Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Understanding Listing APIs

API or Application Programming Interface is a method of making two pieces of software communicate with each other and work together. It helps you upload thousands of products with several clicks, avoiding the mundane task of uploading individual products to several websites. Shopster offers this option in the form of datafeeds to shopping comparison sites.

This is one of Shopster’s major tools that give it an advantage over other dropship social networks. This listing option allows you to expose your products to another type of market that has a high conversion factor. It can drive targeted traffic with immediate results as well as build your brand in the market place.  

To submit your products to shopping comparison sites via a datafeed, choose one of Shopster’s serviced sites such as: eBay, Bizrate, Froogle, Google Base, Master Storefront, NextTag, Overstock, Pronto, Shopping.com and Yahoo! Shopping.

1. Log in to Shopster.
2. Click on the Marketing tab.
3. Under this, you’ll see Submit to Shopping Comparison Sites. Click on it.
4. Scroll down and click on Create Datafeed for the site you’ve chosen.
5. Follow the link and register an account with your chosen shopping comparison site.
6. Upload your data feed to the newly created account.

There you have it! You have a datafeed for the products in your managed inventory. This will connect you to the shopping comparison site and allow you to start offering your products in the site.  Make sure you monitor this on top of your listings in your own online store.

The more channels you have, the more you will have to monitor. Once you’ve mastered this, you will also learn how to start earning from more channels.

Happy selling!

Sales Forecasting for Your Online Store

eCommerce store owners are essentially entrepreneurs. If you want to continue on an upward trend for your sales, there are many business concepts you need to learn. One of the most important, both for brick-and-mortar and online retails, is sales forecasting.  

Sales forecasting is simply a way to organize and analyze data to predict the future trends of your sales. It is highly data-driven and may be difficult for organizations who lack benchmark data. There are several methods of sales forecasting that you can use as an online businessman.

But first things first, you need to collate the right data to analyze. Some figures you should look at and prepare for analysis are:

• The sales numbers per period per product. The easiest period to work with is monthly forecasting. The sales numbers include the amount of products sold, the price at which the products were sold, your sales margin per product, the acquisition cost per product, the total revenue generated per product type and the total profit per product type.
• The number of sales that are returned or cancelled.
• Seasonality – expected spikes and downturns should be monitored strictly
• Economic forecasts can also affect your numbers. Factor in the predicted general growth for your markets’ economies.
• Other factors that affect bottomline, including but not limited to warehousing cost, shipping fees, employee salaries
• Your thresholds – make a smart estimate of sales scenarios being aggressive in one and safe in another. It would be best to have the following figures: optimistic (best case scenario), pessimistic (worst case scenario) and realistic (flat trending).
• Previous sales trends

Next, choose the forecast you want to have. Most businesses will look for the cashflow where your Revenue – (Capital Expenditure + Operating Expenditure)  = Cashflow. What you need to do is to get the data from the present back to the last three months and use trending to get the figures for the next six months. Then, continue factoring in your seasonality and economic forecasts + your own targets for growth. Now repeat the process for the three scenarios mentioned above.

Having this data on-hand will help you set realistic goals for your store and for your sales people.

Happy Selling!

The Importance of a Logo

Nike’s Swoosh. The Golden Arches of McDonald’s. The Apple of Macintosh. The world’s most memorable logos are recognizable anywhere.  Time has no hold over them. They evoke strong emotions towards a brand. That is the power of a logo.

 A logo is a representation of a company’s brand. It should speak to what a company does and it should be simple, yet sophisticated.  When creating your logo, think of how you can achieve the following:

• Make it easy to understand. There is no need to be cryptic or to make them think. Keeping it simple and unique will make it stand the test of time.
• Associate it with your business. One look at your logo and your customer should be able to identify it with what you’re offering.
• Easy to reproduce. Be it in the web or on print, your logo should translate well in various types of media. You will be using it both online and offline after all.
• Scalability. Connected to associating it with your business, think about how your logo will grow with your brand and your product lines. If you add other services in the future, is your logo flexible enough to be able to cover those new offerings.
• Timelessness. Do go for what’s cool today, gone tomorrow. Steer away from groovy fonts and psychedelic icons. Keep to a business theme. If it calls for it, add playfulness with colors. Being too out-of-the-box may make your chosen logo today look outdated in ten years.

A logo is no trivial thing. Large corporations actually spend millions to come up with a power logo that the public will love.  But if you’re starting out in online retail, you don’t need to spend that much on it. Do consider that what you spend will have its ROI in terms of reach. Your logo should be used in your signage, your business cards, your brochures, stationery, directory listings and more. In your online store, your logo should be place on the top-most part of your website. It should be clickable and should lead back to the homepage for good usability. The interaction your website visitors will have with your logo will be numerous and they will remember it for that reason alone.

As a last tip on logos, have it professionally designed to make sure it is unique and that it makes the impact you want on your intended audience.

Shopster is offering a discount coupon on logo design services.

How to Use Banners for Online Marketing

There are several ways to effectively use banners on the web. Traditionally, a banner is displayed in an email, a newsletter or any form of media that has a wide audience. It aims to call attention to a specific product or an event – such as a sale or a promotion. It works similar to an ad you’d see in printed media such as newspapers and magazine due to its graphic nature.  They come in different shapes and sizes, from banner headers to skyscrapers and even smaller ones called buttons. For more information on sizes, you can check out the Internet Advertising Bureau site (http://www.iab.net/)

Over the years, banners have evolved in its use and is now seen more often in different forms of media as well as in the website itself. Today, we’ll discuss how to market your products using banners. This is particularly important for high-ticket items that you would want to move faster due to its high profitability.

On your ecommerce storefront

• A full or header banner is a great way to convey what your service is all about. These occupy the topmost part of your website, right after the logo and before (or after) your horizontal navigation bar. It could include anything from top products to animated text that speak to your service offerings.
•  Product banners are square banners found on the side bars that highlight top products you want to sell fast. It should include the price as well as compelling copy that would encourage visitors to visit the product page
• Promotional banners highlight items that are currently on sale or up-coming bargain events for your store.

On sites that allow advertising

• Some websites allow directly posting your banner on their site. They usually define what they charge you – either in CPM or cost per thousand impressions or CPC or cost per click. When choosing to directly advertise with banners on website, find one that matches your niche market.
• Affiliate programs are another way to get your banners to display in content publisher sites. This is a more cost-efficient way to use banners to advertise your site as it is paid on a cost per action. In other words, your affiliates only get paid when you make an actual sale. In most instances, for affiliate programs, you get to choose the commission you pay them. The only downside, the set up fee can be costly, depending on which affiliate networks you join. But choosing the right affiliate program platform gives you access to millions of publishers willing to put your banner up on their site and removes the hassle of tracking the performance yourself and issuing checks for performing affiliates.
• Google PPC  also allows advertising with banners. This goes in their content network with websites like About.com, SourceForge, New Your Times and so much more. Search networks are also evolving now to show a variety of advertisements other than the text links. Soon enough, they will probably be featuring banner ads on search results as well.

On forums and other social media websites

• Use a small banner as your profile picture to convey that you are running a business and you want people to take a look at your website.  
• Some forums also allow a small banner on the signature portion, which can link back to your website.

It may sound as if banner advertising has been around for a while people are already ignoring these. But don’t be deceived, banner  advertising can still bring in the dollars. All you need to do is be creative in the way you use it.

Speaking of banner ads, Shopster is currently offering a banner package for $99.99 where you can get as much as three banners for your homepage.

Upgrading Your Shopster Account

When is the right time to do it? There really is no right or wrong time when deciding on paying for a service or working with the free version. To be more particular, for Shopster, everyone can try it out for free. It’s Shopster’s way of showing you how effective the product is.

Simply by signing up for free, you can get access to 1.5 million products, a online storefront and a powerful inventory management tool that helps you stay on top of sales. There are limits to the items you can add to your network or list to the store. But nonetheless, the free account is a good way to understand how the system works and if dropshipping really is for you.

Give a try first. If it’s your first time to explore the Shopster eCommerce environment, I suggest you do the following:

1.  Look for items you want to sell in the virtual warehouse and decide on your niche.
2. Set up your store. By default it is named as Storenumber - <number>, change that immediately. Give your store a name and start working on the branding – from logo to color scheme.
3. Work on your store’s content and select the items you want to sell from the virtual warehouse.
4. Add suppliers to your network. This is a must for some suppliers before you can see their network prices.
5. When orders start rolling in, all you have to do is receive the order, place it with the supplier and they’re the ones who send it out (that’s the beauty of dropshipping!)

Voila! You’re done with your first sale. The rest is history. If you start earning more and you think it’s enough to really make Shopster a viable source of income, then I suggest you start considering paid options. Shopster offers three paid package levels which you can find here: http://www.shopster.com/pricing.html

Find out what the benefits are for you. For instance, with a Power package, you can add your own products, get additional product space, have access to more store templates, lower transaction fees on orders, get custom domain hosting and even get free credit to market your store on Google.  In other words, you experience the full power of Shopster’s  network.

Upgrading to a paid account is charged monthly but for that minimal cost (starting at $19.95), the ROI can be exponential if you continue to work on building your store.

Happy Selling!

Shopster Celebrates National Small Business Week

 May 23rd to the 29th marks National Small Business Week in the US. This event has been around since 1963 when the President of the United States proclaimed the celebratory week to recognize the economic contributions of small businesses.

Today, the small business sector continues to be a driving force in the US. In fact, there are currently 29.6 million small businesses in the country. Around half the American private sector workforce either own or are employed by a small business. They represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms and pay 44 percent of the total U.S. private payrolls.

By definition, a small business is an independent business having less than 500 employees. They are also a large contributor to the generation of new jobs. Over the last 15 years, they have created 64 percent of the net new jobs – or 4.5 million of the 22.5 million net new jobs between 1993 and the 3rd quarter of 2008. They hire 40 percent of high tech workers such as scientists, engineers and computer programmers. Small businesses also create more than half of the non-farm private gross domestic product (GDP) according to the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census and International Trade Administration.

Despite the global economic crisis, small businesses have proven their resilience and tenacity. According to the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, Business Dynamics Statistics 69 percent of new employer establishments born to new firms in 2000 survived at least 2 years and 51 percent survived 5 years or more.

Aside from the facts and figures that show why they are the backbone of the American economy, small businesses are lauded for their embodiment of the entrepreneurial spirit, drive and innovation. They have played a vital role in the country’s recovery in the challenging economic climate.
Shopster salutes small business owners who have done their part at driving the economic strength of the country.

Anatomy of an Online Entrepreneur: Which one are you?

Most people dismiss that managing a home-based business is just a figment of imagination of online entrepreneurs. However, based on my experience as an online entrepreneur, belief paves the way to motivation for an e-business to succeed and thrive in the vast world of e-commerce. Ambition is without a soul if motivation doesn't fuel it. This hinders people in realizing their dreams to have a successful online store. But if you're always pre-occupied about starting an online business, I think you should take baby steps in order to begin a successful online store of your own.

The problem with most online entrepreneurs is that they want instant income by the time they start their e-business. While there are some instant Internet millionaires, there are more entrepreneurs who make a vast amount of income without even trying hard to become millionaires. On the other hand, there are web millionaire wannabes who don't make the cut and hit the pavement in a couple of months.

The fine line that separates these two types of online entrepreneurs is that the former has a sound understanding on how to start an online business. They understand that sheer work and total dedication to establish an online store. These people strive for the best even though there are setbacks along the way. Whereas, the latter only think of dollar signs in their heads without the intention of building a brand. Now, how will an online store succeed if the only drive is to earn from it?

From what you've read so far, I bet you want to become the smart online entrepreneur instead of the complacent one. Smart online entrepreneurs always have the initiative of planning before they know it. They are born thinkers, because goals without apt planning are like writing using a pen with an invisible ink. Ascertaining your goals is essential for a plan to come along. Each goal should have a time-frame, which allows for careful and appropriate planning. Remember not to be complacent with every monetary success you attain from your online business. Always strive for innovation and progress. Speaking of innovation, Premier e-Commerce firm Shopster has an amazing solution called the Shopster network. Together with millions of aspiring online entrepreneurs, Shopster aims to make Social e-Commerce work for everyone. Importers, distributors, manufactures and suppliers to add their products into the Shopster network for the 50,000 plus retailers to sell. So, why think of hundreds if you can make millions?

Supersize me...not.

In the vast world of e-commerce, big used to dominate. Amazon is still the largest online retailer. eBay is the biggest online auction. Google is the search engine with god-like status. Big Matters. It pertains to grand scale economies.

But wait, that hotdog vendor across the street wants to be a CEO of his own company. He wants to be big as well. Is this possible? Can the "small" earn big? Does being "big" really bring big revenue?

Being big added value to the specialization of firms, large R&D personnel, efficient quality control, and widespread distribution were some requisites were value was added. Value came from having a broad sales force. This notion pertains to tangibles as well. An SUV is better than a Mini Cooper. A bigger office space can hold up a large number of employees. Heck, we even like having our meal at Mcdonald's supersized!

"Get Big Fast" was the mantra for startups because multinational firms can get more access to capital and utilize it to grow even bigger. Now that makes a whole lot of sense. A big company should get the auditing services of a big accounting firm. A big shoe company outsources its manufacturing operations to a big country. A big athlete should have a third serving of mashed potato. Being big requires big operations in order to succeed.

Really now?

Enron (big) was audited by Andersen (big, too) then failed (big). Mainstream advertising is plummeting (Thanks to Social Media). Big media web sites are being trampled by Gawker's Blogs and BoingBoing. People would rather buy a customized shirt from a friend’s online store. Small is rising. The Lilliput economy has emerged. Being tiny matters now.

There was a time in retail that you had to have a store, which needed a location; that needed capital to come up with large inventory; that required cash flow to hire personnel and buy ads to entice customers. And then you had to have a chain of stores to establish relationships with suppliers. Now, you can find suppliers and customers via eBay, Amazon, and Shopster. These sites are more than retailers; they are platforms for small online entrepreneurs where they can complement each other's e-businesses. Today, online entrepreneurs are increasing in numbers. Small online stores earn more than big companies. If you're a budding online entrepreneur, being small shouldn't hinder you from thinking big. After all, big companies start from scratch. Be small yet think big.

References:
Seth Godin, Marketing Visionary, Sethgodin.com, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/06/small_is_the_ne.html

eBay’s Q1 Reports: A favorable sign for e-commerce

As an online entrepreneur, you have to be updated latest trends and news pertaining to vertical markets. It complements your annual planning for your online store. Furthermore, it gives you a heads up on how you will manage supply chain relationships in order to sustain your e-business. 

e-Commerce giant eBay recently announced its Q1 2010 results. eBay's annual report has been extremely useful for online stores and dropshippers. It has provided crucial data points for the e-business marketplace; however, market pundits are most likely to focus on the primary data point called Gross Mechandise Value (GMV). GMV is considered as the pulse of the e-business marketplace. While secondary metrics such as segment revenue, items sold, and registered users are vital data points, they don't focus on the business itself like GMV does.
eBay's overall GMV was $15.4b for the Q, but to get a true apples to apples for GMV, you have to pull out three pieces: 

• Autos - a drag on eBay's GMV growth and the economics are very different (more like a classifieds site) so they aren't applicable.
• Gmarket - eBay acquired gmarket and the gmarket is inorganically in Q110, but not in Q109.
• Currency (FX) - The GBP and Euro are fluctuating a good bit and their impact need to be taken out to compare year over year trends.

The following numbers are all ex-autos, ex-gmarket and ex-FX.

With revenue and profit margins skyrocketing beyond estimated figures, it only shows that eBay has seen a great first quarter. While eBay owes its Q1 win to PayPal, the Marketplaces division has been complementing eBay with its progress as well.
“Our first quarter results reflect another strong step toward achieving our three-year growth and profitability goals,” eBay President and CEO John Donahoe said.

“We are becoming a more customer-focused and technology-driven company, delivering more innovative products and experiences and driving operating efficiencies to reinvest in growth. We are improving the fundamentals of our business, strengthening eBay Marketplaces and aggressively growing PayPal to become the leader in global online payments,” he added.

Being more customer-focused and technology-driven means covering the largest network of potential customers – Facebook. eBay has signed a deal with the Social Media giant to become a payment option for its virtual currency called Facebook credits. So, what does this mean for online entrepreneurs and e-businesses? eBay is still the old reliable when it comes to e-commerce. And as an online entrepreneur, you need to complement your selling solutions on eBay, Shopster will be launching its supplier network soon which makes it even easier for importers, distributors, and suppliers to add their products into the Shopster network. Every online store will be connected to each other, establishing your product while bolstering your sales!

References:
Scott Wingo, eBay Strategies, http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/
Lucian Parfeni, PayPal Processes $21.3 Billion in Q1 2010, http://news.softpedia.com/news

Twitterrific: Want to make $11,000 in two hours?

 Most online entrepreneurs who are new to the vast world of e-Commerce think that having an online store is enough to sell products online. It’s surprising that a plethora of e-businesses and B2B marketers aren't active on Twitter. While Facebook and LinkedIn have the visual leverage and enticing means of marketing products online, Twitter is not to be ignored. The micro-blogging phenom is extremely helpful in establishing a brand. Just look at what people are saying, thoughts run aplenty on Twitter; every idea might be relevant to your product; ideas that can make a difference in your e-business.

The funny yet amazing thing about Twitter is that a person can turn from a user to an online entrepreneur without really having intentions to sell products online. Amanda Palmer is a musician that Twitter made into a reluctant online entrepreneur. Palmer is the lead singer of the Dresden Dolls and a punk rock cabaret solo artist. So, how did she become an instant online entrepreneur? Palmer, being an active denizen of the Social Networking world, used her spontaneous yet amiable personality to connect with fans in person and on the Internet as well. Twitter is a very invaluable tool for her. It spares her from the hassle of promoting her gigs in a sporadic manner. Her Twitter feed has more than 50,000 followers; imagine such coverage if you were to build an online store and promote it.

However, Palmer didn't really use Twitter to make easy cash with a single Tweet. On a lazy Friday night, she tweeted that she's a loser on a Friday night. The next thing she knew that a virtual flash mob formed. There were other "losers" like her sitting infront of their computers. They started a faux group called The Losers of Friday Night on their Computers. It turned into the #1 topic trend on Twitter that time. They were just talking about random things. Someone suggested that they come up with a shirt. Palmer opted to make the shirts. Her web marketing company was able to put up an instant site to sell the shirts for $25 each. Feedback has been spontaneous and enthusiastic; in just two hours, Palmer made $11,000!

Such event only shows that an online store is not enough to sell products online. Personality counts as well. If you’re very passionate about the product you sell, it will be reflected through your online personality. In the case of an online entrepreneur, his online store is the reflection of his personality. Customers might consider buying your products by simply having an enticing storefront. Customization makes this possible.

Premier e-Commerce firm Shopster has an amazing solution for social eCommerce selling called the Shopster network. It allows retailers and aspiring online entrepreneurs to build their online business, complete with storefront and access to Shopster's product warehouse. This amazing solution makes it possible for you to personalize your online store. With this in mind, you’re not just expressing yourself; you’re establishing an online brand as well! Coming soon will be the Shopster supplier network which makes it even easier for importers, distributors, manufactures and suppliers to add their products into the Shopster network for the 50,000 plus retailers to sell! With over 1.5 million products in the Shopster virtual warehouse selling online and building your business or sales channel has never been so easy.

Power Merchant Tip: Go Green

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, online merchants can take advantage of selling on a color-based theme. That means it's time to go green! There are two ways to do it: literally and figuratively.

Take advantage of this season by putting everything Irish and green on sale. Dust off those shamrock-shaped items and highlight them in your inventory.

People all over the globe -- both the Irish and the Irish-at-heart -- celebrate the man who spent six years in slavery. The Romano-Briton and Christian missionary is recognized as the patron saint of Ireland.

Also known as Saint Paddy's Day, March 17th is believed to be the day the he passed away. It is celebrated both as a liturgical and a non-liturgical holiday in and out of Ireland.

The merriment is accompanied by Irish greetings. "Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig" is a Gaelic way of wishing someone the luck of the Irish. Of course, drinking is a must. Parades and feasts are a common sight. And the simplest way to celebrate is to don the color of the day: green. Warning: you may get pinched if you don't.

So for power merchants, start selling anything with a hint of green in them: from poker tables to shirts. Other traditional symbols of St. Patrick's Day include the shamrock and leprechauns. If you have any items with these designs, now is a good time to bring them to light.

As an alternative, you can also go green in a different way. Upsell your eco-friendly products. Today's consumer are more concerned about the environment and consider how an item was produced in their buying decision. Reusable, biodegradable and recycled are important keywords to take note of when doing an eco-friendly themed sale. 

Only 7 days left before March 17. Get on the holiday sale bandwagon as early as now and start picking out your green inventory.

Happy selling and advanced Happy St. Paddy's to you! 

Winter is Not Yet Over

While the weather in Vancouver stunned TV viewers everywhere this past Olympics (and destroyed many long-standing stereotypes about the Great White North), the rest of the world hasn’t been quite so lucky.

For those of you who have been living in a cave these last two weeks here’s a quick recap: Temperatures in Vancouver and Whistler hit record highs of around 50 degrees F. The situation got so bad that Vancouver ended up airlifting in snow at five-minute intervals so the skiing and snowboarding events could take place.  Even then, standing room tickets for the snowboarding and freestyle events were refunded because of unsafe conditions created form heavy warm RAIN washing away more than 1 foot of that precious airlifted snow. Rather ironic for a “Winter” Olympic if I say so myself (bad luck there Vancouver). 

Check out some of the pictures snapped throughout the course of the game, and if you look really closely, you might even see some snow:

 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world...

Morale of the story: If you don’t live in Vancouver, don't pack your winter clothes just yet. There's still lots of time to sit by the warmth of the fireplace and sip some hot cocoa.

Shopster Holiday Season Support Hours

We had a busy and successful holiday season at Shopster supporting you and your online businesses, and we will be working throughout the holidays to support you further, on the schedule below.

If you have questions that arise on days we are closed, you may want to try the community or help wiki. You can always email us too and we'll get back to you as soon as we're back in the office.

We want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season. We're looking forward to working with you all in the New Year.

Holiday support hours:

December 24th - 8am to 12pm MST
December 25th - closed
December 26th - closed
December 27th - closed
December 28th - 8am to 5pm MST
December 29th - 8am to 5pm MST
December 30th - 8am to 5pm MST
December 31st - 8am to 12pm MST
January 1st   - closed
January 2nd   - closed
January 3rd   - closed

January & Beyond with Shopster

While Shopster usually has its eyes on the horizon and is focused on staying on top new tips, tricks, & trends (so we can share them with you), we wanted to take a few moments to focus on the now, and give credit where credit is due.  So here it goes: A huge congratulations to all of our Merchants – you are knocking it out of the park this holiday season! Sales are strong, and we’re seeing more connections and business relationships being built than ever before.

But, while sales are still booming this holiday season, it’s already time to start planning for the New Year and the sales it will bring.  The good news is that eBay and other major sales channels do not see a significant drop in consumer spending in January.  This means you can continue promoting your business without having to worry that your sales will take a nosedive come January 1.  In fact, though the holiday sales season is touted as the be all end all in the world of retailing; many merchants do not experience highs and lows typical of the traditional bricks and mortar retail sales cycle.  Rather they rather enjoy consistent sales volumes year round.

Experienced eBay sellers often suggest that a Merchant’s niche and choice of sales channels are better indicators of personal sales trends than seasonality.  Take Myattic2u of advertising collectibles for instance, her take on the matter is: "While I can't speak for everyone, I don't think there is anytime that is better than another to sell on eBay….It just depends on the item and if there is more than one interested bidder out there when the item is up for auction."

So what’s this mean for you?  Sales will continue well into the New Year.  Not feeling your sales are where they should be? Remember, different niches follow different trends, so don’t rest on your laurels and wait for the next big wave to hit.  Think of products that sell in the less traditional retail months (office supplies, winter products, books).  Take stock of your business and your sales approach. Search the network for hot products to sell, scour the web for the next big trend, and spend some time testing out new marketing and merchandising ideas for your site.  This way you’ll be prepared to double or triple your offerings when your selling season picks up.

As a Shopster Member, you are a part of a growing number of Merchants looking to move beyond traditional seller and supplier relationships, an entrepreneur looking to take your sales to the next level. At 24,000 Merchants & counting, 2010 is your year, so lets keep the momentum going and make it the best one yet!

Happy Holidays,

The Shopster Team

References:

Online Sales Trends: When's the Best Time to Sell Online?

Shipping Deadlines for the Holidays

Hi Everyone

With the holiday season in full stride it’s important that you keep in mind the last shipping dates to ensure orders get to your customers before Christmas. We have listed our recommended last shipping dates below, however please keep in mind that each supplier and carrier company are different.

As part of your marketing efforts, we highly recommend that you place holiday shipping dates onto your stores as it ensures that expectations are met and it has also been shown to help increase conversions.

Recommended holiday shipping dates to ensure Christmas delivery:

1. Recommended last day for standard shipping:  December 16th, 2009
2. Recommended last day for expedited shipping:  December 20th, 2009

(Please note:  These dates do not represent a guarantee.  They present the timeframe for a reasonable expectation of delivery only.)

All dates are based on shipping to the continental United States (excluding Alaska).  For shipping to Canada:  Expect delays on all cross-border shipments.  Be sure to give yourself enough time.

Happy Selling.

Just Released - New profile page, badges, and a help community

It’s an exciting day for us because we’ve taken a big step towards adding more value to our merchant community. The features included in today’s release will assist those in the Merchant Network, and add more value to the entire Shopster platform. Be sure to share your feedback using the comments feature below or by dropping us an email at support@shopster.com.  We love hearing from you.

New Profile Page

If you’re familiar with the previous profile page you’ll probably think that this new page is a huge improvement. Your profile page has always been your first point of contact with other Merchants in the Network; your first chance to share your story and brand with others and show them you’re serious about your business. Our new profile page features allow you to do this much better.  They give you the chance to show-off your business to the Network and put your best foot forward.

Here’s what’s new on the profile page:

• Completely new look and feel
• Displays your recent Network activity
• Your own profile picture
• Profile banner space (max size of 678x200)
• Shopster badges (read details below)
• Feature up to 3 of your own products
• Payment types accepted

Shopster Badges

Profile badges have two main purposes in the Shopster system. First off, they are a way for you to set yourself apart from the competition. Add more badges or move up in badge ranking so that those who cruise your profile can instantly gauge your credibility.

Secondly, the badges are there to help you gauge other merchants you may want to do business with. Be sure you check and see which badges they have before you make a connection.

Green Badges are handed out to emerging, up & coming Merchants, Blue to established Members and Orange to a select few Merchants, the best of the best, our ShopStars.

Here are the badges we’ve just introduced:

• Time in system badge
• Supplier badge
• PowerMerchant package badge
• Email verified badge

Shopster Community

The experience level of Shopster retailers ranges anywhere from someone brand new to e-Commerce to those who have been selling online for years. We wanted to take advantage of our diverse member base and allow our community to interact and learn from each other.  Our community allows our Merchants to share tips and tricks, provide suggestions and feedback, and offer help and support to newer members. It’s also a great place to discuss marketing and promotional ideas, and chat about all things eCommerce.

Don’t worry, our technical support team is still available to answer questions directly, but sometimes it’s nice to get a different opinion. The other advantage to using the Shopster community is that it has a built in knowledge base that stores all past questions asked by other members. If you have a question, try searching the knowledge base, chances are, it’s already been asked and answered, so rather than having to wait for a response, you’ll have an answer waiting for you. Give it a shot; we’re excited to see what you think.

Creating Your Shopster Online Store Homepage

Like many of our customers, I have very limited design experience and minimal technical knowledge. My goal today is to build a Shopster homepage that is both professional in appearance but simple enough that anyone can replicate the steps. I will also be using the functionality provided with a free account, which means no access to the css and frame file, so we will be limited to making all changes directly on the page. Let’s get started.

Creating your logo

1. Go to page: http://service.shopster.com/retailer/templates/templatesettings.aspx
2. There are several paid logo services listed on this page which can help you easily create a professional logo for as low as $49. However for the purposes of this exercise I will be using a free service: http://cooltext.com/Logos
3. Here’s the logo I created. It can obviously use some work but it’s a good placeholder for now.

Choose a template

1. Go to the “design library” tab and choose the template that you feel best fits your brand and your business
2. Go to the “customize” tab and select the color scheme for your template

Editing the homepage

1. Go to the “Store Pages” link within the Store tab, and click on the “Edit Homepage” button
2. Scroll down to the page’s content editor, as that’s where we’ll be working today:
3. The first thing on the agenda is creating a nice banner to catch new visitors’ attention.
4. I went to www.iStock.com and purchased a photo, which cost me approximately $5. While there are also several free stock photography sites out there, I’ve found that istock has a wide selection of great quality photos that can be purchased at a minimal cost so it’s a personal favorite.
5. I then downloaded a free photo-editing tool called paint.net at http://www.getpaint.net/. It takes a little time to familiarize yourself with the software, but it’s also the closest photoshop equivalent that I’ve been able to track down that’s free to use.
6. With paint.net I cropped my image to 640x210, (with a little experimentation it was the size I found best suited my template). I also added the text “Your Source for Laptop Deals!”
7. I then added the image to my homepage by Clicking on the tree icon at the top of the content editor.
8. Clicking browse icon (you’ll find it next to the image URL text box)
9. Uploading my image file to my account

Laying out content

I found that the easiest way to layout content on the homepage is to use tables. In my case, I wanted to have a 2 column layout with my left column being text and my right column having buttons that linked to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Here’s how I did this:

1. I created a header for the section “About Us”. Just type in the text and highlight it with your mouse. Click on the dropdown menu above and choose “heading 2” this will automatically format the text to be a headline.
2. Next, I created the table. To do this I clicked on the “html” button in the top right hand corner of the content editor. I then added the code listed below to the source code editor. Feel free to copy and paste this exact code into your own source code editor to recreate this table. Just remember to insert your text where I’ve indicated. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also try building your own table. Here’s a great website that will walk you through some of the basics: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

Copy this code if you want to layout your site like mine - insert this after any existing code on the page.

<table cellspacing="4">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size: 1.25em;">Your homepage content here</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://twitter.com"><img width="120" src="http://www.twitterbuttons.com/images/lbn/twitterbutton-0203.png" height="90" title="By: TwitterButtons.com" /></a><br />Get <a href="http://www.socialmediabuttons.com/">Twitter Buttons</a>
<br /><br />
<a href="http://facebook.com/YourLink"><img border="0" src="http://www.socialmediabuttons.com/images/facebook3.gif" title="By SocialMediaButtons.com" /></a>
<br />Get <a href="http://www.socialmediabuttons.com/">Facebook Buttons</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The buttons to Facebook and Twitter are free and can be found on www.socialmediabuttons.com

The extras

The final step to building my homepage is to add some “Suggested Products”. By adding suggested products, I can highlight those products that will make me the most profit or those products that I think visitors are most interested in buying. Here’s how you do it:

1. Click on the “customize” link under the “Store” tab
2. Towards the bottom of the page click “Select Products” under the Suggested Products header. Note that you will need to have products added to your “Manage Inventory” before doing this
3. Choose the products you would like to feature and click on “Select Products”.
4. Note: if you don’t see your suggested products appear on your homepage click on the “store pages” and click the “Edit Homepage” button. Here click the “Customizations” tab and uncheck the “customize this setting” box, then click the “Save Homepage” button.

That’s it. If you followed these steps you should now have a homepage that look similar to mine. You can view my store here: http://sweetlaptops.secure2cart.com.  If you have any comments or suggestions on this post, be sure you add them below. You can also contact our customer support department at support@shopster.com.

Happy Selling

Creating a Contact Us form for your Shopster Store

Good day everyone! Today, we’re trying something a bit different with our blog. Instead of offering up our regular tips, tricks, and personal opinions, I'll be walking you through how to implement your own Contact Us form on your store.

Something kinda like this:

 

 
  

Having a Contact Us form is a great advantage to your site because it allows your customers to easily send questions, comments and concerns your way.

As an aside, if you ever have any questions on how to use our system or want to add a fun feature to your store, but you’re not sure how to tackle it, drop us an email at support@shopster.comusing the subject line “BLOG Question". We’ll see if we can put together a bit of a blog walkthrough for you. Remember to be specific with your questions as we only have a page or so to reply.

 

Right then back to our little walkthrough:
Before we get to the actual implementation of the form, there are a few things you need to get sorted first:

1. If you don’t already have one, create a “Contact Us" page -This is where you'll be pasting in the code for your form. Follow these steps to create a contact us page:

1. Log into your Shopster account
2. Click the "Store" tab
3. Click "Store Pages"
4. Click "Add a Page"
5. For the Title field enter "Contact Us" (or something similar – it’s up to you)
6. For the URL Name field enter "contact-us". This is how your customers can get to your Contact Us page. So for example: http://storename.secure2cart.com/contact-us.htmlwould take you to the contact us page on your store.
7. Leave the content blank for now. 
8. Click "Create Page"

2. You'll also need to create a second page that lets your customers know that their question has been submitted.  Follow the steps above, but for the page title enter "Contact Form Submitted", and use the URL Name "email-submitted".  In space provided for content, you will want to enter a brief but polite message letting your customers know that you appreciate their email. Remember to provide them with a timeframe for your response. "Thank you for your inquiry. We will respond within 1 business day" always works.

3. Make sure you have a professional email address to attach to your contact form. If you have your own custom domain name, you can create an email that uses this domain, for example support@mystore.com. You’ll want to contact your domain registrar to get help setting this piece up.
Once you have these three things setup, it's time to get to the good stuff: Creating your form! EmailMeForm is a great free service that lets you easily create a professional looking Contact Form without any HTML/Programming knowledge. While there are some upgrade options available, the free account is perfect for what you’re looking to do.

Create an EmailMeForm account, login, and click the "Create a New Form" link to flow through the easy form creation wizard. The first and most important step in the wizard asks you to provide the URL for the Thank you page you created in Step 2. Enter in the full URL as you see it in the address bar of your browser window.  For example, http://storename.secure2cart.com/email-submitted.html. The rest of the steps in the EmailMeForm wizard revolve around how you wish to design the look and feel of your form, so play around to find out what works for you.  Once you’ve worked your way through the wizard, you will be presented with the HTML code of the form. Copy it (right click on your mouse and select copy) and go to your Shopster account.

Back in your Shopster account, click the "Store" tab and select the "Store Pages" link. Go the Contact Us page you created in Step 1 - This is where you'll be putting in the HTML code for your form. Within the Content editor (the space provided for your content) click the "HTML" button.

 

  
  

This will pop up the HTML source editor screen. Paste in the HTML code you got from the EmailMeForm site. Click the "Update" button to close this window and then click "Save Page".

Now that you have the page properly created, you'll need to put it in your menu structure so it shows up on your store.
In your Shopster account click the "Store" tab and then click "Store Menus". Choose the menu you wish to have your contact page live in, for example the "Footer Menu" (note: you may find it valuable to display your contact us page in more that one menu – it’s more visible to visitors that way).

1. Under the Add Item heading, enter "Contact Us" in the Name text box
2. In the Link To dropdown box select "Page"
3. In the Select Page dropdown box select your "Contact Us" page
4. Click "Add Item".
5. If you want to change the order of your menu items, click and drag  the [+] on any of the items to rearrange them.
6. Once you've added your Contact Us page to your Menu and positioned it appropriately, click "Save Menu".

TADA! You now have a Contact form for customers.

Before you get too excited, go to your store and test your newly created form to make sure everything looks just right and is working correctly. You can go back to your EmailMeForm account any time to edit the form in case you need to make any adjustments.

 

Sell Online with Shopster for the Holiday Season

We’ve mentioned this a couple times now and we’ll probably mention it a couple more in the coming weeks: Christmas is just around the corner.  As we've already discussed changes you should address on the policy side of things, we thought now might be a good time to throw out some sales tips.

 

One of the easiest things to do this holiday season is to add some seasonal touches to your store's design. By changing the aesthetic of your store to reflect the holiday season, you let your customers know that you’re ready for Christmas. Customers doing their holiday shopping want to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of the season. It keeps them in the giving mood and adds a little falala to their experience (please note that we’re using “the sounds of the season” metaphorically in this instance- music on a storefront is never a good idea!). Some things to try are: changing your stores logo's text to red and green, adding seasonal graphics to the top of your home page and spicing up your site content to match the mood of the season.

 

We also recommend that you scour the Hot Holiday Products List we’ve got available for members in the warehouse (we update it regularly). Find products that match your niche and then add them to your store as feature "Holiday Specials". Chances are buyers are already looking for these products, so highlighting these top sellers and placing them front and center on your site makes it easier for store visitors to buy them. Remember, the easier you make it for someone to buy, the less time they have to convince themselves that they don’t reaaallly need to pickup that Wii Resort for their little nephew Billy.

 

The closer you get to Christmas and holiday shipping deadlines, consider offering coupons to aggressively push for last minute sales. People are looking for deals and being able to use a coupon to further their savings will help draw in those last minute shoppers and make you more money.  Wal-Mart and Amazon do it, why can’t you?

 

Finally, if you are selling on eBay or using eBay as a secondary sales channel, make sure your regularly check our Hot Holiday Products List for top seasonal sellers. It’s very common for local bricks and mortar stores to sell out of key products early on in the shopping season.  This doesn’t mean that shoppers are going to give up on finding these products, it just means they’re going to look online.  And eBay is usually the first place people turn. So jump on this bandwagon and make sure you’re listing these products. You’ll up your sales volumes make harried Christmas Shoppers very happy.

 

Happy Selling!

Now Available - PowerMerchant Starter!

Hey everyone, we wanted our blog followers to be the first to know that we’ve just released our latest Shopster package, PowerMerchant Starter.

Over the last couple of months or so, many Shopster Merchants have made great strides in building their new Networked eCommerce businesses.  We’ve received lots of member emails sharing successes, challenges and valuable feature requests.

One of the most notable requests, was that while many Shopster Members enjoyed the enhanced functionality and perks of the PowerMerchant account, 1000 products was a bit much for someone just starting out.  A 100-200 product limit with the ability to add more products or upgrade when needed would be ideal for the new member. 

Taking this advice to heart, we created the new PowerMerchant Starter Account. We're still offering both our FREE and PowerMerchant (now PowerMerchant Pro) packages, we’ve just added a starter package in between. A big thanks to all the feedback provided by our many Merchants.  You asked, we listened!

The New PowerMerchant Starter Package includes:

• The ability to manage up to 200 products in your inventory
• Complete access to all PowerMerchant store templates
• Free custom domain hosting
• 2.3% transaction fees

And a whole bunch more. The best thing about this package is that it’s only $19.95 a month.

If you want full details on our different packages and what’s included, check out our pricing page.

Happy Selling!