Merchant Voice
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Quality, low-volume goods are a growth market
August 27, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
There is a growing concern for the environment. Conserving resources is becoming more popular. Have you considered how your business can help the environment and make money whilst doing it?
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Cross-border Selling
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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.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Migrating ecommerce platforms is more than moving data
August 6, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
The first question in selecting a new platform is to decide if it's worth the price. Set aside emotions. Does your ecommerce site make a decent profit? Will it make enough money to recoup the investment in a new platform? Does it have the potential to grow?
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Business
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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.
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
My first big inventory mistake
July 3, 2019 • Peter Keller
I'll never forget my first big inventory mistake. It occurred in 2006. I was working for LivingDirect, an online appliance retailer. I thought for sure I would get fired.
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Platforms & Apps
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Merchant Voice
After Magento 1, build something special
June 24, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
Magento will soon stop supporting version 1. Many ecommerce businesses running Magento 1 will be looking for alternatives. There is no shortage of recommendations and advice. Leading contenders include Shopify, WooCommerce, and Open Cart, among others. All have strengths and weaknesses.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
The risk of vanity metrics (and copying others)
June 10, 2019 • Peter Keller
I see a lot of startup entrepreneurs copying successful businesses. The entrepreneurs observe what those businesses do and assume it would work for them. Or they attribute the success of ...
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Business
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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.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
A seller is never bulletproof on Amazon
May 10, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
Relying on one or two platforms for ecommerce revenue is risky. It is relatively easy to build a business on Amazon and eBay. Both marketplaces can present your merchandise to millions of potential customers. But the tradeoff is becoming vulnerable to their foibles.
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Business
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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
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Turns out, I’m a micromanager
May 2, 2019 • Peter Keller
I've been struggling with getting out of the way of my team and letting them do what they're best at. In other words, instead of micromanaging and being involved in everything for my team, I should create the accountability and the structure for them to create excellence…
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Cross-border Selling
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Merchant Voice
My plan for surviving a trade war
April 28, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
For most businesses, daily operations do not change based on who is in political power. Companies are primarily affected by their own decisions, not by the government. However, occasionally there are exceptions. Trade policies are an example.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Are we surfing hidden tailwinds?
April 4, 2019 • Peter Keller
From 2001 until 2008, times were good. I thought we were just smarter than everyone. But then 2008 rolled around. What happened? We were surfing three major tailwinds that we took for granted.
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Google Ads
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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.
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Marketing & Advertising
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Merchant Voice
How I advertise my ecommerce site
March 19, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
Last week whilst I was walking my dogs I noticed an advert on the back of a bus. It was promoting adverts on the back of buses. It suggested that ...
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Schools & Resources
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Merchant Voice
2018: My year in books
March 1, 2019 • Peter Keller
It’s shocking to me how valuable books can be. There are books that have stood the test of time — “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” the Bible, and more — and a never-ending stream of new titles. You can pick up a book for less than $20, and read it in a few hours.
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Business
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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.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Magento 1.9: Going, going, gone?
February 6, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
Time is running out for the thousands of merchants still using Magento 1.9 or older. Support for Magento 1.9 is due to expire by June 2020 at the latest. But ...
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Business
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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.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
U.K. merchant on likely impact of Brexit
January 8, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
Large companies and suppliers that import goods may be affected by increases in tariffs. There could be delays in receiving the goods. But this should not affect small to midsize merchants. And most of the problems will likely occur between the U.K. and mainland Europe.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Cultural changes affect all merchants — ecommerce and brick-and-mortar
January 3, 2019 • Richard Stubbings
As an ecommerce retailer, you may assume you're ahead of the game and thus will reap the reward of consumers migrating online. This is a dangerous assumption. All businesses have to be ready for cultural changes.
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Business
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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.
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Marketing & Advertising
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Merchant Voice
What to do now for 2019 holiday sales
December 4, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
Most ecommerce retailers are now fulfilling the holiday order rush. The vast majority of merchants depend on sales in November and December. It can be the difference between a good year ...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
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Merchant Voice
Why we changed our returns policy
December 4, 2018 • Peter Keller
How should an ecommerce store handle returns? Draconian merchants charge for shipping (both ways) and a hefty re-stock fee — 15 to 25 percent. I’ve never seen a company entirely deny returns.
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Google Ads
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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 ...
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Address potential business conflicts during good times
November 16, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
Very often people launch businesses with friends and family. The reason, typically, is that friends and family are trustworthy. But what happens when things go wrong, or when people disagree?
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Business
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Merchant Voice
My personal productivity stack
October 29, 2018 • Peter Keller
When I first heard of "Getting Things Done," the time-management methodology and book, I was mystified. Surely it’s not that hard to accomplish tasks. Just do them! Now that I’m a little older and a little wiser, I’ve evolved my productivity stack over the years. Here’s how I now get things done.
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Business
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Merchant Voice
Nonstop change is a certainty for ecommerce
October 10, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
The internet continues to disrupt the selling of products and services. The traditional ecommerce strategy of creating a single site and trying to market to the entire internet from that site ...
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Business
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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 —
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Staffing
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Merchant Voice
Hiring for ecommerce, then and now
October 2, 2018 • Peter Keller
What’s the best method for hiring ecommerce employees? I have struggled with the issue over the years. In this post, I’ll describe FringeSport’s hiring process. When we were a bootstrapped startup,