Elizabeth Hollingsworth

The power of an ecommerce blog

September 27, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I used to post to my blog weekly. But now it's every three weeks as my business has grown and I have less time to write. I began to wonder whether I should continue posting. The answer is "yes." Here’s why.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Is it time to reassess importing products from China?

August 9, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Like many online retailers, My Event Décor imports products from China. President Donald Trump’s recent swathe of tariffs on imported Chinese-manufactured goods, as well as the ongoing and increasingly violent street protests in Hong Kong over perceived Chinese interference, makes me nervous.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Even online retailers need a break

July 16, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

If you own or manage a small ecommerce business, you likely want to enjoy a holiday occasionally. But, if you're like me, you worry about the implications of closing the business while away, with no deliveries.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Temporary setbacks have helped my business

June 5, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Every online merchant dreads a phone call or email from an unhappy customer or supplier. But as unpleasant as they are, those calls and emails often present opportunities to improve. Here are examples from my business.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

What it takes to stay in business for 500 years

May 7, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Recently I read an article in “This England,” a history-focused magazine, about the oldest, continuously running family business in Britain. R. J. Balson & Sons was founded in September 1515

Marketing & Advertising > Merchant Voice

How Google Shopping has affected my ecommerce site

April 1, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

It’s been more than six months since I started advertising on Google Shopping. It has greatly improved my revenue, as well as traffic to my site. In this post, I'll recap the metrics.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

How I instill trust on my ecommerce site

February 13, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I try to make it easy for shoppers to purchase and rent decor from my ecommerce site. But many retailers — online and multichannel — fail at this. Their sites are often difficult. In this post, I will discuss my six priorities to instill trust and make shopping easy.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Time to make, save, and invest money

January 11, 2019 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

The start of a new year is a good time to take stock of the previous 12 months in your business. This January, I’m focusing on how I can make, save, and invest money in My Event Décor for 2019.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Black Friday bargains? Not from my business

December 18, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Australian consumers have long been aware of U.S. bargains to be had around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Australian retailers have started to run their own promotions to compete. But I won’t be one of them. Here’s why.

Marketing & Advertising > Merchant Voice

I should have used Google Shopping ads sooner

November 25, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

If you’re a nationwide retailer — or even statewide — you may advertise on Google Shopping, if not Google Ads, or both. As a small online-only retailer, I wish I had ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

The pain of relaunching my website

October 2, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

When I launched My Wedding Décor in April 2015 on the Shopify platform, I chose the Retina Austin theme by New Zealand-based developer Out of the Sandbox. The theme was —

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Event management contest helps students (and my business)

August 14, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I have been slow to adopt videos to showcase my decór products. But I had a brainstorm: I would create a competition for three event management students to produce nine themed events for three stylists in three hours — while being videoed and photographed.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

10 ways to offer shoppers a discount

May 29, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Many online retailers unintentionally train consumers to expect discounts. Clothing stores are amongst the worst offenders. Constant discounting makes full-price shoppers believe they’re being overcharged. They often won’t shop until the next sale, which leads to a vicious cycle. It is a rare company that doesn’t get asked for discounts. In this post, I'll review 10 ways to offer clients a discount.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Merging 2 ecommerce sites

April 25, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

On April 23, 2018, the third anniversary of the launch of My Wedding Décor, I decided to merge that website into My Event Décor. I need to focus my energy ...

Marketing & Advertising > Merchant Voice

Newsletter frustrations result in new target audience

March 27, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Last month I noticed declining subscriptions across my three email newsletters. To offset the reduction, I decided to revise my signup popup box. I've used popup discount offers on other retailers’ websites. So I decided to do the same on mine: offering a discount to new email subscribers. I asked my developer to revise my existing newsletter popups on both websites — My Wedding Décor and My Event Décor — to include a 15 percent discount for subscribers’ first orders.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Comparing KPIs for 2 websites in first year of trading

February 19, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Now that My Event Décor has been live for just over 12 months, it’s time to check its metrics and compare its growth against the first year of My Wedding Décor. Both My Event Décor and My Wedding Décor took several weeks to make the first online sale — the former recorded its first online sale within 37 days of launch, the latter within 21 days.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Would relocating damage my ecommerce business?

January 6, 2018 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

When I met my English husband-to-be seven years ago, he had relocated to Melbourne, Australia. At the time, I lived in Sydney, roughly 540 miles (870 km) north of Melbourne. My mother lived on the Gold Coast, in Queensland, 540 miles (840 km) north of Sydney. On moving to Melbourne, I was easily able to relocate my ecommerce business, which sold hardbound and emailed astrology reports, boxed gift certificates, and telephone consultations.

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Why can’t Australians purchase gift cards from U.S. merchants?

November 30, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

The Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales phenomenon is beginning to make an impact online and in brick-and-mortar stores, in Australia. Five years ago, inspired by the U.S. Cyber Monday sales, Click Frenzy ...

Conversion > Merchant Voice

6 ways I make more money from my websites

October 31, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Since launching the first of my two décor websites in April 2015, and the second in January 2017, I’ve learnt a few tactics that have helped my businesses make more ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Avoid ‘saving money’ content if you want higher-end clients

September 27, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

How do you position your ecommerce products and services? Are your items, on average, more expensive than your competitors? Do you offer high-end, custom products that shoppers can’t find elsewhere? Or ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

New subcategories increase sales and signups

August 30, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Ecommerce sites typically launch with a modest product range and, potentially, category names that will become redundant as the business grows. I launched My Wedding Décor over two years ago with ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Pros and cons of running 2 businesses

July 30, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I launched My Event Décor in January 2017 to sell products to corporate event designers and marketing managers. My Wedding Décor, which I started in April 2015, targets couples, wedding planners, and stylists. I ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

What I’ve learnt from millennials and baby boomers

June 24, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

In the past nine months, I’ve had three event-management interns — two millennials (the generation born 1981-2000) and a baby boomer (those born 1946-1964) — work with me at My ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Preparing to exhibit at a wedding expo

April 25, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

My Wedding Décor will soon exhibit at One Fine Day Wedding Fair in Melbourne, Australia. One Fine Day has been running high-end wedding fairs in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Deleting slow-moving inventory

March 27, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

My Wedding Décor will celebrate its second birthday next month. When the website launched in April 2015, it began with 80 products, which had grown to almost 500 products at the ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

The challenge of setting up a second website

January 28, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

There must be many businesses that launch with a specific customer target market in mind, and then receive orders from quite different groups. When I launched My Wedding Décor in April ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

For 2017: Better marketing, better products, better automation

December 30, 2016 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

I have been using the holidays to plan a three-point strategy for 2017. Create better targeted marketing. Fine-tune my product range and pricing for better profitability. Streamline customer service with automated emails where ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

How long to wait for a return on investment?

November 29, 2016 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

One of the challenges of an online retailer is to determine the best advertising channels. In addition to Facebook advertising, I decided to concentrate My Wedding Décor on a few wedding directories to ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

Wedding rentals (and order thresholds) boost revenue

October 24, 2016 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

When I launched My Wedding Decor in April 2015, the site had just 80 or so products for sale. Three weeks passed and I received my first order, from a Sydney-based ...

Management & Finance > Merchant Voice

How I maximize my holiday promotions

September 15, 2016 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

The critical holiday selling season is almost here. Here are five items that I’m focusing on to get the most of my holiday marketing activities. Offer coupons for additional info. Offer ...

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