This is part one of Shipwire’s multi-part blog series: Expanding into Asia-Pacific. In this series we’ll look at the different Asia-Pacific markets, what makes them special, and how to start expanding your business into them with the greatest success. Today, in Part 3 of the series, we look at Korea.

Understanding the Region

One issue that many North American and European businesses might have when they consider expansion into the Asia-Pacific region is that they just don’t understand the region well enough to be aware of the opportunities. This is particularly true when considering Korea. It’s big enough to be part of the G-20, but for many businesses it gets lost in the shuffle behind Japan, Australia, and China. That’s unfortunate, because it’s a major market in its own right.

The most important thing to remember about Korea is that it’s not Japan. Yes, both economies have structural similarities, but the best way to shut yourself out of the Korean market is to consider it a smaller duplicate of the Japanese market.

Information Hub

The first thing to remember is that Korea is a very connected country. On average, South Koreans enjoy the greatest amount of bandwidth of any population on Earth, and more importantly, they use it. Most Korean consumers, particularly younger consumers, rely on the Internet for the vast majority of their product information, particularly in the form of blogs.

Service First

According to Tom Tucker, author of Doing Business in Korea, another very important factor regarding the Korean market is that while Korea is now a modern advanced economy, it only reached that stage very recently. Prior to that, Korea was a developing economy, growing on the strength of being able to produce inexpensive copies of foreign products for both local and international markets. On the consumer front, that meant accepting that products might have issues and brought service to the forefront of the Korean consumer’s mind. Since Korean consumers expected products would break down, they wanted to know that the company stood behind their products and would repair or replace them quickly without any fuss. That being the case, if you want to succeed in the Korean market you need to be able to offer the same kind of service and a similar response time.

Fit in Locally

Another factor is localization. If you are looking to expand into the Korean market you are going to find yourself facing stiff competition from established local brands, that are in tune with the local market. If you want to compete with them, you need to provide a compelling alternative that fits the needs of the local consumer and that means you cannot underestimate the importance of localization. You need to give your Korean customers a reason to buy your product rather than a local alternative made by a company they know will provide a good fit for their specific needs and give them the support they require.

Half-trillion Dollar Market

The question that follows, is why go into Korea when the market presents all these challenges? The answer is simple: it’s a very big pie. According to the UN, Korea’s consumer market ranks 15th in the world at $452 Billion, and according to Economy Watch it ranks 11th in equivalent purchasing power. That’s an almost half-trillion dollar market that’s very close to Japan. It’s just too big to ignore.

According to Tom Tucker, you should also consider that the Korean consumer market is very female-driven. Women make most major purchasing decisions in the household, even when the intended user of the product is male. That means that advertising should reflect the needs of women, regardless of the product because if your advertising campaign turns them off, they won’t buy it – even if they aren’t your intended market.

Even though Korea needs to be considered as its own market, it does share some commonalities with the Japanese market. One of those commonalities is the importance of appearance to many Korean consumers. This comes from the fact that for many Koreans their self-image is intimately connected to image they project of their position in society. One result of this is that the Korean consumer market makes up more than a quarter of their total GDP, which by the 2011 estimates is growing at 3.9% per year. At this rate, it should be well past half a trillion dollars before the end of the decade

If you are looking for a new market to expand into, don’t forget Korea. That’s where Shipwire can help. As a global leader in shipping and fulfillment, we can get your products to the new customers you need to serve.

One of the hot topics in ecommerce right now is the global economy and ecommerce’s growing involvement in it. Earlier this month we started our series on expanding into Asia-Pacific and specifically highlighted China and its rapid growth. For example, did you know that B2C ecommerce in China is on track for a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 94.2% between 2010 and 2015?

The amazing people over at Hubspot used data backed by research from Forester to create this awesome infographic on the importance of going global. To view the full size, click on the image.

If you are interested in growing globally, Shipwire can help. Contact our support team, and sign up for a free trial to get started. It takes only a few minutes to get setup, so get started today!

If you have more questions, feel free to reach out to us by tweeting, hopping on Facebook or emailing us.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has recently announced that they will stop delivering international shipments containing lithium batteries effective May 16. This will also include shipments going to military post office boxes (APO/FPO).

The news was delivered by many outlets including FastCompany, where it was announced that USPS will no longer be delivering products containing lithium batteries to international locations due to concerns over fire or explosion. Despite the fact that most items are shipped with a minimal electric charge, the risk of a battery-fire emergency is still high when products containing these batteries are improperly packaged. USPS is looking for temporary alternatives to put in place before January 1, 2013, when customers will once again be able to ship specific quantities of lithium batteries to international locations.

Fortunately, the ban only affects USPS. FedEx, UPS and other carriers will continue to deliver products with lithium batteries to international recipients. The truth is that as long as proper safety requirements are met, transport of lithium batteries is safe, and so far only USPS and Australia Post have enacted this ban on international battery transport.

This is one of the numerous situations where having multiple warehouse locations internationally becomes useful. Shipping products to your European or Canadian customers would no longer be possible with USPS, however since Royal Mail and Canada Post have no such ban in effect, you could continue to deliver the products to your customers for the same low price you’re used to seeing.

A short list of products which are affected by this decision was provided. You can click the image below for the full version:

Shipwire’s intelligent platform will pick alternate carriers so that orders continue to be processed, however it is important for merchants to work with us to identify the products which contain lithium batteries.

We are already getting in touch with our merchants about this. If you have not been contacted yet, please reach out to our customer care team here or by calling at (888)SHIPWIRE if you have products you believe will be affected.

Palo Alto, CA, May 9, 2012 – Leading order fulfillment service Shipwire today announced four new partners with the release of its integration modules for leading ecommerce solutions Miva Merchant, PrestaShop, LemonStand and Virtuemart. These new partners join Shipwire in providing Enterprise Logistics for Everyone™, a push that seeks to help ecommerce merchants increase revenue opportunities by outsourcing shipping and fulfillment.

Shipwire’s partner network now includes more than 50 partners. The new integrations will give Miva Merchant, PrestaShop, LemonStand, and Virtuemart customers access to Shipwire’s global fulfillment network, which includes warehouses in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Asia. Shipwire’s warehouse network will allow ecommerce merchants to store inventory in its warehouses and do on-demand shipping and fulfillment through Shipwire’s four ecommerce APIs.

“Shipwire has created an order fulfillment service that the leading ecommerce providers leverage to help their customers deliver an amazing buyer experience globally,” said Nate Gilmore, Shipwire’s Vice President of Business Development. “We are pleased to welcome our newest partners to our network, and look forward to helping their customers grow sales, cut shipping costs, and deliver a great brand experience.”

The Newest Intergrations:

Shipwire’s newest shopping cart integrations and updates are for:

• Miva Merchant
• PrestaShop
• LemonStand
• Virtuemart

To read the full press release with additional notes about each new integration, visit our press page here.

We are proud to bring these updates to you and continue to read your suggestions and requests. Please feel free to contact your Shipwire support representative if you have any questions, and please help spread the news of our enhancements through Twitter and Facebook!

The U.S. Commercial Service (CS), the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, helps U.S. companies succeed in markets around the world. The impact of this work ripples throughout the U.S. economy—broadening and deepening the U.S. exporter base, removing obstacles to the export success of U.S. small and medium-sized companies, advancing U.S. business interests abroad, and supporting job creation here in the United States.

The U.S. Commercial Service achieves this by offering:

• Trade Counseling
• Market Intelligence
• Business Matchmaking
• Advocacy and Commercial Diplomacy
• Trade Promotion Programs

Below are upcoming U.S. Commercial Service initiatives this year designed to connect you to business opportunities around the world. Please click “read more” to see all the seminars.

1. Webinar: A Basic Guide to Exporting: Duty Drawbacks
2. Event: Complying with U.S. Export Controls and Complying with International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR)
3. Webinar: Doing Business in Brazil
4. Webinar: A Basic Guide to Exporting: How to Protect Your Intellectual Property in Foreign Markets
5. Event: Automated Export System – Seminar and Workshop
6. Event: Export Controls: Awareness and Application
7. U.S. Companies Exporting to Thailand Now In Good Spirits
8. The Importance of Protecting Intellectual Property
9. Export Promotion Magazine Offers Free French Translation

If you have any questions about these initiatives, please contact your local U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist. To find the trade specialist nearest you please visit http://www.buyusa.gov/home/us.html

Webinar: A Basic Guide to Exporting: Duty Drawbacks
Venue: Your Computer
Date: May 2, 2012
Cost: $15
Learn more/register: http://export.gov/eac/show_detail_trade_events.asp?EventID=32741&InputType=EVENT

Does your company import foreign components for use in its U.S. manufactured products? If so, your company may be entitled to thousands of $$$ in duty drawback refunds and not even know it. Your Company may be able to recover up to 99% of all Customs duties paid on imported materials contained in the manufacture of your product. Retroactively for up to 3 years. Drawback is the refund, reduction or waiver in whole or in part of customs duties assessed upon importation of an article or materials used in the manufacture of goods your company subsequently exports. This webinar will cover when imports qualify and how to apply; types of drawbacks including: Manufacturing Drawback, Rejected Merchandise Drawback, Unused Merchandise Drawback and NAFTA Drawback; and guidance provided by experienced freight forwarder and U.S. Customs official. For more information, please contact doug.barry@trade.gov.

Event: Complying with U.S. Export Controls and Complying with International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR)
Venue: Memphis, TN
Date/Time: May 15-16, 2012; 8:30am-4:30pm

The Bureau of Industry and Security Outreach and Educational Services Division and Cosponsored by International Business Council of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, present Complying with U.S. Export Controls, May 15-16, 2012 and Complying with International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), May 17, 2012. The two programs are led by BIS’s and Directorate of Defense Trade Control (DDTC) professional counseling staff and provide an in-depth examination of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and ITAR requirements. The programs will cover the information exporters need to know to comply with U.S. export control requirements on commercial goods. We will focus on what items and activities are subject to the EAR or ITAR; steps to take to determine the export licensing requirements for your item; how to determine your export control classification number (ECCN); when you can export or re-export without applying for a license; export clearance procedures and record keeping requirements; an overview of the Export Compliance Management Program (ECMP) concepts; and real life examples in applying this information. Please make your lodging reservations directly with the Memphis Marriott Downtown located at 250 North Main Street, Memphis, TN 38103 by calling 901-527-7300. There are a limited number of rooms available at a special conference rate of $129 + tax. The seminar registration fee is $625.00 per person. The fee includes continental breakfast, coffee, lunch, CyberCafe and conference materials for all days. The registration fee is nonrefundable after May 7, 2012. For more registration question, please contact Brenda Montgomery by telephone: 901-543-3541 or email: bmontgomery@memphischamber.com. For more information or questions on the topics to be covered, please call BIS’s Outreach and Educational Services Division telephone: 202-482-6031

Webinar: Doing Business in Brazil
Venue: Your Computer
Date/Time: May 22, 2012; 2:00pm – 3:00pm EDT
Learn more/register: https://emenuapps.ita.doc.gov/ePublic/newWebinarRegistration.jsp?SmartCode=2Q7P

Learn about market opportunities as well as big development projects in Brazil. You will also learn more about the bilateral relationship between the United States and Brazil and the benefits of doing business in Brazil. Hear directly from a market expert in Sao Paulo who can help you enter or expand in Brazil. Deputy Senior Commercial Officer Rick de Lambert, who is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, will present information on the best prospect sectors, alternative market entry strategies and the bilateral relationship. In addition Attorney Renata Vasconcellos of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur LLP, will talk about specific opportunities in Brazil. For more information, please contact Linda.Abbruzzese@trade.gov.

Webinar: A Basic Guide to Exporting: How to Protect Your Intellectual Property in Foreign Markets
Venue: Your Computer
Date: May 24, 2012
Cost: $15
Learn more/register: http://export.gov/eac/show_detail_trade_events.asp?EventID=33168&InputType=EVENT

Be prepared to protect your intellectual property and your global business interests! Learn about the why’s and how’s of patent, trademark, copyright protection overseas. Hear about protecting trade secrets and domain name. Decide where to put limited corporate resources, and common mistakes to avoid. This webinar provides an overview to help your business make decisions on next steps for IP protection overseas, and alerts you to (free) IP resources at your disposal. For more information, please contact Kellie.Holloway@trade.gov.

Event: Automated Export System – Seminar and Workshop
Venue: Philadelphia, PA
Date: June 19-20, 2012
Learn more/register: http://export.gov/pennsylvania/philadelphia/aesseminar/index.asp

The Census Bureau requires mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) or through the AESDirect for all shipments where a Shipper’s Export Declaration was previously required. The Foreign Trade Division is actively engaged in educational outreach to assist you in avoiding these costly penalties. The AES seminar and workshop help you understand the FTR requirements. The U.S. Commercial Service, Philadelphia, is partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau and Temple University’s Fox School of Business to bring you a much needed educational program on how to stay in compliance and navigate the AES systems. For more information, please contact Leandro.Solorzano@trade.gov or telephone: 215-597-6101.

Event: Export Controls: Awareness and Application
Venue: Seattle, WA
Date: July 31/August 1, 2012
Learn more/register: https://emenuapps.ita.doc.gov/ePublic/newWebinarRegistration.jsp?SmartCode=2Q76

The U.S. Department of Commerce – Seattle U.S. Export Assistance Center, Department of Homeland Security, and Microsoft invite you to attend “Export Controls: Awareness and Application,” a two day conference designed to help exporters familiarize themselves with export controls rules and regulations in order to avoid violations. New this year, day two will focus on Deemed Exports. The conference will also include speakers addressing export control reform. For more information, please contact diane.mooney@trade.gov.

U.S. Companies Exporting to Thailand Now In Good Spirits
When Thai Customs incorrectly assessed U.S. distilled spirits imports, the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Market Access and Compliance (MAC) specialists intervened, and Thai Customs re-aligned their assessments to be consistent with the World Trade Organization’s Customs Valuation Agreement. After two members of the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) were unable to collect refunds for the incorrect payments made prior to the correction, ITA helped the DISCUS exporters receive full refunds of the duties and taxes they had been forced to pay. If you have encountered a foreign government trade barrier you can visit http://tcc.export.gov/Report_a_Barrier/index.asp to report it or, call 202-482-1191, or e-mail the specialists at tcc@mail.doc.gov to seek assistance. Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJu5JcdVot8 to watch the video and learn more about the Trade Agreements Compliance Program

The Importance of Protecting Intellectual Property
The International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Trade Agreements Compliance (TAC) Program stresses the importance of forward thinking in terms of protecting intellectual property rights, i.e., copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. It is vital for businesses to protect intellectual property even before beginning to export. Christine Peterson of the Office of Intellectual Property Rights in ITA explained that businesses often do not realize that “you don’t reap the full benefits of your ideas if you don’t protect them.” The ITA promotes: assessing your IP assets; protecting your IP in the U.S. and abroad; actively monitoring the marketplace; and working with law enforcement in-country to enforce your IP. You can learn all about these, and more at www.STOPfakes.gov. If you have encountered a foreign government trade barrier you can visit http://tcc.export.gov/Report_a_Barrier/index.asp to report it or , call 202-482-1191, or e-mail the specialists at tcc@mail.doc.gov to seek assistance. Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJu5JcdVot8 to watch the video and learn more about the Trade Agreements Compliance Program

Export Promotion Magazine Offers Free French Translation
Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce, offers exporters an affordable way to promote their products and services in 178 countries worldwide. Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce, offers exporters an inexpensive way to promote their products and services in 178 countries worldwide. In addition to free French translation, you can take advantage of a special offer: Buy two ads and get the third ad for free (Based on one-time rates. This does not include Showcase section). Commercial News USA reaches more than a quarter million buyers worldwide. Reserve your space in the next issue today. Deadline is May 18th. For more information, call 1-800-581-8533 x 822, go online to http://www.thinkglobal.us, or send e-mail to export@thinkglobal.us. Follow Commercial News USA on LinkedIn and Twitter @comnewsusa.

The U.S. Commercial Service – Your Global Business Partner. With offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration uses its global Network and international resources to connect U.S companies with international buyers worldwide. If you have any questions about these initiatives, please contact your local U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist. To find the trade specialist nearest you please visit http://www.buyusa.gov/home/us.html.

Shipwire CEO Damon Schechter sat down with entrepreneur and Shipwire customer Alex Ikonn to talk about the success and growth of Alex’s company, Luxy Hair. Alex and Damon discussed how pivotal Shipwire has been in providing Luxy Hair the order fulfillment solution it needed to scale into the company it is today. Check out the video below to learn about how Shipwire is part of Luxy Hair’s secret formula.

We celebrate Luxy Hair’s awesome results and look forward to being a part of their continual growth.

Feel free to share this great interview through Twitter and Facebook!

We are excited to announce some new feature updates to the Shipwire platform. Our team has been paying close attention to your requests and is pleased to deliver many improvements and additions that will make your order fulfillment experience even better! Among the updates, here are two of the most important:

Insights to Order Rate Details

With this new release you will get better insight into the details of the shipping quotes you receive from our system. Everything from base rate, Shipwire fees, insurance and packaging fees will be shown. in the order rate details. This feature was something that was previously only available once an order was completed. This enhancement will also let you know how an order is packed.

Another enhancement that relates to the order rate details is our expansion of our warning and notices sent to your dashboard. We are continuing to build out these notifications to better guide you in the fulfillment process, so please give us feedback so that we can continue to improve your experience with each order.

Insurance Enhancements

We have implemented several automations and changes to streamline the insurance procedure. Our system now automatically forwards invoices to Shipsurance which should speed up insurance claims.

In addition to this, we have added more options in the preferences that allow you greater control on what type of orders can qualify for insurance. For example, if you only want orders over a certain price point to have insurance options, you can set that up in your insurance preferences.

We have also improved how we produce our USPS Customs documentation. This will help reduce the incidence of customs issues and smooth out the order fulfillment process.

We are proud to bring these updates to you and continue to read your suggestions and requests. Please feel free to contact your Shipwire support representative if you have any questions, and please help spread the news of our enhancements through Twitter and Facebook!

Small and mid-sized businesses are used to this by now: rate increases that happen every year, like clockwork, across all major parcel carriers. FedEx and UPS usually announce their rate increases in January (they are so consistent that the logistics industry has given them an acronym; GRI, or General Rate Increase). However this time around, it’s the U.K.’s Royal Mail that is making life difficult for businesses. Starting in May, Royal Mail is instituting a product-wide price hike after Ofcom, the U.K.’s postal regulatory body, gave Royal Mail permission to increase prices by as much as they wanted.

At Shipwire, we have strived to always ensure the best service and competitive rates for all our customers, including those in the U.K. This is why despite parcel prices that have risen since 2008 by as much as 26% in some cases (250g first class packet), we kept our rates flat for all our U.K. customers.

However the increases being implemented this time around are too large, and unfortunately will affect Shipwire’s customers. For example, the price of a first-class parcel will now cost £2.71, up from £1.58. Shipping the same small packet to Australia will now cost £3.67, up from £2.29.

Royal Mail’s management have stated that this increase is in response to falling mail volume which is causing them to operate on a loss. Facing the choice of either cutting service, cutting benefits, or increasing costs, they chose the latter.

Needless to say, this causes concern among business owners as these price increases will affect their bottom line. Directly if they take the burden of the costs, or indirectly through decreased sales volume if they pass the shipping cost on to their customers.

So what can you do in light of Royal Mail’s price increase?

The best way to win the GRI game is not to play at all. The trick to cutting shipping costs is to store your inventory closer to your customers and only use carriers like Royal Mail for last-mile service. In doing so, you can withstand the rate increases and even thrive despite it.

While everyone will be affected by the rising prices, those shipping international packages will feel it the most. Here’s one such example:

For a customer shipping out of the U.K., sending a 2 lb. parcel to a customer in New York cost £11.95 for Airmail delivery before the price increase, or about $19.29 USD. After the rate increase the same shipment will cost £13.27, or $21.41. But if you were to put part of your inventory in Shipwire’s Pennsylvania warehouse, the same shipment would cost you $9.32 (see our Shipping Rate Calculator). With 200 orders shipped per month, the savings are $1,608. This means that during a price hike, you actually end up saving $12 per order.

We’ve written about this for UPS and FedEx customers in the past, and many of the lessons are applicable to our U.K. customers as well. In this post we talk about:

• Fuel “discounts” which will be announced alongside shipping rate increases, but several months later will rescind it and the discount will actually turn into a surcharge
• Discounts vs. retail pricing and how surcharges are a game played by the carriers
• The rules of order fulfillment, shipping and how true economies of scale work (aka How Top Online Retailers and manufacturers run their supply chains)
• Moving products closer to buyers to cut last-mile costs (Royal Mail, UPS, USPS, Fedex) forever. Especially for overseas/international shipments

These price hikes can be frustrating but the important thing to note, especially for Shipwire customers, is that there is a silver lining. By using a global network of warehouses to store your inventory closer to your customers, you can expand your business globally and save on shipping even when rates go up.

Spend two minutes with our Shipping Rate Calculator. See how many thousands of dollars Shipwire can save you.

You can also read more from Shipwire. Check out our manifesto on beating back the General Rate Increase from 2010, and 2009 and send us comments.

Welcome to part two of Shipwire’s multi-part blog series: Expanding into Asia-Pacific. In this series we’ll look at the different Asia-Pacific markets, what makes them special, and how to start expanding your business into them with the greatest success. Today, in Part 2 of the series, we look at Australia.

Now that your business has outgrown the local market, where do you go for growth? If you are already serving North America and Europe, where do you find a similar market with an advanced economy with room for your business to grow?

Australia, that’s where.

Underserved by North American Business

According to the UN, Australia is a five hundred and sixty billion dollar market for consumer goods that’s largely underserved by North American business. It’s a mature market with lots of disposable income, and ignoring Australia is the equivalent of leaving money on the table. Another benefit of expanding into Australia is that due to international trade patterns, once you are set up to serve the Australian market, you already have access to most of the infrastructure to ship your products into the Chinese market, which gives you a leg up on your next step after Australia.

The Australian ecommerce market grew by 36% in 2011.

The Australian Consumer

The Australian consumer is much like the consumers you may be used to in North America or Europe, only wealthier than most. Also, while it would be wrong to underestimate the differences between the Australian market and North America, there is a vast amount of information available in English on the Australian market. According to marketing documents in Melbourne’s Victoria University, the Australian market may be the most studied in the world. According to Credit Suisse, Australia ranked second only to Switzerland in average adult wealth in 2011, and neither the United States nor Canada made the top ten. Meanwhile, the IMF is predicting a sustained growth in the Australian Gross Domestic Product of over 3% per year in the period 2012-2016. Given that Australia’s GDP is in the neighborhood of 1.5 Trillion dollars and that the consumer market makes up approximately a third of it, this means that according to the IMF’s figures we can project that the Australian consumer market is going to increase by approximately 17 billion dollars per year for each of the next five years – or an overall projected increase of approximately 85 billion dollars. It’s a growing market.

Where Does Your Business Fit in?

There is one area in which the Australian consumer market offers a particularly big opportunity, though; according to Frost and Sullivan, they are at least three years behind the US and UK in the development of ecommerce – but that’s still a 12 billion dollar a year online retail market even with that three year handicap. Note that despite their high average wealth, surveys show that Australians still cite price as a major factor in driving their online purchasing decisions.

One reason that price may be so important to the Australian consumer is the effect of distance. Not only is Australia a large and sparsely populated country, it is also at the end of a very long supply chain for most North American suppliers. Even products that are made in Asia may be shipped first to North America and then fulfilled from there to the Australian market. That’s a lot of shipping, and it drives up the cost of everything: particularly in a country with a relatively small domestic manufacturing sector. Being able to overcome the high costs of shipping to Australia means winning a whole lot of new customers.

An Opportunity for Online Retailers

Despite the costs of shipping, Australians are still spending almost 40% of their online consumer dollars on overseas rather than domestic sites. Many major Australian retailers have been slow to move into the ecommerce space, and this delay on their part provides an opportunity for foreign merchants who are willing to move quickly into the market openings this provides.

Another advantage of the Australian market lies in the cultural and social similarities to Canada and the United States. While one cannot ignore the differences, the shared language and similar legal foundations make it much easier for businesses seeking overseas expansion from North America to move into Australia than into other countries where there are fewer legal and linguistic commonalities. It’s a growing market with an advanced economy and wealthy consumers and no language barriers to entry. If you are looking for a new market for your business, you could find a lot worse places to look than Australia, and that’s where Shipwire can help.

This is part one of Shipwire’s multi-part blog series: Expanding into Asia-Pacific. In this series we’ll look at the different Asia-Pacific markets, what makes them special, and how to start expanding your business into them with the greatest success. Today, in Part 1 of the series, we look at China.

If you want to grow your business, you’re going to have to grow your customer base; and if you think of your company as local, you may be limiting your market. Luckily, we have a global economy.

The best way to build your business is to expand into new markets, especially growing or underserved markets. As the world’s center of economic gravity shifts towards Asia and the Pacific basin there is a perfect target for business expansion: China, and Shipwire can help.

World’s Fastest-Growing Market

The world’s largest nation is on its way to becoming the world’s largest market. It’s already projected to become the world’s second largest consumer market as early as 2015, and its economic growth is not slowing down. China’s continued program of rapid industrialization has been driving the largest sustained increase of disposable income in human history. Incomes are rising, mobility is rising, and the combination of better jobs and increased education is fueling a population shift to urban centers. And while large regional economic disparities are likely to remain a part of the Chinese landscape for the foreseeable future, urban China is rapidly becoming a modern and mature consumer market.

The New Chinese Consumer

There is a new Chinese consumer, who is ready, willing, and able to spend money on consumer goods. As a Deloitte study shows, the Chinese consumer today is in a similar position to the Japanese and Korean consumers of previous decades. Incomes are rising and they can see all the things the rest of the world has been taking for granted. Rising incomes have also brought rising expectations, and for Chinese consumers the future looks bright with the promise of future wealth. This promise of future wealth often has the effect of opening wallets in the present, by relieving the fear that money spent now will be unavailable if it’s needed later. Chinese consumers are likely to remain value-conscious for the foreseeable future, particularly when purchasing consumable household goods such as paper towels and detergent, but there is a growing desire for luxuries such as personal electronics. You just need distribution to get your products there.

McKinsey’s latest survey of Chinese consumers shows that in contrast to previous decades, the consumer wealth and disposable income of the average Chinese household is growing at an ever-accelerating rate. By 2020 the average urban household in China will have doubled its 2010 disposable income, going from $4000 to $8000 annually. The numbers show that discretionary spending has been growing at a compounded rate of 13.4% annually since 2010, and is not expected to slow down before 2020. Currently, the largest segment of the urban Chinese market are consumers at the value income level, earning $6000-$15999 annually, followed by the mainstream segment which earns up to $34000 with affluent households beyond that. Not only is disposable income increasing for all income levels, but more and more households are transitioning upwards in income level, with mainstream and affluent households projected to make up 57% of the urban population by 2020. Even those who remain at the value level are expected to shift toward the upper end of that range. China may still suffer from regional economic disparities, but the mainstream and affluent urban consumers who make up the core of the Chinese consumer market have similar spending patterns those in any developed country.

Click here to see a chart of commodity consumption in China compared to U.S.

More Discretionary Spending

Chinese growth in discretionary and consumer spending is on pace for China to overtake Japan as the world’s largest market for luxury goods by 2015, and shows no signs of being likely to slow down before 2020. Companies that get into the Chinese market now, show every sign of being able to ride the wave of economic growth. McKinsey also shows that by 2020, many older consumers in China will have the same spending habits as younger consumers do now; with much more discretionary spending on food and apparel. This projected shift in spending patterns means that the time to get your products into the Chinese market is now.

Impressive: see what the Economist has to say about ecommerce in China.

The growth of the mainstream Chinese consumer market puts it in a perfect position to drive global growth. Where better to test future products than in a large and growing consumer market? When you combine the nature of the Chinese market with its projected growth it is safe to predict that after 2020 it will become ever more difficult for any company to take a global leadership role unless they can maintain a strong presence in China.

If you are selling physical products and looking to grow your business, you need to be looking at getting your products into Asia and especially China. That’s where Shipwire can help. As a global leader in shipping and fulfillment, we can get your products to the new customers you need to serve.

Stand by for new posts coming in this series. We’ll write about the vital markets in Asia and culminate with an important announcement that we’re very excited about.

Vendio has a long history within the ecommerce world, so naturally Shipwire is hard at work to integrate them as a seller tool within the Shipwire platform. Our engineering team is currently working on the integration for Vendio, so put your name on the wait list in order to get notified as soon as it goes live. Shipwire is excited to release the Vendio integration because Vendio is a flexible store front kit that offers tons of application add-ons such as:

Vendio Apps:

• Image Hosting
• Google Checkout
• Reports
• Gallery
• Buyer Appreciation

Get on the wait list!

To see a full list of features, visit Vendio.com

If you want to know when the Vendio integration for Shipwire is released, add yourself to our wait list to be informed when Shipwire’s integration goes live. We look forward to adding to the functionality of Vendio, and are working hard to deliver this tool kit to you soon.

In the mean time, please help us raise awareness by tweeting, hopping on facebook or emailing us.

Thank you for your patience, we look forward to getting this working for you.

ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst conference is happening again at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and we at Shipwire can barely contain our excitement. We are rushing around our base in Palo Alto to Pick and Pack up our materials and polishing up our presentations.

What is Catalyst 2012?

ChannelAdvisor has held this conference annually to bring together industry leaders to discuss trends and standards in ecommerce. Panelists from companies like eBay, Amazon.com and Google will be presenting on various topics that pepper the ecommerce industry. Catalyst offers a unique experience to engage head to head with over 600 industry executives, analysts and decision makers to discuss trends and best practices to strengthen online commerce.

Why is Catalyst 2012 so Exciting?

ecommerce is a steadily growing field, with world wide growth projections around 19.4% (according to Goldman Sachs). China’s growing internet consumerism is also fueling interest in ecommerce. With a year over year growth of 24% in internet users, it is no surprise to ecommerce making up nearly 4% of the entire consumer market. With exciting numbers like that, it is clear to see that it is important to start investing in international order fulfillment, and that’s certainly an area Shipwire has under control.

Shipwire is very excited for this conference; we are even pledging our support by becoming an official sponsor of the event. This year should be particularly packed because the event sold out well over a month ago! If you have the opportunity come to Catalyst, be sure to visit Nate and Darwin at the Shipwire booth, and bring your logistics questions with you. We know this will be a great conference!

Shipwire attended the PrestaShop BarCamp 5 event in NYC this year and had an awesome time. Our own Kenny Lim was there and had a chance to meet with quite a few developers and ecommerce merchants to discuss their needs and to learn how they’re using Shipwire for their order fulfillment.

What is BarCamp 5?

PrestaShop’s 5th edition of BarCamp brought together the users and developers of PrestaShop to discuss new tools and releases surrounding the PrestaShop ecommerce platform. Starting at 9am, speakers took the stage to talk about subjects ranging from marketing and design to customer retention and mobile platforms. There are lots of great talks, too – Tim Shulz, a member of Google’s mobile commerce team, was this year’s keynote speaker.

Barcamp Highlights
PrestaShop did an excellent job of welcoming each partner and guest and even had several booths set up to provide information for PrestaShop users. All the booths were set up by partners and affiliates to help PrestaShop users answer questions and resolve issues dealing with ecommerce. Among many others, booths were set up by Avalara, Authorize.net, and of course Shipwire.

Kenny Takes the Stage

Kenny spoke about the fundamentals of growing a global business and how Shipwire can help merchants save time and money. You can view a version of Kenny’s presentation here.

After Kenny’s presentation, PrestaShop held an award ceremony which included some awesome gifts (iPad 3 anyone?) and was followed by a cocktail mixer topped off with some champagne. PrestaShop users and developers got to talk and mingle with the panelists and share some great ideas.

Shipwire’s PrestaShop Integration

We’re excited to release a module made just for PrestaShop. Many of you have asked for this and we thank you for your patience while we put the finishing touches on this important release. In the meantime, please feel free to register on our wait list, or if you just can’t wait you can take a stab at working with our API. We’d love it if you let everyone know about this integration, and as always we hope you get in touch with us through Twitter, Facebook or by sending us an email.

Keep your eyes peeled for our launch!

[View with PicLens]

Shipwire is excited to announce that we now work with the LemonStand eCommerce solution. What does this mean for you? More options to sweeten the deal for your customers by offering greater varieties in the methods they can shop. The module offered by iD30 communicates with Shipwire’s API and offers a fluid shipping solution similar to the native cart solutions offered by Shipwire.

LemonStand has lots of great features such as:

• Sell physical products, electronic goods, service and subscriptions
• Flexible CMS for managing pages and layouts
• Notification of orders from LemonStand to Shipwire
• Inventory Management
• Discount Tools
• Real-time inventory from your Shipwire locations to your LemonStand account.

To see a full list of features, please visit LemonSTand App page.

Setting Up LemonStand to communicate with the Shipwire API calls

We’ve setup this support page to provide you with the documentation you need to connect LemonStand to the Shipwire API. This support page was made thanks to the efforts of LemonStand on their support page.

Getting Support

If you still need assistance, please reach out to the iD30 support team and reference their forums. Unfortunately, Shipwire support staff will not be able to assist you in troubleshooting any issues you run into for this module, however, we are always happy to guide you through any problems you may have within the Shipwire App itself.

We are excited to work with LemonStand and the iD30 developer team and look forward to shipping some great products through the LemonStand module!

Check out some more LemonStand Resources:

Pickup the LemonStand Module Here

Visit our module setup guide Here

Contact iD30 support Here

Maybe it was the idea of camping in a bar? Maybe it was our love of partying in loft spaces? Maybe it was the idea of gathering in the “spring” in New York City? Perhaps it was that we’ve seen a lot of requests for a PrestaShop connection?

It was actually all of the above.

Shipwire and PrestaShop are getting ready to party together … on many levels. A PrestaShop connection is in the works and the Shipwire team will be at PrestaShop’s BarCamp 2012 in NYC this March 20th.

Module is coming soon
Very soon Shipwire and PrestaShop will release a module that connects a PrestaShop powered store to Shipwire.

If you want to be invited to the beta of this module and get the announcement of its general availability please take 30 seconds and sign up for the notification list. PrestaShop Order Fulfillment list.

We appreciate your patience. We very much appreciate your tweeting this, sharing this and generally helping us raise the awareness level.

BarCamp…Party Time
If you have never been to a “BarCamp” or “unconference” you will be impressed. I’ve found that they go deeper into issues than traditional conferences and have a much higher level of participation. The overall day is structured; but, the coordination and the audience are empowered to take the conference topics in new directions…based on the audience need.

Here are the relevant details for PrestShop’s BarCamp in March. If you are in NYC in March consider dropping in.

This will be PrestaShop’s first BarCamp in the USA. The 5th one globally. It will be hosted in New York City’s 82Mercer. There will be presentations and workshops all day.

Sign up for free on the Barcamp website!

The program looks rock solid and Shipwire’s own Kenny Lim will be talking about methods to globalize your shipping. Take my word for it, that the workshops at BarCamps are really amazing. PrestaShop really wants this to be a hands-on experience.

See you in New York.

Shipwire's New Site

You’ve probably already seen the new Shipwire website. While we’re proud of the hard work we’ve put into redesigning our new site, we’re not resting on laurels. The new redesign is only phase one of something even bigger. In the next few months, we’re planning on rolling out an all new back end to complement and complete our look.

Last Wednesday, a new look for Shipwire’s administrative panel was released which showed off a newly skinned backend to match the frontend redesign. From the Dashboard to Account Setup, every table and menu were coated with a layer of our new awesomeness.

But this is only the beginning. Keep your ear to the ground – more exciting changes are coming to Shipwire.com.

To stay in the loop on the latest updates to the Shipwire website and engine, as well as to keep up to date on the freshest news in the world of shipping logistics and order fulfillment, follow us by email by clicking on the link on the right. Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@shipwire).

Shipwire offers a compreshensive enterprise level order fulfillment and logistics solution to growing companies looking to outsource the hassles of shipping and fulfillment and grow their business. We enable ecommerce merchants to expand their businesses domestically and internationally while saving time and costs. Check out our 2 minute video to learn more about us. Or try us out for free today.

New Account Summary

Old Account Summary

New "Adding a Product"

Old "Adding a Product"

New "Sending Merchandise"

Old "Sending Merchandise"

For those who don’t know, SXSW is an annual festival held in Austin and is one of the greatest events you will ever attend.

Its focus is on interactive, music, and film, and it was ground zero for the launches of both Twitter and Foursquare.

This year we’re sponsoring a few industry insider events with a whole bunch of our friends, including Olark, Zendesk and Rackspace and would love to see every one of you come out! Here’s a quick run-down of the events we’re co-sponsoring:

Small Business, Big Party
RSVP here
When: 5pm-8pm Saturday, March 10 at Coyote Ugly Patio
What it’s about: This party is the only place the entire industry will gather during SXSW this year. Founders, executives, investors, marketing managers, business development, technical leads, media and resellers will all be here to close deals.

Small Business Web’s Ecommerce Hoedown
RSVP here
When: 5pm-8pm Sunday, March 11 at Coyote Ugly Patio
What it’s about: Come meet the movers and shakers from the world of ecommerce. Enjoy drinks and food and put on your best hand-shaking face to get some deals done!

Y Combinator’s Startup Saloon
RSVP here
When: 5pm-8pm Monday, March 12 at Coyote Ugly Patio
What it’s about: Y Combinator Startups want to buy you a drink at SXSW. We will bring an open bar and food. You will bring yourself and a stack of business cards. Deals will get done. Tales will be told.

Shipwire is excited to announce our module for Virtuemart (Joomla) powered Web stores. Here are the install instructions -Virtuemart order fulfillment.

This is a free module provided by Shipwire.

The Shipwire module currently has been tested and supports Virtuemart version 1.1.9 with Joomla version 1.5. We believe it to be compatible with Joomla versions prior to 1.7. This is important to note as the most recent beta builds of Virtuemart for Joomla 1.7 are not supported. See more below on this.

The Virtuemart module connects to 4 Shipwire APIs

• Real-time order fulfillment
• Real-time shipping rating
• Real-time Inventory
• Real-time tracking

The Virtuemart module, while still in beta, plugs into all public Shipwire APIs. This means that you can automate the submission of orders, inventory and carrier tracking numbers between Shipwire and your Virtuemart powered store. We’re also really pleased to announce that you can display our warehouse shipping rates to your buyers in checkout. Real-time rates work across all our warehouses (and Shipwire Anywhere locations) and incorporate your Shipwire account shipping preferences. We hope the Virtuemart and Joomla community likes the module and gives us feedback.

It bears mentioning that this module is not compatible with he latest beta releases of Virtuemart 2.0.x for Joomla 1.7.x.
We want to be clear about this and explain why. We started this module a while back and the latest Virtuemart just released in December of 2011. We expect that many users will be taking their time in migration and we wanted the module to be a fit for customers today. We evaluated Virtuemart 2.0 and felt that its interfaces for shipping were not yet ready for us to consume. This was confirmed by user feedback. For these reason, our choice was to release our build for Virtuemart 1.1.9 on Joomla 1.5.

We look forward to your feedback and our participation with the community and customers using Virtuemart and Joomla.

To get started with adding Virtuemart to your Shipwire account, see the step-by-step guide Virtuemart order fulfillment.

With the new year comes a time for new beginnings at Shipwire. I am pleased to introduce you to the new Shipwire website.

When I launched Shipwire in 2006, I hoped to help businesses outsource the hassles of storage and shipping so they could focus on growing sales. Now, almost 6 years later, returning from a recent visit to our Los Angeles warehouse, I’m impressed by the endless rows of product inventory and the entrepreneurial dreams they represent. That we now have 6 of these warehouses around the world is humbling. That our team keeps growing, and soon will have a 7th warehouse in Hong Kong, makes me immensely proud.

Since our initial launch in 2006, our customers and our platform have evolved. We initially launched the Shipwire platform just for entrepreneurs. We then learned that the mid-market multi-channel seller also wanted to use Shipwire. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurs who got their start on Shipwire have grown into mainstream brands. We’re now seeing both entrepreneurs and larger brands automate their sales, and expand their brands overseas, via our cloud-based logistics platform. The old Shipwire website spoke primarily to younger brands, and didn’t highlight our value proposition to mid-market merchants who sought to expand globally, and across more channels. Today, that changes.

On behalf of the entire team and our Board of Directors, I would like to introduce you to the new Shipwire website, brand, and mission statement – “Enterprise Logistics for Everyone.”

Our new team manifesto to our customers makes me particularly proud. And our new video, which explains the benefits of Shipwire to new visitors, also gives a glimpse of the future we have planned for you.

As with all massive projects, this is the first of several phases. Today we relaunch the website, but the team is already hard at work designing the next version of the Shipwire application. This will take a few months, but we’re tremendously excited about it. We hope that you share our interest in continuing our growth together.

Best Regards,

Damon Schechter
CEO & Founder
Shipwire, Inc.

The world’s largest electronics show, CES 2012, is almost upon us and as always Shipwire will be in attendance. We’ve decided to share some of what we know based on past experience so that you can be better prepared and know what not to miss at this year’s expo, along with a few things that we’d like to see at this year’s CES.

Hot Trends to be on the lookout for

Fuel cells.  It seems that fuel cells are coming to power portable electronics, with companies like SiGNa set to exhibit fuel cell-based chargers for various devices. AppleInsider also recently reported that Apple has filed a patent for fuel cell tech.

Bigger, better screens. 3D TVs were the big thing last year and it looks like there will be a strong theme of screens this time around as well. New developments in OLED will see a big announcement and one maker plans to unveil the world’s largest HDTV unit based on the technology. Not only that but LG is also announcing a 4K television which will quadruple the resolution of typical 1080p display.

Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and new tablets. Last year, Honeycomb was released shortly after CES and was followed up by the new ICS in November. This means that there will be several new tablets released close to the $100-dollar mark. This accessibility will make tablets an even bigger trend than it already was, although as always there will only likely be a few winners.

What we’d like to see this year

More businesses focusing on selling directly to consumers.

Last year we lamented that everyone was focusing on selling to distributors. This is great, but finding a good distributor, getting their attention, and building a business relationship is harder than it looks. Distributors are attracted to products which already have success in at least one market. This is completely normal since they have their own risk tolerance and investing too much into unproven products can mean bad business (or worse) for them.  This means that if you’re selling a product without a track record, convincing distributors to partner with you may be more difficult than you expect.

The lesson is that with a new product, learning to sell direct in one market will work as an ideal proof of concept and will help you attract distributors for other markets.

Since last year we have seen many new customers – even ones that displayed at CES 2011 – join us as Shipwire customers, using fulfillment to reach their market directly.  We’re also seeing a huge increase in product crowd-sourced funding through venues like Kickstarter.  So we know that some innovative product makers are selling to consumers.

When we examined how exhibitors can be successful in finding and dealing with distributors, we found three major points that contribute to the success of the most successful retailers:

1. They sell online.  Many distributors are strong with both direct-to-consumer (B2C E-commerce) and B2B.  Many distributors have a complex chain of relationships when it comes to shipping to or on behalf of retailers. Don’t be surprised if you get asked to “drop ship” or ship to their buyers.  Like everybody in the supply chain, they are trying to simplify their supply chains as well.  Be prepared to offer them simple solutions.

2. Selling internationally. Selling in overseas markets is very important because it can help your business grow quickly, discover new customer needs, and hedge against local market downturns. It’s also a task that has many challenges so finding the right distributor is very important. The best distributors have strong overseas networks and know how to localize your product. Good overseas distribution partners are often hard to come by, so do your due diligence on them.

3. Smaller wholesale purchases, drop shipping and vendor managed inventory. To hedge against risk, the strongest distributors will only invest heavily (by buying larger quantities) in proven products. For unknown or unproven products they may ask you to drop-ship to consumers (incurring costs of holding inventory, shipping, etc.) or consign inventory to them where they will only pay for what they sell. This lets them unload their risk to you and keeps them a strong force in their market.

The truth is that each of the above three strengths can be used by any individual retailer and not just the largest, most powerful retailers. And most importantly, capitalizing on these strengths will not hurt your relationship with retailers but will actually improve it. Since distributors have large networks and the market you’re going after is smaller, there won’t be a threat of cannibalizing sales for them. This will help the distributor make the decision to purchase your product because suddenly you will be showing them something that has proven success in the market.

Our wish for CES 2012 is to see more exhibitors using fulfillment to break into new markets and sell their product directly to customers.

Parties and events:

Of course, CES is also known for big parties, ranging from celebrity events to awards ceremonies. You can see a full list of this year’s CES parties here.

CES party photo (c)Brian Solis

Ace Ventura Movie - "Special delivery" scene

During the week following Christmas and New Year, warehouses everywhere start getting returns. Returns happen!  Now is a good time to review your  returns policy and how it will impact your buyers thoughts of you, and you bottom line.

Every year we see damaged product returns.  It’s expected that some products will get damaged.  Why does it happen? What happens behind the scenes?

One of my favorite movie scenes is the opening scene of Ace Venture Pet Detective. Ace, dressed like a parcel courier, is going to steal back a dog for its owner.  Ace puts a parcel through its paces in a hilarious scene (link behind image).

Who would have thought that today we would be seeing Ace’s patentent moves being usurped by parcel carriers all over.  Phone and security camera footage is popping up everywhere.  I’ve included a few below.

How do damaged product returns work?

We all know the experience, you open a package with high expectations, you reach in and find the object of your desire has been damaged.  Deflated, you return it for a new one.  Most retailers will promptly refund or reship the good.

• Notification and buyer return - When a buyer notifies a Shipwire powered merchant about a damaged product, the merchant reports it by clicking a button on the order.  We dispatch a shipping label and issue a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number so it can be tracked.
• Return and reship – The damaged product is sent back to the warehouse where it is received back into inventory as damaged.  A reshipment is typically triggered once the original is returned.  Some retailers will reship before the return is in inventory but after the RMA tracking is activated (when the buyer ships it back).
• Removed from inventory – Damaged product has a special classification in inventory.  This ensures that it won’t be confused for “good” inventory and shipped to buyers.  It also allows for easier inspection.  Many of our merchants choose to liquidate this inventory, or bulk ship it back to their manufacture inspection facility for final disposal and recycle.
• Automate Insurance claim – Shipwire Report a Problem selection initiates this process and begins tracking.  For do-it-yourself shippers, I know there are also 3rd party insurance services and consultants that can manage your shipping negotiations with carriers.

Who covers the damage?

This question comes down to when did it get damaged and which insurance was in place at that point.

Shipwire recommends and facilities a “chain of insurance” for our merchants.  Typically, goods come in to our warehouses from the manufacture (inbound), is stored at the warehouse (storage) and then shipped to fulfill buyer orders (outbound).  Insurance is available the entire lifecycle.  If a cargo container is washed overboard or product is damaged in freight then the freight insurance covers.  If a product is damaged by a forklift, then the warehouse insurance policy is looked to.  If the product is damaged between the warehouse and the buyer, the carrier insurance is looked to.

Fedex roughs up a delivery

For stored goods with Shipwire, warehouse insurance can be added to your inventory globally with 1-click in Account Settings.  Carrier insurance, above our included amounts, is a setting in Shipping Preferences.

Excessive damage claims can be a sign of bad packaging design

Work with your manufacturers to design durable packaging for transport.

Well designed shipping packaging protects the products inside from falls, impacts and weight crushing.  At the same time it has to be logical and reduce your costs.  Design for “maximum shipability”.

Here are some Shipwire resources if you want to keep reading.

• Packaging design considerations
• Packaging Requirements for inbound products
• Supplier instructions for packaging and labeling

If you built your own products and have your own shipping packaging.  You probably also know how much weight can be stacked on it before it crushes…right?

But, how did it get broken?

If a damaged product arrives on the doorstep, it is typically caused by 1 or 2 things.  Either the product was incorrectly packaged for it’s method of transit.  Or, the product packaging couldn’t live through the extent of the abuse that it was subjected to in transit.

Shipwire has evolved some pretty complex packing algorithms to aid pickers, minimize crush and ensure product fit.  Pack staff is trained and monitored to best packaging processes. We’re confident it leaves the warehouse well packaged and documented.

Packaging and crush protection is designed to handle most of the bumps and scrapes of transport. But more often than not, parcels and packages take abuse during transit.  They get cut open or broken open in customs and handed off between carriers.

Unpacking what is hopefully apparel

Most of that isn’t video’ed; but, with cameras everywhere now, we know that …

The last few feet are often the roughest.

Fedex delivery man tosses monitor over fence

With 7 million views and counting, FedEx got a lot of bad press this December when their delivery person tossed a monitor over a fence.  I’m sure the customer shipment will be covered by insurance or Fedex.  I very much doubt that the manufacturer designed the packaging to protect the product for this delivery.  Packaging is probably designed for a fall of a few feet only.

It’s not just Fedex.  UPS drivers get caught on camera too throwing deliveries to the door or delivering 20 feet to the neighbors house.  Packages get put behind brush, buried in snow, kicked, dropped or run-over in the last few feet of their trip.

Truck packing and unpacking

Driver throwing deliveries from truck

Parcel carriers get caught on video often treating parcels roughly during truck packing and unpacking. Most of the products are probably fine….most.

Expect boxes to be kicked, dropped, stacked with heavier boxes of them.  Some drivers have been caught throwing packages out the door (captions) or doing their truck “sort” with their feet (soccer style).

Most packaging is designed to handle some abuse from the carriers.  Throwing packages into and from a truck seems to be a common thread.

During “sort” or “processing”

When packages are shipped via the major carriers they are picked up from the warehouse by the carrier and delivered to a sort facility.  Packages are sorted by destination and consolidated with other packages going to the next depot.

USPS shipment damaged during sort

These sort facilities are massive operations with lots of automated systems to understand where a package came from and where it is ultimately going.  It’s not uncommon for smaller parcels to get hung-up in conveyors and ripped open.

In the warehouse

Products can get damaged in a warehouse.  Insurance is offered to cover against things like forklift damage.

Products damaged in the warehouse are set aside and don’t get shipped out. If a product arrived at a door damaged, the damage was most likely caused in transit.

You”d think shipping to a country right next door to us would be as easy as crossing the border, but many US merchants shipping to Canada for the first time end up with a less than pleasant experience. Even big merchants like Zappos have decided to discontinue their offerings to Canada after numerous unhappy Canadian customers. Ah, if only they had decided to outsource this to the pros, like Shipwire!

Top complaints from merchants about shipping to the “Great White North”:

1. Brokerage fees – sometimes comparable to the miscellaneous fees from your monthly cell phone bill, they are hard to predict.

2. Lost shipments, lack of tracking abilities – once packages reach customs, it is very difficult to get a shipment update.

3. Shipments blocked by buyer when they get VAT charge – buyers refuse to pay additional “hidden” fees to receive their package that are actually handling fees that Canada Post or Canadian Customs charges.

4. Returns are a nightmare – it’s not unlikely that the merchant would rather abandon the product to save money, time and headache.

5. Unpredictable delivery times – with limited tracking abilities, it is difficult to give buyers a time frame for when to expect their package because of the delays at customs.

The most disliked thing about shipping to Canada is that the brokerage fees and VATs are difficult to estimate. Many times the receiver may have to pay additional taxes and handling fees before the package is released from customs. You can see how shipping to individuals could pose a problem: a buyer pays for shipping as stated on the website only to find there’s an additional fee upon delivery and disputes ensue. Of course, one workaround is to have your courier bill the fees to your account so your buyer doesn’t have to pay them – if this is an available option.  But then you’re still spending more money than you have to and cutting into your margins by taking on all the customs costs.

There have been many reviews by merchants who recommend FedEx and USPS as their service of choice to handle such transactions. As a great alternative to all the hassle, Shipwire offers helpful tips and a shipping calculator so your business can be well-informed when deciding to offer shipping to your Canadian customers. Shipwire currently has two Canadian warehouse locations: Vancouver and Toronto. To help smooth out the US-to-Canada shipping process, we also have a wide variety of Canadian shipping options in addition to our platform.

How can shipping to Canada be less complicated?

Outsourcing your Canadian shipping needs to Shipwire would be the easiest bet, but for those who want to try the DIY approach, here are important things to keep in mind when using USPS:

1. Use the right Customs forms and fill them out appropriately

Use the green slip for First Class Mail, and the white one with the clear sleeve for Priority Mail. Customs does not/cannot provide tracking for packages, only packages with USPS tracking can be tracked. When filling out the customs forms, they require information on the contents, value (the price paid or winning bid); and for Priority Mail, both parties” names, addresses, phone number and/or email are needed.

2. Calculate Customs fees into your shipping costs, if any

Taxes (the most common fee), are only assessed by Canadian Customs on goods valued at $20CAD or more. A handling fee is also added when an item is taxed. The recipient then pays for both when the item is retrieved.

Duty is assessed on goods that are made or “originating” outside the US, Canada, or Mexico.

Bonus: When using USPS/Canada Post, the buyer will never get a “surprise” brokerage fee. However, using services like FedEx or UPS, which requires the use of brokers, will most likely incur those unpopular brokerage fees which may sometimes cost as much as the entire item plus shipping fees!

3. How to properly reuse boxes

Reusing old boxes is perfectly acceptable by USPS and Canada Post, Just make sure any old labels are properly removed/covered. There’s also no need to wrap your packages in brown paper, as it sometimes gets stuck in the machinery.

Still feeling adventurous? Good luck!

But remember, Shipwire’s world-class fulfillment service is just a click away so start a Free Trial.

Dolcetto @ 2011 Shipwire Holiday Dinner

One of the benefits of living in California is we”re really close to wine country. The reality is we are in the middle of wine “counties”. We”re surrounded!

To the West we have Santa Cruz, Bonny Doon put it on the map. To our South, we get Paso Robles and the surrounding wine area. To the East, go past Sacramento and you will find all the tasting rooms on Hwy 49 and Placer County. A couple hours drive North are the amazing tasting rooms of Napa County that overshadows, for no really good reason (imho), Sonoma and Mendocino County wine.

If the end of the last paragraph didn’t give me away, I”m from Mendocino County! I spent much of my high school on tractors and navigating vine rows in Ukiah and Potter Valley (Never heard of it? Most people living next door haven’t either. I worked many a “crush” and was employed for a couple small wine labels and wineries throughout the year.

For the past 10 years my family has produced an excellent limited production Sangiovese that sells out every year (limited production) under the label Pettrone Family Cellars.   Nothing big time, more of a family bonding experience for my mom and her two brothers. It’s available in California, New York and Virginia.

Pettrone Sangiovese wine has been served at Shipwire Holiday parties since there were 12 of us raising a ruckus in the back room of our friend Fabio’s place, Nob Hill Grille, and then the back room of our buddy Trip’s restaurant, Sauce. Family wine at family restaurants for the Shipwire family. It just makes sense.

Shipwire CEO Damon Schechter raising a toast at our holiday party. Thanks to all our family, friends and partners.

As Shipwire keeps on growing, our cast of characters is getting ever larger. Our employee holiday celebrations outgrew our network of restaurants. As we look to celebrate an amazing 2011 and look forward to an even more audacious 2012, it’s clear that thanks need to go out to more than our employees and customers. Shipwire is supported by a huge network of partners and developers, that introduce us to amazing customers, and hold us up as an example of great system integration to help merchants.   We have spent years evangelizing our technology and the overall outsourced shipping market. We couldn’t do this without friends in the blog and press community willing to challenge the status quo, ask questions and shout about the success of our customers.

We”ve always said we are a part of a larger story.   We’re a platform for entrepreneurs to get their dreams to market.

This year we made some wine to virtually toast our family, friends and partners. We”re shipping some bottles of Docetto 2009 to some of the press and partners that helped us get the word out this year. It’s bottled with appreciation in the family winery this fall. This wine isn’t for sale. You can’t find it in stores or on a menu. It’s as limited as limited gets. Insider only.

It’s a toast of thanks for helping us get to where we are now. And an early toast for some amazing new things we”re about to release in 2012.

Thank you for helping us make 2011 special. Together we’ve helped a lot of entrepreneurs to get their dreams to market. We look forward to 2012 with you.

Happy Holidays from our table to yours!

The Shipwire Crew

P.S. Here are a few “making of” pictures from my phone.

High tech bottling line consists of a barrel and truck. We went up market with CO2 compression to pump the wine (rather than our normal gravity line).

The crew left standing at the end. Thanks family

Nate applying labels and trying not to get glue everywhere

The product, ready for shipping

Any other time of the year you may have become a little more lax with the intensity of shipping your orders but holiday season is a whole other playing field. It’s not too early to warm up those shipping muscles, double-check those inventory lists, and streamline your order fulfillment processes — the holidays will be here before you know it!

To help you make the most of this holiday selling season, we have refreshed our list of 10 Holiday Shipping Season Tips.

1.    Hammer out the final details of your holiday campaign pushes. Make sure to include Black Friday (11/25), Cyber Monday (11/28) and Free Shipping Day (12/16) into your calendar of events to run creative promotions for. Maybe you want to do shipping promotions, discount coupons, or offer free gifts to loyal customers; give your buyers an incentive to buy from you.

2.    Offer free shipping or free upgraded shipping promotions. Shipping options are strong conversion tools. Free or discounted shipping is one of the top things buyers look for when comparing different sites for the same products. Give them peace of mind when they feel like they’re getting a great deal, and better yet, guarantee shipping to arrive before Christmas day.

3.    Test your e-commerce infrastructure. Now is a good time to test and troubleshoot your technology especially the shopping cart and order inventory management so there won’t be the need to hotfixes, apologies and emergencies during the influx of orders!

4.    Set up a timer: countdown till the holidays! Build up the suspense! Perhaps it’s a friendly reminder, or maybe it’s subtle inception to “get it now before it’s too late”. Implementing a countdown box can lead to impulse buying and increased conversions.

5.    Check your checkout and automate returns. A hassle-free shopping experience is a happy shopping experience. Provide a decent selection of shipping options so customers are not unpleasantly surprised and review your return policy to make sure everything is up-to-date, seamless and straightforward.

6.    Provide shipment ETAs and last day to ship guidelines. This way you are not bombarded with “where is it” queries and can focus on getting orders out. FedEx and USPS provide specific dates by which certain types of orders should be shipped. Keep in mind that December 20th, and 21st are peak volume days for most of the carriers, and that anything you can do to get orders in earlier on those days (or over the weekend) helps.

7.    Slip in some marketing goodies. Could you target your audience any more specifically? This would be a great opportunity to include a marketing insert, a free sample, or a discount coupon to win repeat business.

8.    Stock up on top-selling merchandise. This goes without saying. If you’re using Shipwire’s order fulfillment services, make sure to have your bestselling products out to the Shipwire warehouse locations as soon as possible to prevent unfortunate out-of-stock disappointments for your fans.

9.    Fine-tune your website. You can streamline your website with methods such as search-optimizing your products and making sure your pricing is consistent throughout site and other marketplaces where you may have them listed.

10.  Market yourself with festive cheer! Whether it’s an email newsletter with the latest promotions or ramping up your social media efforts on Facebook and Twitter, make it easy for your customers and fans to know what buzz is going on.

As the holidays approach, supply chains get tighter and minor delays can cause big stresses. One of the worst stresses for a business owner is not having inventory available for product sales. Stock outs cost money and time.

We’ve talked before about one way to work around inventory “stock outs” – Back Order Management. In this past blog post we talked about breaking down the problem set and presented ways to set up your online store when a stock-out notification was more an indicator of a slight supply chain delay (verse no longer selling the product).   Many sellers are now actively pre-selling inventory before they get it. This can be a great way to increase your sales volumes.

Keeping customers informed that the product will be slightly delayed is a continued challenge. First, you want to tell them before they buy if there will be a delay. This is important at all times; but, particularly if you are selling on a marketplace with an active feedback community. Second, you really want your customers informed of expected inventory availability so they don’t bombard your customer service teams with the same question “When will it ship.”

Some sellers like Angry Birds have taken it to an extreme and have entire web store that is dedicated to “coming soon” products – setting up buyer expectations and streamlining their order management processes by separating the issues of live inventory from pending inventory.

Shipwire just made this entire process a whole lot easier to manage.   We extended our Inventory API to add details for next “expected inventory date” if there are no products in stock. This is a pretty elegant solution to a complex problem.

• Shipwire knows what your inventory levels are and our real-time inventory API can feed this data in real-time to your favorite e-commerce systems and marketplaces.   We have had this features for a long time.
• Shipwire also knows when your next scheduled shipment is coming in to any of our warehouses (or Shipwire Anywhere locations). We know this because of the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) informs us what products are coming, in what quantities, to what location, and on what date. Our receiving processes are designed around this.
• Any orders that are sent by your shopping cart/marketplace to Shipwire while inventory is out of stock are automatically held as “back orders” in Shipwire.
• As inventory arrives we can apply the first received inventory to the pending backorders. We’re actually really good at this. Here is a case study of us doing this for 7K orders for TheGlif.com last holiday and getting their entire Kickstart project shipping done in 24 hours.
• This works for inventory going to Shipwire warehouses and Shipwire Anywhere locations.

The <InventoryUpdateResponse> also returns a lot of data about the history and future sales expectations (“backordered”) of this product.

Also worth mentioning here that your Shipwire Account includes the ability to set up alerts on inventory status – such as something running low.

Here is a screenshot of a recent API call where _AvailableDate_ is returned and made available to upstream systems

Old School Motocycle Kickstart Required Some Balance. Image from The Chopper Saga blog.

Consumers are constantly poring over the latest and greatest gadgets on the internet to share or make theirs. One great idea can pop up in one zip code and go global in a short amount of time thanks to the power of social networking. Kickstarter entrepreneurs for projects like the Tembo Trunks, Glif or Opena, couldn’t agree more. There’s no reason why any entrepreneur should have to limit their reach within their geographical confines. This is where the power of Shipwire for Kickstarter project shipping comes in.

Kickstarter is “an action or event resulting in the reactivation of something”.   In the case of entrepreneurs and products, it’s the successful funding of a product/project idea to give the project creators enough backing to get the project off the ground and into the hands of the first backers.   As a crowd-based funding platform, successful Kickstarter projects have to accomplish quite a lot of shipping in the first few days after the product comes back from the manufacturer. In most cases, it’s thousands of orders to project backers all over the globe.   There is no slow start in a local region for successful Kickstarter projects. They go global in a hurry.

Shipwire CTO models his new Openacase that he backed on Kickstarter

“Shipwire has made our USA and international fulfillment run like clockwork!” praises Rob and Chris, the inventors of the Openas: the world’s first iPhone4 case bottle opener. Despite being produced in Australia, they weren’t fazed at all by the huge number of international backers on their Kickstarter project. They had Shipwire send out over 1,011 Openas to their 578 backers in the US, Canada and New Zealand.

Like most Kickstarter projects, backers come from all over the world and expect to get their investment shipped to them in a timely fashion. Costly and undesirable delays can make or break a business’ first impression. Another Aussie duo who invented the Tembo Trunks, the amplifying silicon speakers, utilized Shipwire’s fulfillment services to get their products to 1,501 believers in the US, Canada, and Europe who pledged to their project.

True to our belief of Enterprise Logistics For Everyone™ , Shipwire enables companies of all sizes to have access to scalable project shipping services as their growth changes with demand. Creators of the Glif, an iPhone 4 tripod mount and stand, can attest to the unpredictable, global nature of investors. “I had originally guessed it (international backers) would be about 5-10% of our total contributors, but it ended up accounting for over 30%. I suppose it’s not surprising; the iPhone is available worldwide and the internet knows no boundaries,” comments Dan Provost, one of the two designers on the Glif, on his well read design blog.

Learn how Shipwire shipped over 7000 Glif iPhone tri-pod mounts in 24 hours to make sure that The Glif’s Kickstarter backers could get their products before Christmas last year.

Shipwire has the experience and capacity to make sure every order is picked, packed and shipped from warehouse locations in the US, Canada and Europe, to their final destinations. Not only do our services fulfill the orders, but you can also monitor your inventory, track and get confirmation for a successful delivery. Let us handle the daunting task of project shipping and fulfillment throughout the US (and internationally) to “kickstart” your global shipping needs so you can focus on improving the world one life-changing idea at a time.

Shipwire is pleased to announce the availability of a new facility in Philadelphia. After months of testing and a very thorough beta period with select merchants, this new East Coast warehouse is available.

Designed to service the East Coast of the United States, the Philadelphia facility is designed for wholesale shipping, high-volume pick-pack, and direct-to-consumer sales.

All the features that every Shipwire account enjoys are available in our newest facility. For example: Same Day Shipping, Service Level Guarantees and our 100% order accuracy guarantee.

Located in Lancaster which is close to Philadelphia, PA, this warehouse is strategically located with 1 day ground transit to New York City and approximately 45% of the U.S. Population. This will be of huge benefit to Shipwire customers looking to cut shipping costs to customers in the North East of the U.S.A. All without having an actual warehouse located in the state of New York.

The new Philadelphia facility is also located beside major shipping hubs for UPS and Fedex. It is within same-day range of the major USPS shipping hub located at JFK Airport in New York City. The end result: packages will get to buyers faster and for less money.

Shipwire East Coast Facility in Lancaster, PA

The Philadelphia facility is available today in every Shipwire account. It is accessible through your Shipwire account, just like every other warehouse.  There are no extra charges for using the Philadelphia facility: normal Shipwire rates apply to storage, handling and shipping.

If you don’t have a Shipwire account you can get a free trial. You can use your test shipments from any one of our 6 warehouse locations globally, including Pennsylvania.

Learn more about Shipwire warehouse locations by clicking on a tack in the map below. We also have wait lists for new regional warehouses in Asia, Australia and Eastern Europe.

Center of map

map

Philadelphia, United States

1 facility, more than 250,000 square feet

Lancaster, PA 17601
Call (888) SHIPWIRE or 650-561-4800

Behind the scenes - See a warehouse
 - How it works

map

Los Angeles, United States

3 facilities, more than 550,000 square feet

Los Angeles, CA 92316
Call (888) SHIPWIRE or 650-561-4800

Behind the scenes - See a warehouse
 - How it works

map

Chicago, United States

2 facilities, more than 900,000 square feet

Naperville, IL 60563
Call (888) SHIPWIRE or 650-561-4800

Behind the scenes - See a warehouse
 - How it works

map

Vancouver, Canada

1 facility, more than 100,000 square feet

Vancouver, BC V6B 4N4
Call (888) SHIPWIRE or 650-561-4800

Behind the scenes - See a warehouse
 - How it works

map

Toronto, Canada

1 facility, more than 100,000 square feet

Oakville, ON, L6H 6P7
Call (888) SHIPWIRE or 650-561-4800

Behind the scenes - See a warehouse
 - How it works

map

London, United Kingdom

2 facilities, more than 40,000 square feet

Slough, Berkshire, SL1 6BW
Call (888) SHIPWIRE or 650-561-4800

Behind the scenes - See a warehouse
 - How it works

PayPal, eBay and Magento are up to something these days – A platform called “X.Commerce”. Since we received an investment from eBay a few months ago I’ve gotten a number of e-mails from Shipwire partners in congratulations. However, almost every e-mail has ended with one question, “So, do you know what X.commerce is?”

eBay spoke about investing $1 Billion in technology, wanting more partnerships and not competing with merchants at Internet Retailer this summer. A recent Fast company article (with cool transformer graphic) highlighted their intention to use their latest acquisitions to transform online and offline commerce.   Everybody is aware that eBay is on a Skype sale fueled celebratory shopping spree (RedLaser a while ago, Milo, GSI, Magento, Figtree, Where which included Local Ginger daily deals – the list goes on). The reporters and analysts are aflutter with praise that eBay is evolving and attempting to inject themselves into the buy decision across the landscape of social, mobile, local, digital landscape whether the buyer pushed a buy button online or walked into a store and purchased offline.

Great! Awesome Plan! Sounds like a winner! But, what the heck is X.Commerce? And how does it fit in?

In a few weeks Shipwire will be attending PayPal’s Innovate developer conference in San Francisco.   If you would like to join us, you can register and get $100 off by using promo code “SHIPWIRE100″ (leave off the “”). This is where the eBay/PayPal team unwraps X.commerce to the world.

If you are at all curious about what X.Commerce is, then Innovate Developer Conference should be the place to find out.

What does eBay Say X.Commerce is supposed to be?

Technology has fundamentally changed the way consumers shop. This will only continue.

The line between offline and online has virtually disappeared. There are four mega trends driving this change:
digital, social, local and mobile.

Offline retail used to about location; now, it’s about innovation. The challenge is that it’s easier for consumers to
adopt new technologies than it is for companies. Merchants need to offer their customers a
complete commerce experience from start to finish, one that incorporates whatever capability the
consumer is using (mobile, local, social, digital or whatever happens to come next).

But they also need to focus on their own priorities, such as finding good products to sell.

Enter X.commerce.

For merchants, X.commerce makes the most current commerce technologies easy to access. It
gives merchants the ability to scale quickly without investing in costly, complex configurations and it is
open to merchants of any size, in any location.

For developers, X.commerce puts them in control of defining and building the engine that will power
the new commerce landscape.

Full details about this new technology platform and how developers will help define the future of commerce
will be unveiled at the X.commerce Innovate developer conference, October 12 – 13 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

But what is X.commerce supposed to become?

Here is what I think X.Commerce will become.

X.com is part of the PayPal developer initiative. It’s been a very successful developer initiative by almost any measurement. Since it’s release PayPal has racked up some huge numbers for new subscribers and transaction growth. Better yet, some very innovative solutions have been built on top of it. For example, Payvment social commerce, a Shipwire Partner, is built on top of PayPal X.com and is taking PayPal into the the Holy Grail of potential markets – Facebook.

Shipwire is a X.com platform partner and along with some other fine companies, launched an App on PayPal’s short lived Embedded Apps platform. We embedded full shipping, label printing and order management right into PayPal. This was all very “bleeding edge” development that we were really proud to participate in.

The groundwork is there for X.commerce to become a true eCommerce Intermediary (Sorry, 1999 word there). A combination app store and a “bus” (technical term) to facilitate the exchange of commerce data among app providers. Look for some of the following at Innovate:

• Intention to unite two incredibly powerful developer networks: PayPal and Magento. This will likely be a long-term goal with some short term branding implications. The Magento developer network is 1st class and one of the keys to their success in the marketplace. I can only assume that the strength of the developer network was a driving factor in the Magento acquisition by eBay. The eBay Developer network could also be a huge leveraging factor for X.commerce in the future.
• Massive new set of PayPal API’s released under the X.commerce umbrella. I can’t help but think that X.com platform team didn’t stop innovating while all these acquisitions were going on.   That means that the PayPal team is going to have the most concrete set of functionality available for developers provided X.com will be the underlying foundation for X.Commerce. The PayPal X.com team will have had the longest runway. The Milo, RedLaser and Magento teams will likely be the initial plug-ins to the new framework. It should be exciting to see.
• The framework (or fabric) for a future set of API’s to get access to a huge wealth of data. To be a truly massive data set, the framework will need to incorporate a new idea – the sharing of data between apps that plug into the framework. For example, if Shipwire builds an extension to X.commerce and our friends over at Freshbooks build a connection, the data in our two applications can be accessed via the X.commerce framework (“bus”). This was an idea I heard our CTO talking about during the run up to Innovate last year.
• The future birth of a new apps marketplace. This is my hope for developers. To get access to a huge new set of customers and merchants through a unified app store. eBay, PayPal and Magento Users would be a large enough user/merchant base to make most developers take notice.
• A deferred modality for making money on this. I can’t imagine that the X.commerce teams have been able to think through all the ways that 3rd party developers are going to access data and leverage new API’s. They have a good guess from the X.com platform API usage. The key here is going to be attracting developers and not monetizing the platform. That will come later if they can get traction.

So what is X.Commerce? It will be a super-sized and more flexible version of X.com with a lot of lessons learned from the past few years. We know that the emphasis is on Commerce (hint, it’s in the name) and the eBay want’s to be a part of commerce whether it take place in store locally, through the mobile web, through a social network or in an overseas market. eBay has acquired a bunch of new technology and X.commerce is intended to be the fabric to make all this data accessible and available to a new generation of commerce applications that haven’t been built yet.

This would be a huge amount of work with many pitfalls. What we might see at Innovate in October is the framework, direction and intention. It will take years for the future of e-commerce to develop; but, eBay is going all out to make sure it will be in the middle of commerce.

If you come to X.Commerce, come by Shipwire’s booth and say hello.

Comments welcome!

]]> http://www.shipwire.com/w/blog/what-is-x-commerce/feed/ 1 http://www.shipwire.com/w/blog/logistics-in-the-information-age/ http://www.shipwire.com/w/blog/logistics-in-the-information-age/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:35:05 +0000 Nate http://www.shipwire.com/help/?p=80613 A couple weeks ago our CEO was in Atlanta at the MIT Forum on stage with Manhattan Associates and the Home Depo talking about "Logistics in the Information Age". It's not too often that you get an infrastructure provider (Manhattan Associates), an outsourced logistics provider (Shipwire) and a major retailer (Home Depo) on one panel talking about logistics. View the video]]>

A couple weeks ago our CEO was in Atlanta at the MIT Forum on stage with Manhattan Associates and the Home Depo talking about “Logistics in the Information Age“. It’s not too often that you get an infrastructure provider (Manhattan Associates), an outsourced logistics provider (Shipwire) and a major retailer (Home Depo) on one panel talking about logistics.

Damon focused on the impact of logistics on the small business and how Shipwire is bringing the efficiencies of a Home Demo to any entrepreneur.

Damon starts at minute 31. But I recommend checking out minute 25 on because Manhattan Associates has a pretty good video on managing inventory in a multi-channel sales environment. The Video is very enterprise focused; but, the ideas are very sound.

Topics covered

• Mobile e-commerce
• Social e-commerce and customer voice
• Inventory anywhere
• Fast and Free shipping
• International e-commerce
• Market volatility and international shipping and globalization
• Great insights from Home Depo about not making decisions about where inventory will be sold until you have to! “Postponement Inventory Management”
• Shipping anywhere, anytime to anyone
• Changes coming to logistics to keep up with the customer expectations

Overview:

Consumers today have more choices and information than ever before. From online shopping to in- store promotions, technology has become tightly intertwined with the purchase of even the most basic household goods.

How do retailers react to a consumer base that is increasingly demanding? How do they craft offers that are relevant and meaningful, and that cut through the clutter and influence the buying decision? Most importantly, what are the implications for managing a global supply chain amid so much complexity?

We will explore those topics and more as we discuss the challenges of logistics for the retail industry and how technology can be used to help solve those challenges.

Featured Speakers:

Mark Holifield
Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, The Home Depot
Brian Kinsella
Senior Director of Product Management, Manhattan Associates
Damon Schechter
CEO, Shipwire

Here is the link for the Video.

From L to R: Damon Schechter (Shipwire), Brian Kinsella (MA), Mark Holifield (Home Depo)

Your early funding was crowd sourced by your friends, your family, and your fans.   They helped turn a Like into sale, a Tweet into a testimonial.   It’s no coincidence that they are also factors to your product’s social success.

Nowadays, going social is no longer a trend, but rather a must for growing product businesses. Social media has become a major driving force for purchase decisions and social commerce is where it’s leading.

There is even a term for it now “F-commerce”, Facebook Commerce, reflecting the reality that Facebook is the primary social network where social commerce is being undertaken.

With over a billion conversations happening on Facebook daily, you want to leverage the power of your friends and fans to gain new customers. As sales occur, you want to process them quickly and deliver an amazing customer experience. This is the crux of the Shipwire to Payvment Facebook Shipping Integration – Selling on Facebook & Delivering a world class buyer experience in the process.

What is the Shipwire and Payvment integration?

Payvment turns Facebook, the hottest social network, into a marketplace. To do this Payvment installs a store on your Facebook Fan Page and incorporates your store’s products into the Payvment Mall. The Payvment Mall lets users search for products, browse, Like and buy products. This helps sellers create intimate conversations in a cost-effective way:

• Find new customers (search discovery)
• Create a conversation and get buyers to share products with their social stream (Like)
• Find and gain new fans (Like)
• Put products in front of motivated buyers (Search discovery, Payvment Mall)
• Get product feedback and analytical information on what is trending socially (Analysis)

As you generate sales, The Shipwire integration for your Payvment store will fully automate the post-sale fulfillment process.

By turning your Facebook Fan Page into a successful social commerce machine (for free), Payvment transforms your Facebook Fan Page into a hub of conversation. With social sharing-optimized features such as the Like, Tweet and Share buttons and the ability to incorporate your Twitter account into the storefront, you can take your social marketing to the next level.

How can I get the Payvment App for my business?

It only takes a few minutes to integrate your Facebook Fan Page with Payvment and Shipwire.

All that’s required is a Facebook Fan Page and a PayPal account.   You can start by installing the Shipwire Payvment Integration in your Shipwire account and walking through setup. Or head over to www.payvment.com to install the app to launch your free Facebook store.

As you globalize you are covered, the Payvment social commerce platform supports up to 20 world currencies and support for multiple sales and tax regions.

What Products will sell on Facebook well?

Not all online retailers or products are going to succeed on Facebook. The Focus should be on:

• Products that are cool, niche, unique and consumer focused.
• Products that are part of a current trend or are trendy.
• Products that are categorized as impulse buys.
• Products that would benefit from social reinforcement at the point of purchase.   Word of mouth from a friend will help push a buyer from indecisive to impulse.

Here is a very well researched article from Social Commerce Today about F-commerce and “What to sell on Facebook”.   It is worth the read.

Do I have what it takes to sell on Facebook successfully?

The thing about social commerce is that there’s no set formula for success. You never know what reaction you will get from the public, but once you’ve found your niche, you will skyrocket with little effort. Take for example the recent limited edition Nike Air Mags that are selling like hotcakes. These iconic shoes fill a void in the hearts of loyal Back To The Future fans and can only be purchased through one location, at the Nike Air Mags website, one hundred and fifty pairs at a time. Did they really spend a lot of time and effort promoting the auctions? Not really. They were able to leverage their social networks and spread the news via re-tweets, link sharing and more! Their totally niche product sold itself.

Why not use your social powers to infiltrate this social marketplace? Armed with your own Facebook store, a great social following with fans who love your products, and a great idea; these sound like the making of social commerce success story.

Below are some additional rules of the road to help you maximize exposure and watch out for pitfalls.

How can I maximize social exposure for my product?

Use the right tools. Payvment has spent a lot of time and money figuring out how to make products succeed in a social marketplace. They’ve made it easier than ever to show off and display the best side of your goods by including a variety of social sharing features to maximize their exposure when you sell on Facebook.

1.     Sound off on your storefront with the latest company announcements, product developments or sales by incorporating your Wall and Twitter feed tabs.

2.     Eye-catching images are usually the make or break factor to keep a buyer’s attention. Payvment allows you to upload up to five images per product with the ability to zoom!

3.     Employ the virility of the Like, Share, and Tweet buttons to launch your products into your fans’ News Feeds.

4.     Use the Promote Button to create a wall post with a product image and your own custom message to easily drive awareness and traffic to your storefront.

5.     Grow your fan base by utilizing the Fan Discount feature and motivate prospects to Like your Page to receive a discount.

6.     Gain new buyer trust when they read the satisfied reviews and testimonials of your current fans through the Reviews/Feedback feature.

7.     You work hard to put your company’s best foot forward. Show off your great track record with the Rate the Seller tab.

What are the Top 3 social marketing best practices?

1.     Nurture Relationships
It’s more than just watching your fan numbers grow. It takes effort to build and sustain those intimate relationships and loyalty with your true blue fans. Reward your fans for being fans with things like privy information, contests or giveaways to make them feel like VIPs.

2.     Content Creation
Positioning your brand as a thought leader is every entrepreneur’s dream. It helps to establish an authentic voice that best represents your company. Share the top industry news or original content that can engage your readers is a great way to keep your fans coming back.

3.     Don’t be afraid to ask for engagement
If you’re looking to get Likes or comments on a post, all you have to do is ask. Here are some effective keywords to get your fans to engage with your brand.

3 Social Commerce pitfalls to avoid

1.     “Build it and they will come” mindset
Once you enter the social marketplace, it’s easy to think everything will just run its course. When you sell on Facebook, you have to be equally as engaged in conversation with your audience as you would in a brick-and-mortar store. Social commerce is not just an afterthought for your brand or just another page to have; its planning should be incorporated into your overall strategies as well.

2. Posting sporadically

It’s important to have a set schedule for the content you wish to share. This way your followers will know what days are for announcements, which days they can find sales specials or when to check back in for contests. Always remember the medium you are using when broadcasting your messages. Twitter is more suitable for more frequent, real-time posts, whereas Facebook requires controlled, disciplined posting. Experts recommend no more than 2 posts a day at the max on Facebook.

3. Forgetting to acknowledge your users

Little comments, whether it be a compliment or complaint, deserve some acknowledgment from you. Your fans go out of their way to write or tweet something about or to you. A little recognition for their seemingly small task goes a long way. Being proactive in getting to fires before they start or simply re-tweeting a happy testimonial about their social experience with you or your brand, helps grow the loyalty among fans. For example, if someone posts an unhappy comment, let them know they have been heard and possibly take the conversation offline. Your fans love social media because it’s their medium to speak their minds and get heard, so listen and respond.