Top 2024 resources on focus
Best focus resource in 2024.
Learn more about focus to improve your e-commerce strategy.
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10 Business Tips for New Entrepreneurs in 2020
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Your first business is going to take everything you’ve got to make it a success. You’ll need your best idea, a strong work ethic, and perseverance for those days where things just don’t go your way. But that combo can help you turn your simple idea into an empire. In […]
Topics: youre, entrepreneurs, focus, business, start, tips, youll, need, tip, help, best. -
10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Fulfillment Partner
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Looking for a fulfillment partner and aren't sure where to start? Ask every fulfillment company or fulfillment warehouse these 10 questions.
Topics: ask, choosing, focus, partner, shipping, product, service, fulfillment, order, questions, accuracy, company, orders. -
10 Tips for Parents Working From Home With Kids
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Working from home can sound like a dream for many people. You get to enjoy more time in your house, you cut out the commute, and you get to see much more of your family.
But the flip side has some not-so-dreamy realities, especially for parents having to balance work and childcare: a difficulty to focus; having to juggle work with looking after children and, in some cases, homeschooling them; blurry lines between work time and personal time, and kids lobbying for your undivided attention when you need to GSD.
Topics: tips, having, kids, office, work, need, parents, childcare, focus, youre, working, schedule. -
10 Tips on How to Fight Burnout, According to Experts and Data
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The beginning of a new year can be filled with excitement and positive change, but a busy lifestyle can still weigh on you, even if you love your job or company. When this happens, you can run into one of the dreaded mental conditions: burnout.
Topics: according, data, technique, way, focus, tip, yoga, experts, fight, sleep, meditation, tips, burnout, help, work. -
10+ Ways to Increase Your Productivity At Work & At Home
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When you’re trying to meet personal and/or professional goals, one of the first things you evaluate is your productivity.
Topics: set, breaks, productivity, focus, day, routine, tasks, work, youre, increase, ways. -
12 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Dropshipping
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Oh, what I wish I knew when I started dropshipping. It’s amazing how much you learn from experience. It takes a while for it to happen, but one day you’ll look back at mistakes and realize how you got to where you are today. Those tiny little lessons you learn […]
Topics: products, need, focus, dropshipping, wish, store, audience, niche, product, marketing, ad, dont, things, knew, started. -
13 Tips on How To Nail a Presentation To the Board of Directors
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In college, I always made it a point to listen intently to presentations. I knew how stressful and nerve-racking it was to present in a room of peers and authority figures.
Topics: nail, board, presentation, audience, dont, youre, youll, tips, timeline, data, focus, directors, information. -
3 Ways Customer Data Drives Ecommerce Conversions
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Data is important to ecommerce businesses. But many are not sure how to use it — to collect, analyze, and make meaningful changes to their business. The key ecommerce data it easy to obtain, however. It comes from customers. In this post, I'll review how to apply basic customer metrics to improve your ecommerce sales
Topics: ecommerce, demographics, focus, drives, facebook, ways, information, customers, high, lowvalue, conversions, customer, data, purchase. -
3 Ways to Overcome Shoppers’ Desire to Touch Products
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Ecommerce stores are convenient and offer much to consumers. But online shopping has one big disadvantage: Buyers cannot touch the products. In this post, I will discuss three ways for ecommerce businesses to overcome a potential buyer’s desire to physically handle a product before buying online.
Topics: overcome, shoppers, focus, videos, ecommerce, desire, touch, view, product, products, ways, photos, include. -
59 Focus Group Questions for Any Purpose
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Market research is an overarching term for gathering information from you customers about your business, and focus groups are one way to conduct market research.
Whether your focus group's goal is to give feedback on a product or service or help you assess how your brand stands out in your competitive landscape, thought-provoking, open-ended questions are essential to a productive discussion.
Topics: productservice, questions, question, product, focus, think, company, industry, group, come, purpose. -
86% of Brits are Amazon shoppers
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Amazon is very popular in the United Kingdom. Recent research shows that almost nine in ten Brits are Amazon shoppers. And last year, more people have increased their shopping with Amazon than decreased it. Seven in ten Amazon users in the UK buy from the ecommerce giant at least once… Continue reading
Topics: uk, shoppers, amazon, say, popular, focus, research, omnichannel, users, brits, retail. -
ActiveCampaign raises $240M at a $3B valuation as marketing and sales automation come into focus for SMBs
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As businesses continue to adopt new digital tools to get their names out into the world, a startup that’s built a sales and marketing platform specifically for small and medium businesses is announcing a big round of funding. ActiveCampaign, which has built what it describes as a “customer experience automation” platform — providing a way […]
Topics: customers, valuation, sales, raises, techcrunch, online, vandeboom, come, activecampaign, marketing, round, focus, company, businesses, growth, automation, smbs. -
Adjusting Digital Media Strategies in a Changing Business Climate
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We've all been experiencing recent lifestyle changes in 2020 — both personally and professionally.
Topics: campaigns, adjusting, inventory, business, important, climate, strategies, brands, changing, digital, focus, brand, increase, media, continue. -
Alibaba boosts its offline reach with $2B+ investment in outdoor digital marketing firm
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Alibaba is investing big bucks into offline distribution. The Chinese e-commerce giant has forked out $2.23 billion in exchange for a sizeable piece of Focus Media, a Shanghai-based company that operates outdoor digital advertising screens across China, Singapore and Hong Kong, according to a U.S. filing. The deal itself is broken up into a few pieces. Alibaba itself […]
Topics: marketing, company, boosts, media, investment, million, firm, billion, retail, alibaba, buy, digital, reach, offline, isnt, deal, focus, 2b, outdoor. -
Amazon China to close local marketplace and place more focus on cross-border
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Amazon has finally given up the fight with Chinese online shopping giants to capture the domestic market. On Thursday, the Seattle-based e-commerce company announced it will shut down its marketplace on Amazon.cn, which connects mainland Chinese buyers and sellers, while other units of its local venture will stay intact. “We are working closely with our […]
Topics: amazon, sellers, global, marketplace, crossborder, china, market, focus, close, goods, ecommerce, business, place, local, chinese. -
Amazon skips wholesalers in Europe
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Ecommerce giant Amazon has decided to skip wholesalers in Europe. Instead, it will focus on sourcing products from brands. By doing so, it wants to ensure low prices for consumers. The online giant has sent an email to European vendors saying that it will focus on sourcing products from brand…
Topics: skips, europe, amazon, control, low, costs, continue, sourcing, wholesalers, prices, owners, focus. -
Argos stops printing its catalogue
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It’s the end of an era for Argos fans. The retailer will stop printing its famous catalogue after almost 50 years. Of course, this is the result of its focus on ecommerce. The most recent Argos catalogue accounted for 3.9 million printed copies. Argos started with its printed catalogue in… Continue reading
Topics: argos, stops, focus, printed, threequarters, retailer, catalogue, shopping, united, printing, digital. -
As EU’s VAT reform ramps up, marketplaces must focus on compliance to avoid tax risk
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On July 1, 2021 there was a big change in the European Union’s Value Added Tax (VAT) law, impacting online retailers, marketplaces and their e-commerce businesses across the EU.
Topics: sales, vat, thirdparty, online, regulations, focus, merchants, ecommerce, marketplaces, tax, eu, risk, reform, ramps, compliance, eus, techcrunch. -
As stock rises on a slim earnings beat, eBay tells analysts to focus on payments and ads
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Despite increasing competition from traditional retailers like Walmart and Target, which have invested heavily in e-commerce, and the whupping it’s routinely taking from Amazon among pure e-commerce companies, eBay, the 20-year-old lumbering Pez dispenser of an e-tailer, keeps plugging along. Now, as it manages to eke out another earnings win by matching analysts’ expectations, the […]
Topics: billion, earnings, yearago, stock, rises, focus, million, advertising, payments, analysts, tells, beat, company, buyers, marketplace, ebay, slim. -
Bain Capital Ventures taps ex-Affirm exec as its newest partner to focus on early-stage fintech and commerce
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Bain Capital Ventures has named Christina Melas-Kyriazi, a former Affirm executive and angel investor, as its newest partner. Melas-Kyriazi will be based in the firm’s San Francisco office and focus on seed and Series A investments in emerging fintech and commerce companies — two core areas of focus for the firm. “Christina’s expertise at the […]
Topics: newest, focus, fintech, exec, earlystage, taps, capital, firm, melaskyriazi, companies, bain, areas, investing, partner, product, billion, techcrunch, ventures, exaffirm. -
Bambuser raises $45M after shifting focus to live video shopping
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Bambuser is a name you may not have heard in a while, but the Stockholm-headquartered company is announcing today that it has raised $45 million in new funding this year, with $34.5 million of that amount raised during the pandemic. Bambuser’s history goes back more than a decade (the first TechCrunch coverage appeared in 2008). […]
Topics: video, trying, live, ghahremani, pandemic, told, turning, shifting, focus, raises, techcrunch, 45m, raised, shopping, bambuser. -
Deliveroo exits German market
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Deliveroo is exiting the German market. The UK food delivery service launched in Germany over four years ago, but now they are exiting the country already. Instead, Deliveroo wants to focus on growing its operations in other markets around the world. In April 2015, Deliveroo expanded internationally for the first… Continue reading
Topics: focus, conversions, deliveroo, german, market, service, food, exits, christmas, operations, germany, delivery. -
Direct seller Avon broadens digital focus
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Beauty & home goods direct seller Avon has announced advancements in its digital sales tools.
Topics: focus, zijderveld, support, seller, digital, build, entrepreneurs, tools, digitisation, direct, sales, broadens, avon, beauty. -
Don’t Miss These Top Ecommerce Conferences in 2020
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One of the best ways to keep current with trends in the market is by attending ecommerce conferences in 2020.…
Topics: event, retail, attending, business, attendees, list, conference, focus, ecommerce, marketing, tips, conferences. -
FairPrice On driven by high tech and customer service focus
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NTUC FairPrice has relaunched its e-commerce platform, renaming it FairPrice On.
Topics: uses, driven, online, system, fulfilment, service, today, high, storage, focus, customer, provide, tech, products, fairprice. -
Farmstead, a grocery startup with a focus on software, raises $7.9M
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Farmstead, a startup that operates an online grocery business while also selling software to other grocers, is announcing that it has raised $7.9 million in Series A funding. While there’s been plenty of demand for grocery delivery this year, the major players like Instacart are making purchases and deliveries from existing supermarkets. Farmstead co-founder and […]
Topics: elankumaran, online, fact, techcrunch, software, company, raises, million, 79m, warehouse, grocery, delivery, farmstead, startup, focus. -
Focus Is the Key for New Entrepreneurs in More Ways Than One
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Every entrepreneur at some point learns the true meaning of "focus" and how it applies to so much more than just time management. In this episode of Shopify Masters, we talk about how to apply it to your product, your marketing, and more with a founder who built a million dollar jean company.More
Topics: entrepreneurship, really, think, yeah, key, entrepreneurs, jeans, youre, product, focus, early, kind, ways, going, know. -
Focus on Key Capabilities to Scale Your African Tech Business: Andreata Muforo, Partner, TLcom Capital
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I conceived of this article at the beginning of March and by the time I was done writing, the Coronavirus had spread to most African countries leading to major social and economic impact due to lockdowns, restrictions and the newly formed reality.
Topics: partner, muforo, key, capabilities, think, africa, companies, capital, african, scale, coronavirus, focus, tlcom, business, tech, article. -
Focus on These 5 Areas If You Want to Build a Successful Ecommerce Business
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Running an online business can give you the freedom to live life on your terms, but only if you know what you're doing.
Topics: order, business, quality, build, areas, freedom, focus, successful, important, right, information, ecommerce. -
Groupon stops selling goods
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Groupon has announced it will stop selling goods. Instead, it wants to focus on the local experiences market opportunity. Groupon announced the transformation news after a disappointing fourth quarter. “We did not deliver the financial performance we expected during the fourth quarter and we recognize we must move swiftly to… Continue reading
Topics: market, selling, online, experiences, stops, fourth, company, focus, webinar, groupon, goods. -
How Digital Minimalism Helps Focus, Attention, and Productivity
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How much time do you spend online each day?
If we're honest with ourselves, we know it's probably too much. In fact, one recent study found that we spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online every day.
Imagine if you could put that time toward accomplishing your goals.
That's why we love the digital minimalism movement.
Topics: online, set, youre, helps, social, media, help, digital, minimalism, attention, productivity, spend, focus, tools. -
How HubSpot Service, Support, and Sales Reps Stay Productive on a Noisy Floor
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As a customer-facing representative — whether you work in sales, service, or support — you’re probably used to working in a busy, noisy office space. Maybe you work on a loud sales floor surrounded by reps chatting on the phone with leads. Perhaps you work in an office space with customer service and support reps working to assist customers over the phone or video chat throughout the day.
Topics: reps, productive, stay, need, noisy, hubspot, working, office, focus, service, sales, floor, support, headphones, work, im. -
How To Focus Better: 10 Ways To Improve Focus and Concentration
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Distractions are everywhere, from messages to ads to a constantly growing to-do list. Here’s how to focus better to improve concentration and get more done.More
Topics: sleep, flow, task, ways, youre, concentration, better, things, brain, improve, focus, attention, help. -
How a Jewelry Shop Owner Found a Niche to Grow Her Brand
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For Melissa, Founder and CEO of Tiny Tags, motherhood and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. That’s because giving birth to her son inspired her business of made-to-order keepsake jewelry for mothers. Ten years later, her online shop is thriving, thanks to a keen understanding of her niche, a commitment to authenticity, and an insatiable curiosity. […]
Topics: customized, customers, woocommerce, jewellery, tiny, online, focus, sell, business, jewelry, product, melissa, tags. -
How to Make Your Business More Flexible During Uncertainty
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“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley," wrote Scottish poet Robert Burns. Even the finest, most well-thought-out plans sometimes have to be set aside for reasons outside of your control.
Topics: help, right, flexible, team, uncertainty, apps, projects, business, times, need, focus, working. -
How to Run a Focus Group for Your Business
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When you're developing or launching a new product, service, or business, you'll want to have a general sense of how receptive your target market will be to it.
Topics: group, focus, youre, ask, youll, product, run, discussion, business, participants, questions. -
Is Page One Overrated? The Truth About Organic Search Results
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For many marketers, ranking on page one of Google is the ultimate sign that your piece of content has made it.
Topics: page, search, google, youre, overrated, results, content, keywords, focus, truth, users, seo, organic. -
JD sales rise as shoppers surpass 300 million mark
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JD sales lept 25.1 per cent in the third quarter, to US$215.3 billion.
Topics: jd, service, million, jds, quarter, strategy, focus, shoppers, rise, retail, operations, mark, driving, sales, surpass. -
Kenya’s MarketForce raises $2M, plans to focus on its B2B retail marketplace RejaReja
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A 2016 study by global consultancy PwC states that an estimated 90% of sales in Africa’s major economies come through informal channels like markets and kiosks. In sub-Saharan Africa, 90% of these household retail transactions are carried out via a network of about 100 million MSMEs. Africa’s retail payments, mostly cash-based, is expected to reach […]
Topics: product, round, b2b, marketforce, plans, services, kenyas, payments, marketplace, africa, retail, distribution, focus, techcrunch, raises, rejareja, platform. -
ManoMano increases focus on Germany and UK
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French DIY-marketplace ManoMano has plans to double down on Northern Europe in 2021. The ecommerce platform wants to increase its focus on Germany and the United Kingdom. It also wants to improve the website’s experience for both merchants and customers. ManoMano has had a good year, as its gross merchandise… Continue reading
Topics: manomano, germany, million, uk, platform, increase, diy, kingdom, partners, european, united, focus, increases. -
NetEase is the latest Chinese tech giant to lay off a big chunk of its staff
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NetEase, China’s second-biggest online games publisher with a growing ecommerce segment, is laying off a significant number of its employees, adding to a list of Chinese tech giants that have shed staff following the Lunar New Year. A NetEase employee who was recently let go confirmed with TechCrunch that the company had fired a large […]
Topics: staff, lay, big, games, netease, tech, streaming, growth, education, neteases, ecommerce, latest, chinese, focus, giant, chunk, company. -
New Marketing Jobs That Could Focus on AI [Data + Examples]
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It's no secret that AI is rapidly changing the marketing industry.
Topics: marketers, examples, tools, learning, machine, marketing, jobs, ai, data, content, leaders, business, focus, job. -
Office Depot partners with Alibaba to focus on small to medium-sized businesses’ needs
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Office Depot, one of the many big box stores feeling the impact from Amazon’s e-commerce dominance, announced on Monday a significant partnership with Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba.com, which will see the companies working together to better serve the needs of U.S. small to medium-sized businesses. The deal includes a co-branded e-commerce site on Alibaba.com, and […]
Topics: office, customers, alibaba, depots, business, mediumsized, focus, small, depot, global, network, collaboration, partners, needs, businesses, alibabas. -
Online focus pays off as Sabina sales surge
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An aggressive online focus saw listed Thai lingerie retailer Sabina achieve 14.3 per cent sales growth last year.
Topics: focus, sales, vietnam, online, surge, cent, growth, thai, shopping, pays, lingerie, thailand, sabina. -
Otto Group’s online revenues €8.1 billion in 2019
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The Otto Group saw its global online revenues increase to 8.1 billion euros in the 2019/2020 financial year. This is an increase of over 5 percent compared to the situation one year before. In 2018, the Otto Group saw its ecommerce sales be worth 7.7 billion euros. Now, it has… Continue reading
Topics: revenues, billion, group, otto, focus, euros, growth, groups, companies, ecommerce, online. -
Partners at B2B European VC henQ discuss remote work’s biggest advantages
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HenQ, an Amsterdam-based VC that invests in European B2B software startups typically at seed and Series A, recently disclosed the first close of its fourth fund at €70 million. The final close is expected to top out at between €75-€85 million later this year, and the firm has already begun backing companies out of the […]
Topics: remote, vc, works, henq, seed, startups, b2b, invest, software, customers, techcrunch, nordics, business, european, biggest, partners, focus, discuss. -
Phone Photography 101: How to Take Good Pictures With Your Mobile Device
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Before the days of smartphones — if you can remember such a time — taking a great photo was a labor-intensive process. Now, it’s easy to learn how to take good photos with your phone — no fancy cameras or desktop editing software required.
Topics: good, app, youre, device, pictures, photos, subject, light, smartphone, focus, taking, camera, mobile, photography, phone. -
Product Photography, Part 7: Magnification and Close-ups
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The best product photos provide online shoppers with precise detail to know what to expect when the goods arrive. Specialty magnified shots can help. This is the seventh post in my series on helping ecommerce merchants elevate their product photography.
Topics: lens, photos, lenses, magnification, camera, images, tiltshift, stacking, tubes, product, closeups, macro, focus, photography. -
Prosus classifieds group OLX shuts down Frontier Car Group’s Berlin office, OLX Autos to focus on LatAm and Asia
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Cazoo is picking up significant capital today by teaming up with a SPAC in the U.S. at a $7 billion valuation, but another big used-car play is consolidating operations. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Berlin-based Frontier Car Group, which builds used-car marketplaces with a focus on emerging markets, is shutting down its operations in […]
Topics: frontier, techcrunch, usedcar, shuts, emerging, autos, group, berlin, markets, focus, office, india, olx, groups, latam, prosus, operations. -
SEO How-to, Part 3: Strategy and Planning
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The planning phase of search engine optimization involves identifying a strategy and roadmap to reach your goals. The process can be daunting. This post is the third installment in my “SEO How-to” series.
Topics: search, traffic, text, strategy, focus, site, planning, audits, opportunities, organic, howto, sites, seo. -
Shopee to focus on growing market share in Southeast Asia
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Singaporean online shopping business Shopee is aiming to boost its market share in Southeast Asia.
Topics: online, southeast, share, focus, growing, market, shopee, region, interview, zhou, singapore, sure, asia. -
Snapdeal To Receive Orders Through ONDC
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ONDC's focus on expanding the online opportunity in India and creating a more inclusive e-commerce ecosystem is well matched with Snapdeal's focus on growing e-commerce beyond just brands and urban users
Topics: statement, products, snapdeals, india, small, ondc, snapdeal, indias, focus, orders, ecommerce, receive. -
The Beauty of Bootstrapping a Business
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"Ecommerce Conversions" is my weekly podcast interview with an entrepreneur. I've spoken with merchants, vendors to merchants, wealthy former merchants, and more. But this episode is different. I'm interviewing no one. Instead, I'm addressing a singular topic: bootstrapping.
Topics: business, bootstrapping, products, focus, beauty, customers, love, money, brands, youre, product, investors. -
The Dipp, a subscription-only entertainment news startup, is springing to life despite the pandemic
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There is no shortage of coverage about the sprawling entertainment industry. There is a shortage of coverage for die-hard fans of reality TV shows, according to Kate Ward and Lindsay Mannering. That opening in the market is why the two — former colleagues at the women’s website Bustle, where Ward was the founding editor-in-chief and […]
Topics: including, bustle, despite, early, pandemic, life, company, entertainment, say, subscriptiononly, techcrunch, ward, focus, work, media, springing, dipp, startup. -
The elements of a (successful) ecommerce strategy
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The importance of an ecommerce strategy is clear. What is not clear is how to develop a good one. Some strategy statements do not provide a lot of direction, such ...
Topics: start, uswhat, strategy, ecommerce, successful, elements, focus, specific, business, team, policy, projections, problems. -
These Exact 3 Email Campaigns Made Me an Extra $6,504.82
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Creating email campaigns was a new experience for me. I had built a successful 6-figure store with Facebook ads but knew deep down that I couldn’t be dependent on that channel forever. So I started experimenting with email. Let me be clear, these email marketing campaigns were only sent to […]
Topics: exact, purchase, email, products, marketing, store, list, focus, campaigns, discount, extra, emails. -
Three Areas to Focus on Customer Service in 2022 and Win Online
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A headline recently caught my eye, which highlighted the rising cost of delivering an ecommerce experience and how the days of going online for better deals may be shifting as retailers and branded manufactures start to raise prices online to improve margins.
Working for a company that sells an ecommerce platform, it got me thinking about how this reality might impact online customer experiences. While there was almost a blind rush to get 100% online during the pandemic, businesses will no doubt be evaluating how they invest in ecommerce to support permanent shifts in buying habits.
In 2021, buyers started to go in store/in person or continued embrace a hybrid approach like buy online and return in store, this had created more data that shows profits are better when buyers use brick and mortar commerce.
The corporate bean counters that analyze spreadsheets will be pressing the business to push buyers down a more profitable path and likely begin question the value of ecommerce investments in favor of seeing recovery from more traditional channels. Others might view ecommerce as a risk mitigation approach for when the next pandemic hits and make sure there is something viable in place.
And some may focus on how to cut costs across the ecommerce supply chain, with little thought on the impact to the buyer – hey it’s the new normal as we wait 6 months for a couch, right?
However, real winners in all this will be the companies that look at ecommerce as part of a multi-channel customer service experience. Instead of grouping buyers into those that buy online and those that don’t, businesses will need to consider the following three segments:
Those that prefer to buy online
Those that prefer in person buying experiences
Those that move almost equally between both experiences.
Add to that a deep layer of buyer complexity for the hybrid buyer is how they move from online direct-to-consumer vs. online marketplace sites vs. in person buying.
The following are three areas that companies should consider pulling in your customer success/customer service team to input on design ideas and optimize across multiple channels where ecommerce is involved.
1. Returns/Exchanges
Always a hot topic around the holidays and certainly driving the discussion around the rising cost of ecommerce in 2021 is returns and exchanges. The impact of returned merchandize is having major cost impacts on businesses, but also some are seeing it as an environmental impact.
“According to research firm Statista, the delivery car fleet could reach 7.2 million vehicles by the end of this decade, and total emissions caused by parcel and freight shipping are forecast to generate 25 million tons of CO2. In addition, the average commute time, including last-mile delivery, is expected to increase from 53 minutes in 2019 to 64 minutes in 2030.” (Source)
“Approximately 30% of e-commerce sales are returned compared to 10% of brick-and-mortar sales, according to CBRE.” (Source)
Data shows that consumers return more things bought online and if you think about the deliver chain for returns, the environmental impact of delivery is 2x and if you exchange something it is 3x – deliver the item, return the item, and deliver the new item.
While companies focus on fuel efficient modes of transportation, it likely will take decades to offset the rapid rise in transportation required to support rising online buying behaviors.
However, there is a customer service opportunity that elevates your brand, cuts cost and maybe even adds to an upselling model when enticing buyers into the store when returning an item.
Providing incentive to take items ordered online to a branded store or reseller location can accomplish this task – but it can’t just be a reward model, brands can use this to connect ethical environment issues with buyers that find this more and more important.
Buyers are choosing loyalty not just based on convenience, but also how the brand aligns with their personal values.
Having the buyer bring back the merchandize themselves while on their way home from work or out grocery shopping will reduce the use of less fuel-efficient vehicles and packaging waste required to return an item.
2. Online Search
The great thing about selling your goods and services online is your entire inventory is online for the buyer to find. The bad thing about selling your goods and services online is your entire inventory is online for the buy to find.
Companies that are using outdated search tools (many of which are packaged with an “all-in-one” ecommerce platform) are missing an opportunity to provide a customer experience critical to generating that first sale and generating loyalty and referrals.
By now, it's not a secret that search can drive revenue, but the experience needs to be optimized using more best-in-class tools (part of the composable commerce movement) and consider evolving buying stages when searching.
Research circa 2013 showed that search was aligned to late-stage buyers coming to your site and driving higher conversions as a result. But that motion is dependent on the buyer already knowing your brand when they used the search function.
With more and more buyers engaging with your brand online as a first experience, your search needs to be an experience versus just a means to an end – it needs to be fast; it needs to understand natural language and type tolerance, it needs to be able to pull in promotions and suggestions in a more engaging format, it needs to align with your catalog management layer to create dynamic and engaging filters to help refine how buyers find products.
Give customers a better experience with an Omnichannnel approach
An Omnichannel approach to your commerce strategy will help you deliver a more seamless, frictionless customer experience, at every stage of the buyer's journey. Learn more with our complete guide.
Read our Omnichannel Guide
3. Be proactive when there are delays
One of my biggest pet peeves buying online is getting to the cart, or even worse, submitting an order to only to be informed that what you want is out of stock or will be delayed due to back-logs.
This has become an even hotter topic in 2021 as the supply chain crisis has impacted so many buyers across all industries.
Every online seller should make it their mission to create transparency on availability of items and when the buyer has accepted the terms that there will be a delay, proactively update them on status – even if the status is we are still working to get a delivery date.
I can speak to this personally having recently ordered a new living room set. We were told it would take up to 10 weeks to get our living room set and we were okay that because it was the “new normal” for 2021. However, that timeline has moved out several times and the only way we know is we (my wife and I) had to call up the company for a status.
It is frustrating to think that this company has banked thousands of dollars of our money and we are waiting on product with little to no communication – at least pretend that someone has eyes on our order and is working to get it fulfilled.
Not to mention it is possible an alternative may have come up that is in stock and depending on our personal preferences, we might have upgraded to a more expensive set just to get it faster.
Not only are there opportunities to improve the customer service experience, but companies could be leaving an upsell opportunity on the table. This will require orchestration across in-store, online, manufacturing and delivery – but knowing that is an area that needs optimization to cut costs, makes sense to include the customer support team into the project to find ways to integrate the buyer communication experience as well.
What is interesting is this concept of helping the buy is nothing new.
I worked at Herb’s Sport Shop in Hartford, CT back in the 90’s to help pay for college expenses. We had a very small retail floor – so we were limited in the merchandize we would have for customer to browse.
The owner required that every customer that came in the door was greeted within seconds of entering – it was the owners only mandate. Most customer loved it as they could describe what they wanted and we help them find it in seconds and we would also upsell in a conversational way, “we have some new team apparel that would match the color on these Air Jordan’s perfectly”.
We focused on making sure the customer got value from stepping into our store, we did not have the mall traffic as we were selling on “Main Street USA” – but we knew that every person that came into the store had value and we needed to maximize that experience and this is the principal that needs to be applied across every customer interaction if you want to win in a world of endless online options.
Topics: win, delivery, areas, needs, ecommerce, customer, store, search, online, focus, buyer, service, buyers, experience. -
Three Big Predictions for Retention Marketing in 2019
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2018 was all about the customer with the rise customer retention staples like dynamic content and advanced segmentation much like our predictions last year claimed. As retail marketing becomes more focused on the individual shopper experience within ‘The Age of the Customer’ - what does this mean for retention marketing in 2019?
In our latest guide, we peek behind the curtain to reveal what some of the biggest and most disruptive brands are piecing together for their new year marketing resolutions. Want to know what IKEA, MADE.com and eve Sleep are working on right now? Download your copy for the full debrief.
Topics: retention, focus, customer, predictions, right, brands, need, big, tech, value, customers, marketing. -
Using AI to reboot brand-client relationships
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Using strategically focused AI, brands can identify what their audiences are doing when they are not engaged in a purchase or using a product or service. The secret here is understanding context.
Topics: customer, ai, reboot, relationships, past, brands, interactions, future, insights, brandclient, data, techcrunch, using, purchase, experience, focus. -
VIPShop reaps rewards from apparel focus
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Chinese discount retailer VIPShop Holdings achieved an 11 per cent boost in active customers in the second quarter and a 33-per-cent increase in orders.
Topics: shen, vipshop, discount, improvement, focus, cent, apparel, reaps, continue, strategy, million, rewards, billion, vipshops. -
Walmart retreats from its UK Asda business to hone its focus on competing with Amazon
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Walmart’s strategy to get itself fighting fit against Amazon saw one more development today. This morning, UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s announced a deal with Walmart to buy a majority stake in Asda, Walmart’s wholly-owned UK subsidiary. The deal values Asda at £7.3 billion ($10 billion), and if it closes will net Walmart £2.975 billion ($4 […]
Topics: competing, online, focus, billion, walmarts, retreats, amazon, sainsburys, business, retail, asda, walmart, uk, hone. -
What Is a Focus Group in 100 Words or Less [+ Pros and Cons]
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In an ideal world, you'd know just how your product or business idea would be perceived before it's released. This knowledge could help you make alterations to what you're offering for the best possible reception, and better inform your sales projections and marketing strategy.
Topics: words, research, pros, product, group, market, focus, youll, groups, participants, youre, cons, target. -
What Should I Focus on First When Launching a New Store?
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When you’re in the middle of launching a new store, it can feel like your to-do list is a mile long. We asked successful store owners what they’d recommend focusing on first.More
Topics: customers, social, feedback, store, business, launch, focus, launching, media, brand, seo. -
Why change management needs to be a strategic focus in your B2B digital transformation journey [video]
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Many B2B organizations are rolling out internal and external digital transformation strategies; but for success to happen companies need to focus on the foundational initiatives first. Change management being one of them. Organizational change management is a bigger piece of the digital transformation journey and needs to be prioritized.
Topics: change, talks, b2b, ana, say, witnessing, management, focus, digital, ecommerceand, strategic, transformation, needs, video, trends, journey, milevskaja, shes, technologycheck. -
Why you need to meet me in London at Gartner CX
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The sessions within the tracks at Gartner CX Summit provide great firsthand insights. One in particular we’re excited to attend features Swisscom and their Head of Architecture, Sven Friedli taking place on May 23.
Topics: business, focus, strategy, summit, gartner, customer, swisscom, transformation, need, meet, cx, london, experience. -
You Might Be Wasting Your Time Fighting the Algorithm Updates. Here's What to Focus on, Instead.
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If you're working in digital marketing for a business with an online presence (which, let's be real, is most businesses these days), there's a good chance that you live in dread of the infamous "Google algorithm update."
Topics: instead, heres, wasting, algorithm, fighting, businesses, google, updates, focus, seo, user, business, users, content, good.