That doesn’t mean Amazon FBA is right for every brand, or in all circumstances. As you expand your eCommerce capabilities, the Amazon FBA vs. FBM debate can become difficult to resolve.

This post will help by walking you through the details of both options, along with some tips on inventory management and additional automation opportunities you should consider.

What is Amazon FBA Inventory Management?

Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) Inventory Management is a system that allows your business to organize, track, and optimize your store product inventory in their fulfillment centers.

The platform handles critical inventory and order management tasks like:

• monitoring stock levels
• forecasting product demand
• replenishing inventory
• fulfilling orders
• handling returns

How Amazon FBA Inventory Management Works

When a customer places an order, Amazon handles the picking, packing, shipping, and customer service, providing sellers with a streamlined and efficient way to fulfill orders and reach a broader customer base.

Amazon FBA Setup Steps:

Setting up an Amazon FBA account is the first step to leveraging the platform’s fulfillment capabilities. Follow these simple steps and benefit from streamlined order fulfillment, access to Prime customers, and the means for providing excellent customer service.

Step 1: FBA Setup 

Create your Amazon selling account and log in to Seller Central to set up FBA.

Step 2: List Your Products 

Add your products to the Amazon catalog and indicate them as FBA inventory.

Step 3: Product Preparation 

Follow Amazon’s packing guidelines and shipping requirements to ensure your products are prepared safely and securely for transportation to a fulfillment center.

Step 4: Send to Amazon 

Create a shipping plan, print Amazon shipment ID labels, and send your shipments to designated Amazon fulfillment centers.

What is Amazon FBM?

Amazon FBA isn’t the only way to manage the process of getting online orders shipped to consumers. The company also offers Amazon Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), where sellers either manages or works with a third party to handle areas such as inventory placement, storage, shipping, processing returns and customer service issues.

Key Differences Between Amazon FBA and FBM

Evaluating Amazon FBA vs. FBM requires thinking across a range of business factors, some of which will be more important than others depending on the size of your company, typical order volumes and your strategic goals.

Startup Costs and Fees

Be prepared for a wide range of fees when you get started with Amazon FBA. These not only include per-unit fees but monthly charges for storing inventory, return fees for some product categories, package prep fees and more. In contrast, Amazon FBM only involves paying an annual subscription fee.

On the flip side, fulfilling your own orders means you’ll have to have your own warehouse (or work with a partner with more cost-effective services than Amazon’s) and other in-house resources for picking, packing and shipping your products.

Control Over Shipping and Customer Interaction

Amazon FBA is akin to many traditional outsourcing services, which free up the companies that use them to concentrate on areas like developing better products, marketing and nurturing customer relationships.

In some cases, though, staying close to customer needs and expectations can become harder when you fulfill orders through intermediaries, which is where Amazon FBM might be the better approach. Amazon FBM also means you’re not affected by sudden changes in fulfillment policies and support options that Amazon makes occasionally.

Inventory Management and Logistics

Unless you already have a background or experience in order fulfillment, option for Amazon FBM will require extensive learning and development across your company. This isn’t as big of an issue for companies when they first launch, but the complexity can increase as your volume of orders goes up. Of course, handing off everything through Amazon FBA means you’ll never master these areas, either.

Scalability and Growth Potential

Most brands want to continually add more customers, increase revenue and expand into international markets. Taking the Amazon FBA approach allows you to scale and grow without worrying about the impact on order fulfillment. If you decide to go the Amazon FBM route instead, you’ll just have to develop a business plan that takes into account the potential need for more warehouses, staff and other resources.

Pros and Cons of Amazon FBA

There’s a lot to be said for using Amazon FBA, but also a few tradeoffs:

Pro: Stress-free shipping

The process of picking, packing and transporting products from a warehouse to a customer’s doorstep can be highly complex, time-consuming and expense. Amazon FBA provides an option to completely outsource this area so brands can focus their attention entirely on marketing, selling and developing their products.

Con: Higher expenses

Selling your own products can require significant capital expense. Using Amazon FBA means you’ll be responsible for a range of storage and fulfillment fees, as well as the costs of sitting on inventory if sales don’t reach expected levels.

Pro: Prime shipping

There’s a reason Amazon has managed to develop one of the most popular loyalty programs of all time. Free shipping for Prime members can make all the difference with customers who aren’t sure whether to go through with a purchase. Using Amazon FBA means your products can offer Prime shipping too, offering an immediate competitive advantage over brands that aren’t.

Con: Policy compliance

Selling with Amazon FBA means agreeing you’ll adhere to all its guidelines. These include the way products are added to its database, packaging and other specifications. It can take time to learn Amazon FBA policies and ensure you’re maintaining compliance on an ongoing basis.

Pro: Post-purchase journey management

Customers will remember (and reward) brands that help them with customer service issues and process returns without a hassle. Brands that use Amazon FBA effectively outsource their customer service operation, and the company has a proven track record in bringing efficiency to product returns.

Con: Inventory fluctuations

The flip side of Amazon’s best-in-class returns process is that customers may send more of your products back than expected, in some cases buying multiple versions or styles to try them first. Having Amazon serve as a fulfillment partner can also make it difficult to maintain full visibility into what you have in stock.

Pros and Cons of Amazon FBM

Similarly, companies thinking about Amazon FBM should weigh the following risks and rewards:

Pro: Increased profit

If you’re a brand selling high-value products (like luxury fashion and accessories) with relatively low order volumes, using Amazon FBM could potentially mean a wider profit margin than outsourcing your fulfillment processes.

Con: Greater resource investment

Even a profitable company will have to ensure they offset the absence of Amazon resources to help manage order fulfillment, returns and related tasks. The amount of warehouse space you’ll need to store products can also vary widely during periods like the holiday season, which makes planning how much time, effort and equipment you’ll be investing in these areas even more difficult.

Pro: Flexibility for personalized experiences

When you choose Amazon FBM you retain full control over how your products are packaged, which could allow you to personalize orders for your most valuable customers. You’ll also be able to make judgment calls on whether to waive fees or other policies when a loyal customer needs to process a return.

Con: The lack of Prime status

In most cases products fulfilled via Amazon FBM are not eligible for Prime. This cuts your brand out from a large number of established Amazon customers who regularly make purchases in order to justify their monthly membership fees.

Pro: More opportunities to gather and analyze data

Managing fulfillment on your own could help deepen insights in customer shopping patterns, distribution channel preferences and more. This opens the door to creating customer segments and a more tailored approach to marketing and selling your products.

Con: Greater risk of negative outcomes

If orders arrive slowly, late or the wrong product is delivered, you’ll only have your own fulfillment operation to blame. However those mistakes can add up, having an adverse affect on areas such as customer retention and customer lifetime value.

How the Amazon FBA vs. FBM Decision Can Affect Your Multichannel eCommerce

Many brands are not only selling their products on their own websites and online marketplaces like Amazon but via additional eCommerce channels. These channels can be highly proprietary and a lack of integration can cause problems in taking and fulfilling orders. If your company has reached this level of complexity, Amazon FBA might be the desired option due to factors such as:

Managing Inventory Across Multiple Channels

Amazon FBA includes Multi Channel Fulfillment (MCF) services, whereby sellers can use API plug-ins to connect popular eCommerce channels such as WooCommerce and Magento. Amazon also offers multi-channel listing software so you can making listings from a single location.

If you go with Amazon FBM, you’ll have to address this on your own or with a trusted third party with experience in multichannel eCommerce integration and product listing.

Ensuring Fast Shipping and Quality Control

Regardless of the Amazon FBA vs. FBM question, all customers will want the same thing: to have the right product arrive in a timely manner without any damage or other quality control issues.

Beyond speed of order fulfillment, some of the most common quality control problems stem from a lack of poor inventory management. Here’s how to address them:

• Stockouts: Inadequate inventory management can sometimes lead to frequent stockouts, where your products become unavailable for purchase. This results in missed sales opportunities, dissatisfied customers, and potential damage to your seller’s reputation.> Amazon’s re-stock guide helps to keep your stock up-to-date.

• Overstocking: Poor inventory management may lead to overstocking, where you hold excessive inventory that ties up capital and storage space. Overstocking can increase storage fees, inventory obsolescence, and reduce profitability.>The Manage Excess Inventory page in your Seller Central FBA account helps you maintain the right inventory levels.

• Inaccurate Order Fulfillment: Fulfilling customer orders is only possible with accurate inventory management. You could mistakenly accept orders for products that are no longer in stock, leading to cancellations, negative reviews, and customer dissatisfaction.>Amazon’s Inventory Management Dashboard is an excellent way to track your orders and inventory.

• Inefficient Replenishment: The inability to accurately forecast customer demand and manage inventory numbers can result in inadequate replenishment. Sellers may experience delays in restocking.>Use a tool like Amazon’s re-stock guide to avoid these holdups.

How Suvae.org Can Help You to Simplify Product Inventory Management

The good news is that the right technology solutions can streamline and automate many core eCommerce processes, no matter how your Amazon FBA vs. Amazon FBM comparison turns out. When brands work with Suvae.org, for instance, they gain access to capabilities such as:

Multichannel optimization solutions to ensure seamless order fulfillment

Suvae.org turns product data optimization and product feed development into a managed service. This means you can connect with popular eCommerce channels with ease and have full confidence in how orders are collected and processed for fulfillment.

Inventory management solutions for Amazon FBA sellers

The most successful eCommerce companies have a clear line of sight into what’s in stock and what’s not. Suvae.org’s platform acts like a hub between your products and key selling channels, allowing you to synchronize data between your product catalog and Amazon’s warehouses.

Integration with popular marketplaces like Amazon

Getting set up to sell on Amazon can take a lot of manual work, which increases the risk of errors. Suvae.org’s marketplace integration services handle everything from product listings to category mappings. In fact, Amazon is just one of more than 50 marketplaces where Suvae.org can help brands extend their reach.

Contact us today to schedule a demo and discover how Highstree.io can help you automate and centralize your marketplace workflow.

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Creating product titles at that level can seem like a mysterious process, or a specialized skill. As generative AI in eCommerce becomes more pervasive, however, it’s possible for any brand to create product titles that attract online shoppers and convert them into loyal buyers.

The role of generative AI in B2B ecommerce optimization

Product title optimization is just one example of how generative AI in eCommerce is transforming the way brands operate. For several years now, companies have been training specialized algorithms on datasets known as large language models (LLMs) that allow software solutions to not only analyze information but produce new content.

Some generative AI in eCommerce tools have been focused on easily creating images for marketing campaigns, or copy for social media. However product title optimization may be the most promising area given the potential for AI to ease the process of developing effective titles quickly and at scale.

Introducing Suvae.org’s approach to generative AI in eCommerce

Suvae.org, for example, is now offering AI data enrichment and data classification and the ability to leverage third-party AI writing for e-commerce tools. This means brands can create multiple variations of copy to test and refine their product title optimization strategy, choosing only those titles and descriptions that prove engaging, relevant and have a propensity for high click-through rates (CTR).

These product titles can be enriched by a Suvae.org AI component that can handle specific requests, like making a title grammatically correct without changing the word order.

Suvae.org’s product feed management solution, meanwhile, uses an AI algorithm that takes context that’s already known about a product (such as how it has been mapped to existing fields, for example) and scores it for enhanced classification. There’s even a fallback classification the AI algorithm can use if no existing product context is available.

Generative AI in ecommerce for SEO optimized product title and descriptions

When you’re developing an eCommerce product description, AI can get you from a blank screen to a finished draft in seconds. Using AI for product title optimization is arguably even more powerful, because if the title is good enough, consumers might not even read the description and simply buy the product directly.

Effective product title optimization involves mastering a few basic elements. This includes developing titles in such a way that online shoppers will instantly recognize the product’s main features, whether or not they go on to read the full description.

A good product title will also come across as written for human beings, rather than stuffed with keywords so as to appeal to a search engine’s algorithm. That said, titles should include a primary and secondary keyword to ensure a listing is easy to find online. Finally, great product titles convey the benefit or reason to buy the product, giving customers greater confidence in their purchasing decision.

5 of the best AI writing for eCommerce tools

Suvae.org works with all the most well-known AI writing for eCommerce tools, including:

ChatGPT

Developed by Open AI, ChatGPT may be the best known generative AI solution and ignited huge interest in the category. It takes a conversational approach whereby users can simply type in a simple prompt such as “write a product title for XYZ brand based on its latest designer blouse” and get a result almost instantly.

ChatGPT’s base product is free but a $20/month ChatGPT Plus professional subscription offering promises faster response times and early access to new features.

Writesonic

Aimed largely at professional business users, Writesonic promises to help develop content that aligns with a brand’s particular tone of voice and writing style. It can not only be used to generate product titles but longer form content such as blog posts and articles of more than 1,500 words.

Writesonic has several pricing options, starting with a free version to a $79/month plan for solo marketers and small teams all the way to a $99.999 per year enterprise version.

Copy.ai

Copy.ai offers similar features as other tools that help with  generative AI in eCommerce, but stands out for a well-stocked library of templates for writing headlines and one-paragraph descriptions. It also includes workflows to help streamline common tasks in sales and marketing such as lead targeting.

Beyond a free version, Copy.ai’s one-seat starter subscription costs $36/month, while an advanced version with five seats is priced at $186 a month.

Jarvis

Powered by GPT4.5, Jarvis bills itself as an all-in-one AI assistant. That means besides AI writing for eCommerce, Jarvis can summarize content, translate it and explore content via a chat function.

Jarvis also has a free version and it offers a one-month trial of the more advanced Starter version that has more chat models, which then costs $9.99/month. The Pro version offers unlimited queries per year and also has a one-month free trail before costing $79/month.

Anyword

Anyword has positioned itself as an AI tool for writing social media copy and ads, which could include creating well-optimized product titles for a brand’s website or marketplace listing. It also offers tools to detect whether content is similar to what’s already online and a number of third-party integrations.

Anyword has three plans: a $49.99/month Starter, a $99/month “Data Driven” version that backs up content with its performance data and a $499.99/month Business version where its algorithm is trained on its most successful past campaigns. Enterprise pricing is available upon request.

Future trends in generative AI for B2B ecommerce

Generative AI in eCommerce is only going to become more advanced as companies develop better natural language processing engines and further integrate with existing digital marketing and sales tools.

Today, many people are using AI writing for eCommerce software to revise their first attempts at product title optimization. Over time, the technology may offer the perfect copy on the first try, whether you’re using an eCommerce product description AI writing tool or something similar.

In the meantime, Suvae.org’s AI capabilities will help brands do an even better job of setting up product feeds with less effort while driving greater performance and revenue. Whether you’re focused on creating product titles, exploring data enrichment or improving the way products are classified, the time to begin leveraging generative AI in eCommerce is now.

Connect with us to learn more about how Suvae.org is weaving AI into our products and services and how you can get started.

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As social platforms make it increasingly easier to manage financial transactions directly through their services, retailers are realizing they can use them for far more than marketing activities. In fact, social commerce represents a huge opportunity to convert and grow revenue.

To understand how to sell using social commerce, read on.

What is Social Shopping or Social Commerce?

For everyday consumers, social media continues to be a place they come to share photos and videos with their family and friends. While brands initially established their own accounts to advertise products and direct them back to their own eCommerce stores, social commerce means they are now using these platforms to provide a seamless digital shopping experience.

Social commerce sales are forecast to reach $8.5 trillion globally by 2030. Clothing is expected to be the fastest-growing category in this space, representing 18% of social commerce sales by 2025. In the U.S. alone, 77% pursue social shopping at least once per week.

The first step in developing a shoppable storefront on social media is to ensure you can easily connect your product catalog to social platforms where your customers are browsing. Product feed management makes this far easier to accomplish and scalable across multiple social services.

At the same time, you should become familiar with the unique requirements and social shopping opportunities each platform offers.

Top Social Commerce Platforms

Approaching social media as a brand is a lot different than what you might have experienced as a consumer. You’re not just sharing content broadly to the world but taking advantage of channels within each service that can maximize your social commerce sales.

These are some best practices specific to the most popular platforms.

Mastering Facebook Social Commerce

The volume of consumers shopping on Facebook is expected to reach more than 64.6 million in 2024, making it the largest social commerce platform. To reach that audience:

Leverage Facebook Shops

Facebook offers a shoppable storefront where retailers can create collections of their products based on a theme, such as seasonable apparel. Setting up a Facebook Shop allows you to display your brand’s name, logo, ratings and other details in addition to products. It’s also easy for users to discover Facebook Shops through their fields or via a dedicated tab and follow it and make purchases.

Use Dynamic Ads

No one has time to make thousands of individual ads to promote every product in their catalog. Facebook’s Dynamic Ads address this by allowing you to promote your entire catalog while also delivering relevant product recommendations to Facebook users based on their interests.

Engage with Facebook Live

Retailers have often used the power of a live in-store event to attract shoppers and give them a closeup look at their featured products. Facebook Live offers a way to do the exact same thing but on a global scale. Showcase items with live models, answer questions from potential buyers and offer the kind of authentic connection that consumers crave.

Optimize for Mobile

It may have started in the days when desktops were still the dominant device for browsing the web, but most consumers are probably scrolling the Facebook app on their smartphone. Make sure you don’t disappoint them by ensuring you’re offering fast page loads and adjusting text and images to display on smaller screens.

Feed integration: Facebook Shops and Dynamic Ads need to properly convey every important detail about the items you’re selling. This includes not only names but pricing, images, descriptions, SKUs and availability statuses. Automating Facebook product feed management will render everything consumers need to know in the right format, every time.

Instagram Social Shopping: Everything You Need to Know

Whether gazing at photos or watching Reels, Instagram also commands a sizable social shopping audience, with 46.8 million expected to make purchases there in 2024. Instagram is also well established as a home for highly engaging fashion and lifestyle content, making it an ideal digital destination for many eCommerce brands. There are plenty of ways to attract customers:

Utilize Instagram Shopping

There’s no shorter path to purchase than “see it, buy it,” which is exactly what Instagram Shopping was designed to offer U.S. retailers. Posts will include one-click access to view collections, detailed product pages or simply buy directly through the app. You’ll need to set up a business profile on Instagram and comply with Instagram’s merchant agreement to get approved. You’ll then be able to tag up to 20 products and shops in a photo feed post, 10 photos and videos in a carousel post.

Create Shoppable Posts

Consumers have come to recognize the little shopping bag icon that identifies Shoppable Posts on Instagram, which allow them to streamline the process of ordering a product they want. Bear in mind that they are likely looking at multiple brands on Instagram at any given moment, and Shoppable Posts let them stay in the app even as they make purchases. You can enhance your Shoppable Posts by not only creating enticing images, but adding important context such as sizing, fit or styling.

Leverage Influencers

Instagram is a great example of a platform where users are building up audiences that dwarf that of many brands. These creators are also called influencers because consumers pay close attention to products they recommend and endorse. Partnering with influencers can help draw more attention to your Shoppable Posts and other Instagram content to boost your social commerce sales.

Use Instagram Stories

Instagram may have originally been focused on photography, but today users can create Stories that blend images, video, text and special effects. Brands can do the same thing, illustrating how their products could be worn or used in a particular context or locale. Instagram Stories are also ideal for conveying the kind of key messages that were once reserved for expensive TV spots, while also offering a fast and easy way to take the next step and buy items.

Feed Integration: Developing a shoppable storefront on Instagram requires adding details to its Commerce Manager platform. This includes either connecting your existing catalog or creating a new one. That could be a laborious and error-prone job without a product feed management solution that instantly transmits the right data and accelerates Instagram’s review process.

Social Shopping on Pinterest: Your Secret Weapon

Whether you’re decorating your home or creating a board full of outfit ideas, Pinterest is the ultimate way to curate ideas and products that speak to your individual style. No wonder 85% of Pinterest users have made a purchase based on a pin. Make sure your brand is among those benefiting:

Optimize Product Pins

Every pin you promote as a brand should tell a story. This not only includes visual storytelling with images but metadata such as the keywords you use to describe them. Also make sure to tag across multiple categories where appropriate to maximize discoverability and form product groups with the same care you’d put complementary products on a table in a physical store.

Use Rich Pins

Pinterest recognizes that product information should never stay static. That’s why it offers Rich Pins, which automatically sync data from your website. This means you can have the latest ingredients in a Recipe Rich Pin, or updated pricing and availability for Product Rich Pins.

Create Themed Boards

Pinterest boards don’t have to be random assortments of products. Much like an in-store experience, you’ll provide a better experience for customers by organizing pins based on broader similarities, customer interests and needs. A good example might be a vacation-themed board that includes everything you should buy before setting off on your next getaway.

Engage with Visual Search

Shopping inspiration can come from anywhere, but the hard work comes when you need to track down something that appeals to you. Visual search technologies ease that journey by allowing consumers to simply point at an item and look it up online. Pinterest Lens, for instance, can drive more consumers to your pins when you have multiple optimized images of your products with accurate data.

Feed Integration: Pinterest allows brands to add 50 different data sources, but doing so manually requires many steps, and Pinterest requires data be updated every seven days. This could become a full-time job without an automated feed management solution that can handle this on a scheduled basis.

TikTok Social Commerce: Go Viral with Your Sales

Some come for the singing and dancing. Some come for the memes. There are also plenty of people who visit TikTok for both types of content – in addition to hunting for their next luxury item. More than 55 million U.S. consumers shopped on TikTok in 2023, either through links in the app or directly on the platform. Now is the time to meet your customers here as well. Here’s how:

Create Engaging Content

TikTok first became known for the extreme brevity of its content, as well as a sense of humor that tended to skew towards younger consumers. As the platform grows, its audience will inevitably become more diverse, but the same lighthearted and fun-loving spirit remains. Instead of a hard product pitch, try to develop clips that put what you sell into an unconventional environment, or answer some of the funniest questions you’ve ever been asked by existing customers. If you know some of your loyal customers well, see if they’ll be part of clips that are part of viral trends, such as posts with the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag.

Leverage TikTok Shopping

TikTok Shop incorporates many of the features of other social shopping platforms, including the ability to be featured on a Shop tab, in-feed and live shopping as well as product showcases. Of course you’ll have to adhere to TikTok’s community guidelines and TikTok Shop policies to set up this kind of shoppable storefront after signing up to its seller program.

Partner with Creators

Like Instagram, TikTok is filled with creators who have mastered the art of short-form video. Involve them anywhere from launch campaigns and unboxing opportunities to clips that let them explain to their followers why your products are essential items.

Use Hashtag Challenges

TikTok is perhaps the most “gamified” social media platform where brands can challenge users to compete with one another to create the best content. Examples here could include clips that demonstrate the best use of your products to bring your company’s slogan to life in a new way.

Feed Integration: TikTok suggest brands can create new catalogs, upload products from an online file or use a template. There’s actually another, better way: leverage the power of a proven product feed management solution to ensure every attribute is included and leave your

2024’s Trends in Social Commerce

Social commerce is an ever-moving target. As platforms continue to compete with each other for consumers’ attention, we’ll see them experiment with new technologies and introduce features to drive even more immersive engagement.

Given giants such as Meta not only own Facebook and Instagram but WhatsApp, for instance, expect to see further integration of social commerce within messaging apps that allow consumers to get their contacts’ opinions on their purchases. Evolving mobile device hardware could allow social commerce via augmented and virtual reality. Other areas, such as live shopping, are still nascent and poised for further expansion.

Integrating Suvae.org for Optimal Social Commerce

Regardless of how social commerce evolves, having a product feed management solution in place is a great strategy for future-proofing your brand.

Take Suvae.org, which not only allows brands to manage product catalogs on social platforms but create enriched feeds tailored to their needs. Flexible configurations means brands can also stay ahead of channel requirements as they change, and the platform allows performance monitoring and the ability to keep track of inventory statuses.

These kinds of capabilities all support a social shopping experience based on improved data accuracy and simplified, automated feed management.

Your shoppable storefront should be available everywhere. Contact Suvae.org to learn more about how we can help grow your social commerce sales.

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How Does Voice Search Work for Ecommerce Stores?

One of the most familiar elements in online retail is a search bar with a magnifying icon next to it. Voice search may find up making the microphone icon almost as popular as consumers switch from typing the names of products they want to simply saying them aloud.

Using voice recognition technology, eCommerce sites that have voice search optimization enabled provides consumers a natural and intuitive way to find everything from luxury fashion to bags, accessories and more.

Google Voice Search: What it is and How it Works

Many of us have already experienced voice recognition applications on our smartphones or via smart speakers in our homes. Google Voice Search is just one example, where clicking on the mic icon in the search field or Google app lets consumers look up queries as though they were chatting with a friend.

Quick Guide to Google Voice Search

Google Voice Search is powered by Google Assistant, which needs to be activated on your digital device in order to operate. If you want to get a sense of how your customers might experience this kind of technology for shopping purposes, it’s worth trying it out yourself. Here’s how:

How to Set Up Google Voice Search

Setting up Google Voice Search is easy. Either open a tab in your browser and visit Google’s website or open the Google app on your smartphone. You’ll need a Google account and be logged in.

Then, move to the Settings area and tun on Google Assistant. Next, look for settings related to Search. Under the “Search,” select “Voice.” If you’re asked to let Google use your microphone, click “Allow.”  Also agree to let Google access your voice and speech activity, which allows the technology to continuously learn and improve.

What to Do If Google Voice Search Isn’t Working

If Google doesn’t seem to be responding to your voice, double-check you’ve allowed the application to access your microphone. You may also want to select an area called Continued Conversation in settings, which will allow you to ask questions without starting with “Hey Google.”

How to Disable Google Voice Search

If you don’t want to continue using Google Voice Search once you’ve tested it, just turn it off in the same area within Settings.

Where to Find Google Voice Search History

If you’re using Google via a browser, visit a URL called myactivity.google.com and you’ll see everything you’ve looked up. Look for a filter for Google Assistant to isolate this to your voice searches.

The importance of voice search optimization in eCommerce

Given how easy and quick it is to use, retailers that prioritize voice search optimization are in an ideal position to take advantage of an emerging digital channel. This could translate into higher sales volumes, repeat business and improved customer satisfaction.

Why do you need a voice search optimization strategy?

Few websites and landing pages were designed with voice search optimization in mind. Fortunately, many of the same search engine optimization (SEO) principals apply. Voice search SEO means you’re essentially trying to develop and structure your content in a way that will make it more likely to be picked up by Google, just in a different mode.

3 Tips to Optimize Voice Search for your eCommerce

1. Rewrite copy as responses to questions. In your product description for a designer dress, for instance, think of how customers might use voice searches like “Where’s the best selection for designer dresses by XYZ brand?” Your description could then begin with “(Your store) offers the best selection for XYZ brand designer dresses.” Use long-tail keywords in voice search SEO wherever possible.
2. Use a conversational tone to drive conversions. Edit out jargon and formal phrases on your product and landing pages. Instead, imagine you’re face-to-face with a customer and use conjunctions like “Here’s and “It’s.” Instead of referring to “customers,” use “you.”
3. Ensure product feed management is in place. As with any other channel, voice search should take customers to accurate, up-to-date product data.  Automating product feed management makes this a lot easier.

Voice search optimization could be the beginning of a new whole conversation with your customers. Connect with Suvae.org for more insight into growing your eCommerce business.

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For luxury fashion retailers, for instance, the best way to ensure near-term return on investment (ROI) is to identify online marketplaces that:

• Specialize in clothing, footwear and accessories, where consumers are actively browsing for products like yours.
• Has established a proven track record in driving traffic and engagement with consumers
• Offers partnership programs with reasonable terms and enticing seller benefits.

Asos and Zalando: Two specialists in online fashion sales

Asos and Zalando are perfect examples of digital destinations that meet these criteria. Both have attracted a considerable number of sellers and  have successfully expanded their portfolios in order to satisfy consumer demand.

While it’s possible to integrate with multiple marketplaces simultaneously, many eCommerce strategies involve starting with one. That way you can test the waters in terms of how you promote products on a third-party marketplace and adapt to any rules that have been put in place.

With that in mind, here’s a rundown Asos vs Zalando and how they compare from an online  marketplace perspective:

Why choose Asos marketplace

For nearly 25 years, the name “Asos” has become almost synonymous with fast fashion, particularly among younger online shoppers. The company’s success with its own affordable but stylish apparel and accessories has led to several strategic acquisitions, such as Topshop.

At the same time, the Asos marketplace has allowed the brand to significantly expand the selection of products it offers. This not only includes new products but vintage collections, which can be appealing to those focused on sustainability through reuse.

These are the Asos marketplace numbers you need to know:

• Market share: 45% of Asos’s sales come from its home market in the U.K., followed by 30% of other European countries. It also has significant sales from the U.S.
• Average customer: More than 33% of Asos visitors are between the ages of 25 and 24.
• Brand scope: Asos manages 13 of its own brands and offers more than 900 others through the Asos marketplace.

Why choose Zalando marketplace

Selling shoes online was just the first step for the Zalando marketplace. Today the company is a viable online shopping destination for everything from evening gowns to handbags. It is also broadening the scope of its business model, investing in products and capabilities to support business-to-business (B2B) as well as its traditional consumer audience. Its more recent innovations include a digital tool to predict sizing based on photos submitted by its customers.

Here’s how Zalando stacks up by the numbers:

• Market share: Zalando commands about 12% of Europe’s overall sales for apparel products.
• Average customer: More than 27% of Zalando’s visitors fall between the ages of 25-34.
• Brand scope: More than 7,000 brands are available in the Zalando marketplace

Beyond these basic figures, it’s important to consider the policies online marketplace operators have in place to support sellers. Asos doesn’t charge a commission to list products, for instance, and you’re able to upload your entire catalog. Zalando, meanwhile, offers marketing services to help brands advertise on its marketplace as well as a distribution and fulfillment arm.

Asos vs Zalando: The bottom line

In the end, both the Asos marketplace and the Zalando marketplace create opportunities for growing brands to find new customers and increase their revenues. Getting started with either, however, depends on effectively managing your product feeds.

Once approved in each company’s partner program, you’ll need to be able to seamlessly transfer data from your product catalogs directly to either marketplace. As you make changes to pricing, product content or introduce new promotions, your feeds will need to remain accurate and up to date. That’s why Suvae.org offers marketplace integrations for Asos, Zalando and dozens of others.

The post Asos vs Zalando: Which one to choose and why appeared first on Suvae.org.

Consumers who go looking for luxury fashion in person can appreciate a well-designed space devoted exclusively to a single brand.

They might admire the tasteful décor that sets off the clothes to even greater effect.

An in-person luxury shopping experience also tends to be highly curated – in other words, retailers might only need to showcase their finest goods in order to appeal to discerning customers.

Why you should sell through a luxury fashion marketplace

The potential to grow revenues through digital channels requires luxury brands to rethink all of these principals and focus on an entirely different kind of experience.

The key priorities for eCommerce shoppers, including those focused on luxury fashion – are speed, convenience and accurate information.

Consumers expect to find the luxury brands they want instantly. They want as many options as possible in order to make the best choice. And when they’re considering a particular item, they need to feel confident that all the details – especially availability – is up to date.

This helps explain why elite brands are increasingly expanding their digital presence beyond their own web sites and featuring their products through luxury fashion marketplaces.

Far from losing any perception of prestige, adding products to a luxury fashion marketplace shows a brand recognizes that true luxury in eCommerce is all about making it easy to get what you want.

That said, luxury brands should still put the same care and attention into their presence within online marketplaces as they do setting up a physical location.

With the right approach to optimization, your brand will be:

• Discovered by more consumers
• Driving more conversions and revenue
• Encourage repeat visits and positive word of mouth

Optimizing eCommerce for a luxury fashion marketplace

The Internet is already a busy place, where it can be difficult for particular brands to stand out. A lot of the business you drive through your own website will depend on traffic you get through search engine optimization (SEO) and paid marketing tactics.

Joining a luxury fashion marketplace brings you into a more focused environment where consumers are looking for a wide range of brands to explore. However this also means you’ll want to differentiate yourself from other retailers selling within the same space.

How luxury brands can stand out in an online marketplace

If you operate physical stores, you probably thought carefully about how they were built and ensured they were easy to stroll through without getting lost. The same principle applies online.

Introduce yourself (and reinforce your brand identity)

Your logo is only one element that tells consumers who you are and why you represent a brand worth exploring.

Remember that some of those browsing a luxury marketplace may not be familiar with you at all. Make the best possible impression by including information such as a condensed version of your mission and any relevant details about your history and reputation.

Others may come on a luxury fashion marketplace hoping to find your brand included, and these details will reassure them the experience you’re offering will be consistent with what they’ve seen elsewhere.

Let each product description tell a compelling story

Offering basic details such as sizes, colors and pricing are just a starting point when you’re positioning your products through a luxury clothing marketplace.

Converting browsers into buyers is all about making them understand your brand’s unique approach to developing quality apparel and accessories. This can include the materials you use, the craftsmanship you apply and more.

The copywriting you do here can make the difference between attracting a customer who stays with you for life and one who chooses to browse another brand instead.

Ensure every image offers maximum appeal

You don’t always need ideal lighting when you’re selling products in a physical store because shoppers can touch and feel them directly. In a luxury clothing marketplace, pictures represent the most powerful way for you to convey the beauty and style of every item.

Choose images that not only provide a clear view of what you’re selling but create a sense of aspiration. This can mean showing products from different angles and incorporating lifestyle elements, such as a model wearing a product in an attractive everyday setting.

Use data analytics to inform the most meaningful changes

Retailers always keep a close eye on the number of products they sell, but being on a luxury marketplace can offer other data points that can help you continuously improve how you showcase your products.

Look for ways to measure the time spent on each product, shopping cart abandonment rates and anything specific provided by a marketplace operator to fine-tune your approach. The more data-driven you can be as a retailer, the more likely you’ll be able to reach or even exceed your eCommerce goals.

The best luxury fashion marketplace options for premium brands

Your sales strategy for luxury marketplaces can begin by identifying which platforms align best with your ideal customer profile and brand. In doing so you’ll also want to take into account the level of active users each platform offers, seller requirements and the options for handling shipping and returns.

Some brands start by integrating with a single luxury marketplace and taking a “test and learn” approach before adding others. Once you’ve learned what’s involved in getting set up – and when you have partners with the technologies to help automate the process – it can be easier to expand into other luxury clothing marketplaces over time.

Some of the most common platforms where other luxury brands are actively selling right now include:

Zalando

It’s already one of Europe’s most popular online destinations for luxury fashion, but Zalando is continuing to make changes that could strengthen its market position even further.

In early 2024, for example, Zalando announced it is working to enrich some of its existing categories, including Sports and Kids & Family through technologies that will personalize the inspiration it provides. Tools like Zalando Assistant, meanwhile, is allowing commerce to become more conversational – almost akin to the expert help luxury brands have traditionally provided in-store through expert associates.

Zalando has also said it is opening up its logistics infrastructure, software and service capabilities to help retailers sell more effectively to customers.

Asos

Luxury clothing isn’t limited to new merchandise. Many shoppers go online looking for vintage collections and the latest collections at the same time. Asos has a marketplace that has been successful in both kinds of clothing.

Brand awareness for the Asos marketplace is 65% in the U.K. alone, and 80% of its customers tend to be loyal to the brand. That could mean a lot of return visits for luxury brands who feature products on the Asos marketplace.

In the meantime, Asos in early 2024 appointed a new CFO whose eCommerce experience includes a stint at Amazon, suggesting Asos will become even more competitive in the fashion sector.

Farfetch

From the moment it launched in 2007, Farfetch has been focused on acting as a trusted partner to brands that want to be included on the top global luxury fashion marketplace.

This means Farfetch doesn’t carry any inventory of its own but provides third-party services to help other luxury brands find sales success.

In early 2024, Farfetch was acquired by South Korean eCommerce giant Coupang, which said it would invest in helping the marketplace to further improve the customer experience for luxury shoppers around the world.

Bet on the most sought-after luxury brands and increase sales

The best sales strategy for luxury marketplaces always takes into account what other premium brands are doing online. Even as you begin uploading your products to the kinds of platforms we’ve just described, you should continue to monitor and assess competitors whose activities could provide insight on eCommerce best practices as they emerge.

Some of the parameters to keep in mind here:

The most searched luxury brands online

Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Dior are the “big three” in terms of what consumers are keying into Google, according to recent data. Pay attention to the keywords these brands are using to rank in search results, and how you might weave them into your own copy.

The most profitable luxury brands online

LVMH scores the top spot in this category as well, followed by luxury brands such as Dior, Hermes and EssilorLuxottica, among others. While profitability is driven from many different facets, these brands represent the ideal in how they balance supply and demand as they serve style-conscious consumers

The most in-demand luxury fashion brands online

It may be a subjective area, but shopping app Lyst’s most recent quarterly index said Prada is the hottest luxury brand, followed by Miu Miu, Loewe and Bottega Veneta. Use this kind of ranking to consider the most creative approaches luxury brands can take in how they market themselves online as you prepare your product listings and images to upload onto online marketplaces.

The most important luxury fashion marketplace best practice of all

Luxury brands have to be good at many different things at once: designing products, creating compelling marketing content and providing outstanding customer service.

That means they shouldn’t be bogged down with the technical aspects of getting their products on a luxury clothing marketplace. Automating this process through a product feed management solution is the smartest move you can make as you prepare to boost your long-term eCommerce sales. Connect with us to find out how we can assist with integration across more than 50 of the top marketplaces in the world.

The post Secrets of selling on a Luxury Fashion Marketplace appeared first on Suvae.org.

Unlike traditional banner ads and pop-ups that consumers might scroll past on a website, Google Ad campaigns have proven effective in helping brands show up in the right place at the right time.

When someone types into its search engine, for example, they’re hoping to find a list of links that will take them where they want to go. Google Ad campaigns go beyond these basic search results by showcasing brands that relate to each query. If you’re serious about selling online, they’re a critical tool.

Google Ads: What they are and how campaigns work

Originally launched as Google AdWords, Google Ads is the search engine company’s platform for powering online advertising across its flagship site, partner sites and YouTube. It offers ads in a variety of formats depending on a brand’s needs such as text, video, display and banner ads.

Google also offers some proprietary options such as Google Shopping Ads, Performance Max ads and Responsive Search ads.

Launching Google Ad campaigns requires bidding for placement based on keywords and the search volume they get, when the ads will run and the expected reach.

Before getting into the details of bidding and running your ads, however, you’ll have to set up a Google Ads account first.

How to create an account in Google ads

You’ll need a regular Google account for your business to set up an account in Google Ads. You might have a personal Gmail account already, but for marketing purposes start by visiting Accounts.Google.com and choose the option “to manage my business” when you’re asked why you’re signing up.

Once that’s done and you’re logged in, visit Ads.Google.com. You’ll be asked to create a Google Ad campaign right away, but look towards the bottom the screen and click on “Switch to expert mode.” This gives you more time to find your way around the Google Ad Manager dashboard, learn about developing a successful campaign and other Google Ads best practices.

How to create a campaign in Google Ad Manager: 5 steps to follow

With the right planning, you can use your Google Ad Manager to get your products seen by more people who are ready to make a purchase:

1. Enter the Google Ad Manager Dashboard

Once you’re inside Google Ad Manager, you’ll see a link that says “Create New Campaign” on your dashboard.

2. Choose your marketing objective and campaign type

3.  Choose your Google Ad bidding strategy

4. Set up your Google Ad target audience

5. Develop an ad that converts

Types of Google ads campaigns

People consume information in a variety of formats, so think about A/B testing with a couple of different approaches depending on what you’re selling and what your audience needs to see in order to move forward:

Display

Google has an extensive network of partner sites where it can run display ads that predominantly feature images or videos. This can be a good option for when you’re trying to build initial brand awareness and introduce your company and its products to the market.

Shopping

Customers want the basics before they buy. This includes the product name, the price and the seller, all of which are presented through Google Shopping Ads. Having product feeds that can send data directly from your product catalog are essential in order to have Google Shopping Ads perform as expected.

App

This is only so much space on a smartphone screen, which means consumers are becoming more discerning about what they install. Google app ads can use a mix of images, video and text to get the downloads you need to grow your business, especially if your app makes it easy for customers to place and track their orders.

Local Inventory Ads

One of the biggest opportunities in eCommerce is to market products based on where customers can easily go and pick them up in person. Local inventory ads (LIAs) ensure you only promote what’s in stock near your audience’s current location. A strong product feed management solution is critical here, too.

How much does Google ads cost? Find out the minimum budget to launch your campaign

The budget you’ll need to run a Google Ad campaign will vary depending on the industry you’re targeting, average search volume and many other factors. These costs will change over time, but as of early 2024 the average cost per click for a category such as fashion retail, for instance, was US$1.42.

CPC or CPM?

Paying on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis means your budget is going directly towards driving activity to your product pages and eCommerce engine. This can be a sound strategy when you’re focused on short-term revenue goals. In other cases, paying on a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis can allow you to build your reputation among your audience, which can be important for bigger-ticket items that have a longer buying cycle.

What is Google Ads Keyword Planner and how to choose the most effective keywords

Google recognizes that not everyone is highly versed in running online ad campaigns. Its Keyword Planner is a tool that provides rich data such as search volume for particular combinations of words, forecasts and much more.

You can look up individual words or upload a CSV file with all the relevant keywords in your industry to identify what you’ll use in your Google Ads.

Choosing the most effective keyword is really a process of putting yourself in your customers’ shoes and imagining what they would type into a search engine when they’re looking for their next purchase.

Managing Google Ad campaigns: the Suvae.org solution

Running Google Ads can involve meeting highly specific requirements, which is not something you’ll want to manage on your own.

Suvae.org’s product feed management platform makes it easy to tailor your product data to whatever channel you’re using for marketing purposes. This includes a range of Google Ad formats such as Google Shopping Ads, local inventory ads and more.

Working with Suvae.org means you can not only tackle product listing ad feed management but set up ad retargeting feeds that increase your conversations and get more return on investment (ROI) from your campaigns.

Mastering Google Ad campaigns happens a lot faster when you partner with the experts. Book a demo with Suvae.org and let us show you how to save time, reach more customers and sell more online and in-store.

The post Google Ad campaign guide for growing eCommerce brands appeared first on Suvae.org.

Besides manufacturing products, you had to set up a warehouse to store your inventory. You’d need to buy trucks. Then you’d have to hire reliable staff to drive them.

This was all before figuring out how to ship products across multiple countries and currencies.

Then came dropshipping. What is it? For many people, dropshipping is a business model that has made online entrepreneurship possible for the first time.

Dropshipping: what it is and how it works

Dropshipping means you’re outsourcing key areas of fulfilling eCommerce orders. This includes procuring products, storing and shipping them to customers.

How to dropship depends on the partners and providers you use. In the most common scenarios, your focus as a seller is on marketing and attracting customers to your online storefront or marketplace. Then, as orders get placed, sellers confirm them to customers, pass the order information to their dropshipping service partners who fulfill them.

For sellers who master how dropshipping works, eCommerce becomes highly efficient. Instead of making their own products, for instance, they can sell goods from other vendors and take a cut. As long as they can ensure a good customer experience across the entire eCommerce journey, it can be a profitable business model.

Researchers estimate dropshipping will grow on a global level by nearly 24% between now and 2032, becoming a market worth more than $1.9 billion.

That said, sellers shouldn’t be fooled by images of sitting by the beach running an eCommerce business with little more than a laptop. Dropshipping has become highly competitive. You have to keep a close eye on profit margins and other key data points. Supply chain disruptions can grind your business to a halt. There are also a number of legal issues and liability risks to consider.

This post will not only answer the question, ‘Dropshipping: what is it?” We’ll also walk through the essential areas you need to know. We’ll not only cover what dropshipping is, but the differences of dropshipping on Amazon and other marketplaces.  We’ll also look at the technologies you need you have in place for dropshipping and how to get started.

Dropshipping without a VAT number: Is it possible?

Dropshipping allows you to begin thinking about growing your business on an international scale from the moment you launch. While digital channels have made it easier to market and sell to customers in almost any geography, you also have to take into consideration legislation that governs these processes. The United Kingdom’s value-added tax (VAT) is a good example. Read before you try dropshipping without a VAT number.

Having a VAT number is a standard practice for many businesses, but the requirements from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) differ depending on where you operate. This is true for those using dropshipping suppliers as well. If you’re based in the U.K., for example, you’ll only need to register for a VAT number if your turnover exceeds more than £85,000 a year.

For those selling from outside the U.K., however, dropshipping without a VAT number is impossible if your target market includes U.K. customers. This includes those based in Italy or many other countries.

Fortunately, HMRC has simplified the process by offering VAT number registration through its website. Remember to talk to your accountant about whether expenses associated with VAT registration and import fees can be written off as part of filing your business taxes.

ATECO code for dropshipping

One of the most critical steps in getting your VAT number is using the correct ATECO code. First introduced by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2008, ATECO codes are a combination of letters and numbers that classify businesses according to the scope of their economic activity. This informs your business in terms of tax rates and social security contributions.

In this case, the ATECO code for eCommerce businesses, including those that use dropshipping services, is 47.91.10. It applies to both online stores that operate as a single brand as well as marketplace entities such as eBay, Amazon and Zalando.

Once you’ve submitted your ATECO code as part of the VAT registration process, you’ll also need to register your business with INPS to determine how much you’ll pay in contributions based on your business revenue. There are also fees you’ll need to pay to the Chamber of Commerce and municipality in which you’re operating. These range from €53.00 to a maximum of € 128.00. Always do your research to check for any changes to these requirements and consult a taxation or accounting expert to field any other questions.

Dropshipping suppliers: Which are the most reliable?

Although dropshipping takes away many of the headaches associated with selling online, you’ll only succeed based on the quality of your partners.

When you’re looking at manufacturers, for example, you may want to order samples to ensure your customers will get quality items. There should be consistency between what they see on your web site and what arrives at their doorstep, for example. It should work or fit as customers expect.

You also can’t afford to sell products that arrive damaged or incomplete. Items should be properly packaged and in a reasonable timeframe. For some product categories, pricing can be highly competitive, and you don’t want to opt for a manufacturer whose prices will cut in too heavily to your profit margin.

Apply the same attention to detail when you seek out dropshipping suppliers who will handle other stages of your customer experience. Depending on your target market, you’ll want to work with those who have warehouses in reasonable proximity to your customers to save on shipping costs. Suppliers should also be able to demonstrate speed and efficiency in every stage of fulfillment and delivery.

Take the time to discuss critical processes that will have an impact on customer satisfaction and your overall reputation. Things can always go wrong with e-commerce orders, whether it’s sending the wrong size or the customer simply changes their mind. Choose suppliers with reasonable return policies and refund policies. Check to see that they have adequate insurance to cover off any unfortunate errors.

Some sellers launch their business by having a network of several different suppliers that handle each aspect of manufacturing, order management and fulfillment. Another option is to work through an online marketplace. These sites may already have the visitor traffic you need to entice the kind of customers you want.

Better yet, marketplaces often operate a range of dropshipping services that make the process far more streamlined. Here are some of the most common examples:

Amazon dropshipping

Amazon is one of the best-known marketplaces in the world, especially in North America. That means there are likely a lot of potential customers browsing for their next purchase, which could include what you’re trying to sell.

Amazon dropshipping rules include making sure you’re the seller of record. This means you’re not only registered to let consumers make purchases, but that you’re setting prices and taking responsibility for returns. Even if you have other dropshipping suppliers shipping orders, you’re accountable to collecting sales tax and recording your revenue.

eBay dropshipping

It may have started as an online auction house, but eBay has become another giant in eCommerce and sees nearly 740 million visitors a month.

The biggest consideration for eBay dropshipping is to ensure you own the product you’re selling. For example, eBay does not allow you to take orders for a product from a listing you’ve posted and then purchase from another party that is also selling on eBay.

As long as you have a dropshipping supplier who can store your products on your behalf – or if you have a wholesale agreement – you can drop ship on eBay, which it also calls “product sourcing.” Other standard eBay dropshipping policies include making sure your items arrive safely based on the timeframe your listing includes, and that you take ownership of customer satisfaction and service.

Zalando dropshipping

With a focus on selling clothing and accessories, Zalando has continued to become a huge player in the European eCommerce market. Its most recent reports showed the overall volume of active customers have grown by 6%, reaching a total of more than 51 million shoppers.

Dropshipping on Zalando can be done through its Partner Program, which provides sellers not only with access to its marketplace but resources such as Zalando Partner University and the ZDirect platform to manage your online presence. Zalando governs dropshipping and other sales approaches based on its customer experience model (CXM), a set of key performance indicators it monitors to ensure it has the right members in its partner program.

What to sell through dropshipping? Discover the most searched products

The dropshipping model works for almost any physical product. You can find sellers who have been successful creating eCommerce businesses around everything from air fryers and camping gear to interior décor and pet toys. Fashion, however, represents one of the most promising dropshipping niches.

In a study that compared categories such as electronics, toys, furniture and food, fashion emerged as the top dropshipping segment. The same research has forecast fashion dropshipping to reach a compound annual growth rate of nearly 25% by 2030.

Signature clothing and apparel is a natural choice for dropshipping sellers. The products are always in-demand among online shoppers and easy to advertise through digital channels such as social media. Luxury fashion and style products also present considerable upsell and cross-selling opportunities, given that footwear and accessories can often complement existing purchases.

A category like fashion also provides a good reminder of choosing the right supplier. Signature clothing may be more prone to competition and returns, which means sellers should aim for providing an experience that is as easy and seamless as possible. Customers will expect to find the items they want quickly, and feel confident they’re ordering what is already in stock.

How much can you earn through dropshipping?

The revenue you’ll generate by operating your eCommerce brand with dropshipping services can be difficult to predict. Research the following areas to inform your calculations:

• Google trending searches: Use keywords that represent your niche and its products and get a sense of how often consumers are using them as they browse online. This can give an indication of current and future demand.
• Average order value: Explore retail industry analyst studies that show how much consumers tend to spend on the kind of products you’ll be selling.
• Average monthly visitors: Estimate the traffic you could achieve through online advertising and other marketing tactics. Alternatively, look at visits to popular online marketplaces where you could feature your brand.

With these data points in place, you can develop a conservative estimate based on a conversion rate of 1.01% and 1.04% and apply it to your expected average monthly visitors based on the average order value.

Successful sellers spend a lot of time in this area, factoring in macroeconomic conditions, tracking regional online shopping trends and ongoing analysis of the top competitors in their respective niche.

Dropshipping and invoices: Step-by-step operation

Managing stock, order fulfillment and other areas bring a lot of value to busy eCommerce sellers, and your suppliers deserve to be paid consistently and on time.

Invoicing for dropshipping services works a little differently than in a traditional physical retail environment, where a customer pays a merchant directly for a product it manufactured itself. The process usually looks something like this:

Step 1

A consumer browses the seller’s virtual store, which is fed with product catalog data connected to all key suppliers.

Step 2

Consumers place orders which are sent by the seller to the dropshipping suppliers, who then fulfill the orders.

Step 3

Suppliers generate a purchase order and invoice the seller for each item. This is where special discounts, dropshipping service fees, returns allowances and other terms are applied.

Step 4

Sellers pay the invoices, often through a business credit card or payment portal.

Step 5

Suppliers sent a receipt to sellers confirming payment.

Sometimes sellers can work out agreements with suppliers to be invoiced on a weekly or monthly basis. Volume discounts may also be available for sellers who manage to achieve high conversions and orders.

While dropshipping and invoicing may look simple at a high level, there’s a lot that can go wrong behind the scenes. That’s because everything in the steps above is predicated upon using accurate and up-to-date data across both seller and supplier eCommerce platforms.

Invoices don’t just been to be dated properly, for instance. Each one needs to be associated with a PO number from the seller’s ordering system. Ship dates, tracking number, delivery method, handling fees, miscellaneous charges – these are all key pieces of the puzzle. The invoice status needs to be recognized too, as either “outstanding” or “paid.”

Besides ensuring all parties are clear on return policies and handling fees, sellers and dropshipping suppliers will need to negotiate whether batch invoicing is permitted. Advertising co-op dollars and rules around paying for single-item orders are just two examples of other variables to consider. When it’s done well, invoicing should be a simple formality that both dropshipping suppliers and sellers take for granted.

Advantages of dropshipping using Suvae.org

The potential upside of using dropshipping to power an eCommerce business brings a lot of new players into the market. When it comes time to find the right tools, however, you’ll want to work with solution providers with a proven track record that you can trust.

At Suvae.org, for example, we’ve created the technologies that can bring greater peace of mind and confidence to sellers who see dropshipping as the backbone of their business. Work with us because:

• Suvae.org is already the product feed management and marketplace integration services platform of choice for some of the world’s leading retailers.
• Our software ensures the product catalog data shown on a seller’s site or within an online marketplace is the most recent and accurate picture of what’s in stock
• We can not only assist with selling through a seller’s web site or marketplaces but through the most popular social media channels, including Instagram, TikTok and more.
• We work fast – many brands have gotten up and running on marketplaces like Amazon and Zalando in a matter of weeks.
• We’re a true partner – our team provides deep expertise in eCommerce to help guide your long-term marketing and sales strategy.
• Suvae.org is constantly evolving with new features and capabilities to keep pace with the expectations of eCommerce brands and their customers.

Ready to take advantage of dropshipping? Connect with our team to learn more about our solutions, and how we can help you move forward today.

The post Dropshipping Guide: How to sell online anywhere, anytime appeared first on Suvae.org.

Why connected TV advertising? Let’s start with the fact that it’s where a growing number of consumers are choosing to spend their leisure time.  According to data from ComScore, for example, connected TV viewing rose 21% in May of 2023 compared with the same period the year before.

As a result, the competition for viewers’ attention is also on the rise. One forecast suggests that CTV ad spending will grow more than 10% between now and 2028. It’s not just the large numbers of people watching. Connected TV ads are reaching a highly engaged audience that can be targeted in increasingly sophisticated ways.

If you’re trying to make some last-minute marketing investments amid the holiday season – or simply trying to sell off excess inventory in January and beyond – using Google Promotions and CTV ads could be a smart idea.

How do Google promotions work with connected TV advertising?

The business case for using Google Promotions has been firmly established by now. It’s an effective way to distribute product offers across multiple Google properties, including the Shopping tab, Chrome and Search. Mastering Google Promotions can allow you to compare multi-screen traffic, increase conversions and boost your marketing campaigns’ click through rate (CTR), all while building your brand.

Google has made it easy to extend your reach with connected TV ads, particularly based on audiences you’ve already developed through visitors to your web site or those who have downloaded your mobile app. The basic process is as follows:

1.   Log into Google Merchant Center and opt to build a campaign using Display and Video 360.
2.   Select a first-party data audience list.
3.   Add the audience list to your insertion order or line item. This may be similar to how you’ve booked campaigns for mobile or the web.

Google will then ensure your ads can reach those consuming content on smart TVs, OTT and other connected TV devices.

Measuring the results of connected TV advertising using Google Promotions

Of course, investing in any emerging digital marketing channel carries with it concerns of whether you’ll achieve your desired goals. If you’re counting on a Google ads promotion to drive sales amid the holidays, for example, you probably can’t afford to make a wrong choice.

Fortunately, Google has continued to introduce new capabilities that help ensure alignment between your eCommerce goals and your campaign effectiveness. These include:

Optimized targeting

Using its own artificial intelligence (AI) applications, Google has said it can help brands not only reach their desired audiences but help them find consumers most likely to respond to CTV ads. This can help strike a balance between precision advertising and not overstepping on consumer privacy or turning to third-party cookies.

Identity reconciliation

Consumers don’t like feeling as though they’re being pursued relentlessly around the web by a brand. Google said it will help avoid this by distinguishing between those who have visited a brand’s site vs. that of a publisher. This will turn connected TV advertising into a more focused channel, where consumers are served a campaign when it’s most relevant.

Reach Planner

Is YouTube your best option for CTV ads? What about Roku, Hulu or one of many other streaming services? Google’s toll allows you to evaluate these publishers based on incremental as well as unique reach. This can build greater confidence in the connected TV advertising decisions you make with Google Promotions.

Unique Reach Overlap

Managing ad frequency is important because it’s easy to unnecessarily duplicate efforts over multiple CTV devices. By offering a greater understanding on where they’re driving the greatest performance with their Google Promotions with connected TV ads, Google is letting you maximize return on investment (ROI).

How does connected TV advertising open up opportunities for localized Google Promotions?

Traditionally, brands have advertised on linear TV by purchasing a spot from a network operator. These spots were then converted into a CPM based on the number of households reached.

CTV ads tend to be purchased a little differently. Brands often buy inventory directly from the publisher, or programmatically using a demand side provider (DMP).

Using Google can offer a more streamlined approach given that many brands are already seeding Google Promotions with ads to run across multiple channels. Google also offers what it calls Deal ID forecasting, which helps advertisers understand how a Preferred Deal or Programmatic Guaranteed deal might perform before it runs.

With a service called Instant Reserve, meanwhile, Google lets you book premium placements on its YouTube connected TV advertising inventory. This includes YouTube TV and YouTube Select.

Regardless of how you book, CTV advertising opens up opportunities to target audiences based on demographics and interests, such as high-income households who are predisposed to fashion and lifestyle content. Connected TV ads also support geotargeting, which allows you narrow campaigns even further to designated neighbourhoods or other areas.

That means consumers watching a fashion show being streamed through a CTV service could also be served local Google Promotions that identify clothing and accessories they could buy at a nearby store. The same tactic could work for eCommerce brands that prioritize fast shipping close to their manufacturing sites.

In this way, pairing Google Promotions and Connected TV advertising could complement the work you’re already doing by running local inventory ads (LIAs) when consumers are searching on the web.

Why successful CTV ads and Google Promotions rely on optimized product feeds

Remember that connected TV advertising tends to focus on the end result: what appears on the screen. To ensure consumers see relevant Google Promotions, you must avoid any errors in how product data feeds from your catalog.

An automated solution supports this by mapping the relevant promotional ID to products within Google Merchant Center that will appeal to the target audience on CTV. This improves campaign planning and goal-setting. Using a platform that allows frequent updates to reflect changes in inventory levels will ensure that CTV ads only showcase Google Promotions for available products, providing peace of mind.

Consider utilizing a product feed management solution as you conduct pilot projects using CTV ads for localized Google ads promotions during peak buying periods like the holidays. Then, based on the results, you can be prepared to scale further as streaming audiences continue to grow

For a close-up look at how Suvae.org can get your product data feeds in a position to make use of connected TV advertising, get in touch and see a demo today.

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