How LOTS Wholesale is leveraging from technology

We are part of a Thailand-based CP Group company SIAM Makro. We entered India with a brand name LOTS Wholesale Solutions and are committed to setup 15 stores in a threeyear timeframe in India. We will leverage our integrated experience across food supply chain and three decades of experience in running our 126 cash-and-carry stores, serving over 3 million registered customers. India and Thailand have similar distribution and market structures that will be to our advantage here.

In line with our international approach, we will be developing clusters and aim at achieving excellence in assortment, distribution, and delivery. We are looking at strategic tie-ups with manufacturers, supply chain and power of big data for sales pattern analysis across customer groups and geographies to grow stronger in Indian market.

Being a wholesale player, how important is technology in B2B operations?

The success in wholesale distribution is defined by an organization’s ability to quickly rotate inventory month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and so on. To achieve higher number of rotation of inventory it’s imperative tohave an efficient supply chain, which requires a replenishment engine, demand forecast predictive analysis capability and an effective price optimization capability.

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It is very crucial to keep our store, warehouse and dark store inventory in sync all the time to avoid loss of sales and aging inventory. To make this a reality, it’s important to have a seamless integration between all sales channels that include brick &mortar, catalog and eCommerce. We recognize that these different aspects of business processes need strong backing of technology; hence we strongly believe that technology is indeed the back bone of any B2B business.

What are the challenges when it comes to deploying modern tech in the wholesale business?

Bringing together people, hardware and software in a seamless and a truly integrated manner is a challenge any technologist would want to overcome. That said, an ever-evolving business environment that brings constant changes in business processes, systems and supporting infrastructure should have resilience and flexibility to deploy amends and improvements quickly. An organizationshould also factor in challenges while deploying modern technology due to long implementation cycle of IT systems and sizing hardware to account for agility, scalability and performance - some of which are alleviated by the cloud.

Tell us about your strategic relationship with Oracle.

We are looking to technology to provide answers to improving operational efficiency, enhance customer experience and integration across levels. All of this cannot be achieved in-house; therefore, we rely on strategic partners to help us through our journey. Oracle has been a partner-of-choice and a support system we depend on. We run all our systems and databases on their cloud technology.

How has Oracle Cloud helped you make your business better and improve your customer experience?

We chose Oracle Cloud because it is the broadest and the most integrated public cloud currently available. Oracle Cloud offers us industry-best cloud services running on secured and standard based platform as service (PaaS) and cloud infrastructure (IaaS). With Oracle Cloud, we are able to connect cloud-native applications to legacy applications at the speed of network and also have full control over mission-critical applications,completely in line with our requirements. Oracle’s flexibility in deploying applications on-premises, coupled with a flexible, subscription based pricing model, certainly provides a huge advantage to customers like us.

Tell us about your technology innovation roadmap.

We’ve embarked on an organization-wide digital transformation journey. As part of this as well as to better streamline our systems, we have actively started working with our partners to implement new technology such as geo-tagging for efficient deliveries, e-mark all products and electronically display prices and expiry dates on shelves, among other tech-enabled initiatives. We will soon be launching our e-commerce platform as well to enhance customer experience and processes. At LOTS, we’re trying to think exponentially with respect to our business goals and we will use technology and digital mediums to achieve our business goals as we turn them into success stories.

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-best-designer-wholesale-clothing-suppliers-14373.html

Dropshipping wedding supplies provide lots of enthusiastic wedding accessories for global buyers. There can be buyers from all over the world. Drop shippers boast over a huge range of product listings. International buyers can purchase a wide range of products at very low prices via dropship.

In addition, customers can also enjoy the custom-made items made easy by dropshipping. It offers a quick-and-easy online purchasing process in addition to offering all of its clients a dedicated and knowledgeable customer service team. The tried and tested payment processes guarantee a safe and secure purchasing environment in drop shipping wedding supplies. With efficient delivery systems, customers can collect the superior products and can be provided with better and faster online shopping service. The market for dropship wedding supplies is great in the UK. It is flourishing more with time. Customers are finding it easy and feasible to avail the service of dropship wedding supplies UK.

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What conditions does a best dropship suppliers need to have

Be it any event, all it needs is reliable and great dropship wholesale suppliers and the need is more with regards to the wedding. It must be a win-win circumstance regarding finding a wedding supplier.

• The supplier should be reliable. In the event that a supplier can’t supply the needful, its opponents can be searched for.

• Adhering to conveyance times is a major target in considering to balances a wedding supplier.

• It is relied upon that all suppliers to have a decent comprehension of how the business functions and what the requirements are.

• Suppliers are thought to be a part of the dropship of wholesale wedding supplies. They should be straightforward and moral.

• Wedding suppliers must have a decent interchanges framework set up. They need a can-do demeanour.

• Suppliers should never come up short on stock.

• When beginning arrangement with a potential supplier, past client records and inputs should be checked.

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Why Your Business Needs an Online Marketing Strategy

Online marketing is a necessity in every business. It’s no longer a new strategy for business owners to consider.

Despite this, quite a number of entrepreneurs still assume the use of digital marketing. Most of these owners will claim they don’t have time or money. Others, simply don’t care.

However, the truth is, your customers do care. If you want to be successful in the current market, a digital strategy is a must.

Engaging the customers on social media or through corporate emails may seem like a heavy load for any firm. But every business including the startup firms is doing it. You may also need to optimize your website for search engines to increase your traffic.

The success of your online marketing is dependent on a number of factors. However, the most common being the content and images you post online. As such, edit pictures on retouchme.com to make sure they’re appealing to your audience.

These are some benefits of having a working digital marketing strategy.

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Increases Your Business Sales

As an entrepreneur, are you selling any products online? If yes, online marketing determines whether you make a sale or not.

But what happens if you don’t sell products online? Do you employ digital marketing strategies or not? Yes, online marketing is also a necessity for your business.

Customers are nowadays turning online for advice on what to buy. They’ll check online for the stores that offer the products they seek. The reviews and ratings of these stores, compare them and choose the best.

Woe unto you if you don’t have any online presence. You’ll lose on your sales opportunities.

Ability to Monitor Conversion Rates

Online marketing presents you with an opportunity to measure returns to your investments. All you need to do is choose the parameters you want to measure.

Is it newsletter subscribers? Sales orders? Download of your e-books?

The conversion rate measures the number of clicks it takes for your site to make a sale. For example, if your sale has 14 clicks in a day and one sale, the conversion rate is 1:14 or 7.1%.

As you’ll note, sites that have quality images will draw huge traffic. At times, it may also lead to higher conversion rates.

Monitoring the conversion rates helps you determine what works for your firm. It’ll also weed out what doesn’t work.

Don’t hesitate to modify your ads, posts and images when necessary. Make it ambient till you get the right fit.

Also See: https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-computer-office-c-473.html

The last weekend before Diwali also passed with wholesale and retail firecracker vendors across city markets waiting for licences from the Delhi Police to sell their old stock of regular firecrackers .

Firecrackers sellers are in a fix as the Delhi Police said temporary licences would be issued only to these vendors who trade in ‘green crackers’. The Supreme Court, however, had clarified that there are no green or low-emission crackers available in the market, which, by default, makes the sale of any existing firecracker illegal in Delhi and NCR.

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The police said no licences have been given to temporary cracker vendors in the city as they have failed to fulfil the conditions laid down by the apex court.

“We had bought the crackers months in advance. You cannot wake up one morning saying these traditional crackers are banned. They should have given us some time to clear the existing stock, at least ,” Mahesh Lal Gupta, a wholesale dealer from Jama Masjid, said.

Wholesale and retail dealers in Old Delhi said they wanted the confusion around permits clarified. They said cracker stocks worth crores were lying in godowns with no solution given by either the courts or the Delhi government.

“We will give licences provided the sellers prove that they have green crackers, as certified by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO),” Mandeep Singh Randhawa, deputy commissioner of police (central range), said.

Police officials said 43 temporary permit requests were received by the central district this year, while 27 applications were received by north — the two districts with the maximum number of wholesale cracker markets in the city.

While temporary cracker vendors struggled to get permits from the police, the owners of permanent shops around Sadar Bazar, Jama Masjid, and Chandni Chowk with licences allowing the sale of firecracker throughout the year , were equally confused. Sellers said that despite having licences to sell conventional fireworks and crackers, their wares have been rendered “illegal” after the SC’s order.

“Though, technically, we can open shops, we cannot sell the goods. I don’t know what to do with my licence. It is as good as having no licence at all,” Narendra Gupta, the owner of Sai Crackers in Sadar Bazar, said.

For a week now, all permanent cracker shops around the area have been shut, as the traders have no clarity on the court order, Gupta said.

“Will you be issuing temporary licences? Will permanent shop owners be allowed to sell their stock? What will the conditions that we will have to fulfil to get licences be? What do we do with so much stock lying around in our godowns? All these questions will have to be answered. They (the court and the government) leave us hanging like this,” he said.

https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-bags-c-85.html

Wholesale firecracker business loses sparkle

The wholesale business of firecrackers has reportedly taken a hit this year. If claims of wholesale firecracker dealers at the Kurali market, one of the biggest in the region, are to be believed, their sale has dipped to nearly 70 per cent this season.

“Earlier, our business used to start picking up two months before Diwali with small-time sellers of firecrackers and retailers placing their orders well in advance. Now, only nine days are left for Diwali and we have just a handful of customers,” said Rohit Sood, one of the proprietors of Chaman Lal and Sons, a wholesale firecracker dealer.

Echoing similar sentiments, Balwinder Singh, another wholesale dealer, said they were seeing a slump in the market.

“Earlier, we had no time even to talk during these days ahead of Diwali. Now, you can see that we are virtually sitting idle,” he said.

The dealers blamed government policies for the slump. “The decision of the government to issue licences through the draw of lots and limiting the number of retailers has hit the business the most. Earlier, hundreds of small-time businessmen invested in this business with the hope of earning some money in the festival season. Now, the number of licences has been limited, hitting the business hard,” said Sood.
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The action against illegal firecracker sellers by the local administration last year has also caused a dent in their business this year.

Officials had raided a number of illegal firecracker stalls across the district last year and confiscated all items. “This year, such small-time businessmen are scared of investing money in the business for obvious reasons,” said a dealer, adding that though the step of the administration was right, it affected their business.

During a random survey of the Kurali market, a team of Chandigarh Tribune did not even find a single temporary firecracker stall in front of shops. “I think small-time sellers are waiting for licence holders to put up their stalls first. They will also try to do some business three or four days before Diwali,” said Rajnish, a local trader.

Last year, over 150 illegal firecracker stalls were set up along the Kurali-Chandigarh road, the Kurali-Morinda road and inner markets of the town, while the administration had issued just four licences.

Kurali market caters to several towns

The Kurali market, which caters to retailers of several nearby towns, including Morinda, Mohali, Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ropar, Sirhind, Bassi Pathana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Kharar, Nawanshahr and some towns of Himachal Pradesh, sees a cracker business of nearly Rs 8 crore every year. Around nine dealers have licence in the market for wholesale business.

44 licences issued for stalls in district

The draw for firecracker licences was held at the Mohali Administrative Complex in Sector 76. According to sources, the administration issued 44 licences for setting up firecracker stalls across the district. Nearly 750 applicants had applied for it, said the sources.

UT Admn issues 96 licences

Chandigarh: The UT Administration conducted the draw of lots for cracker sites on Monday. A total 1,043 applications were received and 96 temporary licences issued for nine sites.

‘Sales used to surge much ahead of Diwali’

"Earlier, our business used to start picking up two months before Diwali with small-time sellers of firecrackers and retailers placing their orders well in advance. Now, only nine days are left for Diwali and we have just a handful of customers." Rohit Sood, firecracker dealer

https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-home-garden-c-826.html

Rocky Brands Rides Wholesale & Retail Growth To Strong Q3

Rocky Brands Inc. topped Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates in the third quarter, as the Nelsonville, OH-based company again rode a healthy balance across the company’s portfolio brands and sales channels to more than double net income from the same quarter a year ago.

Rocky Brands—which owns Rocky, Georgia Boot, Durango and Lehigh and licenses Michelin Footwear—reported third quarter net income of $5 million, or 67 cents per diluted share, compared to a net income of $2.2 million, or 30 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2017.

Adjusted net income for Q3 was $4.5 million, or 60 cents per diluted share, topping estimates by 11 cents, compared to adjusted net income of $2.9 million, or 39 cents per diluted share, in the prior year period.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon’s earnings conference call with analysts, CEO Jason Brooks sounded pleased with the company’s performance, which included “strong gains in gross margin and profitability,” especially in wholesale and retail.

“The product, marketing and distribution strategies we implemented a little over a year ago, coupled with our commitment to operational excellence across the organizations, have been fueling quality sales growth in our highest margin channels, wholesale and retail,” Brooks said. “Our teams have done a good job developing compelling products with accessible price points that serve the needs of our consumers in work, western, hunting, commercial military segments of the market.
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“At the same time, we strengthened our consumer connections through targeted digital marketing programs and personalized communications,” he added. “We’ve also stepped up our service levels. This includes supporting our retail partners with exciting programs, in-store promotions and new POP materials, as well as providing our B2C and B2B customers with broader product offerings and increased shipping options. Many of these initiatives started to bear fruit late last year and have continued to gain traction.”

Wholesale sales for the third quarter increased 2.1 percent to $47 million compared to $46 million for the same period in 2017. Retail sales for the third quarter increased 7.6 percent to $11.9 million compared to $11.1 million for the same period last year. Military segment sales for the third quarter were $7 million compared to $7.6 million in the third quarter of 2017.

Gross margin in the third quarter of 2018 increased 14.8 percent to $22.4 million, or 34 percent of sales, compared to $19.5 million, or 30.2 percent of sales, for the same period last year. The 380 basis point increase was driven by higher wholesale, retail and military margins combined with a lower percentage of military sales, which carry lower gross margins than wholesale and retail sales.

Regarding Rocky Brand’s direct-to-consumer business, Brooks said, “Our branded e-commerce websites collectively posted a 6 percent increase in Q3. As this channel continues to capitalize on recent investments aimed at increasing traffic and conversion, while enhancing the consumer experience, the rich content produced by each brand, including videos, images and banners, are being utilized to improve the look and feel of our websites as well as part of our social media efforts aimed at directly reaching new and existing customers and transforming our website from what we’ve had historically been information marketing tools to an e-commerce growth engine.”

The company’s military segment sales were down 7 percent, Brooks said, in line with the company’s expectations due to some “top-line headwinds in 2018 in addition to expiring contracts,” he added.

“However, we have successfully taken advantage of the excess capacity in our Puerto Rican facility afforded us by the declining contract military orders to expand our commercial military production,” Brooks said. “This has led to improved manufacturing efficiencies which have pushed military segment margins to new heights.”

See Also: https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-wholesale-baby-clothes-13503.html

The factors you need to focus on in 2018

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is not what it used to be. No surprise there, just think of an industry that hasn’t changed over the years. The reason SEO isn’t the same, however, is because the rules and ethics keep changing and are pretty much rewritten every year. It’s not easy to keep up with this and Google like it that way. So, looking at your own website and the results you want to achieve, what gave you a positive return last year may not work at all in 2018.

You will always find changes that you “cannot ignore” if you want to rank higher, however, the fundamental aspects remain the same. I’m talking about Google ranking factors that can make or break your website’s position in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

There are literally hundreds of ranking factors documented or listed by the good and the great in search. Just a few years ago, many big names would spend hours and hours compiling lists which quickly became irrelevant. As Google introduced its next algorithm and enhanced its technology the lists changed and let’s face it, it’s not easy for a website to focus on every single one of these changes.

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The fact is that most SEO success comes from focusing on the key Google ranking factors. These are the ones that apply to all sites, not just some types and these are the factors that still matter today.

Content

This isn’t something new, content has been an important ranking factor for a long while now. More recently, however, there has been a shift away from content that’s focused on keywords to producing material that’s more relevant and uses everyday language. Google, it seems, is not evaluating content according to individual keywords. That’s a good thing but you need to know what that kind of content looks like if you’re going to change your style and approach. Algorithm updates like Google’s AI system RankBrain place a value on relevance and optimisation. An in-depth examination of one particular subject, which is easy to understand and clearly written, will outperform material that’s packed with keywords. This includes multiple images, infographics, and embedded videos. According to Cisco video will represent 80% of online traffic, so include video in your content. Keep your content relevant and in a style that we use and appreciate as human beings. If you need help there are lots of content auditing software out there to help produce the finished article

Backlinks

These are still a very important ranking factor. In recent years however, Google has got wise to these and can identify and pull out bad links. Links need to be diverse and relevant and from domains that are authoritative. If your content is well written and useful it will generate links and Google will consider it more relevant. These links are ranking signals. So, put simply, create good quality content and promote it well.

Mobile

There are technical factors which might influence your website’s ranking. These include dwell time (the amount of time a person spends on your site) and repeat visitors. More recently Google has been turning its attention towards mobile. Specifically page speed on mobile. Google has been promising to look at mobile search speed for years and now at last they’ve delivered and it’s finally here. Its recently announced speed update is a search engine algorithm that’s fixed on mobile page speed. If your site doesn’t load quickly on mobile devices you could be penalised, so take a look at it and if its slow to respond get it fixed.

Social media

When people share your content on social networks, it’s a signal to Google that it’s valuable. There is a definitive link between social shares and search engine ranking. Google continues to maintain that shares are not a ranking factor, at least not a direct one, but there’s no getting away from the fact that the highest ranking pages do have a lot of shares.

The fact is that SEO is an ever-evolving industry. Google is pushing for rich content with good quality links, and a much improved mobile experience. Other ranking factors are important but these are the foundations to improving key elements of your website. Focus on these and don’t fall into the trap of trying to fix everything just because someone has produced yet another new list.

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Energy wholesale prices jump 50% over the past year

Wholesale energy prices are almost 50 per cent higher than 12 months ago, according to latest Bord Gáis Energy Index.

Oil prices rallied 7 per cent last month, settling at $82.72 a barrel at the end of September. That represents a year-on-year increase of 46 per cent.

Gas prices increased 18 per cent last month and 57 per cent over the last year, as maintenance to key Norwegian fields continued to impact flows into the UK.
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Coal prices also had a volatile month, settling 2 per cent above the August close and 11 per cent higher than last year while electricity prices also rose by 12 per cent.

Bord Gáis Energy tader David Grainger said energy prices remain “well above the levels seen at this time last year”. He said “heightened concerns ahead of impending US sanctions on Iran was a key driver of oil price during the month while reduced Norwegian supplies pushed up gas prices”.

With oil prices a key component of the energy index, gains this month along with the break out to fresh four-year highs could set the tone for energy prices over the next 12 months.

Fears of a cold winter and low storage have pushed gas prices higher in Europe leaving more scope for coal prices to increase, as utilities prepare to burn coal if gas shortages are not alleviated.

Wholesale electricity prices typically track the cost of imported gas as it is the most significant cost in the production of electricity. However, this can vary on a month-to-month basis.

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-find-best-clothing-manufacturers-in-china-clothing-factories-list-13903.html

Ecommerce to outperform bricks-and-mortar retail this Christmas

According to a survey conducted by Neto, online stores are predicted to outperform bricks-and-mortar stores this holiday season, with 43% of retailers predicting year on year growth. The survey also found that this year retailers are favouring plans to offer pre-Christmas sales rather than the traditional Boxing Day and January sales.

“It’s noteworthy that every retailer we spoke to has online – either marketplaces, an ecommerce store, or both – as a pivotal channel for its Christmas sales strategy,” says Ryan Murtagh, CEO and founder of Neto.

“Regardless of their size, we’re seeing most Australian retailers adapt to the evolving shopping preferences of consumers.”
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Research commissioned by parcel delivery company CouriersPlease (CP) surveyed shoppers to gauge what improvements ecommerce stores are yet to make to draw an exclusive following.

According to CP, 6% of shoppers see no changes needed to their online retail experiences, 74% say they would expect retailers to offer free returns online, 57% say they required more comprehensive sizing guides online and 44% say they need more flexible delivery options – such as after hours delivery.

“With more Aussies willing to take their shopping online, it’s important that retailers listen to their feedback and find ways to further enhance their ecommerce experience,” says Mark McGinley, CP CEO.

“Retailers need to make improvements which allows customers to comfortably complete their purchases online with the reassurance that they’re getting the same service and experience as they would in store.”

85% of small and medium retailers plan to use social media as a primary marketing tool in the lead up to Christmas, according to Neto’s survey – only 48% plan to engage with email marketing.

Online marketplaces (such as eBay and Amazon) is also set to be a popular avenue for retailers this holiday season. 60% of retailers surveyed say they use marketplaces as a complementary sales channel to their physical or ecommerce sites, and 29% expect 2018 marketplace sales to grow and outperform the last Christmas period.

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-the-Ultimate-list-of-suppliers-help-you-buy-wholesale-from-china-12955.html

Calgary pot retailers fear impact of high wholesale prices

Tight profit margins will quickly weed out many cannabis retailers and benefit black marketers, a prospective pot store owner says.

And an Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) fact sheet for retailers states black market pressures and startup costs could mean legal pot stores might not be profitable for two years.

An entrepreneur, whose company hopes to open stores throughout the province, said government and marijuana producers will claim so much of the revenue it’ll squeeze all but the largest operators, giving illicit dealers freer reign.
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“There’s no pie left over . . . there’s going to be a lot of problems,” said the man, who wouldn’t give his name out of fear of his store applications being rejected.

“The black market will run the streets, there’ll be no stopping it.”

Even so, he considers himself “pro-legalization” and said he’s in a good place financially to innovate and make a go of Alberta’s market.

“People are looking to me for help, but I can’t help them,” he said.

Last week, an official with AGLC provided a list of average wholesale prices per gram it’ll be charging retailers, including $8.95 for dried flower, $4.95 for milled flower, $9.11 per pre-rolled joint and $9.65 per oil capsule.

To turn a profit, retailers would have to increase that price to customers, while at least one online black market website sells flower by the ounce at a cost that breaks down to about $6.50 a gram.

A customer price typically quoted by soon-to-be-retailers is $10 for a gram of dried bud.

“Nine out of 10 retailers haven’t looked at these (AGLC) prices and, if they had, they wouldn’t have gotten into it,” said the businessman.

An AGLC fact sheet states the commission, which acts as a wholesaler, won’t be profitable from the cannabis trade for two years and that the same could apply for many retailers.

“The Government of Alberta has acknowledged that cannabis net operating incomes will be negative for at least the first two years of operation due to the initial expense of setting up this new business,” it states.

“Future cannabis retailers will have to make their own determination if their operations will be profitable.”

The would-be retailer also said private stores will be competing with the AGLC’s online cannabis sales.

Another prospective Calgary cannabis retailer said he’s not so concerned about the price structure, adding there’ll be some leeway for stores to appeal to customers.

“We’re able to choose any price,” said Angus Taylor of New Leaf.

He also said wholesale prices will ultimately fall along with retail ones as the industry hits full production and supply stride.

“The economies of scale will eventually drive down the cost of goods — we ultimately hope there’s less and less confidence in the black market,” said Taylor.

Unlike licensed and inspected legal product, he said, black market weed’s safety and quality isn’t assured.

How retailers craft their profit margins is up to them, said AGLC spokeswoman Heather Holmen.

“We’re not dictating, that’ll be determined on their business model,” she said, adding consistency of product could make a difference.

“Having a safe, clean product could make spending a few extra dollars worth it.”

In a move aimed at helping the industry’s launch, the province has also decided not to impose a provincial levy on cannabis sales, though they will be subject to federal excise tax and GST, said Holmen.

But she acknowledged there is concern among some in the sector about the effect a black market could have on the fledgling legal industry.

And both the AGLC and Alberta Justice have said they hope local police forces will crack down on illicit marijuana sales websites that have been largely left alone.

Prices listed on the AGLC’s AlbertaCannabis.org website will be revealed when it’s activated Oct. 17, said Holmen.

“I can’t speak on behalf of private retailers, but AGLC did set its pricing to be competitively aligned with retailers,” she said.

“Consumers will ultimately decide if they wish to purchase online or in retail locations.”

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-Boutique-Wholesale-Clothing-Suppliers-13645.html

What E-commerce Companies Need to Gear up for the Next Phase of Growth?

With the push for smart technologies and high speed internet, 40% of India’s population are active internet users. According to an industry research, internet users in India are expected to increase from 481 million as of December 2017 to 829 million by 2021. This advancement is proactively being leveraged by e-commerce companies that are delivering around 3.5 million packages per day as of today. Further, investments by e-commerce companies and the expansion of technological solutions provided by them is only going to raise this number, which is expected to cross the 10 million mark by 2020.

The Success Story

The huge success that the sector sees during every sale, festive days, weekends and special discount days have always broken the previous records. This has encouraged investors to pump in more and more money to the Indian market to expand inventory and operations. E-commerce companies have slowly re-aligned their business goals to include the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India, that have been more than welcoming to the discounts and services provided by them. The markets have proven that these approaches are indeed true game changers and brought in a change in the usual buying patterns.

Challenges

In spite of all this e-commerce companies are now facing issues. As they enter into this new phase, productivity is the new mantra. With this expansion of ecommerce companies, making their workforce more productive is a growing concern. Another challenge that comes with scale is lethargy and complacency, which directly hits the performance of the company.

Another aspect the ecommerce companies need to resolve is bridging the communication gap with its employees. There needs to be a very clear indication of what the employer is offering and what more can be earned by leveraging various incentives provided. While currently the employees work on the basis of the pay per delivery model, this incentive driven performance creates some ambiguity and will always have a transparency challenge.
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While, e-commerce companies are promoting this concept believing it to be a productive tool and not realizing that this will further lead to higher attrition rates. It further gives no predictability of income for its employees. Even though the delivery boys are getting paid more than what they would get before; it is only because of the incentives that these companies offer them. The salary on paper without the incentives is close to the minimum wages. E-commerce companies should tie up with partners having experiences in managing this challenge.

The Remedy

The right staffing partner ensures to stay connected with the employees and communicates with them on various aspects of the job which is extremely crucial given the high stress jobs that delivery staff members have to perform. Staffing companies also create a layer between employees and companies and handles queries, complaints and any resistance that exists. In fact, the models like Pay Per Delivery that companies run don’t provide their employees statutory benefits like wages, PF, ESIC etc. Staffing partners have this expertise and adhere to such norms.

What e-commerce companies should look into is, finding ways to include capabilities and the scope for improving skills. Learning services will be beneficial to all its employees and this will directly benefit the e-commerce players, as this will increase the overall productivity. Other than that, it will also push the employees to take up more challenges and initiatives, thereby addressing the issues that e-commerce companies face in terms of attrition. It will also act as a very good retention tool in a time where more and more e-commerce companies are setting base and offering competitive incentives to attract talent. These delivery boys tend to switch to a better paying gig as the job is the same, but if an e-commerce player can offer them a holistic value to their careers, nobody would quit.

While the last 5 years have been a great run for all e-commerce players who have recorded an exponential growth in the business these basic initiatives will help ecommerce companies not only manage their productivity issues but will help in restricting the attrition rates which is quite prevalent in the sector.

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-top-chinese-wholesale-Websites-13108.html

Monitoring and analytics

The following tools help monitor the health of your site. They will let you know where your customers are coming from, and can give helpful information regarding demographics and site activity.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free service that Google offers to everyone. It helps track and report the behaviors of the visitors on your site. If you have Google Analytics installed on your website you can determine where your visitors came from, and can see what channels are bringing in the most traffic and customers.

Google Analytics can be a bit overwhelming for first timers. Luckily, Google offers free training for you to become a pro at using their systems. You can even take a certification test at the end of the training that will test your skills and knowledge.
https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-top-chinese-wholesale-Websites-13108.html

Monitor.us

This is a great tool to have installed next to Google Analytics. Monitor.uswill constantly scan your site for up and down time, and will alert you immediately if your site goes down for any unexpected reasons. They offer a free 15 day trial for you to test all of their monitoring services. After your trial, they downgrade your account a free version if you decide not to pay a monthly subscription. The free version still alerts you to any downtime on your site, but limits what features you have access to. You can learn more about their product and pricing here.

Get the word out

Once you have your website set up for tracking and analytics, you can oversee where customers are coming from. But, how do you reach those customers? That’s where the following tools will help you attract new customers.

Google AdWords

Just like Google Analytics, Google AdWords is a free product from Google. This tool will help you manage your search and paid-per-click (PPC) campaigns. It will also help you set up relevant ads on Google search results to attract new customers. There are many sources for free training on how to use Google AdWords. If you’re interested, you can become Adwords Certified by taking an Adwords certification exam to test your knowledge on online advertising.

Although the service is free, the keywords and phrases that you select and bid for will not be free. Each time someone clicks on the ad you set up through AdWords, it will cost you the predetermined price that Google declared for that keyword.

Hootsuite

Social media is a necessary factor to any successful business. The problem with social media is managing the various platforms your brand is present on. It can be very time consuming to keep a consistent content and posting schedule. Hootsuite is a great tool to help you schedule posts across all the networks you’re on over multiple days,. This is especially useful if you are scheduling for a couple of days, like over the weekends! Hootsuite offers a free 30 trial, after which you will have to pay a subscription fee of $9.99/mo to continue using the service.

https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-men-s-clothing-c-2.html

You need to ask 4 questions to potential dropship suppliers

The success of your online store depends on the reliability of the supplier, especially if you use the direct sales method as the primary means of performance.

While there are many ways to evaluate potential distribution providers, you also need a list of questions to ask any potential suppliers to make sure they are legal. Here are 10 questions you should ask about any potential suppliers.

Are you selling to the public?

In fact, the “distribution supplier” sold to the public is not a direct supplier at all. They are just a retailer posing as a supplier. Real distribution providers only sell goods to retailers at wholesale prices. If the supplier you are considering will sell their products to anyone and everyone, then you will pay more for the product than you should pay, which makes profit making more difficult.
https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-clothing-accessories-c-14.html

2. Do you do business with the business owner who traveled for the first time?

If this is your first retail location and you are trying to enter the e-commerce space by using the direct sales method as the primary fulfillment method, then you need to make sure that the vendor you are considering is willing to use the -time business owner first. The article linked above details the butler project needed before approaching a potential distribution provider - business plan, your EIN and business model - these will help provide you with an image of legitimacy that needs to convince the supplier with the first The timer does business.

3. Do you charge a monthly subscription fee?

Reliable suppliers do not charge you a monthly fee just to do business with them. A monthly fee may indicate that the supplier is in financial distress (and you do not want the supplier to cease business) or that other organizational issues may cause fulfillment problems for you and your customers. These are not the issues you want to deal with, so if you are experiencing a vendor that requires monthly fees, look for another one.

4. What is your return policy?

Did not solve this problem - you will have to deal with the return. It is part of the retail industry, whether it’s e-commerce or a physical store. Before deciding to do business with a dropship supplier, you need to make sure you understand how they handle returns, so you can provide them with a simple, easy return/refund process when customers are not satisfied. Special product.

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-Best-3-Dropshipping-Suppliers-UK-Based-12623.html

Choose the best supplier on AliExpress

Here are some simple tips from other dropshippers, how to ensure smooth cooperation with traders in the supplier catalog:

1 Please contact the supplier before ordering:

Before ordering, you should contact the supplier first. You need to ensure that the supplier can respond to you in time to prevent problems, and it is important to understand how they communicate, how fast they respond, and the willingness to collaborate in advance.

2Start with purchasing a small amount of merchandise:

Understandably, you want to attract buyers as much as possible, and a longer list of products promises this, but at the beginning, testing market response from some products, better understanding the requirements and starting to receive may be safer. Any problems are fast.

3 order product samples:

It’s very simple - you need to know what you are selling. To evaluate product quality, delivery time, packaging and the entire process, you must test it yourself. Try to order at least some samples from different sellers and give yourself plenty of room to swing.
https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-list-of-drop-ship-companies-dropshippers-with-no-membership-fees-all-in-one-12704.html

4 Find suppliers who specialize in target products:

If you really just start using a small number of products in the store, it’s best to find a professional supplier who is a professional who manufactures or trades these specific products. This will give you a better understanding of your mastery and help reduce costs.

5 select products for the whole year:

This sounds obvious, but if you don’t think about it as early as possible, seasonality can be a huge growth barrier. For example, sunglasses is a very popular project that can make a good profit, but if you don’t plan how to market this product to buyers in different countries (or even continents) at different times of the year, then it is a Risk game.

https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-top-5-dropshipping-suppliers-that-every-businessmen-in-europe-should-know-13586.html

Build your brand with YouTube Marketing

If you find yourself watching YouTube videos late at night, you are not the only one. Watch more than 6 billion hours of video per month and upload 100 hours of video per minute. For those who like to watch YouTube, this means that content is never exhausted. For small business owners, this means that it is very likely that your name will come out. More than 33 million unique users visit YouTube every day, and it’s likely that someone will see what you want to share.

The problem is that many people don’t realize how great YouTube’s real marketing tools are. They think this is a good way to kill time - or waste time. If you like, YouTube can definitely have both. However, if you have heard of the Orabrush Tongue Cleaner, you know that if you use YouTube correctly, you will immediately see your business thriving.
https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-computer-office-c-473.html

But before you start making YouTube ads, check out these tips to help you make the perfect video.

Hit your target market

First of all, please don’t worry if your video will spread the virus. It will happen if it happens. But not many people have perfect viral formulas. Instead of focusing on "how to make it a virus," focus more on how to make it attractive to your niche. YouTube gives you a great opportunity to connect with your customers in a very personal way.

The same is true of your research. Watch videos from other businesses like you. See what works and what doesn’t. Please note the comments under each video. How much insight you can get from the feedback left under each video.

Understand the media

Video is a difficult medium to master. However, there are ways to make it easier. First, add some variations to your video. If you are selling wholesale hair products, please don’t let each video be about people who wash their hair. Mix it up. Add some personal style to each video.

That being said, don’t deviate from your product and actually do too much. If your video changes enough, your viewers will keep coming back, but if your videos don’t match, they will quickly forget your video content. Make sure they always know who you are and what products you sell. Think of the logo or slogan that you display in each video. Make sure your name always exists. Your video is a bit crazy, but just make sure your audience always knows what you are selling.

Finally, you must have a high quality video. For some small/startups, this can be difficult because the funds can be tight. But in order to compete on YouTube, your video needs to look professional. This means there are no jittery cams, rough edits or too many comments. You don’t need a $20,000 camera to look professional, you just need to use your budget camera to communicate quality to your customers. Again, watch the video on YouTube to get an idea. Some of the great videos were taken on the iPhone.

a great marketing tool

Once you understand what’s useful to your business, you’ll be in a comfortable position to create great videos that your customers love. It may not happen immediately, but if done well, YouTube marketing can promote your brand more effectively than traditional methods. Try it, it’s free. Think of a smart little ad and throw it on YouTube. Monitor results and make improvements. Many successful companies using YouTube did not succeed at first. But after some hard work, they will definitely become like this.

https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-automobiles-motorcycles-c-1563.html

Dropshipping on eBay is a huge effort for those who are not ready. Start the auction at the wrong time, set the price too high, or describe your product, you will soon be left behind by more experienced sellers. As we continue to research how to better improve your success through Dropshipping on eBay, we will focus on building your profile, starting the auction price, how to filter buyers and the benefits of shipping. If you missed our first post, be sure to check it out here.

1) Create a better file

If you are a new seller of eBay, you may find it difficult to generate an order. This is because people look at each seller’s profile and shopping reviews before buying. If you don’t have any information, you will find it hard to get started.

An easy way to solve this problem is to buy some little things you need. For example, pens, socks or anything else you want. This will improve your feedback so that other buyers realize that you know how to shop and immediately pay for items on eBay.

When you start selling, start small when building your profile. When people start buying to you, ship items as efficiently as possible. Be prepared to answer any customer questions and always ask for feedback. The biggest help or obstacle to selling on eBay will be your feedback. According to TeleFaction’s data research, people who are rated as "5" rated are six times more likely to shop again than those who give you "4.8". More than 60% of consumers are affected by other consumer feedback, so our goal is to provide the best service.
https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-drop-shipping-on-ebay-master-guide-57.html

2) Set the right price

Pricing is difficult. Set too high, no one will buy your product. Set it too low and you may end up losing money on sales. The trick to setting the right price is to know your competitors. Search for similar products on eBay and the price of competitors. Once you have a general understanding of how products are sold on ebay, you can post them.

If you are selling a lower-priced product, try starting the auction at a lower price ($1) and see what it sells. In your next list, set the starting price to the price it sold, then repeat the process. No matter how you choose to sell, the best way to learn is to understand your competitors and ultimately to experiment.

3) Find the right buyer

They have never purchased it. They left unfounded negative feedback. They always ask for a refund or complain about the product. They are just...not the type of customer you want to do business with. Many eBay members have had an unpleasant experience with such people, which may make sales troublesome.

On eBay, bad buyers accounted for an average of 5% of all buyers. It doesn’t look like much, but when you consider that more than 100 million people use online auction sites, it quickly becomes a big number. Fortunately, eBay gives you a way to control (to some extent) people who buy from you.

In your account, under the "Site Preferences" link, you can choose the buyer’s request. These options include whether to do business with people who don’t have a PayPal account, who have received a free strike, a negative feedback score, and so on. Choosing these options will greatly improve your overall sales experience on ebay and increase the success rate of your products. All customers can still contact you, so if there are special exceptions, you will be able to adapt to this situation.

https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-sports-entertainment-c-774.html

Most likely, you have seen a lot of guidelines for e-commerce SEO.

Most likely, they look like rocket science. Every new product page in your direct store should be SEO optimized based on these rules and guidelines - stay tuned!

But that doesn’t mean you should leave this area unattended. Believe us, you can easily optimize your outlets with your hands!

In this article, we will try to explain difficult things with simple words so that you won’t fight SEO anymore. Don’t be shy in the comments section to ask us questions!

Why is e-commerce SEO important?

SEO or search engine optimization is critical to the direct sales business. The key to the success of your store is the buyer: the more visitors you attract to the site, the more they buy, and the more profit you get.
https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-clothing-accessories-c-14.html

So the question is, how do Internet users find your online store?

And this is the time when SEO comes into play.

Obviously, you can promote your direct store through social networks. Facebook and Instagram work like a miracle - you can learn about it from our own experience and our customers’ success stories.

But what do you do when you need to find something online? You found it on Google! You can view the first few pages, or even the second, not to mention the third and more pages.

Therefore, as a dropshipping store owner, you need to display your site on the search engine results page whenever possible. What can you do to achieve it?

E-commerce SEO in the preparatory stage

Ideally, your SEO work should start from the moment you decide to start a direct sales business.

We are talking about the niche choice now.

As you may recall, we have already introduced this aspect before. In short, you need to make sure that you are good for SEO. This is one of the most important aspects of choosing a niche for the direct selling business because it lays the foundation for everything you will do. If you have limited potential for search engine optimization, then you will have a hard time trying to make your store popular. So before you decide on a niche market, please study our e-commerce SEO guide carefully!

E-commerce SEO is in the development stage

Again, you need to start thinking about e-commerce SEO in the initial stages of designing and developing your direct store.

The reason is that the better your site structure and organization, the easier it is for search engines to scan it. If you place the category page and product page too far from the main page, it will:

Inappropriate search engines - they won’t be able to access and scan these well-hidden pages, so you won’t get such a high ranking;

Frustrate your store visitors - Typically, customers should not access any product pages from the main page for more than 3 clicks.

This means that the first step in developing a future direct store is to consider its structure. Your website needs to be organized in a logical, clear and simple way.

https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-toys-hobbies-c-1058.html

Top 3 Improvements to Product Page That Increase Conversion Rate

To achieve this dream, you can start with a simple little improvement. Think about the product pages in your direct store: Are they attractive enough? Can they motivate shop visitors to make purchases? Maybe you can improve some features?

If you want to significantly increase your conversion rate and achieve the very successful performance of your direct store, you can take some very simple steps that will definitely make a difference.

This article is dedicated to one of the steps: modify the description of the product you imported from Chinabrands and create an attractive product page that attracts store visitors to make purchases.
https://www.chinabrands.com/dropshipping/article-top-5-wholesale-dropshipping-suppliers-usa-130.html

So where do we start?

1. Change the product name to increase the conversion rate

Interestingly, Chinabrands products are known for their unique games. In fact, Chinabrands has an integrated system that automatically translates product titles into selected regional languages. Although it is an eternal source of fun, it is not very good for the store’s product reputation and overall customer trust.

In order to make the imported product look more reliable and trustworthy, and make it easier for customers to search for the necessary products, it is recommended to manually edit the title. Try using no more than 3-5 words - no longer read longer titles. The title and product description should contain keywords that make SEO easier.

If you offer customers a very similar product (such as a T-shirt), try including its unique features in the title. For example, “green T-shirts”, “cotton T-shirts”, “cat print T-shirts”, etc. will immediately let customers know how these products differ. It is also generally recommended to capitalize the title.

When you import a project from Chinabrands, the permanent link will also be transferred to your online store. They are the same as the title, so after changing the product title, make sure the link has also changed. All you have to do is delete the old permalink and press the "OK" button - a new permanent link will be automatically generated with the same title as the modified title.

2. Product Description

To create compelling product pages and increase conversion rates, you first need to pay close attention to the text format. A neat text structure with clear paragraphs and readable fonts makes it easy for Webstore visitors to read the text and carefully consider project specifications. Incomprehensible text is difficult to understand and if they don’t understand the page correctly, it may not be a secret that the customer may just leave the page without making a purchase.

With this in mind, it is also important to consider how the product description is written. Try to avoid lengthy and complicated words and grammatically confusing sentences. Because you’re targeting a broad customer base, it’s important that everyone has access to this product description.

3. Visual effects in e-commerce stores

Since we have begun to discuss the size chart image, it is necessary to cover important issues such as the quality of visual materials to improve the conversion rate in e-commerce.

Make sure that the photos you take from your supplier have high resolution and create a good overall impression. Try to avoid importing photos that are obviously photos because they don’t look reliable enough. Also, pay attention to watermarks - usually, they won’t be actively taken.

If you need to edit the image slightly (cut, rotate, flip, add brightness or contrast, etc.), you don’t have to use a professional graphics editor like Photoshop. If you don’t have experience in this area, just use some simple services that are very easy to manage, such as XnView.

Speaking of the content of the photo, it is necessary to mention that the customer usually looks for an image showing the item being used. Try picking a photo of the product in real life because it gives you an overall impression of the true color, size, material, texture, etc. These images should be versatile - several similar photos taken from the same angle will not provide a lot of information to the customer. It’s a good idea to include some close-up photos that show tiny details. Try to post no more than 3-4 photos, otherwise customers can view all the photos carefully.

It’s also a good idea to create a collage with multiple high-quality images. It is very useful if there are many product changes for this particular project - choose the most popular products, combine them into a collage and post them in the photo gallery and project description. There are plenty of online services that make it quick and easy to create such a collage.

https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-lights-lighting-c-470.html

How to Increase Your Dropshipping Store’s Sales with Instagram Shoutouts

If you want to have more sales and make your Instagram page grow, you need to gain exposure. The quickest and most efficient way to do this is to collaborate with other niche related accounts and get them to promote your account. You can pay for someone to post your materials to other relevant Instagram pages, or, alternatively, you can come to an agreement with another user to post each other’s pictures on some other terms. This strategy is called a Insta Shoutout.

How the Instagram Shoutout strategy works

First of all, find the most popular (10K+ followers) accounts on Instagram that are related to your niche. For example, if you are selling Harry Potter merchandise, you should look for Harry Potter niche accounts. You can look for such accounts with the help of various services – for example, we can surely recommend Websta . Simply enter necessary keywords in the “Username or “Tag” field, and you will see a list of popular accounts.
https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-automobiles-motorcycles-c-1563.html

Once you have selected the preferred accounts (the more the better), you need to contact the owner of the account through Instagram Direct – this is the section where you can exchange direct messages.

You can send other users a short message asking them to contact you through email in case they are interested in paid shoutouts on their Instagram accounts. Normally they contact you the same day, so you won’t have to wait long. Agree upon the terms and the price, and ask for the payment details. You can ask to launch a Shoutout for 24-48 hours (longer time makes no sense). The price depends on the number of followers and usually varies from $5 to $30 for one Shoutout. We would recommend paying around $10 per 100,000 subscribers for one Shoutout (for example, if a group has 300,000 followers, a $30 price for one Shoutout is fine). You can pay more or less of course, but in general you can stick to this amount.

The Instagram Shoutout basically consists of the picture of the item (it can be a collage of different pictures as well) and a promotional text. The text should be short and simple, providing information about the item name and price, the name of your account, and the link to your webstore. You can also add some hashtags.

Also Read: https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-home-garden-c-826.html

T-Mobile Wants Wholesale Customers to Support Sprint Megamerger

T-Mobile’s proposed $26 billion megamerger with Sprint could have dramatic implications for broad swaths of the U.S. wireless industry. Not only could consumers potentially face the prospect of higher prices should the deal go through, but wholesale customers that purchase wholesale capacity could, too. Those companies, known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), already face slim margins, but could find themselves further pinched in such a scenario.

The two carriers have nearly 28 million wholesale connections combined, and regulators are already scrutinizing the potential impact on wholesale prices. The Un-carrier is reportedly trying to rally support from its wholesale customer base.

T-Mobile is asking MVNOs to voice support
https://www.chinabrands.com/category/dropship-women-s-clothing-c-1.html

Reuters reports that T-Mobile is nudging wholesale customers to publicly support the proposed merger. That could potentially take the form of publishing an op-ed or sending supportive correspondence to regulators. The Federal Communications Commission started taking public comments on the deal in June, and interested parties can still submit input until Aug. 27.

T-Mobile is even offering specific talking points, such as the argument that a combined company could deploy 5G faster than if the companies remained separate. The accelerated 5G argument has been a core underpinning of the deal’s rationale from the get-go. The combined spectrum portfolio would play a significant role, with the companies planning to use T-Mobile’s 600 MHz spectrum and Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum as a foundation for its 5G network. Beyond that, it’s not clear how the merger would accelerate its 5G road map.

MVNOs are being put in a bit of an awkward situation, as they would directly bear the costs of any potential price increases should the merger go through -- before passing those costs along to consumers -- yet now they’re being asked to speak favorably of the deal.

Investors remain skeptical

It would certainly help if T-Mobile and Sprint are able to garner public support from MVNOs, but the market for wholesale wireless capacity is only one aspect that regulators will assess.

T-Mobile and Sprint remain confident that the deal will pass regulatory muster and subsequently close in the first half of 2019. The market, on the other hand, isn’t so sure. Shares of both companies fell immediately after the announcement in April, and even today T-Mobile shares are just 3% higher than they were when the announcement was made. Sprint stock is 5% lower. The market still isn’t pricing in good odds.

https://www.chinabrands.com/wholesale/wholesale-women-s-clothing-c-1.html