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  • 11 Conversion Copywriting Tips that Grew Our Revenue by 240%, According to Lately’s CEO - As marketers, we write copy daily: For landing pages, social media posts, email newsletters, you name it.
    Topics: ceo, latelys, readers, grew, according, copy, writing, write, tips, conversion, content, dont, post, chernis, copywriting, revenue.
  • - You know Shopify is a big deal. Millions of merchants use it every day. On a global scale, it has grown from a fledgling Canadian startup to a behemoth amongst ecommerce platforms. But how big is Shopify Inc., really? In… Continue reading 2022 Shopify Revenue, Statistics, and Usage Numbers
    Topics: usage, store, revenue, solutions, subscription, statistics, numbers, merchant, merchants, total, growth, shopify.
  • 3 analysts weigh in: What are Andy Jassy’s top priorities as Amazon’s new CEO? - We asked several analysts to identify the top problems he will have to address in his new role.
    Topics: amazons, world, transition, biggest, going, ceo, priorities, andy, company, usual, jassys, weigh, revenue, jassy, think, analysts, techcrunch.
  • - Attractive deals have been a part of good business strategy for millennia. The Internet only made it possible for these deals to be available online. And with that, it created unprecedented access and options to both sellers and buyers. How… Continue reading 5 Flash Sale Website Examples: Key to Revenue Growth
    Topics: store, sales, growth, website, sale, revenue, visitors, flash, examples, available, key, buyers, popup, page.
  • 6 Unconventional Growth Tactics to Generate Immediate Ecommerce Revenue - When you're short on making payroll, these tactics can help put immediate cash in your pocket.
    Topics: generate, brand, email, audience, help, having, strategies, tactics, unique, revenue, immediate, product, ecommerce, customers.
  • 6.4% of German ecommerce generated via click & collect - Last year, 6.4 percent of all ecommerce revenue in Germany was generated via click & collect solutions in physical stores. But these revenue was not equally distributed across different product categories. Consumer electronics represent the biggest click & collect segment, with a revenue share of 27 percent. It was a… Continue reading
    Topics: generated, collect, german, ecommerce, physical, retailers, online, revenue, click.
  • 7 Business Models for Monetizing Digital Content - This post was originally published Novemeber 4th 2012 and has been updated to include more descriptions and add relevancy.   In our latest webinar Monetizing Content in a World of Digital Disruption I covered a number of examples from across industries of innovative ways to get paid for digital products and content. While I encourage you to check out the replay for all the juicy details, this post recaps the various business models represented by the examples. Let's go. Just free "Just free" is a legitimate business model, though not a sustainable one (unless you're lucky enough to get bought out by a big fish). Many startups charge nothing in order to get a critical mass of users and word of mouth before figuring out how to profit (think Twitter in its early years). While it's not a viable long-term strategy, it can make sense in the short-term. (Remember, no business is married to just one business model over the life of a product or service.) Simply free may also be a way to drive sales in another channel. For example, the software is free, but the company makes money on services and/or sister products. Subscriptions The subscription model is common for all types of digital content - software, gaming, e-newspapers, e-magazines, telco services and streaming content (Netflix, Hulu, Spotify). Many of these types of content use paywalls. A paywall is a method restricting content to members that pay a fee to the platform. They perform by interrupting content and urge viewers to subscribe to create an account. Paywalls may be presented immediately, after a free trial, or be "metered," appearing after a certain number of page views or content views/listens. 78% of newspapers use a metered paywall, which allows them to generate more ad revenue than shutting visitors out. Publishers can experiment with "soft paywall" alternatives like Google Consumer Surveys and Double Recall - interactive surveys and ad-units that provide inexpensive market research for brands and greater recall than banner ads. Selling content by subscription is getting harder for newspapers, and publishers must figure out how to mitigate disruption from news aggregator apps like Apple News, The Week and Flipboard. Curated news is gaining popularity, but it threatens the appeal of subscribing to individual publications while at the same time potentially drawing in new customers. For example, the New York Times allows its subscribers full access to stories through Flipboard, while non-subscribers see only the top 10 stories in full text. Non-subscribers are given the opportunity to subscribe, and teasers within Flipboard may create that desire to unlock full access. However, revenue driven through Flipboard must be shared with Flipboard. We have even seen habits shift to a Twitter-like summary of the news, rather than full articles. A 17 year-old recently raised millions in capital for his app that shrinks daily news down to 3 or 4 paragraphs. Says the teen founder “I designed Summly because I felt that my generation wasn’t consuming news in the traditional way any more." However, other subscription verticals like gaming, software and media are thriving, themselves disrupting the old model of ownership of physical products. Microtransactions Microtransactions are what they sound, piece-meal access to digital content and applications, being either pay-to-play (streaming content, time-limited access to content or applications) or pay-to-own (download a track, movie, article, image, etc.) This model pre-dates the common use of the Internet - think pay-per-view movies and sports and arcade games. iTunes is a prime example of a microtransaction model, and O'Reilly publishing has been offering books by the chapter for years. Newer examples include Google's freshly launched micropayments option for Wallet users (a paywall alternative for publishers). The question remains whether this model will work for news and magazine articles, which are typically one-time reads, where music and video track downloads are more sticky.   Deliver unique customer experiences Get a custom demo to see how Elastic Path will help you deliver the unique customer experience you've always imagined. Check out Demos Freemium The hallmark of freemium model is offering basic features for a product or services to consumers at no cost but charging a premium fee to access more advances features. There are a few variations of this model: Free and paid version (e.g. lite use and power use, personal vs. business use, ad-supported vs. ad-free, basic vs. enhanced features, etc.) Free with in-product transactions (e.g. virtual goods and currency in-game, which accounts for 72% of Apple App Store revenue) Free and premium with microtransactions (buy ad-free Angry Birds, buy levels and goods within the game) Ad-supported freemium Ad-supported free products are common across digital verticals, from newspapers and magazines to games and software, on-demand video, music services and social networks. But it goes beyond banner ads. Viggle was an example of innovative ad opportunities in the mis 2000's Its second-screen app (companion to television) is not only free for users, but rewards users for engagement with TV shows and ads through its own loyalty program. Points accrued from check-ins to favorite TV shows, ad viewing, trivia and other actions are redeemable for real gift cards like Starbucks, Amazon, Groupon, Fandango and Facebook. This differentiates it from other second-screen apps like GetGlue. Another differentiator is its own proprietary audio recognition technology (similar to Shazam) that verifies a user is watching a program. The company's also created new ways to watch TV, like MyGuy, a fantasy sports app that allows you to pick your star player for a game, and win extra points when your player is doing well. Ad revenue comes from TV networks looking to promote their shows and brands that advertise within the app. A TV show pays for point value, which increases the attractiveness of checking into the show. They may also pay for placements in other contests and promotions. The long-term goal for Viggle was to become an AdWords-like platform where network shows use real-time bidding to drive tune-ins and engagement for their shows. Unfortunately Viggle's goals were shortlived with the advancement of more technology Today we have Google Play Movies & TV and AMC app which continuously provide content you may be interested in to keep you on the app. For example, if you are watching a tv show they have prompts to upsell sound track and additional content based on what you are watching.  Freemium hardware Back in the mid 2000's there use to be Kindles with ads and sponsored screensavers are available at a discount price. This was great for its time, but over the years we have shifted digitally and most freemium models have been provided for software instead like with DropBox and Trello. For DropBox you get access to a limited amount of storage space for free but if you want to get more, you have to pay a premium. Similarly, Trello gives access to all of its boards for free but if you want to integrate it the app with any other system, you have to pay a premium. Affiliate The affiliate model is essentially based on commissions. This model allows your company to be compensated for generating traffic, leads, or sales to another company's products and services. These are usually tracked through coded affiliate links. Let's take a look at Shazam for example. Shazam is an audio recognition app that helps you discover or remember who sings that song you're hearing right now. "Tagging" a song searches its database and presents the answer along with affiliate links to download tracks or buy tickets to local gigs. Shazam began as all-free, and moved to a freemium model. Its free version was limited to 5 song tags per month, and unlimited access for a one-time payment of $4.99. Down the road, Shazam dumped its freemium scheme for free-for-all access, a move that can potentially increase it's revenue greatly. Providing everyone unlimited tagging widens its opportunity for affiliate revenue. More tags = wider funnel. Licensing Services like Spotify license content from record labels and independent artists, Hulu and Netflix from Hollywood. Software products white-label. Publishers syndicate content. There are many examples of licensing digital goods. Beyond content, innovators can license their proprietary technology to others. Shazam could license audio recognition technology to other companies to add an additional revenue stream. API-as-a-product Many content producers are sitting on piles of existing and legacy content that can be remixed into new experiences and licensed to third parties. I covered Pearson's API on the Elastic Path blog, along with 7 other wicked applications of commerce APIs. Data-as-a-product The Last.fm music service sits on a mound of listener data, and can offer advertisers highly targeted campaign opportunities. An example is for Puma's Deadmau5 running shoe. The brand was able to target the band's fans within a social network using Last.fm's technology features. Selling data is an opportunity for additional revenue for digital products and services that collect it. Derivative products Similarly, pieces of content can be remixed into new products, or derivative products, used internally or licensed to developers. Two examples mentioned in the webinar are Hark and Eyewitness. Hark is a YouTube for audio clips from popular movies, TV shows and even political quotes (how timely). It streams sound files and enables social sharing and embedding, with links to rent or buy full content from Amazon. Guardian's Eyewitness mobile app features its famous photographs, repurposed for iPad. The app is freemium, sponsored by Canon (a fitting partnership). Free users get a daily photo, paid users get an extra 3 photos per day and sports photos for £1.49 per month. More examples can be found in our webinar, available on demand: Monetizing Content in a World of Digital Disruption.
    Topics: app, users, products, digital, free, monetizing, business, access, tv, revenue, models, model, content.
  • 7 Business Models for Monetizing Digital Content - In a recent webinar, Monetizing Content in a World of Digital Disruption, we covered a number of examples from across industries of innovative ways to leverage eCommerce best practices to get paid for digital products and content.  While we encourage you to check out the replay for all the juicy details, this post recaps the various business models represented by the examples. Let's go.   Just free "Just free" is a legitimate business model, though not a sustainable one (unless you're lucky enough to get bought out by one of the big players in the market). Many startups charge nothing in order to get a critical mass of users and word of mouth before figuring out how to profit (think Twitter in its early years). While it's not a viable long-term strategy for most companies, it can make sense in the short-term to gain momentum. (Remember, most businesses are not married to just one business model over the life of a product or service.) Offering your digital content for free may also be a way to drive sales in another channel. For example, the software is free, but the company makes money on services and/or sister products.   Subscriptions The subscription model is common for all types of digital content - software, gaming, news, magazine, telco services, and streaming video and music content (Netflix, Hulu, Spotify). Subscriptions has also gained popularity in recent years beyond digital content, spanning many different industries embracing eCommerce using a digital native approach, including rent the runway, theblacktux, and stichfix, just to name a few. Many of these types of content use paywalls. Paywalls may be presented immediately, after a free trial, or be "metered," meaning that the paywall appears after a certain number of page views or content views/listens. 78% of online news organizations use a metered paywall, which allows them to generate more ad revenue than shutting visitors out. Publishers can experiment with "soft paywall" alternatives like Google Surveys that provide inexpensive market research for brands and greater recall than banner ads. Selling content by subscription is getting harder for online news outlets, and publishers must figure out how to mitigate disruption from news aggregator apps, sites like Google News, and distribution via social media platforms. Curated news is gaining popularity, but it threatens the appeal of subscribing to individual publications while at the same time potentially drawing in new customers. For example, the New York Times allows its subscribers full access to stories through an Apple News subscription, but otherwise they require a direct subscription in order to consume content. We may see habits shift to a Twitter-like summary of the news, rather than full articles. Offerings such as the Skimm have gained in popularity in recent years, because they make consumption of news content easy for generations that don’t want to read a full newspaper or scroll through endless articles. However, other subscription verticals like gaming, software, and media are thriving, themselves disrupting the old model of ownership of physical products for several years now.   Microtransactions Microtransactions are what they sound, piece-meal access to digital content and applications, being either pay-to-play (streaming content, time-limited or volume-limited access to content or applications), or pay-to-own (download a track, movie, article, image, etc.) This model pre-dates the common use of the Internet - think pay-per-view movies and sports and arcade games. In its heyday before music streaming services like Spotify, iTunes was a prime example of a microtransaction model, and O'Reilly publishing has been offering books by the chapter for years. The question remains whether this model will work for news and magazine articles, which are typically one-time reads, where music and video track downloads are more sticky.   Freemium The hallmark of freemium is offering a free and paid (premium) version. There are a few variations of this model: Free and paid version (e.g. lite use and power use, personal vs. business use, ad-supported vs. ad-free, basic vs. enhanced features, etc.) Free with in-product transactions (e.g. virtual goods and currency in-game, which accounts for 72% of Apple App Store revenue) Free and premium with microtransactions (buy ad-free access to games, or buy access to new levels and goods within the game)   Ad-supported freemium Ad-supported free products are common across digital verticals, from newspapers and magazines to games and software, on-demand video, music services, and social networks. But it goes beyond banner ads. Viggle is an example of innovative ad opportunities. Its second-screen app (companion to television) is not only free for users, but rewards users for engagement with TV shows and ads through its own loyalty program. Points accrued from check-ins to favorite TV shows, ad viewing, trivia, and other actions are redeemable for real gift cards like Starbucks, Amazon, and even bitcoin. Another differentiator is its own proprietary audio recognition technology (similar to Shazam) that verifies a user is watching a program. The company's also created new ways to watch TV, like MyGuy, a fantasy sports app that allows you to pick your star player for a game, and win extra points when your player is doing well. Ad revenue comes from TV networks looking to promote their shows and brands that advertise within the app. A TV show pays for point value, which increases the attractiveness of checking into the show. They may also pay for placements in other contests and promotions. The long-term opportunity here is for second-screen providers to become an AdWords-like platform where network shows use real-time bidding to drive tune-ins and engagement for their shows. The viability of this depends on the consumer experience, and if consumers will be willing to adopt this approach, which will be required to make its app the way people watch TV.   Looking to implement a headless approach? Our comprehensive guide to getting started with headless commerce will teach you more about the architecture, how to work with the front-end of your choice, and how to choose a platform that fits your needs. Read the Guide   Freemium hardware Kindles that include ads and sponsored screensavers are available at a discount price. This may catch on with other device manufacturers.   Affiliate Shazam is an audio recognition app that helps you discover or remember who sings that song you're hearing right now. "Tagging" a song searches its database and presents the answer along with affiliate links to download tracks or buy tickets to local gigs. Shazam began as all-free, and moved to a freemium model. Its free version was limited to 5 song tags per month, and unlimited access for a one-time payment of $5. Down the road, Shazam dumped its freemium scheme for free-for-all access, a move that can potentially increase its revenue greatly. Providing everyone unlimited tagging widens its opportunity for affiliate revenue. More tags = wider funnel. Licensing Services like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music license content from record labels and independent artists, Hulu and Netflix from Hollywood. Software products white-label. Publishers syndicate content. There are many examples of licensing digital goods. Beyond content, innovators can license their proprietary technology to others. Shazam could license audio recognition technology to other companies to add an additional functionality and revenue streams. API-as-a-product Many content producers are sitting on piles of existing and legacy content that can be remixed into new experiences and licensed to third parties. As the API economy continues to grow across all industries, this approach has gotten more and more popular for digital content distribution. I covered Pearson's API on Get Elastic, along with 7 other wicked applications of commerce APIs. Data-as-a-product The Last.fm music service sits on a mound of listener data, and can offer advertisers highly targeted campaign opportunities. An example is for Puma's Deadmau5 running shoe. The brand was able to target the band's fans within a social network using Last.fm's technology features. Selling data is an opportunity for additional revenue for digital products and services that collect it. Derivative products Similarly, pieces of content can be remixed into new products, or derivative products, used internally or licensed to developers. Two examples mentioned in the webinar are Hark and Eyewitness. Hark is a YouTube for audio clips from popular movies, TV shows and even political quotes (how timely). It streams sound files and enables social sharing and embedding, with links to rent or buy full content from Amazon.   Guardian's Eyewitness mobile app features its famous photographs, repurposed for iPad. The app is freemium, sponsored by Canon (a fitting partnership). Free users get a daily photo, paid users get an extra 3 photos per day and sports photos for £1.49 per month.   More examples can be found in our webinar, available on demand: Monetizing Content in a World of Digital Disruption.
    Topics: models, app, products, revenue, model, content, access, shows, monetizing, free, digital, business, tv.
  • 8 Holiday Giveaway Ideas To Boost Revenue - The holidays are right around the corner, so companies everywhere are gearing up to run fun holiday deals and giveaways. You're in luck if you need fresh ideas for your holiday giveaways. I've put together 8 holiday giveaways to spark joy in your customers and simultaneously boost revenue.
    Topics: ideas, run, holiday, revenue, example, giveaways, customers, social, gift, free, media, giveaway, boost.
  • A Scientist’s Approach to Hydration—and Recurring Revenue - In this episode of Shopify Masters, John Sherwin of Hydrant shares why you can’t be a perfectionist with product launches and how to find the ideal apps for running a subscription business.More
    Topics: hydrationand, revenue, really, customers, way, value, hydration, recurring, products, youre, different, approach, product, going, scientists.
  • AO wants to double revenue in 5 years - Online electrical retailer AO wants to more than double its turnover in five years’ time. In this time frame, the UK company also aims to be active in five different markets. “Our mission is to be the global destination for electricals”, AO stated during its full year results presentation. Last… Continue reading
    Topics: revenue, million, market, online, company, germany, whitepaper, double, aos, ao, payment, wants.
  • AO’s revenue up 62% to €1.91 billion - Online electrical retailer AO has reported a strong year of growth. In the year to 31 March, the UK company saw its revenue increase by 62 percent to 1.66 billion pounds (1.91 billion euros). AO also attracted over 2 million new customers in the year. Sales on the UK website… Continue reading
    Topics: ao, german, quarter, saw, growth, million, website, roberts, billion, aos, revenue, uk.
  • - About You has plunged deeper into the red. The fiscal year ended with an operating loss of 137 million euros, more than twice the previous fiscal year’s loss, which had already nearly doubled. However, the company refers to these results as “solid performance”. It expects to break even in the…
    Topics: focuses, profit, growth, revenue, yous, euros, operational, million, market, fiscal, previous, profitable, losses, doubling.
  • - Bol holds a significant lead in the Twinkle100, the list of the largest online retailers in the Netherlands. The revenue of Bol, as the company is now simply called, is more than twice as high as that of the runner-up, which shares the same owner.Behind the leader Bol, listed with…
    Topics: online, dominant, zalando, list, ecommerce, dutch, billion, delhaize, bol, netherlands, amazon, revenue, million, ahold.
  • Anakin’s pricing tool gives e-commerce companies jump on competitors - The company launched its tool in March that help e-commerce stores and brands increase their revenue using pricing, products and trends data from other companies.
    Topics: prateek, gives, working, anakins, jump, pricing, started, revenue, ecommerce, companies, data, tool, company, competitors, anakin, techcrunch.
  • BOOM! Founder: Spend 30% of Revenue on Ads - Ezra Firestone launched his first ecommerce business in 2007. It sold wigs. He's owned multiple brands since. BOOM!, which sells cosmetics, he co-founded in 2010. He focuses on key management metrics, such as spending 30-percent of ecommerce revenue on advertising.
    Topics: spend, ads, boom, customer, days, ecommerce, virtual, grow, million, return, revenue, founder.
  • - Boohoo Group reflects on a meager half-year in which revenue declined by 17 percent. Particularly in the United Kingdom, which accounts for most of its revenue, the company suffered significantly. The group’s loss (adjusted EBIT) amounted to 3.9 million pounds.Boohoo’s revenue for the first half of the fiscal year 2023-2024…
    Topics: million, loss, significant, investments, escalates, group, online, boohoo, fiscal, boohoos, revenue.
  • Charts: Ecommerce in the Middle East (Stats and Outlook) - The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional, intergovernmental political and economic union in the Middle East. In 2015, ecommerce revenue in the GCC was $5.3 billion, or just 0.4% of gross domestic product. By 2020, revenue had quadrupled to $21.6 billion.
    Topics: outlook, kearney, total, charts, gcc, east, roughly, ecommerce, revenue, middle, billion, growth, projects, stats, sales.
  • Charts: Retail Industry Outlook 2022 - The pandemic reset global retail, hastening the shift to online shopping while exposing supply chain weaknesses. We analyze recent survey results from retail leaders on what to expect in 2022 and beyond.
    Topics: global, supply, industry, recent, sales, charts, ecommerce, deloitte, study, revenue, retail, warehouse, outlook.
  • Converting Cold Traffic: How $200K in Ads Generated $1.8M in Revenue - Ace Reunis and his team at Threadheads have turned print-on-demand on its head to create a three-in-one business. As an apparel brand, illustration studio, and printing hub in one, Threadheads specializes in unique pop culture apparel without playing the high sales volume game. In this episode of Shopify Masters, Ace shares with us how he leverages social ads to scale to a multimillion dollar brand.More
    Topics: youre, need, website, converting, generated, dont, brand, product, 200k, cold, google, ads, 18m, really, traffic, thats, revenue.
  • - Dutch electronics store Coolblue made a profit loss of 6,2 million euros in 2022. This is a stark contrast with profits of over 39 million euros the year before. The company generated 2,35 billion euros of revenue. a small year-on-year growth of 0,6 percent. Coolblue published their annual numbers for…
    Topics: increased, stores, revenue, euros, growth, revenues, coolblue, million, red, retailer.
  • - Dutch omnichannel retailer Coolblue has generated a revenue of 2.41 billion euros last year. This was an increase of 2.5 percent compared to a year earlier. Additionally, the company doubled its earnings before interest to 88.3 million euros. Coolblue has published its annual numbers for 2023. The company is a…
    Topics: stores, euros, belgium, germany, coolblue, million, retailer, netherlands, billion, revenue, companys.
  • Creators in Control: How YouTubers Can Make Money With Merch - There’s a reason every big YouTube creator seems to have a product line. Selling merchandise and other products is an excellent way to diversify your revenue and maintain control over your business. Here’s how to get started.More
    Topics: youtube, products, selling, control, merch, creator, channel, creators, money, youtubers, fans, business, revenue, start.
  • Driven by Covid-19, India’s Ecommerce Surges - Owing to its large population, India has always been an attractive ecommerce market, even if a relatively small percentage of its residents have access to the internet or adequate income. But ecommerce is now surging in India.
    Topics: driven, revenue, pandemic, billion, population, mobile, ecommerce, surges, according, internet, india, indias, covid19.
  • Dubai-Based Calibrate Commerce Launches Incubator For The MENA's Homegrown E-Commerce Businesses - Calibrate Commerce wants to enable emerging brands to seize the full potential of the digital landscape.
    Topics: menas, incubator, ideas, homegrown, launches, launched, ecommerce, shop, commerce, share, businesses, platform, dubaibased, labs, revenue, calibrate.
  • Extra Crunch roundup: DTC strategy, IPO analysis, Zoom’s future product plans - TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 is underway! Tickets are still available for the three-day virtual event, which encompasses everything from Ryan Reynolds' lessons on "fast-vertising" to Startup Battlefield.
    Topics: alex, company, dtc, class, techcrunch, plans, wilhelm, writes, zooms, companies, extra, range, future, product, ipo, roundup, revenue, ai, strategy.
  • From movies to shipping, AWS is driving Amazon’s revenue diversification - Put simply: Most of Amazon’s operating income came not from selling stuff, but instead from selling compute and storage.
    Topics: revenue, business, techcrunch, amazon, run, amazons, shipping, cloud, aws, billion, diversification, operating, selling, results, driving, movies, support.
  • Gartner Survey Review: Digital Commerce Revenue Skyrockets with B2B Surpassing B2C - Industry analyst Gartner released an eye-opening look at the digital commerce landscape, largely influenced from pandemic aftershock. Based on evidence from 2021’s State of Digital Commerce Report, and 2020’s B2B Digital Commerce research, the survey examines digital commerce through the lens of multiple verticals and business models. The results are in. Significant shifts occurred in the presence of digital commerce platforms, but also a turn towards B2B initiatives versus what has been historically B2C led. Let’s take a quick look at some of the survey’s key statistical findings: By 2025, 75% of B2B manufacturers will sell to their customers directly via digital commerce   By 2023, 15% of medium-to-high gross merchandise value (GMV) digital commerce organizations will have deployed their own marketplaces, thereby creating a digital ecosystem on their path to digital business   By 2024, 15% of B2B organizations will use digital commerce platforms to support both their customers and sales reps in all sales activities The New Normal: Digital commerce is becoming more mainstream. According to survey results, manufacturing leads the charge in B2B focused digital commerce initiatives. In an environment once dominated by retail, more industries across the board are adopting the digital path. Further point of interest is that as B2B businesses were hit hard by COVID-19, they were forced to adapt from a digital perspective at alarming speed to survive - or took the opportunity to accelerate their digital strategy given their new circumstances. Maturity influences decision making: Another key insight involves the digital maturity of buyers. As B2B buyers become more tech savvy, their experience expectations change. They expect more self-service options to avoid calls or emails and better business tooling; ultimately, they want a shift to a digital sales experience –an intuitive platform that anticipates their needs as a human representative once did. The drive to cut cost: So what is at the core of the shift to digital commerce? The Gartner survey points to 4 key drivers; one of which is cost savings, stemming from the automation of the sales process to a more self-service model. Cost savings is more on the minds of B2B organizations; in fact, according to the survey, almost three times as many B2B companies cited it as a motivator versus their B2C counterparts. Omnichannel experience remains a pain point: A major hurdle to achieving a robust digital commerce presence, as outlined by Gartner’s survey, is how a B2B company may struggle with the customer experience across channels.They struggle with the complexities and access to the tools for an optimized experience; if their existing customers can’t have a comparable, or even better than digital experience than what they currently have, they will not participate. This leads to additional insights gleaned from the survey on how B2B companies are increasingly looking for more composable solutions they can easily deploy and scale, especially those companies with large enterprise clients. Food for thought: additional survey statistics: By 2023, 80% of organizations using AI for digital commerce will achieve at least 25% improvement in customer satisfaction, revenue or cost reduction   By 2023, 75% of organizations selling directly to consumers will offer subscription services, but only 20% will succeed in increasing customer retention Take a deeper dive into the digital commerce landscape as it stands today by downloading your free copy.
    Topics: sales, customers, survey, surpassing, gartner, skyrockets, review, commerce, key, b2b, organizations, experience, customer, digital, revenue, b2c.
  • Has Apple Changed the Advertising Industry? - U.S. marketing expenditures are the highest in years. Could Apple's iOS privacy changes be the cause?
    Topics: industry, media, advertising, ad, marketing, ecommerce, growth, apple, revenue, shopify, apples, changed.
  • How Daily Harvest Earned $250 Million in Revenue in Just 5 Years of Business - In just 5 years, Daily Harvest, which provides healthy, easy-to-prep meals to customers based on algorithmic flavor preferences, disrupted the food industry and earned more than $250 million in revenue.
    Topics: million, revenue, lot, drori, right, business, food, think, earned, gay, going, daily, big, really, harvest.
  • How These 3 Content Creators Turned a Side Hustle Into a Full-Time Gig - Content creator is a job title that didn't exist a decade ago. Now, 50 million people consider themselves creators, following their passion in a billion-dollar industry.
    Topics: creation, content, way, kutcher, gig, create, turned, okome, hustle, revenue, creators, exit, fulltime, creator.
  • How to A/B Test Your Pricing (And Why It Might Be a Bad Idea) - A/B testing the pricing for your product is a little bit like Goldilocks.
    Topics: ab, bad, product, testing, test, customers, idea, pricing, revenue, price, prices, different.
  • How to Calculate Marketing ROI [+Free Excel Templates] - If you can prove that your marketing activities actually made an impact on your business, you'll have many more opportunities (and budget) to grow your marketing efforts. Sounds like a marketer's dream, right?
    Topics: revenue, lead, excel, marketing, campaign, sales, cost, templates, roi, free, calculate, metrics.
  • How to Create a Successful Holiday Customer Service Strategy - The holiday season is unlike any other time of year and it’s important that your ecommerce store is ready for…
    Topics: customers, revenue, stressful, need, chat, free, youve, holidays, service, steps, crucial, successful, customer, holiday.
  • How to Dramatically Increase Your Revenue with Nano and Micro-influencers - Nano-influencers and micro-influencers — which are content creators and key opinion leaders (KOLs) with smaller audiences ranging from 10,000 to 75,000 followers — often slip under the radar.
    Topics: partners, nano, dramatically, brand, micro, marketing, increase, fee, microinfluencers, smaller, influencers, nanoinfluencers, revenue, audiences.
  • How to Get Buy-In from Some of the Top Marketing Leaders: 3 Execs Discuss What KPIs Matter to Them - Whether you're creating a new content campaign, launching a YouTube series, or revising your social strategy, you're going to be asked the same question by leadership before getting their support: "How will this impact our company's bottom line?"
    Topics: matter, revenue, marketing, kpi, customers, execs, kpis, brand, discuss, leads, buyin, customer, leaders, youre, pipeline.
  • How to Transform Your Company's Website Into a Real Money Maker This Holiday Season - Ecommerce is not only for retail businesses — service-based businesses need to seize the holiday season market, too. Here's a strategic plan for SMBs and the agencies that serve them, emphasizing the benefits of transforming websites into transactional sites.
    Topics: agencies, services, sites, ecommerce, businesses, website, powerhouse, online, revenue, transactional, holiday, smbs, digital.
  • Indonesia, an Overlooked Ecommerce Market - Indonesia has the fourth largest global population and a sizeable ecommerce economy. Yet Western merchants often overlook the opportunity to sell there.
    Topics: indonesia, market, popular, revenue, visits, southeast, marketplace, million, quarter, ecommerce, overlooked.
  • Instabox’s revenue: from 6 to 24 million euros - Parcel delivery service Instabox has quadrupled its revenues in Sweden last year. Sales went from 6 million euros to 24 million euros. At the same time, the number of users grew more than 150 percent. Currently, over 2 million people in Sweden use the company’s parcel locker solution. In 2019,… Continue reading
    Topics: instabox, revenue, sweden, solutions, million, payment, swedish, online, parcel, instaboxs, euros, whitepaper.
  • Jumia posts revenue and order gains, but compounding losses drag its stock lower - Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia released its third-quarter financial performance today, detailing a mix of expected and surprising results. When TechCrunch discussed the company’s Q2 2020 financials, Jumia had a market cap of a little over $2.1 billion, based on a per-share price of $22. Since then, Jumia has lost value, trading at just $17.52 per […]
    Topics: quarter, million, posts, jumia, growth, revenue, losses, techcrunch, gains, stock, yearoveryear, q3, drag, volume, order, company, q2, lower.
  • Jumia reports record orders and revenue but investors remain unconvinced - Share sell-offs continued today in the wake of public companies’ earnings reports, proving especially significant amongst firms that benefited from the pandemic. While new and established public companies in market categories like software, fintech, gaming and social media witnessed significant declines in recent weeks amidst rising interest rates, growth-oriented e-commerce companies like Jumia are not […]
    Topics: investors, significant, jumia, sales, revenue, techcrunch, yearoveryear, earnings, record, reports, quarter, remain, million, unconvinced, loss, orders, jumias.
  • Jumia’s Q2 results show moderate growth, rising spend and continued losses - African e-commerce giant Jumia today reported its second-quarter financial performance. In the wake of its earnings reports, Jumia’s shares climbed 3.38% to $21.99 per share with a market cap of $2.168 billion. Before we get into the company’s results, Jumia has historically reported its financial data in euros. This was the case until April 1, […]
    Topics: company, techcrunch, q2, growth, continued, rising, quarter, jumia, second, revenue, jumias, spend, moderate, million, grew, companys, losses, results, share.
  • - The growth of German online spending has come to an end. In the past calendar year, the combined revenue of the top thousand online retailers in Germany was lower than the previous year. There were revenue losses particularly high on the list.This is evident in ‘E-Commerce-Market Germany 2023’, a study…
    Topics: lose, largest, online, german, stores, trend, significant, thousand, retailers, saturn, saw, steepest, revenue, germany.
  • - After two years, Mango has stopped selling other brands on its own marketplace. The Spanish fashion retailer had been offering products from brands like Rituals through its own channels. This decision comes after Mango recorded an online sales growth close to 10 percent during the first half of 2023. Revenue…
    Topics: stops, mangos, sales, selling, brands, rituals, mango, online, onethird, platform, revenue, retailer.
  • Marketing Budget: How Much Should Your Team Spend in 2023? [By Industry] - As a marketer, you’re always pitching new ideas to your team. And you’ve also faced a consistent follow-up question, “How much from our marketing budget do we need to execute?”
    Topics: marketers, industry, spending, plan, marketing, budget, revenue, spend, invest, team, content.
  • Marketing Effectiveness: How to Measure It & Present to External Stakeholders - You can apply marketing strategies all day, but if they aren't effective, those efforts don't matter in the long-term.
    Topics: marketing, content, social, email, revenue, present, measure, external, effectiveness, rates, metrics, include, consider, stakeholders.
  • - There were 1,060 external sellers active on the MediaMarkt marketplace at the end of July. Ceconomy, the owner of MediaMarkt and sister chain Saturn, welcomes the ‘significant increase’ in marketplace sales, as stated in the reporting on its third-quarter results. After various trial phases, MediaMarkt opened its doors to external…
    Topics: marketplace, financial, sales, sellers, million, ceconomy, mediamarkt, online, revenue, quarter, report.
  • - MediaMarkt is experiencing substantial growth with its marketplace. In the past fiscal year, third-party revenues more than doubled to 137 million euros. Over the next three years, external trade volume is expected to reach 750 million euros.This information comes from Ceconomy’s publication of its figures for the fiscal year 2022/2023.…
    Topics: significant, revenue, thirdparty, share, euros, sales, fiscal, marketplace, mediamarkt, online, million, worth.
  • Meesho Announces Its First Monthly Profit And Plans For IPO - Meesho Founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said that a 43% surge in order volumes and 54% increase in revenue in the last 12 month contributed to the profitability of the company
    Topics: meesho, plans, order, ipo, ecommerce, entrepreneur, profitability, month, revenue, profit, announces, monthly, vidit, aatrey.
  • - Marketplace solution provider Mirakl generated nearly 160 million dollars (148.6 million euros) in annual recurring revenue in 2023. This is a growth of 20 percent compared to a year before. Additionally, the Mirakl Platform has reached profitability in the fourth quarter of last year. The French marketplace solution provider offers…
    Topics: platform, financial, million, marketplace, gmv, recurring, growth, nearly, euros, revenue, mirakl, business, billion.
  • - Ukrainian company MacPaw, is planning to launch its iOS app subscription service Setapp in Europe next year. By that time, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will have come into effect in the European Union. This allows users to install third-party apps on iOS, without using Apple’s App Store. The European…
    Topics: european, europe, app, launch, revenue, mobile, store, setapp, developers, ios, apple, apps, users.
  • - 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.
  • Neuro-ID takes in fresh capital to combat fraud from all of our taps, types and swipes - The company captures real-time customer behavior so companies can see who is genuine, and who is fraudulent, and identify the root cause of customer friction.
    Topics: digital, fresh, types, fraud, combat, swipes, techcrunch, taps, capital, customer, analytics, customers, series, million, takes, neuroid, revenue, funding.
  • Off Duty Raises INR 4 Crore From Velocity - The brand will use the funding to scale up their inventory to cater to the increasing demand and meet their striving goal of achieving a revenue of over INR 25 crore
    Topics: brand, international, funding, raises, india, velocity, fashion, khan, gap, inr, revenue, crore, duty.
  • Online Shopping Has Shifted to the Edge - In a bygone era, shoppers entered an ecommerce site directly or via a search engine. No more. In 2022 it's social media that increasingly starts the process, creating opportunities and challenges for merchants.
    Topics: shopping, edge, brand, product, shifted, revenue, traffic, products, social, shoppers, prefer, consumers, online, site.
  • - Inflation and subdued consumer confidence are expected to dampen online spending in Germany, according to the latest announcement by Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE). In its HDE Online Monitor 2023, the retail association has revised its earlier projections for online revenue growth in Germany downward. HDE now predicts that online consumer spending…
    Topics: spending, online, revenue, hde, sales, forecast, consumer, sector, tempered, inflation, growth, food, germany.
  • - Otto Group has an expected revenue of 12 billion euros for 2022. This is a 2 percent decrease compared to the year before. In Germany, ecommerce sales fell as much as 8 percent, while international sales have increased. The German Otto Group owns well-known brands such as About You and…
    Topics: billion, values, revenue, otto, euros, shrink, ecommerce, group, sales, high.
  • - The German well-known Otto Group’s global ecommerce revenue is expected to reach 10.8 billion euros in the financial year of 2023, which ends today. This is a decrease of 9 percent compared to a year earlier. Unlike previous years, the decrease in sales is also noticeable in its cross-border markets.…
    Topics: ecommerce, drops, sales, online, euros, revenue, group, otto, groups, decline, billion, noticeable.
  • - Otto expects slightly higher revenue for the upcoming year-end period compared to the same period last year. According to CEO Marc Opelt, the platform model is the “key growth engine” of the online department store.Opelt describes himself as “cautiously optimistic” about the sales results at the end of this challenging…
    Topics: trading, thirdparty, slightly, sales, generate, partners, period, online, revenue, zalando, otto, growth, platform.
  • Outbound Marketing In an Inbound World - Search engine optimization, content marketing, and the whole of inbound marketing are important for promoting a business. But let’s not forget about advertising. I recently attended a marketing event where an ...
    Topics: world, content, billion, ad, outbound, search, facebook, revenue, marketing, inbound, advertising.
  • Popchew cooks up creator partnership approach to digitally native, local food brands - With Popchew, creators can build, launch and grow their own local food brands in a matter of weeks.
    Topics: cooks, local, revenue, company, techcrunch, creator, food, popchew, restaurants, partnership, digitally, brands, native, restaurant, creators, sopchak, create.
  • - German recommerce platform Rebuy recorded a turnover of 216 million euros last year. This means that the company is now profitable for the fifth year in a row. Around 10 million products were sold through the platform and given a second life. The Berlin-based marketplace has announced its financial results…
    Topics: platform, rebuy, consumer, million, revenue, products, company, electronics, euros, sold, hand, books.
  • Report claims Amazon collects over a third of seller revenue, bringing in $121B in 2021 - A new study claims that Amazon makes far more from fees on its Marketplace platform than even the cash cow known as AWS. The report says that Amazon’s fees for participating effectively on its store have grown to the point where sellers now give the company about 34% of their earnings — and this has […]
    Topics: claims, 121b, company, bringing, numbers, aws, revenue, collects, amazon, seller, report, sellers, fees, amazons, techcrunch.
  • Retention, Referral, and Revenue: How to Create an Effective SaaS Marketing Plan - Marketing plans provide a framework to funnel customers from awareness to decision to purchase.
    Topics: saas, traditional, revenue, retention, create, buyer, customers, team, marketing, goals, effective, referral, customer, plans, plan.
  • Revenue Marketing: What It is and Why It Matters - 91% of marketers are confident that their making marketing decisions will positively impact revenue. Are you one of them?
    Topics: efforts, goal, revenue, data, plan, metrics, matters, goals, marketing, campaign, sales.
  • Reviewing Google Ads Performance at Year-end - It's necessary at year-end to review pay-per-click advertising performance. As with any managed channel, you should expect growth, such as more revenue, transactions, or unique visitors, among other metrics. The review should include broader industry and economic developments.
    Topics: conversion, performance, report, google, revenue, ads, paid, reviewing, conversions, ppc, search, yearend.
  • Riogrande takes in first capital to incubate Latin America’s next local brands - Riogrande plans to have about 30 brands under its umbrella.
    Topics: riogrande, mandly, company, revenue, local, takes, americas, billion, latin, techcrunch, capital, brands, growth, million, incubate, ecommerce.
  • SMS Marketing for Ecommerce: Everything You Need to Know to Supercharge Your Sales - Ecommerce is growing fast — particularly mobile commerce or mcommerce. And while email marketing has long been one of the…
    Topics: revenue, ecommerce, strategies, customer, customers, marketing, messages, message, text, sms, platform, email.
  • Scurri raises 9 million euros - Scurri, a delivery management platform from Ireland, has secured 9 million euros in a new funding round. The software provider wants to use the money to accelerate its growth in the United Kingdom. It’s not the first time Scurri has raised money. For example, in March 2014 it raised 1.2… Continue reading
    Topics: million, delivery, raised, company, wants, revenue, scurri, euros, software, growth, raises.
  • Sendlane raises $20M to convert shoppers into loyal customers - The co-founders set out to build an email marketing automation platform for customers that wanted to do more than email campaigns and newsletters.
    Topics: 20m, company, loyal, customers, insights, shoppers, data, raises, email, techcrunch, kim, platform, revenue, sendlane, customer, convert.
  • Shopify Announces Online Store 2.0, More - During its "Unite" event on June 29, Shopify announced significant changes to its ecommerce platform aimed at performance, ease of use, and empowering developers. The company also announced a new revenue-sharing model, giving app and theme creators 100% of revenue up to $1 million each year.
    Topics: announces, editor, create, store, developers, online, revenue, theme, including, content, shopify.
  • Shopify drops its App Store commissions to 0% on developers’ first million in revenue - Following similar moves by Apple, Google, and more recently Amazon, among others, e-commerce platform Shopify announced today it’s also lowering its cut of developer revenue across its app marketplace, the Shopify App Store, as well as the new Shopify Theme Store. The news was announced today alongside a host of other developer-related news and updates […]
    Topics: drops, developers, shopifys, commissions, platform, shopify, developer, revenue, techcrunch, app, store, million, updates.
  • Shopify’s Q2 results beat estimates as e-commerce shines - Like Microsoft and Apple in the wake of their after-hours earnings reports, Shopify shares are having a muted reaction to the better-than-expected results.
    Topics: shopifys, q2, billion, revenues, shines, second, results, earnings, shares, estimates, ecommerce, million, revenue, techcrunch, quarter, shopify, beat.
  • Startup Marketing Budget: How to Write an Incredible Budget for 2023 - When proposing potential ads at your startup, one of the first questions you’ll likely encounter is, “How much will this cost?” If you’ve prepared a killer startup marketing budget, you will be well-equipped to help executives understand and buy into your vision.
    Topics: need, startup, paid, incredible, write, budget, revenue, advertising, startups, youll, costs, marketing.
  • Stock Markets and Social Media? Absolutely! - This year, global social media users swelled to a record-breaking 4.9 billion. Statistics like these suggest that social media stocks may be a great investment opportunity — but what are the best social media stocks to invest in?
    Topics: stock, social, market, stocks, investment, global, revenue, growth, platforms, broader, absolutely, markets, media.
  • Supporting 14,000 Artisans While Generating Over $4 Million in Revenue - In this episode of Shopify Masters, we talk to Sujata and Taniya Biswas, the co-founders of Suta. Suta is a modern saree and apparel brand that supports the livelihoods of 14,000 weavers, with fair wages and high ethical standards. Sujata and Taniya share their journey of creating a $4-million company with social impact at its core, their process for hiring and building a team, and how they market sarees to younger audiences.    More
    Topics: suta, come, think, started, supporting, lot, know, artisans, generating, work, revenue, million, sarees, used, dont.
  • TAM SAM SOM: What Do They Mean & How Do You Calculate Them? - Starting a new company is exciting. So is gauging an industry’s profit potential or forecasting a revenue goal for your business. But as you start calculating, you must remember to root these figures in reality.
    Topics: product, serviceable, som, mean, calculate, market, addressable, sam, revenue, tam, total, business.
  • The Best Free Business Budget Templates - Business budgets are a source of truth for your income and expenses. That includes all the money you spend — from A/B testing your marketing campaigns to your monthly office rent.
    Topics: costs, business, best, templates, template, need, track, expenses, financial, help, revenue, budget, free.
  • The Top Goals of Marketing Leaders in 2023 [New Data + Expert Insights from Uber, Dropbox, and ClickUp] - To effectively lead a marketing team, you must know your top goals. Whether your goal is to increase revenue or improve your customers’ understanding of your products, starting with a clear objective helps you create a sound marketing strategy for 2023 and beyond.
    Topics: uber, data, brand, revenue, expert, marketing, create, clickup, goals, content, social, sales, dropbox, products, customers, leaders, insights.
  • The current state of ecommerce in manufacturing - After a year of uncertainty, manufacturers feel ambitious and are ready to invest. They want to boost their online revenue on an international scale. But what is the current state of international ecommerce in manufacturing? The world of manufacturing is a very interesting one. The B2B industry has been watching… Continue reading
    Topics: ecommerce, current, sales, state, manufacturers, global, revenue, digital, local, b2b, report, online, manufacturing.
  • The e-commerce boom is still afoot in Africa, Jumia’s earnings indicate - Jumia, the pan-African e-commerce company (and sole tech company based on the continent listed on the NYSE), released its first-quarter financial performance today. The company’s results included consistent growth but lapses in some areas compared with Jumia’s previous quarter.  As always, the first page of every Jumia report highlights its year-over-year wins. The first quarter […]
    Topics: yearoveryear, techcrunch, indicate, growth, boom, million, africa, afoot, quarter, earnings, revenue, q1, jumia, company, ecommerce, jumias.
  • - Thomann from Germany has become Europe’s largest online seller of musical instruments. Last year, the revenue reached approximately 1.4 billion euros, with almost two-thirds of it coming from outside the domestic market.This was stated by managing director Hans Thomann junior in an extensive interview with Handelsblatt. Thomann is an exponent…
    Topics: sales, musical, amazon, grow, international, company, thomann, director, ecommerce, online, continues, revenue, germany.
  • - Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies play a significant role in our lives. They dominate your go-to grocery stores, households, cabinets, and pantries. Whether I talk about your daily household staples, favorite snacks, and beverages, or your cleaning supplies like laundry… Continue reading Top 15 Best CPG Companies of 2024
    Topics: best, companies, revenue, cpg, product, food, brands, care, products, consumer, company.
  • Unsure about a New Project? Try a Pilot Program - Launching a new product or feature is exciting but risky, especially if it requires capital. A well-structured pilot program can provide answers.
    Topics: project, items, investment, line, program, food, business, revenue, unsure, pilot, plan, try.
  • Using Google Analytics for Continuous Improvement - There is no shortage of articles on tips and tricks for improving Google Analytics. This article, however, will focus on using Google Analytics for its main purpose: driving continuous improvement in your business. To help, I've assembled a Data Studio template tailored to ecommerce. 
    Topics: metrics, data, certain, continuous, analytics, performance, report, product, yearoveryear, using, improvement, page, google, revenue.
  • - If you’re looking to scale your Shopify store, increasing revenue is likely one of your key priorities. Of course, everybody loves bringing in more cash, but the question is: how can you earn more? It’s well known that upsells are an… Continue reading Vanga Shopify App Review (Apr 2022)
    Topics: upsell, upsells, revenue, upselling, customers, apr, shopify, vangas, app, review, vanga.
  • Want More Revenue? Improve Users’ Checkout Experience - Don’t lose customers at the last second! A few changes could boost your revenue overnight — really! See the best ways to streamline checkout & maximize sales.
    Topics: users, experience, site, woocommerce, improve, customers, product, shipping, revenue, page, checkout, payment, store, account.
  • What Is Market Share & How Do You Calculate It? - In the marketing industry, you've likely heard the term "market share" from time to time, but what does it mean? Why is it necessary, and how is it calculated?
    Topics: understand, industry, revenue, increase, customers, calculate, total, important, market, share, company.
  • What Is a Revenue Model? - Deciding how you’ll generate revenue is one of the most challenging decisions for a business to make, aside from coming up with what you’ll actually sell.
    Topics: pricing, models, businesses, revenue, customers, service, makes, business, sell, model.
  • What’s driving the global surge in retail media spending? - To understand why retailers will capture more ad spend, it’s important to evaluate what modern marketing has become. Is it bus stop advertisements? Bidding on Google keywords or a Clubhouse session?
    Topics: techcrunch, spending, surge, revenue, search, business, channels, marketing, consumer, ad, advertising, media, channel, way, global, whats, driving, retail.
  • When Retailers Are Ad Platforms - Amazon pioneered the concept of a retailer-driven ad network. Now other retailer marketplaces are selling ads, too. The trend has far-reaching implications.
    Topics: ad, traffic, retailers, networks, platforms, revenue, retail, marketplaces, data, brands, ads.
  • Why Modern Solutions Break Business Model Boundaries - An Analysis of Subscriptions - Information technology is a sea of techno babble, three letter acronyms (TLAs) and jargon, which is not helped by our human condition driving us to compartmentalise and classify everything neatly into clearly aligned boxes, which I have successfully extended with my own lexicon of buzz words over the years. The most common TLAs are focussed on defining transactional business relationships B2C, B2B, D2C...  and the list goes on. This basically works even in our rapidly changing world, although it does leave interpretation open to the individual. Let’s examine this Opening Statement:  Do we need to draw artificial lines between B2C / B2B / D2C / M2Q etc. to get to the right composed solution? Modern Composable Commerce solutions cross both functional and business model boundaries aiming to deliver the most personalised, targeted, enriched and immersive experience for all purchasers. Subscriptions based solutions are a great example of this in action, offering predictable revenues for the selling organisation, whilst increasing options for buyers that drives affordability and positively impacts loyalty. COVID has accelerated in-device and online orders, which subscription offerings maximise, due to our growing consumption-based needs during lock down, which conversely calls for increased choice, on-demand delivery, and flexibility in financial options. Robbie Baxter’s book, The Membership Economy, demonstrates how for agile companies focused on ongoing buyer relationships and providing access instead of just ownership, leveraging subscriptions is significantly impacting recurring revenues. This is further highlighted by Gartner stating the growing importance of subscriptions in our daily lives and predicts that by 2023 - 75% of online offers will be subscription based. The growth of subscriptions is impacting our lives as consumers and the industry generally: CFO Research have outlined that “53% of senior finance executives say at least 40% of organisations’ revenue is recurring”   Deliotte say over 41% of households today subscribe to one or more music streaming service and 69% subscribe to video streaming   PYMNTS.com say “The luxury car subscription market is set to grow by 71% by 2022”   Invesp highlight Average conversion rate by service type is:       • 65% Replenishment       • 52% Curation       • 51% Access Let’s dive deeper into subscriptions, to examine why they operate across boundaries, and are critical to modern trading strategies. Firstly, we generally subscribe to three types of commodities: Physical Goods; Digital Goods and Services, in isolation or in concert. Each commodity shares common characteristics that define them as a subscription: Duration   Renewal processes   Cancelation policies   Payment terms   Price These attributes are critical to both buyers or sellers and determine clear recurring order cycles which help sellers react accurately to supply and demand and buyers quickly assess a cost / benefit analysis. All consumers see this from a value-based purchase perspective, but buyer personas consumption need vary, for example: A procurer at a large hospital will assess the purchase against operational running costs and usages trends.   A manufacturer would define production volumes and profit margins based on the materials required from suppliers in subscription cycles. Arguably the buyer examples open the question “Are these all subscriptions?” and what is the difference between a recurring order vs. manufacturing supply chain vs. subscription. This further dives into the alignment of business and technology needs questions like “Is recurring billing a subscription? Or Is order replenishment a subscription?” I want to recognise that there are fine lines to draw here which can have different interpretations. These differences in language and interpretation provide the 1st supporting point to the opening statement, that we are building artificial boundaries, which we’ll review at the end. Some great customer examples: Blink cat food is a great example of Physical Goods based subscriptions. Providing cat owners the ability to build their own cat food box subscription to meet their specific cats’ needs while giving them peace of mind that they’ll never be caught off guard by an empty cupboard. Starting with a simple trial and graduating to a fully configurable monthly box with personalised discounts all within a few simple clicks while supporting all the base characteristics of great a subscription. Blink was implemented by Pixie Labs, a UK based product development studio and partner of Elastic Path, leveraging Elastic Path Commerce Cloud as the headless commerce solution of choice. Pixie Labs recently launched their new Pre-Composed SolutionTM for Subscriptions which will offer clients selling physical goods a rapidly configurable solution founded on the concepts of Blink, which reduces speed to market and total cost of ownership with a highly customizable subscription management solution which can flex with your needs to ensure complete control over customer experience. CTA reMarkable is a great example of Digital Goods based subscriptions. The recently launched reMarkable Connect subscription services, provide reMarkable customers with the ability to leverage Dropbox or Google Drive integrations to access PDFs which can be uploaded to the reMarkable for reading and dynamic annotation, then sharing via email, to the cloud storage or present live. The reMarkable internal IT team have been leveraging Elastic Path Commerce Cloud for over 5 years and have extended our headless platform with Stripe our premier partner, leveraged by clients for recurring billing-based subscription solutions. Services based subscriptions around various traders is combined the other subscription based or purchasable items. Generally in complex and highly configurable solution offerings to clients & businesses, installation services, maintenance contracts, phone tariffs like T-Mobile and are combined with hardware & software. Today many service based subscriptions are custom built as every service offering is unique to support the the complete services like incident & maintenance services. The baseline attributes required to support service offerings changes the baseline across different business models, requiring a variety of consumption, utilization or distribution approaches, and require allocation of expert services. They help to start building from the baseline attributes, as different business models as the examples above demonstrate, require varying consumption or distribution approaches, and require allocation of expert services. These radically change how the seller markets and release commodities to maximise revenue from the target subscribers, example of addition attributes: These attributes only scratch the surface of possibilities and shouts “With great power comes great responsibility.” I say this as the increasing commercial benefits of subscriptions and our access driven generation of buyers (like my three sons {18, 19, 25}) are: demanding social immersion, experiential engagement, hyper personalisation, low entry costs and simplicity of acquisition. These factors are moving us to what I would call “multi-dimensional subscription configurations” which will combine all purchases & subscriptions into a super subscription set or consumption-based ordering. This also carries the risk of over complicating initial purchasing experiences, and allowing technicians to confuse and scare buyers if not designed with the buyer in mind, and begs the question: Does the most complex model cover all requirements? Well, experience teaches me that the most complete and flexible model “NOT complex” will cover North of 85% of use cases, but never all, and opens a world of potential. This also highlights why there is a growing ecosystem of specialised Subscription software vendor working with this in mind. This serves as the 3rd supporting point to the opening statement. Beyond these basic subscription elements, most running solutions in the wild leverage other touch points which increasingly impacting why subscriptions are becoming more influential, including: Trials, Teasers, Testers, Tasters: Being able to have an initial small order sent home or access to a game you want to test out for a limited usage. As part of the composable subscription solution, inventory and fulfilment could be restricted or the download series will have a timeout set in the entitlement system. The ability to try before you buy is nothing new and is something generally which increases confidence and longevity.   Social & Community: As COVID has proven, we will adapt and overcome and the human desire to interact, communicate, collaborate, and share only burns even brighter online than ever. Coupling this to the fact that many traditional subscriptions offered as part of membership to clubs (crafting, reading, sports .. ). Social and immersive experiences within the eCommerce landscape are at the heart of all great compositions, while leveraging natural and authentic interactions which supports subscribers and allows them to socialise with each other organically growing the future stickiness of the commodity and providing value feedback to the seller.   Loyalty: When we subscribe, especially to a service, the seller wants to build our loyalty to protect their revenue stream. Microsoft and Amazon are great examples as they release additional value-added services and either provide them for free or bundle them for a limited time, and additionally provide services points that can be redeemed as rewards for play and usage.   Promotions: There isn’t a a trading journey or solution operating today that isn’t impacted by some form of promotion and marketing activity. Subscriptions models expand the needs further: i.     First 3 months free and remaining 9 months at 20% off; ii.    Subscribe to this get access to this for 4 weeks free; Additionally handling the promotions at time of renewal and during reverse logistics can be a little unique. Each of these composable components are defined, selected and controlled by the needs and requirements of the business, so transcend baseline concepts of a business model and remove boundaries to trading with all buyer personas. The growing ecosystem of critical touch points is the 4th supporting point to the opening statements that subscription trading models highlight. So let’s wrap up: “Do we need to draw artificial lines between B2C / B2B / D2C / M2Q etc. to get to the right composed solution?” I suggest we should not, let’s look at the supporting point: The overlap in functional and terms, exemplified by subscriptions, shows a wider challenge we face in communicating clearly how to address business needs and impact revenue growth, and trying to bundle everything into a B2B or B2C bucket kills our opportunity to innovate.   Businesses who provide subscriptions want to generate a predictable revenue stream for all commodities they offer. This is designed with a target persona in mind, however the seller wants to open the ability for others to purchase and grow their customer base, whether consumer, reseller, distributor, etc.   The need for open and flexible subscription solutions supports all types of commodities and purchasing terms has not direct correlation to the business model, but the type of commodity and how it will be consumed by the end buyer. Especially with access-based consumption if I’m a business buyer or consumer has little importance.   The expanding Composable Commerce ecosystem demands agility, flexibility, and choice. Subscription models are a collision point requiring interaction across the broader solution landscape while increasing cohesion with the end subscriber to bring value. This is like the 3rd point but is more architectural in nature. When considering the convenience and reduced cost for the buyer, coupled with predictable revenue and increased control over the supply chain, highlights the growing importance of subscriptions in our modern trading world and in my view an important step in the dissolution of boundaries across business models.
    Topics: business, services, break, service, boundaries, based, subscriptions, analysis, subscription, solution, model, great, buyer, revenue, modern, solutions.
  • Why the Creator Economy is a Huge Opportunity for Marketers, According to Joe Pulizzi [+ New Data] - Over the last 18 months, the creator economy has been all the rage — and it's proven to be incredibly lucrative. In fact, as of 2022, the creator economy's market size is estimated at $104.2 billion.
    Topics: audience, marketers, build, huge, revenue, economy, joe, opportunity, according, data, working, pulizzi, creating, creators, business, youtube, content, creator.
  • Wonder Brands picks up $20M, aims to build marketplace of Latin American e-commerce brands - E-commerce roll-up companies are big in the United States, and Wonder Brands wants to be that for Latin America.
    Topics: companies, company, wonder, aims, malek, luna, revenue, brands, operations, techcrunch, build, amazon, american, marketplace, picks, ecommerce, latin, million.
  • - Zalando expects its revenue to be 0.5 to 3 percent lower this year compared to 2022, when the company already saw a 0.1 percent decrease in revenue. While the bottom line loss is narrowing, Zalando is struggling to attract buyers. Particularly in the DACH region, spending is under pressure.These insights…
    Topics: growth, euros, million, zalando, dach, company, trading, spending, decreased, region, revenue.
  • - Zalando saw its earnings before interest more than halve last year. The platform’s sales increased slightly by 3 percent compared to a 34 percent growth in 2021. After a tough year, the fashion giant predicts revenue could shrink in 2023. Zalando released its annual numbers today. The retailer only recently…
    Topics: compared, shrink, size, million, zalando, revenue, zalandos, little, grew, growth, euros, crimp.
  • - Zalando reported an 87 percent surge in adjusted earnings before interest and tax (adjusted EBIT) in the second quarter. On the other hand, the value of the trading volume declined by two percent to 3,7 billion euros. Because of these results, the platform expects the adjusted EBIT in 2023 to…
    Topics: revenue, second, billion, profit, zalando, gmv, lower, quarter, trading, volume, adjusted, ebit, euros, million.
  • eCommerce Platform TCO Comparison: BigCommerce, Magento, Commercetools & Elastic Path -   This post was originally published on June 30, 2019 and has been updated for accuracy and extended context surrounding the topic. When it’s time to choose an eCommerce platform, everyone wants to know which solution will be the best one for their business. But more often than not, the next question is “How much does it cost?” Ideally, we all want the best bang for our buck, but it’s easy to get distracted by the displayed pricing on a website, or the lack thereof. Sometimes we end up jumping for a cheaper priced solution and shying away from those vendors that don’t display their pricing on the website, because we think it’ll be too costly. Only to find out, your “cheaper” solution is more expensive, because you were unaware of all of the additional cost you would incur.   At Elastic Path, we happen to be one of the vendors without upfront pricing because our pricing is truly customized to a business’ needs. However, to help you understand how your total cost of ownership would compare to other vendors on the market, we will outline all the factors that you should be taking into consideration when evaluating your eCommerce solution. We’ll also make reference to some of the the top eCommerce vendors on the market such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Big Commerce, Magento and Commercetools to give you a better idea of where Elastic Path is positioned in comparison.    To get a true understanding of your total cost of ownership you will need to take into account both your first year costs as well as your future costs. These costs include but aren’t limited to:  Base software fee / Licensing fee Hosting cost Implementation cost Third party integrations cost Cost of changes   In this article, we will first dissect each category of cost you should be considering followed by a breakdown of the total cost you can expect over a typical contract period for the aforementioned vendors.     Base Software Fee/ Licensing Fee The base software fee or licensing fee is what we like to refer to as the “upfront” pricing. These fees tend to reflect either monthly or yearly licensing fees, which can be: Tier based, continuous revenue based or percent of sales based.    Tier-based means that there is a predefined price that your company will get locked into based on your current and expected revenue. Elastic Path and Commercetools are examples of vendors that do tier pricing by revenue. The Elastic Path model is based on your transaction volume, which can be structured by Gross Merchandise Volume(GMV) or by the number of orders processed(used more regularly for B2B companies).  For example our pricing starts at $50,000 for companies who are just getting started and have revenue under $10 Million. Our pricing strategy allows you to plan your estimated growth over the next three years, lock in pricing, and allow you to plan for your spend in the future. This promises guaranteed pricing and clarity year over year so you can make plans for the future.   By continuous revenue, we mean the strategy by which vendors price their customers based on the revenue tier that they’re in, but automatically bump them up to the next pricing tier as soon as they go over. We’ve seen vendors such as BigCommerce and Magento use this type of strategy. For Magento customers with revenue between $5-$10 Million, you can expect a licensing fee of about $50K for Magento Enterprise Edition and $80K for Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition.    By percent of sales based pricing, we mean the strategy by which vendors take a small percentage of your Gross Merchandise Volume. Salesforce Commerce is an example of a vendor that uses this type of model. For example, Salesforce Commerce Cloud takes 1-2% of your GMV annually. So at $10 Million in revenue, you can expect to pay around $100K to $200K. This type of model can be quite attractive because there’s no immediate upfront cost and it scales based on how your business performs. However, there is also an additional annual fee of $150K that is mandatory to begin. This is a great example of hidden costs that you may not be aware of upfront.    Implementation Cost Implementation costs are usually the most feared by businesses as it is perceived as the highest costs they will incur. These will usually be dependent on the cost of your developer and the time it takes to build the frontend and backend of your system. However, if you’re in the market for an out-of-the-box solution, the majority of your cost will be dependent on the changes and customizations you will need to alter your pre-built solution. For brands with a unique brand vision and requirements, there will most likely always be customizations needed, and therefore, we recommend working with an agency or systems integrator. Here are a few of the tasks you can expect an agency to complete, that will determine your implementation costs:  Frontend development  Backend development  UI/UX design  Software systems integrations Omnichannel design    Hosting Cost Hosting costs are typically overlooked by teams when planning their yearly budget, but happens to be one of the most important costs you want to consider. Not because it’s overly expensive, but because the hosting provider you choose will determine the performance of your website. Some platforms offer hosting on premise or in the cloud within their platform, while others allow you to choose an outside hosting vendor to be integrated with their solution.  Elastic Path allows you to choose from a variety of hosting vendors that will best fit your business such as Netflify and Amazon AWS. Your hosting cost is commonly determined by the bandwidth and the seats you require. For example, for a mid-sized company with $10 Million in revenue, you can expect to pay around $1000/month for Netlify.  Platforms like Magento also utilize outside vendors such as Nexcess to provide dedicated hosting. For one dedicated server it says you could pay between $700 and  $800/month. However, due to Magento’s large code base, many customers have informed us that they have had to opt in for higher end hosting options in order to not compromise on speed. On average they have spent around $2000/ month on hosting. Other out-of-the-box platforms such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Big Commerce will typically have hosting included in their licensing cost.   Third Party Cost Third party costs are a little bit more intricate. When we think about this cost, we think about either plugins that are supplied by your platform as an application, or api integrations from third party vendors. The purpose of these integrations are to essentially extend your existing platform with other functionality. Some of the core third-party integrations include: content infrastructure, search engines, sales tax management, product information management, and shipping solutions. These costs will differ from vendor to vendor depending on if you leverage the third party as a plugin to your out-of-the-box solution, or buy a specific vendor solution for your Composable Commerce solution.   Cost of Changes One of the most important costs that are often neglected or forgotten are the costs associated with making changes to your solution. Most times we tend to plan and make decisions for “now,” but when the time comes and you are faced with costly changes that you weren’t prepared for, it can be very detrimental to your fiscal budget planning. In addition, if you’re the type of brand that wants to keep up with the ever changing times, updates and changes are inevitable and therefore it is imperative you understand what those costs will look like in the future.    Typical changes you will need to prepare for include:  Upgrades to your commerce software Maintenance of your system Upgrades or changes to your third party technology partners Changes in the backend functionality to fit your business requirements Addition of new user experiences to keep up with customer expectations These changes can become costly very quickly with traditional legacy platforms, as their rigid structure makes changes more difficult, thus driving up developer costs. Composable Commerce solutions on the other hand are more flexible by nature and therefore will end up lowering your overall total cost of changes in the future. As each business’ requirements will be different, we will not be able to provide an estimate of these costs across each vendor. However, from feedback from past customers, on average, Composable Commerce solutions like Elastic Path and Commercetools, lower cost of changes by 40% when compared to rigid legacy platforms like Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Magento.    Now that we've dissected the various cost categories, we have provided an overview of the total costs you can expect either on a monthly or annual basis for a few of the top legacy and Composable Commerce solutions on the market.      BigCommerce BigCommerce positions itself as an eCommerce platform for high volume brands, with  two main payment plans: Essentials Plan and Enterprise Plan.    BigCommerce Essentials  Plan BigCommerce Standard BigCommerce  Plus BigCommerce  Pro Yearly Sales $50,000 $150,000 $400,000 Monthly Pricing $29.95 $79.95 $299.95 The pricing represents their upfront license fee. At these rates, you get your average out-of-the-box store with zero customization, providing you with all the features you need to get a basic store up-and-running. Two additional costs you may not be considering when choosing BigCommerce: They automatically bump you to the next tier if your actual sales exceed the threshold. You spend an additional $150 per $200k sales increase if you go  higher than the BigCommerce Pro Sales Threshold’ e.g. 800k+ Sales = $700+/month.  In addition to these hidden fees, there are also costs associated with plug-in applications for advanced services, as well as a list of 80 themes that range from $145 - $235.   BigCommerce Enterprise BigCommerce Enterprise offers all the core features, along with the addition of some premium features including hosting, security, and support. Their pricing widely varies based on the average order value and the average number of orders processed per month. Based on conversations from some of their sales representatives, the pricing plan ranges anywhere between $400 and $20,000 monthly.  For some additional context, their TCO Calculator shows that based on a $250,000 yearly revenue you will incur:    Infrastructure cost →  $38000+ Site launch cost →  Design, QA Build: $30,000+  Integrations: $3000  Managed support costs→ $5000   Shopify  Shopify is the market leader for SMB customers looking for an out of the box eCommerce website. Shopify customers give up flexibility, meaning that they'll need to be comfortable running their eCommerce website according to Shopify's templates and structures - but for many companies, that is fine because they're just looking for a standard website. Shopify has 5 primary offerings: Lite starts at $9/month Basic starts at $29/month Standard starts at $79/month Advanced starts at $299/month Shopify+ starts at $2,000/month There are also gateway fees, which range from 2.15-3% + $.30 per transaction.    Magento  Magento Community Edition positions themselves as an Open Source eCommerce platform that provides businesses with a flexible, digital commerce solution to successfully sell online. We’ve already written a more detailed post on our blog  that digs into Magento’s TCO. To give you a brief overview of their pricing structure, we’ll focus on Magento’s two main plans: Magento Open Source and Magento Enterprise.   Magento Open Source Magento’s “FREE” Open Source plan proves to be a more customizable option when compared to BigCommerce. Be careful - the only thing free about this option is their licensing fee/download. There are few costs hidden in the background:  Implementation → $30,000 - $100,000+ Hosting → $1000+ Themes → $29-499 Maintenance and Support → $30,000+ Extensions → $0 - $10,000 Third Party Integrations → $6,000 I know what you’re thinking, those added up pretty quickly! To be upfront, the price for a more customized store than BigCommerce is going to start somewhere between $30,000 and $100,000 upwards.     Discover our eCommerce Platform Buyer's Guide See The 7 Considerations when Choosing the best eCommerce Platform in our comprehensive buyer's guide. There is no "best" and therefore, when choosing an eCommerce solution, you should focus on matching your company's specific requirements to each vendor's offering. Go to Buyer's Guide   Magento Enterprise  Magento Enterprise is the premium paid version of Magento, designed for those stores that need more than the community edition offers, based on the size of their company, and the level of customization they’re looking for. However, with this option, you have to empty your pockets for a much higher licensing fee. Based on your revenue, Magento displays their upfront price between  $22,000/year and $125,000/year. Of course this also includes access to more advanced features such as security, mobile commerce, and free professional customer support. However, in addition to including all the core features that the open source version consists of, the same features tend to come at a higher price for this plan. Some of these higher feature costs include:  Implementation → $60,000+ Hosting → $7000+ Themes → $29-499 Magento Certified Gold Partner - $10,000 Extensions → $0 - $10,000 Third Party Integrations → $6,000+   Overall, this comes with more customization, but still lacks complete control over your content. The price for this package starts between $100,000 and $250,000  Overall, Magento Enterprise comes with more customization, but still lacks complete control over your content. The price for this package starts between $100,000 and $250,000 upwards! These are high costs and to make it even worse, Magento’s performance has not been up to standard either. We have evaluated over 1,000 websites running on a range of eCommerce platforms and Magento came close bottom for website performance as a whole. You may want to consider the costs associated with their slow performing stores when considering your total cost of ownership as well. Commercetools Commercetools is a Headless Commerce Platform. To be completely frank, there are no signs of Commercetools’ pricing anywhere! They seem to be a bit secretive, but we have done our best to provide you with the most accurate information based on feedback from our customers, who shared what Commercetools has proposed to them. These costs include:  Implementation →  $300,000 - $1 Million License Fees →  $200,000/year  - $500,000/year Specialized resources→ $150,000/year   Elastic Path  Elastic Path offers Composable Commerce-as-a-Service, an API-First headless commerce microservices solution. Composable Commerce is a modern approach to eCommerce that is built on the concept of composability, where core commerce functionality and partner integrations can be selected and assembled in various combinations to satisfy specific business requirements, at the speed digitally driven brands need to succeed. Composable Commerce were built on three main tenets: Modular architecture  Open Ecosystem  Business Centric Solutions  And it’s with these tenets that Elastic Path has been able to reduce business’ overall total cost of ownership by 25%. As mentioned before, Elastic Path provides a tier based pricing based on Gross Merchandise Revenue. Overall based on a 10 Million revenue, pricing would be around $50K for Elastic Path.  Elastic Path also offers Composable Commerce Experience Assurance that de-risks the management of multi-vendor solutions by providing an expert 24x7 global support team for all issues. This cost of the feature will be 25% of your annual contract value and capped at $25,000 USD/ year. Additional costs will include: implementation costs, hosting costs and third party costs which will lie in the same range of costs for Magento. Where you will end up seeing the greatest cost savings are in the phases of customizations and changes. To get a better understanding of how cost of changes will compare across traditional legacy platforms and Composable Commerce solutions visit our Total Cost of Ownership Guide. If you have more specific questions regarding Elastic Path costs, please refer to the pricing page here.  Summary  Understanding your total cost of ownership is not straight forward and often times we prioritize certain categories of costs and lose overall sight on our expected total cost in the future. As each vendor has different offerings, it will never be easy to compare them across the board. However, if you follow the guide of assessing each category of cost, this will give you and your team a good understanding to make an informed decision. If you have any questions, we are always happy to help - Just reach out to us.        Stay on top of industry trends with the latest blogs and articles from our eCommerce experts.   i { -webkit-transition: color .25s ease-in-out; -moz-transition: color .25s ease-in-out; -o-transition: color .25s ease-in-out; transition: color .25s ease-in-out; color: rgba(68, 68, 68, 1.0) !important; } .subscribe--bar.module_15628520315781867 .btn:hover > i { color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1.0) !important; } ]]>
    Topics: commercetools, ecommerce, pricing, platform, based, magento, path, costs, solution, tco, comparison, cost, bigcommerce, vendors, commerce, revenue, elastic.
  • - German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are extensively utilizing Amazon as a sales channel, both domestically and internationally. Last year, 47,500 of these companies were active on the platform, with an average cross-border sales value of one hundred thousand euros.This information comes from a report on the sales activities of…
    Topics: smes, sales, platform, drives, crossborder, sellers, german, europe, revenue, amazon, company, active.
  • ‘People Development’ Drives AppSumo to $80 Million in Revenue - Ayman Al-Abdullah was CEO of AppSumo from 2015 to 2021. Annual revenue grew from $3 million to $80 million. How, exactly, did he do it?
    Topics: business, work, team, ceo, revenue, youre, million, appsumo, development, drives, deals, product.