EBizInsider

Author Archive

In October, it’s costumes. In November, it’s turkeys. In June, it’s grills. In December, well, you know.

Seasonal products may only be hot at only certain times of the year, but running a seasonal e-commerce business is a year-round task.

Halloween is approaching, but online costume shops have been busy since January. Tamir Nadborny of CostumeKingdom.com and StarWarsKingdom.com prepares for next year’s Halloween early.

“For us it begins in January. There really is no off-time,” he said.

“It’s year-round prep,” says Cynthia Ryan of ChildrensCostumesExpress.com. “I need to know what movie characters are hot because I don’t want to get stuck with a dud.” She usually starts ordering in January.

“It’s not rocket science, but it’s an art form,” Nadborny says. “You have to know the hot sellers and stock them. The earlier you order, the earlier you can figure out what the trends are and get more allocation. That way, when everyone wants the hot costume, you have it,” Nadborny said. “We order very early in the year because the manufacturers need lead time to project their sales so they can deliver all the goods.”

Ryan says that last year Transformers and Hannah Montana wigs were huge.

“I could have sold a thousand of them if I had them in stock.” she said.

Nadborny banked on consistent Star Wars appeal and opened a niche costume shop.

“Star Wars is consistent year after year. And this year with the release of the animated series they are introducing a lot of new characters. The manufacturers required new licenses to update the older ones around movie releases. It gives a fresh look to a brand that has been out there 30 years. We definitely stock a ton of Star Wars items.”

Ryan says when Sesame Street’s Abbey Cadabby party invitations began to sell out at her local Target she realized it would be a costume trend this year. “There are princess parties year-round,” said Ryan.

Dressing up is not just for Halloween after all. “When there are summer movie releases, there is always a rush for those costumes, like with Iron Man or the Hulk,” said Ryan.

“Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mardi Gras, Easter and then it’s Halloween again,” said Nadborny. “There are Renaissance Fairs and kids love to wear costumes year-round. Volume gets heavy in the middle of September and goes more haywire everyday.”

Robert Marshall owns ChristmasMouse.com and plans early. Way early. He does his e-commerce tweaking right after the New Year.

“Our ordering is 75% complete in January,” he said. “We like to do something with Solid Cactus to improve our site in January and February, and then in March we add new items,” he said

Seasonal Marketing

Nadborny says e-mail marketing has been effective for his costume stores.

“You constantly have to keep in touch with customers through e-mail. We do aggressive off-season promotions and restructure our website. We promote other holidays that provide a chance for business,” he said.

“I don’t spend much on advertising in the off-months,” says Ryan. “If I do something earlier, it’s usually with a focus on one costume,” she said. “I gear toward party themes during the off-times. I look in the stores to see what invitations they are pushing.”

After the Season

Halloween costumes change yearly. So what do stores do after the celebrations and costume parties pass? Have sales,
of course!

“I try not to go crazy with discounts because people still buy them for Christmas gifts. If shoppers can’t find a costume in a store after Halloween,” says Ryan, “they hit the web and they find it.”

“The end of season is one of the most aggressive in our field,” says Nadborny. “Come November, we slash probably about 60-70%. We got an order yesterday for $350 worth of clearances.”

Marshall’s retails shops are year-round Christmas stores stocking about 30,000 items—and trends in Christmas items are pretty consistent. Two popular exceptions: icicle lights and fiber optic trees.

Ryan leaves other seasonal stores with some advice:

“Try not to think of it as a seasonal item- there is always somebody out there looking for what you have!”

How can small businesses find great
rates on healthcare? On shipping? On other ancillary services? Trade associations have long been the answer to bringing those in a particular trade or industry together to advance the industry, as well as to pool resources for shared benefits among members.

In 2005, online merchants were for the
first time able to join a trade association geared toward e-commerce with the formation of the E-Commerce Merchants Trade Association, or ECMTA.

According to ECMTA.org, the organization was formed when a small group of online merchants got together to share ideas on improving their business. The group quickly acknowledged that learning how to optimize every aspect of a business was virtually impossible for a small business, so they decided to rely upon each others’ expertise. ECMTA proudly claims to be the only trade association dedicated to educating small to medium-sized online merchants on how to grow their businesses for very low monthly membership fees.

Cresta Pillsbury, Executive Vice President for Business Development for ECMTA, says since 2005, the association has evolved to include more and more benefits.

“Over the past year the organization
has formalized its Partnership program, which is like a Consumer Reports for Internet vendors,” she said. “The organization has worked hard to compile a comprehensive list of the industry leaders and negotiate special offers and pricing for our members so they get the best service and rates available.”

Special pricing is key for independent merchants. ECMTA is able to use its muscle to negotiate rates for services such as shipping, payment processing and other pertinent e-commerce necessities.

“The benefits of joining E-Commerce Merchants are numerous and we’re adding more regularly,” said Pillsbury. “I think the most popular include our merchant processing deal with Pivotal Payments and our BoldChat deal is also very popular. We recently introduced a special Control Scan offer for website security about which we are very excited. Plus, since we’ve already negotiated the best rates with our benefits providers, our members receive the most competitive pricing available.”

Aside from special pricing, ECMTA provides educational materials and events for its members. Pillsbury says that since 2005, the association has held over a dozen events in cities around the country and even Australia.

“Our events are a way for merchants to interact with the people they know ‘virtually’ in an intimate and professional setting,” she said. “Our members want to learn about improving their businesses all year-round, not just when they attend a conference. That is why we host an interactive community website that includes a very active chat board. We also send newsletters and host webinars and conference calls on a regular basis.”

So, who is a good candidate to benefit from ECMTA? According to Pillsbury, everyone in e-commerce should take a look.

“Most of our members are busy executives, many are do-it-all entrepreneurs and all of them are interested in being more efficient with their time,” she says. “E-Commerce Merchants helps them locate the best tools for optimizing their businesses. Anyone who is using the Internet to promote a business or to sell a product will benefit from joining E-Commerce Merchants.”

“Our goal is for every small business to enjoy the benefits of membership in E-Commerce Merchants. We plan to continue providing valuable services and benefits to any merchant interested in improving e-commerce,” she added.

While it’s true that there is strength in numbers, it is important to be part of the right numbers to truly benefit. If you’re an e-commerce operator, chances are you need help somewhere. The ECMTA may have the answers you seek.

Fish. Chocolate. Cheese. Cookies. Steak.

These are all delicious, edible items that can be purchased online. However, shipping perishables can pose a real challenge to etailers.

There are several features and policies to combat the challenge of shipping perishable items. Other features help customers understand these processes and requirements.

SHIPPING AND HANDLING

The way items are packaged and the time they spend en route determine their condition when they arrive.

Packaging

Pam Macharola of BlairCandy.com sells and ships many treats with melt-potential — chocolate, gummies, taffy, mints, gum and more.

“We’ve tried everything! Right now we use a gel ice pack that was designed so it doesn’t sweat next to the item. These only last 48 hours max,” she said. “We are about to offer dry ice, so now we are going to have two options.”

CountryCupboardCookie.com’s Judy Wittig packages baked goods direct from the oven to
ensure freshness.

“Our cookies and brownies are baked from scratch without preservatives. We spend a lot of effort so that the packages arrive as fresh and delicious as possible,” she said. “Cookies are baked, packaged in heat sealed bags within an hour or two, gift-boxed and shipped that
same day.”

Andrew Dimino runs five websites based
out of Nevada, four of them food related. The most affected by the elements is LowCarbChocolates.com.

“We go out of our way to say in big, bold letters in multiple places, that chocolate will melt in certain areas (of the country),” said Dimino. “We tell our customers that we have been in business nine years and we know that chocolate melts in the summer.”

The warehouse at LowCarbChocolates.com dons a big map of the United States, where Dimino’s staff displays where the weather is hot.

“We look at routes the different products will take. As the temperatures change, we determine what states need ice packs. In the December Holiday Rush for example, we know that we still need ice packs to Florida and Arizona, but nowhere else in the country. As the year goes on, we change the maps,” he said.

Shipping Limitations

Timing also determines how items will arrive. Most etailers avoid shipping perishable goods for Saturday deliveries.

“We avoid shipping over the weekend unless the gift will arrive on Monday, also within 2-3 business days,” said Wittig.

BlairCandy.com uses a similar method. “We ship on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for most areas. We spend a lot of time in the hot months looking at the area it’s going to and what they ordered,” said Macharola.

Many etailers require next day air during hot months for certain items. Management tools like Shipping Manager by Solid Cactus (http://www.solidcactus.com/shipping-manager.html) creates item level rules for cases like this, which would restrict shipping methods. This prevents the customer from selecting an unsafe method in case the etailer does not catch it.

Dimino also requires overnight or second day air delivery on perishable items going to hot climates.

“We would love our product to arrive in perfect condition, but it is impossible unless its expedited,” he said.

Restricting Items in Warm Weather

Sometimes it just boils down to making certain items unavailable at certain times of the year.

“During the summer months we have a
few items that we do not ship, like our
Belgian chocolate fudge and butter cream frosted brownies,” said Judy Wittig of CountryCupboardCookie.com.

BlairCandy.com makes certain products temporarily unavailable for ordering, but on the item page notates that the item is in stock, but they will not ship.

Dimino’s flagship site, CarbSmart.com has another weather limitation, this time in the cold weather. His popular DaVinci sugar-free syrups come in glass bottles that burst when they get too cold.

“The first few years, every winter we knew that we would lose 24-36 bottles. For the first six years of business it was an acceptable loss. Two years ago, we had 120 bottles break; that’s why we changed our policy to not ship in winter,” he said, adding that each fall he has a sale prompting customers to stock up.

INFORMING THE CONSUMER

Informing customers of potential shipping issues is a must. Wittig explains that etailers who stand by their policies shouldn’t have a problem.

“We are honest with our customers. Once they understand the reason for the sometime restrictive shipping policies, they are appreciative of our attention to the freshness of their gift,” she said.

Shipping Policy Page

All e-commerce sites should have a shipping policy page prominently linked from the header and/or footer. Moving seasonal restrictions to the top of the page will ensure they are not overlooked.

FoilWrappedChocolates.com has an entire section on “hot weather shipping.” It includes a link to the Weather Channel’s website to tell customers the temperature along the delivery route.

Shipping Policy Pop-up

The item page can also feature a Shipping Policy Pop-up, for shipping policies on a particular item.

“Our newly designed website by Solid Cactus offers a shipping policy pop-up page with rates, policies and options. This is a great feature as it keeps the customer from leaving the page, utilizing the pop-up,” said Wittig.

BlairCandy.com goes a step further with a pop-in.

“The customer cannot get past the pop-in and check-out without acknowledging they read the message and clicking through. We can say ‘We warned you ahead of time,’” Macharola explained.

BlairCandy.com also has a shipping graphic on their homepage linking them to a page with the seasonal and weather-related shipping issues.

LowCarbChocolates.com also has a required acknowledgement.

“During check-out, customers have to check a box that says they understand the shipping policy. We have to do that,” Dimino explains. “We had the policy four years, only had the check-box this year.”

Use of Customer Service Department

FoilWrappedChocolates.com invites customers to call their customer service line when choosing shipping based on geography and temperature. Having a customer service line in the header is especially important when there could be an influx of incoming calls.

This time of year, Macharola reports that about 50% of the customer service calls at Blair Candy are for one question: “Will this melt?”

SALES AND PROMOTIONS

As an internal way to manage the melting issue, LowCarbChocolates.com has a few annual promotions aimed at pushing to sell the chocolates before the weather gets too hot.

“We have a big sale in the spring, before summer comes. We say, ‘Load up now, here’s a big discount, order everything you need for summer now,” said Dimino. “After summer we have another sale as a welcome back, that summer’s over.”

When it’s all said and done, mistakes still can happen when shipping chocolate. Perhaps Dimino says it best:

“It’ll still taste great, just won’t be in the same shape,” he joked.

REMEMBER CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Even though the holidays happen in traditionally cold weather throughout most of the United States, shipping gift baskets to places that are warm and sunny year-round can still pose a problem. Dimino says paying attention to the weather on the holiday gift delivery route is still important.

“Even though chocolate will be less likely to melt in the winter in some cases we still have to require second day or overnight; winter in Miami is still warm,” said Dimino.

In any industry, it is crucial to keep up with the latest trends, buzz and how successful companies are, well, successful. In the
ever-changing landscape of
e-commerce, it’s even more
important to stay current.

There are many ways
to gain more knowledge:

• E-commerce Magazines & Ezines

• Marketing Research Reports & Whitepapers

• Conferences & Summits

• Forums & Communities

• Trade Publications based on your specific area

We recommend tapping the following resources to stay schooled in e-commerce.

Internet Retailer

The Internet Retailer show in Chicago in June is king at educating those in E-commerce about industry trends. Their monthly, glossy print magazine is free and all content is available online as well. IR also offers various newsletters that blast out daily, usually a grouping for top stories based on a certain theme, such as SEO or news from IR500 etailers.

In addition to daily updates and a monthly print magazine, IR also publishes the annual Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide– the 2008 copy was just released last month. This report highlights the Top 500 E-commerce sites and provides a detailed analysis of average order size, search engine rankings and conversion rates. There is a reason these 500 sites are raking in the most dough from online shoppers. Learn from them. The IR Top 500 Guide is $65.

The 2009 IR show will be in Boston, so mark your calendars.

Website Magazine

Website Magazine is a free print and web magazine aimed at helping people run successful online businesses, increasing traffic and in general keeping people updated on the latest industry trends. The magazine is divided into basic areas and offers forums, a daily blog and an archive of past articles.

E-commerce Times

The E-commerce Times network of news sites keeps readers informed on the latest news in E-commerce and technology. Updated daily, it offers news on big players in the industry, as well as e-commerce trends. Its main page offers the headlines on its sister newsletters, too. E-commerce Times also features various white papers that pertain to e-commerce, as well as an archive of past news stories. The online resource also can be delivered via e-mail. Visit ecommercetimes.com to read up.

Search Marketing Standard Magazine

Searchmarketingstandard.com focuses solely on online marketing and in fact, is the leading publication in search marketing. Search Marketing Standard, which also has a print version, has a very clean and well-organized website with resources divided into a dozen important categories.

Marketing Sherpa -

Have you ever heard of Marketing Sherpa? If you haven’t, you are missing out on one of the best e-commerce resources available. Marketing Sherpa provides numerous research and reports for a variety of industries, but pertaining to e-commerce, they really excel. Its annual report, The E-commerce Benchmark Guide is considered by many to be the e-commerce bible. If your developer has never heard of Marketing Sherpa, run away.

In the 2007 report, there is data from over 1900 e-commerce sites, survey results from over 2400 online shoppers, heat map studies which show how the eye looks at a website and in the mix of lots of content, there are hundreds of charts and graphs. This guide shows why people buy online and most importantly, why they don’t buy online. No etailer should be without this annual guide. For that data contained in Marketing Sherpa’s report, the $279 investment pays for itself.

Industry Events

E-commerce folks can really rack up the flyer miles by attending the many events happening each year. Solid Cactus just spent most of June at these shows, including IR and Ebay Live.

Remember to look outside e-commerce for conferences. Many shows are specific to your vertical industry you sell, for example, pets, gifts or electronics. Attending an annual pet product show can show you what others in your vertical are doing.

Forums

Reaching out to your peers in the industry is a great way to keep up with trends. There are dozens of forums out there and our favorite, the forum at ebizInsider.com has been getting quite a bit of buzz lately.

What Are You Reading?

Share your ideas and suggestions at the Ebiz Insider Forums.

A few dozen recruits. A daily schedule. Hot meals. Yep. All the makings of a
Boot Camp. But this was not a traditional “Give me 50! Now!” style boot camp. Instead, it was a three-day long E-commerce extravaganza.

A few times each year, Solid Cactus
hosts its E-commerce Boot Camp, an event that displays the company’s vested interest in continuing to educate and inform its clients on the latest and greatest in e-commerce.

The Spring E-commerce Boot Camp drew a varied troop of e-commerce folks. Some were total e-commerce newbies, who were looking to launch their first online store. Others were veterans who have had online stores for a decade or more. Still others own brick-and-mortar stores, too. The clients came from across the US and Canada and the industries were also varied– food, vitamins, health and beauty products, clothing, candy, custom gifts, pet supplies, awards and more.

Despite our different locales and perspectives, everyone was at Boot Camp to learn. The clients learn from the Solid Cactus staff. Clients learn from each other. Solid Cactus learns from its clients. Every day is a school day in e-commerce, and Boot Camp is an extension of that.

The Latest and
Greatest in E-commerce

Between 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, there were 17 sessions, from e-commerce basics to what’s hot and new in the industry.

The sessions included:

• Trust-commerce/Creative Value

• Advanced Features that Make the Sale

• Social Media & Viral Marketing

• Personalizing the Web Experience

• How to Plan for a Redesign

• Alternative Marketing Methods to Help You Grow Online

• New Features for Your Store from Solid Cactus

• Strategic Marketing

• Protecting Your Website
• Is it E-mail Marketing or is
it SPAM?

• Blogging for Business

• SEO vs. PPC.

Additionally, there were sessions that unveiled the newest Solid Cactus offering, Cactus on Demand and the ever-popular site deconstruction session.

“This year’s Boot Camp was ideal for both experienced e-commerce store owners, as well as new up and comers,” said Michael Jozaitis, Search Engine Marketing Manager at Solid Cactus. “The mix of sessions ranged from deep focused analytical and technical sessions to introductory and educational ones.”

“It was exciting to talk about social media with everyone there,” said Jean Lloyd, also a SEM manager. “They didn’t have a good hold on why it was important or even how they could leverage Facebook or Twitter for their business. Maybe some of them were still skeptical when we were done, but I could tell they were more receptive and had a clearer idea of how businesses are using these tools effectively. If even one participant gets the courage to sign up for Twitter and start promoting their business, then I’ll feel good.”

Joan Marchand of MMWIEmbroidery.com said she wished she had attended an event like this before she started her e-commerce site. “(Boot Camp) was very informative,” said Joan. “I think if I came to Boot Camp first, I would have learned from square one, what the best things are to have on my website, what makes people buy from my website.”

Andrew DiMino of CarbSmart.com and a Solid Cactus customer since 2003, is currently getting ready to publish his fifth site, BabyontheBrain.com. His four other sites focus on food products for those on lo-carb, sugar-free or gluten-free diets. His new site is completely different. “This is my first non-food venture, so I am looking forward to taking advantage of all these new features that I didn’t use before,” he said.

DiMino paid particular attention to the sessions focusing on new features and redesigns. It took three planes and three layovers to get from Reno to Wilkes-Barre, but he says it was worth it. “First, you get the chance to meet the staff in person and actually sit down and point to the screen. As a planning exercise, it’s fantastic. Second, I get to see what is new and coming up. Third, I get to suggest new ideas. Fourth, I get to learn best practices from other businesses,” he said.

Clarice “Corky” Fairchild from HorseandWildlifeGifts.com/All Things Equine is currently under redesign with Solid Cactus. She is not new to retail, but is somewhat new to e-commerce. “At first I thought coming would be way over my head, but felt if I was able to pick up a few things, it’d be worth it,” she said. “(Boot Camp) helped me understand the back side of things. My head has grown by leaps and bounds.”

Sharon Robson came along with her brother Fred Robson, of Woodstock Enterprises. Sharon is considering following her brother into e-commerce. “It was amazing,” she reported.
“I didn’t know anything coming into this. I’ve come a long way since Wednesday. Learning the difference between SEO and PPC was very interesting to me. It would have taken me months on my own to learn what I learned in three days.”

Face Time with
Your E-commerce Team

“It’s always good meeting people you work with,” said Fred Robson of his main reason for attending his third Solid Cactus Boot Camp. Robson utilizes several Solid Cactus services and met one-on-one with his account manager, his solutions advisor, marketing team, call center rep and the designers and the programmers working on his site.

“The individual attention you get when sitting face to face is great,” said Joan Marchand. “Solutions Advisor Justin Verry could go over things with me while I was right there. He gave me a good idea on where to channel my money, where to focus my efforts.”

While Boot Camp was in session, the magic was still happening at Solid Cactus world headquarters, where attendees were treated to a tour of the new Solid Cactus Technology Center in Shavertown, as well as Solid Cactus Call Center Services, Inc., located in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

E-commerce Camaraderie

Perhaps one of the best aspects of Solid Cactus Boot Camp is meeting other people in e-commerce- where else can you get one-on-one access to some of the most brilliant e-commerce experts in the country? While the daily sessions are an excellent learning experience, the learning continues after the sessions end and the evening activities begin.

Solid Cactus Boot Camp features activities each evening—from Italian dinner and karaoke to a night at the local casino and then a finale dinner where attendees are “graduated” from Boot Camp. During these events, clients and staff can interact over homemade Italian cooking and other catered affairs, sharing war stories, tactics and tales from the trenches.

Fred Robson likes the fact that he can meet other e-commerce business owners who have similar features on their site so they can compare notes. “It is always good to share ideas and make contacts,” he said, explaining that if he knows another Solid Cactus client has a certain feature, he can contact them to see how it is working. “Boot Camp is great to increase your contact network. It’s joining fun with the learning.”

Fairchild agrees with Robson about discussing current e-commerce issues with others.

“I think being able to network with other business owners is great. I can say, ‘I had that issue and this is what I did.’ You can discuss the issues,” she said, using how she asked Solid Cactus Boot Camp three-timer, Pam Marchola from BlairCandy.com about her Live Chat feature as an example.

The Solid Cactus staff also loves meeting clients in person. Lloyd enjoyed talking about SEM with clients over lunch and dinner. What she learned from Boot Camp attendees will help her with her day-to-day duties as an SEM account manager.

“It was awesome to interact directly with clients. I got a better feel for everyone’s level of knowledge on PPC & Internet Marketing in general. It’s going to help me when I send info out to my own clients,” she said.

Vice President of Sales Lou Pagnotti adds that clients learn from each other at Solid Cactus Boot Camps. “It’s more about learning how to maximize your business through interacting with other store owners and learning best practices and seeing innovative solutions from Solid Cactus,” he said.

Ron Miller attended Boot Camp to learn about e-commerce. He’s looking to take his beauty supply business online. “It was great to see people being so passionate about their websites. I am definitely glad I came,” he said.

Miller, who is new to e-commerce, talked quite a bit to DiMino, an e-commerce veteran of sorts. Folks like DiMino certainly can be looked upon as mentors for those new to e-commerce.

“The beauty of (Boot Camp) is that everybody talks to each other and shares best practices. That’s beautiful,” said DiMino of sharing the knowledge with each other.

Marchand says she had a wonderful time at Boot Camp interacting with her peers.

“We did a lot of laughing,” she said. “It was just interesting to talk with other website owners. It was a great experience. The food was great. The entertainment was great. The people were great. Everything was great!”

Solid Cactus Boot Camp is a must-attend event. As Marchand said, she wished there was an event like this before she got her e-commerce feet wet. DiMino has been
in e-commerce nine years, but says he is still learning each day.

Besides, where else can you sing a duet with your programmer?