The UK has officially left the EU

As a company that specialises in international shipping, it’s no surprise that GFS have been closely following the Brexit process. As of now, the UK has officially left the EU, and Bobbie Ttooulis, Group Marketing Director at GFS, looks forward over the next year with what to expect.

So it’s official, as of 11pm tonight, Friday the 31st of January 2020, Britain and Northern Ireland has officially left the EU and in Boris’s own words, we enter into a ‘new era’.

The good news so far as ecommmerce goes, is that nothing changed this evening. Thanks to the temporary transition agreement parcels will still freely ship between the UK and EU.

However, leaving the EU also marks the beginning of what will be a white-knuckle ride of politicians frantically trying to negotiate and reach agreement on a multitude of areas by 31st December – trade being just one of them. The good news is that until then everything stays the same. The bad news is that the uncertainty that has dogged UK businesses over the last two years of not knowing how trading with the EU will be impacted will definitely continue until then (and potentially beyond).

What you can be certain of however is that this time it’s for real. This is not a rehearsal folks, but the real thing so if you haven’t got your Brexit gameplan sorted or even started yet, then listen to our webinar. The slides are available for you to download here.

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Legacy, a sperm testing and freezing service, just raised $3.5 million to send the message to men: get checked

Legacy, a male fertility startup, has just raised a fresh, $3.5 million in funding from Bill Maris’s San Diego-based venture firm, Section 32, along with Y Combinator and Bain Capital Ventures, which led a $1.5 million seed round for the Boston startup last year.

We talked earlier today with Legacy’s founder and CEO Khaled Kteily about his now two-year-old, five-person startup and its big ambitions to become the world’s preeminent male fertility center. Our biggest question was how Legacy and similar startups convince men — who are generally less concerned with their fertility than women — that they need the company’s at-home testing kits and services in the first place.

“They should be worried about [their fertility],” said Kteily, a former healthcare and life sciences consultant with a masters degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. “Sperm counts have gone down 50 to 60 percent over the last 40 years.” More from our chat with Legacy, a former TechCrunch Battlefield winner, follows; it has been edited lightly for length.

TC: Why start this company?

KK: I didn’t grow up wanting to be the kind of sperm [laughs]. But I had a pretty accident — a second-degree burn on my legs after having four hot Starbuck’s teas spill on my lap in a car — and between that and a colleague at the Kennedy Center who’d been diagnosed with cancer and whose doctor suggested he freeze his sperm ahead of his radiation treatments, it just clicked for me that maybe I should also save my sperm. When I went into Cambridge to do this, the place was right next to the restaurant Dumpling House and it was just very awkward and expensive and I thought, there must be a better way of doing this.

TC: How do you get started on something like this?

KK: This was before Ro and Hims began taking off, but people were increasingly comfortable doing things from the own homes, so I started doing research around the idea. I joined the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. I started taking continuing education classes about sperm…

TC: Women are under so much pressure from the time they turn 30 to monitor their fertility. Aside from extreme circumstances, as with your friend, do men really think about testing their sperm? 

KK: Men should be worried about it, and they should be taking responsibility for it. What a lot of folks don’t know in for every one in seven couples that are actively trying to get pregnant, the man is equally responsible [for their fertility struggles]. Women are taught about their fertility but men aren’t, yet the quality of their sperm is degrading over the years. Sperm counts have gone down by 50 to 60 percent over last 40 years, too.

TC: Wait, what? Why?

KK: [Likely culprits are] chemicals in plastics, chemicals in what we eat eat and drink, changes in lifestyle; we move less and eat more, and sperm health relates to overall health. I also think mobile phones are causing it. I will caveat this by saying there’s been mixed research, but I’m convinced that cell phones are the new smoking in that it wasn’t clear that smoking was as dangerous as it is when the research was being conducted by companies that benefited by [perpetuating cigarette use]. There’s also a generational decline in sperm quality [to consider]; it poses increased risk to the mother but also the child, as the risk of gestational diabetes goes up, the rate of autism, and other congenital conditions.

TC: You’re selling directly to consumers. Are you also working with companies to incorporate your tests in their overall wellness offerings?

KK: We’re investing heavily in business-to-business and expect that to be a huge acquisition channel for us. We can’t share any names yet, but we just signed a big company last week and have a few more in the works. These are mostly Bay Area companies right now; it’s an area where our experience as a YC alum was valuable because of the founders who’ve gone through and now run large companies of their own.

TC: When you’re talking with investors, how do you describe the market size? 

KK: There are four million couples that are facing fertility challenges and in all cases, we believe the man should be tested. So do [their significant others]. Almost half of purchases [of our kits] are by a female partner. We also see men in the military freezing their sperm before being deployed, same-sex couples who plan to use a surrogate at some point, and transgender patients who are looking at a life-changing [moment] and want to preserve their fertility before they start the process. But we see this as something that every man might do as they go off to college, and investors see that bigger picture.

TC: How much do the kits and storage cost?

KK: The kit cost $195 up front, and if they choose to store their sperm, $145 a year. We offer different packages. You can also spend $1,995 for two deposits and 10 years of storage.

TC: Is one or two samples effective? According to the Mayo Clinic, sperm counts fluctuate meaningfully from one sample to the next, so they suggest semen analysis tests over a period of time to ensure accurate results.

KK: We encourage our clients to make multiple deposits. The scores will be variable, but they’ll gather around an average.

TC: But they are charged for these deposits separately?

KK: Yes.

TC: And what are you looking for?

KK: Volume, count, concentration, motility, and morphology [meaning the shape of the sperm].

TC: Who, exactly, is doing the analysis and handling the storage?

KK: We partner with Andrology Labs in Chicago on analysis; it’s one of the top fertility labs in the country. For storage, we partner with a couple of cryo-storage providers in different geographies. We divide the samples into four, then store them in two different tanks within each of two locations. We want to make sure we’re never in a position where [the samples are accidentally destroyed, as has happened at clinics elsewhere].

TC: I can imagine fears about these samples being mishandled. How can you assure customers this won’t happen?

KK: Trust and legitimacy are core factors and a huge area of focus for us. We’re CPPA and HIPAA compliant. All [related data] is encrypted and anonymized and every customer receives a unique ID [which is a series of digits so that even the storage facilities don’t know whose sperm they are handling]. We have extreme redundancies and processes in place to ensure that we’re handling [samples] in the most scientifically rigorous way possible, as well as ensuring the safety and privacy of each [specimen].

TC: How long can sperm be frozen?

KK: Indefinitely.

TC: How will you use all the data you’ll be collecting?

KK: I could see us entering into partnerships with research institutions. What we won’t do is sell it like 23andMe.

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WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Which do you need?

WordPress is easily the most popular way to build a website.

Whether you’re new to the concept of building your own eCommerce website, or you’ve been blogging and building sites for Google for a while now, you’ve probably heard of WordPress, and how valuable it can be.

More than 75 million websites are powered by WordPress today – making it the largest CMS (content management system) in the world.

The only problem?

While plenty of people love WordPress, many still don’t understand it. One of the most common questions in the website building world remains to be: What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

If you’re one of the many people who’s still confused by the WordPress.com vs WordPress.org debate, don’t worry. We’ve put together a complete guide into both of these site-building solutions, so you can determine how you’re going to design your WordPress site.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: The Basics

Throughout this article, we’re going to dig down deep into the specific differences between WordPress.org sites, and WordPress.com websites. In the meantime, however, let’s start with the basics:

• WordPress.org: The .org WordPress is the open-source and self-hosted solution available to download from the WordPress brand. With this WordPress software, you can build a website however, you like. However, you do need to pay for your own hosting provider, domain name, and other added extras (like premium themes).
• WordPress.com: The .com version of WordPress is the website as a service all-in-one implementation that has been pre-built for you on the WordPress software. This option handles everything on your behalf. However, this comes at the expense of various customization options and flexibility.

Still, confused?

It’s no surprise. The arrival of new things like the WordPress.com business plan has made it even harder for newbies in the site-building world to understand the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. With business and eCommerce plans, you can now access many of the features on .com that used to be specifically reserved for WordPress.org.

However, the two options still have a lot of major differences.

Let’s explore some of the major differences between WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org a little further.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Pricing

When you’re trying to decide which WordPress site you’re going to use, there’s a good chance that you’ll start your decision by thinking about your budget. While both WordPress.com and WordPress.org come with the option of added expenses, like premium services and support, there are differences in the pricing for both tools.

WordPress.com allows you to set up your website for free. However, you can only place your site under a subdomain, rather than paying for your own domain. Additionally, you can’t remove the WordPress.com ads and branding from your small business website. This makes it much harder to grow as a business.

Additionally, the WordPress platform available with the .com service only gives you a limited disk space of 3GB. You won’t be able to use this product to monetize a blog or website. Additionally, you can install any premium plugins or themes that aren’t already included with your blogging platform.

If you decide that you do want to run a commercial website with the .com content management system, you’ll need to either switch to the .org solution for your online store or pay for a premium plan. This means spending $8 per month on the WordPress platform and paying for your own custom domain name. On average, it costs around $111 per year to run a commercial WordPress.com site.

Alternatively…

If you choose to launch your digital strategy through WordPress.org, you can launch your own website for much less. Unlike the free WordPress.com option, WordPress.org comes with the initial expense of choosing a hosting plan from a hosting provider. You can get hosting for as little as $2.95 per month with a company like Bluehost. There are also a number of other hosting options out there for your WordPress.org website. You can choose the hosting plan that appeals most to you.

The good news is that when you pay for hosting for your own domain, you’ll often get access to a free domain name for the first year or so too. This can keep the price of running your online store very low. Bluehost also provides one of the easiest WordPress hosting experiences around. You can simply pick the hosting plan that appeals to you, choose your domain name, and tell Bluehost that you want them to install WordPress on your behalf.

For more info read our Bluehost review.

Compared to the WordPress.com paid plan, WordPress.org is actually a lot more affordable than you’d think. Additionally, you get more freedom over your site than you would with the .com free plan too.Org users maintain full control over everything from their choice of theme to premium plugins, domain name choices, and so much more.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Building Your Website

One important thing to note about WordPress.org vs WordPress.com, is that both tools make it very easy to build your own website. As long as you have a basic business plan in mind, and you know what you want to do with your site, you can get your online presence up and running quite easily.

However, that being said, it’s hard to deny that life is a little easier with WordPress.com.

Building a Website with WordPress.com

When you decide to build a website with one of the WordPress.com plans, launching your site online is as simple as creating a new account. You don’t have to worry about things like choosing a web hosting company or finding custom themes.

Within a few minutes, you can choose the subdomain for your website, deal with the basic customization options available to you, and start publishing content to a blog. A WordPress.com site is a very basic way to get yourself online.

On the other hand, when you’re building a WordPress.org site, the process isn’t quite as simple. You will need to track down your own hosting provider, pick a domain name, and choose what kind of plugins you want to add to your site. For instance, you might want to include SEO plugins like Yoast, and Google Analytics to track your web performance.

You’ll also need to pick between free themes and premium designs to help your site stand out online. On the plus side, now that WordPress.org is growing increasingly popular, many hosting providers will even manage much of the hard work for you. Choose the right host, and they’ll install the open-source software into your website on your behalf, so you don’t have to worry about things like PHP and CSS.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: Customization

Although you don’t have to worry about things like WordPress installation and CSS with your WordPress.com website – there is a significant downside to everything being done for you. Your free WordPress.com website won’t allow you to customize the appearance or performance of your website to the same extent as WordPress.org. You’ll have to make do with the free themes and tools that are already available. The amount of flexibility you’ll have in terms of design and customization will depend on the WordPress.com plan you choose.

The free and personal plans from WordPress come with access to 150+ themes. Alternatively, with Premium and Business plans, you can access all free themes, plus more than 200 premium themes. With all those options, you should be able to find a custom design that works for your website.

Unfortunately, you can’t bring someone in to design your website for you. Additionally, you won’t be able to install plugins unless you’re on the Business or eCommerce plans. Only when you upgrade to the higher-paid plans can you access the pre-approved plugins available on WordPress.

If, on the other hand, we take a look at WordPress.org, we find a huge variety of additional customization options. First, you can choose from more than 7,500 free themes found in the official WordPress.org directory to build your site with. You can also install any other free or premium theme that you’ve found elsewhere on the web.

Additionally, WordPress.org is a lot more flexible when it comes to things like plugins and add-ons too. From WooCommerce for eCommerce, to plugins for monetization, like dropshipping tools, you can install anything that you like.

By default, you’ll get access to the 50,000+ plugins that you can access with the Business or eCommerce plans at WordPress.com. Additionally, you can also install thousands of other alternative plugins from around the web.

At the end of the day, even if you pay to access all of the customization solutions that are available with WordPress.com, you’re still going to be limited. On the other hand, with WordPress.org, you get complete control over the website that you want to build.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Monetization Options

One of the most important things you’ll need to consider when choosing between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is what you want to do with your website. If you’re a blogger that just wants to make a name for yourself on Google, then WordPress.com is likely to be more than enough for you.

You can get by fine with a subdomain like yoursite.wordpress.com, or use your website as a personal portfolio to share with potential employers. However, you won’t be able to make any money from your free or personal website with WordPress.

If you want to earn any cash on WordPress, either from using your own ads, or selling products through an eCommerce plugin, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Premium or eCommerce plan.

On the free plan, WordPress will also display their own ads on your website, and there’s nothing that you can do about it.

Alternatively, with WordPress.org, you have the freedom to monetize your website whatever you want. Since you have your own web server, and you’re using open-source software that’s free to use however you like, there aren’t any limits. You can use WordPress.org to run WordAds campaigns, sell products online, and earn money through automatic schemes like affiliates and referrals.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: Support and Backup

Aside from considering how you’re going to make money with your website, you may want to know what kind of steps you can put in place to keep your site and livelihood secure. For instance, there’s no support at all on the free WordPress.com plan, so you need to deal with any issues that you have on your own. The only way to get any guidance is by paying $4 per month for a higher plan.

On the plus side, you do get basic security solutions and backups built into your website from the start with WordPress.com. You get to rely on all of the internal security and privacy systems that WordPress.com built for its out-of-the-box service, which makes it a little easier to protect yourself.

On the other hand, if you’re running your eCommerce site with WordPress.org, then once again, you won’t get any official support from the .org channel, but you can find help elsewhere. There are many leading host providers like Bluehost and SiteGround that offer great 24/7 help.

WordPress.org users also have access to a huge community of people who have learned how to make the most of the software for themselves. On the downside, however, when you opt for WordPress.org over WordPress.com, you don’t get any security or backup tools built into your experience.

The WordPress.org software has been built with care to adhere to the latest security and privacy standards. However, you’ll have to track down your own additional security too. For instance, you can implement plugins like Wordfence. Additionally, you’ll also need to manage your own backups, either via a plugin or through support from your website host.

WordPress.org also requires uses to deal with their own semi-manual software updates. Whenever a software update is available, there’ll be a notice in your WordPress dashboard. Users can simply click on the notice to upgrade their site immediately.

When Should You Use WordPress.com?

Both WordPress.org and WordPress.com have their positive and negative points to consider.

WordPres.com, for instance, gives people simplicity. You don’t have to worry about buying your own hosting solutions or maintaining your site with this service. Additionally, there are paid plans or free plans to choose from depending on what you need.

If you’re just doing some basic blogging with your WordPress.com website, then the limit of 3GB storage space will be more than enough for you. Additionally, you’ll still have plenty of WordPress themes to choose from to make your site unique. What’s more, you don’t have to worry about things like sourcing your own backup and security tools.

Unfortunately, WordPress.com has a lot of down sides too.

WordPress.com Pros:

• Free to use for up to 3GB of storage space
• Easy to use and quick for building a blogging site
• Excellent range of themes and built-in tools
• Good customer support options
• No need to worry about backups or updates
• The Jetpack plugin can help you access extra functionality

WordPress.com Cons:

• WordPress.com places its own ads on your website.
• You can’t monetize your content or sell anything unless you upgrade to a high-paid premium plan.
• You cannot upload your own plugins or themes.
• You have very few customization options for how you run your website.
• Your website can be deleted at any time if WordPress.com thinks it violates the terms of services they have on their website.
• Your site will have WordPress.com branding
• You’ll need to use a WordPress subdomain, rather than your own domain name.
• You can’t run any membership websites.

Check out our WordPress.com review to learn more.

When Should You Use WordPress.org?

So, would WordPress.org be a better solution for you?

Well, that depends. If you’re looking for complete control over your website, then that’s exactly what you get with WordPress.org. You’re free to do anything you want with your site, and you can customize your creation however you see fit.

For instance, you can use plugins to check the stats of your website and ensure that it’s performing according to your standards. Additionally, you’re free to choose everything from your own hosting for faster website performance, to your custom domain name.

Like WordPress.com, WordPress.org can also be free to use. However, you do need to pay for your own hosting and other must-have tools. What’s more, you own your website and all your data. The WordPress company can’t come along and delete your site for any reason.

However, there are downsides to WordPress.org too, like a slightly higher learning curve.

WordPress.org Pros:

• Free and easy to use software
• You own your website and all the data that you create
• You’re free to customize your design and website performance as needed
• You can monetize your blog or website by running your own ads
• You’re free to run an Ecommerce store or membership site
• You can use powerful tools to track your site’s performance
• It’s up to you what your domain name is
• You have far more options to choose from when it comes to themes and plugins

WordPress.org Cons:

• You’ll need to find and pay for your own web hosting and your domain name.
• You will be responsible for tracking down your preferred themes and plugins.
• You’re responsible for all of your own backups and security.
• You need to manage your own regular updates
• You may find setting up WordPress.org a little harder than using WordPress.com

Check out our WordPress.org review to learn more.

Can You Move From WordPress.com to WordPress.org?

Now that you know the ins and outs of using both WordPress.com and WordPress.org, you might be wondering what happens if you choose one and change your mind.

For instance, when you’re just getting started as a new business, you might want to keep things simple by using WordPress.com. However, as you begin to build more status as a company, you may decide that you want to monetize your site or have a wider range of customization options. When this happens, you can move your content from a WordPress.com site into WordPress.org.

There are even sites out there that will handle the full migration process for you.

Of course, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and effort by simply doing your research and making sure that you choose the right WordPress option in the first place.

Just remember, though WordPress.com’s new business plan is beginning to blur the line between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, that doesn’t mean that you get the same experience from both options. Although you can install more plugins and themes with a higher-paid plan from WordPress.com, and you can potentially monetize your site, you’re still going to be extremely limited by the .com offering. Additionally, it turns out that running a premium corporate website through WordPress.com is a lot more expensive than building the same site for yourself with WordPress.org.

Which Option Should You Choose?

So, when it all comes down to it, which option is better, WordPress.com, or WordPress.org?

Although you can accomplish a lot of things with WordPress.com, including building an effective blog and showcasing a fantastic personal portfolio – it’s not the ideal option for businesses. If you want to make money with your website presence in the long term, or you want to develop a professional image for your brand, then you’re going to get a much better experience with .org.

WordPress.org is the better solution for most serious business owners and website developers. The flexibility of this self-hosted solution when it comes to everything from themes, to plugins and extensions is unbeatable. Additionally, the fact that you can choose from a range of monetization methods means that you shouldn’t have a problem taking your online business to the next level.

With WordPress.org, you will need to pay more attention to things like updates and security. However, the freedom that you get by having complete control over your website is well worth the extra effort that goes into keeping your company up and running.

The post WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Which do you need? appeared first on Ecommerce Platforms.

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10 Steps for Writing Ecommerce Product Descriptions that Generate Orders

The product descriptions you write are the only form of communication you will have with your customers about your products and is, more often than not, the make or break feature that will generate your income.

The post 10 Steps for Writing Ecommerce Product Descriptions that Generate Orders appeared first on Bootstrapping Ecommerce.

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Evolving Ecommerce: 14 Trends Driving Online Retail In 2020

It’s a new year. A new decade. And from the way people shop to the way online business tech is…

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How Are Chatbots Reshaping the eCommerce Industry?

Call it a revolution or an intrusion, chatbots are here to stay. From top tier companies like Google and Amazon to smaller eCommerce companies, all have been actively deploying chatbots. Whether it is the customer support desk or the team communication process, chatbots have the potential to help with any department.

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Moda Operandi, an online marketplace for high-end fashion, raises $100M led by NEA and Apax

Moda Operandi, an online marketplace that specialises in right-off-the-runway luxury fashion, accessories and home decor, is today announcing a high-priced event of its own: it’s raised $100 million, a mix of equity and debt that it will use to invest in its platform and technology as well as to continue growing business overall, which was founded in 2010 and today offers products from some 1,000 brands and designers and ships to 125 countries.

“For the past eight years, Moda has disrupted the way people shop for luxury fashion,” said Moda Operandi CEO Ganesh Srivats in a statement. “This investment will enable us to build on that innovation, investing further in the client and designer experience and connecting more of the world’s best fashion to more people.”

The financing is being co-led by NEA and Apax Partners, both previous investors in Moda Operandi, with participation also from the Santo Domingo Family (connected to Lauren Santo Domingo, who co-founded Moda with Aslaug Magnusdottir), Comerica Bank, TriplePoint Capital and other unnamed investors.

The company’s valuation is not being disclosed but in its last round, in 2017, Moda Operandi had a post-money valuation of $650 million, according to data from PitchBook. It has raised $345 million to date.

High-end fashion might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about online shopping, but it has actually been a ripe market for e-commerce industry.

While those in the know (and in the money) might attend catwalk shows, and bijou boutiques in swish locales are likely to be around for many years to come, there is a massive population of people who have the income and inclination to shop for luxury fashion, but might not be in the right place, or have the time, to do so.

For these shoppers, websites, mobile apps — and most recently new channels like Instagram and messaging services — have become a key route to browsing and buying, leading to the rise of huge businesses like Farfetch, Net-a-Porter and more.

That trend has helped to buffer Moda Operandi up to now, but it’s also the one that will be interesting to watch down the line.

We’ve written about the rise of direct-to-consumer brands and how that has played out specifically in the world of fashion, which in turn becomes a new group of competitors to aggregating marketplaces like Moda Operandi.

Similarly, the growing trend of targeting consumers wherever they happen to be also represents a rival business model, with some fashion retailers now foregoing websites altogether in favor of using third-party messaging apps to reach their target customers. Will Moda Operandi change with the times to do more of this kind of selling, too? Like fashion, what’s in today might be out tomorrow, so even the best channels are moving targets.

In any case, Moda Operandi has most definitely shown that it’s prepared to evolve and upset the status quo. The company got its start in 2010 in part out of an aha-moment from Santo Domingo, a socialite, former model and former editor at Vogue.

As someone who had worked for years in the luxury fashion industry, fully immersed as a consumer to boot, she knew that only a small, rarefied group of people ever got full access to a designer’s runway collection.

Moda Operandi was her solution — a platform to broaden that out, giving access to a full trunkshows (as the runway collections are called) to a wider selection of possible buyers and improving revenues for designers and brands in the process, since they no longer had to rely just on more traditional channels, namely buyers for retailers. The site had some catches — for example, as we pointed out at the time, you could shop a runway look, but still had to wait months for the piece to actually arrive with you, since those items would have yet to be made; but it caught on with a loyal following.

Over the years, the site’s basic remit has expanded, covering not only runway collections but also extending into jewellery, accessories and home decor. (We asked what size the business is today, and whether Moda Operandi can share any details on how that has changed over time, but a spokesperson said the company would not be sharing these or other financial details today.)

In any case, it’s remained a compelling enough business to have brought in a hefty round of growth funding from its previous backers.

“We continue to be impressed with the power of Moda’s brand and its positioning in the luxury market,” said Dan O’Keefe, managing partner of Apax Digital, in a statement. “Moda has been enhancing its technology capabilities as a world leading platform for fashion discovery and is led by a world-class team. We look forward to continuing to support their expansion.”

“Moda Operandi has really disrupted the traditional ecommerce model, using technology to give people unprecedented access to fashion,” added Tony Florence, general partner and head of technology investing at NEA, in a statement. “It was a really big idea when we led the Series A, and today Ganesh and the team are executing on that data-enabled retail model at scale. We are thrilled to continue supporting the company in this latest round.”

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News Cart for Jan 31st

Hey there!

I’m in the final throws of preparations for ECF Live 2020 but couldn’t skip the News Cart with so much happening this week.

Shopify will be keeping transaction fees on refunds, Trump cracks down on counterfeits and in completely unrelated news Chinese sellers take the crown as the #1 force on Amazon.

Also Yotpo’s recent acquisition, Amazon’s big news and will this money-losing DTC IPO fare better than WeWork?

If you’re headed to San Antonio for ECF Live safe travels!  I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.

– Andrew

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In the News

Shopify Will No Longer Refund Processing Fees for Return Payments (ECF members-only link)

• Shopify says such refunds were a “mistake” that it’s now correcting to align with its terms of service
• Company to stop refunding processing fees on returns after March 1, 2020
• Shopify Payments to charge a 1% cross-border fee for payment transactions outside the U.S.

Trump Administration Cracks Down on Counterfeits

• Law enforcement officials will “pursue civil fines and other penalties” against online counterfeit sellers, according to DHS report
• Report gives officials greater power to examine shipments in U.S. warehouses and fulfillment centers
• Intended to “shift the burden” from government to eCommerce platforms for monitoring

Chinese Outnumber U.S. Sellers on Amazon (hat tip to ECF member Rex Bledsoe)

• 49% of the top 10,000 Amazon.com sellers are based in China; 47% are based in the U.S.
• Their growth has been rapid:  Chinese sellers represented only 38% of top sellers a year ago
• U.S.-based sellers also outnumbered by Chinese sellers in the top 50,000 and top 100,000

Yotpo Acquires SMSBump 

• Acquisition adds SMS marketing to Yotpo’s suite of capabilities
• Brands can request reviews and photos or videos via SMS, and can notify customers of loyalty programs, status updates or referral promotions

Amazon Smashes 4th Quarter Earnings Expectations

• Earnings for Q4 2019 were 60% above analysts expectations
• One day and same-day shipments quadrupled year-over-year, potentially contributing to increased revenues
• Cloud business revenue was up 34%, total revenues by 21%.  Shipping expenses up 43%.

Casper IPO to Raise Up to $159 Million

• Projected valuation between $750 million and just over $1 billion
• S-1 filing showed net losses of $67 million on $312 million in net revenues for the first nine months of 2019
• Filing comes in the midst of many reconsidering money-losing DTC business models

Top Forum Discussions

(Membership required to access. Not a member? Apply to join our vibrant community of 7-figure store owners today.)

• Killer Content Strategy for Increasing Conversion Rate & LTV
• What Site Improvements Are You Implementing This Year?
• Website Security Review/Audit Recommendations
• We Want to Jump Ship From WooCommerce to Shopify – Send Me Your Developer Recommendations!
• What’s the Best Google Ad’s Course Out There?

 Top Jobs

(Compelling opportunities from the eCommerceFuel Job Board. Find your dream job or post your own job opening right here.)

• Digital Marketing Associate | Who’s There Group | Los Angeles, CA
• Head of Product & Merchandising | Holmes Custom | Jacksonville, FL
• Growth Marketing Specialist | LittleOnes | Auckland, New Zealand or Remote – One perk of joining this remote-first team is a paid-for company retreat in Singapore

The post News Cart for Jan 31st appeared first on eCommerceFuel.

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Competing With Amazon: How Amazon’s Top Ecommerce Competitors Survive and Thrive

Amazon, launched by president and CEO Jeff Bezos in 1994 just outside of Seattle, Washington, is a global ecommerce giant. With…

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The Dangers of a PIM-Only Approach [VIDEO] | Salsify

If you're pulling product information from a variety of locations across your organization, you have disconnected workflow that's delivering less-than-optimal customer experiences. For product information management (PIM), there are hidden strategy dangers.

Watch Rob Gonzalez, our co-founder and CMO, discuss the impact of a PIM-only ecommerce approach.

 

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With $30 million in fresh funds, The Bouqs plans to plant its flower delivery business in Japan

The Bouqs plans to take a slice of Japan’s $6 billion flower market this year with a $30 million strategic growth round from Japanese enterprise business investor Yamasa. While The Bouqs still must compete with bigger contenders like 1-800-Flowers and FTD in the U.S., it will now have to take on incumbents like Ayoma Flower Market and FloraJapan, both of which also offer same-day delivery throughout the land of the rising sun.

So why Japan? According to The Bouqs founder and CEO John Tabis, his company had been looking to expand internationally for awhile and Japan seemed to fit well within that plan.

The Bouqs CEO and founder John Tabis

And as far as bigger competition in any country, Tabis is undeterred, telling TechCrunch there’s plenty of opportunities in the flower delivery business if you know where to look. “There’ve been four or five other startups that tried something similar — some of them no longer exist,” Tabis said. “But the thing that’s worked for us, the first is the way that we’ve sourced is unique and it’s really the foundation of our brand.”

The Bouqs sprung up in a wave of Silicon Valley funded flower delivery startups like BloomThat, Farm Girl and  Urban Stems, all promising Pinterest-worthy bouquets at the click of a button. But what set it apart was its farm-direct supply chain, cutting out costs from middlemen and delivering flowers that last longer.

This particular round now puts The Bouqs up top as far as total funding raised among its flower delivery startup peers, bringing in $74 million in total funding to date, with competitor Urban Stems at a close second with $27 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.

Tabis also tells TechCrunch the new funds will also further the company’s development into brick-and-mortar stores and that it’s jumping into the wedding biz. As anyone who’s ever planned a wedding will tell you, it’s an industry ripe for disruption — with brides and grooms spending about 8% of the budget on the flowers alone.

One other renewed focus for the company will be its subscription business, keeping customers set up with a fresh bunch of flowers once the old bouquet is ready for tossing. “It’s sort of the linchpin of our business that’s grown very nicely…expanding both our revenue and profitability,” Tabis told TechCrunch.

The SVP of Yamasa, Norikazu Sano, also mentioned further expansion into Asia for the company in a company press release so we could see the Bouqs in more international areas over time, if all goes right in Japan.

“This financing will enable us to fully realize our vision to create a global network of top quality farms paired with a category-defining local floral brand enabled by proprietary supply chain technology and vertically-integrated sourcing capabilities. We’re so excited for this next phase of the business, and all of the opportunities that lie ahead,” Tabis said.

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How Ecommerce Businesses Can Turn Their Customers Into Sales Reps

Ecommerce may be a flourishing discipline, but that doesn’t mean that every merchant with a decent store and a reasonable product range is raking in the profits. It’s a tough marketplace. Due to the sheer accessibility of online retail (if you have a laptop, or even just a smartphone, then you can own and run a digital store), all the money on offer has made it a feeding frenzy.

If you’re already running an ecommerce website — or you’re aspiring to run one, despite the uneven tone of that intro — then it’s of paramount importance that you do everything you can to get an edge over your competitors. Can you do this by cutting your prices? Bringing in unique products? Generally doing whatever you can to bring in new customers?

Sure, all of that can help — but if you really want to maximize your revenue, you need to focus on keeping your customers happy. What’s more, if you employ the right tactics, they might start serving as your unofficial sales reps, encouraging people they know and meet to buy from you.

In this post, we’re going to look at how you (or any ecommerce seller) can take advantage of this option. Here are some tips for turning customers into sales reps:

Offer compelling referral incentives

Something has to go first in the list, and this is the obvious choice for one simple reason: true selflessness doesn’t really exist. There are various reasons why one person might refer another to a particular seller — wanting to be useful, respected, admired, etc. — but there’s one in particular that proves telling more often than not: the prospect of financial reward.

This is where referral programs become essential. The typical setup goes something like this: anyone who refers a new customer will receive a given sum or a comparable discount, and the person referred will often get a similar (or identical) reward. This gives each customer a powerful reason to refer you to every one of their friends: with each referral, both parties benefit.

Find the time to engage with them

These days, a brand doesn’t just need to be considered reliable and competent in its field. It must also be suitably personable. Customers want to like the brands they buy from, and the best way to show personality is to directly engage with the people ordering from you. Thankfully, this is relatively simple to do through social media. Watch out for positive social media mentions of your brand, and start responding to them to express your appreciation.

It isn’t easy, though, and that’s due to the various demands on your time. When you’re trying to run a business, you have hundreds of things to do each day, so your first objective must be to clear out some admin tasks. Think about all the things you can automate or outsource:

• Content distribution. Instead of sending them all out manually, compose your main social posts in batches and schedule them to go out at the appropriate times. There’s absolutely zero value in spending any extra time on this process.
• Customer service. While you’re personally engaging with high-value customers, you can use live chatbots and/or virtual assistants to field basic customer queries. This ensures the optimal allocation of human resources.
• Financial management. Are you taking too much time to fill out your accounts or compose invoices? Use tools instead. There are templates for Google Docs that can let you make solid invoices with ease, and outsourcing your account management to a fully-reliable freelancer will ensure that you spend far less time dealing with financial metrics.
• Site maintenance. Depending on the CMS you use, you may have access to useful plugins, but your best option is to use hosted management. This can keep your site running as needed while you focus on what you’re good at: driving sales.

Personalize their user experiences

We all like to feel special (on occasion, at least), and a key part of developing loyalty to a particular brand is being treated as a unique customer with unique preferences. Think about all the elements that go into the buying process: initial research, product selection, setting customization (shipping, location, etc.), and order completion. What can be personalized?

Well, almost all of it. By providing each customer with personalized marketing emails, you can leave them feeling understood from the outset. Having logged into your site, they can see lists of dynamic recommendations picked to suit their viewing and buying histories. They can get to the checkout stage and discover that their previous order details have been saved and can be reapplied. They can even have the option of choosing how their order confirmations are sent.

The more unique a customer’s experience is (provided it’s positive, at least), the more likely they’ll be to recommend the business to other customers. After all, they’ll get the plaudits in the event that the person referred has a comparably-pleasant experience.

Consistently request and action feedback

Lastly, there’s a lot to be said for consulting long-standing customers in a more formal way. Engaging with them is great for building rapport, but you also need to show that you’re trying to make your service better and need their help and insight to do it. By asking for a customer to assist you, you’re making it clear that their opinions matter, and that’ll make them feel good.

If you make a habit of actioning feedback, the effect will be even greater. Any customer that has their suggestions listened to and acted upon will feel somewhat like a part of the brand team, making it perfectly natural for them to recommend it to others.

Having customers willing to recommend your brand is significant in two ways. Firstly, it means they rate you highly and will continue to buy from you. Secondly, it means they’ll send interested prospects your way. By implementing the tactics we’ve looked at, you should be able to make some major improvements.

 

Image credit: Julio Álvarez

The post How Ecommerce Businesses Can Turn Their Customers Into Sales Reps appeared first on ECN | E-Commerce Nation.

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PostNord saw B2C volumes increase by 10% in 2019

Ecommerce continues to drive growth for PostNord. The Swedish logistics group delivered just over 50 million parcels in the fourth quarter of 2019. And for the full year, B2C volumes increased by 10 percent compared to the year before.

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ChannelAdvisor Connect 2020

ChannelAdvisor Connect 2020 is back and as always will bring together ecommerce and marketing professionals from Europe’s leading brands and retailers. Connect with peers, get up close and personal with industry leaders, and discover solutions to take your business to the next level.

With insightful product sessions and a wealth of proven best practices, this is a day to learn about the latest ecommerce trends and best practices through keynote and track sessions, workshops, Ask The Expert clinic, 1:1 meetings and Partner Zone networking. One thing you will not want to miss is ChannelAdvisor CEO David Spitz’ keynote which in previous years has always laid out the ecommerce landscape for the year ahead, covering not just for marketplaces but the entire ecommerce industry and related techonlogies.

ChannelAdvisor Connect 2020 Agenda

8:15am – Registration Open
9:00am – 10:15am – ChannelAdvisor CEO Keynote
10:15am – 11:00am – Keynote
11:00am – 11:30am – Networking Break
11:30am – 12:50pm – General Sessions
12:50pm – 13:50pm – Networking Lunch
13:50pm – 15:10pm – General Sessions
15:10pm – 15:40pm – Networking Break
15:40pm – 16:15pm – General Sessions
16:15pm – 17:00pm – Closing Keynote
17:00pm – 19:00pm – Networking Drinks

ChannelAdvisor Connect 2020 Tickets

Tickets to attend ChannelAdvisor Connect will be £125 per delegate. However early bird rates are available until the 28th of February for £99 per delegate.

Location

ChannelAdvisor Connect 2020 will be held at The Brewery, 52 Chiswell St, London EC1Y 4SD, an iconic Grade-II listed building with a history of over 225 years of beer making.

ChannelAdvisor Connect 2020 New Orleans

If you’re looking for Connect 2020 in the USA, it will be held on the 9th – 11th September in New Orleans.

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Brexit ratified by EU as UK MEPs pack up to come home

On Wednesday this week, Members of the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to accept the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson meaning in the final step which sees Brexit ratified. This was inevitable after the Bill had cleared the committee stage last week but was still an emotionally charged affair as Brexit is now unstoppable and the UK will leave at the stroke of 11pm this Friday.

As on might expect Britain’s Nigel Farage was as badly behaved as normal, to the extent he looked delighted when his microphone was cut off during his four minute speech. MEPs in favour of Brexit were also waving Union flags in contravention of EU customs and were roundly told off and ordered to leave and take their flags with them which they appeared delighted to do. There were no complaints to a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne by MEPs in favour of remaining after the vote was approved. At some point no doubt, the Union Jack will be lowered outside the EU Parliament leaving an empty flag pole amidst the flags of the remaining 27 countries still in the EU bloc.

MEPs voted with 621 votes and only 49 against accepting the withdrawal bill to see Brexit ratified and whilst you might think that’s good news (and yes it is better than crashing out on the 31st of January without a deal), it now leaves the UK bound by EU regulations, including any new ones that may be passed, for the next 11 months until the end of the year and without any representation from British MEPs. For 11 months we abide by EU rules with no say in how they are administered and it appears those in favour of leaving had ironically missed the fact this would come to pass.

Today is not the last day of the UK’s membership of the EU, that is tomorrow the 31st of January. But yesterday was the final day any UK MEPs will take part in any EU business and all that was left for them was to pack their bags, return to the UK, and for those who have served for any length of time to enjoy their ample severance packages (Those who have served for longer than a year are entitled to one month’s salary (€8,757.70) for every year they served as an MEP up to a maximum of €200,000) or look for a new job in which case their lose their severance pay and have to wait for their equally ample pensions (3.5% of salary for each year served up to maximum of 70%) when they turn 63.

The EU are naturally saddened to see the UK leaving the bloc but there were plenty of pledges of friendship and promises to approach trade deal talks with patience and objectivity whilst at the same time a warning that negotiators would be protecting the interests of the EU. As with the withdrawal agreement, there will doubtless have to be give and take on both sides if a deal is to be struck.

If you would like to learn more about how to prepare for the end of the year regardless what form the final trade deal (or no deal) might look like as of the 1st of January 2021, watch our webinar with GFS from earlier this month which is a great guide to the steps you can take to prepare your business for all eventualities.

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Take the Marketplace Seller Growth Tamebay Survey

It’s a new year and in 2020 we would like to look at how we can help you grow and accelerate your business and to help with this would like to invite you to take part in a new survey on seller growth.

Over the years, we’ve seen many a business start in someone’s back bedroom and just a few year’s later they’ve expanded into a warehouse, are selling on multiple marketplaces and their own website and have taken on employees. Then the business starts to scale and accelerate and that’s where many start to look for tools and services to streamline operations and perhaps start to recruit expertise in areas such as operations and accounting as well as business advisors, sometimes exec directors and other times a business mentor.

In this survey we’d like to discover what type of tools marketplace businesses use when they reach a certain size. We’d love you to take part, regardless of the size business you operate. It’s important to understand the tools smaller retailers use and when they start to migrate to more complex tools and services so whether you’re turning over £100k, £1m, or £10m a year and up it’s important for us to hear your views.

As a thank you for completing the survey, our sponsor Volo Commerce have given us two £100 Amazon vouchers to give away. We’ll be doing two draws a fortnight apart and everyone that’s filled out the survey will be entered into the draw.

You can start the survey here. It should only take you a couple of minutes to complete and as soon as you’ve finished we’ll enter you in the prize draw.

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