#eCommerce ads example

[socialadvertisingstudio]

Highly Effective Product Ads Examples: Best Way For Business Success

Advertisement of a product is so essential in the current scenario. You may readily contact your target audience by displaying adverts for your items. You can also use product ad examples to make your advertising more unique and attractive. 

So, have you ever tried creating your product's ads before? If your answer is yes, then it's perfect. But if your answer is no, then don't worry! Because this article is beneficial for you in grabbing knowledge regarding the creation of product ads and e-commerce ads.

Let's learn them one by one. 

What Is Product Ads?

Product advertisements are marketing materials created to highlight and market a certain product to potential customers. These advertisements use a variety of visual and textual elements to showcase the product's characteristics, benefits, and unique selling factors, with the goal of capturing the target audience's attention and persuading them to make a purchase. 

Product commercials that are effective generally use appealing imagery, persuasive language, and emotional appeal to connect the consumer's wants or aspirations to the product's solutions. 

Print ads, TV commercials, internet banners, social media posts, and other types of advertising can be used, each tailored to the platform and audience for the best impact. Finally, in today's competitive market, product advertising plays a key role in driving brand recognition, increasing sales, and influencing consumer decisions.

05 Best Effective Product Ads Examples

Get A Mac By Apple

Apple's series of TV advertisements contrasting a casual Mac user with a formal PC user effectively portrayed the Mac's user-friendly, inventive nature, resonating with viewers and adding to Apple's brand identity.

Real Beauty Sketches By Dove

Dove's stunning campaign, which featured women explaining themselves to a forensic sketch artist, focused on self-perception and beauty. The emotional impact of understanding their self-criticisms was too negative and struck a chord, promoting Dove's message of self-acceptance. 

Just Do It By Nike

Nike's iconic phrase has been at the center of many successful advertising campaigns, including the one starring Colin Kaepernick. This daring action linked the company to social activism, sparking debate and increasing Nike's name.

Alexa Loses Her Voice By Amazon

Amazon's Super Bowl ad mocked what would happen if Alexa lost her voice, highlighting the product's features and including celebrity cameos for added entertainment.

Pepsi Challenge By Pepsi

Pepsi's taste test campaign placed its cola against rival Coca-Cola in blind taste testing, thereby challenging Coca-Cola's perceived superiority and increasing Pepsi's market share.

Is E-Commerce Ads Beneficial For Business Growth?

E-Commerce ads are advantageous to business growth. In the current era, these adverts can reach a precise audience, boosting brand awareness and customer engagement. 

E-Commerce ads may efficiently bring probable customers to your online business via platforms such as search engines and social media, resulting in higher website traffic, conversion rates, etc. Organizations can adjust their advertising strategy for maximum outcomes by carefully targeting specific demographics and tracking real-time knowledge. 

Furthermore, E-Commerce advertising supplies a competitive advantage by showing products with stunning imagery and fascinating information differentiating your business in a crowded market. Aside from it, you can also use Instagram Advertising for enhancing your followers.

Retargeting opportunities are particularly critical in re-engaging users who have expressed interest but have not yet made a purchase. Businesses may tap into the enormous potential of digital marketing by leveraging the scalability, measurability, and variety of eCommerce ads to extend their consumer base, enhance their market presence, and generate long-term success.

Top 05 E-Commerce Ads Examples

Shopping Ads By Google

These ads appear in Google search results with product photos, pricing, and store names. A user searching for "running shoes" may get a carousel of products with photographs, pricing, and connections to online stores.

Carousel Ads By Facebook

You may create carousel ads on Facebook that includes many photos or videos displaying various products. Its interesting structure allows you to highlight several features of your product line.

Story Ads By Instagram

These full-screen vertical ads appear amid the stories of users. Brands can utilize Stories to display items in action, behind-the-scenes content, or user-generated content in innovative ways. You can also watch: How To Create User Request For A New Advertisement

Final Words!

The world of product advertisements highlights the fluid and ever-changing character of modern marketing. Brands have used the power of advertising to engage with people on profound levels through inventive techniques, appealing imagery, and emotionally relevant storytelling.  The product ad examples displayed emphasize the need of knowing consumer psychology, adapt messages to specific groups, and leveraging several platforms for optimum impact.

[adwhisperer]

From Leads to Loyal Customers: A Customer Acquisition Strategy Guide

In today’s competitive market, transforming leads into loyal customers is crucial for sustainable growth. An effective customer acquisition strategy can turn a one-time sale into a lasting relationship, helping businesses stand out and thrive. This guide covers the essentials of a strong customer acquisition strategy, taking leads from initial interest to dedicated brand loyalty. With the right approach, your business can nurture meaningful, long-term customer relationships that fuel ongoing success.

Understanding the Customer Acquisition Funnel

Customer acquisition isn’t a one-step process; it involves guiding prospects through a series of stages to foster trust and interest. Here's an overview of the usual funnel stages:

Awareness: Prospective customers are introduced to your brand for the first time.

Interest: They engage with your content and show interest in what you offer.

Consideration: Leads evaluate your product against competitors.

Decision: They decide to purchase.

Retention and Loyalty: They return as loyal customers.

Building strategies for each stage ensures you maximize touchpoints with leads and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Stage 1: Generating Awareness

The first step in a successful acquisition strategy is attracting attention to your brand.

Leverage SEO and Content Marketing: High-quality, relevant content helps improve search engine visibility and positions you as an industry expert. Creating blog posts, videos, and infographics that address frequently asked questions can help attract visitors and build trust in your brand.

Engage on Social Media: Platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter allow you to reach and engage a wide audience. Consistently posting helpful, on-brand content can generate buzz and create opportunities for interaction.

Invest in Paid Ads: Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and social media ads effectively target individuals interested in products or services similar to yours. By utilizing an ad spy tool, you can gain insights into successful ad campaigns, enhancing your paid advertising strategy. 

Stage 2: Nurturing Interest

Once leads know who you are, the next step is to build their interest in what you offer.

Email Marketing Campaigns: Offering valuable content through email (like newsletters, tutorials, and special offers) keeps leads interested and engaged over time. Personalization and segmented lists can also improve engagement rates.

Retargeting Ads: Many people may visit your site without taking immediate action. Retargeting ads on social platforms remind them of your brand and gently bring them back to reconsider.

Engaging Lead Magnets: Ebooks, free trials, and webinars are great for capturing emails and offering value right away. Lead magnets allow prospects to experience your product or expertise firsthand, enhancing interest and trust.

Stage 3: Supporting the Consideration Phase

At this stage, leads are evaluating their options and may be comparing you with competitors. Stand out by offering resources and support.

Clear and Compelling Case Studies: Real-life examples showcasing customer success with your product are powerful trust builders. Highlight the benefits and tangible results your clients have achieved to help leads picture similar success.

Detailed Product Demos: Demos allow leads to see your product in action. Whether through a live demo, recorded video, or interactive website feature, a well-executed demo can address questions and concerns in real time.

Strong Social Proof: User-generated content, testimonials, and online reviews help legitimize your brand. Potential customers are more likely to trust your product if they see positive feedback from others.

Stage 4: Encouraging the Decision to Buy

The consideration phase leads to a critical point—the decision to buy. At this stage, your customer acquisition strategy should focus on making it easy and beneficial for leads to take the plunge.

Provide Special Offers: Discounts, limited-time offers, or free trials can help nudge undecided leads into becoming paying customers. These incentives add value and reduce perceived risks.

Streamline the Buying Process: Make it easy for customers to purchase by simplifying checkout. If the purchasing experience is fast, smooth, and convenient, it helps remove any last-minute hesitations.

Offer Stellar Customer Support: Ensure your support team is available to answer questions promptly. Live chat, email, and phone support provide instant assistance, easing concerns and reinforcing trust.

Stage 5: Retention and Building Customer Loyalty

The journey doesn’t end once a lead becomes a customer. A strong acquisition strategy includes nurturing customers even after their purchase.

Personalized Follow-Ups: Send thank-you emails, product care tips, and personalized content to keep customers engaged. These touchpoints demonstrate that you value their experience and keep your brand top of mind.

Implement a Loyalty Program: Rewarding loyal customers encourages repeat business and boosts lifetime value. Consider points programs, special discounts, or referral incentives to strengthen customer loyalty.

Ask for Feedback and Act on It: Regularly solicit customer feedback to identify areas for improvement. Responding to feedback (both positive and negative) shows customers you care about their experience, which can improve retention.

Tracking and Optimizing Your Customer Acquisition Strategy

No strategy is complete without a way to measure success. Regularly tracking metrics helps you refine your approach and maximize results.

Monitor Key Metrics: Track metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), conversion rates, and engagement metrics. These figures will provide insights into the effectiveness of your tactics.

A/B Test Campaigns: Testing elements of your campaigns, like ad copy, email subject lines, and landing pages, helps identify what resonates best with your audience. Use these insights to continuously improve your strategy.

Optimize for Retention: Once you understand what drives loyalty, shift part of your acquisition budget to retention strategies. Retaining customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones and leads to a higher lifetime value.

You can also watch : PowerAdSpy| Best Ad Spy Tool

Wrapping Up: The Path from Lead to Loyalty

Transforming leads into loyal customers requires a comprehensive, customer-centric approach. By developing a strategy that addresses each stage of the acquisition funnel, from awareness to retention, you can build a steady stream of loyal customers who advocate for your brand.

Remember, the best customer acquisition strategies evolve with your customers. By staying tuned into their needs and refining your approach, you can create a process that continually attracts, engages, and retains valuable customers.

[exeggcute]

the great reddit API meltdown of '23, or: this was always bound to happen

there's a lot of press about what's going on with reddit right now (app shutdowns, subreddit blackouts, the CEO continually putting his foot in his mouth), but I haven't seen as much stuff talking about how reddit got into this situation to begin with. so as a certified non-expert and Context Enjoyer I thought it might be helpful to lay things out as I understand them—a high-level view, surveying the whole landscape—in the wonderful world of startups, IPOs, and extremely angry users.

disclaimer that I am not a founder or VC (lmao), have yet to work at a company with a successful IPO, and am not a reddit employee or third-party reddit developer or even a subreddit moderator. I do work at a startup, know my way around an API or two, and have spent twelve regrettable years on reddit itself. which is to say that I make no promises of infallibility, but I hope you'll at least find all this interesting.

profit now or profit later

before you can really get into reddit as reddit, it helps to know a bit about startups (of which reddit is one). and before I launch into that, let me share my Three Types Of Websites framework, which is basically just a mental model about financial incentives that's helped me contextualize some of this stuff.

(1) website/software that does not exist to make money: relatively rare, for a variety of reasons, among them that it costs money to build and maintain a website in the first place. wikipedia is the evergreen example, although even wikipedia's been subject to criticism for how the wikimedia foundation pays out its employees and all that fun nonprofit stuff. what's important here is that even when making money is not the goal, money itself is still a factor, whether it's solicited via donations or it's just one guy paying out of pocket to host a hobby site. but websites in this category do, generally, offer free, no-strings-attached experiences to their users.

(I do want push back against the retrospective nostalgia of "everything on the internet used to be this way" because I don't think that was ever really true—look at AOL, the dotcom boom, the rise of banner ads. I distinctly remember that neopets had multiple corporate sponsors, including a cookie crisp-themed flash game. yahoo bought geocities for $3.6 billion; money's always been trading hands, obvious or not. it's indisputable that the internet is simply different now than it was ten or twenty years ago, and that monetization models themselves have largely changed as well (I have thoughts about this as it relates to web 1.0 vs web 2.0 and their associated costs/scale/etc.), but I think the only time people weren't trying to squeeze the internet for all the dimes it can offer was when the internet was first conceived as a tool for national defense.)

(2) website/software that exists to make money now: the type that requires the least explanation. mostly non-startup apps and services, including any random ecommerce storefront, mobile apps that cost three bucks to download, an MMO with a recurring subscription, or even a news website that runs banner ads and/or offers paid subscriptions. in most (but not all) cases, the "make money now" part is obvious, so these things don't feel free to us as users, even to the extent that they might have watered-down free versions or limited access free trials. no one's shocked when WoW offers another paid expansion packs because WoW's been around for two decades and has explicitly been trying to make money that whole time.

(3) website/software that exists to make money later: this is the fun one, and more common than you'd think. "make money later" is more or less the entire startup business model—I'll get into that in the next section—and is deployed with the expectation that you will make money at some point, but not always by means as obvious as "selling WoW expansions for forty bucks a pop."

companies in this category tend to have two closely entwined characteristics: they prioritize growth above all else, regardless of whether this growth is profitable in any way (now, or sometimes, ever), and they do this by offering users really cool and awesome shit at little to no cost (or, if not for free, then at least at a significant loss to the company).

so from a user perspective, these things either seem free or far cheaper than their competitors. but of course websites and software and apps and [blank]-as-a-service tools cost money to build and maintain, and that money has to come from somewhere, and the people supplying that money, generally, expect to get it back...

just not immediately.

startups, VCs, IPOs, and you

here's the extremely condensed "did NOT go to harvard business school" version of how a startup works:

(1) you have a cool idea.

(2) you convince some venture capitalists (also known as VCs) that your idea is cool. if they see the potential in what you're pitching, they'll give you money in exchange for partial ownership of your company—which means that if/when the company starts trading its stock publicly, these investors will own X numbers of shares that they can sell at any time. in other words, you get free money now (and you'll likely seek multiple "rounds" of investors over the years to sustain your company), but with the explicit expectations that these investors will get their payoff later, assuming you don't crash and burn before that happens.

during this phase, you want to do anything in your power to make your company appealing to investors so you can attract more of them and raise funds as needed. because you are definitely not bringing in the necessary revenue to offset operating costs by yourself.

it's also worth nothing that this is less about projecting the long-term profitability of your company than it's about its perceived profitability—i.e., VCs want to put their money behind a company that other people will also have confidence in, because that's what makes stock valuable, and VCs are in it for stock prices.

(3) there are two non-exclusive win conditions for your startup: you can get acquired, and you can have an IPO (also referred to as "going public"). these are often called "exit scenarios" and they benefit VCs and founders, as well as some employees. it's also possible for a company to get acquired, possibly even more than once, and then later go public.

acquisition: sell the whole damn thing to someone else. there are a million ways this can happen, some better than others, but in many cases this means anyone with ownership of the company (which includes both investors and employees who hold stock options) get their stock bought out by the acquiring company and end up with cash in hand. in varying amounts, of course. sometimes the founders walk away, sometimes the employees get laid off, but not always.

IPO: short for "initial public offering," this is when the company starts trading its stocks publicly, which means anyone who wants to can start buying that company's stock, which really means that VCs (and employees with stock options) can turn that hypothetical money into real money by selling their company stock to interested buyers.

drawing from that, companies don't go for an IPO until they think their stock will actually be worth something (or else what's the point?)—specifically, worth more than the amount of money that investors poured into it. The Powers That Be will speculate about a company's IPO potential way ahead of time, which is where you'll hear stuff about companies who have an estimated IPO evaluation of (to pull a completely random example) $10B. actually I lied, that was not a random example, that was reddit's valuation back in 2021 lol. but a valuation is basically just "how much will people be interested in our stock?"

as such, in the time leading up to an IPO, it's really really important to do everything you can to make your company seem like a good investment (which is how you get stock prices up), usually by making the company's numbers look good. but! if you plan on cashing out, the long-term effects of your decisions aren't top of mind here. remember, the industry lingo is "exit scenario."

if all of this seems like a good short-term strategy for companies and their VCs, but an unsustainable model for anyone who's buying those stocks during the IPO, that's because it often is.

also worth noting that it's possible for a company to be technically unprofitable as a business (meaning their costs outstrip their revenue) and still trade enormously well on the stock market; uber is the perennial example of this. to the people who make money solely off of buying and selling stock, it literally does not matter that the actual rideshare model isn't netting any income—people think the stock is valuable, so it's valuable.

this is also why, for example, elon musk is richer than god: if he were only the CEO of tesla, the money he'd make from selling mediocre cars would be (comparatively, lol) minimal. but he's also one of tesla's angel investors, which means he holds a shitload of tesla stock, and tesla's stock has performed well since their IPO a decade ago (despite recent dips)—even if tesla itself has never been a huge moneymaker, public faith in the company's eventual success has kept them trading at high levels. granted, this also means most of musk's wealth is hypothetical and not liquid; if TSLA dropped to nothing, so would the value of all the stock he holds (and his net work with it).

what's an API, anyway?

to move in an entirely different direction: we can't get into reddit's API debacle without understanding what an API itself is.

an API (short for "application programming interface," not that it really matters) is a series of code instructions that independent developers can use to plug their shit into someone else's shit. like a series of tin cans on strings between two kids' treehouses, but for sending and receiving data.

APIs work by yoinking data directly from a company's servers instead of displaying anything visually to users. so I could use reddit's API to build my own app that takes the day's top r/AITA post and transcribes it into pig latin: my app is a bunch of lines of code, and some of those lines of code fetch data from reddit (and then transcribe that data into pig latin), and then my app displays the content to anyone who wants to see it, not reddit itself. as far as reddit is concerned, no additional human beings laid eyeballs on that r/AITA post, and reddit never had a chance to serve ads alongside the pig-latinized content in my app. (put a pin in this part—it'll be relevant later.)

but at its core, an API is really a type of protocol, which encompasses a broad category of formats and business models and so on. some APIs are completely free to use, like how anyone can build a discord bot (but you still have to host it yourself). some companies offer free APIs to third-party developers can build their own plugins, and then the company and the third-party dev split the profit on those plugins. some APIs have a free tier for hobbyists and a paid tier for big professional projects (like every weather API ever, lol). some APIs are strictly paid services because the API itself is the company's core offering.

reddit's financial foundations

okay thanks for sticking with me. I promise we're almost ready to be almost ready to talk about the current backlash.

reddit has always been a startup's startup from day one: its founders created the site after attending a startup incubator (which is basically a summer camp run by VCs) with the successful goal of creating a financially successful site. backed by that delicious y combinator money, reddit got acquired by conde nast only a year or two after its creation, which netted its founders a couple million each. this was back in like, 2006 by the way. in the time since that acquisition, reddit's gone through a bunch of additional funding rounds, including from big-name investors like a16z, peter thiel (yes, that guy), sam altman (yes, also that guy), sequoia, fidelity, and tencent. crunchbase says that they've raised a total of $1.3B in investor backing.

in all this time, reddit has never been a public company, or, strictly speaking, profitable.

APIs and third-party apps

reddit has offered free API access for basically as long as it's had a public API—remember, as a "make money later" company, their primary goal is growth, which means attracting as many users as possible to the platform. so letting anyone build an app or widget is (or really, was) in line with that goal.

as such, third-party reddit apps have been around forever. by third-party apps, I mean apps that use the reddit API to display actual reddit content in an unofficial wrapper. iirc reddit didn't even have an official mobile app until semi-recently, so many of these third-party mobile apps in particular just sprung up to meet an unmet need, and they've kept a small but dedicated userbase ever since. some people also prefer the user experience of the unofficial apps, especially since they offer extra settings to customize what you're seeing and few to no ads (and any ads these apps do display are to the benefit of the third-party developers, not reddit itself.)

(let me add this preemptively: one solution I've seen proposed to the paid API backlash is that reddit should have third-party developers display reddit's ads in those third-party apps, but this isn't really possible or advisable due to boring adtech reasons I won't inflict on you here. source: just trust me bro)

in addition to mobile apps, there are also third-party tools that don’t replace the Official Reddit Viewing Experience but do offer auxiliary features like being able to mass-delete your post history, tools that make the site more accessible to people who use screen readers, and tools that help moderators of subreddits moderate more easily. not to mention a small army of reddit bots like u/AutoWikibot or u/RemindMebot (and then the bots that tally the number of people who reply to bot comments with “good bot” or “bad bot).

the number of people who use third-party apps is relatively small, but they arguably comprise some of reddit’s most dedicated users, which means that third-party apps are important to the people who keep reddit running and the people who supply reddit with high-quality content.

unpaid moderators and user-generated content

so reddit is sort of two things: reddit is a platform, but it’s also a community.

the platform is all the unsexy (or, if you like python, sexy) stuff under the hood that actually makes the damn thing work. this is what the company spends money building and maintaining and "owns." the community is all the stuff that happens on the platform: posts, people, petty squabbles. so the platform is where the content lives, but ultimately the content is the reason people use reddit—no one’s like “yeah, I spend time on here because the backend framework really impressed me."

and all of this content is supplied by users, which is not unique among social media platforms, but the content is also managed by users, which is. paid employees do not govern subreddits; unpaid volunteers do. and moderation is the only thing that keeps reddit even remotely tolerable—without someone to remove spam, ban annoying users, and (god willing) enforce rules against abuse and hate speech, a subreddit loses its appeal and therefore its users. not dissimilar to the situation we’re seeing play out at twitter, except at twitter it was the loss of paid moderators;  reddit is arguably in a more precarious position because they could lose this unpaid labor at any moment, and as an already-unprofitable company they absolutely cannot afford to implement paid labor as a substitute.

oh yeah? spell "IPO" backwards

so here we are, June 2023, and reddit is licking its lips in anticipation of a long-fabled IPO. which means it’s time to start fluffing themselves up for investors by cutting costs (yay, layoffs!) and seeking new avenues of profit, however small.

this brings us to the current controversy: reddit announced a new API pricing plan that more or less prevents anyone from using it for free.

from reddit's perspective, the ostensible benefits of charging for API access are twofold: first, there's direct profit to be made off of the developers who (may or may not) pay several thousand dollars a month to use it, and second, cutting off unsanctioned third-party mobile apps (possibly) funnels those apps' users back into the official reddit mobile app. and since users on third-party apps reap the benefit of reddit's site architecture (and hosting, and development, and all the other expenses the site itself incurs) without “earning” money for reddit by generating ad impressions, there’s a financial incentive at work here: even if only a small percentage of people use third-party apps, getting them to use the official app instead translates to increased ad revenue, however marginal.

(also worth mentioning that chatGPT and other LLMs were trained via tools that used reddit's API to scrape post and content data, and now that openAI is reaping the profits of that training without giving reddit any kickbacks, reddit probably wants to prevent repeats of this from happening in the future. if you want to train the next LLM, it's gonna cost you.)

of course, these changes only benefit reddit if they actually increase the company’s revenue and perceived value/growth—which is hard to do when your users (who are also the people who supply the content for other users to engage with, who are also the people who moderate your communities and make them fun to participate in) get really fucking pissed and threaten to walk.

pricing shenanigans

under the new API pricing plan, third-party developers are suddenly facing steep costs to maintain the apps and tools they’ve built.

most paid APIs are priced by volume: basically, the more data you send and receive, the more money it costs. so if your third-party app has a lot of users, you’ll have to make more API requests to fetch content for those users, and your app becomes more expensive to maintain. (this isn’t an issue if the tool you’re building also turns a profit, but most third-party reddit apps make little, if any, money.)

which is why, even though third-party apps capture a relatively small portion of reddit’s users, the developer of a popular third-party app called apollo recently learned that it would cost them about $20 million a year to keep the app running. and apollo actually offers some paid features (for extra in-app features independent of what reddit offers), but nowhere near enough to break even on those API costs.

so apollo, any many apps like it, were suddenly unable to keep their doors open under the new API pricing model and announced that they'd be forced to shut down.

backlash, blackout

plenty has been said already about the current subreddit blackouts—in like, official news outlets and everything—so this might be the least interesting section of my whole post lol. the short version is that enough redditors got pissed enough that they collectively decided to take subreddits “offline” in protest, either by making them read-only or making them completely inaccessible. their goal was to send a message, and that message was "if you piss us off and we bail, here's what reddit's gonna be like: a ghost town."

but, you may ask, if third-party apps only captured a small number of users in the first place, how was the backlash strong enough to result in a near-sitewide blackout? well, two reasons:

first and foremost, since moderators in particular are fond of third-party tools, and since moderators wield outsized power (as both the people who keep your site more or less civil, and as the people who can take a subreddit offline if they feel like it), it’s in your best interests to keep them happy. especially since they don’t get paid to do this job in the first place, won’t keep doing it if it gets too hard, and essentially have nothing to lose by stepping down.

then, to a lesser extent, the non-moderator users on third-party apps tend to be Power Users who’ve been on reddit since its inception, and as such likely supply a disproportionate amount of the high-quality content for other users to see (and for ads to be served alongside). if you drive away those users, you’re effectively kneecapping your overall site traffic (which is bad for Growth) and reducing the number/value of any ad impressions you can serve (which is bad for revenue).

also a secret third reason, which is that even people who use the official apps have no stake in a potential IPO, can smell the general unfairness of this whole situation, and would enjoy the schadenfreude of investors getting fucked over. not to mention that reddit’s current CEO has made a complete ass of himself and now everyone hates him and wants to see him suffer personally.

(granted, it seems like reddit may acquiesce slightly and grant free API access to a select set of moderation/accessibility tools, but at this point it comes across as an empty gesture.)

"later" is now "now"

TL;DR: this whole thing is a combination of many factors, specifically reddit being intensely user-driven and self-governed, but also a high-traffic site that costs a lot of money to run (why they willingly decided to start hosting video a few years back is beyond me...), while also being angled as a public stock market offering in the very near future. to some extent I understand why reddit’s CEO doubled down on the changes—he wants to look strong for investors—but he’s also made a fool of himself and cast a shadow of uncertainty onto reddit’s future, not to mention the PR nightmare surrounding all of this. and since arguably the most important thing in an IPO is how much faith people have in your company, I honestly think reddit would’ve fared better if they hadn’t gone nuclear with the API changes in the first place.

that said, I also think it’s a mistake to assume that reddit care (or needs to care) about its users in any meaningful way, or at least not as more than means to an end. if reddit shuts down in three years, but all of the people sitting on stock options right now cashed out at $120/share and escaped unscathed... that’s a success story! you got your money! VCs want to recoup their investment—they don’t care about longevity (at least not after they’re gone), user experience, or even sustained profit. those were never the forces driving them, because these were never the ultimate metrics of their success.

and to be clear: this isn’t unique to reddit. this is how pretty much all startups operate.

I talked about the difference between “make money now” companies and “make money later” companies, and what we’re experiencing is the painful transition from “later” to “now.” as users, this change is almost invisible until it’s already happened—it’s like a rug we didn’t even know existed gets pulled out from under us.

the pre-IPO honeymoon phase is awesome as a user, because companies have no expectation of profit, only growth. if you can rely on VC money to stay afloat, your only concern is building a user base, not squeezing a profit out of them. and to do that, you offer cool shit at a loss: everything’s chocolate and flowers and quarterly reports about the number of signups you’re getting!

...until you reach a critical mass of users, VCs want to cash in, and to prepare for that IPO leadership starts thinking of ways to make the website (appear) profitable and implements a bunch of shit that makes users go “wait, what?”

I also touched on this earlier, but I want to reiterate a bit here: I think the myth of the benign non-monetized internet of yore is exactly that—a myth. what has changed are the specific market factors behind these websites, and their scale, and the means by which they attempt to monetize their services and/or make their services look attractive to investors, and so from a user perspective things feel worse because the specific ways we’re getting squeezed have evolved. maybe they are even worse, at least in the ways that matter. but I’m also increasingly less surprised when this occurs, because making money is and has always been the goal for all of these ventures, regardless of how they try to do so.

[dropship-media]

Alternatives to Dropship Video Ads

Dropship video ads are a dime a dozen these days. It seems like every other day, there’s a new startup that’s promising to make your video advertising easier and more effective. But what if you’re not interested in dropshipping video ads? What are some alternatives? In this blog post, we will explore three alternatives to dropshipping video ads. From developing an in-house video production team to working with user-generated content, there are plenty of options available to you.

List Of Dropship Video Ads Alternative

Pre-roll Ads

Pre-roll ads are a type of video advertising that plays before the main video content on a website or app. Pre-roll ads can be skipped after a certain amount of time, and they are typically shorter in length than other types of video ads.

Pre-roll ads can be an effective way to reach your target audience with your marketing message, but they can also be intrusive and cause user frustration. If you're considering using pre-roll ads, be sure to test different placements and lengths to find what works best for your brand and your users.

Mid-roll Ads

As the name suggests, mid-roll ads are video ads that appear in the middle of a piece of content. They can be disruptive to the viewer experience, which is why many publishers are now turning to alternative ad formats.

Post-roll Ads

These are video ads that appear after the main content has finished. They can be a good way to keep viewers engaged with your brand after they have finished watching the main content.

In-line ads

These are video ads that appear within the main content itself, rather than before or after it. This can be a more effective way of getting viewers to watch an ad as they are already engaged with the content.

Skippable Ads

These are video ads that viewers can choose to skip if they wish. This allows them to control their viewing experience and helps to avoid any frustration caused by disruptive advertising.

Google Adsense

Google's Adsense is a good alternative to Dropship video ads. AdSense will show targeted ads based on your website's content and you'll be paid every time someone clicks on an ad.

Amazon Associates

If you have a website or blog about products that are sold on Amazon, then you can sign up for their affiliate program and earn commission on any sales that come from your site. The commissions aren't as high as what you could make with Dropship video ads, but it's still a good way to earn some extra money.

Affiliate Programs

There are many other companies out there that have affiliate programs that you can sign up for. These programs work similarly to Amazon Associates where you earn commission on any sales that come from your site. Again, the commissions aren't as high as what you could make with Dropship video ads, but it's still a good way to earn some extra money.

Sponsored Posts

If you have a popular blog or website, then companies may be willing to pay you to write a sponsored post about their product or service. This is another good way to earn some extra money, although the amount you can earn will vary depending on how popular your site is and how many sponsorships are there.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Sponsored listings are a ripoff…for sellers

Tonight (November 29), I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Not all ads are created equally sleazy. The privacy harms from surveillance ads, though real, are often hard to pin down. But there's another kind of ad - or "ad" that picks your pocket every time you use an ecommerce site.

This is the "sponsored listing" ad, which allows merchants to bid to be among the top-ranked items in response to your searches - whether or not their products are a good match for your query. These aren't "ads" in the way that, say, a Facebook ad is an ad. These are more #payola, a form of bribery that's actually a crime (but not when Amazon does it):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola#U.S._investigations_and_aftermath

Amazon is the global champion of payola. It boasts of $31 billion in annual "ad" revenue. That's $31 billion that Amazon sellers have to recoup from you. But Amazon's use of "most favored nation" deals (which requires sellers to offer their lowest prices on Amazon) mean that you don't see those price-hikes because sellers raise their prices everywhere:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

Forget Twitter: Amazon search is the poster-child for enshittification, in which Amazon locks you in (for example, with a year's shipping prepaid through Prime) and then you get recommended worse products while sellers make less money and Amazon pockets the difference.

Sellers who don't sell on Amazon are dead in the water, because most US households have Amazon Prime and overwhelmingly, Prime users start their search on Amazon, and, if they find the goods they're seeking. After all, they've prepaid for shipping.

So sellers suck it up and pay a 45-51% Amazon tax and pass it on to us - no matter where we shop. A lot of the junk fees sellers pay are related to Prime and other fulfillment services, but an increasing share of the Amazon tax comes from the need to pay to "advertise," because if they don't buy the top result for searches for their own products, their competitors' ads will push them right off the first page (those competitors spend money on advertising, rather than manufacturing quality).

There's a lot of YOLO/ROFLMAO in those ads: search for "cat beds" and 50% of the first five screens are ads - including ads for dog products, apparently bought by companies adopting a spray-and-pray approach to advertising. Someone selling a quality product still has to outbid all of those garbage sellers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is at the root of Amazon's Pricing Paradox: while Amazon can defend itself against regulators by citing sellers whose prices are lower and/or whose quality is higher, it's nearly impossible for shoppers to get those deals. If you click the top result for your search, you will, on average, pay 29% more than you would if you found the best bargain on the site:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

What's more, you can't fix this by simply sorting by price, or by reviews, or some mix of the two. The sleaziest sellers have mastered tricks like changing the number of units they sell so the total price is lower. For example, if batteries are normally sold $10 for a four-pack, a sleazy seller can offer batteries at $9 for three units. A lowest-to-highest price-sort will put this item ahead of a cheaper rival.

Researchers found that getting a good deal at Amazon requires that you make a multifactorial spreadsheet by laboriously copy/pasting multiple details from individual listing pages and then doing sorts that Amazon itself doesn't permit:

https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3645/

There's an exception to this: Amazon and Apple have a cozy, secret arrangement to exclude these "ads" from searches for Apple products. But if you're shopping for anything else, you're SOL:

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gives-apple-special-treatment-while-others-suffer-junk-ads-2023-11

These payola markets are bad for buyers, and they cost sellers a lot of money, but are they at least good for sellers? A new study from three business-school researchers - Vibhanshu Abhishek, Jiaqi Shi and Mingyu Joo - shows that payola is a very bad deal for good sellers, too:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3896716

After doing a lot of impressive quantitative work, the authors conclude that for good sellers, showing up as a sponsored listing makes buyers trust their products less than if they floated to the top of the results "organically." This means that buying an ad makes your product less attractive than not buying an ad.

The exception is sellers who have bad products - products that wouldn't rise to the top of the results on their own merits. The study finds that if you buy your mediocre product's way to the top of the results, buyers trust it more than they would if they found it buried deep on page eleventy-million, to which its poor reviews, quality or price would normally banish it.

But of course, if you're one of those good sellers, you can't simply opt not to buy an ad, even though seeing it with the little "AD" marker in the thumbnail makes your product less attractive to shoppers. If you don't pay the danegeld, your product will be pushed down by the inferior products whose sellers are only too happy to pay ransom.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/29/aethelred-the-unready/#not-one-penny-for-tribute

[mariacallous]

“Make cats safe again” read the MAGA-style baseball caps perched on the heads of five AI-generated felines printed on a black T-shirt alongside a Trump 2024 banner. It’s yours for just $29.99 (10 percent off if you order three) from United Patriot, an online store that proclaims it is “not afraid to speak the truth!”

The T-shirt may seem innocuous enough. But its slogan references a racist lie, spread by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been eating local pets. The false claims have led to a wave of xenophobic abuse including bomb threats and vandalism against the local Haitian community.

The item is also one of thousands being sold by a group of online operators who are targeting the US election using hate, lies, and conspiracy theories, all to make a quick buck.

United Patriot is one of four ecommerce companies identified by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) that have been advertising merchandise, often aimed at Trump supporters, using different levels of misinformation and hate speech.

They have collectively paid to publish over 15,000 “political” ads that have racked up millions of impressions on Facebook. And though the operations present themselves as patriotic outlets selling US products, TBIJ has found evidence suggesting many are being at least partly run from overseas.

Both operations are just examples of a bigger global problem that goes far beyond one election in one country.

“Evidence has shown that we engage more with content that is provocative and emotionally charged,” says Hannah Perry, digital policy head of research at think tank Demos. “Because algorithms on platforms such as Facebook are designed to optimize for engagement—keeping us on platforms for longer and prolonging our exposure to advertising—such algorithms disproportionately surface inflammatory and divisive content.

“Actors will no doubt target the US election to attract an outsized audience relative to other domestic stories.”

The operations we identified are all enabled by the economics of the internet, which encourage workers from Nigeria to the Philippines to the US to amplify hate and falsehoods to millions in the pursuit of profit. And they show how people simply out to make money currently have their sights set on one of the most finely balanced elections in history.

From Biden to Betting Scams

“A White House video in which Joe Biden goes 45 seconds without blinking is raising serious questions about who is currently serving as president of the United States,” says a presenter over a picture of the current president, claiming he has been dead since June 2022.

The video, produced by The People’s Voice channel on the video platform Rumble, is clearly aimed at capturing conspiracy-minded Americans. It is just one of hundreds of US-focused posts hosted on a network of Facebook pages run largely from Nigeria aimed at extracting money for sports betting scams. Twenty-five of the most active pages identified by TBIJ have amassed more than 669,000 followers, more than doubling from 290,000 followers last year.

An investigation by Nigerian media outlet HumAngle reported in September that the wider network, which may be as large as 240 Facebook pages, appears to scam people out of money by offering them the opportunity to profit from high-odd bets placed on what the pages say are “fixed” sports matches. Despite HumAngle’s reporting, 199 of the accounts remained active with a combined following of more than 2.7 million accounts.

To attract users to these scams, the pages have been boosting engagement by publishing political content—in particular, conspiracy theories and false claims about the US presidential race. Some posts falsely claimed Kamala Harris, the sitting US vice president and 2024 Democratic nominee, is a man. Others focused on the idea that natural disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton were engineered by Democratic leaders to prevent people from voting in swing states. Both are conspiracy theories that have gained traction in the last few months.

The pages have co-opted the branding of hacktivist movement Anonymous, an ostensibly anti-establishment group of online activists and hackers that rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Wearing masks similar to those adopted by the movement (originally taken from the film and comic book series V for Vendetta), those behind the scams will often overlay footage of themselves over clips pushing disinformation.

But while they align themselves with a political movement and push political falsehoods, they are using them to make money.

Daniel Roberts, a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta, tells TBIJ: “Scammers persistently target people online and in the real world—and that’s why we work with governments, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies to deter bad actors. This is a highly adversarial space, and we continue to update our enforcement systems to respond to evolving scammer behavior. We are reviewing the accounts shared with us and will enforce against any that violate our policies.”

Promoting Popularity

Online marketing, whether it is promoting legitimate goods, hateful T-shirts, or attempts to scam people out of their money, relies on getting people to see posts. Social media algorithms tend to boost content that they predict will attract a lot of attention.

In recent years, it has become clear that conspiracy theories, misinformation, and hate are very good at tapping into the emotions that drive this kind of engagement. And that, in turn, means that anyone with something to sell is incentivized to push that kind of content to boost their profits. Post something that receives a high level of engagement (say, a conspiracy theory) and it’s more likely that your other content will be promoted by the algorithm.

Other posts on the Nigerian network’s pages claim to be able to foresee the future. Predictions about politics or natural disasters are published alongside their claims to deliver returns on high-risk bets. They also often post “testimonials”—short videos depicting people thanking the pages’ operators for “changing their lives” through fixed sports betting. All are gimmicks to lure in new targets for sports bettings scams.

According to a conversation with the admins of one of the pages, a ticket to participate in the fixed betting would cost someone $4,250. A “mini-ticket” costs $2,100. TBIJ obtained a bitcoin address used by one such page with about 70,000 followers and found that the wallet had facilitated nearly $1 million worth of transactions. These schemes have been used to scam many Nigerians and others over the years, according to HumAngle.

The target market, however, is far more global.

As the US election has gained pace, the volume of content on the network of sites aimed at US citizens has ramped up, with the pages trying to remain relevant by referencing new events.

Many posts piggyback on false claims about US government relief available to hurricane victims, such as the Trump campaign’s claims that relief funding was restricted because the money was instead going to immigrants or to the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression. “I hate that our government never runs out of money for illegals and foreign wars. But runs out of money to help struggling Americans,” one post reads.

Another shows an AI-generated picture of Trump standing in a flooded area and handing toilet paper to the victims, captioned, “a picture they don’t want you to see.”

Profiting off Patriotism

Like the Nigerian network, other similar ecommerce merch stores rely heavily on Facebook for their marketing and promote similar conspiracy theories in order to gain traction.

Many of the ads run by United Patriot include graphics that reference and promote destroying the pride flag, misogynistic slurs against Harris, transphobia, anti-vaccine logos, anti-Ukrainian sentiment, gun ownership, and mentions of the “stolen election.”

Misogyny aimed at Harris regularly featured in ads run by another of the sites, which also sells merchandise containing anti-trans slurs. Another of the sites posted a video falsely claiming Dominion voting machines helped steal the election from Trump.

The messages, potentially misleading US citizens or stoking hate towards various groups, will have been seen by many times more people than actually made a purchase.

Those running the network of Facebook pages in Nigeria may simply believe that US-focused clickbait is the best way to boost the number of people who see their scams. In contrast, the ecommerce operations identified by TBIJ give every impression that they are proudly American.

Yet analysis of their listed physical addresses and online presence suggests that the businesses are at least partly run from Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, and Croatia (with Facebook page admins based in those countries). None of the ecommerce sites identified by TBIJ provided a US address that could be tied to their business.

United Patriot, which says its “patriotic collection of amazing apparel items … are all printed locally here in America,” claims on its Facebook page and website to be located at an address in Gardena, California. However, TBIJ could not find proof of that business registered at the address. The only other commercial activity found at the address was a warehouse providing services for wholesale shipments for people based overseas, as well as two online stores that have been accused in Google reviews of being scams.

The Better Business Bureau, a nonprofit focused on “marketplace trust,” told United Patriots in November 2022 that it should change or substantiate claims made on its website about items “printed in the US.”

Another such site, Red First LLC, says it is based in Carrollton, Texas, at the same address as a fraudulent merchant claiming to resell Ralph Lauren clothing. This does not necessarily mean the companies are owned by the same person, but suggests the address may have been used by scammers.

Nor are all these operations strictly pushing right-wing messages. Red First LLC (which trafficks notably less in hate and misinformation than the other three companies) has created at least 5,000 ads over the last two years. While it promotes mostly right-wing merchandise and content, such as T-shirts bearing misogynistic insults toward Harris and signs suggesting the 2020 election was stolen, it has also in a small number of cases posted pro-Harris content. The commercial imperative behind the operation means it isn’t averse to backing the other side.

Meta Under Scrutiny

As attempts to influence public opinion and elections have ramped up across social media, companies such as Facebook owner Meta have come under scrutiny for the role they play in hosting bad actors trying to polarize public opinion on their platforms.

In 2021, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, blew the whistle on the company’s role in spreading disinformation and the increase in racial hatred. Numerous studies have also shown that social media platforms’ algorithms, including Facebook’s, create bigger engagement opportunities for far-right, conspiratorial, and hateful content.

“The US election is an already fraught and divisive political event. If the aim of these scammers is to bring people in, then appealing directly to emotion to circumvent media criticality is key,” says Joe Ondrak, senior research and technology lead at anti-disinformation startup Logically.

“There is likely a large pool of potential victims and easily exploitable narratives for them to choose from. The way algorithms reward engagement means that misinformation, conspiracy theory, and hate speech are easy ways to find a wide audience.”

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), LATE JULY 2024

Things have been hectic so this is a long one update - all the Etsy and other ecommerce news from the past month, broken down for your convenience!

Next week could be a big Etsy news week, with the 2nd quarter report being released, and the mature items ban kicking in. I'm also working on analysis of the new Creativity Standards, but we may not have more substantial information on those until Etsy makes another move. Right now the categories are a mess, but that could change.

A reminder that you can receive more timely updates plus exclusive content - including live chats with me on select topics such as Etsy's new Creativity Standards - by supporting my Patreon: patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

The European Union is considering making packages valued under 150 euros subject to customs duties when entering the EU. This is widely seen as a way to reduce Shein and Temu orders. 

The Etsy Creativity Standards announced on July 9th have a lot going on; here is my short summary so far. [post by me on Patreon] While I would not worry too much about this just yet, I expect them to be more important in the near future.  Etsy adding "Made by", "Handpicked by" to every listing is currently full of errors, but more disturbingly, even when a seller points out these errors with arguments from the written policy, Etsy Support is sometimes insisting that the designations are correct. For example, original paintings are lumped in with AI designs and digital downloads. [Post by me on LinkedIn] 

Amazon is imposing new rules regarding on-time delivery rates (OTDR); sellers that do not meet the standard of 90% on time delivery will not be able to continue selling. Businesses are exempted if they use the following tools: Shipping Settings Automation, Automated handling time, and Amazon Buy Shipping. Amazon is allowing only 5 days after shipment for products to arrive within the US. You can read the announcement and vigorous forum discussion here, and EcommerceBytes did a summary of the changes and some complaints.

ETSY NEWS 

As Etsy's widespread ban on many adult-themed products is about to take effect on Monday, I considered why Etsy felt the need to take far more drastic steps than Amazon & eBay has in the same markets. [post by me on Tumblr] The upcoming ban started by getting media attention from Mashable, and quickly escalated to the New York Times [not a gift link; soft paywall]. Etsy is still not commenting on why they are doing this. From the NYT article: "Even before the ban, it was getting harder to run his business, Mr. Goldstein said. So, he thought, “Why don’t we just make our own marketplace?” This year, he started the website Spicerack as an independent alternative to Etsy. The online boutique already has about 75 sellers, which are vetted to make sure they’re not “dropshippers” or simultaneously listing products on e-commerce behemoths like AliExpress or Amazon. Mr. Goldstein said that Spicerack is in the process of adding about 100 more sellers, half of whom signed up when the Etsy ban was announced." From the BBC: “In many countries there is pressure on platforms, sometimes backed by new legislation, to do more to prevent under-18s from encountering explicit content, and to remove illegal or "harmful" content from their platforms. Payment processors are also increasingly wary of working with platforms that enable sex based commerce....those concerns could be addressed by more clearly labelling and separating adult product listings..." The Guardian interviewed a few sellers who are affected.

While Etsy previously stated that the new shop set-up fee would be $15 USD, they quietly changed that, to whatever they feel like charging. [post by me on Patreon]

In case you missed it, the new listing form seems to be triggering Etsy Ads campaigns to start without the seller’s knowledge. [post by me on LinkedIn] Since my post, there are still more reports of this happening, and even more. 

I regret to inform you that Etsy’s Search Analytics are going to disappear after August 14 [post by me on LinkedIn], per a banner on the page.

Canadian sellers will have to pay a 1.15% “Regulatory Operating Fee” on all of their sales income (including shipping and gift wrap) starting August 15. This is likely due to a new law taxing large ecommerce platforms 3% of their Canadian income, which came into effect June 28. The tax applies retroactively back to the beginning of 2022, so Etsy is likely overcharging us to cover those earlier amounts. 

Sellers having difficulties with the domestic pricing tool not working correctly may want to try these tips from an Etsy forum thread: Set the domestic price to the global price amount, save, and then go back in and change the domestic price to your preferred amount, then save again. This apparently works for both new and existing listings, but there are 3 drawbacks: 1) it is time-consuming, 2) it needs to be done any time a listing is changed/edited (including renewals), and 3) it doesn’t seem to work for France. (I don’t ship to France so I cannot test the last point.) Remember, if you have a sale go through for the wrong price, contact Etsy and demand to be compensated the difference. 

Still don’t believe that Etsy is serious about shipping on time? See this Reddit thread by a seller who ignored a 30-day warning, so all of their items were removed from search. From this screenshot, it appears their average order value was fairly high, but that doesn’t mean Etsy will tolerate late shipping from shops with cheaper items, so beware. 

Etsy is testing filtering out digital items from search results unless the terms match a digital item search. See Etsy forum threads here and also here. 

A new academic study calls out Etsy and other online marketplaces for allowing illegally-killed bats to be sold on their sites. “We refute any assertion that the online bat trade is ethical. Again, statements that bats were captive-bred are absurd—bat farms are nonexistent—and it would be impossible for suppliers to find bats that have died naturally in the kind of condition and numbers needed to supply an ornamental trade. These bats were hunted.” The New York Times has also now covered this story [soft paywall]. 

The virtual seller education event Etsy Up is scheduled for September 10. You can register here, but there is no program yet. Usually this event has almost nothing worthwhile for experienced shops, and Etsy generally uses it to push their paid services and integrations along with basic info. 

Etsy is looking for sellers to join their Advocacy program and “share your story”. Beware that sometimes Etsy’s “advocacy” is as much for Etsy as for its sellers, so they are looking for stories that fit Etsy’s own goals. 

The Etsy Design Awards have opened; the final date for submissions is August 8. 

Etsy’s second quarter results for 2024 will be released July 31.

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Shein and Temu are facing investigations under the EU’s Digital Services Act. “In a press release, the EU said it’s asking Shein and Temu for more information about measures they’ve taken to meet DSA obligations related to what’s known as “Notice and Action” mechanisms, which should allow users to notify the marketplaces of illegal products.It has also requested info related to the design of their online interfaces, which the pan-EU law mandates must not deceive or manipulate users, such as via so-called “dark patterns”.” Temu is also being sued by Arkansas for having an invasive app that is accused of harvesting data without user permissions. “According to the complaint, Temu is allegedly obscuring its unauthorized access to data through misleading terms of use and privacy policies that do not alert users to the full scope of data that the app can potentially collect. That includes not telling users about tracking granular locations for no defined purpose and collecting "even biometric information such as users’ fingerprints."

Amazon

Amazon now has an AI shopping “assistant” on its US app, called Rufus. “Customers can ask questions about products, comparisons and buying considerations. The AI can provide suggestions for specific tasks or projects.” As per usual with AI, “tests show Rufus doesn’t always provide accurate information.” A review from Marketplace Pulse notes that “Amazon’s AI assistant fails to help shoppers find the best product among the millions in the catalog. It transforms broad questions like “What are the best cycling gloves for winter?” into a few links to product searches — the same searches a shopper could have typed themselves. It refuses to make product recommendations, show specific products, or suggest from the thousands of options. It can’t directly answer the question, “What are the cheapest batteries for my TV remote?”

Any sellers who had items removed for being plants or seeds when they actually aren’t should follow the instructions linked to here to get the situation resolved. An Amazon employee warned sellers: “Please do not acknowledge the violations as these will result in the deactivation of your listings.” Affected businesses should instead appeal the flags.  

Amazon is planning a discount drop shipping from China section, widely seen to be competition to Temu and Shein. However, “[i]t is not clear if these shipments will be made using a U.S. trade provision that exempts individual packages worth less than $800 from U.S. customs duties.”

The European Commission has asked Amazon for more information on “recommender systems, ads transparency provisions and risk assessment measures.” 

Only 1% of US Amazon sellers also offer their items outside of North America. “Due to its proximity to the U.S., Canada has more successful sellers from the U.S. than Canada.” If you have a unique product, this could be an opportunity.  Amazon returns are creating huge workloads for UPS stores and other retailers that accept them. “Amazon “makes up about one-tenth of our profits, but it takes up about 90 percent of the working day,” said Jeremy Walker, a store associate who worked at a UPS Store near Dallas that received between 300 and 600 returns per day.”

Depop

After trying it out in the UK, Depop is removing selling fees for the United States, starting July 15. Payment processing fees still apply. “[B]buyers will now be charged a "marketplace fee" of up to 5% plus a fixed amount up to $1.”

An interview with Depop CEO Kruti Patel Goyal reveals they plan “to bring Depop to a bigger and broader audience over time.” 

eBay

eBay is slowly rolling out changes to the Active Listings page. 

eBay sellers can now get cash advance loans through Liberis, the balance of which gets paid as a percentage of the seller's sales. 

New sellers in the UK might see “automated feedback” on some of their orders, to "help [users] buy and sell with confidence". It will say "This seller successfully completed an order", and is removed once the actual buyer leaves feedback. 

Michaels MakerPlace

Abby Glassenberg reviews Michaels’ MakerPlace popups inside their retail stores. Results seem mixed.

Shopify

A few hundred thousand Shopify users may have had their names, addresses and other data put up for sale on July 3 after a breach. Shopify denies it had any security issues and claims the data came from a third-party app. There was a known data breach at Evolve Bank and Trust in June; that institution is a supporting partner for Shopify Balance. It does appear that Shopify is notifying the affected individuals.

Walmart Walmart is adding pre-owned collectibles to its marketplace. “Eligible categories include Toys (Figures, Dolls, Trains, Plushies, Games, LEGO, Funko, Diecast Cars & Hot Wheels); Media & Music (Movies, Vinyl, Music, SteelBooks, Musical Instruments & Entertainment Replicas); Trading Cards; Comic Books & Books; Sports Memorabilia; and Coins.”

All Other Marketplaces

Indiegogo is opening an ecommerce website for items created through crowdfunding campaigns on the platform, called IndieShop. 

Etsy-owned Reverb now has an “outlet” page, where businesses can sell off their overstock, seconds and out-of-date models for 20% off and free shipping. Most products sold through the main portion of Reverb are used, not new, so this competes with regular sellers. 

Not sure if selling on Faire is right for your business? Here’s a handmade-focussed review of the wholesale site.

Payment Processing

Klarna is now available through Adobe Commerce (previously Magento). 

Shipping

USPS rates for labels on most platforms went up July 1, ahead of the previously-announced July 14th increases. Ina Steiner re-posted the numbers from eBay and Pirate Ship. 

USPS released the addresses and other data of logged-in Informed Delivery users to Meta, LinkedIn and Snap. The company claims it didn’t know the data transfer was happening. 

The free USPS Priority medium shipping tubes are no longer being made, but you can still order existing stock. 

Royal Mail’s Tracked 28 & 48 are now available at post offices. 

UPS’s holiday surcharge rates for the US have been released; the lower surcharges start September 29th.

Shippo has new Canada Post rates from now until January, and the Tracked Packet rates to everywhere but the United States are cheaper than Etsy’s (which are based on Level 4 of Solutions for Small Business). Remember that Shippo makes you pay for a higher tier of service if you use over 30 labels per month.

[shadowfaxnews]

Festive Rush Sparks Speed War: Quick Commerce & E-commerce Battle For Fastest Deliveries

SUMMARY

Same-day and next-day deliveries have grown 4–5X during peak periods, now accounting for 12–15% of total ecommerce deliveries, which is a big leap from almost zero just 18 months ago

While fast delivery services are in high demand, they come with operational challenges. One of the biggest hurdles is optimising inventory placement

As the industry stands at the precipice of super-fast deliveries, building an efficient supply chain will be the most critical element for the long-term sustainability of India’s quick delivery realm

This festive season will be all about the need for speed, as ecommerce majors have now entered the paradigm of swift deliveries (same day or next day), pivoting from their earlier timeline of 4–5 days.

Making the game of deliveries insanely difficult to play will be quick-commerce players that are expected to capture the majority of the customer base seeking instant gratification. All in all, ecommerce platforms will be seen upping the ante in staying ahead of the delivery curve and ensuring that no shopper is left craving amid the festive rush.

However, this shift in ecommerce behavior has been in the making for some time, and the trigger has been the maturity of the Indian quick delivery ecosystem, which currently drives 40% of online grocery sales.

Over the past year, ecommerce marketplaces have made significant strides in enhancing delivery speed, introducing same-day and next-day services to cater to customer demands. A vibrant example is Flipkart, which, at the start of the year, announced that it would offer same-day delivery across multiple product categories at no additional cost.

With the market at stake, Amazon followed suit, while beauty platform Nykaa and fashion site Myntra began testing same-day delivery options. Witnessing this, many D2C brands are also adapting to remain competitive.

While they may not match online marketplaces in order volume, they’re eager to offer quicker delivery options to stay competitive. A case in point is GenZ-focused fashion startup NEWME, which recently launched 90-minute delivery for its products in select Delhi NCR areas.

“Speaking with Inc42, logistics experts said that the demand for fast delivery has surged dramatically compared to last year’s festive sales. Same-day and next-day deliveries have grown 4–5X during peak periods of festive sales, now accounting for 12–15% of total ecommerce deliveries, which is a big leap from almost zero just 18 months ago.”

This surge comes as ecommerce firms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Meesho are expected to register a 20% year-on-year rise in gross merchandise value, generating sales in the range of INR 1 Lakh Cr to 1.2 Lakh Cr this festive season, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants. Quick commerce is anticipated to contribute around 8% to this overall growth.

Festive Rush Paves The Way For 5X Surge In Same-Day Delivery

Speaking with Inc42, COO of Ecom Express, Vishwachetan Nadamani, said that during the festive season, the speed of deliveries naturally improves due to increased demand, with line-haul trucks operating more frequently. However, the surge in fast delivery requests is more pronounced this year.

Therefore, the executive added that the company has rolled out same-day delivery and next-day deliveries in India’s top 10 metro cities, with the infrastructure fully established to support these services.

Meanwhile, Shadowfax’s cofounder and chief business officer, Praharsh Chandra, said that the company is well prepared to tackle the same or next-day delivery rush.

“We started focussing on fast delivery with both brands and marketplaces about a year and a half ago. Back then, the industry had 0% same-day delivery, but now 10–14% of all intra-city orders are delivered the same day,” Chandra said.”

Chandra noted that this trend is gaining momentum as we are nearing the peak sales season. “In fact, our same-day delivery channel saw five times growth in just one day, on the second day of the sales. We experienced some very high peaks,” he said.

Chandra sees a clear shift in consumer behaviour here, with more and more customers now wanting instant gratification. “Even for nearby zones, like orders from Bangalore to Mysore, which used to take two days, people now expect next-day deliveries,” he said.

The sentiment is being echoed across the industry. For instance, Zippee’s founder & CEO, Madhav Kasturia, sees registering 6–8X growth as all its partner brands continue to scale during the festive season.

Fast Delivery Fever Grips All Categories

Fast delivery demand has risen across categories this festive season. Electronics, beauty and personal care, fashion, and home goods have seen strong interest, with mobile phones being the most popular choice. Interestingly, on the first day of sales, Shadowfax delivered 15,000 iPhones.

However, the demand landscape is not solely dominated by electronics. Categories such as beauty and personal care, fashion, and home goods are also seeing high demand, with brands like Decathlon experiencing increased sales of sports goods, showing that consumers are diversifying their purchases.

“There’s demand in various categories. However, it’s crucial to focus on where the concentration of that demand is and whether brands have optimised their supply chains with warehouses in these top metros,” the Ecom Express COO said.”

So far, demand for fast delivery is highest in metro cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. However, this trend is not limited to urban areas. Brands are now stocking inventory in Tier II and Tier III cities like Patna, Jaipur, and Guwahati to offer faster delivery options in these regions as well.

Navigating The Complexities Of Fast Delivery

While fast delivery services are in high demand, they come with operational challenges. One of the biggest hurdles is optimising inventory placement. Quick deliveries not only require faster transportation but also strategic positioning of inventory closer to customers.

This requires maintaining fewer pin codes per dark store, which complicates logistics, Zippee’s Kasturia said, adding that the logistics startup was addressing it by establishing localised inventory hubs, enabling quicker access and more streamlined delivery routes.

Additionally, the rising demand for same-day deliveries translates to an increased need for delivery riders, resulting in escalating costs month after month. During peak seasons, the volume can increase by 4–5X, necessitating supplementary capacity through hyperlocal delivery fleets.

“Historically, logistics have a rigid model where shipments from multiple clients are picked up, sent to a central sortation centre, and then dispatched to last-mile hubs. That entire process used to take around 16 hours. But for same-day delivery, we can’t afford that kind of delay. So, we have restructured the supply chain to bypass certain nodes when possible. This is both a technology and operational shift,” Shadowfax’s Chandra said.

While same and next-day deliveries typically carry a premium — around 25% higher than express delivery — logistics startups are actively working to optimise operational costs. By increasing order volumes and refining their processes, many have reduced the cost difference to approximately 5–10% compared to regular delivery.

Now, as the industry stands at the precipice of super-fast deliveries, building an efficient supply chain will be the most critical element for the long-term sustainability of India’s quick delivery realm. Visit Website For More Details: https://www.shadowfax.in/

[yirontechnologies]

Top Reasons to Build Websites in WordPress in 2024

In today's competitive era, having a solid online presence is essential for businesses. After all, your website is the virtual storefront showcasing your line of business, products and services to your target audiences. However, with so many website-building options available, choosing the right platform can feel overwhelming. 

That's where WordPress comes in. So, what started off as a blogging tool has quickly evolved into a powerful website builder and a robust content management system. Yes, we are talking about WordPress, the powerful CMS that constitutes more than 40% of the websites across the world. If that isn't already an impressive enough statistic to help convince you why you should choose WordPress, then keep reading.

WordPress

WordPress is an excellent CMS that enables WordPress website developers to create, edit and publish content such as blogs, websites, e-commerce products and more. The world's most powerful platform is used by countless businesses to build their website, and for good reason. Let's delve into the top reasons why you, as a small business owner, should consider joining the WordPress bandwagon-

Free to use

WordPress is a free platform, which means the WordPress website developers are free to download, install, use, and modify it to match your business needs. While the software is free, you would still require a domain name as well as web hosting to install and start using it.

Ease of use

WordPress is one of the most flexible and powerful platforms; therefore, WordPress website developers find it quite easy to use. The platform comes with a simple dashboard with different menu options in the sidebar,y making it easier to create posts and pages and customise the website design. It regularly releases updates so that WordPress professionals can easily install it with mere a click of a button. There are excellent plugins for backups that allow you to set up automatic backups. In addition, it also comes with secure best practices, which makes the website secure.

Customizable

Most WordPress professionals find the platform to be the perfect solution because there are thousands of free templates or themes from which to choose. These themes are easy to customise because many of them come with their own options panel, allowing you to change the colours and background, create sliders, and truly customise anything without writing the code.

SEO Friendly

Any website in the world will not be a success if it doesn't attract traffic or the target audiences. Luckily, WordPress is built with SEO-search engine traffic in mind. It uses high-quality code with semantic markup, which means Google and other search engines platforms can easily keep track of your website. This is why WordPress websites tend to rank higher than other search engines.

Highly Flexible

As your business scales, you need a reliable platform to ensure the higher traffic does not disrupt the overall user experience. WordPress offers higher scalability for websites and can easily handle traffic. It uses caching to store content locally, so when the user requests data, reloading the website is easy, and data is available. Also, when it comes to flexibility, it allows businesses to customise their features.

Third-party Integrations

WordPress's website has loads of features that offer advanced functionalities. However, if your website needs additional functionality, you would need to integrate the external services. For example, an eCommerce website may require additional functionality like payment gateway integrations. External services may use a different programming language, or you may plan to integrate a custom plugin for which Rest APIs are also the best option. The Rest APIs in WordPress enable enhanced third-party integrations for added functionalities and improved performance.

Minimal coding

WordPress platform offers many drag-and-drop functionality for WordPress development. The platform offers WordPress professionals capabilities with minimal coding knowledge using the Elementor. You can use a drag-and-drop page builder on WordPress to create a website without extensive coding. The plugin helps create user-friendly web pages with the visual editor.

Enhanced Security

WordPress is a highly secure platform that includes user authentication mechanisms, secure plugin integrations, and monitoring. It has key components, including-

Theme security & Plugins

There are several plugins and themes which offer better website security.

WordPress core

It is secure and requires timely updates, thereby providing regular security updates for the core services you need.

Responsive Designs

Responsive designs are crucial because they impact the customer base. Research has observed that a significant reason users leave a website is that it is non-responsive. Thankfully, WordPress can develop responsive websites and enhance the overall user experience. You can use the platform to develop responsive websites by integrating plugins and themes.

With this, we conclude some of the essential top reasons why WordPress is a popular platform and how best it can be utilised. The best way to truly experience the power of WordPress is by using it. If you are looking for a WordPress development company, contact our experts. Yiron Technologies, WordPress website developers, provide cutting-edge solutions, consulting and more to meet our business needs. Our experts have a passion for innovation, which helps empower businesses to achieve their goals in the digital landscape.

[cocowebdesign]

Selecting the Best Content Management System for Your Business Website

The content management system (CMS) powering your business website significantly impacts its capabilities, performance, and ease of use over time. With web developers today spoiled for choice between open source CMS options like WordPress and Drupal or proprietary systems like Adobe Experience Manager and HubSpot, the evaluation process proves daunting for companies. When embarking on a website project or redesign, stay focused on your organization’s unique needs, resources, and business priorities when weighing the pros and cons of various CMS platforms.

First, take time to thoroughly consider what types of content, assets, and functionality matter most to your brand and audience day to day. For example, blogging, news publishing and journalist teams center heavily around text creation and workflow. Multimedia creatives and marketers, however, need robust digital asset management and organization. Let your website designer align technology recommendations to your primary content focus and goals.

Also, realistically assess the technical skills and resources your team brings to the table for effectively managing the CMS if opting for an open source platform like Drupal or Joomla. While extremely powerful, these systems demand solid web development expertise to customize, which represents an added cost. Simpler tools like WordPress may suffice.

Evaluate prospective CMS options in regards to built-in workflow capabilities as well, like approvals, permissions, and multi-channel content publishing abilities out of the box. Understanding your collaborators’ needs shaping real-world content operations keeps implementations smoother. Select CMS tools accordingly.

Importantly, test and ensure any short-listed CMS easily integrates with your other vital back-end systems like ecommerce engines, CRM platforms, marketing automation tools, etc. An experienced website designer already familiar with related integrations will recognize any limitations or hurdles.

Lastly, the ultimate CMS decision should effectively balance your desired functionality wishlist, readiness of staff resources to leverage the platform fully, and sufficient ease of use for non-technical folks who will actually manage content. With an expert website designer guiding the process holistically using these criteria, your ideal CMS solution match for current and future needs emerges.

[risetomastery]

How to Turn Your Online Business Dreams into Reality

Introduction: The Digital Frontier of Entrepreneurship Selecting a Niche and Business Model: The Foundation of Success Building Your Online Platform and Brand: Your Digital Headquarters Creating High-Demand Products and Services: Delivering Value to Your Audience Implementing Effective Marketing Strategies: Attracting Targeted Traffic Diversifying Revenue Streams for Maximum Profits: Building Financial Stability Optimizing for Maximum Profitability Long-Term: Building a Sustainable Business Conclusion: Turning Dreams into Reality True successful story

Introduction: The Digital Frontier of Entrepreneurship

In today's digital age, the rise of the internet and technology has revolutionized the way we do business. It has opened a world of opportunities for entrepreneurs to start and run their own businesses online. Online businesses offer flexibility, scalability, and the potential for global reach. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step framework for building a profitable online business from the ground up. Whether you want to start a side business or build a full-time online empire, follow this ultimate guide to turn your idea into a thriving, sustainable online business. With focus, grit, and commitment to continuous improvement, you can build the profitable online business of your dreams.

Selecting a Niche and Business Model: The Foundation of Success

The foundation of every successful online business is choosing a profitable, in-demand niche and a business model tailored to your goals. Select a niche you're passionate about; this will make creating content a breeze. Conduct thorough keyword research to assess search volume and demand. Join relevant online communities to connect with your audience and understand their needs. Evaluate direct competitors in the niche and aim for less saturated niches or unique angles. Consider affiliate marketing potential, as some niches offer higher commissions. Assess opportunities to create multiple products and monetize in diverse ways. Examples of popular online business niches include health, fitness, personal finance, pet care, tech, travel, content marketing, home design, spirituality, language learning, and more. Choose a business model that complements your niche and provides multiple income stream opportunities. Many successful online businesses incorporate 3-4 monetization models. Some of the best online business models to consider include: 1. Blogging: Make money with display ads, affiliates, and branded products. 2. Online Courses: Sell your knowledge and expertise as courses. 3. Dropshipping: Curate and sell products without inventory. 4. Affiliate Marketing: Earn commissions promoting other companies' products. 5. Information Products: Sell online books, templates, checklists, and more. 6. Virtual Services: Provide consulting, freelancing, coaching, or other services. 7. Subscription Membership Site: Offer exclusive content or tools for a monthly fee. 8. E-commerce Store: Sell physical products, merchandising, and more. Your choice should complement your niche and offer multiple income streams. Many successful online businesses incorporate 3-4 monetization models.

Building Your Online Platform and Brand: Your Digital Headquarters

Your website or blog will serve as the headquarters for your online business. Invest time upfront in creating an optimized, professional-looking platform. Purchase a domain name that matches your brand, ideally a .com if available. Select reliable web hosting with optimal speed and uptime. Install WordPress or ecommerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. Design an on-brand, mobile-responsive theme that conveys your style. Include essential pages like Home, About, Contact, Services, Blog, and Shop. Set up email marketing and analytics to capture leads and track traffic data. Create visually branded assets such as logos, color palettes, fonts, and graphics. Ensure a cohesive user experience across all touchpoints. If you lack web development skills, consider hiring a freelance designer to bring your vision to life. Continually optimize your website for higher traffic, leads, and sales over time. This includes technical enhancements, user experience improvements, and page speed optimizations.

Creating High-Demand Products and Services: Delivering Value to Your Audience

The key to running a profitable online business is consistently creating products and services that deliver extreme value to your audience. Popular digital products you can create include online courses, eBooks, guides, checklists, software, premium memberships, virtual events, video tutorials, templates, and more. When brainstorming products, look for opportunities to simplify lives, save time, educate, entertain, or improve outcomes for your target customers. Leverage your expertise and tap into the skills of others to create premium offerings. High-value services like consulting, freelancing, coaching, and more can also be extremely lucrative. Promote your services through your website and social platforms. Structure your offerings to passively earn income over time, such as online courses that continually generate sales vs. 1-on-1 services that require ongoing effort. Deliver an excellent user experience across your products and relentlessly optimize based on feedback to foster raving fans who refer others.

Implementing Effective Marketing Strategies: Attracting Targeted Traffic

Once your online platform and offerings are ready, it's time to start attracting targeted traffic using proven marketing tactics. A diverse marketing mix is key. Some of the top strategies include: 1. Content Marketing: Create engaging blog posts, videos, and visual content. 2. SEO: Optimize your website for search engines through on-page optimization and link-building. 3. PPC Ads: Utilize platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for pay-per-click advertising. 4. Email Marketing: Build your email list with lead magnets, newsletters, and automation. 5. Social Media Marketing: Employ organic and paid tactics to engage your audience. 6. Affiliate Marketing: Recruit others to promote your products and earn commissions. 7. Influencer Partnerships: Collaborate with relevant influencers in your niche. 8. Live Events: Host local meetups or virtual events to connect with your audience. 9. Podcast Guest Appearances: Grow your authority and reach new audiences. 10. Retargeting Ads: Remarket to previous site visitors across the web. Start by focusing on 1-3 core channels, then expand your efforts over time. Pay-per-click and social ads can help quickly scale an audience, while SEO and content creation tend to be most cost-effective in the long-term. Leverage tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Business Suite, and landing page builders to optimize results across all campaigns. Don't hesitate to enlist help from digital marketing agencies and specialists.

Diversifying Revenue Streams for Maximum Profits: Building Financial Stability

Generating multiple streams of revenue is key for building a highly profitable online business. Diversification reduces risk and provides stability as each income channel goes through ups and downs. Here are some of the most lucrative online business revenue models: 1. Product/Service Sales: Your core monetization stream. Ensure competitive yet profitable pricing. 2. Advertising: Display ads, sponsorships, native advertising, etc. Set up Google Ad Manager. 3. Affiliate Marketing: Promote other company's products for commissions. Join affiliate networks. 4. Memberships/Subscriptions: Offer exclusive benefits, content, or tools for a monthly fee. 5. Events: Sell tickets for online or in-person events and training programs. 6. Dropshipping: Curate and sell products without holding inventory. 7. Physical Merchandise: Sell branded products with print-on-demand services. 8. Consulting/Freelancing: Sell your skills and expertise through 1-on-1 services. 9. Tip Jars/Donations: Allow fans to tip or donate to show support. Aim to generate income from both active efforts like service packages and passive streams like online courses that earn as you sleep. Automate processes wherever possible to scale income without increasing workload proportionally. Reinvest profits back into growing your business and diversifying income channels to create an unstoppable snowball effect over time.

Optimizing for Maximum Profitability Long-Term: Building a Sustainable Business

Launching a profitable online business is an important first step. However, creating systems and processes that enable high profitability long-term is vital for sustaining growth. Here are some best practices for optimizing operations and profitability: - Obsessively track KPIs and metrics for all marketing channels and funnels. Analyze data to optimize underperforming areas. - Create excellent customer support systems. Provide prompt, personalized support to increase satisfaction and referrals. - Automate repetitive tasks wherever possible with tools like Zapier. Automate lead collection, customer onboarding, analytics, inventory management, etc. - Systematize your product creation process to quickly test and validate new product ideas, then scale those that resonate. - Document your systems and processes so future hires can replicate them. This includes SOPs for customer service, product fulfillment, etc. - Build a skilled team over time by hiring virtual assistants, freelancers, agencies, and eventually full-time employees. Focus on higher-level strategy. - Maintain work-life balance as a long-term entrepreneur. Make time for adequate rest, leisure, and self-care to avoid burnout. By staying agile, embracing innovation, and relentlessly providing value to your audience, you can build an online business that delivers meaningful income for decades to come.

Conclusion: Turning Dreams into Reality

Starting and running a profitable online business takes consistent effort and persistence. However, by zeroing in on a niche, selecting the right model, crafting high-value offerings, implementing diverse marketing strategies, diversifying your revenue streams, and optimizing for maximum efficiency, you can build an online business that provides freedom and fulfillment for years to come. Remember to stay obsessively focused on understanding and serving your target audience. Combine your passion with grit, resilience, and creativity. With the right mindset and business foundations in place, you have immense potential to build a thriving online business that stands out and makes a lasting impact. The time to stop dreaming and start taking action is now. Follow this comprehensive guide to turn your online business idea into reality, step-by-step. You can build an online empire that allows you to live life on your terms. The possibilities are truly endless if you commit to continuous learning and improvement. Let this guide spark the fire within and set you on the path to online business success. Start pursuing your online entrepreneur dream today.

True successful story

To illustrate the principles and strategies discussed in this comprehensive guide, let's delve into the inspiring true story of Pat Flynn and his online business, Smart Passive Income. Smart Passive Income - About Pat Flynn Background: Pat Flynn was once an aspiring architect who unexpectedly found himself laid off during the economic downturn in 2008. Faced with uncertainty, he turned to the online world to seek alternative income sources. His journey began with a blog, which he aptly named Smart Passive Income (SPI). Selecting a Niche and Business Model: Pat recognized that there was a significant demand for information about creating online businesses and generating passive income. He was passionate about sharing his experiences, both successes and failures, and helping others navigate the world of online entrepreneurship. Pat's chosen niche was personal finance, but his business model extended beyond blogging. Building Your Online Platform and Brand: Pat invested in creating a professional-looking platform for SPI. He purchased a domain name, set up reliable web hosting, and designed an appealing website. His commitment to providing value was evident through the content he produced on his blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. His brand, Smart Passive Income, became synonymous with transparency, authenticity, and actionable advice. Creating High-Demand Products and Services: One of Pat's significant successes came from his creation of online courses and informational products. He developed courses on topics like email marketing, affiliate marketing, and podcasting, leveraging his expertise and audience trust. These products delivered immense value to his audience and contributed significantly to his income. Implementing Effective Marketing Strategies: Pat's marketing strategy was built on content marketing, podcasting, and email marketing. He consistently produced high-quality blog posts and podcasts, which not only attracted a dedicated audience but also positioned him as an industry expert. His email list grew as he offered valuable lead magnets and nurtured his subscribers. Diversifying Revenue Streams for Maximum Profits: Pat's income streams diversified over time. In addition to course sales, he earned from affiliate marketing, book sales, and speaking engagements. He also ventured into software development, creating tools like the Smart Podcast Player. This diversification provided stability and mitigated risk. Optimizing for Maximum Profitability Long-Term: Pat was relentless in optimizing his operations. He regularly analyzed data and user feedback to improve his products and content. His team expanded as the business grew, allowing him to focus on strategic decision-making. Pat prioritized work-life balance, emphasizing family and well-being. Conclusion: Pat Flynn's journey from unexpected job loss to the creation of a successful online business, Smart Passive Income, serves as an inspiring real-life example of the principles discussed in this guide. His dedication to providing value, commitment to continuous improvement, and willingness to diversify income streams are key takeaways for anyone aspiring to build a thriving online business. Pat's story reminds us that with the right mindset and a clear vision, online entrepreneurship can lead to a fulfilling and prosperous career.

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[navedahmedkhan]

Food ordering & delivery dilemma? A simple software solution can do all the hard work for you

Since ecommerce has started penetrating into the lives of people, the diversity of items being ordered and delivered online has been increasing. Online Food Delivery: A Growing Trend

Among the various products being delivered online is the food products. The changing lifestyles of people and the increased utilization of technology are the major factors driving consumers towards online food orders.

Nowadays, people find it difficult to cook food due to multiple reasons which include working at a workplace or preparing for a party in a short period of time. Getting the items delivered to their doorsteps has become the most preferred option among the people. Here technology is providing unparalleled convenience to consumers by letting them order food in a few clicks on their smartphones or laptops and get it delivered.

Online food ordering and delivery has turned out to be a boon not only for consumers but also for restaurants and small food outlets. The increasing number of food businesses going online indicates the same.

Revenue in the Online Food Delivery market is projected to reach US$1tn in 2023 and is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 12.78%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$2tn by 2027.

Having understood the importance of running online, food businesses are looking for the food delivery software that suits them best and gives them an edge in the fiercely growing market.

Here in this short blog, I will help you get rid of the dilemma of choosing the food delivery solution for your business. Food is a perishable item that loses its taste and quality if not delivered on time. Thus, it is not only necessary for businesses to consider smooth ordering but also quick delivery to determine their future. Critical Factors for Success: Key Features of Effective Food Delivery Software

Efficient Mobile Applications: In an age where the role of technology is paramount, running an online food business without utilizing mobile apps will take your business nowhere. Consumers could easily download the app on their smartphones and place orders for their favourite dishes in a few clicks. Similarly, for restaurants and delivery agents, their respective app ensures that they manage their functions smoothly. The apps for the restaurants allow the owners to upload the details of the products in bulk on a touch apart from accepting orders and marking the availability of food items. The driver app, used by delivery agents, displays the optimized route for safe and quick delivery.

Bringing Automation for Faster Delivery: Today, 10-minute delivery has become a trend. The time taken to deliver the food items determines the success of the business. This urgency has led to the emergence of hyperlocal ecommerce that depends upon small geographical areas and robust software to deliver the customers in a minimum time. Failing to achieve quick delivery will drift your customers to your rivals. Thus, to meet the customers’ expectations, the online food delivery software must be empowered with automation in the process to eliminate the time taken in doing manual tasks. For example, automatically assigning the delivery task to the most suitable agent is one of the characteristics of an efficient solution.

White-label Solution: Nowadays, the white-label food delivery solution has become the most preferred choice among businesses. An efficient solution must facilitate the branding of the online food delivery company instead of the software company. It ensures that the consumers get to see the name of the food business in their entire buying process.

Easy to Introduce New Features: The changing requirements in the market keep businesses on their toes. Various new features need to be added to the software for online food businesses to align with the market demands. The cloud-based food delivery software is best in this case as the onus of introducing new features lies on the software company rather than the delivery business. This ensures that the business owner delegates all the hard work to the software company and focuses himself towards business growth.

Multiple Online Payment Options: Transaction forms the most important part of any business. Different customers use different modes of payment methods to complete their purchases. Keeping note of this, the food delivery software is armed with several payment options like payment gateways, card payment, and cash on delivery, among others. Depending upon the restaurant’s requirement, they may choose the payment options to be available for the consumers to pay for their orders.

Promotional Tools: Retaining loyal customers and increasing the number of buyers is at the core of any business. For this, businesses put in lots of effort by utilizing various marketing strategies. Today, there is fierce competition in the online food delivery business and it is paramount to expand the customer base. For this to be achieved, modern food ordering software must come up with various in-built marketing tools like referral programs, loyalty rewards, and facilities to create discounts and offers. These promotional tools ensure the increase of cart value and maximise the profit margin.

Location-based Service: In the case of an online food business, quick delivery plays an essential role. A delayed delivery results in food losing its taste and thereby, leads to the shrinkage of customer base. To ensure timely delivery from the restaurant to the customer’s doorsteps, the food delivery software must display the restaurants that are closest to the customers first. Ordering from them will help in the delivery of the food item in a minimum time. Also, the restaurants must be able to mark the area of delivery such that the consumers can’t get the items delivered in that area. This feature helps in the odd times like during rain.

Free from Technicalities: Technicalities of food delivery software should not become a hindrance to the growth of a business. The software should be designed in a way that anyone, with or without technical expertise, can use it easily. This will act as a driving force for all the stakeholders including restaurants and consumers to make the best use of the software.

Final Words

To make a mark in the food delivery industry, just the intent of the business owner is not enough. It is the futuristic food delivery software that will play its role on an equal footing.

[flareai]

How Speaking Your Customer's Language Can Rocket Your Ecommerce Sales

The flareAI Helpful Guides Series for Mid-market & Small Ecommerce businesses 

A digital guru grew his monetization by 47% simply by catering to his multilingual audience, translating his website into multiple languages. 

If you are selling to the world, speak your customer’s language. 

But as an Ecommerce Merchant, with a small team and limited time, you would be intimidated as there are 1000s of languages, and translations used to cost a lot. Most of us are not digital gurus with a voluminous budget. 

Worry no more, here are three easy actionable tactics you can use to get the most eCommerce sales from your multi-language website budget.

Easy Actionable #1 Shortlist Top-5 Country-Language Pairs

Look up your order history understand where your buyers are coming from and prepare your top-4, sales-wise country and language. Example: United States-English, Japan-Japanese

Then, if you want to tap into a new market, add that country-language pair to the mix as well. Example: France-French

So now you have 5. But wait, then REMOVE from your 5 any pair that is not in the following list of big eCommerce spenders:

China

US

UK

Japan

South Korea

India

Germany

Indonesia

Canada

France

Voila! Now you have a  manageable list of 5 or fewer prioritized translation languages

Easy Actionable #2 Translations made Affordable

Prepare rough drafts using tools like Google Translator, chatGPT, or an app relevant to your platform such as Shopify Translate & Adapt. Hire a translation agency (make sure they use human translators), to give it a look over, correct, fine-tune for local culture and affinities.    

Easy Actionable #3 Add the Multi-language Pages to Your Store

Choose between two recommended alternate website structures to add the language.

Best for Mid-market Stores: Create top-level domains like .de for German, .fr for French

Best for Smaller Stores: Create subdirectories like /de/ or /fr/. Shopify uses this structure by default

If you want to do all these continually on autopilot for your Shopify store 

including the language and hreflang metatags, consider adding flareAI app

Grow your global sales continually.  

Welcome to the flareAI family!

Receive more, Follow flareAI

Get free sales from Google, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok & 20+ Free Sales Channels, on Autopilot: flareAI

If you found the content helpful consider supporting the Shopify Community with a Like + Comment

[fulfillplex]

Strong Print on Demand Online Store | Marketing Strategies

You are no stranger to marketing if you have a successful offline business. However, strategies for driving traffic to your online store can be a completely different beast. You’ll be able to reach more potential buyers than ever before with your print on demand online store, and you’ll have complete control over their shopping experience. To make the most of all your channels, you must consider how to drive traffic to your website and how to implement marketing between your online store and your offline businesses.

TOP MARKETING TECHNIQUES FOR YOUR PRINT ON DEMAND ONLINE STORE

1. Increase your organic social presence.

You’ll want to take advantage of every opportunity to increase your digital engagement with your print on demand online business. Giving a little extra love to your social media channels and making sure they’re stocked with vibrant images and engaging videos is one of the simplest and most effective ways. However, if you already have a strong presence on social media with a core audience, now is the time to expand. Increase your posts and spend a little more time creating rich visual content and short, engaging videos. Increasing engagement with your followers increases the likelihood of brand awareness. Furthermore, make certain that your online presence is appropriate for your target customers.

2. Make use of your email list.

Even in a physical store, a strong email marketing strategy is essential. Gather as many email addresses as possible from customers, prospective customers, people interested in your events, and so on. When you launch, you’ll be able to send an email to all of those people. You can inform them that they can now shop online at your store. Consider offering a promotion to those on your email list or a referral discount to encourage customers to share your site with friends and family. Email remains one of the most effective marketing tools in the eCommerce toolbox, so continue to collect email addresses on your site.

3. Try using Google Ads.

Using Google Ads for search engine marketing allows you to bid on keywords first on search engine results pages. Obtaining the coveted “top spot” is the goal of search engine optimization. Search engine marketing is an excellent way to promote your website because it requires no design and can effectively drive new traffic. You’ll get results in real-time and be able to adjust your campaign strategies as you go based on performance.

4. Collaborate with complementary brands.

Form alliances with other businesses to cross-promote. Find a company with a similar target audience but a different product. As a result, each business partner reaches a completely new and relevant audience. For example, if you sell ketogenic foods, a relevant partnership could be with a brand that specializes in keto supplements and oils. Actual cross-promotion methods vary, and there are ways to do it at every level of the funnel.

Co-sponsoring an outdoor living podcast or blog is an example of a top-of-funnel activity. A co-branded gift guide could be a great initiative depending on the time of year. You could also do down-funnel promotions, such as offering a discount on one product in exchange for purchasing another. Partnering with a print on demand company that sells print on demand products are the best and easiest way to do this.

5. Make use of your physical store.

If your physical store has a strong brand and a loyal following, you can use your in-person interactions with customers to drive traffic to your new online store. You can use non-intrusive methods to keep customers engaged with your brand even after leaving the store. It may include asking them to sign up for your email list at checkout, informing them about your customer loyalty program if you have one, and drawing their attention to social media advertisements you’re running that they might want to follow. Consider providing flyers with promotion codes that they can share with friends and family.

CONCLUSION

Selling print on demand products online for the first time or expanding your online presence to become a vital retail channel may appear daunting, but it is more than doable if you take it one step at a time. Maintain consistency, be patient, and avoid becoming overwhelmed by doing too much at once. Follow the marketing strategies listed above that you believe will yield the best results for your company. Then, as you begin to see results, tweak and adjust. Check out this extra tips: Secrets to Boost Your Print on Demand Business Sales in 2022

Fulfillplex is the company to contact if you need assistance selling products online. We provide the best print on demand services, including inventory, labeling, packing, and shipping. A top eCommerce fulfillment company like us is exactly what you need to ensure the success of your online store. Get in touch with us to find out more.

[b2bindianportal]

B2B Portal in India

B2B E- Commerce Platform

The relevance of B2B e-commerce to a company’s marketing and sales strategy is simple. E-commerce websites increase the company’s visibility in the digital world and make it easier for them to reach out to their target audience. Taking into account that the B2B market is a lot bigger than the B2C market, companies have ample potential to achieve success.

It's no longer difficult nowadays, thanks to the accessibility of niche b2b portals that can help business owners get started with an e-commerce website. These portals provide all the support needed for developing, designing and managing an e-commerce website, at a fraction of what it cost traditional entrepreneurs.

The e-commerce websites that are specifically designed for businesses to buy and sell with other businesses, generically known as B2B portals.

There are many benefits that come with using B2B e-commerce, such as reduced overhead costs and a higher customer lifetime value.

B2B e-commerce often has different considerations from B2C sites in terms of design, features, and functionality.

A Complete Guide to B2B E-Commerce Platforms and Strategies Used Today

Introduction to B2B E-Commerce

E-commerce can be defined as buying or selling of wares or services over the internet. Some researchers believe that ecommerce shall replace some of the traditional business models in the future. This is due to the convenience and wide range of products it offers in comparison to physical stores.

B2B ecommerce is a way for companies to buy and sell products or services between themselves without involving third party sellers. Additionally, many b2b businesses are now turning into b2b marketplaces where they focus on developing their own platform instead of selling products from other sellers.

Targeting the Right Audience

A go vertical strategy is a business strategy that focuses on a specific market for a business to grow. By targeting customers in one particular group, the company can hope to grow in that area and keep expanding.

When a company decides to go vertical, they do not want this segmentation to interfere with the purpose of their business. It is important for them to maintain their original idea and goals while adapting them for a specific niche.

A successful go vertical strategy will have all of the pieces necessary for success: it's clear who you're going after, what you're offering them, why they should buy from you, how your product will solve their problem, etc.

How to Make Selling Easier with Automation Tools and Efforts

Automation tools are great for streamlining processes and eliminating unnecessary human efforts. They free up time and also promote efficiency in work. A web automation tool is a software that is used to automate repetitive tasks that can be executed via the web. There are many types of tasks that this tool can help you with, such as filling out forms, collecting data from websites, generating email leads and more. The automation tools used by marketers often include: - Email Autoresponders- Landing pages- Marketing automation software (for example Marketo, Pardot or Nimble)- Web scraping software that can analyse data from websites and extract it in a simple or complex manner (for example Zapier, IFTTT or Google Sheets)

Getting Better Results with Dynamic Retargeting Strategies

Retargeting is an important step in the customer lifecycle for any e-commerce business. It can be used to promote new products, boost sales, and encourage repeat visits.

Retargeting is a type of marketing that reaches out to shoppers with ads based on their browsing history. Shoppers are shown products they've visited before with the goal of generating a sale from the previous visitor.

Some popular retargeting platforms are AdRoll, Facebook, and Google Ads Retargeting (GAR). GAR provides cost-effective ways for e-commerce businesses to target potential customers and increase conversions.

Is Your B2B Marketing Strategy Up To Date?

Having a B2B marketing strategy often means that you have to have an entire team of people (or at least one) in charge of executing it. It also means thinking about who your target audience is, how to find them, and how to convince them to buy from you.

A successful strategy is built from an understanding of the company’s own capabilities and limitations. You need to know what resources you have, as well as what skills your employees possess before putting together a plan.

[teamsuccesso]

Phrase Match vs Broad Match vs Exact Match: Choosing the Right PPC Keyword Strategy

In the world of PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising, one key element determines the success of your campaigns: the choice of keyword match type. Google Ads, Bing Ads, and other platforms offer three primary match types: Broad Match, Phrase Match, and Exact Match. Each of these plays a distinct role in how your ad appears in search results, which impacts visibility, targeting precision, and ultimately, conversion rates. Understanding these options helps you choose the best match type for PPC advertising that aligns with your marketing goals and budget.

What are Keyword Match Types in PPC?

Keyword match types allow advertisers to control which searches trigger their ads, making it easier to target relevant audiences and reduce ad spend waste. Here’s a breakdown of the three main types:

Broad Match

Phrase Match

Exact Match

Each has unique advantages, so let’s dive into the specifics of each one.

1. Broad Match: Maximum Reach but Less Precision

Broad Match is the default setting in most PPC campaigns and casts the widest net. With broad match keywords, Google shows your ads for any searches that are related to your keywords, regardless of the order or presence of other terms. This match type includes synonyms, misspellings, and related searches.

For example, if your broad match keyword is “digital marketing services,” your ad could appear for searches like “online marketing services,” “digital marketing tips,” or even “social media advertising.”

Pros:

High Reach: Allows you to reach a broad audience.

Great for Brand Awareness: Broad match is useful for introducing a product or service to a wider audience.

Cons:

Low Precision: Ads may appear for unrelated searches, increasing ad spend.

Less Cost-Effective: This match type can lead to wasted clicks from irrelevant queries, impacting your return on ad spend (RoAS).

When to Use Broad Match: Broad match is effective when your goal is to maximize reach and brand awareness rather than focusing on high conversion rates. Partnering with a Google Ads marketing agency can help refine your broad match strategy to ensure better targeting and reduced waste.

2. Phrase Match: A Balanced Approach for Targeted Searches

Phrase Match is more restrictive than broad match but still offers some flexibility. Ads appear only when users search for your exact keyword phrase, but additional words may be present before or after it. The order of the keywords in phrase match is essential, meaning that your ad won’t appear if the user’s search query rearranges your phrase.

For instance, if your keyword is “PPC management services,” your ad could show up for “affordable PPC management services” or “PPC management services for eCommerce,” but not for “management services PPC.”

Pros:

Better Targeting: Helps reach an audience with more specific intent.

Increased Relevance: Ensures your ad is shown to users whose searches are more closely aligned with your services.

Cons:

Moderate Reach: Limited compared to broad match but with more relevance.

When to Use Phrase Match: Phrase match is ideal when your focus is on attracting users with relevant intent who are more likely to convert, balancing reach and specificity. A Google PPC agency can help optimize your phrase match campaigns for the best results.

3. Exact Match: Precision for High-Intent Searches

Exact Match is the most restrictive option and offers the highest level of control over your ads. With exact match, your ad will appear only when users search for the exact keyword or close variants (e.g., minor misspellings or plurals) of it. This match type avoids triggering ads for related keywords, synonyms, or word variations.

If your keyword is “SEO services Bangalore,” only searches for “SEO services Bangalore” or “SEO service Bangalore” will trigger your ad, not “SEO agency Bangalore” or “SEO expert in Bangalore.”

Pros:

High Precision: Targets high-intent users likely to be interested in your specific service or product.

Cost Efficiency: Minimizes wasted clicks from irrelevant searches, optimizing your ad spend.

Cons:

Limited Reach: The most restrictive match type, which may limit the number of impressions.

When to Use Exact Match: Exact match is perfect for campaigns with a limited budget, where targeting precision is critical for high-value conversions. Enlisting a Google Ads marketing agency can ensure your exact match campaigns target the right audience for maximum ROI.

How to Choose the Right Match Type for Your Campaign Goals

The choice between broad match, phrase match, and exact match should align with your specific goals and budget:

For Awareness Campaigns: Broad match works well, allowing your brand to reach a wide audience.

For Targeted Conversions: Phrase match offers a balanced approach, reaching users with higher relevance while still capturing a reasonable audience size.

For High-Value Leads: Exact match is the most effective, ensuring your ads appear only to users with the highest intent.

Many successful PPC campaigns utilize a mix of match types to optimize reach and control. Consulting with a Google PPC agency can help you find the perfect balance for your campaign goals.

Optimize Your PPC Strategy with TeamSuccesso

At TeamSuccesso, we specialize in creating effective PPC campaigns that maximize your advertising budget by targeting the right audience. As a leading Google Ads marketing agency, we ensure your keywords, match types, and strategies work together seamlessly to deliver optimal results. Whether you’re looking to improve visibility with broad match or drive high-intent leads with exact match, our experts will design a custom strategy tailored to your business goals.

Contact TeamSuccesso, your trusted Google PPC agency, to elevate your campaigns and reach your ideal customers with precision and efficiency.

Conclusion: Phrase Match vs Broad Match vs Exact Match in PPC

Understanding the differences between phrase match, broad match, and exact match is essential for running successful PPC campaigns. Each match type has unique benefits, and choosing the right one for your business depends on your marketing objectives, budget, and target audience.

By leveraging the strengths of each match type and collaborating with a trusted Google Ads marketing agency, you can create a PPC strategy that boosts both reach and conversion rates, ensuring optimal ROI.

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