 12, 2018

Migrate Shopify Stores to Magento 2 Without Breaking Anything

BY SYED MUNEEB UL HASAN ON
MARCH 12, 2018

Ecommerce is one of the most common and biggest online business sector with huge potential for growth in the coming years. However, in order to reap the benefits of this growth, it is essential that your store must be built on a platform that meets all your needs and can generate more revenue with a minimum of hassles.

In this post, I will compare the two giants of the ecommerce platform world – Magento and Shopify. Both are very popular and have a very loyal user base. Here is how the two platforms compare on major performance points:

Famous Brands Using Magento

Migrate Shopify Stores to Magento 2 Without Breaking Anything
BY SYED MUNEEB UL HASAN ON MARCH 12, 2018 ARTICLES, MAGENTO 2 TUTORIALS

Ecommerce is one of the most common and biggest online business sector with huge potential for growth in the coming years. However, in order to reap the benefits of this growth, it is essential that your store must be built on a platform that meets all your needs and can generate more revenue with a minimum of hassles.

In this post, I will compare the two giants of the ecommerce platform world – Magento and Shopify. Both are very popular and have a very loyal user base. Here is how the two platforms compare on major performance points:

Famous Brands Using Magento

Famous Brands Using Shopify

Which Platform is Better?
As I have discussed earlier, both Magento and Shopify are great choices in their own right. Each has its own set of pros and cons that affect the decision of many store owners. However, in general, Magento is better for large ecommerce stores and Shopify for smaller stores.

If you want to migrate your Shopify store to Magento, you are in luck. All you have to do is to follow these steps:

>> Generate API Credentials from your Shopify Store
>> Migrate Shopify to Magento 2
>> Verify the Result

Note: Note that I will migrate the Shopify store to Magento2 because it is the most stable and reliable Magento version.

Read More >> https://magenticians.com/shopify-to-magento-2-migration/


Sunday, March 11, 2018

A Simple Ecommerce Marketing Plan Worth $118,000+

By: Jason Quey

Would you write one article a week if I said you could make $118,000 in your first year? And $708,000 in revenue in year 2?

Would you do it?

I know I would. And I will. In this article, I’m going to show you a simple marketing plan that I will use to grow a men’s style ecommerce site from 0 to 50,000 visitors/month in 12 months.

After doing some research, I will write just one article a week, do some content promotion, and let Google do the heavy lifting for me. And just for funsies, I will do very little link building too (more on why in a moment).

Don’t believe me that traffic is worth $708,000?

Let’s do some quick math. The process I’m about to show you is something I use for all my clients.

Why?

Because if you know the true value of your work, you will know whether that investment is worth your time.

Here’s how I arrived at an estimated traffic value of $708,000:

1. To go from 0 to 50,000/month visitors in year 1, I estimate I will receive 100,000 total visitors.
2. If my traffic numbers stay flat at 50,000 visitors-a-month in year 2, I will receive 600,000 visitors.
3. The average conversion rate of a website that uses content marketing is 2.9%. The average conversion rate of a site without a content strategy is 0.5%. For this example, let’s be conservative and use 2%. That means in year 1, I will get 2,000 new customers. In year 2, I will get 12,000 new customers.
4. According to RJ Metrics, the average lifetime value of a customer in the fashion industry is $108. Again, let’s be conservative and drop that number in half to $59, because I am creating a new business.
5. That means in year 1, I would generate $118,000 in revenue. And year 2 I would make $708,000 if no customers from year 1 buy from me again.

You can also use this for non-ecommerce businesses too. For example, Objeqt is an ecommerce conversion optimization agency I consult for. Instead of calculating direct sales from traffic, we estimated their conversion rates from traffic-to-leads, leads-to-clients, and the average lifetime value of a client.

Why do entrepreneurs over-complicate what should be simple?

Read More >> https://www.abetterlemonadestand.com/ecommerce-marketing-plan/

THE DECISION MAKER’S GUIDE TO ECOMMERCE

By: NICK SCHÄFERHOFF

Now more than ever, shoppers are going to the web for their purchases. These days, we can order pretty much anything online, from clothes and electronics to software and even groceries.

Customers appreciate the convenience of making purchases from the comfort of their homes 24 hours a day. There are several other reasons why more and more people prefer shopping online including better prices, wider variety, easier to compare prices and so on. It’s for these reasons, every major retailer is now offering their wares online instead of just in the shops.

Online shops also offer many advantages to their owners, mostly that they are cheaper to maintain. In contrast to brick-and-mortar businesses, there’s no need to rent space, take out insurance, or any of the other things involved in running an in-store business.

These days, you can open up shop online for the price of a hosting package. In addition, if you are selling digital products or choose dropshipping, you don’t even need storage room and can run your business from anywhere in the world.

Plus, technology has essentially leveled the playing field. An increasing number of high-quality and affordable eCommerce solutions have enabled almost anyone to get started selling stuff online. No wonder more and more business owners opt to do so.

To help you decide which solution is best for your online WordPress shop, we will have a look at four of the biggest players in the eCommerce game: WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce.

Together, they power about half of all online shops and in the following, we will examine their strengths, weaknesses, and what purposes they are most suited for. All of these eCommerce solutions offer easy integration with your WordPress site. In the end, we want you to be able to make an informed decision about which solution to use for your own online shop.

Ready to rock ‘n’ roll? Let’s dive in.

WooCommerce

The first one on the list is by far the largest of the bunch. The WordPress plugin WooCommerce powers almost 41 percent of all online shops. That doesn’t just make it the most popular eCommerce solution for the WordPress platform but the most popular eCommerce solution, period.

In 2015 alone, WooCommerce was downloaded more than 7 million times. In the same year, its parent company WooThemes was acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.

Pretty impressive, right? Now, let’s talk about what makes WooCommerce so popular.

Strengths

The eCommerce plugin has a lot going for itself:

Cost effective – WooCommerce’s first advantage is its price tag: it’s free. You can download it completely free in the WordPress directory. Since WordPress is also free, you can build a full-fledged online shop for the cost of a hosting package. While some advanced features might be paid (more on that below) most extensions are quite affordable and, most importantly, only need to be purchased once and not subscribed to.

Easy to setup and use – Since we are talking about a WordPress plugin, setup is really easy. Download, install, and activate. After that, a setup wizard will guide you through the beginner-friendly setup. Once you are done, creating and managing products is as easy as other WordPress content. Detailed settings also give you full control over your shop. (For more information, read our WooCommerce tutorial for beginners.)

Feature rich – Users of WooCommerce can sell both physical and digital goods as well as affiliate goods. You can set up product variations, multiple shipping options, and payment gateways as well as coupons, take advantage of full inventory and order management and get detailed reporting.

Highly extendable – Besides the standard features, the eCommerce solution offers a plethora of free and paid extensions. For example, you can add PDF invoices, multi-language capabilities, membership functionality, additional payment options and much more. The price range for paid extensions is from free to $249 for a single-site license.

Customizable – WooCommerce integrates well with most themes so you are free to choose your own design from thousands of possibilities. There are also special WooCommerce-ready themes as well as child themes. Since everything is based on WordPress, with some technically chops you can basically customize everything and the plugin itself is also very developer friendly.

Well supported – The support structure behind WooCommerce is great. Users profit from regular updates and multiple support channels (WordPress forums, documentation, email support from WooThemes). It is also very well established, which makes it easier to find affordable hired help.

SEO and marketing – With WordPress in the background, users get to enjoy the search engine optimization of the platform and can take advantage of powerful SEO plugins like Yoast SEO. Most importantly though, the platform is a blogging powerhouse which shops can use for content marketing.

Full ownership – Finally, one of the main benefits of WooCommerce is that with a self-hosted WordPress website your online shop is fully yours and nobody else’s. With everything located on your own server, you have complete control over what happens with your shops and can always take it with you when you change providers.

Read More >> https://torquemag.io/2017/04/the-decision-makers-guide-to-wordpress-ecommerce/

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Top 10 Ecommerce Trend Publications and Blogs for Niche Sellers

By: Jami

The ecommerce industry continues to grow and evolve, providing new products, sales strategies, and opportunities to expand your businesses. It’s essential for ecommerce sellers like you to stay up-to-date on new trends and products to remain competitive. In this ever-changing online world, just how do you do that?

One of the best ways to stay on top of ecommerce trends and find innovative niche products is by reading top ecommerce trend publications and blogs. You might be overwhelmed by the number of online resources you’ll find, so we’ve rounded up the ones we think you should check out.

1. Trend Watching
Trend Watching is a global company that searches the world for upcoming trends in consumer products. They use a crowdsourced team of over 3,000 trend-savvy “spotters” worldwide to discover new and noteworthy products. You can read quarterly publications, subscribe to their newsletter, and peruse interesting and informative online articles, all for free. If you want more, upgrade to one of their paid plans for more great information and tools.

2. The Cool Hunter
The Cool Hunter celebrates creativity and inspiration. It’s one of the foremost authorities of design and pop-culture, focusing on all things creative – what’s thoughtful, cool, original, and innovative. You will undoubtedly see fresh products and ideas in this online publication that will keep you ahead of the curve. It’s the perfect place for ecommerce sellers to see what is inspiring shoppers to buy.

3. PSFK
Top trending online publication, PSFK, offers readers insights, ideas, research, and strategies for running a business. Their trend reports (some available for free, others included with a membership subscription) include boundless collection of research and statistics that are sure to help with new product selection and sales strategizing.

4. SaleHoo
The SaleHoo ecommerce blog is a great resource for online sellers. They cover just about everything related to running an ecommerce business. If you’re having operational challenges, want to know which products are trending, or need to come up with a new marketing strategy, you will find the advice needed on the SaleHoo blog.

5. Trend Hunter
Trend Hunter is one of the leading trend communities (and one of the largest) you will find online. With over 137,000 members in their worldwide network, you are almost guaranteed to find tips and advice on any ecommerce topic. This site is full of new product ideas for both aspiring and veteran online entrepreneurs.

6. Cool Material
Cool Material is a unique website that provides information for products and consumer goods typically used by men. If your niche involves any products targeting men, check out this site. The blog posts include product reviews and recommendations, how-to’s, and fun articles.

7. We Make Websites Blog
The We Make Websites blog is designed to help Shopify sellers make the most of their businesses. But, even if you don’t use Shopify, you can find hundreds of actionable posts offering education, ideas, sales and marketing strategies, product suggestions, advice on how to streamline websites, and much more. This blog is a must for all ecommerce business owners, no matter the size of your company.

8. Sourcify Blog
The Sourcify blog includes posts on topics related to sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing products for ecommerce retailers. Its goal is to provide ecommerce sellers, both new and experienced, with valuable information and support.

9. Springwise
You can browse Springwise’s articles for various ecommerce business and product ideas published within the last month. If you want more, there is a paid subscription that gives you access to everything in their extensive database. Additionally, you can subscribe to daily or weekly newsletters filled with useful information about ecommerce operations for free.

10. Shopping Signals
Shopping Signals is a blog all about digital marketing for online businesses. Author, Ryan BeMiller, writes insightful and informative posts to help ecommerce business owners grow their sales. Posts include everything from ecommerce 101, to niche product selling, to marketing do’s and don’ts. This is a great blog for ecommerce beginners to get ideas for their new start-up, as well as for veteran online sellers who need a boost in sales.

Source >> https://www.ecomdash.com/top-ecommerce-trend-publications/

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

How to Start an eCommerce Business on a Shoestring Budget

By: Vikas Agrawal

Do you want to achieve financial independence? The internet offers a slew of opportunities that can help you.

You can build an authoritative niche blog, earn commissions through affiliate marketing, sell online courses, and more.

The chances of success? Probably not as high as you hope – unless you have your eyes set on eCommerce.

Here are a few reasons why:

> > According to Statista, retail eCommerce sales will hit $4.5 trillion by 2021.
> > Around 71% of consumers believe that online stores can give them better deals than brick-and-mortar establishments.
> > 67% of millennials and 56% of Gen X now prefer shopping online.
>> 57% of shoppers are now willing to make purchases from foreign sellers.

Impressed? You should be, but despite the growing optimisim around eCommerce, it’s understandable to have some doubts on whether or not it’s the right opportunity for you.

You may not have any idea on what to sell, lack any experience whatsoever in business, or are simply too scared of failures to take your first step.

Whatever your problems are, funding shouldn’t be one of them. And that’s why we’re here – to discuss the best ways an aspiring entrepreneur can build an eCommerce business on a shoestring budget.

A word about drop shipping
Before anything else, you need to learn about drop shipping and how it differs from traditional wholesale.

Unlike wholesale retailing, drop shipping is a business model wherein you don’t have to take physical possession of the goods as a seller. Rather, the manufacturer takes care of delivering orders once a sale has been made through your online outlet.

This means you don’t have to invest in a warehouse or purchase goods in advance. It may sound like a magic bullet for the cost-conscious, but you need to observe a few precautions when searching for dropship suppliers:

>> Avoid Suppliers that Charge a Monthly Fee – Requesting for subscription fees is a red flag that may indicate that the supplier is in deep financial trouble. Of course, it’s also a huge inconvenience for eCommerce startups that are trying to save.
>> Ask if They Consider First-Time Sellers – Some suppliers refuse to work with first-time business owners for various reasons. To improve your chances of approval, make sure you prepare the necessary business requirements, such as your EIN (Employer Identification Number), tax ID, and so forth.
>> Ask About Their Processing Time – One of the risks in drop shipping is putting your brand’s image in the hands of an external entity. As a rule of thumb, make sure the supplier is capable of delivering orders in around 1-2 weeks or less.
>> Learn Their Returns Policies – Even though you’re not directly involved with product shipment, your brand is still accountable for returns and refunds. Make sure you have a solid grasp on how these things are handled by your supplier.
>> Look for a Contact Number – If the supplier can’t provide a contact number, then it’s already too much of a risk. Remember, a reputable drop shipper should be willing to answer all their sellers’ questions via phone call.

Now that we have got those out of the way, it’s time to focus on building your first-ever eCommerce store.

Read More >> http://www.jeffbullas.com/how-to-start-an-ecommerce-business/

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Top 6 Instagram Marketing Trends for eCommerce in 2018

By: Nicole Blanckenberg 

Social media is changing at the speed of light. Just when you have mastered one marketing hack, another one pops up. Nothing could be truer for Instagram which had a bumper 2017 in terms of upgrades and features. Instagram is fast becoming a leading traffic-boosting contender, and with the boost of Influencers, this is expected to soar this year.

In this post I will show you the top 6 Instagram marketing trends you should be keeping a close eye on this year

1. Get Ready for Instagram’s Shopping

Instagram’s new shopping Instagram feature is set to launch this year and it’s going to change the eCommerce Instagram marketing game. The feature, which has been in testing until October 2017 when it was announced that it would be rolled out to Shopify’s US store owners. 

So why the hype? Because with Instagram shopping your customers will be able to buy a specific product, by simply clicking the picture of it in your Instagram account. This is a huge leap from having customers having to click through to links.

It’s important to note that this new feature will only be available for those online stores selling physical products – priced in dollars – that meet Instagram’s privacy policy, and who are based in the US. But the roll-out to other countries is expected in 2018.

In order to ensure you can cash in on this Instagram marketing trend, make sure you’re set up and ready to go. You can do this by getting your store approved by Facebook shop and importing all your catalogs. After you have done this, you will see an Instagram message in your app guiding you through connecting your Facebook Product Catalog to Instagram and instructing you how to tag your posts. 

As a Shopify shop owner, you can visit this Sign-Up Page to ensure you are notified as soon as the app is launched in your area. hey advise you to:

>> Make sure you have set up an Instagram Business Account
>> Install Facebook catalog onto your Shopify store through the Facebook channel
>> Meet the product requirements

2. Say Goodbye to Spamy Instagram Bots

I can not say I am sad to see the back of bots; there is nothing worse for an Instagram user than getting fake likes and generic comments from business accounts using automatic follow programs. As I mentioned in eCommerce 2018 Trends post, personalization will play a big role in online shopping trends this year, and generic commenting that has little relevance to the specific post isn’t going to cut it.

Instagram has been trying to crack down on these bots, which have increased substantially over the last year, and now penalize bot behavior for fake follows and repetitive commenting. Instagram shadowban is nothing new, but don’t be surprised if you notice a big difference in your engagement in 2018 if you:

>> Are repeatedly reported by users
>> Use banned hashtags on posts
>> Have big unexplained activity surges
>> Use bot software or apps against Instagram’s T&Cs

Read More >> https://blog.storeya.com/2018/01/instagram-marketing-trends/

Monday, March 5, 2018

What is Shopify and is it Right for Your eCommerce Website?

By: CGS Computers 
March 4, 2018

Starting an eCommerce Website Can be Daunting

Setting up a Shopify online store is easy. Their system will basically walk you through the process. Everything is point and click. For those of you not technically inclined, Shopify websites are a great way to get in on the world of eCommerce.

You can choose from a bunch of Shopify themes for your store. Shopify themes are professionally coded and beautifully designed for maximum sales. You don’t have to know how to program or code. All you have to do is have a great product and sell it.

Shopify Facebook: Sell on Social Media

One of the really nice features that come with Shopify sites is the ability to sell right through Facebook. A great social media presence could help you reach lots of people you already know. The ability to sell on Facebook really takes Shopify to another level. In most cases, gaining web traffic to a brand new online store is difficult.

Trust is also an issue. If you’re shopping for something online and you happen to find it on a website you’ve never heard of, you’re simply less likely to buy from there. You’ve never heard of them. You don’t trust them. By using Facebook to extend the Shopify platform to your inner circle of social media contacts, you begin your eCommerce journey with people who know and trust you.

Built for Online Stores

Because Shopify does nothing but eCommerce websites, their platform and hardware are optimized accordingly. Shopify’s entire infrastructure is tuned for the performance demands of today’s online shopper.

Platforms that offer services other than eCommerce must balance the needs of those services against the needs of the online stores they host.

Shopify’s Support is 1st Class

Shopify is known for having stellar support. If you have an issue, they’re right there with you to help. And, because Shopify sites are so common, there’s a tremendous amount of documentation out on the web.

In most cases, any issue you might come across with Shopify can be resolved with a quick Google search.

Lots of Payment Gateways

As someone who’s set up lots of different online stores, I can attest to the fact that one of the most frustrating parts is setting up all the payment gateways. Credit cards, PayPal, Stripe… the list goes on and on.

Pretty much every eCommerce site platform out there requires you to install something different for each gateway and go through a ton of configuration. Shopify payment gateways are super simple.

Speaking of Money…

Shopify is extremely cost-effective, especially if you’re just starting out. Their lowest plans start off at just $29 a month, which when you think about all you get, is a great deal. While their top tier plans can cost 10x as much, you won’t need those extra features until you’re making enough to cover the bill.

But what if you get to the point where you’re selling so much and so successful that you want to hire your own developer to build a custom eCommerce website? You can quit whenever you want. Shopify doesn’t require large single investments, meaning you don’t have to be concerned about losing a chunk of money to fees on the way out. There’s no contract to sign either. Shopify’s system is essentially exit-free.

Read More >> https://cgscomputer.com/shopify-ecommerce-website/

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Multi-Channel Ecommerce: How to Create Anywhere Commerce

By: Aaron Orendorff

The buzz words are all around us. Cross-platform touchpoints. Multi-device optimization. Experiential ecommerce.

Every brand wants to capture its market in totality, to reach customers new and old through mediums familiar and not. Today if your company doesn’t have a multi-channel ecommerce strategy … good luck keeping up.

And yet, defining and optimizing a multi-channel strategy is no easy task. If you’re not prepared, wasted time, wasted capital, and uneven results can find you long before profit ever will.

The way forward is marked by five stages that culminate in a principle that’s anything but new …

1. Definition: What Is a Multi-Channel Ecommerce Strategy?
2. Identification: Where Does a Multi-Channel Strategy Start?
3. Model: How to Track Multi-Channel Ecommerce?
4. Unity: Who Should a Multi-Channel Strategy Serve?
5. Value: Why Is Multi-Channel Ecommerce Not Enough?

What Is a Multi-Channel Ecommerce Strategy?

Definition: multi-channel ecommerce is marketing and selling anywhere your customers buy. Beyond advertising, it brings commerce to various channels — namely, marketplaces, social media, messaging apps, and online communities — where your target market already spends their time.

A true multi-channel ecommerce strategy does this natively in a way that honors …

1. Consumer choice
2. Purchase patterns
3. Platform usage

Even for large online retailers, growth stalls when a website and direct-response advertising are your only means of reaching shoppers.

The best brands sell to their customers wherever they consume content, whether that is through buyable Pins, shoppable Instagram posts, a native Facebook store, or marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Houzz, BuzzFeed, etc.

When you create natural purchase paths on those channels, multi-channel ecommerce comes to life:

Although sometimes used interchangeably, omni-channel retailing goes beyond multi-channel by harmonizing those touchpoints with a single view of each customer, thereby delivering a tailored and interlocking experience:

In an omni-channel retail strategy, everything works together seamlessly:

Read More >> https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/multi-channel-ecommerce-strategy