#ecommerce order processing amazon order processing

[mariacallous]

The Unexpected Winners of Trump’s Trade War

Americans are now hit with tariffs when they shop from overseas sellers on eBay and Etsy. Shein and Temu had months to get ahead of the curv

I thought I had outsmarted Donald Trump’s tariffs, but I was wrong. Well, at least sort of.

On August 29, the US government officially ended an 87-year-old rule that allowed Americans to import small packages tariff-free. Known as the de minimis exemption, the policy had allowed shipments under a certain value threshold—$800 in recent years—to clear customs without paying any duties. Policymakers have been debating changing de minimis for years, but when it finally happened, the move still sent shock waves through the global ecommerce and shipping industries.

Twelve days before the new rule went into effect, I placed an order on Etsy for a set of custom wooden slats to cover my living room cabinet doors for a more polished look. This is my second time shopping from the same indie seller, so I knew they were based in Ukraine. But I was hoping that I made my purchase early enough to beat the de minimis deadline and save on tariffs. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

It’s now September, and my package still hasn’t arrived. Denys, the shop owner, explains that my order got caught in a bureaucratic vortex after it was shipped in the days leading up to the end of de minimis, when customs agencies had not yet established clear new procedures for tracking small packages and applying tariffs to them. “Based on what we see, customs may take another week or two to fully adapt,” Denys said on Tuesday.

The total value of the order was less than $40, far below the old de minimis threshold, but thanks to processing disruptions and delays, my package is now subject to Trump’s country-specific tariffs. They’re just 10 percent for goods from Ukraine, and Denys says he’s willing to cover the added costs himself because he wants international customers to remain happy “with Ukrainian brands in general.”

While I personally won’t have to pay more for this specific purchase, the experience underscores a deeper point about the whole de minimis mess: While headlines largely focus on how Trump’s new tariff regime is affecting giants like Amazon, Walmart, Shein, or Temu, those who are feeling the squeeze the most are small foreign business owners like Denys.

Unexpected Winners

In fact, the Chinese ecommerce giants may already have an advantage in this new environment. Since May, Chinese packages have no longer qualified for the de minimis exemption. That means Shein and Temu have had a few months to adjust to the new rules before the Trump administration expanded them to the rest of the world. And it turns out, the elimination of de minimis hasn’t stopped their overall growth: The Chinese publication LatePost reported that global sales for Shein and Temu are higher this year compared to 2024.

Seema Shah, vice president of research and insights at Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, says that Temu and Shein slashed their US advertising spending by 87 percent and 27 percent, respectively, in the second quarter of 2025 (when the new tariffs went into effect) compared to the first quarter of the year. Paid marketing has been especially important for Temu and Shein because they face higher user churn rates than their American competitors. But if they doubted their US business could stay profitable in face of the new trade policies, why would they spend money trying to acquire more users here? “Business-wise, that makes sense. There’s no point in spending money when you're in the news in a negative way,” Shah says.

But Shein and Temu didn’t stop marketing altogether. Instead, both companies chose to shift their ad budgets abroad to regions where the geopolitical risks were perceived to be lower and growth opportunities more abundant. Shein spent 22 percent of its overall advertising spend in the US market during the second quarter, compared to 39 percent in the first three months of 2025, according to Sensor Tower. Temu’s US spend, meanwhile, went from 47 percent to merely 9 percent. As a result, Shein and Temu’s sales in countries other than the US, such as the UK, have surged to record highs.

But the dip didn’t last long. After hitting rock bottom in June, both companies began ramping back up their US ad spending in July, Shah’s data shows. In August, Shein spent more on marketing in the US than it did in August 2024.

The figures reflect the fact that the Chinese platforms had figured out a new playbook: continue shipping products despite the tariffs, pass some costs to consumers, and stay competitive by focusing on building independent supply chains and warehouse networks that can help keep shipping costs down.

App store charts suggest that the new strategy is working. After a brief slide in popularity earlier this year, Shein and Temu were now once again ranking within the top 5 apps in the shopping category of the US Apple App Store and Google Play store as of Wednesday.

Temu and Shein did not immediately reply to requests for comment from WIRED.

Behind the Curve

The big Chinese platforms had been preparing for the end of de minimis for more than a year and were able to quickly recalibrate their logistics strategies when the tariffs finally went into effect. The same cannot be said for independent shops.

Denys, the Ukrainian Etsy shop owner, says he’s anticipating needing to raise the price of his products to stay afloat. “If the new tariffs remain, prices will inevitably increase by at least that 10 percent in the future,” he says.

He has recently begun working with a local Ukrainian shipping company called NovaPost, which stepped in to help sellers navigate customs procedures and pledged to shoulder part of the fee increases for local companies. The situation in Ukraine is far less chaotic than in other parts of the world, where many postal companies have completely halted sending packages to the US because of ongoing confusion over the details of Trump’s trade policies.

I think we all benefit from being able to shop from small vendors around the world. Over the past few years, I’ve purchased a 3D-printed topographic map from Canada, art prints from Germany, and Denys’ woodwork from Ukraine. I didn’t set out to shop from foreign brands, but modern global ecommerce platforms gave me access to a wider range of products, which were often sold at lower prices than the goods in nearby retail stores. Short of learning carpentry myself, Denys’ Etsy shop in Ukraine is probably the best option for getting affordable customized woodwork to my home in New York City.

But with the end of de minimis, many Americans might choose to cut back on buying artisanal goods and other nonessential items from abroad. If that happens, small sellers will be the ones hit the hardest. “This mostly affects impulse buying and then things we don’t need,” Juozas Kaziukėnas, an ecommerce platform analyst, told my colleague Boone Ashworth. “It's not affecting the price of milk, for example.”

I’m still waiting for my wooden slats, which Denys says should finally clear customs soon. I’m hoping that businesses like his are able to survive in this new ecosystem. Otherwise, I might have no choice but to take up carpentry, but who knows how much I would have to pay in tariffs on my new woodworking tools?

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), LATE JULY 2024

Things have been hectic so this is a long one update - all the Etsy and other ecommerce news from the past month, broken down for your convenience!

Next week could be a big Etsy news week, with the 2nd quarter report being released, and the mature items ban kicking in. I'm also working on analysis of the new Creativity Standards, but we may not have more substantial information on those until Etsy makes another move. Right now the categories are a mess, but that could change.

A reminder that you can receive more timely updates plus exclusive content - including live chats with me on select topics such as Etsy's new Creativity Standards - by supporting my Patreon: patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

The European Union is considering making packages valued under 150 euros subject to customs duties when entering the EU. This is widely seen as a way to reduce Shein and Temu orders. 

The Etsy Creativity Standards announced on July 9th have a lot going on; here is my short summary so far. [post by me on Patreon] While I would not worry too much about this just yet, I expect them to be more important in the near future.  Etsy adding "Made by", "Handpicked by" to every listing is currently full of errors, but more disturbingly, even when a seller points out these errors with arguments from the written policy, Etsy Support is sometimes insisting that the designations are correct. For example, original paintings are lumped in with AI designs and digital downloads. [Post by me on LinkedIn] 

Amazon is imposing new rules regarding on-time delivery rates (OTDR); sellers that do not meet the standard of 90% on time delivery will not be able to continue selling. Businesses are exempted if they use the following tools: Shipping Settings Automation, Automated handling time, and Amazon Buy Shipping. Amazon is allowing only 5 days after shipment for products to arrive within the US. You can read the announcement and vigorous forum discussion here, and EcommerceBytes did a summary of the changes and some complaints.

ETSY NEWS 

As Etsy's widespread ban on many adult-themed products is about to take effect on Monday, I considered why Etsy felt the need to take far more drastic steps than Amazon & eBay has in the same markets. [post by me on Tumblr] The upcoming ban started by getting media attention from Mashable, and quickly escalated to the New York Times [not a gift link; soft paywall]. Etsy is still not commenting on why they are doing this. From the NYT article: "Even before the ban, it was getting harder to run his business, Mr. Goldstein said. So, he thought, “Why don’t we just make our own marketplace?” This year, he started the website Spicerack as an independent alternative to Etsy. The online boutique already has about 75 sellers, which are vetted to make sure they’re not “dropshippers” or simultaneously listing products on e-commerce behemoths like AliExpress or Amazon. Mr. Goldstein said that Spicerack is in the process of adding about 100 more sellers, half of whom signed up when the Etsy ban was announced." From the BBC: “In many countries there is pressure on platforms, sometimes backed by new legislation, to do more to prevent under-18s from encountering explicit content, and to remove illegal or "harmful" content from their platforms. Payment processors are also increasingly wary of working with platforms that enable sex based commerce....those concerns could be addressed by more clearly labelling and separating adult product listings..." The Guardian interviewed a few sellers who are affected.

While Etsy previously stated that the new shop set-up fee would be $15 USD, they quietly changed that, to whatever they feel like charging. [post by me on Patreon]

In case you missed it, the new listing form seems to be triggering Etsy Ads campaigns to start without the seller’s knowledge. [post by me on LinkedIn] Since my post, there are still more reports of this happening, and even more. 

I regret to inform you that Etsy’s Search Analytics are going to disappear after August 14 [post by me on LinkedIn], per a banner on the page.

Canadian sellers will have to pay a 1.15% “Regulatory Operating Fee” on all of their sales income (including shipping and gift wrap) starting August 15. This is likely due to a new law taxing large ecommerce platforms 3% of their Canadian income, which came into effect June 28. The tax applies retroactively back to the beginning of 2022, so Etsy is likely overcharging us to cover those earlier amounts. 

Sellers having difficulties with the domestic pricing tool not working correctly may want to try these tips from an Etsy forum thread: Set the domestic price to the global price amount, save, and then go back in and change the domestic price to your preferred amount, then save again. This apparently works for both new and existing listings, but there are 3 drawbacks: 1) it is time-consuming, 2) it needs to be done any time a listing is changed/edited (including renewals), and 3) it doesn’t seem to work for France. (I don’t ship to France so I cannot test the last point.) Remember, if you have a sale go through for the wrong price, contact Etsy and demand to be compensated the difference. 

Still don’t believe that Etsy is serious about shipping on time? See this Reddit thread by a seller who ignored a 30-day warning, so all of their items were removed from search. From this screenshot, it appears their average order value was fairly high, but that doesn’t mean Etsy will tolerate late shipping from shops with cheaper items, so beware. 

Etsy is testing filtering out digital items from search results unless the terms match a digital item search. See Etsy forum threads here and also here. 

A new academic study calls out Etsy and other online marketplaces for allowing illegally-killed bats to be sold on their sites. “We refute any assertion that the online bat trade is ethical. Again, statements that bats were captive-bred are absurd—bat farms are nonexistent—and it would be impossible for suppliers to find bats that have died naturally in the kind of condition and numbers needed to supply an ornamental trade. These bats were hunted.” The New York Times has also now covered this story [soft paywall]. 

The virtual seller education event Etsy Up is scheduled for September 10. You can register here, but there is no program yet. Usually this event has almost nothing worthwhile for experienced shops, and Etsy generally uses it to push their paid services and integrations along with basic info. 

Etsy is looking for sellers to join their Advocacy program and “share your story”. Beware that sometimes Etsy’s “advocacy” is as much for Etsy as for its sellers, so they are looking for stories that fit Etsy’s own goals. 

The Etsy Design Awards have opened; the final date for submissions is August 8. 

Etsy’s second quarter results for 2024 will be released July 31.

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Shein and Temu are facing investigations under the EU’s Digital Services Act. “In a press release, the EU said it’s asking Shein and Temu for more information about measures they’ve taken to meet DSA obligations related to what’s known as “Notice and Action” mechanisms, which should allow users to notify the marketplaces of illegal products.It has also requested info related to the design of their online interfaces, which the pan-EU law mandates must not deceive or manipulate users, such as via so-called “dark patterns”.” Temu is also being sued by Arkansas for having an invasive app that is accused of harvesting data without user permissions. “According to the complaint, Temu is allegedly obscuring its unauthorized access to data through misleading terms of use and privacy policies that do not alert users to the full scope of data that the app can potentially collect. That includes not telling users about tracking granular locations for no defined purpose and collecting "even biometric information such as users’ fingerprints."

Amazon

Amazon now has an AI shopping “assistant” on its US app, called Rufus. “Customers can ask questions about products, comparisons and buying considerations. The AI can provide suggestions for specific tasks or projects.” As per usual with AI, “tests show Rufus doesn’t always provide accurate information.” A review from Marketplace Pulse notes that “Amazon’s AI assistant fails to help shoppers find the best product among the millions in the catalog. It transforms broad questions like “What are the best cycling gloves for winter?” into a few links to product searches — the same searches a shopper could have typed themselves. It refuses to make product recommendations, show specific products, or suggest from the thousands of options. It can’t directly answer the question, “What are the cheapest batteries for my TV remote?”

Any sellers who had items removed for being plants or seeds when they actually aren’t should follow the instructions linked to here to get the situation resolved. An Amazon employee warned sellers: “Please do not acknowledge the violations as these will result in the deactivation of your listings.” Affected businesses should instead appeal the flags.  

Amazon is planning a discount drop shipping from China section, widely seen to be competition to Temu and Shein. However, “[i]t is not clear if these shipments will be made using a U.S. trade provision that exempts individual packages worth less than $800 from U.S. customs duties.”

The European Commission has asked Amazon for more information on “recommender systems, ads transparency provisions and risk assessment measures.” 

Only 1% of US Amazon sellers also offer their items outside of North America. “Due to its proximity to the U.S., Canada has more successful sellers from the U.S. than Canada.” If you have a unique product, this could be an opportunity.  Amazon returns are creating huge workloads for UPS stores and other retailers that accept them. “Amazon “makes up about one-tenth of our profits, but it takes up about 90 percent of the working day,” said Jeremy Walker, a store associate who worked at a UPS Store near Dallas that received between 300 and 600 returns per day.”

Depop

After trying it out in the UK, Depop is removing selling fees for the United States, starting July 15. Payment processing fees still apply. “[B]buyers will now be charged a "marketplace fee" of up to 5% plus a fixed amount up to $1.”

An interview with Depop CEO Kruti Patel Goyal reveals they plan “to bring Depop to a bigger and broader audience over time.” 

eBay

eBay is slowly rolling out changes to the Active Listings page. 

eBay sellers can now get cash advance loans through Liberis, the balance of which gets paid as a percentage of the seller's sales. 

New sellers in the UK might see “automated feedback” on some of their orders, to "help [users] buy and sell with confidence". It will say "This seller successfully completed an order", and is removed once the actual buyer leaves feedback. 

Michaels MakerPlace

Abby Glassenberg reviews Michaels’ MakerPlace popups inside their retail stores. Results seem mixed.

Shopify

A few hundred thousand Shopify users may have had their names, addresses and other data put up for sale on July 3 after a breach. Shopify denies it had any security issues and claims the data came from a third-party app. There was a known data breach at Evolve Bank and Trust in June; that institution is a supporting partner for Shopify Balance. It does appear that Shopify is notifying the affected individuals.

Walmart Walmart is adding pre-owned collectibles to its marketplace. “Eligible categories include Toys (Figures, Dolls, Trains, Plushies, Games, LEGO, Funko, Diecast Cars & Hot Wheels); Media & Music (Movies, Vinyl, Music, SteelBooks, Musical Instruments & Entertainment Replicas); Trading Cards; Comic Books & Books; Sports Memorabilia; and Coins.”

All Other Marketplaces

Indiegogo is opening an ecommerce website for items created through crowdfunding campaigns on the platform, called IndieShop. 

Etsy-owned Reverb now has an “outlet” page, where businesses can sell off their overstock, seconds and out-of-date models for 20% off and free shipping. Most products sold through the main portion of Reverb are used, not new, so this competes with regular sellers. 

Not sure if selling on Faire is right for your business? Here’s a handmade-focussed review of the wholesale site.

Payment Processing

Klarna is now available through Adobe Commerce (previously Magento). 

Shipping

USPS rates for labels on most platforms went up July 1, ahead of the previously-announced July 14th increases. Ina Steiner re-posted the numbers from eBay and Pirate Ship. 

USPS released the addresses and other data of logged-in Informed Delivery users to Meta, LinkedIn and Snap. The company claims it didn’t know the data transfer was happening. 

The free USPS Priority medium shipping tubes are no longer being made, but you can still order existing stock. 

Royal Mail’s Tracked 28 & 48 are now available at post offices. 

UPS’s holiday surcharge rates for the US have been released; the lower surcharges start September 29th.

Shippo has new Canada Post rates from now until January, and the Tracked Packet rates to everywhere but the United States are cheaper than Etsy’s (which are based on Level 4 of Solutions for Small Business). Remember that Shippo makes you pay for a higher tier of service if you use over 30 labels per month.

[cristinaarce]

BUSINESS OPERATIONS FOR AN ONLINE RETAILER

Business operations vary according to the business type, industry, and size.  The business operations for brick-and-mortar stores may have some similar elements to an online store, but they also have some unique operations.

Ecommerce allows you to optimize an infrastructure to sell to a huge world-wide audience online efficiently at a lower cost than running a physical store, but it is not as easy as most may think.  Building an eCommerce business takes more than choosing a brand name, writing a product listing, and starting selling the product.  Or even having a website filled with hundreds of products, dozens of categories, and no real focus.  Unless you are Amazon, that does not work.  You need to niche down to run a profitable store, put systems in place in the process of selling those products.   Even the best idea/product won’t sell if the website does not have any traffic.

I will be listing some of the many elements that need to be taken care of daily, weekly, and monthly, to run an online retail, and how I am applying it to my own business.  You will also notice some of the struggles and challenges that as a business owner one has to face.

Manufacture.

The recent events related to the Covid pandemic have affected many manufacturing companies and their suppliers.  Most of them have had to temporarily close for several weeks, and some are struggling to survive.  Initially I was starting a business relationship with only two suppliers, but now I am increasing my options for suppliers because some of the ones I had deals with, have no timeline to open, or do not have any products available just yet.

After doing some additional research, I have found a Canadian supplier located in Montreal that offers a similar product than the one I had planned.  It is not exactly the same, but since the other suppliers are still closed, I needed to find a new one as soon as possible.  I have ordered an initial sample from them over the weekend, so now I just need to wait to check their quality, real producing timelines, and shipping deliveries.  Since this manufacturing company is about 6 hours away from my residence, if the opportunity is available, I may consider setting up an appointment for a quick visit.  (I have emailed them this afternoon, but haven’t gotten a reply about this matter just yet). I will need to find out about the production time and lead time with them to ensure there is enough time between the end date of the manufacturing process, shipping time, and the launch date of the store for this course.

Part of the $50 was invested and used to buy the sample from this manufacturer.

Inventory Management.

I am producing a custom made product, so I will not be carrying any inventory.  When the customer orders a product, I will be sending the designs, specifications, and order to the manufacturer to produce.  Since it's a custom made product, I will take longer to produce than buying an already existing one, but the client will have the satisfaction of having a personalized product exclusively made for them.

Online Store There are literally hundreds of eCommerce shopping platforms.  Choosing the right software is not easy.  You need to evaluate things like compatibility with different payment gateways, loading speed, SEO-friendly and social media features, and more.

Even though the possibility to sell on Amazon or any other marketplace is available, I love the idea of owning my own digital real estate.  I have owned my personal website since 2001 with only my name (and dot com) which is almost impossible to find these days.  I also own different URLs related to my photography and fine art store, so I find it logical to have my own for the clothing store too.  Since I have been a long-time client of SiteGround, I will be able to get my URL through them.  The hosting plan I am already paying for my other websites allows me to have unlimited websites, free SSL, free business email, unlimited databases, daily backups, and up to 100,000 visits monthly.  I have checked and the brand name I want for the store is available. This company’s service integrates perfectly with Shopify, which is the eCommerce platform that I will be using. My next step is to start choosing which theme will work best for the online store I want to create, and start designing it.  I have a background as a graphic designer (I have been one for 20+ years), so I will be doing the website myself.  The investment here will be mostly my time. As a future investment, I will be looking into SEO optimization, email marketing, and strategies for diverse online marketing like pay-per-click ads or sponsored content to drive traffic to the store.

Social Media Channels

Most businesses sell through their website, marketplaces, and also social media.  My brand will follow those steps too.  I have reserved the social media handles with the name I will be using for the store.  After I set up the website, and am still waiting for the sample to arrive, I will start brainstorming ideas for social media content.

Image source: ecommerceceo.com

Licenses and Permits I will be outsourcing the production of the product initially to a canadian company, so I won’t need a license for that.  Eventually, when I am required to find another supplier outside Canada, I will need to look into more details about Import and Export regulations and permits, and also the potential customs fees I might need to pay.

Test Product As soon as I get the initial sample, I will test the product.  I will test it myself, and get extra eyes and hands on it.  I will try to get feedback from family, friends, and hopefully potential customers.  I will get all their thoughts together and make necessary changes, or improvements.

Organization, Workflow, and Systems Since I am new to the retailer industry, I am creating templates to organize myself a little bit better.  Some of the templates are to keep all the details of the products in one place.  I have also created one specifically for the product samples.

I am looking into digital workflow systems that may help running the store smoothly and as automate as possible.

There are still many more elements to take into account then running an online retailer like: - Fulfilment process - Warehouse space - Payment Methods - Customer Service and Returns process - Accounting - Multi-currency, multi-language websites to sell overseas - Taxes And many more.

 Image source: careertraining.ed2go.com

[b2binfographic]

Top E-commerce Trends that Will Boost Your Sales this Year

E-commerce is a booming industry and is expected to continue growing year over year. In 2018, almost 12 percent of all retail sales around the world came from e-commerce. Predictions indicate this figure will continue to rise to 17.5 percent by 2021. That being said, there is no better time to start optimizing your e-commerce store than right now. If you want to boost your sales, it is important that you pay attention to trends and adopt the ones that make sense for your business. Below are just some of the e-commerce trends you need to keep an eye on in 2019:

Faster Shipping and Better Logistics

Dropshipping

This is a growing trend among online vendors and that is especially easy to adopt if you are short on space or capital for starting a business. Dropshipping means that the vendor doesn’t keep their inventory on hand for the items they are selling. As the seller, you buy products from wholesalers or straight from the manufacturer to fulfill your customers’ orders as they come in. This model lets you start your own business sans a large capital commitment. Plus, you aren’t tied to a specific location either since you aren’t having to handle your own products. 

Recommended: What Is Dropshipping and How Does It Work?

Better Payment Methods

Convenience is a huge factor in e-commerce (and life in general). One of the best ways to provide customers with a hassle-free shopping experience is to offer a comprehensive selection of payment options. Besides allowing them to pay with debit or credit cards, make sure to offer PayPal and digital wallets, such as Samsung Pay, Walmart Pay, and Apple Pay. The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies also means payment through Bitcoin will become more common and is something more retailers will be adding on. Providing payment methods that customers are comfortable with and put them at ease from ordering online are a great way to build trust and encourage conversions.

Same-day Delivery

Consumers in the digital age value speediness, especially when it comes to order delivery! Couriers and other traditional delivery methods are far from obsolete, but more and more e-commerce shops are offering same-day delivery. In metro areas, some companies even deliver merely two hours after the purchase is completed. The faster you can fulfill customer orders, the more satisfied customers will be and the more likely they will be to return in the future. 

Subscription Services

You may think subscription services are a tired model, but you’d be surprised to find they’re still alive and doing well. Many customers like subscription services because it means they get their favorite products consistently and conveniently when they need them. Innovators in this space include Dollar Shave Club and Birchbox—who cracked the code for making subscriptions fun again.  For sellers, having subscribers makes it easy to predict your revenue and scale up as your customer base grows.

Purchases through Smartphones

More people are using smartphones not just to surf the internet, but also to complete their online purchases. Make sure that your site experience is taking this behavioral shift into account and mobile shoppers feel ***. On a related note, some experts believe that mobile apps will overtake web browsers as the preferred point for online purchases. Take advantage of this growing trend by installing mobile payment apps in your site or making your very own e-commerce mobile app. 

Smarter Marketing Strategies

Mobile Marketing

Mobile devices have become an integral part of daily life, being tools for communication, education, and entertainment. As an e-commerce site owner, you can benefit from this trend by marketing directly to mobile users. Statista says that over 46 percent of users in Asia have bought products using their mobile device and these figures are expected to rise in the coming years. Moreover, the rise of mobile has changed the way people buy, with many consumers researching products before buying them from nearby stores. This trend, called Research Online Purchase Offline (ROPO), is partly responsible for an increase in the number of businesses pairing their e-commerce sites with actual, brick-and-mortar stores.

Targeted Advertising

One of the best features of online advertising is the ability to show your ad to people who will most likely respond positively to them. Programmatic advertising uses datasets based on how users consume content to select the best people for your audience. One example is the Facebook pixel, which you can use even when using third-party e-commerce platforms like Magento.

User-generated Content

Content remains an important aspect of a strong marketing strategy. One of the most compelling types of content you can use is the content your customers create themselves. These could be any type of media – videos, images, stories, or GIFs, and much more! The beauty of this strategy is that it allows you to engage with your community of customers, cultivate positive buzz about your products and establish brand loyalty in the process. Just encourage your customers to share content with your brand, lifestyle photography is a great way to show your products in action!

Influencer Marketing

If you aren’t using influencers to promote your products online, you’re missing out on the approximately 30 percent of consumers that have bought products from non-celebrity influencers recommendations. Having influencers vouch for your products – and your e-commerce site itself – could be one of the most effective ways to increase your revenue and marketing reach this year. Recommended: How to Do Influencer Marketing for Ecommerce Brands

Social Shopping

The power of social media is undeniable. Facebook, one of the biggest social networks today, had more than two billion monthly active users worldwide at the end of 2018. This means that selling on social media is an important channel to add to your e-commerce toolbox. Facebook now allows users to add a shop to their page, letting you tag products in image posts and videos for a seamless checkout process. Pinterest also offers “shoppable” image posts in addition to product advertising.

Improved Business Technologies

AI and AR

Artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) are no longer just science fiction fare, they’re already aiding e-commerce sites in selling products. AR, for instance, is used to show consumers how products (such as makeup and clothes) will look on them even before they buy. AI, on the other hand, is being tapped for chatbots that interact with buyers, assisting them any hour of the day.  Recommended: eCommerce Chatbots: 5 Things Bots Can Do for Your eCommerce Biz

Automation

Keeping track of your inventory, among other tasks, can be a daunting responsibility. Depending on the circumstances, it may even come with plenty of room for errors. Automation is changing the situation, with certain tools performing tasks like loading and publishing your products, keeping track of your customers’ behavior, and controlling the flow of your ads for you. As a result, you are better able to serve your customers and provide outstanding service. Plus when used in conjunction with artificial intelligence, basic customer support can be automated to better serve your customers and reduce wait times.

Visual and Voice Search

Both image search and voice search are expected to become more powerful drivers of internet sales in the next few years. Image search allows users to search for products through their camera, which means they can search for information about the dress their friend is wearing or the car parked on the corner. This visual search technology isn’t as developed as voice search yet. Voice search allows users to perform a search through speech and is often performed with tools like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa. As proof of its potential, 58 percent of users have already used voice search to look for business in 2017.

Recommended: Voice Search – Why Everyone Is Talking about It (and Why You Should Join the Conversation)

Personalization

Exclusivity is a considerable influence over consumers’ decision-making process for purchases. E-commerce giants like Amazon offer personalized recommendations, as well as wishlist features, and their customers love them for these. This trend will become even more important in 2019 as personalization becomes the norm and an expected aspect of the e-commerce experience. 

Conclusion

E-commerce is undoubtedly going to continue to grow and be a huge force for change in the retail industry. Optimize your profitability by getting to know what trends are on the rise and incorporating them into your business’ strategy. Read the full article

[skuplugs]

What Makes POS Integrations So Important?

The world has come a long way from using mere cash registers and daily logs of transactions for their everyday businesses to advanced mechanisms of accounting and bookkeeping. Businesses today need to be competitive and be on their toes in order to tackle everyday issues at an optimum level. However, this is a constant process as technology is always changing and advancing. Such advancement in the world of business and accounting is the POS ecommerce integration. The Point of Sale system, Fancy Integration, VendHQ Integration, Amazon Integration, Bigcommerce Integration, Magento Integration, Lightspeed Integration, Shopify Integrations, Erply Integration, Woocommerce Integration or simply referred to as POS integrations, is an integrated mechanism that allows businesses to switch to a computerized system for all operations related to their business such as monitoring sales, keeping track of the cash flow, managing inventory, adding deal and offers to the final transactions receipts, and other simple bookkeeping tasks.

For the purpose of understanding the true benefits of the POS system, you need to realize the full potential of this coming of age technology.

The Point of Sale system allows a business to have a real-time report with the details of the sales it made. For a business in the retail business, sales are of paramount importance. This in-turn enables businesses to assess their position in the market and judge themselves on the basis of the performance of the business. This analysis includes the items that sell in abundance and the items whose sales are lacking.

Strategy implementation is one of the stronger suits of the POS system. A business can easily make strategies and implement them to boost their sales. The advantage here is that all the strategies will be made based on the real-time feedback from the Point of Sale system. Therefore, the business can know what products to focus on and what product to discontinue.

Customer crevice is of utmost importance. Studies suggest that if the customers are happy with the service they receive, they are bound to come back for more. And that is why the POS system is so valuable. The transaction is much more systematic, much quicker, and no chances of sales discrepancies. The POS system is also efficient in providing a vast range of payment options such as debit cards, credit cards, gift vouchers, and coupons.

Inventory management has always been a tedious task for retail businesses for a long time. The retail Point of Sale integration has helped businesses overcome this hurdle. Managing inventory is as simple as it gets with POS. The inventory gets updated automatically as items get sold and restocked. The software will let you know the need to reorder a product in case it is low in the inventory list.

On the bigger scheme of things, it is important to understand the extent to which reliable and potent retail POS integration can save time on paperwork, inventory, accounting, time management, and general bookkeeping. Point of Sale integrations is the need of the hour for business in the retail and food business, especially if the business has an eCommerce front as well. There are innumerable advantages of POS systems that directly and indirectly affect the business’ operations.

Original Source: POS Integration

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Sales Systems Articles.

Ecommerce or electronic commerce is the process of performing organisation tasks like acquiring and marketing via various digital systems like the web or other computer networks. Don't offer products that do not sell. I don't assume I truly have to make a case for the impressive reputation of this business or their products. These need to consist of those items in the inventory that are subject to spoiling, are seasonal, sell less through each quarter, have actually been changed with a more recent variation or design or that haven't sold online in a month or more. You could sell all sorts of various other products on Amazon today - consisting of electronic devices and also photographic tools, music, DVD's, video clips, computer, video clip and also software application games, house and yard products and toys as well as video games. Marketing items online brings extra customers with greater profit margin, far better customer assistance and took care of procedure. The markets will pay you occasionally for the sales you have actually made. Marketplace: Industry offers you an opportunity to offer publications on the precise same web page on Amazon.com's site where Amazon.com offer guide themselves. Yet numerous professionals say consumers who buy Amazon's tablet at some point proceed to the iPad as well as other fuller-featured items. The computation is based on Amazon sales; updated each hour to show current as well as historical sales of every thing sold (consisting of Industry). An amazing place to locate a book in the general public domain name regarding dogs, or certainly any kind of subject you want would certainly be or where you can do a search under the classification of "Books Comic Books and also Magazines-Antiquarian & Collectable" plus "detailed" if you like. Being an engineer, I needed to accumulate and abuse the data to see if there was any type of connection between the sales ranking and the moment it takes to market a book. It goes without stating that your firm is your priority in this instance; but without completely satisfied customers, there won't be a successful business - which implies that everything works together. The 'offering a little' option isn't truly for usage with Gratification by Amazon. Partnering with Amazon.com would speed up the careful approach that Brazil's significant cosmetics firms have taken until now with shopping, as they aim to safeguard earnings margins and longstanding partnerships in traditional sales channels. Returning to the basics of marketing i. e. focusing on the 4Ps of advertising and marketing - Item, Rate, Location and Promotion could offer you a starting indicate develop a technique that leads you to long term ecommerce success. Recognizing just how you ought to sell products in the retail setting indicates recognizing exactly what clients seek when they get them. So create it carefully; way too many items, deals, bestselling products in a haphazard way can perplex the site visitor and also will certainly lead to high bounce rate. Amazon.com figures out which seller to attribute based on an exclusive algorithm which evaluates the seller's cost, the satisfaction options offered, as well as the seller ranking. Amazon.com will certainly be able to coordinate dramatically even more of its satisfaction procedures, as it'll have control of shipments from the time they leave vendors' storehouses to the minute they reach customers' front doors. First, you could keep your business in-house as well as send items yourself. This service was verifying to be much more enjoyable, a lot more straightforward and much less time extensive compared to Amazon.com FBA. There are a range of various other things you could do in order to help activate the internal sales system at Amazon. Often it is better to take a loss than suggest with a client when you know you are best to prevent poor comments - as bad feedback could be the kiss of fatality in the general long term sales picture. Some business discredit the term "pyramiding," as well as prefer to call themselves "multi-level marketing companies" or "direct-selling business." While MLM and straight marketing are completely legal, they often sell items at a jacked-up rate and are near impossible to market (like perfumes, soaps, shoes, and various other things you can purchase a chain store). However, inspect the existing market price of the item before clicking on the buy online button. Among the easiest products, which you could produce making money online, are E-books. Shopify also allows us to produce fast and easy website landing pages which could straight attract the clients in the direction of our company.

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RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), LATE JUNE 2024

Welcome to my latest summary of Etsy and other ecommerce news, relevant for small and microbusinesses online!

Get these updates plus my website blog posts via email: http://bit.ly/CindyLouWho2Blog Get all of the most timely updates plus exclusive content by supporting my Patreon: patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy has yet again changed how processing times work for some countries, and this time, they’ve opted everyone into working on every national holiday. [post by me on LinkedIn, with screenshots] Many people are happy they can officially opt out of working on some days, but not so happy Etsy opted them in. The next day, Etsy clarified that this is currently only available for Canada and the US, and is only for national holidays, not regional or provincial ones. 

The old Etsy listing form disappeared as promised on June 25, and the new one is still a mess [post by me on LinkedIn]. Etsy claims to have fixed numerous issues with the new listing form, including manual translations, bulk editing, and sharing to Pattern. No word on the numerous pricing issues that have affected non-US sellers in particular through the domestic pricing tool, and that have apparently changed both variations and shipping prices for US sellers. The latest new listing form fix is the inability to save drafts, although it doesn’t seem to be working for everyone. 

USPS seems to have reused its tracking numbers early recently, with widespread reports of labels created June 18 and later showing as already being delivered in April or May. I’ve updated that linked Patreon post with info on how to get Etsy to correct their own records, so that seller protection and Star Seller status are not affected. 

ETSY NEWS 

Wondering if your images meet Etsy’s minimum size requirements? I did a video for you [on Patreon] so you can easily check for yourself. 

Etsy is still pushing shop loans through YouLend, “up to two times your monthly revenue.” Thanks to Michele from Artologica for the screenshot of the dashboard notification, and some of what you see once you click it:

and a link to the Etsy program at YouLend. Please read the terms carefully, as they get repaid through your future sales. It appears to be US-sellers only. 

There’s a new “Made for You” page with a lot of links to various features for buyers, but I don’t see it linked anywhere on the desktop version of the site. I also don’t really see the point, but maybe we’ll have to wait and see how they use it. 

Apologies for missing this one, but sellers in Turkey must now use “ShipEntegra” to mail orders, unless they already use another service. In effect, this means all new shops in Turkey are required to sign up and only ship orders through ShipEntegra, as of June 3. 

Apparently the “Buy More and Save” badge Etsy applied to some listings that already had multiple quantity discounts is just a test [item 2] per Etsy.

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Facebook appears to be removing links to EcommerceBytes on its platforms. 

Amazon

Amazon's "Subscribe & Save" feature will be available for products that are not Fulfilled By Amazon items, as of June 27. 

Amazon's Prime Day 2024 is July 16-17th. 

“Ad Relevance” is Amazon’s proposed solution to the end of ad cookies; it has AI at its core. 

North American Amazon orders will stop using plastic air pillows by the end of the year. 

Amazon is facing another lawsuit on copying successful sellers’ products and manipulating the Buy Box, this time in the UK. 

eBay

As of July 1, eBay will be charging most of its sellers more for Express Payouts: $2 each time instead of 1.5% of the total. 

eBay is now charging buyers of luxury wallets and handbags an optional $40 for authentication, for items between $200-$499.99. Items $500 and up are still authenticated for free. 

The eBay Summer 2024 Seller Update included new tools and renamed programs, but some of them had already been announced. 

If you are using the eBay seller app, watch for draft listings disappearing. 

Shopify

Businesses selling through Shopify can now apply to sell on Target Plus, a third-party marketplace that currently has around 1200 sellers. 

Shopify now has a chatbot for site owners, called Sidekick, but it is currently only available to English stores in North America. 

Walmart

Walmart+ Week started June 17th, almost a month before Amazon’s Prime Day. 

All Other Marketplaces

Just a few months after ending selling fees, Mercari is laying off a substantial portion of its US-based workers. It’s also still looking for new sellers, offering credits that can be spent on the site for opening a new shop and inviting friends. 

Payment Processing

Apple Pay Later is being phased out in favour of “Affirm”, a third-party Buy Now Pay Later app that will be available in more countries than Apple’s own product. 

Shipping

USPS hopes to change its non-standard package surcharges by region, charging more when the package travels further. 

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Sell Your New And Used Publications On Ebay.com's Sister Site.

What began as a straightforward on the internet book distributor, Amazon.com has currently turned into a major worldwide retail electrical outlet for people to buy and sell nearly anything imaginable. If social networks has benefitted business neighborhood, ecommerce internet sites can obtain a chunk of the revenue. In this kind of advertising and marketing, other sites will certainly place your products on their website as well as in case, they get offered, you should pay them a tiny component of the compensation. With their particular set of objectives, the firm can after that design their e-store by picking a hosting solution that fit their needs. 5. There is yet one more great function of ecommerce internet sites however prior to that we somewhat depart to the topic of supermarkets. For older books, that do not have an ISBN number, you can look at a website like No matter just how fast your phone link is, this is going to be slow-moving compared with pocket computer systems with neighborhood price data sources. I determined I wished to help them grow and also succeed in online organisation similarly as I did, so I decided to target my services and products to them. You only need to check out the sale of the Wirecutter, an Amazon associate web content site, to see that buyers are starving for these sort of organisations. The divine grail of Amazon.com for sellers is obtaining control of that buy box. As Amazon.com has actually soared to control ecommerce, many retail brands have actually started to ask about exactly how they can make the most of the platform's features to increase their brand understanding and also online sales. The process is understandable and well documented in simple detailed style at the website, however using FBA could gain sellers significantly much less than doing all their own marketing as well as providing items straight to buyers. Pro Merchants have access to quantity selling as well as mass listing tools. By tracking the number of referrals every month that you obtain from each search engine (and contrasting this to their respective market shares) you can obtain a suggestion of exactly how your efficiency is improving with time. To start untangling what you could obtain and also exactly what you could lose by selling on Amazon Handmade, you have to first take a look at the threats of building your business on a platform that you do not own. Undoubtedly, Magento has actually emerged as an utmost option to get the exemplary developed sites for Shopping. Your seller metrics on Amazon need to be stellar or they'll shut your account. For a thorough look at just what's ahead as far as purchasing patterns, customer as well as seller habits and more, make certain you have a look at my total overview: Ecommerce Trends to Adhere To into 2017 for even more understanding. Often individuals don't know precisely just what they are searching for when they visit an e-commerce site. You can't sell anything that is a copy, a free promotional version, a foreign product not licensed available in the UK or anything that is hazardous (not likely to put on publications). Thanks to 45,000 robotics who functioned hand in hand with the Fulfilment by Amazon.com (FBA) group, these customers obtained their orders delivered to their doorstep on schedule. It is suggested to register your products in Amazon.com FBA. While some desire a very easy purchase, some love to visit an arranged shop with products in an appropriate place. All kinds of corporations, large or little, are building their ecommerce websites to expand their businesses as a result of they apprehend that a digital store will certainly use home proprietors and customers numerous benefits. Ebay.com is fantastic, but it requires a great deal of work with your part: sourcing, listing, shipping, client support and so on Efficient application not just motivates sales, but also constructs loyalty by offering consumers a need to return. By marketing a "me-too" item, you may obtain sales however you'll practically inevitably have no earnings. Amazon has clear directions on ways to do all this, from setting up your account to ways to provide your products, and so on. Slow Moving Items Need To be Shut Down - Products that rest on your shelf for fairly a long time and also offer slowly can reduce the growth of the business as well as lower the capital. Well, product and consumer monitoring, purchasing cart option, payment gateway combination are several of the common software programs used in ecommerce sites. As a matter of fact, it can take years for potential customers to find out that you use excellent items, you package them well, you dispatch them on schedule and also you subsequent with terrific client service. Making use of FBA could make it difficult to compete with various other vendors, particularly those also using FBA. All these been available in the same pack and also all we have to do is to supply our customers product or services. If you're selling on Amazon, they'll trust you too. Also when you have discovered your first item to sell though, you must continue to dedicate time weekly to looking into brand-new products, and guaranteeing that your existing items are still selling effectively.