#Added it to my wishlist when he played it and it went on sale | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

effect-of-games · 4 years

Text

Animal Crossing’s Black Market: Ethics of a “Friendly” Social Simulation Game by Brianna-Marie Joerger

Though the context is of rather sensitive and dark nature, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo’s newest addition to the Animal Crossing franchise, was released at an extremely ideal time. Released on March 20, 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) was, and still is, a source of comfort and escapism for millions through the Coronavirus pandemic. ACNH quickly became the best-selling game in the Animal Crossing franchise, surpassing Animal Crossing: New Leaf as well as becoming the fastest-selling game on the Nintendo Switch to date.

Animal Crossing has always been beloved for many reasons. From the concept of designing a town (or in ACNH’s case, island) to one’s liking, befriending residents (villagers) who take the form of cute animals, to performing rewarding tasks such as paying off home loans so players can expand their residences, Animal Crossing has something just about anyone would love. ACNH, a game that takes place on an island rather than somewhere on the mainland, introduced new concepts - such as terraforming - and even introduced new villagers for the players to meet and invite to their island (a topic to be revisited later).

Another thing that makes Animal Crossing so beloved is the interactivity it allows with other players. ACNH utilizes Nintendo Switch Online so players can interact with one another, whether it be visiting each others’ islands or sending gifts and letters to each other using the mail function. Players can spend time with one another virtually, as well as help each other build up their islands; people commonly trade or gift items or materials (to build special ‘DIY’ items) to other players who may want or need certain things.

In an article by LaFleur et. al, the therapeutic aspects of video games, including Animal Crossing, have even been discussed. “...Within the co-op genre, there is a unique type of game where the players play independently but can interact from a distance. The best example of this is the Animal Crossing (Nintendo, 2001) series, where players create their own homes within a community of interesting characters but are able to check in on one another, visit one another’s houses, and send mail, or aid, as necessary, even when the other players are offline” (LaFleur et. al, 2017). Animal Crossing can be viewed as an unofficial form of play therapy, or a form of therapy in which play is utilized so people can express their emotions in a harmless and maybe even productive way. Animal Crossing has been a source of tranquility for people since the series’ official launch in 2001. Its creator, Katsuya Eguchi, actually created the game when he first moved away from his home. He was feeling lost and lonely, and needed a form of escapism. From that point on, Animal Crossing has become a way for people to escape, but still be able to interact with their friends - as well as new friends they make through internet forums.

With all of this being said, one may wonder: “what could possibly be so ethically wrong about such a cute and harmless game?” On the surface, that answer would be: technically nothing. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, or any Animal Crossing title is not the subject of ethical question. It is, in fact, some parts of the community of players itself that has become ethically questionable. Of course, then, one could argue that there are many games with toxic fanbases, so this is not a true issue, but since Animal Crossing so heavily circulates around community play, the wrong fanbase could make or break the game. This paper’s purpose is to explore what exactly went wrong with important aspects of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in just a few months of it being released to the public.

Animal Crossing games have always had a multiplayer option, but as the years go on, the multiplayer aspect of it has grown to greater complexities. The development of a fan-made website, Nookazon, by Daniel Luu, took the ACNH community by storm. Functioning more like eBay, ACNH players are able to make listings of items they were willing to trade, sell, or even simply give away items, villagers, DIY recipes, and more. At first, this website seemed ideal, but soon, it would take a dark turn.

Nookazon’s currency consisted of three main options: bells (Animal Crossing’s classic currency), Nook-Mile Tickets (NMTs) - tickets that allow players to travel to Mystery Islands and meet more animals, and to trade for something by giving someone an item / villager on their wishlist. Of these three options, NMTs became the most popular and desirable form of currency, as it was a bit harder to get them in the game without hacks. In order to achieve NMTs, players have to complete various tasks on their island and get points on a point system. These points could then be exchanged for NMTs. Each NMT is worth 2,000 points.

Many people soon realized that people could offer ‘hot commodities,’ or items that are rare to get in-game, on Nookazon, which meant that they could theoretically charge more for such items. Thus began the craze of overcharging on Nookazon, and no hot commodity knows how to be overcharged like one in particular - not an item, but a villager: Raymond.

Raymond is a fairly newer villager who was introduced in the less popular Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, an Animal Crossing game for mobile devices. Since it did not do nearly as well as other Animal Crossing games, Raymond’s first big debut happened with the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Many are unsure of why Raymond became so popular, but this dapper-looking, smug-behaviored cat with heterochromia took the internet by storm, and he became possibly the most desired villager within ACNH, and arguably, the whole franchise. ACNH players went into a frenzy as Nookazon listings for Raymond began to pop up left and right. People began to charge outlandish prices for Raymond, including thousands of the hard to achieve Nook-Mile Tickets.

Things began to truly spin out of control when someone attempted to sell a move-in package (allowing a villager to go from one island to another) for Raymond on eBay for $1,000 USD. People were floored by the outlandish pricing for the adorable bundle of pixels, but - believe it or not - the situation would only snowball from that point onwards.

To continue this snowball of events, Nookazon is attached to a Discord server. Discord is a social platform that functions like an instant messenger for people all over the internet to communicate over text, voice, or video chat. People can be added to certain servers and talk to the community of people within that server. For the purpose of this paper, I decided to join the Nookazon server and investigate for myself. Sure enough, the craze around Raymond was real. Things like, “Raymond for sale. 400 NMT,” and “Looking for Raymond. I was scammed out of 10 million bells for him…” were incredibly common in the server’s “villager trade” channel. I was amazed to find out the lengths that people would go in order to buy or sell this pixelated cat.

Polygon, a gaming website that writes stories on various games, wrote up a whole article on this Raymond phenomenon:

“Folks will now do whatever it takes to get Raymond. For some, that might mean spending actual money on eBay, where millions of bells can go for a few dollars. For others, like New Horizons fan Alex, it might mean spending 65 hours grinding hundreds of Nook Miles Tickets through in-game challenges — nevermind the 15-plus hours she estimates it took to visit Mystery Islands over and over again, all in the name of finding Raymond. Stories like these are common” (Polygon, 2020).

If the Raymond phenomenon just consisted of insane overpricing, it would not be that much of an issue. However, players are now using Raymond, or the name of Raymond, to scam people out of hard-earned in-game (and sometimes out-of-game) currency. One example of this was brought to my attention via Twitter, of a Discord conversation where one user convinced another that Raymond was for sale and ready to move out of their island. They used the term “Raymond is in boxes,” which is usually ACNH code for, “Raymond is for sale,” to lure someone to their island. They took the generous charge of 500 NMT up-front, and the buyer was filled with abject horror as they realized they spent 500 NMT to simply look at Raymond, not claim him.

“Don’t touch Raymond, just look at him,” said Discord user SethJones, to a confused Gizmo7204 in screenshots uploaded to Twitter. When the buyer attempted to get his tickets back, since he was under the impression that he was buying Raymond, SethJones said, “This is for Raymond viewings, not buying him… You saw Raymond. You don’t get your tickets back.” Another person put up a listing on eBay for $5 USD, selling a flea they caught off the beloved Raymond’s fur. Someone seemingly purchased the flea, as the listing was closed soon after its upload. However, there is a glaring issue within this transaction: people cannot exchange bugs in any Animal Crossing game, so giving someone a flea is actually impossible within the game’s code. Therefore, this person scammed someone out of $5. It may not be a lot, but the principle of scamming remains the same.

People have also been up in arms in general about Raymond on Twitter. One Twitter user received a message from someone claiming that they did not deserve to have Raymond on their island. The messenger demanded that Raymond be handed over to them. This one cat has seemingly torn through the entire Animal Crossing fanbase, leaving chaos in his tiny and adorable wake. Developers have not said a word about any of this, as greedy players continue to bewilder, harass, and scam those who simply wish to have a friendly and fair trade.

An article by Jin Kim titled, “Interactivity, user-generated content and video game: an ethnographic study of Animal Crossing: Wild World,” discusses the player-base of an older installation of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo DS, that can still be applied to the newer ACNH. “Purposes of Wi-fi gaming are three-fold: earning bells, socializing with other users and collecting items. User collaboration does not merely aim to earn more bells. Socialization of users and psychological satisfaction from item collection are no less important than economic rewards in the game” (Kim, 2014). Animal Crossing can be played alone, but it is arguably not meant to be, all the time. The bonds and interactions users have with other Animal Crossing fans can make or break the game for them. Therefore, when a large-scale threat to this community rises, some players feel uncomfortable opening up for online interaction.

One may look at this issue, like many ethical issues, through the lens of the Potter Box. The Potter Box, developed by Ralph B. Potter, Jr., consists of 4 “steps” that one should address when facing an ethical issue. The first step is to define the details of the dilemma. Then, one must identify their loyalties in the situation. Thirdly, one must analyze the ethical principles at work in the situation. Lastly, one must understand their own loyalties in the situation, and come to terms on why they have them.

The details of this dilemma of course lie within the principle of scamming other players within the game and possibly ruining the savings of some players, putting them in a much more difficult spot in the game than before. The prospect of creating an outrageous economy outside of the game via Nookazon is also in question, and since scammers stemmed from Discord servers such as the Nookazon server, it can be seen as an issue within itself as well. Loyalties, however, come into question, because of one simple statement: everyone plays the game differently. Some people alter the time and date on their Nintendo Switches to gain more items, money, and unlock rare DIY recipes that others have not accessed yet, while others play the game in real time. Some people may wish to utilize outside sources such as eBay and Nookazon more than someone else. However, the ethical principles in the situation come down to a very basic one: scamming is not good. It is a simple statement to make, but scamming within the Animal Crossing community has become so common that people are afraid to open the line of communication to make trades with others. These scammers have fully, or mostly, ruined the experience for many other players. At the end of it all, viewing this dilemma from the player’s viewpoint renders almost moot. There is really nothing people can do about these scammers, but is there someone who can?

I do not wish to make it seem as if I am speaking down on Nookazon itself. I believe its creator is brilliant and working hard to do everything he can to ensure the most productive and authentic transactions over the website. An article by Elise Favis of The Washington Post discusses Nookazon and the subject of scammers on the site. “No one gets “banned” on Nookazon, but users get flagged and labelled as scammers to warn others of the person’s history. Luu is working on the moderation system every day, seeking better avenues to keep the website safe. He’s wary of removing users entirely, in case a ban is handed down unjustly” (Favis, 2020). Despite this, just like in real life, scammers find their way through. Luu’s Potter Box may be slightly different from the average player, and it shows in the sense of removing users entirely from his website. If he removes people unjustly, the backlash he faces could cause the collapse of the entire website.

Nintendo has not said anything at all about Nookazon, the Raymond phenomenon, or scammers. The question is, though, despite all of the ethical ambiguity, is it their job? In short, I believe that though these players are doing something very ethically wrong, Nintendo cannot (and should not) do anything about it. If Nintendo were to step in, they may have to take action by making changes to the game that players do not like, thus upsetting their consumers as well as hurting themselves in the process. By restricting players from making certain transactions in some way, Nintendo would take some of the precious autonomy that ANCH grants players. Just like in real life, certain things come with pitfalls. Mistakes can be made, and just about anyone can fall prey to a scammer.

I, for one, know that I am very cautious when making purchases over Nookazon. With that being said, I still do not expect Nintendo to ever say anything on the matter (unless something objectively terrible happens relating to Animal Crossing). I know that I much prefer the Animal Crossing Twitter community, where I have an account with over 900 friendly and trustworthy followers. People are way more tame there, not overcharging for items or villagers. There are frequent free giveaways just because people feel like giving items away and helping others. Though I firmly stand by that the scammers are taking advantage of other players and the Nookazon overchargers are making it difficult for people to partake in the trades that make Animal Crossing multiplayer so special, I know that it boils down to being cautious and knowing who to trust. There are plenty of people out there, for certain, that would not charge an arm and a leg for me to take a glance at a virtual cat with heterochromia.

References: Favis, E. (2020). He created an Amazon-like website for Animal Crossing. It’s getting millions of clicks per day. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/05/11/nookazon-animal-crossing-ne w-horizons-trading/ Hernandez, P. (2020). Raymond is blowing up the Animal Crossing villager black market. Polygon. Retrieved from: https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/22/21229959/animal-crossing-new-horizons-black-mar ket-villager-trading-raymond-nmt-bells-nintendo-switch-discord Kim, J. (2014) Interactivity, user-generated content and video game: an ethnographic study of AnimalCrossing:WildWorld, Continuum, 28:3, 357-370, DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2014.893984 LaFleur, L. B., Hebert, Z. J., Dupuy, A. S. (2018) Leveling Up Your Game: The Use of Video Games as a Therapeutic Modality, Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13:1, 58-67, DOI: 10.1080/15401383.2017.1328293 Mentioned: eBay link for $1,000 Raymond move-in package: https://www.ebay.com/i/233574675397?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-1171 82-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=233574675397&targetid=886124492878&device=c&mk type=pla&googleloc=9004145&poi=&campaignid=9243453728&mkgroupid=93059547 999&rlsatarget=pla-886124492878&abcId=1145977&merchantid=6296724&gclid=Cjw KCAjw7-P1BRA2EiwAXoPWA31yE7ESREpqgMIjsnEWfPJ8G9D37K6azlxyvAR9tC7 SJpml9rwpWhoC7REQAvD_BwEeBay link for Raymond’s flea: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Raymond-Acnh-HIS-FLEA-/353072736206?_trksid=p234952 6.m4383.l10137.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=trueScreenshots from Twitter: https://twitter.com/daisyymaes/status/1259488870208606210?s=21

0 notes

listiqueblog · 6 years

Text

The Ultimate 2018 Ecommerce Checklist: 31 Experts Prioritize 19 Growth Tactics to Implement Now

Immediately following Cyber Five of 2017, I sent an email out to a bunch of ecommerce experts and multi-million dollar ecommerce store owners.

I wanted to:

See how they did over Cyber Five – obviously!

Get a feel for where their heads were at

That latter reason had me asking these crazy smart, crazy successful folks what was on the horizon for ecommerce in 2018.

That focus on 2018 was important –– and asking them after Cyber Five even more so.

Why?

Because a lot happens in a year within retail and ecommerce.

And every new product, tool, technology and strategy that enters the market hits a crux during Cyber Five.

That’s when those new rules to success have to pass a very hard test:

Do these strategies actually work under the height of industry traffic, sales and scrutiny?

Let me give you an example:

2017 has been the year of Facebook Advertising.

But we’ve all been in that year before, with another tool you have heard of: Google Shopping and PLAs.

Those two tactics still work wonders for brands, with the caveat that:

Competition is fierce and as a result…

Costs are high.

Those two factors often make Google Shopping and PLAs harder for brands making less than $10M in annual sales to compete.

It’s a big box play where demand is high and visibility low in supply. And you all well understand economics 101.

Facebook is about to go through the same transition.

But I’ll let one of my go-to experts on Facebook Advertising explain this for me.

In 2018, one thing is guaranteed, Facebook Ad inventory will go up in cost.

Facebook has made a lot of ecommerce owners into millionaires, but now big brands are realizing the power of Facebook and the cost is going up. – Eric Carlson, Co-founder, 10X Factory.

He isn’t the only one who sees this coming.

As a result, many experts are recommending alternate approaches to success for 2018.

This is especially true for brands just breaking into the $1,000,000 in annual revenue club – or at least have it in sight.

Brands like that are considered early stage, high-growth ecommerce companies.

And they have a big challenge to address:

Allocating funds appropriately to sustain and accelerate growth without losing it all.

It’s a hard task at hand. So, here’s what I did:

I reached out to 31 experts to ask what 3 areas they’d focus on (or are planning on focusing on) for 2018 to drive real growth and get ahead of the trends.

Then, I went through all of their answers, and gathered them into categories.

Next, I ranked them based on how many experts said this strategy or areas of focus was important.

And this post is the culmination of that information.

Ecommerce Growth Strategies For 2018

Here are the top 19 ecommerce growth strategies recommended by Internet Retailer 1000 brands and the experts that advise them, in order of priority.

Localization, Personalization & CX.

Community Building, Customer Engagement & CRM.

New Content Types & SEO.

Mobile Optimization.

Social Media Advertising, Campaigns & Retargeting.

CRO & Data-Driven Optimizations.

Technology.

Email Marketing, Automation & AOV.

Influencer Marketing.

Omni-Channel Management.

Payment Solutions.

Branding.

International.

Customer Lifetime Value & Referral Programs.

Catalog Extension.

PR.

Shipping + Fulfillment Optimization.

Sales Tax Liability.

Pricing.

To help keep you focused on these priorities, I’ve broken down the top 10 below, and looked at:

What it means

Why it’s so important

Materials you can use now to learn up on the topic

Brands already doing it well so you can mimic their approach, and alter it for your specific audience.

This is your ultimate checklist for what you should be focusing on in order of priority for 2018.

Bookmark the page, and dive on it.

1. Localization, Personalization and Customer Experience

I know what you’re thinking:

There are way too many topics combined into a single strategy here.

But that’s just not true.

Localization is a segment of personalization, and all personalization aims at bettering the customer experience.

Let’s look at it in that lens.

What is customer experience?

Customer experience historically has involved WOW’ing the consumer. Providing exceptional customer service, fast shipping, low prices, an easy to navigate site.

This discipline includes:

Pricing strategy

Shipping and logistics

Customer service.

In 2018, though, personalization and localization are being added to that mix.

This is because easy to navigate websites, fast shipping and transparent pricing are already the norm.

Now, brands must look to new tactics to make their customer experience a differentiator.

What is personalization?

Personalization in ecommerce often refers to personalized merchandising. When personalizing a site experience, brands use a variety of known customer data points to serve contextually relevant content and products.

Those data points can include:

Search Queries: Recommend products based on a customer’s search terms

Purchase History: Recommend products based on a customer’s past purchases

Shopping Cart: Recommend products based on the current contents of a customer’s cart or wishlist

Social Behavior: Recommend products based on product rating, shares and likes

Geographic Location: Suggest relevant products based on customer’s local climate or other regional considerations

Customer Segments: Use purchase histories of customers with similar demographics to recommend products

Using data points like the above, site pages will be altered to best serve and convert the individual consumer.

What is localization?

Localization is a form of personalization in which the IP address of a customer alters site content to provide for more contextual merchandising and content.

Here’s an example from Tyler’s TX. My IP address is coming in from Austin, Texas – so the site serves me Austin, Texas content.

Best Online Guides for Personalization

Here are a few gudies you can use to learn about personalization, localization and on-site merchandising to increase your customer experience.

The Ecommerce Personalization Manual: 3 chapters full of actionable steps to increase your revenue through measurable personalization testing and implementation.

How to Use Local Marketing to Sell More: From local SEO to localized merchandising and everything in between, here’s a step-by-step guide to get more locals to your site.

How 12 Wildly Successful Stores Use Visual Merchandising to Drive Sales: It’s not just about implementing the personalization, it is also about how it looks. This guide will show you exactly how to do it –– based on what is already working in the market.

How 3 Brands Conquered Global Markets via Localization: Localization matters most when dealing with international audiences. Here’s how you can localize to earn global sales, no matter your size.

Personalization Apps + Tools to Help You Implement: A list of tools and apps you can begin using now to implement personalization strategies.

3 Real World Personalization Examples

Here are how 3 brands currently optimized their customer experience using a variety of personalization tactics.

1. Marucci.

Marucci on-site bat customization tool hits it out of the park – seriously.

Customers can build their own bat, including material, color and even initial customization.

Then, once you build the bat, that bat will follow you around the web until purchase.

Check it out.

2. Declaration Co.

You can use a combination of out-of-the-box personalization tools and additional applications to turn your product pages into landing pages (i.e. high traffic driving, high-converting).

Check out below how Declaration Co. makes this work.

P.S. They use the Personalized Recommendation App by Beeketing.

3. Paul Mitchell.

Wondering how you can collect additional data to better personalize?

Create an educational survey to lead consumers further down your funnel, as well as collect additional information.

Check out the one Paul Mitchell emailed out to their list:

2. Community Building, Customer Engagement and CRM

It’s hard to build a community and appropriately engage with your customers if you don’t have a rock solid CRM.

What is a CRM?

CRM stands for customer relationship management. You’ve probably heard of one of the most widely used ones: Salesforce

What these tools do is aggregate customer information – including order information, additional data points they’ve given you – with touchpoint information.

In others words, you can go to a customer’s profile in a CRM tool and see:

When you last emailed them

Who last spoke to them on Chat and about what

When they last bought something

What their average LTV is

So on and so forth.

For ecommerce brands, this often means pulling in information from:

On-site chat

Facebook messenger

SMS

Order statuses

Customer groups

Loyalty programs

Referral programs

And more

Why does all of this matter?

Because how effectively you speak to your customer, solve their issue and get them to the cart directly affects engagement, conversion and your bottom line.

Omnichannel Applies to CRM, Too

Establish a single customer system of record.

It’s nearly impossible to truly accomplish #1 without one.

Make sure it can resolve identities across devices!

– Eric Keating, VP of Marketing, Zaius

Best Online Guides for Customer Engagement

Get a head start in improving your customer engagement via community and CRM. Here are the best guides to walk you through each aspect.

How to Navigate the Chaotic Chat Channels of Modern Ecommerce Customer Service: Two brands give you a behind-the-scenes look at how they manage exceptional customer service across all channels. Hint: They use Reamaze.

8 Tools + Must-Know Strategies to Drive Customer Acquisition and Lifetime Loyalty: Everything you need to know from Day 1 to get more customers now and then keep them coming back for the long term (i.e. how to build a community of buyers).

What Sending 100,000,000 Emails Taught Me About What Doesn’t Work: The best way to learn how your customers want to engage? Learn how they don’t. BUt don’t learn it first hand. This article will show you the pain, and the solution, so you can go into the game smarter and better.

How to Set Up an Ecommerce Customer Loyalty Program: This guide will walk you through everything you need to know, from why to how and then how to measure.

How to Use Customer Testimonials to Drive 62% More Sales: Already have a ton of engagement? Here’s how you can use that engagement to get even more.

CRM and Customer Relationship Management Tools: All the tools you might need to grow your program and track your conversations more strategically and seamlessly than ever before.

Have You Gone ChatBot Yet?

Now is a great time to starting thinking about chatbots.

There’s a lot of different types of chatbots available now that can help you on site with customer service, or Messenger bots that can help you build longer and stronger relationships with your customers and fans.mobi

– Richard Lazazzera, Founder of A Better Lemonade Stand

3 Real World Customer Engagement Examples

The very first step to ensuring your customers engage with your brand is to ensure they can SEE that they can engage with your brand.

Here are 3 examples of brands doing just that.

1. Olive Ave.

Olive Ave uses subtle but clear on-site messaging to alert customers to a variety of customer engagement tools, including:

Reviews

Chat

Rewards

This is a common trio of customer engagement tactics – allowing customers to see and leave reviews, talk to someone for help and/or join the rewards program.

See how they did it below.

mobi

2. Mountain Crest Gardens.

Mountain Crest Gardens is, in my professional opinions, light years ahead of most ecommerce brands in terms of customer engagement.

They used a tool – Rivet Works – to collect not just customer reviews, but customer photos of their products being used.

And people LOVE it.

They use those photos on their review page (below), on product pages as well as in social media –– always with a call to action for a customer to also submit.

It’s an engagement tactic that kills 3 birds (AKA tactics), with one stone (AKA email).

3. Shongolulu.

Want to know one of the best ways to build customer engagement?

Get them involved directly in your company mission.

Many brands, like Shongolulu, with philanthropic missions encourage customers to become brand ambassadors –– sharing the message with the world.

And it works!

As the micro-influencer and ambassador community grows, so too does your brand’s presence across the web.

After all, it’s always been a small group of dedicated people who changed the world.

Let your brand lead the next charge.

Be Yourself. Sell More. It Can Be That Easy.

Turn yourself and your employees into personalities. You’ll develop quicker and more meaningful relationships with your customers when it’s personal.

In 2018, people connect with other people – not brands, or companies.

– Brett Owens, Marketing Director & Co-Founder, LeadDyno

3. New Content Types + SEO

Even during Cyber Week 2017, in BigCommerce’s User Facebook Group, I had brands telling me that while their campaigns performed insanely well, organic still drove the most conversions.

That’s right – organic traffic still ranks as the #1 tactic for driving traffic and conversions for the long term.

This isn’t a set it and forget it tactic. Nor is it one you can just ignore.

You want to win at least on long-tail keywords.

You want traffic to your site to be at least 50% organic.

This is because:

You don’t have to pay for organic traffic: In theory, you have to pay with your time or a salary to a content creator and SEO manager)

People like to find “the best” on their own, not through ads: If they can type in a keyword on Google, come to your site and be floored at what you offer –– they are converting. And fast.

What is SEO?

SEO is the acronym for search engine optimization.

This is mostly referring to Google’s search engine because it is the most used in the world (next to Amazon’s, but that’s a topic for another time).

The more optimized your website is, the higher you show up in Google’s search results.

Your goal is to rank 0-5 for any related keyword search.

Most ecommerce brands optimize for long-tail, at least at first. Getting high ranking for short tail keywords is hard. Bigger brands typically win here because of their Domain Authority, which takes into account:

How long your site has been live

How much traffic it gets

How long people stay on it

How many people link to it

Etc.

Think Far Beyond the Sale

Onsite content to draw in customers in times other than a purchase point is becoming super important for LTV increase without large marketing spend.

– Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO, Hawke Media

What are long tail vs. short tail keywords?

“Bow ties” is a short tail keyword. “Bow ties for dachshunds” is a long tail keyword.

Long tail keywords are just more specific.

Best Online Guides for SEO + Content

Optimize your site as it currently is, and get content ideas now from these comprehensive guides.

The Ultimate Guide to Ecommerce SEO: Learn how to attain page 1 ranking + see all the tools the experts use, how, when and why. This is the scientific side of SEO.

How to Master Amazon SEO: Yes, Amazon also has a search engine – called A9. This post will teach you how to rank well there, too.

How to Build a B2B SEO Strategy to Beat Out Your Competition: Online B2B sales are growing. Getting your B2B SEO strategy in shape now will set you up to win for the long run.

The Content Strategy to 3X Your Ecommerce Traffic: You can build it, that doesn’t mean they will come. This guide will show you how to make sure your content, your site and your products get seen. It doesn’t end at publish –– it ends at sales.

How to Turn Product Pages Into High-Converting Landing Pages: This is a HUGE opportunity. Turn your product pages into optimized landing pages and you’ll get more traffic AND more sales. This guide will show you how (plus the good and the bad of the tactic).

Content marketing is harder than ever. Don’t give up.

Content marketing hasn’t changed much from last year beyond the fact that it’s harder than ever before to rank.

You’re competing with more brands.

You’re competing with more landing pages.

You’re competing with more videos on YouTube.

So, it’s time to invest in creating content that is both optimized for search and maximized for shareability on social media.

– Ross Simmonds, Founder, Foundation Marketing

3 Real World Content + SEO Examples

The best advice out there right now in terms of SEO for ecommerce brands is this:

Turn your product pages into optimized landing pages.

How do you do that?

Check out the brands below.

1. Jackson Galaxy.

Jackson Galaxy uses video, clear CTAs, lots of copy and tons of reviews to turn their product pages into an SEO optimized landing page.

2. BlanksUSA.

BlanksUSA uses campaign pages as landing pages in order to drive long-tail traffic to products easily grouped for a specific customer segment.

In this case, for the small business audience.

3. Orion Cooler.

And what if you just want to make sure your homepage is optimized? Well, be sure you include:

Interactive graphics

Videos

Cross-linking.

Orion Coolers does this well.

4. Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization these days isn’t just about having a site that is responsive.

That’s just step #1.

Having a mobile optimized site also means including:

Mobile optimized search

Digital wallets

Product videos

And that’s just for starters.

Mobile and Desktop UX Should Be Equal

Mobile experience need to be on par with desktop. That’s just expectation these days.

– Josh Mendelsohn, VP Marketing, Privy

Digital Wallets + Mobile Optimization

Mobile commerce is continuing to rise thanks to one new technology: digital wallets.

These wallets allow for one-click purchasing that makes buying on the go less annoying.

Examples of digital wallets and one-touch payments include:

Amazon Pay

Apple Pay

PayPal One-Touch

Visa Checkout

Focus on Mobile Checkout

Offer Apple Pay, PayPal Express or Visa Checkout and don’t make the customer have to fill in all of their details on a mobile phone.

Ease of purchase is key.

Also, think about credit. PayPal Credit was previously expensive for the retailer.

Today’s buy now, pay later systems are not – including PayPal Credit and Klarna.

– Rupert Cross, Digital Director, 5874

Best Online Guides for Mobile Optimization

How to Use Digital Wallets to Stamp Out Cart Abandonment: This mobile optimizations piece uses A/B testing + technology to address one of the biggest retailer concerns: leaving items in the cart and never coming back.

Mobile Commerce Accounts for More Than 31% of Total Sales: Mobile commerce is on the rise. These are the numbers –– and the why.

21 Apple Pay Tips + Why It’s the Future of Mobile Commerce: iOS users don’t just checkout more on mobile, they spend more, too. So, there’s that.

Checkout Page Optimizations to Sell More, Lose Less: This covers both mobile and desktop, but either way, you’re in good hands with these tricks to close more sales more often.

Brands Growing Sales with Amazon Pay: People love Amazon Pay. They really really love it. We uncovered why.

Mobile is the New Desktop

In the digital space we’ve been banging the drum on mobile for years now and there are still many sites that don’t get it.

Optimize your forms, create mobile first designs, load pages quickly. Mobile is here. Understand how your customers use mobile and optimize.

– Stephen Slater, Digital Advertising Manager, TopRankMarketing

3 Real World Content + SEO Examples

1. Couture Candy.

On mobile, what would you do?

Fill out your email and begin an account…or just use Amazon Pay?

2. CocoWeb.

Same scenario here –– sign up, or just hit Apple Pay and be done with it?

“We have seen an AOV increase of over 25%, a mobile conversion increase of over 75%. We accomplished this while decreasing mobile paid traffic by over 50%!”

3. Solo Stove.

You don’t even need to take them to a cart. Just use a pop-up like Solo Stove does to help the customer decide where to go next.

Make sure payment is one of those options.

Mobile Means Everything

Mobile experience will be key in 2018.

Mobile traffic has already overtaken desktop traffic, and we are seeing mobile sales approach desktop sales.

This trend will continue, with mobile eventually overtaking desktop sales.

Retailers with a mobile first mentality will outperform those that treat mobile as a second priority. This mobile first mentality applies to everything: web design, email layouts, reward programs, and more.

– Steve Deckert, Co-Founder, Smile.io

5. Social Media Advertising, Campaigns and Retargeting

Social media advertising, specifically Facebook Advertising, was all the rage in 2017.

Many an ecommerce business owner turned a pretty $1,000,000 in annual revenue off of this tactic.

And while many may still be able to do so in 2018, it is likely that the cost is going to go way up.

In the meantime, be sure you have the basics down:

Upload your catalog to Facebook Shop

Use Dynamic Product Ads to retarget site visitors based on what they viewed.

Social Media is Scientific

Brands need to gain a scientific understanding of social media marketing and become experts in A/B testing in site building, content development, and marketing/advertising.

All of these work together.

– Krista Fabregas, Editor, Ecommerce & Retail, FitSmallBusiness

What is Social Media Advertising?

Social media advertising is a popular channel for ecommerce brands to use to run campaigns, drive traffic and close sales.

It works best when:

Retargeting customers who visited a site to come back and close a sale

Using customer testimonials and videos to earn visibility

Creating an online, loyal community

Facebook Advertising has historically been the most popular social media advertising channel.

The Pillars of Modern Social Media Advertising

Good social media advertising and marketing is about 3 things:

Engaging with consumers where they are – in social media – and not just using social media as an advertisement, but as a way to truly engage with and celebrate your fans

The use of user-generated content in your social media, which will help you both celebrate your fans and provide a more authentic engagement experience for consumers

Leveraging micro-influencers in a broad and authentic way to expose your content to new consumers.

– Neal Schaffer, Author, The Business of Influence

Best Online Guides for Social Media Advertising

The 6 Most Effective Types of Social Media Advertising: A complete walk through of all your options, when to use them and why.

The Complete Facebook Advertising Guide: No stone here is left unturned. Here’s how to make Facebook Advertising work for you.

How SpearmintLOVE 62.58% of Their Facebook Fans Talking –– And Buying Too: SpearmintLOVE spent a year figuring out how to make the most out of Facebook Ads. This is the chronicle of how they did it.

Facebook Advertising + Funnel Building Workshop: A 1-hour workshop by yours truly on how to optimize a funnel and drive traffic to fill it via Facebook Advertising.

Retargeting and Engagement Go Hand in Hand

Building a culture around your brand will be the only way to compete and thrive in a marketplace that turns everything into a commodity drive by price and reviews.

So focus on engagement, retargeting and community.

– Bryan Bowman, Founder, eCom Underground

3 Real World Social Advertising Examples

1. Tommy John.

Tommy John uses a gifting video along with a customer testimonial in this re-targeted Facebook Ad.

2. Rollie.

Rollie is an Australian brand that has (clearly) just launched in the US. They are likely targeting me based on my geographic location and having visited their site before.

This link leads back to a specific campaign page.

The ad is an image.

2. Nike

Nike is using the multiple photo option ad (aka, not a video) and promoting customized items the ads.

Video + Ads = Success

Facebook prioritizes videos and videos help build way more trust then just a regular ad. Videos are so powerful and using Facebook Custom Engagement Audiences you can sequence potential customers who watch 10 seconds of one of your videos to another video.

Using Facebook Video Ads combined with Custom Engagement Audiences alone you can sequence potential customers all the way down a video funnel that goes from Awareness to Engagement and then to Conversion.

In 2018 video will continue to be a huge opportunity for ecommerce brands.

– Daniel Wallock, Marketing Strategist, Wallock Media

6. CRO and Data-Driven Optimizations

CRO stands for conversion rate optimization, which you can only do through data-driven optimization and decision making.

These two aspects are tied hand in hand. You cannot do one without the other.

Average ecommerce conversion rates rest at about 2% – and that’s not very good.

Conversion rate optimization allows you to run tests to determine which various designs, language, etc. increase sales versus others.

Then, you can launch updates site wide to see a major lift.

CRO Tools Are Cheap and Easy

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to me is priority 1, 2, and 3.

The tools are cheap and easy to use. The data they can provide is invaluable.

Look for little wins here and there and over the course of the year you will find that you have made it far more likely that a visitor to your website becomes a paying customer.

– Zach Heller, Owner, Zach Heller Marketing

CRO Best Practices

Here are a few key best practices and tools to use for CRO and testing.

Keep yourself out of the picture: Don’t create navigation categories just to create categories. Only include links your shoppers find valuable. This is not the time or place to rely on aesthetics or your gut feeling. Instead, use Google Analytics or your ecommerce analytics to determine your most frequently visited landing pages (i.e. Women’s, Men’s, New Products, etc) and then link out to those within your site navigation.

Use tools to avoid assumptions: Consider using Crazy Egg, HotJar or Lucky Orange, tools that provides heat mapping. Heat mapping is an insanely valuable way to better understand how a shopper uses your site. This type of information is extremely informative, especially when coupled with additional metrics regarding your online store, like in-store search and website exit rates.

Create categories based on search: If you’re a Bigcommerce merchant, use your in-store search analytics to help determine what shoppers are looking for, then bring those categories front and center. If you’re not a Bigcommerce merchant or you’d like another look at what shoppers are searching for on your site, use Google Analytics: Google Analytics > Account > Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms.

Get more in touch with your market

Regularly get your customers on the phone. Ask why they choose you. Ask what problems drove them to you in the first place. Ask how they view you compared to competitors.

Ask, ask, ask.

Their answers are literally what should go on your website to connect more deeply with your market and generate more sales.

Nothing generates more ideas for how to improve your website than these conversations.

– David Tendrich, Co-Founder & CEO, Reliable PSD

Best Online Guides for CRO

The Advanced CRO Guide: 6 chapters of actionable CRO tips and steps to help you increase sales more than 600%.

25 Quick and Dirty CRO Tips: Short on time? These quick tips will get you up to speed, fast.

CRO Tools to Use Now: Tools that integrate with your store and can start to help you make more right now. Dive in.

Testing is Always Priority #1

Every brand has to first test their way to success. That’s always a top priority.

The second is to spend 10% of your time/budget testing new techniques and technologies.

And the third is to be sure to share your successes and failures with everybody internally. That way, you can be sure you have a staff with a knowledge base.

– Jamie Turner, Author, Speaker, and CEO, Jamie Turner Live

3 Real World CRO Examples

OK, so this is the one section of the post where I can’t give you any original examples.

A/B testing is a private strategy for businesses, and rarely do they share their insights beyond the internal teams.

That makes sense.

You don’t want to show your strategic and data-backed advantages to your competitors do you?

I found a few examples, but none show you side by side esign comparisons.

1. Andreas Carter Sports.

One of the biggest changes we made was to the ‘Add To Cart’ button. Simply changing it from black to a blue color has reduced abandoned carts by up to 50%. – Jeremy Hagon, Marketing Manager, Andreas Carter Sports

2. SerengeeTee.

We have continued to improve conversion through A/B testing and design upgrades. Last year, conversion was 4.2%; this year, we are at 4.6%.

The average conversion rate in our industry is somewhere in the 2-3% ballpark.

This has given us an edge against other clothing brands. – Jeff Steitz, Founder and CEO at Serengetee

3. Natomounts.

I have 30 BigCommerce sites up and the reason I keep coming back is because my development staff and design staff are familiar with the templates and the backend. We can quickly create a website or create a duplicate website for A/B testing in less than a few days. – Brandon Chatham, Founder & CEO of NatoMounts.

The One Tactic Above All Else

Every business depending on what stage they are in will have different priorities, but I know what we’ll be focused on.

We’re going to add more great private label products and drive more traffic via email marketing.

But number 1 for us, as always, is continual conversion optimization.

– Jason Boyce, Founder, Dazadi

7. Technology

There’s been a massive shift in retail. Everyone feels it.

It’s why there is so much more competition.

It’s why marketing matters so much than ever before.

It all comes down to two things: cost of entry and scale.

The cost of entry and cost to scale have dramatically reduced over the years. It would be impossible a decade ago to launch a website paying only $30 a month.

Today, that’s the norm.

And because the cost to entry is so low, more people has entered. And a lot of those people are scaling –– again, because the technology to do so costs so little.

Suddenly, marketing to earn your fair share of the market is one of the most important factors to success.

And if that’s the case, well…

Then you better make sure you tech stack works for you.

Let’s listen to Grant Yuan, President of CuttingBoard.com.

My advice for other business owners is this: it’s important to save time and work on the things that matter.

Rather than tying up time with manual data entry and packaging, focus on things that help your business grow – like marketing, business development, etc.

Let tools and integrations take care of the other elements of the business, and outsource work when you need it.

Don’t be afraid to invest in resources that help you grow faster and with less stress.

20 Most Popular Ecommerce Tools

Here are some of the most popular tools, apps and technologies for ecommerce brands.

MailChimp

Shipstation

QuickBooks Online

Facebook ads Extension

JustUno

Buy Buttons

Yotpo

ShipperHQ

Smile.io

AfterShip

inkFrog Open

Signifyd

Xero

Stamps.com

PixelPop

InStockNotify

Shippo

Soundest

Form Builder by POWr

BigCommerce

3 Real World Examples of Brands Using Technology to Grow

1.So Suzy Stamps.

Honestly, InStockAlerts is worth its weight in gold. When I was starting out, I didn’t have a lot of inventory. I didn’t understand how fast I was going to grow. So, I’d do a new product release and within an hour, I’d be out of stamps.

Suddenly, all my customers wanted to know when a product would be back in stock. They wanted an email to let them know so they didn’t miss out on it a second time.

I knew I didn’t have time to send everyone an email! Then, I have more sales with no additional time spent. It’s magic. – Suzanne Moore, Founder, So Suzy Stamps

2. Atlanta Light Bulbs.

We also use PriceWaiter on our product pages – which lets the buyer name a price. The buyer goes to our site and says, “Hey, I want to buy 50 of these at $2 a piece.”

On the backend, we have loaded up all of our pricing rules into the PriceWaiter system. That app knows if we are willing to sell X items for Y dollars –– as long as the order value is above Z.

PriceWaiter auto-calculates all of that on the fly for the B2B buyer so they don’t have to wait to hear back from us. They just get a message that says we’ve accepted their offer, or if the price is too low, we offer them a different deal. –– Doug Root, CEO at Atlanta Light Bulbs

3. Incy Interiors.

We use several different integrations with BigCommerce right now, but we like the social tools that make it easy to optimize things like email campaigns we send out through MailChimp.

We’re currently setting up a more robust CRM system, but we use MailChimp to work on lowering cart abandonment rates and staying in touch with our customers.

We also like that the social media tools for Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram make it much easier to share our products. –– Krista Withers, Founder of Incy Interiors

Your Secret Weapon

Leverage new technologies and services to make purchases as easy as possible. Never forget that there is tech out there to help you solve a variety of problems.

– David Mercer, Founder, SMEPals

8. Email Marketing, Automation and AOV

Email marketing has long held the #1 position as the most profitable growth channel for online stores.

There is a few reasons for this:

Building your email list drives top of funnel connections – allowing you to build out a funnel that turns email addresses into real, loyalty customers

Receipt emails are the most opened emails bar none. Your opportunity to upsell or drive loyalty here is huge.

Your email marketing open and click through rate are easily measurable, and give you a good understanding of how engaged your audience is (or isn’t).

Because metrics are easy to track, A/B testing messages to increase engagement is relatively easy, and won’t affect on-site conversions.

Doing all of the above is free once you capture that email (also depending on the cost of your email service provider).

Best yet, all of the above can be automated. This means you can set and forget, check the number, re-optimize and then go about your business is other areas.

All in all, email marketing drives increased loyalty, repeat purchases, net new purchases, increased AOV and it can do all of that without you having to actually send individual emails to individual customers.

Automation is the real winner here – and email marketing is a test-bed of measurable aspects you can manipulate in order to drive growth behind the scenes.

Automation That Feels Human

Every ecommerce brand should prioritize their automation, whether that’s automated emails or on-site campaigns.

It’s the name of the game and one that you’ll need to do without sacrificing too much of the human touch to execute it well.

– Kayla Lewkowicz, Marketing Manager, Privy

Best Online Guides for Email Marketing and Automation

11 Welcome Email Templates to Grow Sales From Day 1: This means day 1 of your customer giving you their email. Actually, they probably aren’t even a customer yet. This is how you engage folks with your brand, and turn them first into customers and then into loyalty fans.

Holiday Email Marketing Unpacked: Sure, this guide may be Thanksgiving – Christmas themed, but these strategies and tactics work well for any campaign throughout the year. Plus, it includes tools and real examples.

What Sending 100,000,000 Emails Taught Me About Email Marketing Tactics That Don’t Work: Noah Kagan, founder of SUMO, gets real honest in this piece about what works, what doesn’t and what to seriously stop wasting your time on. It’s worth every word.

The Math Behind Abandoned Cart Email Success: Hint –– you don’t have to have only a 3-email follow up series. A lot of people have a whole lot more! And it doesn’t always have to sales-y. This guide will walk you through how to think about your strategy, and ultimately win back at least 25% of your abandoned cart customers.

31 Email Marketing Tips to 5X Your Conversion Rate: 31 experts on what they recommended to Fortune 500 and IR 1000 brands to make email marketing their most profitable channel.

3 Real World Email Marketing Examples

Email marketing doesn’t always have to be about journeys and streams.

Those are big parts of what makes email marketing work. But the #1 thing you must do is this:

Be honest.

Be open.

Be transparent.

You want your audience to connect. Here are some great ways to do it.

1. Dorco.

Dorco sent out a personal email from the CEO of the company to promote an organization called ShowerUp –– a mobile truck that goes around to homeless communities to provide hygiene options –– like shaving –– to the community.

It’s a heartfelt letter with a real signature. It also includes a coupon code so that you can give and get discounted off.

It’s a win-win-win.

2. Care.org.

Sometimes, philanthropy and sales can go hand in hand.

This is especially true with Care.org. They run a gifts.care.rog site that allows folks to buy gifts that help those in the underdeveloped world.

Here is an example of one of their holiday emails to their base.

3. Kelty.

Remember, beyond giving and philanthropy, your emails should build community among your base.

Kelty, a camping site, does this incredibly well. Each of their emails in themed, with an image to support the message.

Yes, they showcase products. But they also showcase content to help readers and customers nail down their next adventure.

9. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective strategies to growth for online brands.

Why?

Because consumers trust other people’s opinions over almost anything else.

Word of mouth is powerful – and today, word of mouth doesn’t have to happen face to face.

Instead, it can happen Instagram post to Instagram Post or YouTube Video to YouTube Video.

And best yet, for brands at least, you don’t have to pay an insane amount of money to make influencer marketing work for you.

You have to be, know or pay for Kylie Jenner, for instance.

Instead, you can empower a group of micro-influencers to create a groundswell of support isn’t expensive to maintain and that feels more natural, community-driven and honest that large pay outs to big names.

Influencers Are Vital

A strong network of influencers is a vital part of building a strong, sustainable ecommerce business.

– David Mercer, Founder, SMEPals

Most Commonly Used Influencer Marketing Strategies

Content Featuring Your Products or Services

Product or Service Reviews

Promote Giveaway Contests

Offer Discounts to Drive Conversions

Offer Custom URLs for Free Access

Best Online Guides for Influencer Marketing

How to Build an Influencer Program in 6 Months (No Massive Payout Required): This is a true story of how Spellbinders increased sales more than 100% via micro-influencer marketing.

The Power of YouTube Influencer Marketing: This guide will walk you through exactly how much influencer marketing on YouTube costs, how to measure its ROI and ultimately how to execute insanely well on it.

9 Influencer Marketing Tactics + 14 Examples top GSD: Want to move fast? Shane Barker, an influencer in his own right, gives you all the info and examples you need to get started now.

3 Real World Influencer Marketing Examples

1. Natori.

Natori promoted their line of sports bras through fitness influencer Sarah Dussault.

Natori is a brand that sells luxury lingerie, women’s clothing, and home décor.

If they were to promote any of their other products through this specific influencer, it wouldn’t be as relevant.

But in this case, the product they were promoting was a line of sports bras, so a fitness influencer like Sarah was a good choice.

Campaign type: Article posted on Sarah’s site to her audience.

2. Skullcandy.

Skullcandy works with YouTube influencers to offer honest reviews of the product. This is a great tactic to use if you are certain of your product’s quality.

Check out the video below for an example.

You’ll notice that the influencer doesn’t mince words – these headphones used to be expensive. They aren’t as much so anymore.

Thoughts like that help to convey honest value and feedback to the audience. In YouTube influencer marketing, you often won’t have much say over what an influencer says about your product.

Campaign type: YouTube influencer marketing.

youtube

3. Di Bruno.

Product and service reveiws similar to the YouTube example above can also be done in print/text.

An excellent example is Hello Subscription’s detailed review of their experience with Di Bruno Bros. Hello Subscription is a blog dedicated to promoting and reviewing subscription boxes.

Their Co-Editor, Tom, reviewed a “House of Cheese Pairing Club,” box from Di Bruno Bros. The review included more than 20 images, and detailed descriptions of the contents of the subscription box, about which Tom also shared his honest opinions.

10. Omni-Channel Management

Omni-channel may be an industry buzzword, but the need for it at growing brands cannot be ignored.

Most brands sell in more than 1 place. Here is a non-exhaustive list of options:

Webstore

Brick-and-mortar

Amazon

eBay

Facebook

Instagram

Houzz

Alibaba

Wholesale

Etsy

Pop-up Shops

Events + Markets

And that list is only ever going to grow.

For brands, the first trick is deciding which channels make the most sense for you.

The second trick is to scale each of those channels, and subsequently the brand, effectively – maintaining exceptional inventory, branding and customer experience across the board.

So…let’s start from the beginning here…

Omni-Channel Requires Rethinking

The rapid growth we’re seeing in the ecommerce space has far reaching implications for the tools and services we use to convert customers on a daily basis.

This also means that ecommerce brands need to focus more attention on how new tools and new customer behavior will interact.

Omni-channel sales require businesses to rethink how goods and services will reach consumers or at least attract consumer attention.

– David Feng, Co-Founder, Re:amaze

What is Omni-Channel Management?

Omnichannel-management is process and strategy by which brands manage their inventory, branding and customer experience across a variety of channels.

Common tools brands use include:

ERP

Brightpearl

NetSuite

Sage

SAP

System Integrators

eBridge Connections

Jasper Studios

POS

Square

Springboard Retail

ShopKeep

Hike POS

Amber POS

Lightspeed Retail POS

CRM

Salesforce

Reamaze

Hubspot

APIs

Best Online Guides for Omni-Channel Management

The Definitive Guide to Selling on Amazon: Absolutely everything you’ll ever need to know about how to sell and scale on Amazon (and your webstore).

The Complete Omni-Channel Retail Report: More than 500 data points, and TONS of graphs, on exactly how consumers shop across the web. These are the data-driven points you need to expand beyond your current channels. Or optimize on the ones you have.

147 Stats Revealing How Consumers Shop in 2018: Don’t want the analysis and just want the numbers? That’s what you get here.

How 2 Brands Navigate the Chaotic Chat Channel of Modern Customer Service: Hint –– they use a tool, and it’s called Reamaze.

Gain Control, or Lose It All

Gain control of your distribution channels, addressing sales tax liability and expand into international marketplaces. That’s a good 2018 strategy.

– James Thomson, Partner, Buy Box Experts

3 Real World Influencer Marketing Examples

1. Glory Cycles.

Glory Cycles began on eBay and has since build a legacy brand on their own webstore.

But they haven’t left eBay behind. Today, they use the marketplace to sell returned items for a profit.

We don’t put a lot of energy into our eBay efforts, but we do use it to sell our returns.

The reason for that is we’re a bit limited in what our vendors allow us to sell on that platform, so it’s primarily a channel for moving returned product.

It’s extremely simple with the BigCommerce integration.

For a long time, we shied away from doing a lot of eBay business because we didn’t want to run two separate systems, but with BigCommerce we can run everything from a single location.

When we get an eBay order, it still comes through as a normal order in BigCommerce, and that was very attractive to us. –– Clive De Sousa, President, Glory Cycles.

In this model, BigCommerce serves as the inventory management hub.

2. BeachRC.

BeachRC sells on eBay, Amazon, their webstore and brick-and-mortar. They use BigCommerce as their inventory hub, and Square as their POS.

BigCommerce’s Amazon integration is really good. – and it’s really helped us out. We’re converting more ecommerce and online sales due to our Amazon presence now.

I would have never gone out to put products on Amazon on my own. The fact that it was going to be easy to integrate directly through BigCommerce if why I did it – and now, we see 1 out of every 10 orders coming to us through Amazon.

It’s a great gateway to gaining customers, especially when you are strategic about which products you put up there, and which you make exclusive for your own site.

I think beyond just selling on Amazon for Amazon’s sake. Being there helps to create more customers for our website, too. It helps us with volume and with growing our website and our clientele.

I’d say 99% of everything we do is through BigCommerce. We’re not using Amazon Seller Central very much. I want to make everything easy and streamlined for my team, so we use the BigCommerce Control Panel and Channel Manager to do almost everything. – Brent Densford, CEO of BeachRC

3. Casey’s Distributing

Casey’s Distributing built an app on top of BigCommerce’s API to sell wholesale to brands across the globe. The app uses Casey’s Distrubuting’s inventory in BigCommerce as the hub of its system.

We’re building an app for the BigCommerce app store that will connect our inventory feed to BigCommerce store owners who want it. Working with thousands of retail businesses, we know that one of the challenges when starting a store is figuring out what to sell.

Well, Casey’s can help – and we’re using the BigCommerce API to do it.

Soon, BigCommerce store owners new to selling online can add NFL/NBA/NCAA/NHL/MLS merchandise to their sites to sell. These are brands people know and love.

The app will connect all the dots for BigCommerce customers. They can add products through it, pick the teams they want and then the app will update the quantities for them and it will help them remove products after they become obsolete.

It’s a no-brainer if you are just getting started. The API makes it incredibly easy. – Ben Johnson, VP Operations at Casey’s Distributing and President, MaxQV, LLC.

That app is called League License.

Final Word

For article length sake, I cannot go into this amount of detail for the other 9 topics considered very important by experts.

However, the 10 tactics above are in order of priority. Start from #1 and work your way down.

Get these channels and strategies optimized, and you’ll be ready to tackle the other 9 – and will have a bulky bottom line which which to do it.

Have questions? Concerns? Leave a comment!

Want more insights like this?

We’re on a mission to provide businesses like yours marketing and sales tips, tricks and industry leading knowledge to build the next house-hold name brand. Don’t miss a post. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

MktoForms2.loadForm("//app-ab15.marketo.com", "695-JJT-333", 2142, function(form){form.onSuccess(function(values, followUpUrl){dataLayer.push({event: "mktoLead", mktoFormId: form.getId()});try {gaMultiSend("event", "blog", "subscription", "blog subscription");hj("vpv", "/blog/subscribe");} catch(e) {success = false;console.log("analytics data was not sent " + e);}return true;});});

The Ultimate 2018 Ecommerce Checklist: 31 Experts Prioritize 19 Growth Tactics to Implement Now published first on http://ift.tt/2wGG0YJ

0 notes