Richard Stubbings
Prior to moving to Norwich, England, Richard Stubbings had 20 years IT experience — designing and building major computer applications. He then set up a bookshop concentrating on science fiction, crime, and horror. He soon started selling horror and movie-related figures alongside the books. The shop, called Kulture Shock, went online in 2000. Over the years, he used numerous shopping carts and the ecommerce site (which he has since sold) grew to be successful.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Will Brexit affect my U.K.-based ecommerce business?
June 28, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
To read the newspapers and listen to the television commentators, some would think that the surprise vote in the U.K. to leave the E.U. is a disaster, to change everything.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
For marketplace selling, know written and unwritten rules
June 18, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
If you are selling on a third-party site like Amazon or Ebay, it is important to understand the rules — the written rules and the unwritten ones. The unwritten rules ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
A tale of overzealous security
June 5, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
I will be publishing my normal monthly post in a week or so. Until then, I wanted to share some stupidity with you, following from “Hacked off” and “Are your ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Hacked off
May 15, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
All ecommerce sites are vulnerable to being hacked. No matter how large you are, no matter how much you invest in security and infrastructure, you remain vulnerable. If hackers can penetrate ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Are your passwords secure?
April 12, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
As an online merchant, I have to review my company’s security procedures to retain PCI compliance. Whilst I am not sure of the merits of PCI compliance — I cynically ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
A tale of two suppliers
March 9, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
The attitude of some suppliers amazes me. Recently, we have been going to trade shows to find new products. We have been looking for quality, niche suppliers that have higher-value ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
What’s the future for smaller ecommerce retailers?
February 10, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
With the growing dominance of Amazon and Ebay for everyday consumer items, what future is there for the smaller ecommerce business? Amazon and Ebay both emphasize price. Many shoppers on those sites ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Unfair taxes squeezing my U.K.-based business
January 27, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
I am based in the U.K. Some of the challenges that affect my ecommerce business at first appear different from U.S. businesses. But, in fact, many of these challenges apply ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
The perils of pre-orders
January 3, 2016 • Richard Stubbings
A few years ago, much of my business was built on customers ordering products in advance of the products’ release. Pre-orders allowed us to know what the likely demand was ...
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SEO
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Merchant Voice
Is Google the right search engine to optimize for?
November 25, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
In my previous post — “Is search engine optimization worth the effort?” — some readers questioned what I wrote. But no one picked up on my first assumption, that Google, being ...
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SEO
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Merchant Voice
Is search engine optimization worth the effort?
October 30, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Is search engine optimization a dying trade? Just because there are a large number of firms offering to do the work, is there really a need for it? Whilst there ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Low-cost alternative to multichannel software
September 21, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Due to the ever increasing cost of multichannel software, I have looked for an alternative solution. Until recently I have not found any. I have now. I use Linnworks, an ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Multichannel selling: How to evaluate solution providers
August 29, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
In “Selling on multiple channels creates headaches,” my previous post, I detailed some of the problems a retailer has when trying to sell on third-party websites. There are companies that provide ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Selling on multiple channels creates headaches
July 30, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Many ecommerce retailers are finding it difficult to compete by selling solely on their own sites. Many have started listing their inventory on other sites, such as Amazon and Ebay ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Fast Internet connection creates internal network glitches
June 15, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Many articles about ecommerce address customer-facing issues, such as website design, search engine optimization, content, marketing, and order fulfillment. One often-ignored topic is the basic hardware required —the internal network ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Selling in Europe? Beware strict consumer protection laws
May 16, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
The world is getting smaller, and ecommerce selling is open to competition worldwide. As such, I am beginning to see more U.S. sellers in the U.K., where I live. However,
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SEO
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Merchant Voice
WooCommerce and SEO
April 28, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Every ecommerce site presumably needs to be found by potential customers. Here in the U.K., and indeed in Europe, Google remains the single search engine giant. In the U.S., Bing ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 5
March 27, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
This is the fifth and final installment in a series of posts that describes my disenchantment with Magento and my consideration of WooCommerce as a new platform for my ecommerce ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 4
March 15, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
This is the fourth installment in my series of describing the process of migrating from Magento to WooCommerce. In “part 1,” I discussed my frustrations with Magento and the appeal ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 3
March 5, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
This is the third installment of a series in which I describe my decision to leave the Magento platform, and test WooCommerce. In “part 1,” I explained my disillusionment with ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 2
February 18, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
In “part 1” of this series, I addressed my desire to simplify our company’s ecommerce platform, to move away from Magento. I had decided to test WooCommerce, the WordPress plugin that is ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
From Magento to WooCommerce, part 1
January 30, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
Every three years I conduct a major review of my ecommerce sites. This is typically more than my annual review; everything is under consideration. In previous major reviews I have ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Disaster planning for small businesses necessary?
January 9, 2015 • Richard Stubbings
I have frequently heard that disaster planning and risk assessment are for the large businesses, and that they are a needless administrative task for small companies. Disaster planning and risk ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
The end of automated Amazon repricing?
December 15, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
We all know of Black Friday and the sale prices offered on that day to kickstart holiday sales. But the repricing software Repricer Express created an entire new meaning to ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Amazon’s version of Christmas customer care
December 7, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
At this time of year, more than any other time, you have to work harder at customer care. This is due to two main reasons. Firstly, you have a much ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Consider niche purchasing
December 1, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
Much has been written about the advantages of niche selling. This is because it is a great way forward for independent retailers. Less is written about niche purchasing. This is ...
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
Wanted: crystal ball for inventory demand
November 2, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
The vast majority of articles and blogs regarding ecommerce focus on selling. They discuss the importance of marketing, search engine optimization, site design and navigation, converting customers, and so on.
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Shipping & Fulfillment
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Merchant Voice
Beware parcel forwarding services?
October 15, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
There is an industry growing up within ecommerce that offers parcel-forwarding services. It is mainly in the U.S., but there are similar services in the U.K., where I live. The ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Analyze what visitors search for on your ecommerce site
September 13, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
A good ecommerce site needs watching. You need to constantly monitor what goes on. If you ignore it and expect it to continue earning you money, then you will probably ...
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SEO
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Merchant Voice
Get off the Google merry go round
August 11, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
It’s all very well having a good ecommerce site, with unique content at decent prices. But the only thing that really matters is sales. It is, after all, the profits ...
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