How a drawing on a bar napkin led to a software platform that processes trillions of calculations
April 15, 2024
In 2007, while sitting at the pub Moran’s with a beer, I drew a sketch on a napkin that would change our business. I drew a software model that would allow an indie store to instantly show (and sell) thousands of products online—without any labor. (The secret sauce: The respective brand would do the product update work for the merchants.) The immediate goal was to help my two retailers more efficiently load products onto their websites (and save me the boredom of doing it).
How Store Owners Can Trade Wasted Labor Costs For a New Tesla Car
March 10, 2024
No one likes to pay for gas—just ask Tesla drivers. Chris Kornelis, a reporter for The Wall St. Journal, shares this week how he switched to a Tesla to save $100 a month ($1,200 a year!) on gas.
This story is important to us because if someone will pick a car to save $1,200 a year, we should be able to find what they need to save in order to pick Shop Local’s Online Store. Let’s learn from Chris and his Tesla choice.
Making Replacement Savings Easy to See
The new ...
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How Shop Local helps 3 retailers rank higher than Target on page 1 of Google.
February 28, 2024
Indie stores have the best chance of ranking highly in Google when they use Shop Local. Proof: Our indie shops beat big-box stores in Google search tests.
Example: We recently conducted a Google study for wedding registry purchasing in Alabama. We Googled "wedding registry Alabama."
Search Results
Stores using Shop Local in Alabama ranked on page 1 of Google ahead of national chains and other registry services, which often have larger customer bases and bigger website
NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 15, 2024 – Shop Local, an e-commerce platform, reported that it's helping indie stores rank on page one of Google in 60% of states for wedding gift purchases. The findings are based on a recent study that Shop Local conducted regarding wedding registry purchasing.
Study Findings:
For 30 state searches, Shop Local Stores appeared on page one of Google. This represents 63% of all states. When just calculating the states in which Shop Local has clients (48
Your Shop Local account offers a built-in solution to shop thousands of products. The Wholesale service combines the best features from wholesale marketplaces and buying on a brand’s site into a new service. Shop Local retailers can save time and money by using the Wholesale service.
The Ivy House, an indie retailer in Texas that has used our e-commerce software since 2015, uses the Wholesale service to save time and money. Laura May, the owner of The Ivy House, easily places...
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You can determine the quality of a shopping platform by looking at reviews from customers who have used it. Below are excerpts from three reviews from shoppers who bought a gift using our software:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"I wanted to take care of this online and the website was easy to navigate…always a plus!"
~ Jerri Ann Fitts in TX
Ms. Fitts made a purchase at The Ivy House, an indie retailer in Texas that has used our e-commerce software since 2015.
How to determine which collections are top sellers.
October 10, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: we've made it easier to quickly identify best-selling collections.
A new green "Best Seller" banner indicates which collections are top sellers.
In the example shown, we see the Results page for a Beatriz Ball collection listed on The Ivy House's site. At the top of the page, we see the green "Best Seller" banner, signifying that the Vento collection is a top seller.
What universal standards can teach us about simplicity regarding e-commerce platforms.
September 25, 2023
When Apple launched its new iPhones this month, one of its most noteworthy updates was replacing its Lightning charging cable with a USB-C. This was not a voluntary move or extension of Steve Jobs’s love of simplicity. Apple changed it because the European Union required them to, according to Ben Cohen in The Wall St. Journal. Now, just about every mobile phone in the world (forget just little ol’ Europe) will have one charging solution (USB-C).
What the retail industry can learn from Google and Amazon teaming up on technology standards.
September 19, 2023
Google, Amazon, and an array of home appliance companies are teaming up to make it easier for you to dim your home’s lights and lock your front doors. They are adopting a standard called Matter that allows devices to communicate and work together, shares The Wall St. Journal. This allows a giant like Amazon, creator of Alexa devices and Ring doorbells, and Tuo, a small home device tech creator, to use the same platform yet keep their internal, proprietary code base. This standard is like a...
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We were happy to see our partner Vietri in this month’s Garden & Gun magazine.
Vietri, a premium designer of Italian home goods, ran a pretty advertisement in this month’s issue. The ad features 15 dealers throughout the South where one can buy Vietri.
Of the 15 stores listed, 47% (7 stores) use Shop Local's Store to more easily sell Vietri.
A pleasure to tour the updated The Ivy House store in Dallas. Laura May, the owner, took me for a tour of her ode to fine china. I learned that her shop is named after Josiah Wedgwood’s home in England.
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Check out the verdant Ivy collection, an expansive assortment of ring holders and boxes, and gold-hued options for fan favorite patterns Eleanor and Flora. Raise a glass to our new flute and stemware sets. We have what you need, and it's in stock now.
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