We support the shop local ecosystem, and an ingredient in that is local jobs. Marc Levinson in The Wall St. Journal reviews two books that address made-in-the-U.S.A. ventures.
Spoiler alert: Doing the right thing often costs more. These all likely cost more: Shopping local, using local labor, and running local manufacturing. If you’re involved in one of these area, we hope you’ll appreciate those in the others. I’ve met local shop owners that outsource their ...
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How Store Owners Can Trade Wasted Labor Costs For a New Tesla Car
March 10, 2024
No one likes to pay for gas—just ask Tesla drivers. Chris Kornelis, a reporter for The Wall St. Journal, shares this week how he switched to a Tesla to save $100 a month ($1,200 a year!) on gas.
This story is important to us because if someone will pick a car to save $1,200 a year, we should be able to find what they need to save in order to pick Shop Local’s Online Store. Let’s learn from Chris and his Tesla choice.
Making Replacement Savings Easy to See
The new ...
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How Shop Local helps 3 retailers rank higher than Target on page 1 of Google.
February 28, 2024
Indie stores have the best chance of ranking highly in Google when they use Shop Local. Proof: Our indie shops beat big-box stores in Google search tests.
Example: We recently conducted a Google study for wedding registry purchasing in Alabama. We Googled "wedding registry Alabama."
Search Results
Stores using Shop Local in Alabama ranked on page 1 of Google ahead of national chains and other registry services, which often have larger customer bases and bigger website
NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 15, 2024 – Shop Local, an e-commerce platform, reported that it's helping indie stores rank on page one of Google in 60% of states for wedding gift purchases. The findings are based on a recent study that Shop Local conducted regarding wedding registry purchasing.
Study Findings:
For 30 state searches, Shop Local Stores appeared on page one of Google. This represents 63% of all states. When just calculating the states in which Shop Local has clients (48
How Amazon privatizes public spaces for its own profit
February 14, 2024
This is a daily sight on 8th St. in the East Village of New York City, a spot historically chockablock with indie, brick-and-mortar shops. This is an Amazon truck and freelancers who have taken over the street (it’s a no standing zone) and sidewalk as their own. This is one way Amazon sells things for less: it turns public streets and sidewalks into its “warehouses” and “stores.” Imagine you’re a local business with a roof and rent. You can’t compete ...
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According to a recent RetailDive report, online and mobile purchases for Black Friday sales were the strongest, with smartphone sales leading at 54% of online sales. The article states consumers spent a record $9.8 billion online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics. That’s up 7.5% from last year.
Industry experts forecast that consumer spending will be up 2-3% year over year. The National Retail Federation projects 3-4% year over year. Consumers are cautious about ...
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How to help your registrants share their registry with family and friends.
November 20, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've made it easier for gift registrants to share their registries. There is now a new "Share Your Registry" card on the Overview page that allows registrants to share their registry via mobile or email.
The registrant can share their registry by doing the following:
If a registrant wishes to share their registry via mobile, they can scan the QR code with their mobile phone and share the generated link with their family and friends.
Small businesses are getting hacked via Facebook ads, shares Today’s The Wall St. Journal. The ads purport to offer Google’s AI engine Bard, but instead steal the business’s social media account access.
Tiktok’s shopping service is teaming up with ShipBob and Newegg to help it store and ship purchases made via the social platform, shares The Wall St. Journal.
Today’s The Wall St. Journal shares a funny story about the importance of displaying product dimensions in e-commerce.
This article shows the value of a brand. If the teakettle in the article shown had a Le Creuset logo, we’d know it was regular size. Tip: Look for trusted brands when shopping online.
The article doesn’t touch on this, but this dimensions problem also relates to POS systems. There is a trend among retailers to output their ...
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What universal standards can teach us about simplicity regarding e-commerce platforms.
September 25, 2023
When Apple launched its new iPhones this month, one of its most noteworthy updates was replacing its Lightning charging cable with a USB-C. This was not a voluntary move or extension of Steve Jobs’s love of simplicity. Apple changed it because the European Union required them to, according to Ben Cohen in The Wall St. Journal. Now, just about every mobile phone in the world (forget just little ol’ Europe) will have one charging solution (USB-C).
What the retail industry can learn from Google and Amazon teaming up on technology standards.
September 19, 2023
Google, Amazon, and an array of home appliance companies are teaming up to make it easier for you to dim your home’s lights and lock your front doors. They are adopting a standard called Matter that allows devices to communicate and work together, shares The Wall St. Journal. This allows a giant like Amazon, creator of Alexa devices and Ring doorbells, and Tuo, a small home device tech creator, to use the same platform yet keep their internal, proprietary code base. This standard is like a...
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How premium plan tiers help businesses sell more and increase margins.
September 7, 2023
Dating apps are launching higher-priced premium tiers, according to last week’s The Wall St. Journal. Hinge offers a new $50/month plan, and Tinder is launching a $500/month plan. The League already offers a $1,000 plan. These pricey plans take the sting out of Bumble’s $60/month plan.
Why are companies offering such plans? Because even if Tinder only gets 10% of users, that's millions. Plus, the profit and margins are likely higher for customers using these plans. A normal ...
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