Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better in 2022?

1. Price

When comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce in terms of price, the answer isn’t directly clear cut. Shopify offers a tiered pricing system starting at $29 a month, though as features get tacked on the price increases. The pro to Shopify’s pricing is that it includes hosting, which can get pretty expensive as your website’s popularity grows when purchased from a third-party. Shopify also offers unlimited products, use of sales channels, and more even on their lowest price plan.

WooCommerce’s pricing model is unique, mostly because there isn’t a cost to use it (or WordPress either). Those looking to save money when running an online store, especially in the early stages might be more inclined to choose WooCommerce as their go-to for price alone. However, building an online store isn’t totally devoid of any costs. You’ll need to pay for your own hosting on WooCommerce, which typically only costs a couple of dollars a month on a shared server and increases as your business grows with it. The risk will be on whether your website has a reliable uptime when running your online store, especially on Black Friday.

So in terms of price, which is better: Shopify vs WooCommerce? WooCommerce wins out if you’re an early stage business or testing out ecommerce. However, more established brands may turn to Shopify for an all-in-one bundle in terms of features and price.

2. Ease of Setup

Shopify and WooCommerce both allow you to set up an online store relatively easily. Their ecommerce website builder allows a non-developer to set up a website without needing technical skills or support. But is one easier than the other? Let’s find out.

When signing up to Shopify, you can follow a step-by-step process of setting up your online store. While most of the process is straightforward, some of the details get missed in early setup. For example, most Shopify stores get set-up with a .myshopify.com domain. However, having your own custom domain name is an important step that many people only do afterwards. You need to separately add your .com domain after setting up your Shopify store.

WooCommerce’s setup is also a bit disjointed. While adding WooCommerce to your WordPress site is pretty straightforward, if you’ve never set up a WordPress site before, you’ll also need to invest and point your hosting, which can take 24 hours. So, there are a few more moving parts, such as setting up WordPress, installing WooCommerce, purchasing hosting, and buying a .com domain, and then of course setting up your website.

When comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify, Shopify wins this round. Keep in mind that you can easily figure both of them out by reading their documentation, blogs, or watching videos to get some extra support in the early stages of building your Shopify or WooCommerce website.

3. Apps vs Plug-ins

When comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce in terms of apps and plug-ins, they both have their own add-ons that you can use to optimize, improve, and increase the features of your online store.

Shopify boasts over 6,000 apps on their App Store, which are all specialized in ecommerce allowing you to add sales channels, better market your website, enhance SEO, and much more. Shopify apps tend to be created by third-party developers who charge monthly subscriptions to use their app on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, this can dramatically increase the cost of running an online store. However, Shopify does have a collection of free apps as well.

WooCommerce also has its own collection of plug-ins, but because it’s hosted on WordPress, you can also tap into all of the plug-ins on WordPress too. WordPress, at the time of writing, has over 59,500 plug-ins you can install on your website. Ultimately, you’ll be able to customize nearly any aspect of your website. Just search for any plug-in to help you solve any problem you have. However, there’s an added benefit too: most of them are free or only require a one time payment. While some are recurring, it’s not as common.

So if you’re deciding on Shopify vs WooCommerce based on customization ability through apps and plug-ins, WooCommerce wins first prize here folks.

4. Theme Design

The look of your website matters. Depending on the type of website you design, you might find yourself browsing through countless themes and templates to find the perfect design for how your website will look. Both Shopify and WooCommerce have their own themes that you can add to your website.

When comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce, it seems that WooCommerce has a much bigger collection of themes to choose from because it’s hosted on WordPress. You can find thousands of themes that allow you to integrate content and commerce on popular sites, such as ThemeForest and WooCommerce Theme Store.

Shopify, on the other hand, has a smaller pool of themes to choose from. You can find some on the Shopify Theme Store. Shopify offers several free themes but the best ones have a fee attached to them. While Shopify allows store owners to blog, there aren’t many themes with good blog designs unlike WooCommerce.

On ThemeForest, you can find over 8,500 WooCommerce themes, whereas Shopify only has 1,400 themes available.

So, when comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify, WooCommerce has a greater collection of themes available to help you find a website design you love and that works for your business.

5. Payment Gateways

A payment gateway is the company that processes payments on your online store. For example, PayPal is an example of a payment gateway. However, around the world there are dozens of brands that offer payment processing services for different regions.

Shopify and WooCommerce both offer over 100 payment gateways, proving themselves to be the leaders in this space when comparing to other reputable ecommerce platforms.

The only difference between them is that Shopify tacks on an additional fee for payment processing. The percentage added depends on the plan you’ve signed up for. However, WooCommerce doesn’t charge any additional fees for payment processing. Therefore, WooCommerce is better in terms of payment gateways when comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce.

6. Website Maintenance

Shopify and WooCommerce both have regular website maintenance. However, their processes for doing so vary slightly.

On Shopify, you will never need to update your website for the latest version. Shopify automatically updates the website with new layouts, features, and bug fixes constantly. Since Shopify has a full-development team at the company, the process of updating the website is seamless for the merchant. You never have to worry about bug fixes because they’re patched without you even knowing. You also don’t have to worry about issues around big days like Black Friday because Shopify does code-freezes during that period. Ultimately, there’s no down time, loading wait times, or anything like that while using Shopify.

WooCommerce and WordPress have store updates as well. However, you need to choose to update to the latest version. The downside to this is that you’re liable if you don’t update your website for bug fixes and so on. The upside is that you decide whether or not to install a version in case you don’t like what the newest version offers. In this case, WooCommerce gives you the freedom of choice.

When comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce in terms of website maintenance, Shopify wins this round for not burdening users to have to install updates but we commend WooCommerce for letting us keep a version we love if we want to.

7. Scaling Your Business

Your business can continue to grow on both WooCommerce and Shopify. WooCommerce has had some huge brands on it’s platform. The only downside to it is that hosting costs will grow as your business grows, whereas you can stay on Shopify’s $29 a month plan even with millions of visitors. There’s tight competition when comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify in terms of scalability because both platforms have hosted some of the biggest names and brands you’ll find online. You can browse some of the most popular Shopify stores.

8. Content Marketing

Both Shopify and WooCommerce allow you to build a blog on their platform. With SEO being one of the biggest sources of website traffic for brands, SEO and content marketing are a crucial part of building a big name brand.

Shopify has several SEO apps in it’s app store allowing you to better optimize your website for search engines. It has a simple content management system that you can create blog content for too. You can easily change slugs, redirect pages, and more in Shopify too.

WooCommerce was built on WordPress so it’s safe to say that WooCommerce’s content marketing and SEO capabilities can stretch farther. WordPress has many of the best SEO plug-ins you can find online and many of them haven’t created apps for Shopify yet. WooCommerce also has many more blog-friendly themes that allow you to build a huge blog alongside an online store so that your blog readers can easily find your store. It also allows you to copy and paste documents from Google Docs without any formatting issues.

Overall, when comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce in relation to content marketing and SEO, WooCommerce is the premier choice for merchants looking to scale through search.

9. Dropshipping and Print-on-Demand

WooCommerce and Shopify have plug-ins and apps that allow you to build dropshipping or print-on-demand stores.

You’ll find dropshipping apps that allow you to sell products from AliExpress on your own website in only a few clicks. However, Shopify allows you to do more than just AliExpress dropshipping. You could also install AliExpress alternative apps to dropship from Etsy, or create a print-on-demand business. You can add several different print-on-demand apps to include hundreds of unique products with custom designs on your website, only paying for each product sold rather than a monthly subscription.

WooCommerce has countless WooCommerce dropshipping plug-ins that allow you to dropship from AliExpress, Etsy, Amazon, and eBay. You can even find single apps that allow you to dropship from different platforms, making it more convenient in a lot of ways. You’ll also find pages of print-on-demand companies like Gooten and many more.

While Shopify has exclusive apps on it’s platform, WooCommerce still has plug-ins that offer the same functionality. Both choices are worthwhile if you plan on building a print-on-demand or dropshipping store.

10. Customer Support

With hundreds of thousands or even millions of customers on their platform, there’s always a way to learn how to maximize sales, fix issues, and receive support while building your online store.

Shopify offers customer support through live chat, email, and phone. Some of their support via email is available in multiple languages. In addition, Shopify has help docs, blog posts, webinars, and even online courses that you can access to educate yourself about ecommerce, marketing, and business in general.

WooCommerce, on the other hand, is a bit more complex when it comes to customer support. If you’re having issues with hosting, you’ll need to contact your hosting provider. If you’re having an issue with a plug-in, you’ll need to reach out to the plug-in creator. Themes purchased through a third-party will require you to get support from the creator. Overall, while it’s still possible to receive support for a WooCommerce theme, you’ll need to reach out to different companies for different components of your website making it more tedious and complicated.

Overall, Shopify’s support is more comprehensive and more convenient to get a hold of, making them the winner of this round.

Conclusion

So, Shopify vs WooCommerce, which is better? If you’re looking for an all-in-one ecommerce solution that allows you to easily set-up your website, get support, and still allows you to scale with ease, Shopify is the best option. If you’re looking for maximum customization, a content and commerce machine, and affordable pricing, WooCommerce is your best bet. Overall, both platforms are used by some of the biggest platforms online, so there’s no bad choice here. Choose the platform that works best for your business’ needs.

The post Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better In 2022? appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Ready to start online selling? Read on.

What is an Online Marketplace?

An online marketplace is an ecommerce store where multiple sellers can sell goods or services to customers. Examples of online marketplaces include Facebook Marketplace, Amazon, Etsy, Airbnb, and eBay. These online stores are considered to be online marketplaces because there are many merchants (hundreds of thousands, in fact) who can sell their products to the customers that browse the online shopping website.

Traditional ecommerce stores sell the goods and services of one brand, but not ecommerce marketplaces, which have many marketplace sellers who sell online on their site. They have a greater product offering which can draw more visitors to browse the website. One of the main advantages of online marketplaces is that they draw in lots of digital foot-traffic, which can mean greater exposure for the merchants on their site.

What unites all the online sellers together is that there’s one checkout process. When customers shop on an ecommerce marketplace, they don’t need to click away to different websites to complete the transaction, they can purchase from many different merchants on the marketplace at once, even if the merchants aren’t associated with one another.

When customers make purchases from sites like Facebook Marketplace or Amazon, the merchants they purchase from get a notification that someone has purchased their product, and then each online seller can individually ship and send the customer the products that were ordered from them.

This means that although a customer can complete just one transaction when purchasing from multiple different sellers, their products will be shipped from each seller individually meaning they’ll receive a shipping package from each merchant they ordered a product from.

Essentially, for online shoppers the experience is like shopping from several different online sellers at once, while being able to pay all the merchants in one transaction rather than in many transactions.

Another thing that unites online marketplaces together is that they usually are focused around one particular niche. Amazon, for example, started as an ecommerce marketplace of booksellers. Airbnb started as an online marketplace to rent rooms in San Francisco. Facebook Marketplace started a profile for users, which eventually lead to building a big userbase, which made online shopping possible. When they center around one niche, it’s likely to become successful because it gives consumers a reason to shop there and when they do shop there, they know what to expect from the online sellers.

It can also referred to as a “Collaborative Economy” or a “Sharing Economy” because it’s usually made up of merchants who work together to share or sell their idle assets on a community-accessible marketplace.

Why You Should Create an Online Marketplace

One of the main reasons to start an online marketplace is to either help third-party sellers sell more product and to help shoppers get access to goods or services more easily.

Online marketplace sellers benefit from you creating a place where they can sell goods, spaces or services online at a cheaper price, better quality, or in a more convenient way.

Starting online marketplaces is great because you don’t have to own any inventory to run one. This makes them an attractive option for entrepreneurs who want to provide a service or solve a pain point without investing a lot of their own capital into the business. Since merchants sell or rent their goods or services on ecommerce marketplaces, they source the inventory.

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.” – Tom Goodwin

How to Create an Online Marketplace

There’s plenty of online literature documenting how ecommerce entrepreneurs can start their own online businesses, but those online businesses tend to focus on solo entrepreneurs who are interested in selling their own products on their own websites. That’s not how online marketplaces work, so another approach must be taken.

1. Building Online Marketplaces

The best online marketplace platform we’ve come across, and the one that we recommend building yours on, is Sharetribe.

Sharetribe is well-recognized in the ecommerce industry as being the most reliable, user-friendly and cost-effective way for entrepreneurs to start their own online marketplace. With their software, any entrepreneur will be able to build a well-designed online marketplace in the most efficient and secure way possible.

Creating one from scratch with a team of web developers would cost you thousands of dollars, but Sharetribe doesn’t cost nearly as much and you’ll be able to have your site up and running faster than if you were to completely have it built from scratch. Keep things simple, streamlined and efficient by starting your online marketplace on a hosted platform like Sharetribe.

2. Ecommerce Marketplaces Niche

Honing in on one particular niche will ultimately lead to greater success. Select a niche market that your online marketplace will cater to.

This is an important step in the process of starting an online marketplace because it will impact what you sell on your website, the merchants who sell there, and the customers who are online shopping.

Note: Need help finding a niche? Check out our free downloadable guide of 500 Niches. It lists a variety of niches in a range of different industries and it can help you think outside the box and really focus in on a niche for your online marketplace.

3. Determining Your Minimum Viable Product Category

With Facebook marketplace and others in the world, it can be easy to get wrapped up in thinking about how you’ll scale yours to service millions of consumers right away. We encourage you not to get caught up in this way of thinking, because it takes a long time to grow one as big as Facebook Marketplace, and you can still build a successful one without being a giant in your industry.

When you’re just starting out, we suggest focusing on your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and creating that. Don’t get caught up in thinking about how you’ll create the biggest ecommerce marketplaces, just focus on creating an one that a small subset of your niche market really believes in, and start from there.

By thinking too big too soon, you’ll likely cause yourself to feel overwhelmed in everything you have to do and accomplish to get there. However, by zoning in on creating your MVP, you’ll be more likely to stick with it for years to come and that’s how you’ll grow.

Create something that at least 10 or so users can be interested in and use their feedback and experiences to grow from there. Like we mentioned earlier, Facebook Marketplace and Amazon started small too, and so can you.

4. Establishing a Budget for Online Sales

Just like any ecommerce business, starting an online marketplace will take some funds to get going. Fortunately, you don’t have to purchase or create an inventory for online selling to happen, which is pretty light on the budget. The main aspects of your budget will likely include:

• The Cost of the Ecommerce Platform: Using a hosted online marketplace platform like Sharetribe will require monthly or yearly payments.
• The Cost of Advertising to Online Sellers: You’ll need merchants with products to sell to set up shop on your online marketplace, and when you’re just starting you’re going to need to reach out to a lot of sellers to get some to actually start selling on your site. This means plenty of outreach which likely means you’ll need some cash to spend on advertising. Whether it’s advertising on social media, influencer advertising, print advertising, etc. it’s likely that you’ll have to spend money on some form of advertising to get sellers on your ecommerce marketplace.
• Cost of Advertising for Customers: Customers will not come running before they know you exist. You’ll likely have to spend some money on advertising to get customers to start online shopping on your site.

Don’t spend too much in the early days when you’re still learning. It can be tempting to pump as much capital as you have, but remember that it’s going to take some time to grow.

In the beginning, focus instead on hustling to get free advertising whether it’s through SEO or your own social media. Let your online marketplace generate its own revenue before you invest too much more into it. Even if it’s slow growth, it will help to validate your online marketplace idea.

5. Knowing Your Value

Finally, when it comes to creating an online marketplace, don’t forget to focus on the main outcome of the online marketplace. Ask yourself, what are you aiming to achieve with your online marketplace? How does it add value to those in the niche market it services.

The goal of any online marketplace is to connect merchants and customers within a niche to sell or rent goods or services, so think about how that actually works and how you want to bring that to life.

Types of Online Marketplaces

There are several different types of online marketplaces, and although they all run in a similar fashion, there are slight differences to them which can impact the shopping experience, the types of products that are sold, the customers that shop there and the service that the online marketplace promises to fulfill.

1. Physical Products

Some online marketplaces focus on selling physical products only. This means that the merchants create or supply physical products that must be shipped to the customers who purchase them.

When you have an online marketplace that sells physical products, customers will receive shipping packages from each merchant they order a product from, which can impact their user experience. It means that they’ll be receiving multiple different packages, which can be confusing for them if they don’t know to expect that. Be upfront with customers who shop on your online marketplace—if it’s a physical product online marketplace—that even though they may be completing one transaction, the products are sourced from individual merchants and the products they’ve ordered will be arriving individually from each separate merchant.

2. Digital Products

Another type of online marketplace that exists is digital product marketplaces. These online marketplaces sell digital products that can be downloaded to computers or smart devices immediately after purchase which means that customers don’t have to wait for their products to be shipped and they won’t be receiving products one-by-one from each separate merchant they order from.

An example of a digital marketplace is Creative Market, where designers and creators sell digital assets like stock photos, logo templates, graphic designs and more. We wrote a complete Creative Market Review, and we’ve even rounded up some of Creative Market’s Best Instagram Templates, which we highly recommend checking for your online marketplace.

3. Property and Spaces

Another type of online marketplace is one that rents or sells property, rooms, event spaces or locations to customers. A great example of this type of online marketplace is Airbnb, which is an online marketplace for property owners to rent out rooms, apartments, houses or properties all over the world.

This type of online marketplace comes with its own unique set of challenges, such as government regulations, property insurance, and booking confirmations that must be adhered to and organized in order to be viable and successful.

4. Services

Other online marketplaces can sell services to their customers, where merchants can rent or sell their own specialties to the marketplace. These types of online marketplaces can provide digital services that can be carried out online, such as website development services, or they can provide services that take place in-person, such as painting and restoration work, for example. For example, Fiverr is one of the top online marketplaces to sell services on.

The Challenges of Starting an Online Marketplace

Building online marketplaces is quite different from building online stores. Here are a few of the top challenges you can expect to face when starting an online marketplace:

1. Convincing online sellers and online shoppers to choose you

When you first start an online marketplace, attracting both merchants and customers to use your marketplace is going to be your biggest challenge. Because you’re new, you’re going to have to build trust within merchants to sell on your site and you’re going to have to make sure customers know your marketplace exists so they even think to shop on it.

It will be challenging for you to convince merchants to come sell on an online marketplace if there aren’t customers already shopping there, and it won’t make sense to attract customers to your online marketplace if there aren’t any merchants selling their inventory there yet.

By reaching out to suppliers first before attracting customers to your online marketplace, you’ll also build the inventory supply that your marketplace has to offer which is crucial for customers when they start landing on your online marketplace. Without any inventory, there’s no incentive for your customers to shop on your marketplace at all, so secure the goods and services before you start reeling in customers.

In order to start finding merchants to sell goods and services on your online marketplace, consider reaching out to merchants who are already selling on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, or Etsy. This shows that they’re already comfortable selling on online marketplaces and if you give them a good enough reason to sell on yours too, they might be interested. Look for merchants that sell products that align with your online marketplace’s focus niche.

Sharetribe’s article on How to Build Supply for Your Marketplace can be an invaluable tool to help you attract merchants to your online marketplace when you are first getting started.

2. Providing a useful service

Online marketplaces can only be successful long-term if they solve a real problem for both merchants and customers. This is why it’s so important when starting your online marketplace to make sure that you validate your idea beforehand so you don’t find yourself months or years later with a failed marketplace because it didn’t provide value to merchants or consumers.

Like we mentioned before, take your time building your online marketplace and don’t invest too much capital upfront just in case your online marketplace idea isn’t something that can withstand the test of time. It’s better to grow your marketplace slowly so you can adjust and adapt to merchants’ and consumers’ needs as you go which can result in you creating an online marketplace that provides value to those merchants and consumers and thus, becomes a successful online marketplace long-term.

Focus on solving a problem for both the merchants and the consumers, and you’ll be more likely to provide a useful service for both parties.

3. Dealing with competition

Even if you think you’ve come up with a great idea for an online marketplace, it’s likely that someone else has already thought of it, too. Competition can be a hindrance to starting and growing your online marketplace, however, it shouldn’t completely deter you from pursuing it, either.

If there’s already an existing online marketplace, then you have to find a way to compete against them. Try competing on price, selection, quality, choice, the number of merchants, the geographic area or something else that gives your online marketplace an edge over any others.

If you aren’t sure whether there are any existing online marketplaces that are in direct competition with your online marketplace idea, then be aware that there probably is someone else also working on the same idea and you will eventually have competition. If this is the case, your only option is to execute your online marketplace idea better or faster than anyone else starting a similar online marketplace, so consider how you can make that happen.

4. Marketplace Costs

Every marketplace needs to earn revenue and profit to survive, so you’ll need to determine a viable strategy to ensure that your marketplace earns the revenue and profits that it needs to last without eating away at sellers margins and scaring them away. Here are some tips on managing the costs:

• Funding needs to come from the community you’re serving, so consider how your users will fund your online marketplace
• You need to “own” each transaction which usually means you charge a commission on every transaction you facilitate. This helps you generate revenue for your online marketplace. On average, top online marketplaces charge around 20-30% commissions as seller fees.
• Focus on how many transactions occur on your online marketplace, not users. Your online marketplace exists to facilitate transactions, and that’s likely how you’re going to be earning your revenue, so that’s the most important metric to keep track of.
• Think about how you will pay your merchants and how they will earn revenue from providing your online marketplace with inventory. You also need to consider when to move each transactions’ money from the customer to the merchant. It generally makes sense to only transfer the money from the customer to the merchant when you’re sure the customer will be receiving the goods or services they paid for, without any issues, such as refunds.

For great information on financing your online marketplace, check out this article on How to Design Your Marketplace’s Transaction Flow.

How to Run a Successful Online Marketplace

1. Select An Online Marketplace Business Model

Your online marketplace business model will impact how you will earn revenue and profit and how your merchants will earn revenue and profit, as well. It’s a fundamental aspect of every online marketplace and one that you should decide on before you launch.

The different types of online marketplace business models you can choose from include:

• Commission-Based Business Model: This is the most common type of online marketplace business model and means that you will earn a commission from every transaction that takes place on your online marketplace. It’s an ideal business model because you’re guaranteed to earn revenue from each transaction and it builds trust within merchants and customers because they know that facilitating successful transactions is important to you because you have a stake invested in it.
• Membership/Subscription Fee Business Model: This business model sets up your online marketplace so that each merchant or customer pays a membership fee in order to sell or buy on the online marketplace. Using this business model ensures that you get a consistent amount of revenue monthly but it can also deter merchants and customers from using your online marketplace.
• Listing Fee Business Model: By using this business model your online marketplace will charge merchants a fee for listing their goods or services on your online marketplace. The listing fee could be based on a flat-rate amount or a percentage of the value of the good or service, and it’s typically used when there’s value in how many listings a merchant has posted on the online marketplace.
• Lead Fee Business Model: This business model is more common in Business-to-Business (B2B) industries, as there’s often a lot of value at stake. When using this business model, the customer posts a good or service they’re looking for and merchants pay a fee in order to bid for the work. This isn’t a very common online marketplace business model, but it can work well for some industries.
• Freemium Business Model: This is a great business model for online marketplaces that facilitate sales of low-cost items. When using this business model, merchants and customers can use the online marketplace for free, and the online marketplace will offer other services to the merchants and customers can purchase that boost the value of the online marketplace. These types of services could include providing insurance, vetting services or delivery options.
• Featured Listing & Ads Business Model: When using this business model, merchants can often list their goods or services for free on an online marketplace but in order to promote their listing to a viable audience, a fee must be paid. This ensures merchants use the marketplace but the online marketplace can still earn revenue from merchants who are eager to sell their goods or services.
• Any Combination of These Business Models: Oftentimes, these business models are combined together to create more favorable conditions for merchants to sell their products and for online marketplaces to earn consistent revenue.

2. Create a Positive User Experience

A large part of creating a great online marketplace includes creating a great user experience. If merchants can’t run their online business or customers can’t do their online shopping the way they want to, then they’ll simply go elsewhere.

Make it as easy as possible for customers and merchants to connect with one another so a transaction can take place. There are some important aspects you can integrate into your online marketplace to help make this as efficient as possible:

• Have a Smart Search Function: When customers come to your online marketplace with a purpose, a search function is going to be instrumental to their success. Make sure you have a smart search function embedded onto your online marketplace so customers can use it to find exactly what they’re looking for as quickly as possible.
• Make Your Marketplace Browse-able: Some customers may come to your online marketplace knowing exactly what they’re looking for, while others may not. Customers who aren’t sure what they’re looking for need a way to browse through your marketplace, so make your online marketplace friendly for browsers. This could mean using categories, filters, and menus to help browsers navigate around your marketplace.
• Use Systems: If you’re providing services, in particular, or if your online marketplace is focused more on renting items rather than selling them, you may need to use certain systems to ensure that everything operates smoothly. These types of systems could be calendars, booking systems, maps, etc. and could be essential to how your online marketplace operates.
• Merchant & Customer Profiles: It’s likely that merchants and customers will need to create profiles on your online marketplace to ensure that they can create listings, access their purchase history, manage their orders, etc. so your online marketplace will need to be equipped to handle these profiles and define how they’re able to interact with one another. Keep in mind that most people prefer to check out as Guest, so don’t forget to add that as an option for customers.
• Mandatory Listing Information: It will be useful for you to determine upfront what kind of information merchants on your online marketplace will have to include in their listings so it can remain consistent across all merchants. Having consistent information across all third-party sellers will help customers make informed purchasing decisions which can drastically affect their experience on your online marketplace.

Best Practices for Launching Online Marketplaces

When it comes to bringing your online marketplace to life, your launch will play a role in how your marketplace continues to progress over the course of its lifetime. Utilizing promotion channels like an email list, advertising, press, influencers and online communities such as Product Hunt to get the attention of people who might be interested in what your marketplace has to offer.

No matter how you choose to draw attention to your online marketplace when it launches, it’s arguably most important to build trust within each and every user that enters your website as soon as you launch. No matter how many people your promotion tactics bring to your website on launch day, focus on building trust within them as they experience your online marketplace.

Tactics to instill trust in visitors to your online marketplace include:

• Create a Good First Impression: How your website looks, the types of products you sell, the quality of your merchants and their products, your FAQ Page, and your About Page can all affect a visitor’s first impression so put in the work to make it a great impression.
• Have Inventory Ready to Sell: Make sure there are products ready for your customers to purchase. You don’t want to be driving visitors all the way to your website with nothing for them to actually buy.
• Be Transparent: If there is still room for improvement on your marketplace, let customers know that you’re working to make things run more efficiently and that you’re putting in effort behind the scenes to make it the best possible online marketplace experience for them. Customers appreciate transparency, so if you experience any hiccups throughout your launch, be sure to let customers know what’s going on.
• Be Honest: No matter what your online marketplace promises customers, make sure you deliver on it. Don’t make claims you can’t fully commit to.
• Allow Reviews: Customer reviews help all websites build credibility, so leave a place on your online marketplace for customers to leave their thoughts and feedback. Customer reviews are generally non-biased in favor of the brand, so other customers are more likely to trust what they have to say. You may not have any reviews when you first launch but as your brand grows you’ll be able to accept reviews as they come.

Note: Need more help with launching your online marketplace? Check out our downloadable Ecommerce Launch Checklist to ensure that you cover all your bases.

Conclusion

You’re now well-equipped with the knowledge to start your own online marketplace. Remember that choosing the right niche will be what sets your website apart from other marketplaces in the industry. Focus on getting suppliers for your marketplace first and then instill trust into every visitor that lands on your online marketplace after launch day. Have a good online marketplace idea? Get started!

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How to Choose a Domain Name For Your Ecommerce Business

Once you’ve decided you’re going to build an ecommerce store, it’s time to figure out what you’re going to sell. If you’re selling trending products on a general store, you’ll want your domain name to be generic. If you’re planning on sticking with a singular niche, you might want to include it in your domain name, such as beauty.

You can do a domain name search on Shopify where you test out different names to see which is available. Since most .com domains are usually registered, a .store domain will likely have an available custom domain for you. The domain registration process isn’t hard, but finding a free domain name can take some time.

You also need to choose a domain registrar. In ecommerce, some people choose Shopify, but there are many other options to choose from too. Namecheap is a popular domain registrar that specializes in domain names, that you can keep all your domain names on.

Once you’ve decided on your business name, you need to pick a domain name to begin domain registration. This consists of a domain name and a domain extension.

abetterlemonadestand.com
[domain name].[domain extension]

Domain Name vs Domain Extension: What’s the Difference?

A domain name is what comes before the period in a domain name. It’s the name that you choose for your website address.

A domain extension is what comes after the period in a domain name. The technical name for it is a “top-level domain” (TLD).

Originally there were only a few domain extensions, including .com, .net, and .edu. There were also country-code domain extensions, like .gb for Great Britain or .es for Spain.

However, over the last few years, descriptive domain extensions have become available, including .store, .tech, and .online.

It’s important to consider what your domain name and domain extension express about your brand separately, and what they convey when paired together.

When choosing a domain name, it’s best to make it match the name of your business as closely as possible.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to secure a domain name that matches your exact business name if you want a traditional domain extension like .com. A lot of names are already in use (or preemptively purchased by a company that wants to sell it to you at a ludicrous mark-up).

While the same domain name can be registered with various domain extensions, duplicate domain names cannot exist. There can only be one, yourbusinessname.com. But, yourbusinessname.net or yourbusinessname.store may still be up for grabs.

But before you can decide on a domain name — you need to start with a brand name.

How to Pick a Name for Your Business

A business’ name is more than just a name. It plays an important role in marketing, brand recognition, and search engine optimization (SEO). The right name can make it easier for you to sell more products, while the wrong name can confuse customers.

When you’re deciding on a name for your company, consider these popular business name types:

• A Descriptive Name: A business name that describes what your business does or sells is simple and powerful, like General Motors, MailChimp, or Burger King.
• An Emotive Name: Some brand choose a name that makes you feel an emotion, like Hugo Boss or Triumph Motorcycles.
• A Person’s Name: Many companies are named after a person. This can be based on someone’s first name, last name, or a nickname, like Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, or Tesla.
• An Acronym: You can turn a descriptive name into a memorable acronym. Did you know that CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart?” Examples of this include H&M, AMC, and KFC.
• A Simple, Modern Name: Your business’ name doesn’t have to have anything to do with the products you sell. Instead, it can just be catchy and memorable, like Zoom, Google, or Tumblr.
• A Compound Name: You can combine two or more words that describe what you sell or do, like MySpace, Facebook, or WordPress.
• A Playful Name: Brands with tons of personality sometimes choose to register a domain name that has nothing to do with their business, like Frozen Lemons, Dynamite, or Smashbox.
• A Metaphorical Name: Brands who want to have a special meaning behind their brand name will typically choose a metaphorical name, such as Nike, Jaguar, Amazon, and Target.

Sit down and brainstorm ideas for your business’ name. When you’ve come up with several options, answer the questions in this checklist to narrow down your options:

• Is the domain name general enough that it doesn’t limit your ability to expand your business in the future? For instance, a name like “Just Sneakers” tells customers that you only sell one type of footwear
• Is the domain name simple? Remove any extraneous words
• Is the domain name memorable? If not, try making it more memorable by using alliteration or repetition, like Lululemon
• Is the domain name unique? Do an internet search to make sure your name doesn’t infringe on any copyrights or trademarks
• Have you incorporated an SEO keyword into the name? Let’s say your name is Sarah and you specialize in selling vintage Persian rugs. Rather than choosing a generic name like Sarah’s Rugs, pick something more specific, like Sarah’s Persian Rugs or Sarah’s Vintage Rugs. Keywords are descriptive, help with marketing, and boost SEO efforts. You want it to be easy for people to find your ecommerce business through an online search

After you’ve chosen the perfect name for your company, it’s time to select the perfect domain name. Choosing a domain name for your ecommerce business shouldn’t be an afterthought. A domain name search will help you find an available domain you’ll love. So, let’s move onto the domain name registration process.

How to Buy a Domain

1. Make it easy to remember

Domain name registration is important because while you can always pick another domain name, it’s better to get it right the first time around. You want your domain name to be memorable so that it comes top of mind when someone wants a product from your website.

For instance, let’s say you want to name your business Kathy’s Super Duper Delicious Fudge Brownies.

Before you register your name with any legal entities, think about how difficult it would be for customers to remember. Consider how annoying it would be for them to have to type kathyssuperduperdeliciousfudgebrownies.store into their browsers.

However, something like Kathy’s Brownies or Brownie Heaven is much easier to remember.

2. Register a short domain name

If you can take a word or more out of your business’ name, do it.

Instead of Kathy’s Super Duper Delicious Fudge Brownies, consider shortening your business name to simply, Kathy’s Delicious Brownies. Then, you can buy the sweet and simple domain name, kathysdeliciousbrownies.store.

If your business’ name is long, figure out if it could be turned into a memorable acronym. If that’s the case, you can use the acronym as your domain.

Say your business is called Beach Umbrellas For the Sun. You could turn that into the acronym BUFTS (which is short and easy to remember) and buy the domain bufts.store.

If possible, avoid having and in your acronym. For example, if you want to type in the domain name for H&M, you might not be sure whether the domain name is just the letters hm.com or handm.com. So, think through your acronym carefully before domain registration.

3. Avoid adding words that aren’t in your brand name

Adding extra words could make it easier for you to get a traditional domain extension, but it hurts branding.

If your company is called Bloom Flower Delivery, but bloomflowerdelivery.com isn’t available, you may be tempted to buy inbloomflowerdelivery.com.

But, will your customers be able to remember that domain name when they think of your company’s name? Probably not.

So, consider using a new domain extension, like .store, instead. However, if you’re set on domain registration of a .com, then you’ll need to do some more domain name searches until you find something catchy and available.

4. Avoid dashes

Let’s say that your ecommerce business is called The Best Soap Company. Don’t include “The” in your domain name.

If bestsoapcompany.store isn’t available, don’t add hyphens to make it best-soap-company.store. Come up with another alternative.

5. Choose the right domain extension

If your company’s name is Online Cheese Store, consider registering onlinecheese.store rather than onlinecheesestore.com. However, if you are going to add the word store in the url, you should only do this for .com domains.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Domain Extension

When it comes to domain registration, choosing your domain extension is just as important as choosing your domain name. With new extensions appearing daily, your options are growing. The domain extension “.store” is an optimal choice for ecommerce businesses, particularly when the .com is unavailable.

While selecting the domain extension for your ecommerce website, consider the following factors.

1. Domain Extension Availability

Traditional domain extensions, like .com or .net, have been around for years. This means the chances are higher that the domain name you want won’t be available with one of those domain extensions.

With a domain extension like .store, however, you likely won’t encounter the frustrating “that domain name is already taken” message since it hasn’t been around as long as .com or .net.

2. Domain Extension Cost

Traditional domain extensions tend to be the most expensive.

If the domain you want has a traditional domain extension and is available on the marketplace, you’ll likely have to drop a pretty penny for it.

If it’s not available and you desperately want it, you’ll have to negotiate a price with the current owner. Some domains can go for thousands or even millions of dollars.

3. Domain Extension Marketing Power

A traditional domain extension is generic and doesn’t tell website visitors anything about what they’re going to see.

A .store domain extension, however, is descriptive. It tells people that they’re going to end up at an online shop.

4. Domain Names SEO

A common misconception is that a new domain extension is bad for SEO.

However, Google has stated that they treat new domain extensions the same as traditional domain extensions. So don’t fret about your domain extension hurting your SEO.

The most important factor in determining SEO rankings is the quality of the content on the website.

A new domain extension like .store is a great option for ecommerce businesses. Not only is it more likely to be available.

Ultimately, you need to build brand trust. If you’re creating content, adding new products often, and getting backlinks to your .store domain names then you will have no problem with SEO.

Best Practices for Registering a .STORE Domain Name

Before you finalize your domain name registration and other concerns around how to buy a domain name, follow these final tips.

1. Avoid .Store Domain Name Lawsuits

Do your due diligence to avoid registering a domain name that is copyrighted, trademarked, or belongs to a well-known brand. A proper domain registration process will require you to do a domain name search for any trademarks or brand names under other domain extensions. By making sure no one else has your domain name, you’ll be able to prevent lawsuits based on domain names.

2. Protect Your .Store Domain Privacy

Anyone can look up the name and address of the person who has registered a domain name. If you run your ecommerce business out of your home, anyone can find your personal address.

If you want to avoid creepy solicitations from strangers, consider purchasing domain privacy from your domain registrar. You may also want to look into setting up a P.O. box to use as your address where required in business communications (like mass email sends to customers).

3. Keep an Eye on .Store Domain Name Renewals

When you register a domain name, you don’t own it.

Rather, you pay for the right to use it over a certain period of time. When this period ends, your access to the domain name gets revoked.

Take worrying about how to buy a domain name (in terms of domain renewals) off your plate by maximizing your registration time (you can register a domain name for up to 10 years at a time) and signing up for automatic renewals through your domain registrar.

After you’ve made sure that your domain name won’t trigger any lawsuits, you’ve protected your personal contact information, and you’ve automated renewals, you’re ready to lock down that perfect domain name by registering it.

How to Build an Ecommerce Website

Once you have a business and domain name, it’s time to build your online storefront. You have several options depending on how tech-savvy you are.

If you know how to code, you can develop an ecommerce website from scratch. If you’re not so savvy or don’t have the time, you can hire a web developer or website designer instead. These are professionals who can create your dream website from the ground up.

Keep in mind, website design services (especially for ecommerce) can be very expensive, depending on the skill and experience level of the person or firm you hire.

If you’re short on both time and financial resources, you’re in luck. There are a variety of excellent ecommerce platforms on the market that can help you build and launch an online shop quickly, easily, and on a budget. Shopify (Shopify Review), WooCommerce for WordPress, and BigCommerce are all popular options.

If you create your own site, make sure you create product pages with detailed product descriptions and high-quality images. You should also make sure you have a homepage, About page, and a Contact page.

How to Market Your Ecommerce Business

If you build it, they will come… right?

Wrong.

Once you launch your ecommerce website, the real work begins. Invest time into marketing your business. Read books and articles that will teach you how to reach your target audience and identify your ideal client.

Investigate companies and resources that can help you in your marketing efforts. You’ll need to put time and money into making sure potential customers can find your online shop and choose to buy your products.

For ecommerce stores, digital marketing tactics can work best. Focus your efforts on SEO, social media, email marketing, and digital advertising.

You can implement marketing tactics on your own, or hire a marketing expert to do it for you.

Note: Not sure how to start marketing? Check out the 52 Week Marketing Plan. It guides you through 52 weeks of marketing ideas so you can test out different strategies in your first year of business to find what works best for you.

Final Thoughts

Choosing a domain name for your ecommerce business shouldn’t be an afterthought. It’s an important decision to make while launching your company. It should factor into the name you ultimately choose for your business.

Your domain name will be an integral part of your brand identity when your business operates exclusively online and a new domain extension, like a .store domain, can help you get a domain name that matches your business’ name as closely as possible. It can also work wonders for your company by bolstering brand recognition and driving people to your website.

Are you ready to take the next steps? Search for a .store domain extension and lock in your perfect .store domain name!

The post How to Buy a Domain Name in 2022: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Shopify Review: History

Shopify was founded in 2006, its headquarters are based in Ottawa, Ontario and they reportedly support over 1,750,000 merchants with their hosted ecommerce platform software. This ecommerce solution makes it easy for people who know nothing about programming, coding and web development to run their own online store. They do this so entrepreneurs can focus on building the aspects of their business they excel at without having to worry too much about the technical stuff.

Who Is Shopify For?

When doing your own Shopify review, it’s important to know whether or not Shopify is a good fit for you. Shopify has the unique capability to support both small businesses run by sole-proprietors just starting out and large corporations that achieve high traffic and revenues. No matter the specific needs of the business, the fundamental ability of Shopify to just work translates itself effectively to any business, large or small. The biggest benefit of Shopify is that you can scale your pricing plan to reap more benefits as your business grows. That means, your Shopify account will grow with you, so you don’t need to replatform in a few years when your business become a large company.

1. Small Businesses

Shopify is a great ecommerce solution for small businesses. If you woke up today thinking about side hustles and wanting to take the plunge into entrepreneurship, you can literally start a Shopify store in the next few minutes. Shopify has pricing plans for businesses of all sizes. The Basic Shopify plan starts at $29 USD/month. This is the most popular entry-level plan for new store owners. With it, you can browse the Shopify App Store to find apps that’ll allow you to find products to start selling, such as Spocket, Printful, or Gooten. Depending on the app, you’ll find products that you can design yourself or that are ready to ship. With a little time spent on store design and a bit of time spent on designing or importing products, you can have a ready-to-go website by the end of today.

Knowing marketing will be important to get sales rolling in, though. So don’t expect to run your first ad and become an overnight success. However, a lot of the tools professional marketers use for their website are actually free, such as social media, writing your blog content, optimizing your website for SEO, and more.

These days, most Shopify apps automate order processing and shipping, which makes Shopify a great choice for store owners with 9 to 5 jobs, side hustlers, people just starting out, or people looking to put their retail business online.

2. Large Companies

Since Shopify is so efficient at handling things from their end, corporations have migrated their businesses over to Shopify so they can handle the technical stuff and the corporations can focus their attention elsewhere. It’s the same as it is for small businesses, just on a larger scale. Companies like Red Bull, Kylie Cosmetics and Gym Shark operate via Shopify Plus, which is a subset of Shopify’s ecommerce platform made for high-volume and fast-growing merchants. If it works for them, it can work for you too. For more examples of Shopify stores, check out our list of 50 successful Shopify stores and what you can learn from them. Shopify is a great platform for large companies due to its reliable uptime during peak seasons like Black Friday weekend.

Shopify Review: Easy-to-Use Interface

One of the highlights of this Shopify review, is the fact that Shopify’s interface is user-friendly and so easy to use. This ecommerce solution is no-code friendly so you can develop your own unique ecommerce store. You can customize any aspect of your online store, too. They give you options, you pick what you want, fill in the blanks and you get your own customized store. Of course, if you’re completely new to using Shopify there will be a bit of a learning curve figuring out exactly where everything is located on the backend, but everything is laid out in a completely accessible way so you can just move step by step making adjustments as you go.

Following is an overview of how the Shopify administration dashboard is set up.

HOME

Get an overview of what’s going on with your business. See today’s sales and visitors, view recent activity, and get an overview of Shopify announcements.

ORDERS

Manage, track and view orders that have been made and draft up orders for customers who place them over the phone.

PRODUCTS

Add your products into this section, import your existing product inventory, manage inventory transfers, enable inventory tracking, organize products through collections and sell gift cards.

CUSTOMERS

Whenever a customer places an order this section will show their details and their purchase history.

ANALYTICS

Get an overview of your store’s sales, refunds, taxes, payments and view your dashboard that details your visitors over time, your conversions and other specific information.

ONLINE STORE

Make adjustments to the look and feel of your store by editing pages, navigation, and customizing your theme.

APPS

Access Shopify’s app store for tools that will help you manage aspects of your online business such as marketing, sales, social media, shipping, inventory, accounting, customer service, and more.

SETTINGS

View your store details, payment gateways, checkout settings, shipping preferences, tax settings and more.

Shopify Review: Hosting

When setting up a website for your ecommerce business there are essentially two choices: Set up a self-hosted website, or set up a hosted website. All websites are hosted by a hosting provider, but some platforms include hosting in their subscription fees whereas others don’t. What does this mean?

• Self-Hosted Websites: These websites are entirely managed and maintained by the creator of the website. All upkeep, troubleshooting, and security systems are implemented by the creator of the site and it’s their responsibility to keep them up to date, secure and working properly. People who want to use their own hosting provider will typically self-host their website. WordPress and WooCommerce are two platfoms which use self-hosted websites.
• Hosted Websites: These websites have all the maintenance managed by an experienced and expert third party that handles the upkeep, troubleshooting, and security for the people who create websites via their service. Shopify is an example of a hosted website that includes hosting in the monthly subscription fee.

For people who aren’t super savvy with technical computer and programming skills, it’s highly recommended that you build your website on a hosted platform. Starting a business has a learning curve. With self-hosting websites, you’ll need to spend time fixing technical issues occasionally when you could be working on other aspects of your businesses instead. When your business grows, you might lose your hosting for a couple days until you upgrade your plan as there are typically caps on how much traffic your site gets. That’s why most people prefer self-hosted ecommerce solutions.

These are the advantages of using Shopify’s platform to build your ecommerce business:

• You have nothing to set up
• You don’t have to worry about your customers’ or your own security
• You don’t have to monitor your website’s up and downtime
• You can host a new or existing domain through them
• Your customers can load your website quickly no matter where they are in the world
• You have unlimited bandwidth on all of Shopify’s plans
• Your store’s data is automatically backed up
• You don’t need to know how to code
• You don’t have to worry so much about the technical side of running a website
• You won’t need to upgrade your plan as your site grows unless you want to

It really just saves you stress and frustration from dealing with complex technical issues that are better left to an expert team so the security and reliability of your ecommerce website will never be compromised. Shopify’s hosted ecommerce service gives that peace of mind.

Shopify Review: Shopify App Store

Due to Shopify’s popularity, there are thousands of apps created by third-party developers to simplify aspects of running an online store. This means that Shopify’s App Store has the most up-to-date and innovative tools available to help you run your ecommerce business more efficiently.

Shopify’s app store offers all types of different services you can use to amplify your Shopify store’s abilities. You’ll find apps for Shopify features, such as product sourcing, marketing, sales, social media, shipping, inventory, customer service, accounting, reporting and more, there’s an app to help make your business better at anything.

If you ever think to yourself, “I wish my website had [fill in the blank],” consider searching for it on the Shopify App Store first. You’ll likely find an app that allows you to add an email pop-up, find products to sell, or even add sales badges. There’s literally an app for everything.

BOLD Apps and Out of the Sandbox both create apps exclusively for Shopify stores and they’re renowned for their quality, so they’re worth checking out.

App integration capability may not sound like a make-it-or-break-it reason to choose an ecommerce platform to build a business on, however, it means you’ll always have access to the most up-to-date tools you can use to operate your business in the best way possible. If you’re just starting out this may not seem like a big deal but, further down the line, you might find you need a tool to help you run your business better and if you have easy access to it, like you will through Shopify’s app store, then your problem can easily be solved. Not all ecommerce platforms have app stores. Shopify even has some exclusive apps you won’t find anywhere else, so if you’re interested in having access to the most relevant and innovative app integrations, Shopify is the easy choice to make.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify pricing is one of the most important parts of a Shopify review, so let’s talk numbers. Shopify has three core pricing plans: Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. There’s also two less common Shopify plans: Shopify Lite and Shopify Plus.

Shopify’s Basic Plan gives you access to all of their security and updates plus most of their features for $29 (USD) per month. For better credit card rates and access to more features, their Shopify Plan is priced at $79 (USD) per month. Finally, they also have an Advanced Shopify Plan aimed towards providing advanced features for scaling businesses which is priced at $299 (USD) per month. Shopify Lite is only $9 (USD) per month, however, it’s for people who want to sell without a Shopify website. Shopify Plus starts at $2,000 (USD) per month and is most commonly used by large corporations.

For most new businesses just starting out, the Shopify Basic Plan is usually the best option. It gives you access to all of the most important features at a very manageable monthly price.

Shopify Supports Many Types of Business Models

No matter what kind of store you’re running, or want to run, Shopify can handle it. Whether your business model is based on dropshipping, subscriptions, affiliates, occasional in-person sales, “Buy Buttons” embedded into blog posts, selling on Facebook, or any combination of these options, Shopify supports it all.

1. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a popular business model where you sell a manufacturer’s products on your website, and the manufacturer creates the inventory, stores it, and ships it to your customers on your behalf, while you focus on marketing and customer support.

Creating an online store with Shopify and pairing it with a dropshipping app on the Shopify App Store is easy to do and you’ll have the ability to run it completely autonomously. This way you won’t have to forward orders to your dropshipper every time you receive one, it just happens automatically. Read more about how Shopify supports dropshipping business models here.

2. Subscription Models

With one simple app integration, you can turn your regular Shopify store into a subscription service so your customers can have recurring orders placed automatically with no fuss. While Shopify doesn’t inherently offer subscription model pricing capabilities, the ReCharge App is your best option if you’re looking to operate a subscription service.

3. Blog Post Buy Buttons

Monetize your blog without having to create an entirely separate platform just by adding Shopify Buy Buttons to your blog posts. You’ll be able to access all the usual Shopify features such as your order history, customer contact information, tracking information, sales analytics and Shopify Apps, but the entire shopping experience can take place on your blog so your customers don’t have to be re-directed anywhere else. For more information regarding blog or website buy buttons, check out this page. You can use Shopify Lite, the most affordable Shopify plan if your blog is hosted on outside of Shopify, so that you can sell products using Shopify on your blog.

4. Selling on Amazon

Believe it or not, those who have their own Shopify store can actually start selling on Amazon from their Shopify account. On Shopify, you can find Amazon as a sales channels. You’ll need to create an Amazon seller account to sell on Amazon using Shopify. Considering Amazon is one of the biggest online stores you’ll find, it’s a great place to sell more of your products. So, the thing to realize is that the Shopify platform isn’t only for selling products on your own website. You can sell on countless popular websites, social media sites, and more using sales channels on Shopify. That’s what makes Shopify one of the best ecommerce platforms you’ll find online. The Shopify plan is loaded with much more than just a simple website builder for ecommerce platforms.

5. Selling on eBay

With eBay’s massive active customer base of over 180 million people, don’t count it out as a viable and valuable sales channel for your Shopify store. Shopify’s integration with eBay makes it easy to sell your products directly to eBay customers through your Shopify dashboard as you can manage listings, track inventory, reconcile your revenue, communicate with customers and more, all within your Shopify dashboard. Save time, sell to a larger customer base and earn more revenue seamlessly within Shopify. Learn more about how to sell on eBay with Shopify here.

6. Selling on Facebook

Similar to how you can monetize your blog with Shopify Buy Buttons, you can sell just as easily on Facebook so your customers don’t even have to switch platforms. You have access to all the Shopify features that you normally would but you don’t have to redirect your customers to another website, let them shop right on Facebook. By selling on Facebook you’re also exposing your business to an online area with lots of organic foot-traffic that you can take advantage of to grow your reach. For more information regarding selling on Facebook with Shopify, check out this page. Plus, as more social media sites become popular, you’ll find sales channels added for them, such as Instagram, which is also available on the Shopify platform.

7. Affiliates

Similar to dropshipping, if you’re interested in selling online without investing a lot of time and money into it, running an ecommerce store selling products via affiliate links can be an attractive option.

If you’re new to selling via affiliates and want to know more about how it works, we wrote a blog post all about how to set up an affiliate store for beginners that discusses how to set one up on Shopify, so we recommend checking that out. Shopify supports affiliate stores through simple app integrations that allow you to promote a product from another store, like Amazon, and link to it via your affiliate link.

8. Shopify Channel Integrations

If you’re selling your products across multiple channels such as your online store, POS system, buy button, Facebook, and more, Shopify makes it easy to house all your information and data on one unified platform. You’re able to keep track of sales and inventory easily so you don’t make mistakes, and when it comes time to measure analytics and accounts, all the necessary info is in one spot. Shopify currently integrates with popular channels such as Amazon, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok, Walmart, Google, and many more. For more information regarding Shopify’s Sales Channel Integrations, check out this page.

Shopify Plus

If your Shopify store gets a high volume of sales, Shopify Plus offers a scalable ecommerce platform that can fit your individual business’ needs. Shopify supports high volume businesses by providing the same hosted service they do for every other business, just on a much larger scale, making it a much simpler process to manage. Shopify also places an emphasis on partnering with Shopify Plus merchants to help them better strategize their growth and maintain their competitive edge. For more information regarding Shopify Plus, check out this page.

Shop Pay & Shopify POS

Use Shopify’s convenient payment processing system, Shop Pay, to help your customers check out faster. Using this secure system all shoppers will have to do is enter their email and an expirable 6-digit verification code to make a purchase, which shortens the checkout process from several fields down to two. No longer will your customers have to fill out repetitive information like their shipping and billing information, Shop Pay will have the necessary information pre-filled so all it’ll take is a couple of clicks or taps to completion.

As a merchant, this will make your checkout completion time lower which will help to increase your conversion rates as customers have a limited amount of time to exit out of the shopping cart. It also gives your customers a better experience as they can use Shop Pay across all Shopify stores, so checking out will be a lot less hassle for them, too, and it works on any device or browser.

For more information regarding Shop Pay, check out this blog post.

Shopify POS System

Suppose you want to hold a pop up shop, or maybe your store has a booth at an event or festival where you want to sell your products in person. Or maybe you own a brick and mortar shop and need to upgrade your POS system. Shopify’s POS System makes it possible to integrate your ecommerce sales with your in-person sales easily and efficiently with their special POS software.

With this system you can accept credit card payments anywhere, on any device, your inventory is updated in real-time and your data is stored online just as it normally would be. This way your business can move with you wherever you go and support you and your customers wherever it’s most convenient.

For a seamless on-the-go payment experience, use Shopify’s wireless Chip & Swipe Card Reader to sync effortlessly with your Shopify store when you’re selling in person. It has certified EVM chip technology, industry-leading encryption, and accepts all major credit cards. You’ll need to pay for the equipment, which varies in price depending on the model you choose. However, Shopify POS as a service is bundled into the cost of your monthly subscription.

For more information regarding Shopify’s POS System, check out this page and for more information about the Chip & Swipe Card Reader, check out this page.

Shopify Blog, Support & Experts

Shopify recognizes how powerful their ecommerce software can be when their customers know how to properly use it, so they focus on educating Shopify users through their blog and support pages and offer additional assistance through their Shopify Experts directory.

For any and every ecommerce related topic or question, Shopify has most likely covered it on their blog. With everything from knowledge, inspiration, announcements, and updates to case studies, analytics, experiments and how-to’s, there’s something on their blog to pique everyone’s interests.

Their support pages give detailed instructions to help any Shopify user with even the smallest amount of computer know-how create their own store on Shopify. This is the best place to get answers to any technical questions that occur when setting up a store and it’s a great place to browse around as you’ll likely to find tips, tricks, and solutions for design and development preferences you hadn’t yet considered. You really can take your store to the next level with the Shopify support pages and Shopify provides instructions so you can do it all yourself.

To make changes to your store that are more complex and you either can’t find your questions answered on the Shopify support pages or it has been listed as an advanced procedure, you can make use of the Shopify Experts team. These experts are, well, experts in their field and, for a fair price, they can help you solve any technical issues to turn your store into what you want it to be, or to fix any issues you might be having. These experts are super handy to have around as they make the experience with Shopify an even higher caliber.

To solve any setup, design, development, marketing and photography problems you may have, check out the Shopify Experts Directory. For even more Shopify specific help, check out Carson.

Shopify Burst

Burst provides free stock photos for either personal or commercial use that you can use on your Shopify store. Considering that there are so many stock photo resources available on the web, some are free and some you need to pay for, some of the images can be used for personal and commercial use, some only for personal use, etc. so it can get a bit confusing. Shopify Burst makes finding stock images a little less confusing and a little more accessible for businesses and entrepreneurs to use on their websites as you can use any photo in any way, for free.

Check out their various collections of images ranging from coffee, fitness, flowers, food, flat-lays, and more. Beyond that, Shopify Burst also profiles trending business ideas and provides case studies on each idea that include supplier information, marketing tips, business model insights, and free images. It’s definitely worth checking out!

Shopify Exchange

Shopify also has an ecommerce store marketplace known as Shopify Exchange where you can buy or sell Shopify stores. You can sell your Shopify store at any stage: whether you’ve just finished designing it or gotten your first few sales or even generated over $1,000,000 in sales.

If you’re looking to purchase a store just browse on the Exchange website, speak directly with sellers and get access to the revenue and traffic data that’s available to Shopify. To sell your store on Shopify Exchange simply download the Exchange app to your store and wait for buyers to contact you. Even though this marketplace has just rolled out we already anticipate it being one of the most trusted ways to buy and sell Shopify stores.

Conclusion

There you have it, our comprehensive Shopify review detailing the reasons why we think Shopify is the best ecommerce platform for any entrepreneur to use, no matter the business model, size or experience level. It’s inexpensive, easy to manage, hosted, and supports startups, large companies and every kind of business in between.

Their blog provides thorough support for users, plus they have a dedicated team of Shopify Experts available for hire to help you with various tasks related to your business. Their app store boasts the most innovative, relevant and up to date apps available for ecommerce stores, and they’re easy to integrate into all Shopify stores, making them operate more efficiently and effortlessly. Shopify is our preferred ecommerce platform, but don’t just take our word for it, try it out for yourself.

The post Shopify Review: Is Shopify Still the Best Ecommerce Platform to Use in 2022? appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

It first came under the microscope in 2018 when it was revealed that sales from Click and Collect had grown by 75% as compared to the previous year. There was no pandemic then.

By marrying the two experiences — ecommerce with brick-and-mortar — it was simply seen as a natural evolution of commerce.

But then came the pandemic. And this naturally evolving trend became a dire need for businesses. As sales shifted online, it became harder for businesses to keep up with the intensified demand and meet buyer expectations. Click and Collect became a preferred choice for both customers and retailers.

Companies that had already invested in the right technology and had rolled out a Click and Collect strategy made the most of the pandemic-inspired trend. Target, for example, saw a 700% increase in their Drive Up sales and a 200% increase in their online sales during the second quarter of 2020.

But even as we’re coming out of the pandemic, this trend is here to stay — simply because it makes sense.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the Click and Collect method of fulfillment and explore everything about it so you can easily implement it in your ecommerce strategy.

What is Click and Collect & Why is It Important?

Simply put, it’s a method of fulfillment where customers shop online and then pick up their orders at the nearest available physical location. It’s also referred to as curbside pickup and Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS).

With ecommerce websites and mobile apps, it has become easier than ever for customers to find what they need. But still, problems like cart abandonment and low conversions plague the ecommerce sphere. It doesn’t take a lot of genius to arrive at the main causes of these frustrating problems: Among others, high delivery charges and uncertainty about delivery time are important factors to blame.

As far as sales and conversions are concerned, improving the overall customer experience is the rule of thumb. The lower the friction in your buyer’s journey, the higher your odds of converting a wary visitor into a paying customer.

Click and Collect is all about delivering convenience to the shopper. When done right, it removes friction from the customer journey and optimizes the final but crucial stage in ecommerce — order fulfillment and delivery.

How Does Click and Collect Work?

It’s a hybrid ecommerce model that combines retail with online. The customer buys online but instead of having the order delivered, visits the physical curbside location to pick up their order.

How it works depends on your business and the strategy you implement. There are different ways businesses are using Click and Collect today.

• Pick up at the nearest store selected by the customer during checkout
• Pick up at third-party locations or dedicated collection points
• Pick up at collection drive-throughs

Later on in this post, we’ll look at some examples of how successful businesses like Target, Asda, and Ikea are using Click and Collect to improve convenience for their customers.

The Benefits of Click and Collect for Retailers & Shoppers

Click and Collect, curbside pickup, or BOPIS is all about convenience for the customer. When shopping online, customers want their orders delivered on time and at no additional charges. Instead of waiting for days or weeks to receive their order, and without the additional cost, customers can drive up to the nearest location and collect their orders. It also reduces the risk of having their parcels stolen, lost, or damaged.

To take the convenience aspect to another level, companies like Asda are also offering a Try it On facility at the collection point. When customers drive up to the collection point, they can check their order and even try it on. If they don’t like it, they can return the parcel on the spot — at the same collection point.

From the shopper’s perspective, Click and Collect offers even greater advantages for retailers.

For some industries like Food and Beverage and grocery, in particular, curbside pickup is the only way businesses can fulfill online orders while battling already low margins. For small businesses, in particular, curbside pickup isn’t as expensive and labor-intensive as local deliveries. However, it all depends on the size of the business. For mid-level to large businesses, curbside pickup becomes a complex operation requiring considerable investment in ecommerce development and getting the right technology and people to support it.

Click and Collect also offers many upselling and cross-selling opportunities for retailers. Studies have shown that customers who opt for curbside pickup purchase about 50% more than their original order.

Offering BOPIS is also a great way to increase in-store traffic, allowing retailers to use experiential marketing strategies to engage customers and improve customer loyalty.

Curbside pickup is also especially very useful during the holiday season when it becomes harder for businesses to cope with the increased shipping demands. Studies have shown that sales from Click and Collect increase during the holidays.

Examples of Businesses That Are Using Click and Collect

Let’s see what strategies the pros are using to implement Click and Collect in their ecommerce business model.

Order Pick Up by Kroger

Though it has taken a simple approach to order pickups, Kroger has truly reinvented the food and beverage ecommerce space. The app allows users to choose order pickup when they place the order and select the time and date for pickup. Kroger Associates, who are trained to shop for fresh produce, hand-pick products, and hand the orders to customers in the parking lot when they arrive.

To deliver a seamless customer experience, the app lets users enter special instructions for each product ordered. For example, you can let them know you want “only ripe bananas.”

The Kroger app also lets Click and Collect customers communicate with the store when they’re 15 minutes away so associates can get the order ready in time.

Toyou by ASDA

ASDA has taken the Click and Collect concept to another level with automated robots, self-service parcel towers, QR codes and so much more. They’re making the most of technology to improve convenience for their customers.

ASDA also partners with more than 100 retailers across the UK to offer collection and returns services to their customers.

The way it works is simple: When customers shop with ASDA or any of its partner retailers, they can choose to collect their order from a convenient Toyou location. When the order is ready to collect, they receive a confirmation email with an order ID and a QR code.

Customers can then drive up to the Toyou location, scan the QR code, and have an employee bring the parcel.

ASDA has also added trial rooms to more than 300 of its locations to let customers try on their fashion purchases before driving away. If they’re not happy with their purchase they can return it through the Toyou parcel tower.

Drive Up and Order Pickup by Target

Target offers two options for Click and Collect — Order Pickup and Drive Up.

The app automatically fetches customers’ locations and selects the nearest store. The store settings can also be changed in the app if needed. When users select a store, they only see products that are available at that particular store. This way, they can shop and have their orders ready for pickup within 2 hours at that particular store.

When customers choose Order Pickup at checkout, the store employees get the order ready and waiting for them inside the store.

Drive Up, on the other hand, lets customers collect orders without setting foot in their store. They can simply drive up to the store’s parking lot and park in the designated Drive Up spot. The Target App lets users communicate with the staff and let them know that they’re coming, what vehicle they’re in, and when they’ve reached the location. A Target employee then brings out their order and loads it into their car — all within a few minutes, if not seconds!

Store Mode by Zara

Zara offers a Store Mode within its app. When customers activate the Store Mode, they can choose the store they want to shop from. This allows users to view real-time inventory — stock that’s actually available in that store.

It offers three different Click and Collect fulfillment methods: Click and Go, Click and Find, and Click and Try.

When customers choose Click and Go, they complete their order online and receive a QR code in the app. They then drive up to the location they selected earlier and have an employee scan the QR code and hand out the order. Zara has also installed an automated collection point in the Westfield Shopping center in London where customers can scan the QR code and a robotic arm retrieves the order and hands it out via a self-service kiosk.

In Click and Find, customers choose what they want to buy online and have the app guide them to the actual product in the store via an on-screen map.

Lastly, Click and Try lets shoppers buy online and have the item reserved for them in-store so they can try it out. This option is especially popular among fashion retailers.

Click and Collect by Forever New

Besides the traditional Click and Collect model, Forever New has rolled out a new feature called Reserve in-store.

When customers shop online via Forever New’s website or app, it requires them to choose Reserve in-store in settings and select their preferred store from the list. Forever New uses a feature called Find in-store that allows customers to check a product’s availability in the store they selected earlier. If it’s available, they can use the Reserve in-store feature to request a reservation. Once reserved, customers receive a confirmation email and SMS.

Unlike Click and Collect, reserving the product doesn’t require any prepayments. Customers arrive during the designated timeframe and try out the product. If they like it, they pay for it and possibly buy something else, too.

On the other hand, they also offer a simple Click and Collect model. However, unlike other businesses we’ve discussed here, their model is quite straightforward. The customer buys a product, pays for it, and chooses “Click and Collect” as a method of delivery. They’re then given a list of pickup stores to choose from. When a customer selects the store, the product is shipped from the warehouse to that store and is made available for pickup within a few days.

Implementing Click and Collect: Are Your Systems Technically Capable?

Click and Collect isn’t something you can or should roll out in a day. If not done right, it may hurt your customer experience and drive customers away, defeating the whole purpose of offering Click and Collect.

In 2016, when brands started experimenting with Click and Collect, shoppers were reporting longer wait times, the inability of employees to retrieve their orders, and orders running out of stock.

While it was a nightmarish scenario even back then, today’s customers have become more demanding and impatient than ever. The moment they land on your website, they expect everything to be smooth and frictionless — from product search and checkout to the final fulfillment. And so, there is no room today for businesses to experiment.

Proper implementation of Click and Collect can mean the difference between a happy customer and one that disparages your business everywhere they go. Hence, you must figure out how to do it right the first time before you start offering the option of BOPIS on your online store or mobile app.

Here is how you can implement Click and Collect in your business.

Accurate Data

Inaccurate inventory data is one challenge retailers face when implementing Click and Collect. If the customer drives up to the specified location and finds their items out of stock, it can create a very negative experience. Fulfilling orders right the first time is crucial in Click and Collect. And for this, you need to ensure that your inventory data is accurate. If your data isn’t organized and records are out of order, it’s time to first invest in an inventory management system before implementing curbside pickup.

Besides accurate inventory, you need systems to record customer data. If you’re selling across different channels using an omnichannel ecommerce strategy, you need proper systems and software to record sales and orders coming through all of those different channels.

Integrating Your Systems

All those systems you’ve invested in are no good if they’re operating in silos. To improve your business efficiencies and reduce margins of error, you need to unify and integrate those systems to get a 360-degree view of your customers, orders, and inventory.

A Designated Location for In-Store Pickup

To reduce wait times for customers who drive up for order collection, your store should have a designated pickup spot. For small businesses, it could be a small counter in the store with staff specially trained in handling collection orders. Large businesses could, however, consider setting up a designated location with separate workflows and staff.

System for Storing Parcels

You need a merchandise storage system or a mini-warehouse that stores orders before the customer picks them up. The storage system should include lockers, dividers, baskets, and shelves to organize parcels neatly so they can be retrieved without hassle.

If you’re facing increased demand for pickup orders, consider investing in automation technology like robots to automatically retrieve orders after a QR code or barcode verification.

Email and SMS Automation

Successful implementation of Click and Collect depends on effective communication between customers and the store. When the order is ready for pickup, your system should trigger email and SMS alerts to the customer.

When the customer arrives at the location, they need to be able to communicate with the store. Ideally, it should be done via a mobile app with the tap of a button instead of having the customer place calls to the store and being put on hold.

SMS functionality can also be integrated with the CRM or helpdesk that allows customers to send an SMS to the store alerting them about their arrival.

Creating Workflows for Click and Collect

To deliver a seamless experience, order collections and pickups need to be seen as separate from retail and ecommerce sales. It should have its own separate workflows with staff especially allocated for handling these orders. Likewise, its performance needs to be measured separately from its own KPIs.

Dedicated Parking

Offering a dedicated parking spot and free parking for pickup customers can increase customers’ adoption of Click and Collect as a fulfillment option.

Conclusion

Sales from Click and Collect soared during the pandemic. But there is no way this growth is going to stagnate. It’s estimated that the US Click and Collect sales will reach more than $140 billion by 2024, up from $70 billion in 2020.

But it’s imperative to get it right the first time. In today’s highly competitive ecommerce landscape, there is no room for brands to experiment with a trial and error strategy. It’s recommended that businesses work with a technology partner from the outset to deliver convenience and an amazing ecommerce experience.

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Offering Click and Collect for Your Ecommerce Store appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Americans spent nearly 10 percent more on home improvement projects in 2020, according to Home Advisor. Now, more than ever, the average consumer deeply cares about how their living spaces look.

It’s no wonder why the global home decor market, valued at $616.6 billion in 2019, is expected to reach $838.6 billion by 2027.

Source: Research and Markets

For brands to leverage this booming market, they must reach people. But for a space that’s remained traditionally brick-and-mortar, is selling online the best idea for home decor retailers?

Yes, as it turns out. Ecommerce is driving the sales of home decor. Consumers want to put a lot of love into their homes today, and they’re relying on the digital world to help them out.

Here, we explore why home decor brands need to sell online and how they can begin.

Why selling online is no longer optional for home decor brands

People were already getting used to the idea of purchasing home decor online even before the COVID-19 crisis. Williams-Sonoma and its brands like West Elm and Pottery Barn saw 52.8% of their retail sales come through ecommerce in 2018.

The pandemic has only added greater urgency to this effort:

• The home-products and furnishings category saw a year-over-year (YOY) online sales increase of 97% in March 2020.
• Furniture Today showed a 200% surge in online furniture browsing, 242% increased browsing for desks, 260% jump in searching for outdoor furniture online, and a 205% increase in browsing for home decor in March 2020.
• 58% of millennials, nearly half of Generation X, and 37% of baby boomers say they were more likely to shop for home furnishing online now than pre-pandemic.

Source: Statista

• Websites selling home decor and furniture products online generated 1.7 billion visits in March 2020.

Brands with an established online presence during the COVID shutdown could keep up with sales, despite physical stores getting closed. For instance, DTC home furnishing brand Article shared that April 2020 was their highest revenue month to date, with sales up 200% year over year.

But many retailers weren’t prepared for the pandemic-induced digital shift. They were heavily dependent on in-person sales, with poorly-built websites lacking advanced features for online shopping.

It’s no wonder the home furnishing industry suffered a 26.4% YOY decline in March 2020—translating to billions of dollars in lost revenue.

And for retailers, growth is expected to continue accelerating. A report by Technavio predicts the online home decor market will grow by $83.32 billion during 2020-2024 and reach $348.3 billion by 2027.

Source: Research and Markets

So, online sales aren’t going anywhere. The coronavirus crisis is a testimony to how critical it is for modern brands to have a digital presence.

Being online doesn’t mean shutting down your brick-and-mortar store. The most successful home decor brands are taking a more wholesome approach and developing an omnichannel strategy—allowing consumers to shop hassle-free online or offline.

Here’s how to set up your home decor brand for omnichannel success.

How home decor brands can sell online: Everything you need to know

Opportunities for home decor brands to enter the home are abundant. The barrier to entry is minimal, and no company holds a monopoly—Semisupervised’s 2021 study of 1,111 DTC brands placed “home and garden” in the least saturated category.

If you’ve ever thought about starting a home decor business or taking your existing one online, now is the time. Here’s your step-by-step guide to getting started:

1. Find what you want to sell (and how)

The easiest way to differentiate your brand from the mass market is by offering a unique product to a niche audience.

What you choose to sell depends on your budget, area of expertise, and preferred business model. For example, you can work with a manufacturer to create your furniture or you can make the furniture in-house and work with consumers on a made-to-order model.

You don’t have to come up with an entirely new product, either. You can sell to a niche audience with minor modifications to a popular category. Take Ordinary Habit and Goodfit, for example. Both make puzzles—but while Ordinary Habit aims to design artful games that help people get away from screens, Goodfit makes puzzles reflecting modern culture through recycled cardboard. Same product—targeting two different types of consumer markets.

What you sell also relies heavily on how much you can invest. The amount of money you need to get your business off the ground depends on your product choice and business model. For instance, a print-on-demand business won’t require much investment upfront since you’re buying materials as you go. But a furniture business might need storage and warehouse space—requiring capital right at the beginning.

You don’t have to go big or go home—you can begin humbly. Farah Mehri started her home decor brand Inspire Me! from her Instagram account. After four years of teaching her Instagram audience how to make their homes warm and inviting, she started her own product line.

Source: Instagram

Like Farah, you can begin small with what you can afford and gauge the demand in the market before you scale.

2. Build your brand online

Successful brands are strategic. You need to carve out a brand story, set your visual aesthetic, decide your vision and mission, and solidify your ideal consumer.

Building a brand gives you an edge over your competitors and makes you more memorable. Data shows 77% of brands can simply disappear, and no one would care. You wouldn’t want to be one of those brands, would you?

Branding is essential in home decor categories where consumers largely make logic-driven purchases—like furniture and mattresses. Infrequent purchases mean buyers often spend significant amounts of time evaluating choices, comparing brands, and seeing what goes with their style.

Picking brand guidelines also acts as a reference when you map content for your website and social media. 68% of brands in one study report that brand consistency has contributed 10-20% to their revenue growth.

Source: Lucidpress

Take sustainable furniture company Knoll. They highlight their operational footprint and product processes on their website and even publish a sustainability report.

Source: Knoll

According to one study, 86% of consumers claim there are certain products for which they’ll purchase only from a brand name.

Building a brand can help consumers identify you from the noise and keep coming back for more.

3. Build a top-notch online store and website

Your website and online store are the faces of your company—determining how consumers perceive your brand. You want to capture your consumers and leave a positive impression fast.

Don’t know where to begin?

BigCommerce makes it easy for you to set up your store even if you aren’t big on tech or coding. The platform is highly customizable, letting you design your online store and website to match your brand. You can also purchase your domain name for your store directly from BigCommerce.

While designing your website, don’t make the mistake of skimping on the details of product photography, succinct descriptions about your product, and a consistent color scheme. Here are the elements to take care of:

Homepage

Your homepage is the first thing consumers see when they land on your website. It should talk about what you care about the most and what your existing consumers love about you.

Many brands like Frama—a lifestyle objects company—also opt for displaying their bestsellers and the latest content on their homepage so consumers can immediately start purchasing from them.

Source: Frama

Another thing you need to take care of on your homepage is navigation. Consumers should be able to find their way around your website easily—your brand story, your product categories, a way to contact you, and any FAQs.

Since the homepage is the first impression of your brand to consumers, don’t be afraid to sprinkle some personality. Take the hardware brand, Yuns. It has a homepage with minimal distractions, a stand-out cursor, and a unique experience.

Source: Yuns

Product categories 

If you sell various products, you must separate them into different web pages for the best consumer experience. Howards Storage World’s mega-menu navigation gives customers a quick overview of the various subcategories they can shop from—both visually and textually.

Source: Howards Storage World

You can also apply trends & demand and divide your product categories for what consumers might be searching for right now. For example, Frame Bridge has different categories for different occasions, like gift shopping, Christmas, or travel.

Source: Frame Bridge

You can also get creative and show your product in different use-cases to highlight the categories of your products. Article, for example, does a great job displaying how their product looks in different rooms.

Source: Article

Product images and descriptions 

Consumers can’t see and feel your products, so product photos are your opportunity to build trust and replace the in-person buying experience.

Use a combination of photos of your product to display finer details, for instance, and consumers using your product. For furniture and other items, consider using advanced features such as virtual tours and 3D imaging. They enable consumers to see themselves using your product. It’s possible to do this on your own, but if you can afford it, hire a product photographer to help capture the essence of your brand.

Furniture company American Leather does a wonderful job sharing high-quality photos of their products and people using them. They also have brief product descriptions to go along with it.

Source: American Leather

Here are a few product photography and product description tips and tricks to keep in mind:

• Shoot your product from different angles and highlight the scale. This helps consumers avoid feeling like your actual product differs in size from the image.
• Include detailed measurements for products like furniture in the description. Take furniture brand, Eloquence. Their product descriptions are short, straightforward, and answer all questions consumers might have.

Source: Eloquence

• Try to capture the finer details of your product by taking a zoomed-in picture.
• If it’s possible with your ecommerce website builder, go 3D. BigCommerce’s integration with ThreeKit lets you customize and configure your product in amazing 3D, AR, and virtual photography.
• Tell a story. Who is this product for? How can it be used? Why is it better than its competitors? This makes it easy for consumers to see why they should choose you over your competition. Take how Helix quickly talks about its mattress’ features on its website:

Source: Helix

4. Figure out shipping logistics and provide excellent customer service

The need to provide a smooth shipping experience—with fast shipping, easy returns, and low delivery charges—is indisputable today. Why? It’s one of the biggest deal-breakers for consumers. 49% of consumers cite extra costs of shipping, taxes, and fees as the primary reason for cart abandonment.

Source: Baymard Institute

But figuring out shipping, making a smooth return process, and keeping your customer in the loop throughout can be a nerve-wracking process.

You might be fulfilling orders yourself in the beginning. But as you scale, it makes more sense to hire a shipping company to be your warehouse partner. Make sure your chosen fulfillment partner has good reviews and has worked with similar companies in your industry. Determine what they charge beforehand so you can factor it in while pricing your product.

Gain consumers’ trust by elevating product reviews, highlighting quality assurance seals, and making returns and trials easy. Snowe’s transparent return policy and their detailed FAQ page is a great example.

Source: Snowe

But there’s more to customer service today than just seamless shipping.

Enter: Multichannel and omnichannel retailing.

The pandemic forced many retailers to adapt to multi-channel retailing—the practice of selling merchandise on many different sales channels.

According to a report by Global Data, retailers employing multichannel services achieved the best online channel growth rates—including many traditional retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.

Neil Saunders, GlobalData’s lead retail analyst, said:

“Despite claims that the growth of online shopping is leading to a ‘retail apocalypse,’ the reality is that many retailers across all sectors are thriving because they are innovating with multichannel to provide a convenient shopping experience for consumers. A very significant proportion of sales that are attributed to the online channel are, in fact, multichannel sales that rely on both stores and online for success. On average, one third of “online” non-food purchases – where a customer actually transacts online – are in fact reliant on physical stores for product selection, pick up, or return.”

The data backs this up—according to a report by Gallup, while brick-and-mortar stores show a five percent YOY growth, 60 to 70% of consumers are researching products both in-store and online. So, being just offline isn’t enough anymore.

Many retailers are also starting to recognize the importance of omnichannel retail—taking multichannel up a notch.

But what is omnichannel retail exactly?

It’s a brand’s presence not just on multiple channels (e.g., e-commerce & brick-and-mortar), but a seamless integration of inventory, customer service, and sales—making the transition between channels seamless.

Do you ever log in to your Amazon app from your smartphone and resume shopping for what you earlier saw on their website? It’s a classic example of omnichannel in action. Omnichannel strategies drive an 80% higher rate of incremental store visits. Omnisend even confirmed marketers using three or more channels in any campaign earned a 287% higher purchase rate than those using a single-channel campaign.

Source: Omnisend

60% of millennials expect a consistent experience from brands across channels. No wonder the global retail omnichannel commerce platform market is expected to reach $11.1 billion by 2024.

But despite the tremendous benefits of multichannel and omnichannel retail, only 73% of marketers have a strategy in place for multichannel marketing. And while 91% of retailers plan to invest in omnichannel strategy, only 12% of retailers say they have the right technology to implement it.

Source: The State of Omnichannel Retail

How can you opt for a better omnichannel approach?

• Get to know your consumers: Conduct surveys, talk to your customers 1:1, and listen to them on social media to offer personalized services and understand what your consumers truly want. For example, Serena and Lily provide personalized design advice to their consumers.

Source: Serena and Lily

72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. Getting to know your consumers is the stepping stone to offering personalized service to your customers. Furniture store, Burrow, takes customization to the next level with their innovative configurator. Consumers can choose the size, color, height of arms and legs while shopping for their sofa.

Source: Burrow

• Offer a great mobile experience: Optimizing your site for mobile is no longer an option. US mcommerce sales will nearly double their share of total retail sales between 2020 and 2025.

Source: eMarketer

• Be where your consumers are: Don’t jump on every channel available to you. Instead, be strategic and be where your audience is.

Customer service today is beyond affordable shipping and proactive communication. People want a hassle-free experience across devices and plentiful customization options.

5. Create a comprehensive marketing strategy

You can’t afford to be a couch potato when it comes to marketing—you have to be proactive and strategic to figure out what works for your brand. Do Facebook ads make more sense for your business, or should you try content marketing? Experimentation and thorough research are your friends here.

The furniture brand Industry West, for example, ran a creative Instagram campaign that resulted in over $900,000 in online sales. They wrote an “oops” style message sharing the details to access discounted merchandise. Their post took off, and they averaged one order every five minutes. 72% of shoppers from this campaign were first-time customers.

Like Industry West, one way to market well is to share content and build an audience on the social media platform of your choice.

For example, if you’re a furniture brand, you can share design tips and advice. It’s a great way to redirect traffic to your site and convert more social media followers into consumers. You can try a healthy mix of promotional, educational, and entertaining content.

For instance, Holistic Habitat—a socially conscious decor brand—does a great job with its Instagram Reels.

Source: Instagram

Flooring company Flooret, on the other hand, creates blog content centering around design advice, customer stories, industry trends, and more.

Source: Flooret

In the end, focus on marketing authentically and bonding with your consumers. 76% of consumers would buy from you over your competitor if they feel connected to your brand.

There’s no place like home: The future for home decor brands

So, there you have it. Our comprehensive guide to how your home decor brand can sell online.

If you’re still not reaching consumers digitally, you’re leaving money on the table for your competitors.

Right now, the bridge between e-commerce and in-store is shrinking. Selling online without sacrificing the customer experience is the best bet for home decor brands looking to grow in 2022 and beyond.

The post How to Sell Home Decor Online: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

However, the good news is that while your customers’ email inboxes are full with special offers, discounts, and calls-to-action to the point that they tune them out, they don’t ignore SMS messages.

In contrast, SMS messages are opened by an average of around 99% of recipients. Furthermore, about 97% of those SMS’s are read within 15 minutes of delivery.

Impressive, right?

The moral of the story? If you want to ensure your marketing materials get seen, SMS marketing is the way to go.

But, there are so many SMS marketing apps out there; how do you know which one to use?

Below, we give you the low-down on some of the best SMS marketing tools for your business.

But First, What is SMS Marketing?

Put simply, it’s a way of reaching customers by text message, or “SMS.” Typically, business owners use SMS marketing to tell customers about their upcoming campaigns, discounts, special offers, big news, product launches, etc.

With SMS marketing, you can:

• Send bulk messages — including personalized campaigns — to customers
• Decide when and how often to send messages
• Tailor your messaging according to your customers’ shopping and viewing habits

So now that you have the “what” let’s look at the “how.”

How Effective is SMS Marketing?

We know that SMS open rates are high, but the real question we have to ask ourselves is, do they actually lead to anything?

Here’s what we found out:

• Global tech company Campaign Monitor says email open rates should ideally sit at around 15%-25%, with an average click-through rate of approximately 2.5%
• In contrast, while the statistics vary wildly here, it’s possible to say that the average click-through rate for SMS ranges anywhere between 5%-10%. Not only that, but it’s also worth bearing in mind that:
  • As many as 75% of consumers want to receive special offers by SMS
  • More than 50% of consumers prefer to interact with businesses via text
  • Customers redeem SMS coupons 10x more than any other kind of coupon

These figures are hard to ignore. In fact, they illustrate perfectly why SMS marketing is not only effective but often expected by customers.

That said, we’re going to explore some of the best SMS marketing tools for smaller organizations. Of course, there are tons of SMS marketing platforms suitable for larger enterprises, but if you’re looking for something for your small- to medium-sized business then keep reading.

More specifically, we’re looking at these top SMS marketing tools:

• Twilio
• TextMagic
• SimpleTexting
• Klaviyo
• Birdeye
• Attentive
• Community
• Drip
• HeyMarket
• EZTexting

Let’s jump right in!

The Top 10 Best SMS Marketing Tools

Best SMS Marketing Tool #1: Twilio

Twilio is a well-reviewed cloud-based marketing platform. Its sole focus isn’t just SMS marketing — it also offers other marketing channels such as WhatsApp, video, voice, and email to engage your customers.

That said, Twilio is an exciting option for any business looking for a high-quality SMS marketing tool. Used by large companies such as Netflix, Airbnb, and Uber, it also offers convenient services for smaller organizations.

With Twilio, you can reach customers by SMS across 180 countries. Plus, Twilio allows you to send customers and/or employees notifications — for example, about purchase and shipping confirmations, as well as time-sensitive messages with special offers. You can also communicate with customers and build relationships via secure SMS channels.

Twilio is often called a blank canvas because its API capabilities mean you or your developer can build a tailored solution. However, the downside for newbies is that Twilio’s platform isn’t really aimed at absolute beginners. So unless you already have some background knowledge, you may find it confusing.

That said, you can use Twilio without being a developer. When you sign up, you’re asked if you’re a developer, and if the answer’s a short “no,” you can simply link your Twilio account to Zapier (or another automation service of your choice) to send and receive SMS with relative ease.

However, this potentially means additional cost, with Zapier plans starting at $0 and rising to $19.99 per month and even further to $599 per month for larger corporations. That said, its free program grants you 100 tasks per month. Zapier calls these tasks “Zaps.”

Twilio’s pricing packages are pretty transparent. You can either pay as you go, with text messages starting from $0.0075, or $0.0021 to send picture messages. Alternatively, there are volume discounts as you grow; although, these don’t kick in until you’ve passed the 20 million message mark.

To test the effectiveness of your SMS campaigns, you can use Twilio’s Messaging Insights. This is a dashboard where you’ll see real-time analytics and reports on messaging delivery success, one-time password conversions, errors, and responses.

Best of all, Twilio has a unique program aimed at startups called Twilio Startups; however, this service is currently on pause while it’s being tweaked. But, you can still express interest in joining if you pass the criteria test so it may be worth keeping an eye out for.

Check Out Twilio Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #2: TextMagic

TextMagic allows businesses to quickly connect and send text notifications, confirmations, alerts, and SMS marketing campaigns with ease.

It’s well-reviewed; with users loving its ease of use, intuitive interface, transparent prices, and how quickly it works.

TextMagic is used by many different types of businesses and organizations, including smaller operations. These include insurance agents, an education recruitment company, an automotive company — to name a few examples!

TextMagic also integrates with Zapier and comes with several exciting features, including being able to:

• Send SMS messages to customers and use two-way SMS chat
• Add all of your contacts to your TextMagic account. You can do this either manually or import them via an Excel CSV file
• Convert emails into SMS using TextMagic

Like most SMS marketing tools, TextMagic allows you to schedule messages, alerts, and campaigns. You can also test their effectiveness with TextMagic’s tracking and reporting features, which provide live delivery reports, monthly email reports, and campaign success reports.

Its prices are easy to understand and start at $0.04 per text. One positive here is a generous 30-day free trial with no credit card required or account fees. You just open an account, load up your pre-paid credit payment (starting from $10-10,000), and only pay when you send messages. You can also see how much each campaign or communication costs before sending it, so there aren’t any nasty surprises.

TextMagic is a smaller platform than Twilio, but it does service 100,000+ customers — some of whom are happy to share their positive reviews online, including on the TextMagic site.

Check Out TextMagic Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #3: SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting also has an intuitive interface and is well-reviewed by happy customers who praise its ease of use, customer service, prices, and automated message functions.

SimpleTexting is used by some big names, including Starbucks, Marriott, Samsung, and Stanford University. However, they’re keen to emphasize that they have “Pricing Fit For Everyone.”

Like its competitors, SimpleTexting provides everything you need to execute effective marketing campaigns using SMS.

Its features include:

• Two-way real-time messaging
• Scheduled texts
• Autoresponder texts that can be staggered over days, weeks, and months in drip-feed campaigns
• Contact segmentation to enable more audience-relevant campaigns
• Adding existing contacts to your SMS lists
• Running polls or surveys via SMS to find out what your subscribers or customers are thinking

If you want to try before you buy, there’s a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. This includes a test run of 50 text messages to see if SimpleTexting is for you.

SimpleTexting also integrates with Zapier and other apps you’ll likely use to manage your business; including Instagram, Mailchimp, WordPress, or Shopify (Shopify Review).

At first glance, prices here differ. Most notably, you’re charged on a monthly plan starting at $25 per month for 500 credits. Then, after that, prices increase the more messages you send.

Check Out SimpleTexting Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #4: Klaviyo

Klaviyo is another well-known tool that’s well-received and often-mentioned in the same breath as other leading marketing tools.

Used by small and large businesses alike, Klaviyo has 265,000 business customers at the time of writing, covering all business types from entrepreneurs to larger enterprises. However, where it differs is that it’s not just an SMS marketing tool, but it also offers email marketing functionality and website tracking.

Zoning in on its SMS marketing features, Klaviyo says businesses who use its SMS tool see an average ROI of 24x.

In addition, Klaviyo users can:

• Sync customer data to better personalize messages with calls-to-action
• Run SMS marketing campaigns alongside other digital marketing strategies like email campaigns. Klayivo has a helpful blog with suggestions on how to do this, but it emphasizes that you need customers to consent to receive both SMS and emails if you want to reach them using both modes of communication
• Your customers can choose their preferred contact method, which is excellent for enhancing the customer experience

Its reporting and analytics show you how effective your email and SMS campaigns are and what drives your product sales best.

Customers praise Klaviyo’s ease of use, customer service, and integrations. They integrate with some big names, including Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

Prices for Klaviyo vary depending on whether you’re running SMS only, email only, or SMS and email campaigns. They also depend on how many contacts you want to text each month. For example, if you’re a small company that wants to text 150 contacts, it’s $5 per month. Up that to 1,000 contacts per month, and it’s $40 per month.

But if you’re just starting out, there’s also a free tier. Just create an account, import, and sync your data, and then use Klayivo’s features like its customizable email templates and SMS form builders for free. In addition, you get a free Klaviyo phone number and up to 150 SMS messages which you can use to text up to 50 SMS contacts per month.

Check Out Klaviyo Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #5: Birdeye

Like some of the aforementioned SMS tools, Birdeye also offers multiple digital marketing options aside from SMS. These include video chat software, live chat, and so on. However, some reviews say that Birdeye is more set up for enterprise-sized organizations.

Frustratingly, you can’t access Birdeye’s prices without giving them your details first, so that’s something to be aware of.

With Birdeye, you can send mass texts from 10 to 10,000 contacts, and they emphasize that you can send SMS to customers at any point in their journey with your brand.

Best of all, Birdeye gives you access to one centralized inbox from which all your customer contacts can be managed no matter where they come from, whether it’s social media or your website.

Birdeye is also expected to introduce real-time analytics data on all text messages, but there’s no indication when this would be rolled out. When this analytics data does land, you’ll be able to compare the numbers of SMS sent vs. open rates vs. click rates and engagement over time.

Generally speaking, Birdeye is well-reviewed and used by over 60,000 businesses at the time of writing. Helpfully, we found some quantifiable success stories on Birdeye’s website. For example, Sunlight Financial increased its Google reviews from 6 to 1,753 using Birdeye.

Check Out Birdeye Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #6: Attentive

The first thing to note about the Attentive SMS solution is that it tells potential customers that it drives an average of “18.5% of total online revenue for modern e-commerce brands.”

Attentive has some big-name customers, including Urban Outfitters, Supergoop!, and Rebecca Minkoff. Still, it positions itself as an SMS tool for “4,000+ pioneering brands.” Interestingly, Supergoop! increased its ROI by over 29x as a result of using Attentive SMS marketing.

Using Attentive’s SMS tool, you can engage with customers every step of the way. Most notably, you can:

• Send personalized and automated messages
• Send order and shipping notifications
• Initiate two-way SMS communications with customers based on the behavior exhibited on your website. For example, if an SMS subscriber has added products to their shopping cart and then abandoned their cart, you can send them an SMS message to prompt them to go back and complete their purchase

Attentive is an award-winning SMS solution. In fact, Inc. listed Attentive as one of its 2021 Best Places to Work companies.

Online reviews also tell us that customers enjoy how easy it is to set it up, how helpful and responsive the customer service is, and its competitive prices. There was also praise for its simple onboarding process and excellent training resources.

Check Out Attentive Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #7: Community

Community hit the SMS marketplace in 2019 and already has over 28 million members who have sent over a combined six billion messages between them!

It achieved some early notoriety because it attracted Ashton Kutcher as an investor and other celebrity customers, including Jennifer Lopez, Paul McCartney, and Eminem.

Community differs because of the audience it attracts; artists, creators, entrepreneurs, media companies, and public figures, to be exact.

The platform works on the premise that you can achieve conversions through your conversations. Interestingly, messages sent via Community boast an average 59% click-through rate and a 95% open rate.

While Community started out as a bit of a celebrity-driven chatroom, it’s now onboarding small and large businesses so that they can instantly engage with customers via secure two-way conversations. It’s already also attracted some big corporate names, including Showtime, People, and CNN.

When you sign up, you become what Community calls a “Leader.” You’re allocated a 10-digit number, you can then promote yourself using social media, word-of-mouth, email, or by integrating the Community signup form. Then, when someone wants to chat with you, they become a “Member.” When they text you for the first time, they’ll receive a personalized text from you that asks them to enter their contact information and opt-in to your Community. Then, you can text your “Members” directly and build personal connections.

Users can also segment their communications by demographics and interests. Plus, you can reply to similar texts using pre-set standardized messages to help speed up your response time. Then, of course, you can also schedule messages, send texts, images, videos, GIFs, and view the analytics of your SMS marketing campaigns.

It’s worth noting that Community is currently only available if you’re based in the US or Canada and have an Apple device. An Android app is on its way, but there’s no timeframe for that just yet.

Also, not everyone is eligible to use Community. Paid subscriptions are only available to a select number of brands and companies. If you think your brand fits well with Community, then you have to tell the platform why and how you’ll use it, and Community will have the final say on whether you’re a fit or not.

Check Out Community Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #8: Drip

Drip offers a blend of email and SMS marketing, custom reporting functions, and form building.

Zoning in on their SMS offer, Drip users can send automated texts including discount codes, order confirmations, abandoned cart recoveries, holiday promos, time-sensitive offers, product launches, and more.

Drip is smaller than some of the SMS marketing tools featured so far, with just over 30,000 marketers using it. However, it was created with smaller ecommerce brands in mind “to fight back and keep ecommerce independent” from the more prominent online marketplaces.

Impressively, Drip’s customers have collectively generated over $1 billion dollars in attributed revenue using a mix of SMS and email marketing. It’s clear that the types of brands that use Drip are smaller, independent businesses.

Drip is pretty well-reviewed, with users praising its ease of use, good value for money, and intuitive user interface. At the time of writing, however, the main disadvantage we’re seeing with Drip is that SMS messages can only be sent to US phone numbers.

Drip offers a 14-day free trial, and pricing starts at $19 per month for email marketing only. Then, if you add SMS into the mix, it’s a further $15 per month for 1,000 sends or $0.015 per text sent on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Check Out Drip Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #9: HeyMarket

HeyMarket offers digital marketing solutions to companies spanning multiple industries including retail, hospitality, and health. It works by consolidating all of your SMS and Facebook messages into one shared inbox. Impressively, its users enjoy an average 80% SMS reply rate.

You can use HeyMarket to help you manage customer service, order confirmations, special offers, logistics, and much more. HeyMarket works on web browsers, iOS, and Android devices.

With HeyMarket, you can organize contacts into one list or separate lists to send targeted text messages and set automated replies. You can also run SMS campaigns — including drip-fed messages — using the platform’s SMS templates. Plus, its reporting function enables you to see at a glance the number of messages you’ve sent, how many of your messages were received, commonly used SMS templates, and which SMS chats take up the most time.

Some of its 1,500+ clients include the likes of Cornell University, BarkBox, U-Haul, and Blue Bottle Coffee. Its lowest plan costs $49 per month for 12,000 SMS sends per year, and any additional SMS are billed at $0.06 each.

HeyMarket integrates with Instagram, Facebook, HubSpot, Shopify, Zapier, and more.

Reviewers love its easy-to-use interface and excellent customer service.

Check Out HeyMarket Here

Best SMS Marketing Tool #10: EZTexting

EZTexting has been around since 2006 and is a well-established SMS and email marketing tool that works with businesses across many industries including retail, beauty, restaurants, ecommerce, professional services, and more.

Prices start at $19 per month for 2,400 mass texting credits per year, and $0.04 per SMS if you send more than 200 SMS per month. Best of all, there’s a handy 14-day free trial, so you can try it before you buy!

Like the other SMS tools in this list, EZTexting gives you the power to deliver messages at the right time to increase customer engagement. There’s no real discernable difference between EZTexting and other tools out there, however, it does focus its attention on small- to medium-sized businesses and is definitely not the new kid on the block here.

Like its competitors, EZTexting integrates with Zapier and HubSpot, although, at the time of writing we didn’t spot a Shopify integration. To date, 165,000 brands use EZTexting, and its website tells us it’s the #1 SMS platform for business users.

The cloud-based platform is well-reviewed, with customers giving it five stars for customer support and praising its value-for-money and ease of use. In addition, it boasts a 98% SMS open rate, with 90% of SMS responses taking as little as 30 minutes.

EXTexting also offers an analytics feature that allows you to see individual campaign results, bounce rates, unsubscribes, delivered messages, and more.

Check Out EZTexting Here

Are You Ready to Start Using The Best SMS Marketing Tools?

So there you have it, our list of the top 10 best SMS marketing tools for your business. Each offers the functionality you need to engage customers, and hopefully, increase sales.

The post The Top 10 Best SMS Marketing Tools appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Customers expect a lot out of the online checkout experience. Any blip along the way—too many fields to complete, functionality issues, etc.—can make customers abandon their carts. Research shows that 72% of online shoppers will abandon their carts if the process gets too complicated.

The top three reasons for cart abandonment all have to do with overcomplication:

• Requiring account creation
• A complex form or process
• Unexpected costs

The solution: Give your customers the option to check out with just one click.

Why?

Two reasons: Because customers want a smooth shopping experience, and if you don’t give that to them, they will find it elsewhere. Don’t give them a reason to start looking.

In this post, we’ll share and compare one-click checkout providers and dive deeper into how adopting this solution can transform your business and earn rave reviews from your customers. Not all one-click services are the same—and not all of them are even truly just a single click.

Below is a comparison of the four top one-click checkout providers.

Why is One-Click Checkout Necessary?

Here are a few things wrong with doing things the old way…

High Cart Abandonment

Picture this: Your customer finds an item that speaks to them. They excitedly click “Add to Cart.” Then the cart icon. Then they click “Checkout.” Now it’s time to set up a profile and create yet another password so they can sign in before making that purchase. Next, it’s time to take out the credit or debit card and add that information. They make sure they have the expiration date and security code correct. Then they click “Confirm.”

All done! Well… not exactly.

Most customers don’t bother with a lengthy checkout process. What if their payment card is in another room or they only have a few minutes on a busy day to complete this purchase?

The harder you make things for your customers, the less likely they are to buy.

Stated plainly, even when a shopper has a full cart and plans to complete the purchase, there’s still a significant chance that a merchant could lose that transaction. Here’s the simple truth: Checkout is incredibly difficult to do right. One snag results in the same stark outcome: A lost sale.” –Jimmy Duvall, Chief Product Officer at BigCommerce

In other words, the simpler you can make your checkout experience, the better. It’s faster, sure—but it’s also easier, which helps reduce the chances of cart abandonment along the way.

Trust

Many sellers are reluctant to adopt a new payment service because they just don’t know what it’s all about. They worry that incorporating a new payment button could disrupt their website’s infrastructure. They also worry about protecting their customer’s private information.

Online buyers trust retail giants like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy to protect them from online fraud; their social proof is already built-in. But independent ecommerce outlets? Not so much. Only about 5% of customers trust independent stores to do the same.

One solution is for ecommerce merchants to turn to third-party, one-click payment providers customers do trust (more on this in a bit).

Payment Service Fees

(Source)

Depending on the provider you choose, merchant fees can vary. Digital transactions totaled an estimated $4.8 trillion last year, with ecommerce representing $3.5 billion of that total.

Checkout platforms typically charge a standard 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction (however, platforms like Fast charge 2.9% and $0.29). But on top of transaction fees, merchants could be charged just to use certain checkout platforms.

Fast and PayPal only charge sellers transaction fees. However, sellers using Bolt and Shopify have to pay an additional platform fee on top of the fees for each sale. Bolt charges sellers a percentage of their annual revenue to determine platform fees. Bolt also charges sellers a “risk coverage” fee.

Apprehension about transaction fees is understandable, but merchants pay an even higher price by not having a convenient checkout offering. In other words: Getting a one-click checkout payment provider is worth it. It’s just a matter of which service offers you the most features at the most affordable price.

One-Click Checkout: The Landscape of Fast Online Payment

The one-click landscape wasn’t always full of options like these. In fact, Amazon once held the patent for “One Click” payments. But that patent expired in 2017, and the ecommerce space was never the same again.

Once they opened up and became a platform and a marketplace instead of being a reseller of books, it became important for people doing business at either end of Amazon to know that they had this large database that they would be able to give access to a large number of customers literally with one click.” –Thomas Jeitschko, Professor of Economics at Michigan State University

Today, we see several companies jockeying to become the one-click checkout option.

One-Click vs. Express Checkout

Keep in mind that there are a few different terms used to explain this type of checkout experience. Here’s the difference:

• One-Click: When you hear one-click specifically, that once was an Amazon trademark. In industry lingo, however, one-click may refer to any minimalistic shopping cart experience.
• Express: This often refers to checkout services where much of the appeal is the convenience of one click with a payment provider customers already trust. “Express” doesn’t explicitly have one click, but its promise is the same: A quick checkout.

The Case for One-Click Checkout

Let’s say you already have a system that works. Why should you start weighing one-click checkout providers to see which is best for you?

Here are just a few of those reasons:

• Increasing Conversions: Customers like fast checkout. When ElasticPath ran an A/B test sending customers to multi-stage payments and one-click versions, the one-click version converted 21% more often.
• Capturing Mobile Transactions: This is more important than ever, with 79% of smartphone users making a purchase in the last six months. Are you going to capture that audience? Or will you assume that whichever checkout you have is good enough?
• Affordability: Are you paying less in fees than your competitors are? This can be tricky to calculate. Some vendors use a percentage and a flat fee per transaction, while others charge flat fees per transaction that work better for high-cost goods.

Next, let’s look at a few of the software options available.

What is Bolt One Click?

Bolt is an express-checkout provider. Its goal is to offer similar advantages of a frictionless, “Amazon-style” checkout to different ecommerce providers. With Bolt, buyers can complete orders in two steps.

(Source)

In addition to transaction fees, Bolt charges sellers an annual fee to use its checkout service and sets the price based on the seller’s annual revenue. Bolt only works with merchants that have more than $3 million in annual online credit card volume.

It works with multiple platforms, including BigCommerce, Magento, and WooCommerce.

What is Fast Checkout?

Fast is a one-click checkout experience that works on all devices, platforms, and browsers. It handles logging in, checkout, order tracking, and more. Fast also offers batch ordering, which saves sellers money on processing fees and shipping costs by combining multiple transactions into one sale. While other platforms take at least two steps to complete an order, Fast is the only one that completes an order immediately after clicking “Fast Checkout.”

(Source)

With Fast, sellers can import a simple API (Application Programming Interface) to enable a frictionless payment experience without making any major changes to their store’s website. Thanks to a high standard in its privacy policy and free 100% chargeback fraud protection, Fast also scores well in the trust department.

What is PayPal One Touch?

One Touch for PayPal is different in that it tends to focus more on the consumer’s side rather than the shop’s side. It allows customers to log in, shop, and checkout in fewer clicks than the traditional PayPal interface.

(Source)

Theoretically, a buyer using PayPal’s One Touch will already be logged in by the time they make a purchase. Once they click the PayPal button to checkout, another page will open asking to confirm the purchase. If a buyer is not already logged in, the checkout process will take more steps.

What is Shop Pay?

Shop Pay is a checkout option available through the Shop app, a platform for shopping at stores available only through Shopify.

How does it differ from, say, Fast or Bolt?

Since it’s an option limited to Shopify stores, there won’t be any additional platform overlap. This is a checkout option designed for people either using Shopify or ready to set up on Shopify.

(Source)

Shop Pay is limited in scope, given it’s a platform-dependent option. But because Shopify is a closed ecosystem, it’s one of the only options available to sellers on the platform.

How Do I Install One-Click Checkout?

This is a question many sellers have, and oftentimes it stops them from moving forward with the installation process for their sites. One-click may be easy on the customer, but from the store’s perspective, it can seem difficult.

But it doesn’t have to be. Just follow these key steps:

1. Check with the Platform Hosting Your Site

Before you sign up for anything, make sure that your platform is compatible with the one-click provider. Here are some of the most common platforms that third-party vendors can service:

• WooCommerce
• BigCommerce
• Magento
• Shopify
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Wix
• Squarespace

2. Select Your Provider

In our comparison table at the start of this post, we’ve done the direct side-by-side comparisons for you. But if you want to take a deeper dive into which provider is right for you, consider the following:

• Checkout Speed: Does the platform require all sorts of third-party processing that will slow things down?
• Number of Actual Clicks to Complete Orders: “One-click” isn’t necessarily always one click. Fast is the only company with a checkout button that completes an order in just one click. Make sure you understand how each platform achieves its quick checkout to see if your carts require multiple clicks.
• Shipment Tracking: This is especially important for customers who are used to buying from major providers. They’re used to transparency while shipping.
• Payout Options: Is there instant payout? Do you have to wait until a Monday for a purchase you received on Friday? Make sure you read the payout timing before you sign up.
• Fraud Protection: Does your payment provider offer chargeback fraud protection to help you limit losses from fraudsters? And do they offer it at no cost to you?

3. Follow the Documentation

Assuming you’ve matched your platform to your payment provider, you’re ready to move forward with the instructions.

In some cases, it may be as simple as adding an app. In other cases, you may have to double-check with their documentation to view the different processes for installing on specific platforms.

If it sounds tough, don’t worry—most of it is nothing you haven’t handled before. For example, some onboarding with a new payment processor can be as easy as signing up for an account and copying and pasting code into your platform. Other platforms offer white-glove implementation.

The Importance of Transparency & Customer Trust

One advantage of using a third-party checkout provider is that it can provide instant trust.

The wide availability of online checkout providers means that anyone can use them; the process is democratized. As long as you have a valid ecommerce platform, it’s easy to add any of the providers mentioned here and accept one-click checkouts.

This is especially important because of one thing: It means that you can now compete with the “Amazon Experience.”

Competing with the “Amazon Experience”

Let’s boil it down to one statistic: Nearly 90% of buyers agree that they’re more likely to buy on Amazon than other ecommerce sites.

(Source)

What does that mean for you?

First, you’ll need to replicate the Amazon experience in a way that rivals what Amazon already does.

• For Fast, that means bringing together both quick buyer authentication and handling payment processing in one fell swoop
• For Shopify, that means expanding its Shop Pay solution

One-click isn’t just something for the ecommerce order page anymore—expect to see it popping up everywhere. But, none of this can happen without trust. Sellers can lose as many as 75% of their sales if they struggle with a lack of trust, that’s why it’s so critical for merchants to pick from the top names in one-click checkout providers. Use an existing platform to integrate seamlessly with your shop.

Sellers can lose as many as 75% of their sales if they struggle with a lack of trust, that’s why it’s so critical for merchants to pick from the top names in one-click checkout providers.

Done right, you’ll have minimal API requirements and developmental costs. And the benefits? More trust in your one-click purchases so you can compete with the retail giants.

Making One-Click Checkout Easy

How do you make one-click easy on yourself? The more you know, the better you’ll do.

You should have an idea of which providers are the top names, as well as how to run them on your own ecommerce store.

Remember what to look for in one-click checkout providers:

• Compatibility with your existing platforms
• Convenience for customers
• Reliability on the backend during order processing
• Chargeback fraud protection
• Payout options: If you need instant pay or don’t mind waiting a business day, run the comparisons before you sign up

Next, it’s time for you to choose a one-click checkout provider that can make your shoppers’ experience that much easier.

The post One-Click Checkout Platforms: Which Option is Right For You? appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.

Let’s dive in!

Improvements to Your Online Store

#1: Change Your Popup Copy

Popups are fantastic marketing tools for driving sales and generating leads, but have you thought about switching up your popup messages? Frequent visitors to your website are sure to take a second look at an unfamiliar popup. And who knows—a new message could boost your conversion rate.

#2: Update Your Product Descriptions

Do your product descriptions speak directly to your target customers? If not, improving them can better position your products and/or services in the minds of your audience. Or, you could update your product descriptions with more high-performing keywords in order to improve your SEO.

#3: Add Ratings & Reviews to Your Product Pages

Nothing sells products quite like positive product reviews, so if you have positive feedback from customers, be sure to showcase it on your product pages.

#4: Sell on Other Marketplaces

Multi-channel selling is the way forward, so if you haven’t already, list your bestsellers on other sales platforms to drive sales. If you’re unsure where to begin, social media sales channels like a Facebook Shop or Instagram Shop are great places to start.

#5: Update Your About Page

It’s not uncommon for a website’s About page to go unedited for months (or even years), even though it’s often one of the top-visited pages of pretty much any website! So, if you have some extra time on your hands and haven’t refreshed your About page in a while, why not update it!

#6: Add Video Content to Your About Page

Video media is hugely popular because it connects with audiences in ways the written word just can’t. You can speak directly to customers and convey your personality, giving visitors a better idea of who you are and what your brand stands for.

#7: Update Your Homepage

Usually, your homepage is the first thing people see on your website, so it’s imperative to keep things fresh by changing up the content, copy, images, and calls-to-action. Make some changes, edit the arrangement of different sections, move around what’s above-the-fold, and overall just make it more convenient for your visitors to navigate as well as a more highly-converting page arrangement for your store.

#8: Update Your Shipping & Returns Page

Have there been any changes to your shipping or returns policies, or can you make them more clear and easy for your customers to understand? Head over to your shipping and returns page to make any content or aesthetic changes.

Not sure what to write on your shipping and returns page? Check out this Shipping Policy Template and this Returns and Refund Policy Generator for some ideas.

#9: Update Your Meta Descriptions

Did you hastily throw together your meta descriptions when you first launched your site? Do all of your webpages even have meta descriptions? Are all of them SEO optimized? Review your meta descriptions and add in any outstanding ones so you can improve your site’s SEO and boost your click-through rate.

#10: Optimize Images for Page Speed

If your site’s a little on the slow side, it could be making visitors click away from your site and thus, increasing your bounce rate. Use tools like ImageOptim and ShortPixel to optimize your images and help your site perform better. Check out this post for detailed instructions on how to optimize your website images, and check out this post for more tactics to help you minimize your site’s bounce rate.

#11: Test Your Checkout Process

Place a test order on your site to ensure that everything works and looks as you want it to so that customers enjoy the very best experience from start to finish.

#12: Send a Weekly Email Newsletter

Keep loyal customers in the loop with a weekly email newsletter. Tell them about the latest industry news, new product releases, company announcements, or whatever is relevant to them! Email lists are an easy way to keep in close contact with your best customers, so keeping an active newsletter is valuable to your business.

#13: Add a Website Newsfeed (Using Beamer)

You can use a tool like Beamer to add a newsfeed to your site where you can announce big news, new launches, exclusive offers, and exciting updates. It’s a useful way to engage visitors and keep their eyes on what you want to highlight!

#14: Create Product Upsells & Cross-Sells

Upselling and cross-selling are two of the best strategies you can use to increase average order values on your site and bring in more revenue and profit overall. If you aren’t already harnessing this power, find ways to incorporate it into your site! Whether it’s by adding upsell or cross-sell opportunities directly on product pages, during the checkout process, or even in order confirmation emails—a little bit of work here can drastically boost your store’s sales.

#15: Install Your Facebook Pixel

Are you running paid Facebook Ads? If so, it’s imperative to install your Facebook Pixel onto your store to see how successful your ads are and to gather more data about your customers. With this data, you’ll be better positioned to fine-tune your ads for maximum conversions.

Put your Facebook Pixel to good use with the Facebook Ad retargeting strategies discussed in our Facebook Retargeting Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide article and our Scaling Facebook & Instagram Ads by Retargeting Someone Else’s Website article.

#16: Integrate Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a must-have for any ecommerce store. It makes light work of tracking your traffic and conversions, and provides helpful insights into consumer behavior. Plus, if you ever decide to sell your website or get funding for your business, prospective buyers or investors will want to review your site’s data.

#17: Create Product Bundles

Creating bundles of complementary products is an excellent way to boost sales—after all, everyone loves a bargain! Is there a way you can bundle some of your products together?

#18: Add FAQ Sections to Your Product Pages

FAQs not only help answer customer questions, but they can also improve your SEO (when you optimize them for targeted keywords), and even minimize time spent on customer support. Check out your FAQ page and see if it covers everything your audience is asking, and if you don’t have FAQs anywhere on your site, add them to your Contact page or Help page, or to a dedicated FAQ page.

#19: Create Free Shipping Offers

Whether it’s in-line with a specific holiday or just a means of treating your customers, free shipping is great for enticing website traffic and driving sales. Check out this article to learn how you can offer free shipping to your customers.

#20: Add a Banner to Your Homepage

If there’s one page to focus your efforts on, it’s your homepage—and a banner at the top of the page is useful for both you and your visitors. Use it to announce new products, important shipping information, seasonal promos, etc. to ensure that visitors don’t miss important information that could lead them to make a purchase. This post shows you how to code your own announcement bar on your website.

#21: Update Your Thank You Page Copy

Saying thank you is hugely important, but a generic “thank you for ordering” page isn’t very memorable. So, why not update your copy, so it’s more engaging? Use this as an opportunity to further develop the relationship you have with your customers.

#22: Create a Fun 404 “Oops” Page

Is there anything more frustrating than the dreaded 404 error page? Make yours a fun one so that if customers accidentally find themselves there, at least you have an opportunity to bring a smile to their face. Plus, remember to add links to your homepage, product collection pages, or Contact page so visitors can easily navigate back to another page on your site.

#23: Add Social Proof Notifications

ProveSource is a valuable solution you can use to implement social proof notifications on your site. What’s a social proof notification? If someone purchases a product, it’ll notify your website visitors through a little popup! This creates a sense of urgency and can help to boost conversions. It’s like creating a busy-store-feeling, but online.

#24: Add Product Unboxing Videos to Your Product Pages

Product unboxing videos are a great way to instill customer confidence and build trust and credibility with your audience. Plus, it’s a fun way for potential customers to see the product in action and picture the unboxing experience for themselves!

The more information you can give about your products on your product pages, the better. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many words a video is worth!

#25: Add Product Review Videos to Your Product Pages

What’s better than a positive customer review? A video version of that review! Authentic and relatable video reviews on your product pages can go a long way in boosting sales, so if you have some brand evangelists who love your products, ask if they’ll record a little video snippet explaining why. Don’t forget to offer them free products, a discount code, social media shoutout, and/or payment in return!

#26: Add Product Assembly Videos to Your FAQs

If you sell products that require any amount of assembly, include a product assembly video on your FAQ or Help page. Not only will it be beneficial for your customers, but it will also reduce the amount of customer support you have to provide. Plus, it also elongates the time visitors spend on your site, which is great for SEO.

#27: Add a Blog

Content is a hugely important way to attract and keep visitors on your site, so add a blog if you don’t already have one! You don’t have to publish content on your blog all the time—as long as you keep a somewhat consistent schedule and maintain quality over quantity, you can see meaningful results. Our Content Strategy: The Ultimate Guide to Preparation, Production, Publication & Promotion article has tons of valuable information on how to run a blog.

#28: Repurpose Your Best Blog Posts on Social Media & Medium

Already have a blog up and running? Repurpose your best content on social media and syndicate your content on platforms like Medium! This is a super simple yet effective way to bring the content back into the limelight and in front of fresh audience eyes. Don’t let great content get buried—repurpose it for all its worth!

#29: Update Your Transactional/Shipping Emails

Obligatory emails like purchase confirmations and order shipment notifications don’t have to be boring—keep your copy fun! You might have just launched by using generic templates for these emails, so if you have, go back and customize the content to make it more accurately reflect your brand.

#30: Set Up & Launch an Automated Abandoned Cart Email Campaign

We’ve all been there. We’ve filled up our carts and then either forgotten to check out or had a moment of self-control and abandoned the whole shopping process in general. This is where abandoned cart email campaigns come in to save the day (for ecommerce stores). They’re a great way to draw customers back to their abandoned carts and get them to complete the checkout process again, which means more sales and profit for you!

This is one of those easy things you can set-and-forget for your online store that’ll run in the background and bring in sales without you having to lift a finger.

#31: Update Your Shipping Provider/ Shipping Process

There’s always room for improvements, so if you’ve been with the same shipping provider for several years or you just picked one when you first launched and didn’t assess any other options, then why not browse the market to look for a better deal? Or, if you’re loyal to your provider, it may be worth approaching them to negotiate a better deal or shipping process to ensure faster delivery.

#32: Ask Someone to Test Your Website’s Navigation

You can test your own website to ensure the navigation runs smoothly, but if you’ve spent hours looking at it, you might accidentally miss some issues. Getting a fresh pair of eyes on things can really help to highlight any problems that need fixing so you can create a better online experience for your audience.

#33: Create an Online Course

Creating and selling online courses are fantastic for engaging customers, bringing in new revenue streams, and making you an authority in your industry. If you don’t already have an online course on your site, why not create one!

#34: Plan Your Content Calendar

As we’ve previously mentioned, blogging is essential for any website. It attracts and retains an audience, improves SEO, and helps inject personality into your online brand. Why not get ahead of the game and plan out your blog topics in advance? Your future self will thank you! Check out our Content Strategy article for ideas on how to plan your content.

#35: Get a Private Business Phone Number

Having a contact number makes your business that much more professional—and you can easily get one without having to set up another phone or landline. Instead, you can download an app like OpenPhone and select your desired phone number for an affordable monthly fee.

#36: Get a Business Mailbox

Much like opting for a business phone number, getting a P.O. Box helps you appear professional and receive work-related letters and deliveries without divulging your personal address online. You can use a service like Anytime Mailbox to set up a business mailing and forwarding address. With your permission, they can even open and scan your letters for you so you don’t have to constantly pick up your mail from them all the time.

#37: Get a VPN

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is basically standard internet security practice at this point, so if you don’t already have one, it’s time to get on it. We covered why it’s so important to have a VPN in our How to Bulletproof Your Online Business article, but essentially it prevents hackers from being able to access your devices, and it can also help you get around geo-blocking firewalls. And it’s easy to use! Just install a VPN (like NordVPN) onto your devices and enjoy an encrypted internet connection. Simple, right?

#38: Add 2FA to Important Accounts

2-factor authentication (2FA) should be another standard security measure you undertake. It’s easy to set up and provides an effective line of defense against hackers. How? Anyone attempting to sign into one of your accounts must provide an additional numerical code in addition to the username and password—and this code changes about every 30 seconds or so, making it trickier for unauthorized persons and bots to access your data.

You can activate 2FA security within the dashboard of most accounts that you use (like your email account, banking account, Facebook account, Instagram account, etc.) and you can use a tool like Authy to generate 2FA codes to unlock each account.

• Shopify: Enable it in your profile settings, or check out the Shopify documentation
• Google/Gmail: You can enable it here, or check out Google’s documentation for more info
• Apple: You can enable it here, or check out Apple’s documentation for more info
• Facebook: You can enable it here, or check out Facebook’s blog for more info
• Twitter: You can enable it here, or check out Twitter’s blog for more info
• Dropbox: You can enable it here, or check out Dropbox’s documentation for more info
• Evernote: You can enable it here, or check out Evernote’s blog for more info
• PayPal: You can read more about it and enable it here
• Microsoft Accounts: You can enable it here, or check out Microsoft’s documentation for more info
• LinkedIn: You can enable it here, or check out LinkedIn’s blog for more info
• WordPress: You can enable it and read more about it here

For a more complete list of services that offer 2FA, check out the Two Factor Auth List.

Marketing

#39: Launch an Instagram Ad

Instagram is one of the most popular social networks out there, so launch an engaging Instagram Ad to drive more traffic to your store and boost brand awareness!

#40: Place a Facebook Ad

Depending on what you’re looking to achieve, Facebook ads can be an incredibly affordable and effective way to market your business. Best of all, the platform makes it simple to get started.

#41: Create a Pinterest Ad

Pinterest is an effective way to market online businesses through unique, visual ads. Pinterest’s platform empowers you to publish beautiful imagery, making it perfect for online merchants selling beautiful-looking products.

#42: Place a TikTok Ad

Marketing on TikTok can amount to huge brand awareness, as the platform has over 500 million monthly active users, and exposure and virality is easily achievable on the platform. A short video could reach millions of viewers worldwide, and lead to more sales and growth for your brand! If your target market is the Gen Z audience, this is a particularly good platform to advertise on.

#43: Place a YouTube Ad

Video marketing, including Youtube Ads, is an excellent way to connect with prospective customers more memorably and more in-depth than other advertising methods.

#44: Place a Snapchat Ad

Snapchat is different from some platforms because the vast majority of its users are of a younger demographic, so if you’re looking to target this distinct audience, it’s a great ad platform to consider.

#45: Host a Flash Sale

Are you looking for a way to create a buzz about your business? A flash sale is one way of achieving precisely that while generating a considerable rise in sales. Surprise your audience with appealing discounts for a short period of time, and it can generate buzz around your brand.

#46: Offer Exclusive Discount Codes as a Lead Magnet

To grow your email list, offer visitors an incentive to sign up. A discount code can go a long way in encouraging visitors to sign up to your email list, which can land you with more sign-ups and potentially more sales as people make use of the discount code, which can really boost your brand.

#47: Create “This or That” Polls on Your Instagram Stories

Are you seeking quick customer feedback about your products? If so, a “This or That” poll on Instagram is one of the most effective ways to engage your audience. Plus, it helps boost engagement on your brand’s social account, which can help grow your following.

#48: Host an Instagram Live

Getting to know the face behind a business appeals to many consumers, so try hosting an Instagram Live! Not only will your audience feel a greater sense of connection with you, but it’s also a great way to build brand awareness and credibility, too.

#49: Host a Facebook Live

Facebook still remains the most popular social media platform comprising the most diverse range of users, so hosting a Facebook Live is certainly worth considering if you’re looking to connect with your audience in a new way.

#50: Host an Instagram Q&A

Does your brand get asked the same questions regularly? If so, hosting an Instagram Q&A (using the Instagram “Question Box” feature) helps to answer those frequently asked questions and provide real value for your audience.

#51: Create & Sell Merch

If you’re building a personal brand and have a loyal following, consider adding merch to your online store! This is a great way to grow your relationship with your audience, helps establish a sense of community, and is another revenue stream for your company—win-win! You can use a platform like Printful to launch merch super easily.

#52: Run a Giveaway or Contest

Who doesn’t love a freebie? A social media giveaway or contest helps promote your business through the comments and shares it generates—and you’re bound to bring a smile to the face of the lucky winner! Check out our ViralSweep review to learn more about running sweepstakes, giveaways, and contests.

#53: Create Behind-the-Scenes Content

Behind-the-scenes social media content shows the inner-workings of your brand so you can connect more deeply with your audience. It can help your audience appreciate and love your brand even more—and it can entertain them too!

#54: Write a Guest Post for Another Blog

Having your name appear on another reputable blog is an excellent way to extend your reach and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

#55: Feature as a Guest on a Podcast

Like publishing a guest post, getting your voice heard on a reputable podcast can expand your reach, grow your audience, and get your brand more exposure.

#56: Feature as a Guest on Another Brand’s Instagram Live

Instagram Lives are exciting and engaging, so if you have the opportunity to feature on someone else’s—do it. This is a super simple way to engage with a new audience.

#57: Collaborate with a Brand or Influencer

Nothing ignites consumer excitement more than a collaboration with another much-loved brand or influencer. Collaborating on a collection with another brand or influencer can make your brand more discoverable to more people.

#58: Hand-Write Thank-You Cards to Customers

Customers appreciate a personal touch, so this little extra effort goes a long way to encourage future business.

#59: Join a Community of Like-Minded Entrepreneurs

Joining a community of similar entrepreneurs is a useful way to expand your professional network. Not only can this bring more business your way, but it can also unlock fresh collaboration opportunities!

#60: Attend a Tradeshow

You don’t have to exclusively sell your products online. Getting your name out there in the real world at a tradeshow is an effective marketing method too—especially if you’re looking to attract B2B or wholesale customers.

#61: Start Selling Products at a Local Store

There are still plenty of people who prefer shopping in brick-and-mortar stores rather than online, so if you can get your products on the shelves of any local stores, do it! It may be worth the effort.

#62: Join Forces with a National/International Chain

One sure-fire way to build a reputable name for your brand is to get your products in a well-known store! See if you can get your products stocked online or in-person in a national or international chain.

#63: Create a Webinar or Video Series

To get more eyes on your brand and products, consider creating insightful webinars or video series that provide actionable advice and valuable content to your customers.

#64: Ask Customers for Testimonials

Reviews are a massive part of online business success, but we rarely ever request feedback. Don’t be afraid to ask customers for testimonials—and showcase what they say on your site!

#65: Start Planning Your Holiday Marketing Schedule

Be prepared in advance for Christmas, bank holidays, Thanksgiving, and other national holidays by scheduling your marketing tasks and creating your marketing collateral ahead of time.

#66: Send Loyal Customers a Gift Card

Rewarding loyalty can go a long way with your customers, so identify your most loyal shoppers and give them a gift card to show your appreciation!

#67: Create a Charity Event

Social responsibility and awareness are essential contributions every business should be making, so if you aren’t already contributing to your community, create a charity event. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated—and you can run it completely online, too!

Social Media

#68: Update Your Instagram Bio

Keeping your Instagram bio updated and relevant is essential. After all, it might be the first time someone encounters your brand, so be sure to make a great first impression.

#69: Update Your Facebook Page

If in doubt, the information on your Facebook page could always do with a refresh. Why not post exciting brand updates, product releases, or any other business news that’s worthy of sharing.

#70: Update Your Pinterest Bio

Does your brand’s Pinterest account have an accurate bio? If you haven’t added one or haven’t updated it in a while—go over there and give it a refresh.

#71: Update Your TikTok Bio

Switching up your TikTok bio to keep it fresh and unique is always a good idea—you never know how often people are landing on your account page.

#72: Update Your Twitter Bio

Your Twitter bio is a great place to showcase what you do and link back to your site, so keep it updated.

#73: Update Your Social Media Profile Pictures & Cover Photos

If your brand accounts have had the same profile and cover photos for months or even years, maybe think about switching things up. Keeping them fresh is a great way to keep your brand relevant.

#74: Poll Your Twitter Followers

Twitter polls are an effective way to gauge your audience’s preferences, which makes them a powerful tool for you! Use them to your advantage and get insights into your audience’s wants, needs, and pain points.

#75: Create Instagram Highlights

Instagram Highlights display your most memorable Stories in one place for your audience to find easily. They can help drive engagement and encourage repeat visits to your profile, so keep them up-to-date with popular content and regularly requested content.

#76: Create a Twitter Story

Like Instagram, Twitter now has a Stories feature (called “Fleets”) so use them how your brand would use Instagram Stories! Since they’re still being adopted by many users, you have fewer people to compete against and it puts your content at the front and center of your followers’ newsfeed, which makes them more likely to view your content.

#77: Publish a Facebook Story

Again, people respond well to likable live videos and interactive stories, so creating a Facebook Story is another effective way to interact with your following and get your content seen by more people.

#78: Publish a Creative TikTok Using Your Products

Creating a TikTok video to showcase your products can yield lots of attention and fantastic results, so it’s worth a try!

#79: Create an Instagram Reel with One of Your Products

Instagram Reels are another excellent way to show off your product in a unique way, which can again, make your content more easily discoverable to more people!

#80: Sponsor an Instagram Influencer

Influencer marketing on Instagram can bring in massive amounts of traffic and sales, so if you have the available budget, sponsor an influencer (even a micro-influencer) to mention or review your products.

#81: Sponsor a Twitter Influencer

Like sponsoring an Instagram influencer, collaborating with a Twitter influencer can be hugely beneficial for driving sales.

#82: Sponsor a TikTok Influencer

With TikTok being such a popular platform, it’s another great place to sponsor an influencer to mention or review your products. Find one that’s a great fit for your audience and it can drive valuable traffic and engagement back to your site.

#83: Host an Instagram Live with an Industry Expert or Influencer

Reach out to your network and ask an industry expert if they’ll be a guest on an Instagram Livestream with you! This enriches the content you provide to your audience and can help build interest and buzz around your brand, as well as the person you bring on.

#84: Follow Your Competitors’ Followers

Your competitors are likely targeting the same demographic as you, so following their followers is a strategic way to make your brand more discoverable to your target market.

#85: Post to Reddit for Website Feedback

Looking for honest feedback about your website? Look no further than Reddit, home to unbiased opinions! Find the right subreddits to ask for feedback, though—it won’t be welcome in just any subreddit.

#86: Create a Reddit Subreddit

Creating your own subreddit can help you build your own community of brand evangelists, and it can be a place to bond with your audience and develop more of a relationship with them.

#87: Use Twitter Advanced Search to Reach Out to Your Audience

Use Twitter Advanced Search as a “social listening” tool to find consumers who are discussing problems that your product can solve. Provide genuine suggestions and don’t be too sales-y, and you may help more people discover your products.

#88: Record a Podcast

Have you ever considered creating a podcast? They’re a great way to put a voice to your brand and establish credibility and authority in your niche. Plus, it’s another way to make your brand more discoverable!

#89: Post Customer Testimonials on Your Socials

Have you just received some positive customer feedback? Great! Shout it from the rooftops (or from your socials, at least)!

#90: Take New Photos for Your Socials

Could your Instagram theme use a refresh? Take new photos or use new image templates! Keeping things fresh keeps things interesting for your audience.

Branding

#91: Create Brand Guidelines

Creating branding guidelines helps your brand stay consistent across all your platforms, so if you haven’t established any branding guidelines or made a media kit, make one! Our Branding Guide can help with this.

#92: Create a New Logo

Creating a fresh logo is a great way to revamp your business. If you don’t have the budget to commission one, create your own using Looka or TailorBrands. If you have the budget to commission a logo designer, check out our Logo Designers Directory to find some great logo makers.

#93: Update Your Brand Packaging

Business trends evolve quickly, so consider updating your brand’s packaging if it’s outdated or could use a refresh. Check out our Shipping & Packaging Manufacturers Directory to find packaging suppliers that can make beautiful shipping boxes or mailers for your brand.

#94: Upgrade Your Social Media Posts with Templates

There are so many useful social media templates out there that can improve your social media content. Take a look at Creative Market for social media templates that can kick your social media posts up a notch.

#95: Update Your Website’s Branding & Layout

Does your store’s website theme say what you want it to say? What kind of impression is it giving your audience? If it’s not quite perfect, make adjustments until it is.

#96: Make Your Shipping Packaging Sustainable

Sustainability is at the forefront of many businesses now—is there a way you can make your packaging more eco-friendly? Reach out to your packaging supplier and see if they have more sustainable options, check out other businesses to see how they make their packaging more eco-friendly, and brainstorm ways that you can change your product or its presentation to reduce waste.

#97: Create Buyer Personas

Have you created buyer personas for your brand? Have you ever updated them during your brand’s lifetime? It’s an essential way to hone-in on your target market, so make sure your brand personas are up-to-date.

Personal & Professional Development

#98: Take an Online Course to Further Your Skills

Take an online course to further your skills and improve your business knowledge! Check out our roundup of the top online courses for entrepreneurs here.

#99: Attend a Networking Event with Entrepreneurs in Your Field

Networking with other industry professionals in your field is a great way to share ideas and expand your professional network.

#100: Join a Slack Group for Entrepreneurs

If you’re not a fan of online or traditional networking events, why not find a networking group on Slack? It can help you establish new connections over time without having to take part in an event.

#101: Join a Facebook Group for Local Businesses

Connect with other businesses in your area by joining a Facebook group of other local entrepreneurs! You’ll likely learn about a lot of different businesses and you’ll create opportunities for growth and collaboration.

#102: Interact with Other Entrepreneurs on Twitter

Establish connections with other entrepreneurs on Twitter! It’s a great platform to get to know people since you can drop quick likes, comments, and DMs which can build valuable business relationships. Remember to keep things positive and professional!

#103: Read a Relevant Personal Development Book

There are hundreds of thousands of excellent business books out there so find one that interests you and get stuck in! You’ll likely never regret learning something new.

#104: Use a Time Management App

Are you guilty of procrastinating? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! But, opting for a time management app is a valuable way to keep yourself on-track. Check out our article on the 10 Best Productivity & Time Management Apps to get some helpful strategies!

Conclusion

There you have 100+ ideas for things to do when you don’t know what to do. When you launch a business, it can sometimes leave you with an “Okay, what next?” feeling, and these ideas can help you work on those little things that we as entrepreneurs often forget about.

For more ideas on what to do after you’ve launched your business, and for valuable marketing strategies you can use to grow your traffic and sales, check out our 52 Week Marketing Plan.

The post 100+ Store Updates to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do appeared first on A Better Lemonade Stand.