How to track packages in real-time in order to save time and make customers happier.
January 11, 2024
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: You (and your customers) can now easily see real-time shipping status for an order. Your Store displays the current shipping status (in transit, delivered, etc.) and the complete tracking history for the order.
Before this update, one had to view the shipping service’s website (e.g FedEx.com) to view its status. Now, you or shoppers can view all orders' real-time status on your Shop Local Store and in emails.
Great news: You can save 20% off your annual service.
This is like receiving almost 2 and a half months of service for free.
This 20% discount is double our normal 10% and has never been offered before.
This offer is only good till December 13, 2023.
I imagine you wish to take more vacations in 2024 (Paris or Patagonia?), see family and friends more often, or eat at that (expensive) new restaurant. When you pay for Shop Local's service for the year, you'll have more money to do ...
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How a company's sales and growth can be affected by the message it conveys to customers.
July 18, 2023
Allbirds stock is down 95% since its November 2021 initial public offering. People may say the company launched the wrong products (did you buy one of their puffer jackets?) or tried to grow too quickly. I believe there is a larger reason: you can’t scale a company by leading with an environmental message—which is Allbirds’s pitch. Consumers rank saving the planet as one of their least pressing concerns when making a purchase. The leading factors consumers look for when ...
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How we can celebrate indie stores and promote sales by hosting a Save Local event.
February 23, 2023
When one thinks of shopping locally, some consider it an act of charity. One may pay more and get less selection. That’s not a recipe for success. In contrast, the world’s most successful retailers, Walmart and Amazon, operate on just the opposite principles: low prices and massive selection. When I’m in Walmart's Panama City Beach location, it’s so massive I feel like I’m in the Giants' stadium. Amazon sells 12m items on its website (350m if you count the third-...
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FedEx is raising shipping rates 6.9%, which provides an opportunity for stores to get shoppers in the physical store. Store owners can encourage customers to skip the expensive ‘shipping tax’ and just pick their purchase up in store.
An East Village Artist’s Death Prompts a Reflection on the State of Indie Retailers Today
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While thumbing through the Times, I noticed a smiling young woman’s picture in the obituaries. In the black and white photograph, she's standing on a fire escape with a historic building and a bridge in the distance. I was initially attracted to Ronni Solbert’s 1959 picture, yet I was even more drawn in by what I noticed next to her photo: a children&...
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A new trend in retail is vacant shops in urban neighborhoods being converted to small warehouses. In the East Village on 10th Street, we see on the left the new warehouse model; on the right we see a traditional retailer. For the ‘store’ on the left, the customer orders via their mobile phone and then does a pickup or gets a delivery.
I’m seeing more of these ‘zombie stores’ around the city. Just in the East Village, I’ve seen four: ...
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Last February e-commerce company Shopify Inc. replaced the “Ottawa, Canada” dateline that began its press releases and earnings reports with a strange new one: “Internet, Everywhere.” The geographical shift came at the insistence of Shopify’s founder and chief executive officer, Tobi Lütke, who tends to view such matters through the prism of cold, hard logic. In May 2020, only a few months into the pandemic, he’d made the early, seemingly rash decision to...
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A recent experience I had may be related to this topic. On Valentine's Day this year, while I was carrying flowers to meet a friend, an Amazon delivery person intentionally tried to push me out of his way while he was pushing a cart full of Amazon products. Then, when I glared at him for doing so, he verbally assaulted me and taunted me to physically engage in a fight, ...
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FedEx bought a ShopRunner, and online shipping platform that had already received $115 in venture-capital backing and an investment from UPS last year, shares RetailDive.
One doesn't shop on ShopRunner, rather one shops on other stores and looks for the ShopRunner logo when checking out. (Learn more about how it works here: https://www.shoprunner.com/how-it-works .)
A missing component for FedEx and UPS remains an e-commerce platform, such as Shopify, Big Cartel, ...
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While waiting for breakfast, I noticed this ‘Boycott Amazon’ sticker. I think that getting customers to stop something—or start something—is a tough practice. There are fields of science (psychology) and marketing (branding) dedicated to this. Is it easier to get someone to start or stop (boycott) something?
I think that offering a solution (start something) is easier.
I recommend that stores encourage customers to choose them over Amazon because the ...
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December 22, 2019
December 22, 2019
In the ‘age of Amazon,’ is your store a liability or asset? Walmart is banking on stores being the physical nexus points of the web.
Did your e-commerce business lose money last year, and you fret over this? Most indie store owners do, but losing money on e-commence is the name of the game as catching up to Amazon’s 25-year head start will take years and lots of losses. Proof: Walmart’s e-commerce operations lost $2b last year, shares the WSJ. Most indie stores will not be able to pursue this ...
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August 8, 2019
August 8, 2019
I read the New York Times and want to ask: Are we sharpening our executioner's sword? That is what FedEx wondered as it helped Amazon grow by delivering its packages. Finally, FedEx woke up and decided it's better to make less money tomorrow than help usher in its death in the near future. As the Times reports, FedEx is terminating its ground delivery agreement with Amazon at the end of August, thereby passing on the delivery of millions of packages.
Amazon has historically partnered with ...
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July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019
UPS and FedEx now both offer Sunday delivery, in an effort to stay competitive with Amazon. And if you’re not sure this is about Amazon, UPS just launched a new drone delivery service like Amazon. These business choices are likely near-term money losers but that is the spot in which Amazon has placed delivery companies: invest, bleed money, and try to hold your breath until profitability at the end of the pool. Or, it may be ocean. It’s possible that the time to recoup investments will be too ...
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June 8, 2019
June 8, 2019
E-commerce is going to double in the next seven years, predicts FedEx. When that happens, how prepared will your business be? How will you prepare your website, your staff, your shipping procedures, your pricing, and your sales expectations?
When e-commerce grows that much, who will control the market? How will customers shop? Via their mobile? Via Alexa? If e-commerce is the dominant form of shipping, how will your online product selection and prices be kept up to date online? If online ...
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June 7, 2019
June 7, 2019
Smaller margins are here for many businesses in many industries—not just tableware. Recently, a sales rep balked when I suggested its stores take a haircut on margins. Yet, I believe big money tech players are forcing these cuts and upending traditional profits—leaving stores with little other option. From media (see today’s AT&T article) to advertising (Facebook, goggle) to transportation (Uber, Lyft, Tesla) to gift registries (Amazon, MyRegistry, Zola), big money-backed tech companies are the...
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May 31, 2019
May 31, 2019
FedEx will start to deliver on Sundays in order to keep up with e-commence orders and Amazon, shares today’s WSJ.
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April 18, 2019
April 18, 2019
Imagine helping your brands sell direct and bypass you? That’s what Nordstrom is faced with doing as it gets beat up by Amazon and online sellers. As the Nordstrom CEO, think about the dire straits you’d have to be in to approve this. But since most retailers didn’t plan 20 years ago for the internet tsunami, they’re stuck playing package boy for Wall St. darling Amazon.
I agree that it’s great to get customers in the store—I just wish it wasn’t under these terms. It’s like saying you enjoy ...
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January 24, 2019
January 24, 2019
Amazon is launching its own delivery network, putting it in competition with FedEx and UPS.
Fast and free shipping are increasingly expected from shoppers—they’re part of the reasons why Amazon beats up on indie stores. Can you think of an indie store that owns its own delivery network? Besides a florist who may have a van, most likely not. This delivery service will further put indie stores at a disadvantage.
Whether you’re a store, sales rep, or indie brand, Amazon’s aspirations are most ...
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