Monthly Archives: September 2024

Tips to Grow Your Cross-Border E-Commerce

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Tips to Grow Your Cross-Border E-Commerce

The advantage of owning an e-commerce business is that it can be easily grown beyond the domestic circuit. E-comm businesses can easily grow internationally. Yes, there are challenges like inventory management or handling complex logistical regulations. But, compared to growing a brick-and-mortar business, an e-commerce business can be built easily and simply.

Why Should You Grow Your Business Across the Border?

Going beyond the domestic borders helps you access a world full of opportunities. However, you must tackle international regulations to target the right customer group. These are primary reasons why businesses need to grow across the border –

  • Expanding internationally helps you access new markets. This helps you add new revenue streams.
  • By choosing to work across the border, you diversify or mitigate risks and be in a better position to handle market fluctuations and economic downturns.
  • Growth across the border helps your business get a competitive advantage in the domestic market.
  • Going across the border is a great way to enhance your brand’s visibility and recognition.
  • Entering new markets also helps drive innovation to meet diverse customer needs and preferences.

Ways to Grow Your Business Across the Border

  • In-depth Understanding of International Business Rules and Laws 

All businesses need to understand the complexities of taxation in the regional context. You might also be required to establish a legal entity in the local region to scale up. Similarly, logistics requirements need to be met as per the local regulations and compliances. As a business person, you should be able to comprehend international taxation and logistics requirements, especially when the business is growing globally.

Every country has distinct regulations and your business needs to be compliant with the laws. You need to understand the consequences of failing to comply with these laws and regulations. There could be legal complications, penalties, fines, etc., and can also lead to operational disruptions.

You also need to have a clear picture of the logistics requirements. This involves customs processes and EXIM regulations. This will help run the operations smoothly across the border. Compliance with these regulations and factors saves your business from legal risks.

  • Understand the Intricacies of Cross-Border Payments and Currencies

Operating an international business requires that you have a clear and in-depth understanding of currency valuations and optimizing prices in regional currencies. You may need to involve experienced accountants to help you with getting clearer perspectives and strategies related to the pricing of your products in different regions.

Remember that the currency valuation differs from country to country. When establishing the prices of products as per the local currency translates into market competitiveness.

  • Use a Unified Platform to Monitor Global Shipping Paths & logistics 

This is important that you have digitized means to track inventory and shipping routes so that every customer purchase is optimized till the delivery is done. Using a centralized platform helps modern businesses be in charge of product and inventory movement. All new-age businesses need to do this. Starting from the warehouse to the delivery of the product to the customer, every movement is tracked.

Choose ChannelSale.com’s unified platform to help businesses streamline their global shipping and logistics. The tool helps centralize the shipping path  while offering access to multiple sales channels in real-time. Moreover, optimized integration with ChannelSale.com help in efficient inventory management, and reduced delays.

  • Automate Inventory Management

Going abroad with your business means handling diversified customer needs and markets. You need to make sure that product information across all channels is accurate. This includes details related to product weight, size, category, prices, etc. When correct product information, shipping costs and compliance-related regulations are addressed accurately. You may also need to translate the product brochures into local languages.

  • Take the Help of Technology 

Technology is a big asset these days. Modern-day technological tools and apps like ChannelSale.com can give a competitive edge to your business. In cross-border e-commerce, sellers need to better understand their competitors. That’s how you can strategize well to grow your business. Use the power of the internet and software tools to analyze your competition in the local regions. ChannelSale.com facilitates multi-channel integration to help sellers with product listings, manage inventory and orders through a single dashboard. Similarly, the tool facilitates automated pricing updates and inventory synchronization in real-time across all channels.

Remember there is no single thumb rule that applies to all international regions. That’s because customer preferences can hugely vary from one region to another, one country to another. Make use of advanced analytical tools for competition analysis in each market. The data-driven approach helps businesses customize their services to meet local demands.

Other than this, technology also helps sellers to identify gaps and vulnerabilities in the market. This helps create brand differentiation, which is the formula for achieving success in global markets.

Key Takeaways

With real-time updates and a unified platform, you can deliver customer satisfaction to another level. No more risks of delayed shipments. Additionally,  this helps you boost customer trust and engagement. Cross-border businesses are a great opportunity to strengthen your brand presence in global markets. The task is in no way easy or less challenging. However, automating the inventory, understanding the intricacies of cross-border sales, payments, regulations, and laws, and using technology are some of the ways that are highly recommended for success. Take the help of finance and global trade professionals to navigate the landscape with ease.

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Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2024 Prep Checklist

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Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2024 Prep Checklist

Black Friday & Cyber Monday (BFCM) are crucial dates for businesses and shoppers. After all, the dates mark the start of the holiday shopping season. It is an excellent time for all parties to make the most, be it available products, services, or money.

It is the perfect opportunity for businesses to boost sales and strategize sales promotions and discounts to attract customers. The revenues generated by retailers during these days have a significant impact on their annual profits. Take the case of Shopify merchants. In 2023, during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, online merchants on Shopify had annual sales of over $9.3 billion.

If you are an online merchant and want to make record sales, here’s a rundown of a Black Friday Cyber Monday 2024 prep checklist.

  1. Curate a Compelling BFCM Strategy

As a seller, you must curate the best and most effective strategies during the holiday shopping weekend to attract customers. You need to do your best. Strategies must make your sales and promotions as attractive as possible for potential customers, encouraging them to visit your online and/or offline store.

You can choose from a variety of strategies. You can upsell or cross-sell your products. You can target customers who have abandoned their carts to promote more checkouts. Other common tools include discounts and limited-time offers.

2. Extend the sales period

While the weekend is usually busy for most online sellers, you can strategize and extend the sale period. For example, you can start the sale process a few weeks before BFCM or a month before. If you have a physical store, promote something special for in-person shoppers.

The National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics mention that almost 56% of US shoppers indulged in shopping sojourns during the pre-Thanksgiving promotions and sales. You need to roll out your marketing communication well in advance – as early as possible.

3. Keep Your Loyal Customers With You

This is the key to improving your sales – acknowledge the contribution of your loyal customers. By keeping them with you, the chances of losing them to competition are minimized. To reward your loyal customers, you can increase rewards with tiered spending or offer additional discounts. Customers who visit your store early for Black Friday sales can be given bonus points. Friends and family referrals can also be rewarded. Design a customer loyalty program to award points to your existing loyal customers. Start your email marketing early to boost customer engagement and make your brand stronger with word-of-mouth publicity.

4. Indulge in Multi-channel Sales

Selling on multiple channels using high-end services from ChannelSale is one of the best strategies for an online seller, especially during BFCM. If you are already selling via different channels, this is the time to earmark the ones giving the most fruitful returns.

If you have yet to leverage other channels, you need to create more attractive propositions. Integrate and sync your inventory and product categories for best results. ChannelSale provides the best solutions for these purposes. Use the power of social media like Facebook or Instagram to multiply your reach and create channels for more sales. Create special holiday ad campaigns for all channels.

5. Start Your Email Marketing Campaigns Early

Email marketing is one of online and offline sellers’ most trusted marketing tools. If you seek to build and grow your sales during the BFCM weekend, you need to start working on your email marketing plan early. This involves planning and creating the content and scheduling the emails in advance.

You also need to invest in other technicalities. For example, you need to optimize your brand website so that visitors always have information about weekend sales. Let your site collect information related to emails much in advance. Promote sign-up pop-ups on different store pages. Strategize to attract visitors to sign up for sales and promotions.

Personalized email campaigns help with brand recognition. Try to use the customer’s first name. Give proper subject lines and include offers that attract product recommendations based on each customer’s purchase history. ‘Warm-up’ emails need to go out early, just like teasers.

After the sale ends, remember to thank them. This will help strengthen your bond with your customers.

6. Seek Out International Markets

Black Friday is as popular in Europe and Australia as in the US. A survey reveals that in 2023, the UK, Australia, and Germany were the top three countries registering high BFCM sales other than the US. Use an online platform that supports different languages, currencies, payment methods, and domains to reach out to international markets.

7. Use Tools to Forecast Seasonal Demand

You may not want to promote all your products for BFMC. In this case, it is crucial to identify the products well in advance and start the procurement work for production. Forecasting tools from ChannelSale.com can be of great help. Predictive analytics and AI based tools leverage past and present data to help sellers in decision-making. Additionally, specialized  inventory management features of the platform help optimize your inventory to meet the increased demand during the weekend. You can also try the ABC Analysis to segregate your top and least selling products. Consult a specialized sales growth executive at ChannelSale.

8. Follow a planned sales map

Just like every other big thing, being organized helps. For BFCM, you can use the Google Sheets or even Microsoft Excel to stay organized. Prepare a schedule for the holiday season and use a date range for all promotions.

9. Decide your shipping strategy for the holiday weekend

With increased sales during the busy season like BFCM, you need to be well-prepared with a robust shipping strategy. This is the time to include special offers like discounted shipping rates to attract customers for bigger sales orders. As per a survey review, about 62% of shoppers look for free shipping deliveries to happen within 3 days of placing orders. You need to partner with the best in the business for faster turnaround times. Take care to mention the shipping policies on your site and include the same in your emails too.

10. Reach out to your past customers

It is crucial to keep your loyal customers with you but don’t forget the ones who had bought from your store in the past. Develop a retargeting strategy with the right tools. You can also look at reaching out to people that visited your site earlier but didn’t buy or left the cart midway.  You will need to invest less to re-engage with such visitors as they already know your brands and products.

11. Make your checkout experience stand out

Customers today do not want experiences that are delayed or want them to wait. That is why, you need to work around your checkout experiences. Else, the conversion rates can get affected. Use checkout services from trusted brands like Apple, or Google to make things faster for your customers.

12. Optimize your store to handle the increased traffic

BFCM weekend means that you are expecting a surge in traffic. Ensure that your site loads faster and offers easy-to-navigate features. Use the right tools to test the loading speed of the pages. Have a technical team assess the architecture and layout of the site. Remove unrequired tools or pop-ups that can leave customers frustrated. Build in clear Click to Actions (CTAs) to promote faster reaction from visitors.

13. Create buyer-friendly return policies

Buyers may want to return or exchange items. Make it easy for them to do so, especially for the holiday season. A survey found that 87% of buyers look for free returns when choosing an online store. Ensure that the return policy is clearly drafted and published on your site. To avoid complications, use a proven returns management system for a hassle-free experience.

14. Prepare yourself for the worst case scenarios

You need to be prepared with a ready-to-use strategy in case things do not go as planned. The contingency plan should address all kinds of scenarios so that you do not get busy troubleshooting during the holiday season, taking up all your time and energy.

15. Use analytical tools for better insights

Remember, an online seller’s best weapon during the BFCM season is the analytical tool to leverage data. All your marketing efforts should be based on data analytics. ChannelSale.com offers you a centralized dashboard to throw light on key metrics like inventory, stocks, product listings etc., and provides other analytical reports to understand the sales and traffic-related metrics. Such data will reveal important aspects like – from your visitors are coming, which states or regions are generating more sales, which product categories are being clicked more, etc.

16. Strategize for repeat sales

BFCM is the right time to plan to attract shoppers year-round. The seasonality of Black Friday and Cyber Monday should be cleverly used to develop strong bonds with all your buyers. Strategize to keep them engaged. Use social media and email marketing to keep them informed about your activities and re-engagement.

17. Rework on your e-store site

Nothing can be better to promote the holiday season sales than your e-commerce site. Make sure that the homepage of your online store is not just optimized for the search engines but also for human sensory elements. It means you need vivid and interesting visuals and creatives to attracting traffic and keep them engaged.

18. Make your site mobile friendly

As per data, mobile purchases in BFCM 2023 was at 72% of the total sales while desktop sales was at 28%. It clearly indicates that buyers are more comfortable using their smartphones when shopping online. Make sure that your store is optimized and mobile responsive.

19. Focus on conversions

Simply getting traffic to your online store is not enough. You need to work towards converting the visitors for the money to keep trickling. Take help of tools that let you work on the e-commerce conversion rates in your business vertical.

One strategy that works well is the buy now, pay later (BNPL) strategy. A survey says that almost 35% buyers use the BNPL features when shopping online.

20. Chatbots can be of great help in conversions

Chatbots, operated via AI, can keep your e-commerce business working 24×7. They can help customers with queries, and navigate your site. The more friendly the interactions are, the better the chances of converting random visitors into buyers. Also, add chat windows and FAQs to make the work easier for shoppers.

21. Let your back office be ready for BFCM sales

Optimize your fulfillment workflows so that it is not a problem handling orders for your back office. Make sure your fulfillment areas are organized, and your local delivery agents have clear communication. Prepare your order priority in advance for faster processing. Hire additional staff or take help from friends if need be. Use ChannelSale.com to group orders by product type – this will help save time in preparing the orders for delivery.

22. Ensure your brick-and-mortar store is well-prepared to handle the rush

Use the right POS to sync orders from your online and physical store. If you do not have a physical store, you can partner with a local retailer for BFCM sales.

23. Focus on customer support services

Since the customer is the king, ensure that you have the right people onboard to offer fabulous customer services during this rush period. Your team should be courteous, responsive, and prompt. Communication should be flawless and your team has to be great at resolving problems.  Training helps in this regard.

24. Learn from mistakes

Once the BFCM season is over, you need to look back and analyze what worked and what did not. The lessons learned can be an excellent basis for strategizing for the holiday season next year. You need to impartially review strategies and document the lessons for the future.

Key Takeaways

Planning is the key to getting it right with your Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales success. Use these 24 pointers in your checklist to create a successful BFCM strategy. With a strong plan, you will be all set to succeed this upcoming holiday season.

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Embrace the Walmart Pro-Seller Experience with the New Tiered Benefits to Boost Business

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Embrace the Walmart Pro-Seller Experience

The Walmart Marketplace is ever-evolving and with an updated Pro Seller, the experience can offer the next level of benefits to sellers. This experience is aimed at seasoned professionals and new sellers. In this context, Walmart’s new tiered structure entails multiple benefits related to scaling and growing your business.

Keep reading to explore the new seller’s tiered programs along with eligibility criteria while leveraging the benefits of Walmart’s Pro Seller Program.

Understanding the New Seller Tiering System

Walmart has rolled out its new seller tiering program embodying three levels. These are –

  • Rising Seller
  • Advanced Seller
  • Pro Seller

Sellers can move from one tier to another and gain benefits for their business growth. Different sets of requirements and rewards characterize every tier. This helps sellers deliver momentous and rewarding shopping experiences to their shoppers.

Each level entails different characteristics. Here’s a brief about the same.

Rising Seller

This is the entry-level tier. It is aimed at businesses that are starting in the Marketplace at Walmart and have proved their dedication to superior performances.

Eligibility Criteria for Rising Sellers:

  • On-Time Delivery Rate: ≥90%
  • Cancellation Rate: ≤2.5%
  • Seller Responsiveness Rate: ≥90%
  • Delivery Score: ≥5%
  • Content Score: ≥65%
  • Price Competitiveness Score: ≥60%
  • Orders Received: 100+ orders in the past 90 days
  • Active Days: Active for a minimum of 90 days
  • The seller must operate in full compliance with Walmart Marketplace policies

These sellers have started to build trust in the marketplace. The above benchmarks set the pace for the seller to grow bigger and gain significantly.

Advanced Seller

The next level is that of Advanced Seller. Only sellers that go beyond and meet the requirements of the Rising Seller level get promoted to this level. As the Marketplace gets competitive, sellers in this tier get more visibility on the platform.

Eligibility Criteria for Advanced Sellers:

  • On-Time Delivery Rate: ≥92.5%
  • Cancellation Rate: ≤2.0%
  • Seller Responsiveness Rate: ≥92.5%
  • Delivery Score: ≥25%
  • Content Score: ≥70%
  • Price Competitiveness Score: ≥60%

Key Benefits for Advanced Sellers:

  • Saving a 5% Referral Fee discount for different product categories.
  • Unlock advanced pro listing features for improved product visibility.

Pro Seller

This is the third tier. It is Walmart’s highest form of recognition for businesses that have performed the best. The package is reward-rich and designed to support business scaling.

Eligibility Criteria for Pro Sellers:

  • On-Time Delivery Rate: ≥95%
  • Cancellation Rate: ≤1.5%
  • Seller Responsiveness Rate: ≥95%
  • Delivery Score: ≥50%
  • Content Score: ≥75%
  • Price Competitiveness Score: ≥60%

Key Benefits for Pro Sellers:

  • The tier’s greatest attraction is the 10% Referral Fee discount. This helps businesses maximize their profits with reduced referral fees.
  • Sellers get to stamp their services with an exclusive Pro Seller Badge that differentiates your services from the competition, helping customers believe that you are a trusted seller.
  • Sellers in this tier get access to the favorable Walmart Capital Terms, which allow them to invest more in growing their businesses.
  • With the Review Accelerator Credit for customer reviews of new products, sellers can build trust and multiply their sales faster.
  • In this tier, sellers receive payouts faster to viably reinvest in their business.
  • Sellers in this tier can benefit from the discounted shipping rates offered by Walmart to achieve better cost efficiency.

Why Should Sellers Aim for Pro-Seller Status?

Sellers should aim for the highest tier because the tier comes with multiple benefits and serves as a status symbol in the Marketplace. The financial rewards are only one part of the overall benefits. The boost that your brand gets due to the Pro-Seller status is incomparable.

The Pro-Seller Badge has a special significance. It denotes to your loyal and potential customers that you are one of the most trusted sellers in the Walmart Marketplace. This, in turn, comes with the possibility of fuelling higher conversion rates. Besides, referral fee discounts and faster payouts offer viably impressive and tangible financial benefits. You can reinvest the money in savings to grow your business.

Besides, the funding in the form of ready access to Walmart Capital Terms offers you the required money to improve your operations, increase your inventory, and improve your marketing campaigns.

Optimizing Seller Performance

Here are some tips to reach the Pro-Seller faster.

  • Better your on-time delivery rate with Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS). In this case, Walmart’s logistics network can be used to ship inventory.
  • Reduce cancellation rates by accurately tracking your inventory and fulfilling orders on time.
  • Respond to customer inquiries faster and promptly. It boosts seller ratings with positive reviews and repeat business.
  • Ensure that your store’s product descriptions and related content are updated and of top quality.
  • Lastly, keep reviewing market and competitor pricing to make necessary adjustments. Use Walmart’s Price Competitiveness Score to deliver value to your customers.

Benefits of Utilizing ChannelSale

  1. ChannelSale supports seamless integration with Walmart. This helps pro-sellers to list products across Walmart’s platform effortlessly.
  2. ChannelSale can automate product listings while syncing inventory, pricing, and product data across Walmart and other sales channels. It also offers customized product listings that use product descriptions, pricing, and images to boost conversion rates.
  3. Pro-sellers can use multiple channels simultaneously with ChannelSale to expand their reach and boost their visibility on Walmart.
  4. ChannelSale makes real-time inventory updation easy across all marketplaces. This helps reduce the risks of overselling or stockouts, an important criterion for pro-sellers for managing Walmart’s new tiered benefits.
  5. Utilizing ChannelSale, pro-sellers can monitor their sales performance, order fulfillment, and inventory status on Walmart. Detailed analytics offered by ChannelSale help pro-sellers optimize their business operations.
  6. ChannelSale’s centralized dashboard makes it easier to manage customer support services, returns, and inquiries. Simplified order management also enhances customer experiences at Walmart.
  7. Scalability is a big plus for ChannelSale, allowing pro-sellers to grow their business within the new tiered structure.

Key Insights

Walmart’s New Three Tier system is designed for sellers to excel in their performance. Each tier comes with tangible benefits. With the Pro-Seller status, you can help improve your ratings, reviews, and metrics to boost growth on the platform.

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Poll Results: How Sellers Can Optimize Their Holiday Sale Preparation

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 How Sellers Can Optimize Their Holiday Sale Preparation

The holiday season is one of an online seller’s busiest and most profitable times. A seller needs to prepare well and strategically to keep everything running smoothly and perfectly during this sales period. We have compiled insights from industry experts and successful sellers to get you into gear at ChannelSale. Let’s run you through a few fundamental essentials every seller needs to consider while gearing up for the upcoming holiday sale.

Question 1: What Sellers Should Do Before the Holiday Season Begins

Sellers must focus on fulfillment, selling, and marketing before the holiday rush hits the market.

Marketing: Start by setting your holiday budget and advertisement campaign in stone. The sooner you start, the better the optimization time. This not only helps build relevance and history in the marketplace but also ensures that your ads reach the right audience at the right time.

Selling: Ensure your products are available, and your product detail pages are optimally complete. Check titles, images, descriptions, and bullet points to see if they’re all current. Detail will increase your likelihood of success during the holiday.

Fulfillment: Ensure that your inventory is complete and ready to meet the rising demand. This will prevent stockouts and keep your customers satisfied.

Question 2: What Do You Mean by “Optimizing Product Content” for Product Listings?

Product content optimization means ensuring your product listings are as informative and attractive as possible because online shoppers wholly rely on information about a product.

Titles: Make impactful, clear titles that drag in the customer and represent your product’s key benefit.

Images: Include several high-quality pictures showing the product from different angles. This will help customers better understand what they are purchasing, just like in a real store.

Descriptions: Detail your product descriptions with the benefits of the product. This will give customers an idea of whether the product is what they are looking for.

Question 3: How can a seller ensure they stay in stock during the holiday season?

Failing in the holiday season due to stockouts can be disastrous; therefore, inventory management is critical.

Inventory Forecasting: Analyze the Q4 data from the previous year and the current year’s trends for inventory needs. Areas of importance will include last year’s largest-selling products and new product lines that are expected to gain popularity this year.

Order and Availability of Stock: Always keep a substantial stock supply for your most sought-after and prioritized merchandise. People will be looking for this kind of product, and you should have enough on hand to maximize sales.

Question 4: How Sellers Can Prevent Marketplace Suspension

Marketplace suspension can eat poorly into your sales and thus should be avoided at all costs.

Product Compliance: Regularly check whether your product complies with the market guidelines. This includes checking the best-before date and evaluating the condition of your stock.

Marketplace Guidelines: Ensure that the products you sell comply with all applicable requirements under the Amazon Prohibited and Safety Guidelines.

You can minimize the risk of suspension and maintain your account in good standing by keeping up with these tasks.

Question 5: Which Tips Can Help Enhance Delivery Capabilities and Ensuring the Right Product Arrival Time?

Timely delivery is a critical success factor during the holiday season. The following are some tips to help ensure products reach customers on time:

Shipment Planning: Know shipment deadlines and work toward them to ensure goods arrive on time and that service is delivered to your customers in a timely manner.

Customer Communication: Provide order tracking to inform customers about the status of their orders and, whenever possible, offer free shipping options.

Supplier Partnerships: Partner with domestic suppliers to reduce shipping lead times and increase delivery reliability.

Discounts and Offers: You can offer discounts and special deals to shop early, eliminating possible dangers in last-minute shipping problems.

Enhance the delivery capability further by aligning product delivery to business strategies and, above all, always staying agile. Focusing on these areas can simplify the complexities involved with the synchronization of multiple markets this holiday season.

Key takeaways

While the holiday season is a gold mine, it also has pitfalls. So, if you take care of these key areas in terms of marketing, selling, fulfillment, inventory management, and delivery, you should be prepared to realize maximum sales opportunities in the marketplace. Leverage ChannelSale’s expertise in software solutions to further simplify your planning and execution on your way to great success.

 

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