Daily E-Commerce Pulse Report (Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash)

Top 2023 resources on able

Best able resource in 2023.
Learn more about able to improve your e-commerce strategy.

11 Virtual Reality Apps That You Won’t Be Able to Put Down - A few weeks ago, I experienced virtual reality for the first time. One of my colleagues brought her Oculus into the office and let our whole team try it out. I picked the VR mini golf experience, which I wasn’t initially excited for -- I’ve never really liked mini golf. But when I slid on the Oculus, I was pleasantly surprised.
Topics: experience, world, android, golf, youll, reality, app, wont, ios, virtual, vr, apps, able.
30x Sales in One Year: Fanjoy’s Journey of Being the Merch Powerhouse Behind Top Social Stars - In this episode of Shopify Masters, Fanjoy founder Chris Vaccarino shares his journey to becoming one of the biggest merch platforms around. He shares tips on discovering new talent to work with, transitioning from print-on-demand to production partners, and teases Fanjoy’s expansion into retail. More
Topics: stars, products, able, powerhouse, journey, 30x, team, sell, fanjoy, merch, chris, creators, sales, social, creator, fanjoys.
4 Full-Funnel Marketing Tips to Drive Purchases on Facebook - Do you know how to engage customers throughout their buying journey? Mastering these four steps can lead to a more efficient, effective marketing campaign.
Topics: facebook, drive, marketing, using, experts, products, able, creating, fullfunnel, ads, purchases, youll, tips, ad.
5 Considerations For Deciding If Composable Commerce Is Right For you - Composable Commerce could be just thing you were looking for to elevate your eCommerce strategy. Find out if it is right for you. Here are the top five considerations for deciding if Composable Commerce will be right for your business. The commitment to digital differentiation. You believe digital is an intrinsic part of your commerce strategy that allows you to outpace competitors. So website experiences are only one part of the puzzle, and you want to be able to continuously innovate and optimize with truly differentiated commerce experiences to retain and attract new customers. Flexible architecture is a must. You desire to design your unique vision and iterate without any interdependencies. By leveraging the back and freedom of MACH and the front and flexibility of JAMstack, you want to set your team up to deliver your unique vision with little technical debt. Out-of-the-box isn't enough. You're unsatisfied with these out of the box features and see the benefits of a building and designing your custom fit solution for your precise needs. By building with Composable services, you want to eliminate that bloating in the backend that usually causes your slight to be slow that are associated with those unwanted features from out-of-the-box platforms. Quick adaptability. You recognize the need for an agile solution to support your business centric functions. Whether it be an unprecedented pandemic or just another changed customer habit, you want to be able to use quick-starts as well as business analytics and business tooling, to be able to react quickly and outperform competitors. And, lastly, cost reduction. You want to drive revenue through innovation without hurting your pocket. Due to the rigidity of traditional legacy platforms, customization and other changes impact both time to market and your budget. You want a solution to deliver the best for your business while also remaining in your CFO's good graces. If these considerations resonate with you, then it may be time to upgrade to a Composable Commerce solution. If you'd like to learn more about the Composable Commerce solution and how Elastic Path may help, feel free to reach out to us, we'd be happy to help you out.
Topics: strategy, help, business, unique, deciding, commerce, composable, considerations, able, right, solution, vision.
5 Types of T-Shirt Designs & Resources for T-Shirt Design Inspiration - If you want to start a t-shirt business but are stuck on what to print on your t-shirts, this article will give you t-shirt design inspiration & resources.
Topics: type, dont, able, types, create, image, design, youll, designs, resources, images, tshirt, inspiration.
7-month-old Simsim secures $16M for its social commerce in India - Simsim, a social commerce startup in India, said on Friday it has raised $16 million in seven months of its existence as it attempts to replicate the offline retail experience in the digital world with help from influencers. The Gurgaon-based startup said it raised $16 million across seed, Series A and Series B financing rounds […]
Topics: items, india, social, 16m, able, secures, users, 7monthold, million, techcrunch, startup, series, influencers, simsim, commerce.
8 Amazing Omnichannel Experience Examples from the World's Top Brands - With the global adoption of mobile devices, expansion of IoT, and dynamic behavior of customer buying habits, it’s become more important than ever for brands to take a holistic, interconnected approach to their customer’s digital experiences. An omnichannel approach enables businesses to deliver consistent, frictionless, and more convenient user experiences by interconnecting every customer touchpoint. To scale and stay competitive, companies need to ensure they’re meeting customers where they are, on the devices they use, and are delivering consistent messaging. Many businesses have taken the first step and adopted a multi-channel approach to engage with customers across a myriad of channels such as web or mobile. Where omnichannel differs from a multi-channel approach, is that with a multi-channel approach, each touchpoint is launched, managed, and optimized in silos. Given the unique nature of today’s consumer, it’s vital that companies break down the silos and adopt an omnichannel strategy, whether that’s to build new customer relationships or maintain the current ones. Speaking from personal experience, the easier it is for me to access my accounts, make purchases, manage settings, and engage with support, the happier I am. With so much technology available today, I expect to be able to do this in a manner that is the most convenient and comfortable to me. According to the Aberdeen group, “companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement retain on average 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement.” Below is a list of prime omnichannel examples from eight renown brands across a variety of industries to give you an idea of how you can adapt an omnichannel strategy to your business. While some of the most noticeable are from companies you probably come across day-to-day, it’s important to highlight that you don’t need to be a B2C retailer to adopt an omnichannel strategy, or that you have to focus on the customer-facing experience to have an omnichannel approach impact your business’ bottom line. Disney Starbucks & Dunkin Donuts Stance Sephora Walgreens Bank of America Zurich Insurance Group Disney Disney, despite being one of the world’s biggest multimedia and entertainment conglomerates, has been able to build deep, personal connections with their customers. By staying on top of today’s digital trends, focusing on the customer experience, and not sweating the small details, they’ve been able to create a global brand that people of all ages enjoy and feel an affiliation towards. As a 30-year-old Disney fan myself, who recently attended a wine night with friends to watch the new Mulan film, I personally am a great example of just how well the brand has been able to stay connected with an older (slightly) generation. Their omnichannel experience starts with the Disney website, which is mobile-responsive and optimized for every device, browser, and operating system. Once a Disney trip is booked, visitors can carry their travel plans over to a mobile app, the My Disney Experience App. This allows visitors to buy tickets, organize day-to-day plans, order food and beverages for a contactless dining experience, reserve tables, ask support questions, or use a virtual map to find attractions as well their wait times. In 2016 they introduced their Magic Band Program, which allows park visitors to enter the park, manage their fast pass, check in, and unlock their hotel room. With such a truly interconnected, seamless digital experience, they are one of the top omnichannel experience examples. I haven’t been to a Disney Park in years but can say I’m ecstatic for the opportunity to try these out the next time I go. Starbucks & Dunkin Donuts As a New Englander, you can probably guess with which brand my loyalty lies, but both coffee giants have set such phenomenal examples of omnichannel ecommerce that they’re both worth mentioning. Each has fully embraced the spirit of an omnichannel approach in the past few years by enabling customers to order through a mobile app, built and launched into their sales and marketing mix. This new approach allows both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts to connect with customers at a more granular, personal level and drive a more convenient user experience through loyalty programs and various, expedited payment options. Coffee drinkers can place their order in-advance and pick up in-store, on-the-go without having to wait in line. With each order, customers can collect points to later trade for perks such as free coffee or discounts on food. For those who do end up standing in line, customers can choose to either pay through the app, a reloadable virtual card that stores money, or scan a unique QR code connected to their loyalty ID before handing the cashier a physical card or cash. The latter ensures customers can still collect points for future rewards. The mobile app not only gives customers a more seamless, convenient experience, but it also gives both businesses the opportunity to market drinks, deals, and discounts to their customers, and gives them the flexibility to meet new challenges, like those COVID imposed. Both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts were able to successfully introduce contactless checkout and curbside pickup during the pandemic to allow for a safer customer experience. Stance One retailer who also doubled down on adding a mobile experience to their omnichannel mix is Stance, a highly popular American sock, underwear, and T-shirt brand. Stance recognized the need to improve their in-store customer experience by cutting down on long lines and wait times and realized they could solve the issue by enabling customers to checkout themselves. Instead of building a designated app, Stance built and launched a web-based self-checkout experience that users could access through their smartphone, without having to download anything. Given the number of apps I have on my phone (some of which are native and you can’t get rid of no matter how hard you try), I can fully appreciate the thought Stance put into their shopper’s experience and the approach they took to enabling mobile-self-checkout. Sephora Sephora, a leading beauty brand, seamlessly connects customers in-store with their online shopping cart, Sephora’s Beauty Bag, through well-placed tablets. Accessing their online account on-the spot, in-store, allows customers to look up product details, add products to their wish list, and purchase whichever they desire. Customers shopping at home can download the Sephora app and virtually try on hundreds of the brand’s makeup products with one of the world’s newest, “try-before-you-buy” experience. Sephora offers such a wide array of products to choose from so it’s that they enable customers to find the product that fits their personal style. The brand realized early on just how important it was to integrate their consumer channels to improve their customer’s experience and scale their success and adopted an omnichannel approach. number of apps I have on my phone (some of which are native and you can’t get rid of no matter how hard you try), I can fully appreciate the thought Stance put into their shopper’s experience and the approach they took to enabling mobile-self-checkout. Walgreens Another good omnichannel ecommerce example is the digital pharmaceutical experience that Walgreens built for their customers. They realized that a vast number of their customers were shopping and accessing their store and products on mobile devices. To deliver a more convenient pharmacy experience, they launched a mobile product that enables customers to refill their prescriptions by scanning the bar code on their medication with their smartphone camera. Customers can also access their prescription history, easily change pick-up locations, and set a pick-up time. While not groundbreaking, it’s a great example of how pharmacies can and should be thinking about how to improve their customer experiences. Ready to Bring Your Own Omnichannel Strategy to Life? Make any touchpoint transactional and build unique commerce experiences catered to your brand with Elastic Path. Connect with us to learn more. Let's build an omnichannel experience Bank of America Banking is yet another industry that has been forced to undergo a drastic digital makeover in the last few decades, with Bank of America as one of the top brands leading the pack. Trust is critical in building brand relationships, especially where customer’s finances are involved, and Bank of America has stepped up its omnichannel development to meet those needs. Their secure mobile and desktop apps allow customers to digitally deposit checks, send recurring checks without having to physically write them, check account statuses, manage transfers and book appointments – all without having to get on the phone or go in-person. It wasn’t too long ago when people still had to walk to an ATM to deposit their paychecks. It was an inconvenient experience, but how else were you supposed to get your money? With this omnichannel strategy in place, Bank of America customers can bank on their time, at their convenience. In case anyone is curious, some banks today still actually use pneumatic tubes. For those who don’t know, it’s the banking version of a drive through where you pull up in your car, put your paperwork, cash, or checks, in a small container that then shoots through a tube to a desk clerk inside the bank who will then complete your objective. Zurich Insurance Group The last omnichannel example I’ll share is that of the Zurich Insurance Group, as the experience they built is less focused on the customer-facing experience as it on the experience of their internal staff. The Zurich Insurance Group is a global insurance company based in Switzerland that offers a variety of general, property, and life insurance products and solutions for everyone from individuals to multi-national corporations. The company’s agents in Portugal had previously been using a monolithic, outdated system to manage policies and claims, handle receipts, and deal with customer information. It was a clunky and difficult system that inevitably hindered Zurich Insurance Group from being able to hire and onboard new agents. They ended up building an online portal, dedicated to improving the agent’s experience. The portal can be accessed on any device, including an app built for both smartphones and tablets. The new portal can quickly give company employees a complete view of their customer’s activities, send automatic notifications, and even leverages the new fingerprint scanning security feature. As a result, the Zurich Insurance Group ended up seeing a sharp uptick in policy business and were able to improve employee satisfaction. This is a great example of how leveraging an interconnected omnichannel digital solution to consolidate data and improve sales and internal employee experiences can be just as important to a business as ensuring the customer experience is flawless. At the end of the day, it also means that customers get faster, more accurate service, which is something everyone wants.
Topics: worlds, omnichannel, examples, app, customer, customers, amazing, insurance, brand, able, brands, mobile, approach, experience.
Alibaba launches Luxury Soho, a digital fashion community and outlet centre - Alibaba has launched a new platform Luxury Soho, targeting young, value-conscious aspirational shoppers, and helping high-end brands quit surplus inventory.
Topics: digital, ways, consumers, china, online, fashion, able, outlet, centre, luxury, community, stores, alibaba, products, soho, brands, launches.
Amazon tests a one-tap review system for product feedback - Amazon is testing an easier way for people to leave product feedback with the launch of one-tap ratings. The change is meant to encourage those who don’t have the time, energy or interest in writing reviews to still share their opinion about the product, which benefits the larger Amazon community of shoppers who are reliant […]
Topics: reviews, onetap, products, able, amazon, rating, ratings, feedback, shoppers, review, system, techcrunch, tests, product.
Big Changes for 2020 + News Cart for Jan 3rd - Happy New Year! Well, it’s 2020 and we still don’t have flying cars. That’s a letdown. But on the bright side I do have a solid round-up for you in this week’s News Cart to kick-off the year. A few highlights: surprising news from TOMS Shoes, hiring contractors is getting more complicated in California, shipping [...]
Topics: won, changes, big, ecf, yes, cart, 3rd, member, truck, shopify, able, contractors, temporary, jan, companies.
Chatbots still have their place, says Microsoft - The early generation of chatbots may have had their day - but the concept is not yet dead, says a senior Microsoft executive.
Topics: systems, chatbots, retail, store, technology, deploy, microsoft, able, tell, order, place, chatbot.
Chew On This: How This Functional Gum Maker Crushed Its Crowdfunding Goals With Reddit - Kent Yoshimura and Ryan Chen met in university and bonded over their shared busy and active lifestyle of balancing athletics with academia. Kent and Ryan wanted to create wellness products they could not find in the market and put their degrees in neuroscience, chemistry, and economics to use to launch Neuro. After their first Neuro gum product for energy and focus surpassed its crowdfunding goal in just three days, the duo went on to sell over 12 million pieces. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Kent and Ryan share how they used Reddit to crush their crowdfunding goals and how they are able to achieve a repeat purchase rate of more than 30%.More
Topics: product, functional, able, theres, crowdfunding, really, goals, gum, reddit, crushed, lot, thats, business, things, chew, going, way, maker.
Facebook Shops to let retailers sell directly to consumers - New platform to allow businesses to sell across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Topics: zealand, let, consumers, able, sell, online, retailers, marketplace, shops, products, businesses, business, social, facebook, directly.
From Class Project to Kickstarter to Shark Tank - Friends Logan LaMance, Ryan Frazier, Teddy Giard, Austin Maxwell, and Kyle Self got the inspiration for their business Kanga when they noticed how tailgating party always resulted in lukewarm drinks and messy melting ice. The group developed a no ice cooler case for drinks which led to a Kickstarter campaign and a Shark Tank appearance. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Austin Maxwell and Kyle Self of Kanga shares their product development process, ways to seek feedback, and goals for the next year. More
Topics: different, really, youre, lot, thats, shark, able, content, feedback, going, project, tank, product, class, kickstarter.
From Family Recipe to 7-Figure Sales: Pan’s Journey of A Decade-Long Side Hustle - Michael Pan fell in love with mushroom jerky during a visit to family in Malaysia. He knew right away that he needed to share the snack with the rest of the world. Michael launched Pan’s Mushroom Jerky and brought this family recipe to the market. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Michael shares how he ran the business as a decade-long side hustle, and how his Shark Tank pitch generated millions in sales in a matter of days.More
Topics: business, going, right, sales, hustle, family, pans, journey, 7figure, able, things, product, thats, youre, lot, recipe, decadelong, really.
Headless Commerce Success Stories: 4 Brands Solving Tough Challenges with Innovative Tech - Headless commerce is the talk of ecommerce at the moment, and for good reason. For brands facing a variety of…
Topics: commerce, saas, headless, able, ecommerce, shopping, frontend, backend, success, platform, bigcommerce.
How Ethey Is Scaling A Zero-Waste Meal Delivery Business Beyond $100 Million - The Americana food industry creates $240 billion dollars worth of waste every year. Nick Spina wanted to change that. So he launched Ethey, a zero-waste ready-to-eat meal delivery company that prevents one pound of food waste for each meal. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Nick tells us about his journey of finding the ideal production facility and launching a successful subscription model.More
Topics: scaling, important, thats, meal, able, challenges, business, right, delivery, zerowaste, lot, million, going, ethey, really, dont.
How Many YouTube Subscribers Does It Take to Make Six Figures? - In this episode of Shopify Masters, Keya James of Tailored Beauty shares her self-taught process of scaling beyond six figures and gaining retail partnerships like Wal-Mart.More
Topics: does, youtube, customers, able, figures, products, product, started, audience, subscribers, business, hair, really.
How Masks For Dogs Landed a Deal on Shark Tank - Kirby Holmes worried about the impact of wildfires on animals and began creating air-filtering masks for dogs. After launching his company K9 Mask, Kirby ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, which led to an appearance on Shark Tank. On this episode of Shopify Masters, Kirby shares his tips for creating content marketing, building an email list, and selecting tools for an ideal tech stack.More
Topics: landed, masks, filter, dogs, deal, mask, need, feedback, air, able, tank, thats, product, shark, dog.
How This Dinnerware Brand Grew Through Influencer Gifting - When Joe Parenteau had difficulties finding simple, timeless, and sustainably made dinnerware as a gift for his mom, he decided to create Fable as the answer. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Joe shares with us his approach of launching in one city at a time and the importance of influencer gifting.More
Topics: able, dinnerware, going, different, product, actually, brand, work, lot, think, grew, really, influencer, gifting, products.
How This Founder Built A 7-Figure Business While Keeping A Full-Time Job - Roc Pilon was just 19 years old when he turned his passion for power lifting and working out into a business. He launched Gymreapers, an equipment and apparel company that makes affordable, stylish products or gym goers and athletes. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Roc shares his methodical approach to building a multimillion dollar business—all while working full time.More
Topics: business, fulltime, market, 7figure, product, dont, need, brand, job, built, able, products, youre, founder, work, keeping.
How This Natural Skincare Company is Supporting Other Female Founders - Noticing a lack of natural skincare that’s affordable, Laura Burget and Connie Lo created their own by co-founding NIU BODY. By creating effective natural beauty products, collaborating with other businesses and supporting fellow female founders, NIU BODY has grown to a seven-figure business. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Laura Burget and Connie Lo share how they achieve work-life balance, bootstrapped their business, and shine a light on other female founders.More
Topics: company, really, thats, niu, founders, natural, body, supporting, think, business, fulltime, able, skincare, female, having.
How This Serial Entrepreneur Built An Incubator That Powers Multiple 8-Figure DTC Brands - Blazar Capital is an incubator and venture capital firm specializing in direct-to-consumer brands. With 8-figure businesses in a multitude of industries, Blazar Capital's brands span everything from home goods to fashion to cosmetics. CEO Christian Arnstedt launched the business in 2017 by building brands from scratch. Now as an investor on Denmark's Shark Tank (Løvens Hule), he’s helping other founders reach their potential. In this episode of Shopify Masters, we sit down with Christian in his Copenhagen office to hear his learnings from building direct-to-consumer brands, what he looks for when investing, and how he navigates failures.More
Topics: 8figure, brand, thats, able, built, incubator, dtc, brands, different, entrepreneur, think, blazar, serial, work, things, team, multiple, powers.
How a Beauty Subscription Box Launched Through Facebook Groups - Bili Balogun always loved beauty and experimenting with new products, so much so that she started Tribe Beauty Box with only $200. In this episode of Shopify Masters, you'll hear from Bili Balogun of Tribe Beauty Box on how to collaborate with brands, build relationships, and launch a business through Facebook groups. More
Topics: able, brand, really, box, customers, group, beauty, products, subscription, groups, product, brands, facebook, launched.
How to Crowdfund with WordPress - Get more from crowdfunding; build it on your own WordPress site! Keep more money, customize it however you want, & connect with donors directly. Here’s how.
Topics: website, donation, able, youll, track, fundraising, woocommerce, crowdfunding, wordpress, community, crowdfund, campaign.
How to Drive External Traffic to Your Amazon Listing - Get a stream of traffic coming to your Amazon listing that's ready to purchase your product! Plus, learn how to own that traffic long-term.
Topics: product, funnel, shovel, video, customer, amazon, drive, sales, dream, traffic, listing, able, external.
How to Turn Your Content Marketing Into A Sales Machine - As a dog owner and entrepreneur, Trevor Crotts launched BuddyRest to create quality mattresses that offered support and comfort for dogs. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Trevor Crotts of BuddyRest, shares how he found a product-market fit, created compelling content, and his thoughts on the future of ecommerce.More
Topics: able, sales, turn, product, going, need, thats, think, customer, machine, really, lot, marketing, content, dog.
How to Work From Home With Small Children (& Not Go Crazy!) - Are you having a difficult time working from home with small children? If so, here’s a comprehensive list of tips I’d suggest to keep yourself sane and productive.
Topics: children, kids, small, set, able, business, crazy, tips, baby, tip, work, day, dsl.
How to Write a SMART Goal [+ Free SMART Goal Template] - There's almost nothing more gratifying than the feeling you get when you accomplish a goal.
Topics: setting, example, template, free, write, pushups, youre, goal, smart, youve, able, goals.
Inside Calendar.com: Exploring the Power of Magento with Founder John Rampton - How a move from Yahoo Stores helped build a $100 Million company
Topics: customers, ecommerce, platform, inside, founder, john, power, exploring, rampton, able, work, ability, technology, magento, business, calendarcom, experience.
Inside Elastic Path with Kenneth Culala - Kenneth Culala is a Software Engineer Test, who has been with Elastic Path for 3.5 years. He graduated in 2017 with a diploma from British Columbia Institute of Columbia. Prior to his role, Kenneth had a year of internship experience before joining the team full-time. Learn more about his role at our company! Q: Can you describe a usual workday as a Software Engineer Test? Q: What is typically the highlight of your day or week? Kenneth: The highlight of my work week is when my team comes together at the end of a 2-week sprint. We discuss what we achieved, and it is a good time to recognize each individual's contributions. It also opens a moment for self-reflection, and to align on where we want to be. Q: In your current role, is there something you are most proud of? Kenneth: Something I am most proud of is my ability to put myself in the shoes of our customers. This is further reinforced by the internal tools that I get to use with our platform, it allows me to see how we impact their day to day. We can use these insights to make suggestions that could improve the way they use the platform and ensure that their customers have the best experience. It also opens up opportunities for myself and the team to discuss the value we bring, and make improvements for the customer. Q: How would you describe the culture here at Elastic Path? Kenneth: The culture at Elastic Path is very collaborative, and every employee is a slack message away. I also love how we are able to be there for one another. Q: Thinking back, what were the reasons that made you join Elastic Path? What are the reasons you choose to stay? Kenneth: I joined Elastic Path after seeing a friend of mine at the time, join the company after transitioning from an internship experience to full-time. This really spoke to me on how the company is willing to invest in the careers of individuals, ‘plucking’ them right out of school, teaching and building them up. I stayed due to the way the teams were organized. We have trust, autonomy and are able to self-organize in delivering value to the customer. Since the pandemic, we have had the flexibility that comes with working from home. I have been able to leverage this to run errands and go to the gym at my convenience. Q: If you had to say to someone that was considering on applying, what would you say? Kenneth: At the company, you will learn a lot, there is a lot of flexibility, and opportunity to push yourself and make the most of your career. For example, at Elastic Path, they foster development through a professional development benefit as well as PTO for individuals to encourage them to hone their skills. Q: What is your favorite movie? Kenneth: I find it hard to have a favorite but I lean towards the sci-fi genre when it comes to movies. One movie I recently watched was Dune, and it was very cool to see in theatres, due to the sound design and effects.
Topics: elastic, kenneth, culala, team, experience, comes, individuals, company, day, able, inside, role, path.
Inside Elastic Path with our Marketing Interns - Our latest Inside Elastic Path series features the marketing interns and as a marketing intern myself, I could not be any more excited to share my story with you. My name is Michaela and I’m currently pursuing a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing and Communication at Stonehill College. My focus is on content marketing, so writing blog posts like this is right up my ally. We have two additional interns on the marketing team. Cody Tu and Rudra Bharat. Cody is a Graphic Design Intern, who is studying at Massachusetts College of Arts and Design and getting a degree in Communication Design. Rudra Bharat was born and raised in Malaysia and came to the states to study Economics at Boston University. Keep reading to learn more about what it’s like to be an intern on the marketing team! Q: Can you describe a usual workday as a Digital Marketing Co-Op Intern? Rudra: A typical workday starts with meeting with my manager to go over my day-to-day tasks and show any deliverables I have been working on. Once we go over my week, I will work on sprint tasks to work on the deliverables I have for that upcoming week. I also will attend marketing team meetings to go over sprint tasks, and to go over our weekly wins during our Friday retro meetings. Q: Can you describe a usual workday as a Content Marketing Co-Op Intern? Michaela: As a Content Marketing Co-Op intern, I manage the social media channels for Elastic Path. I create content to highlight on our LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. I pull metrics where we find engagement and followers to increase and find new solutions to attract our audience online. I also assist in the ‘behind the scenes’ working with webinars for Elastic Path and assist in sending emails to register for our “all demo, no pitch” webinars. I have also been writing blogs for our company website! Q: Can you describe a usual workday as a Graphic Design Co-Op Intern? Cody: I start my day off with meeting with my supervisor to go over my day-to-day responsibilities. Next, I will go into Jira, to check in on tasks for that week. I also double check with other coworkers who have assigned me tasks to make sure we are on the same page before I get started on creating graphics for upcoming assignments. Q: What is typically the highlight of your day or week? Q: In your current role, is there something you are most proud of? Cody: Working on the state of composable commerce report graphics, I am also working through a video portion right now, which is something I am most proud of. I enjoy seeing the data and the graphics come along. Michaela: In my current role, something I am most proud of is writing blog posts and seeing them published on our company website. This is new for me, so being able to see your work go live online is awesome. Rudra: Being able to see my blog posts being published is something I am most proud of. I haven’t written a blog post since this internship experience, and it is something that is new to me as well. I am learning how to focus on specific content to write about, which I find myself learning day to day. Q: How would you describe the culture at Elastic Path? The culture at Elastic Path is very friendly, supportive and community focused. Everyone is willing to help on your own team or other teams if you have any questions. Cody states, that he likes the fact that the marketing team is small, since it is very easy to communicate with peers, coworkers and being able to get tasks done in a short period of time. Rudra also describes the culture as: welcoming, warm, and the company at Elastic Path is like one big family. Q: What do you love about Elastic Path? Cody: Being able to have a lot of creative freedom, especially working with ads. I am doing AB Testing with the ads. We are trying new videos, new formats, new graphic styles, new animations and trying new designs to the which results are doing better. Michaela: I love the people and the culture at Elastic Path. Everyone is based in different time zones, but we are willing to work later for unanswered questions or late-night chats if needed. Rudra: One thing I love about Elastic Path is that I can meet the more employees at Elastic Path through our “coffee-chats” we have. This is where we can meet other employees in the company and spend 30 minutes to get to know another individual through zoom and have coffee, lunch or even just a snack. Since I only interact with the marketing team, it has been nice to meet other faces virtually in the company. Q: What would you say to someone that is considering on applying as a Co-Op Intern? Cody: Expand your horizons, I have been doing a lot of editing and trying new AB tests. I have been able to learn a lot through the past 3 months I have been here, which has been insightful. Michaela: If you are looking to work with such an amazing team, and a company that really cares about the people at Elastic Path, I highly recommend on applying. I also would add, that if you are looking for a challenge to apply. Rudra: Working at Elastic Path is a great learning experience will open you to work with a committed and passionate team. Everyone on the team uses their knowledge to come together and help one another. I can develop my skillsets from what I am learning in the classroom and apply that to what I am doing in my internship. In my internship, I do a lot of research through my work, whether that is coming up with new marketing revenue aspects or working on marketing campaigns. Being able to challenge myself through my internship is something I enjoy. Q: What do you love to do in your free time? Cody: I love to play basketball; I play with my best friend every weekend. I have been doing this for a long time, I played back in high school. I also love to play video games; after work I will play with some of my coworkers, which is fun. I also really enjoy cooking. Michaela: I love to find time to work out before or after work. Staying fit and healthy is something that motivates me to get my day going. I also enjoy reading and hanging with friends, since I recently moved to Boston! Rudra: During my free time I try to read books whenever I can. I also will go outside and find a basketball court, to play pick up or with my friends. I also like to play golf. Back home I would try to find a driving range and hit some golf balls. I also enjoy watching Movies and playing video games. Since I attend school in Boston, I like to explore the city with friends, whether we are just hanging out, or trying new restaurants. Living in a lively city there is never a dull moment. Stay tuned for our next “Inside Elastic Path” series. If you are interested joining our team, check out our open listings and apply today.
Topics: inside, working, play, path, work, love, marketing, elastic, tasks, interns, able, team.
Instagram’s fundraiser stickers could lure credit card numbers - Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed that commerce is a huge part of the 2019 road map for Facebook’s family of apps. But before people can easily buy things from Instagram etc., Facebook needs their credit card info on file. That’s a potentially lucrative side effect of Instagram’s plan to launch a Fundraiser sticker in 2019. Facebook’s own […]
Topics: search, transactions, card, nonprofits, fundraiser, sticker, facebook, instagram, stickers, able, lure, commerce, donate, numbers, instagrams, credit.
JD driverless delivery vehicles in live mainland test - JD driverless delivery vehicles have been deployed in live testing in two Mainland China cities.
Topics: test, mainland, jd, delivery, robots, live, consumers, shopping, driverless, vehicles, china, able, stations, technology.
Launching A Niche Business with $500 - Jason Wong is a serial entrepreneur who loves to thoroughly research and challenge himself to launch quickly and efficiently. In this episode of Shopify Masters, we speak with Jason Wong on why he decided to launch Doe Lashes, the research he did to find customer pain points, and how he launched with around $500 and in a matter of few a days. More
Topics: different, business, lot, lashes, brands, launching, really, dont, able, niche, things, brand, product.
Magento Masters Spotlight: Joseph Maxwell - Get to know Magento Master Joseph Maxwell, CEO at SwiftOtter, Inc.
Topics: thats, community, know, spotlight, maxwell, way, really, masters, joseph, able, help, magento, contribute, working.
Monetizing 5G with headless commerce - 5G adoption is slowly, but steadily rising; and will enable new innovative services and business models both for mass market and enterprises. To successfully sell new 5G-enabled offerings, service providers will need to find the right commerce platform to support several key requirements common across many 5G-enabled services and business models.
Topics: service, models, sell, quality, providers, 5g, need, able, commerce, services, headless, business, monetizing.
MyToys is disbanded and cuts 800 jobs - German ecommerce giant Otto Group has disbanded its toys platform MyToys. The platform was not able to become profitable. All of its stores will have to close. The decision leads to a cut of 800 jobs. The German Otto Group owns several brands, including About You and Bonprix. Two weeks…
Topics: cuts, disbanded, mytoys, able, stores, profitable, group, jobs, social, revenue, ottos, otto, platform.
Overdraft: How One Founder Built a Braiding Business—From Her Living Room - Now more than ever, we look to stories of resiliency to inspire us. In this series, successful business owners share their deeply personal financial struggles and lessons learned on their way back to black. (Melony’s story was originally published in October, 2019.)More
Topics: im, work, room, able, really, husband, day, founder, businessfrom, overdraft, living, built, didnt, hair, braiding, small, money.
Pinterest rolls out new features that let creators make money from pins - Creators will be able to tag products in their Idea Pins -- a video-first feature the company first launched this spring -- to make their content 'shoppable.'
Topics: creators, pinterest, rolls, pins, let, pinterests, able, features, tag, techcrunch, shopping, product, idea, content, money.
Second Act: How They Launched A Second Successful Business - Angela and Steve Watts are the life and business partners behind Veldskoen Shoes, selling handcrafted footwear from South Africa. As serial entrepreneurs, they are also the owners behind Slyde, makers of handboards used in bodysurfing. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Angela and Steve Watts of Veldskoen Shoes share their ways of validating a market fit, managing ad spend, and their number one tip for navigating the effects of COVID-19.More
Topics: im, act, obviously, veldskoen, need, second, going, launched, shoes, south, theyre, business, able, africa, successful.
Shippo Makes Scaling Your Ecommerce Business Easier - As more consumers turn to online shopping, is your business ready to meet the demands?
Topics: pandemic, easier, scaling, shipping, businesses, best, makes, shippo, ecommerce, business, youll, able, process, carriers.
SiteW Review (May 2022): An Introduction to SiteW - SiteW is one of the lesser-known, but rapidly growing tools on the market today for building your own business website. Intended to make website creation as simple and painless as possible, the technology promises a fun and enjoyable way to… Continue reading SiteW Review (May 2022): An Introduction to SiteW
Topics: introduction, pages, features, theres, able, review, youre, blog, sitew, add, website, youll.
States will be able to charge sales tax on online purchases thanks to the Supreme Court - In a five-to-four decision issued today, the Supreme Court ruled that states can make online businesses collect sales taxes — even if they don’t have a physical presence in that state. Today’s ruling overturns a decision from the Court in 1992 that paved the way for the explosion of online retail in the United States. […]
Topics: able, ruling, states, tax, charge, online, sales, state, supreme, taxes, court, physical, ecommerce, thanks, purchases.
Stripe debuts Radar anti-fraud AI tools for big businesses, says it has halted $4B in fraud to date - Cybersecurity continues to be a growing focus and problem in the digital world, and now Stripe is launching a new paid product that it hopes will help its customers better battle one of the bigger side-effects of data breaches: online payment fraud. Today, Stripe is announcing Radar for Fraud Teams, an expansion of its free […]
Topics: halted, date, stripes, radar, businesses, debuts, antifraud, transaction, payments, product, big, stripe, teams, fraud, tools, able, paid.
The 13 Skills Needed to Provide Memorable Customer Support - Go beyond help desk software and call scripts to get to know the 13 kills that are needed to deliver great customer service. From active listening to improvisation to resilience, here's what you need to know to develop customer service skills for you and your team. More
Topics: memorable, customer, need, support, provide, skills, solution, product, service, customers, reps, needed, able.
The 19 Most Technically Innovative Ecommerce Brands of 2018 - In ecommerce, glitz and glam matter – a lot. In fact, brands that focus on the look & feel of…
Topics: companies, products, online, customers, able, site, ecommerce, bigcommerce, product, innovative, customer, innovation, experience.
The 8 Types of Social Media Community Managers (+ Job Descriptions) - In the last decade, the need for social media managers has boomed. According to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics, this trend is not slowing down any time soon. The role of a social media manager or specialist is categorized within the "Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Manager" sector of the labor force, which is projected to grow by 10% before 2026.
Topics: job, managers, social, community, manager, descriptions, role, leads, content, company, types, able, need, media.
The Incredible Story of Thomas’s Trendy Socks - Thomas wasn’t expected to live. Years later, his unwavering family fought incredible odds & used a shoestring budget to create opportunity & hope for thousands.
Topics: business, shane, woocommerce, able, trendy, socks, thomas, work, incredible, wordpress, lot, thomass.
The Key to Product-Market Fit is to Start with the Market First - Some entrepreneurs start with a product in mind and then seek out the right audience for it. But it's often more reliable to find a target market first and then figure out the products, brand, and business model you'll need to serve it, as you'll learn on this episode of Shopify Masters.More
Topics: think, product, doing, key, start, able, youre, business, market, productmarket, things, really, thats, fit, kind.
The One Data Insight That Doubled This Brand’s Sales - Talley & Twine is a premium watch brand built with intention and inclusion. It was founded by Randy Williams, an avid watch collector who wanted to bring more representation to the watch industry. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Randy shares how he turned a sketch into his first prototype, built out a successful crowdfunding campaign, and doubled annual sales through data analysis.More
Topics: really, sales, thats, things, doubled, able, talley, watch, going, watches, company, data, think, insight, brands.
This Young Founder Built a Multimillion Dollar Business by Rejecting the Silicon Valley Ethos and Being True to Herself - Laura Behrens Wu came to the U.S. as an outsider, and admits she's still trying to find her way.
Topics: youre, true, behrens, dollar, company, valley, silicon, multimillion, rejecting, ethos, investors, going, business, able, founder, problem, didnt, young, really, wu.
Using TikTok to Generate 15,000 Sales in One Day - When Enrico Frezza was 29, he started experiencing severe adult acne and took matters into his own hands. Meticulously researching for the next three years, Enrico launched Peace Out Skincare and its first product, the Acne Healing Dot. In this episode of Shopify Masters, we chat with Enrico on the skincare product development process, the benefits of using SMS marketing, and how they created a viral sales-generating TikTok video.More
Topics: able, sephora, marketing, using, started, website, tiktok, generate, day, sales, product, products, peace, acne.
Vanessa Santos Shares New Ways to Tap into Latin American Markets at Make it Big 2021 - Whether you’re currently selling in Latina America or looking to expand internationally, you’re in for a treat. Our very own…
Topics: american, latin, able, feel, theyre, big, shares, consumers, global, business, america, tap, santos, ways, vanessa, markets.
Verticalisation: Why Sector Specificity is the Future of MarTech - As marketers become more reliant on their tech stack to ensure efficiency, help them be data-led, and take over some of the heavy-lifting and repetitive day-to-day tasks, the choice of available marketing providers has skyrocketed. Ever cast your eye across Scott Brinker’s Martech Landscape? When it started out in 2011 there were a casual 150 providers on it - a figure that has ballooned to nearly 7000 this year. As a marketer, the prospect of keeping track of this burgeoning landscape of solutions may be giving you palpitations. Instead of grabbing your magnifying glass to check out the endless possibilities in the infographic above, how about hearing us out on something we think is going to be big in the future of martech: verticalisation.
Topics: vertical, providers, provider, martech, sector, marketing, needs, customers, retail, able, specificity, verticalisation, specific, customer, future.
What Are Employability Skills? - Most jobs require specific skills to succeed, like knowing how to use social media scheduling tools if you’re going to work as a content creator.
Topics: necessary, employers, job, meet, employability, skills, learn, work, able, youre.
What Are Leadership Skills? [+ How To Get Them] - Influential leaders are a pillar of any organization.
Topics: skills, employees, leadership, leaders, teams, able, business, develop, leader, help.
What the Future of Ecommerce Looks Like - Recent events have shown that new developments are necessary to keep the sector as vibrant and profitable as before.
Topics: ecommerce, companies, future, business, shift, human, past, solutions, products, staff, services, able, looks.
eCommerce Marketplaces 101: How Can I Leverage Them? - Earlier this year Gartner boldly stated in their Predicts 2021 Report: COVID-19 Drives Accelerated Shift to Digital and Commerce Model Evolution that, “By 2023, 30% of enterprise marketplaces will transition into a majority third-party seller model for better profitability.” For many businesses, adding a third-party seller model to their Go-to-Market strategy was already a serious consideration, but it has become more top of mind due to the driving changes of COVID-19 on consumer buying behaviors. According to a consumer survey by emarketer, about half of all searches start on marketplaces. So whether you participate in a marketplace as the owner or simply as a partnering contributor, your business will benefit from more consumer impressions across your products and services, thus leading to a higher chance of conversion. For those who are still researching the marketplace ecosystem, this article will highlight how marketplaces are used, the benefits you can expect to reap, challenges we see in the market and how Elastic Path supports a variety of marketplace deployments to support your business needs. What is an online marketplace? Most are already aware that an online marketplace is a digital platform that facilitates shopping of products and/or services from multiple sources. This evolved definition of marketplaces from the traditional singular seller architecture, has paved the way to now allow a marketplace owner to either function solely as an operator, or sell its own products and services with those of third party sellers. This has been great for offering new strategies for businesses looking to enter the marketplace ecosystem. As a marketplace owner, your business will be well positioned to increase profitability in a variety of ways which we will discuss later. However, you will have to consider which roles and responsibilities you will be willing to take on; for example: Seller onboarding and management, master catalog and taxonomy, order management, rules and processes, fund collection and distribution etc. As a marketplace seller on the other hand, you will have to think about your product and pricing within the marketplace, page designs, marketing, promotions and customer service to ensure your products are good competition for other sellers within the marketplace. We strongly suggest evaluating your roles in a marketplace with a technical consultant to get a better understanding of the considerations you should be taking into account to assess the feasibility of your business plan first. Benefits Of a Marketplace Model Once you have decided how you want to partake in a marketplace you’ll find that there will be many benefits regardless of whether you chose to be an owner or a third party seller. As an operator: You get to choose the revenue stream that best fits the market niche you want to address: Commission Model: Where you get to charge a percentage or fixed fee for every transaction to merchants. Membership Fee Model: Where you can charge a monthly or yearly fee to both sellers and buyers. Ads and Features Model: Where you charge providers to run Ads within the platform. Listing Model: Where you can charge a business for each listing offer they upload on the platform. You don’t hold any product inventory and thus don’t have to worry about product capital or investments. You’ll be able to generate trust from shoppers and thus increase the likelihood of customers choosing your site to make their purchase. If you already have a product catalog, you can expand it and create more opportunities to up-sell and cross sell to a larger audience. As a Seller: You’ll be able to increase your earning potential by introducing your products or services to a larger audience. You’ll be able to save cost on an eCommerce infrastructure as your operator handles most of the operation. You’ll gain an instant level of trust because shoppers tend to have stronger confidence and trust in marketplaces. You’ll have a quick testing site for your products or services, thus de-risking an online launch. Challenges With a Marketplace Model However, online marketplaces still have a few challenges that you should consider. Vendor Integration With many third party sellers coming together, there will likely be many integrations that will need to work together with the operator’s eCommerce software. When these integrations don’t work in symbiosis, sellers often experience slow inventory updates, difficult price management, and incorrect product matching. Choosing a Composable Commerce solution would be ideal for facilitating a marketplace, as they were built to handle multiple integrations under one solution. Product Presentation When many sellers come together with their unique branding, it is difficult to keep a uniformed product presentation. Sellers often have different color schemes, image formats, and image quality, leading to a less uniform user experience across the catalog. By choosing a strong Content Management System(CSM) or Digital Experience Platform (DXP), you can ensure that you can offer templates with strict guidelines to unify the experience. Customer Service With a large catalog of products, it is difficult managing customer service requests. The marketplace owner is expected to assist customers regarding their products, even though they may not have immediate ties or access to each product. We’ve seen marketplace owners relieve this pressure by ensuring as much product information is provided on the site as possible, and minimizing overall customer-to-customer service agent interactions. This is obviously not an exhaustive list of challenges, and once again, we would definitely recommend working with an agency to assess the cost-benefit ratio of your strategy. So how does Elastic Path support your future marketplace business? How Does Elastic Path Support Your Marketplace Needs? Elastic Path supports customers with marketplace needs whether they want to sell their products and services on an existing marketplace like Alibaba and Amazon, or establish their own marketplace within their industry. To support these needs, Elastic Path offers Product Content Management and Catalog Composer to support all of your complex catalog needs, as well as our marketplace technology partner integration in the Composable Commerce Hub, to create seamless and engaging experiences across multiple touchpoints. Many customers have expressed their fear around venturing into a marketplace model because of the perceived complexity and risk. However, due to the open and flexible architecture that Composable Commerce provides, customers are able to deploy a marketplace by either leveraging their existing eCommerce solution or by building a Composable Commerce solution from scratch with Elastic Path. In addition, for those businesses who want more help with launching quickly, you’ll also be able to leverage one of our Pre-Composed Marketplace Solutions, which is a complete business-ready solution, that eliminates the need to take on the complexity of stitching together everything on their own. We have had customer launches in weeks rather than months with Pre-Composed Solutions. So which marketplace model is right for you? With Elastic Path Commerce Cloud there are three main marketplace operating models that you can choose from. You can choose to: Sell Into An Existing Marketplace: In this model you will be able to sell into an existing marketplace like Amazon and Alibaba by setting up an automated function to push your products to their marketplace and market your products and services in a way to ensure your goods can be sold. Establish a services-only marketplace: In this model you will be to facilitate the sale of services as the operator of the marketplace. As services based marketplaces are less concerned with “shipping and fulfillment,” you can choose to accept payments through the platform or send buyers to the individual sellers and instead put in measures to manage and collect surcharges for facilitating the interactions. Elastic Path works closely with larger marketplace vendors such as Jetti and Mirakl to create seamless integrations to make this process quick and simple. Sell and facilitate transactions on your personal marketplace: In this model you can either choose to sell your branded products alongside other third party sellers or operate solely as the owner. In this model, you will be able to deploy your marketplace on multiple channels, as well as provide a reliable and engaging user experience to ensure customer retention. Elastic Path works closely with our marketplace partners in the Composable Commerce Hub to ensure real time syncing and seamless cohesion of complex integrations. Of course if you have a simpler or more complex need we can always jump on a call to discuss your options. We hope this was helpful, but if you want to know more you can visit our eCommerce Marketplaces page or shoot us a chat on our website. We’d be happy to help!
Topics: able, leverage, sellers, marketplaces, ecommerce, path, marketplace, products, services, elastic, product, model.