Category: Retail

Sourcing Energy-Efficient Products For The Long Cold Winter

Posted on October 21, 2022 by - Retail

woman keeping warm

When sourcing new products to sell, it’s important to consider current consumer trends. Buying habits have shifted dramatically in response to rising fuel costs and ongoing economic uncertainty, according to a recent report by the UK-based online marketplace OnBuy. The report suggests that the British buying public is making shrewd buying decisions to help them save money on their energy bills this winter. What Are People Buying? Data from the online marketplace shows that items, including radiator reflectors, draught excluders, and air fryers, have soared by thousands of percent in recent weeks. Other current big sellers include clothes dryers and airers, which have soared by more than 6000% as households avoid using energy-guzzling tumble dryers, and sales of electric blankets… Read more »

Marketing A BigCommerce Store in 2019 – 5 Most Effective Techniques

Posted on June 17, 2019 by - Bigcommerce, Marketing, Retail

marketing for BigCommerce Stores

Marketing a BigCommerce store, it’s always important to keep consistent branding. From your products to your customer service responses. Branding goes far beyond adding your logo to everything. But when marketing a BigCommerce store, it’s easy to get lost in the numbers and forget the importance of making a good first impression. The most important part of your customers’ experience is the first impression, followed by your effort to continue that experience through the course of their buying journey. We are going to go through some marketing trends that are making a real impact in e-commerce. You can test these trends out for yourself – no extra spending needed!   Focus on the new generation   Generation Z were born between… Read more »

Positioning Your Store In A Crowded Market

Posted on May 28, 2019 by - Bigcommerce, Frooition, Marketing, Retail, Shopify, Strategies

crowded market

With more and more brands and retailers selling online, customers are spoilt for choice. If you want them to choose to buy from you, it’s essential to distinguish your business from the competition. Positioning a business in its own unique space can be achieved using a combination of two approaches. A business can differentiate based on: Products they offer The audience they target Overheads of traditional retail would make operating in a small niche unprofitable. However, in the digital era, it’s entirely possible to work with clients around the globe. There are enough customers for even the smallest niche sellers to build a thriving business. It’s just a case of attracting them. Building a brand   A brand is more… Read more »

Telling Your E-commerce Brand Story

Posted on February 19, 2019 (Updated February 20, 2019) by - Frooition, Marketing, Retail, Strategies

brand story

If you’re part of a growing e-commerce business, or have grown an e-commerce business from scratch, you’ll be familiar with the challenges of wearing multiple hats, juggling dispatch and customer enquiries whilst trying to attract more customers online. We get accustomed to doing everything as fast as possible. There’s always a new immediate task to be dealt with, and sales is a fire that needs constant stoking. Therefore, marketing is focused on the fastest return on investment. Creativity and branding get pushed aside as a luxury that you never have the time or budget to focus on. Why do you need a brand story? Having worked in content marketing and branding for many years, the one thing I see time… Read more »

Advice For Contacting Dropshipping Suppliers On Ali Express

Posted on December 10, 2018 by - dropshipping, Retail, Strategies

contacting dropshipping suppliers on Ali Express

So you’ve decided you’re interested in dropshipping. You’ve done your research, you’re aware of the pitfalls, and you’ve chosen a product niche. Now all you need is to find a supplier. Manufacturers are able to offer you the cheapest price on goods, leaving you greater profit margins. For this reason, when looking for a dropshipping supplier, you should try to work with a manufacturer, if possible.  Unfortunately, manufacturers tend to be some of the least marketing savvy people in e-commerce, and so more difficult to find through search. Most of the suppliers who rank well in search or advertise well are in fact middle men. Most manufacturers will be on Ali Express though. That’s why Ali express is the first… Read more »

Mistakes To Avoid When You Start Dropshipping

Posted on December 4, 2018 (Updated June 14, 2023) by - Bigcommerce, E-commerce, eBay, Retail, Shopify

dropshipping mistakes

Dropshipping can be tricky to get right and be profitable, avoid these common mistakes: 1 – Check Shipping Times BEFORE Choosing Which Countries to Sell To. A lot of beginners see that a seller on Ali Express ships worldwide, and so list the item with worldwide shipping without further thought. This is a huge mistake. Why?  Because the Ali Express supplier is dealing with businesses, not consumers. They can send items to any country, but it may take 20-40 days for an item to arrive. For businesses buying in bulk and making considerable savings, waiting may be an option, but for your customers, it is not. We strongly recommend as a beginner focusing on countries with shorter shipping times of… Read more »

Strategic Discounting For E-Commerce

Posted on November 20, 2018 by - E-commerce, Marketing, Retail, Strategies

strategic discounting e-commerce

We are moving into the busiest season of the retail year. Previously known as the holiday season, the period between November and New year is now referred to in retail as discounting season. Customers are bombarded with Black Friday deals and 24-hour flash sales. They’re spoilt for choice and expect an incentive to buy. Many brands feel pushed into offering big discounts at this highly competitive time of year. That’s unavoidable. But relying on discounting long term only creates a race to the bottom in pricing. It costs 5x less to retain customers than acquire new ones. Discounts attract new traffic to your website and will create a spike in one-time e-commerce sales. But constant discounts are not a viable… Read more »

Halloween E-Commerce Preparation

Posted on October 1, 2018 by - E-commerce, Frooition, Retail, Strategies

Halloween e-commerce preparation

Trick or treat, costumes, jack o’ lanterns; Halloween is a fun and exciting time of year. Extra exciting for e-commerce entrepreneurs because Halloween is the start of the holiday sales period. A well thought out Halloween marketing campaign can make for a great start to what’s the busiest period of any retailer’s year. Here are 5 preperation points for growing sales this Halloween. Give Gifts The holiday season is discount season. Discounts can get so commonplace that people are no longer motivated by discount offers. They start to feel like they can find discounts on any store during the holidays. Sometimes gifting an extra product or sample is more of an incentive to buy. A tangible gift, something free that… Read more »

Black Friday e-commerce marketing plan 2018

Posted on September 17, 2018 (Updated September 20, 2018) by - Bigcommerce, E-commerce, Retail, Shopify, Strategies

Black Friday e-commerce marketing plan

This year, Black Friday (November 23, 2018) will kick off a shopping season that will create 30% of total sales revenue for the year. Over a hundred million of us will abandon the comfort of the sofa to drag ourselves out into the cold and brave shopping in the Black Friday sales. Almost one-quarter of all Black Friday retail shoppers are willing to camp out in anticipation of Black Friday, and even more will shop online. Last year Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping increased to $7.9 billion – a 17.9% increase on the previous year! Mobile spending alone totals over $1 billion in sales on Black Friday. With spending increasing year on year, Black Friday through to Cyber Monday looks… Read more »

Preparing your business for Small Business Saturday

Posted on October 31, 2017 by - E-commerce, Retail, Strategies

Small business Saturday

What is Small Business Saturday? Black Friday and Cyber Monday tend to be dominated by big businesses. Small Business Saturday was introduced by American Express, in an attempt to redress the balance. Initially introduced in the US 7 years ago, an impressive 72 percent of U.S. consumers now know about Small Business Saturday. In 2016, an estimated112 million shoppers showed their support for small businesses on the seventh annual Small Business Saturday, setting a new record for the retail event in the US. Introduced to the UK five years ago, last year’s event in the UK is estimated to have earned smaller businesses an additional £717m of sales, up 15 percent on 2015. This year’s small business Saturday will be… Read more »