Shopping Platforms & Marketplaces

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

If you want to process online payments through your ecommerce store, you need a payment gateway. It’s the technology that securely collects a shopper’s financial information and passes it onto the processor that transfers money from their account to yours.

There are many payment gateways to choose from—each has its own advantages and disadvantages. 

If you’re stuck on which one to choose, we’ve done the hard work for you. This guide rounds up the best payment gateways ranked by their use case, pros, cons, and pricing so you can choose the right one for your business. 

What is a payment gateway? 

A payment gateway is a type of technology that helps retailers process payments from their customers. The gateway securely transmits and encrypts payment information, such as a customer’s credit card number and billing address, which is passed from the customer’s browser to your ecommerce website. 

How do payment gateways work?

Payment gateways might sound technical, but we can break down their role into a few key steps:

1. A customer initiates payment on your website (usually on a checkout page).
2. The customer enters their payment details into the payment gateway. This step can take many forms, including manually entering their details or using a mobile wallet like Shop Pay, Google Pay, or Apple Pay. 
3. The payment gateway encrypts the data your customer has entered so hackers can’t intercept it. 
4. The gateway securely forwards this information to the payment processor or acquiring bank, who then sends an authorization request to the customer’s card network, such as Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Then, the card network routes it to the customer’s issuing bank.
5. The issuing bank approves or rejects the request and sends this response back to the payment gateway. You’ll see this in your ecommerce platform for either outcome. 
6. If the payment is approved, the payment processor facilitates the move of money from the customer’s account to your merchant account. If it’s denied, the payment gateway shows the reason why. Insufficient funds, fraud risks, and invalid cards are common culprits. 

The 6 top payment gateway providers

1. Shopify Payments
2. Stripe
3. PayPal
4. Adyen
5. Authorize.net
6. WorldPay

1. Shopify Payments

Best for: Shopify merchants

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own payment gateway that allows ecommerce merchants to process online and in-person payments through a single platform. Shopify Payments complies with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to protect your customer’s data.

Shopify’s payment gateway is compatible with a variety of sales channels, so you can take payments through Facebook, Instagram, and Google. In addition, current Shopify Plus merchants can take advantage of lower payment fees for transactions completed through Shopify Payments, leaving more profit in your pocket.

Pros of Shopify Payments

• No extra software required to process online payments
• Competitive payment processing fees 
• PCI DSS compliant to protect sensitive financial data 
• Accept multiple payment methods, including credit cards, digital wallets, Shop Pay, buy now, pay later, and PayPal
• Process international payments in your customer’s local currencies 
• Intuitive financial reporting tools baked into your Shopify dashboard
• 24/7 customer support available 
• Automatic deposits to withdraw money from your Shopify admin to your business bank account

Cons of Shopify Payments

• Only available to Shopify merchants
• Extra fee for transactions made through third-party payment gateways for merchants that are not using Shopify Plus

Pricing: Shopify’s payment processing fees differ depending on your plan. This varies between 2.9% and 2.4%, plus a 30¢ fee per transaction.

2. Stripe 

Best for: Merchants offering subscriptions

Stripe is one of the most popular payment gateways because it’s not tied to a specific ecommerce platform. It allows merchants to accept credit card payments and mobile payments, and is easy to integrate with most websites and mobile apps.

It offers advanced customization and is highly flexible, but also requires more technical knowledge to configure and use. Stripe also includes features for invoicing, subscriptions, and international marketplaces. 

Pros of Stripe’s payment gateway

• PCI DSS compliant 
• Customization features to brand the payment experience 
• Supports a large number of countries and currencies
• Automatic currency conversion to process international payments
• Subscription billing features to process recurring payments and safely store card details 
• Comprehensive financial reporting tools 

Cons of Stripe’s payment gateway

• Requires more technical expertise for setup and usage
• Support documentation is very technical 
• High chargeback fees if a customer disputes their payment 

Pricing: Stripe has a standard payment processing fee of 2.9% + 30¢ for transactions made using cards and wallets. There are extra fees for manually entered cards (0.5%), currency conversions (1%), and international cards (1.5%).

3. PayPal

Best for: Businesses with a global customer base who have PayPal wallets

PayPal is another popular payment gateway that allows anyone to process payments over the internet. It’s a well known name in the world of online payments and has protection programs to insulate both buyers and sellers from fraud. The biggest downside is the fact that it’s more expensive than other payment gateways, especially if you’re processing payments at scale. 

Pros of PayPal’s payment gateway

• Popular and reliable service; the globally recognized brand might influence customer trust and conversion rates
• Invoicing capability 
• Buyer and seller protection programs to prevent fraud 
• One-touch checkout to improve the customer experience
• Supports international payments in a range of currencies 
• Customers can use money in their PayPal account to pay for their orders 
• No setup fees

 Cons of PayPal’s payment gateway

• Separate setup and checkout process required
• Customer support is not the greatest
• Charges additional transaction fees 
• Higher transaction fees than alternative payment gateways 
• Some merchants report that PayPal has unexpectedly locked their accounts and frozen their funds 

Pricing: PayPal takes 3.49% of the transaction, plus a 49¢ fee. Merchants processing international payments are subject to another 1.5% fee on top of the basic transaction fee, plus a set cost for the particular currency. 

4. Adyen 

Best for: Large online businesses

Adyen is a global payment gateway that allows merchants to process payments in various currencies and countries. It’s a good option to consider if subscriptions and international payments are important to you. 

Pros of Adyen’s payment gateway

• Lots of payment options to process international payments, including digital payments, local payment methods, and all major credit cards
• Omnichannel support to take payment across multiple regions via a single integration, online or offline
• 24/7 customer support
• Create branded physical and digital cards
• Option to create a test account before committing to its payment gateway
• AI-powered risk analysis system to protect your business against fraud
• Support for subscriptions and recurring payments
• Process secure transactions anywhere, including online, through a mobile app, and in-store, with tokenization
• Fixed payment processing fees for each payment method 

Customizable dashboard to track payments across all channels Cons of Adyen’s payment gateway

• Not the best option for smaller online businesses
• Limited customization features
• Pricing model is more complicated than other payment gateways 

Pricing: Adyen doesn’t charge monthly fees, but the cost of its payment gateway depends on your customer’s issuing bank. This ranges from 3% to 12%, plus 13¢.

5. Authorize.net 

Best for: Retailers with a Visa merchant account. 

Authorize.net could be an option if you need a payment gateway that is compatible with your Visa merchant account. The software is owned and operated by Visa, which makes it easy to sync your payment gateway with your Visa merchant account.

Pros of Authorize.net’s payment gateway

• High uptime rates
• Very user-friendly and good for non-technical merchants
• Accept payments through credit or debit card, checks, PayPal, and Apple Pay
• Advanced fraud detection to block fraudulent online transactions
• Option to send invoices to customers using the same payment gateway 
• Customizable payment forms

Cons of Authorize.net’s payment gateway

• Monthly subscription required
• The interface looks outdated compared to other gateways

Pricing: Authorize.net’s pricing depends on whether you want to use just the payment gateway or its merchant account, too. For just the payment gateway, you’re looking at a $25 monthly subscription fee plus a 10¢ + 10¢ daily batch fee.

6. WorldPay

Best for: Merchants thatprocess international payments. 

WorldPay is a payment service provider that has its own gateway. The biggest pull is that WorldPay Connects with a variety of global banks and partners to process international payments. However, this is reflected in its transaction fees.

Pros of WorldPay’s payment gateway

• Suitable for businesses of all sizes 
• Very customizable and flexible 
• Excellent security features, including OmniShield, to protect payment information
• Accepts over 300 payment methods and multiple currencies
• Connects with a variety of global banks and payment partners to process international payments
• 24/7 customer support
• No monthly subscription fee 

Cons of WorldPay’s payment gateway

• Pricing information is not transparent for issuing card networks like American Express and Discover

Pricing: WorldPay’s pricing depends on the payment method your customer has chosen. This ranges between 0.75% and 2.75%.

How to choose an online payment gateway provider

Payment processing fees

Before selecting a particular gateway, evaluate the processing fees for different types of transactions. This includes:

• Different payment methods
• The customer’s issuing bank (American Express tends to have a higher fee) 
• International payments and currencies 

Small fees can add up over time. If you’re processing $50,000 through the payment gateway per year, for example, a 2.4% fee would total $1,200 in transaction fees. If you go to the upper end and commit to a 3.49% fee, that’s an extra $545 you’ll spend on payment processing over the entire year. 

Payment methods

Did you know that 11% of online shoppers have abandoned their online shopping carts because the retailer didn’t accept their preferred method of payment? By choosing a gateway that accepts a variety of payment options, you could reduce cart abandonment and close more sales. That includes:

Some payment methods are more popular than others in specific countries. If you’re selling in China, for example, make sure that your gateway can process WeChat payments. Some 920 million people in China use this payment method to buy products online. 

Security

Payment gateways handle sensitive financial data that you don’t want falling into the wrong hands. Check that your shortlisted payment gateway is PCI DSS compliant and has security features like encryption and tokenization. These industry standards set the tone for payment security and protect both yours and your customer’s data when processing online payments.

Integrations 

Running a business is hard enough already. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to get your systems integrated, let them do the hard work by choosing a payment gateway that integrates with your existing tech stack. This includes:

• Your ecommerce platform
• Point of sale software if you also sell in-person
• Inventory management systems
• Subscription management apps
• Accounting software
• Analytics apps 

Reliability 

A reliable payment gateway keeps you open for business whenever your customers want to buy. Before committing to a payment gateway, check their uptime reports. The higher this percentage, the better. 

If your gateway is repeatedly experiencing technical difficulties, you’ll not only lose money, but you’ll deliver a negative customer experience. This alone can deter people from returning: 86% of people will leave a trusted brand after a single poor experience. 

Customer experience

Customers will be interacting with your payment gateway every day. The more pleasant that experience is, the more likely they’ll be to complete their purchases, and also continue placing orders with your business.

A great checkout experience involves:

• Accepting a variety of payment methods
• Functioning well on all devices, including desktop, mobile, and tablet
• A recognizable payment gateway provider they know and trust
• Security or trust signals, such as PCI DSS compliance logos 
• Reliable customer support

Choose the best payment gateway provider for your business

Choosing a payment gateway for your online business is a big decision. Not only is your customer experience at stake, but payment processing fees can quickly eat into your profit margins. 

If you’re already running your business on Shopify, the platform’s own payment gateway is a no-brainer. There’s no need to find a third-party provider that connects with your store, nor compare payment processing fees. You can do it all in one place.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

British clothing company Belstaff recently hit its 100-year milestone. The next challenge? Preparing for another 100 years in business—while also staying true to the brand’s heritage.

“We’re not a fashion brand. We’re a functional menswear brand, and that’s a really clear and very important distinction,” says chief brand officer Jodie Harrison. She explains that fashion brands create new pieces to follow trends, while Belstaff’s new products maintain a connection to the brand’s iconic designs.

As part of the Belstaff’s centennial, Jodie led an initiative to collect vintage Belstaff products for the company’s archive, which designers use as inspiration for new products. “We have thousands of pieces now at our headquarters, some of them dating back to the early 1930s,” she says. 

Here’s how the company is modernizing for the next century.

 

A return to its roots

Belstaff’s ownership changed hands several times throughout its first 100 years. Though the company was started in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, it also had German and Italian owners at different points in its history. Josie made it her mission to return the brand to its UK roots. “I was quite keen to bring back that lens of Britishness that I think had been dissolved over the years,” she says.

Part of that initiative meant integrating Stoke-on-Trent into the renovation of Belstaff’s flagship store. The floors have tiles made in the region, with some featuring the brand’s iconic phoenix logo. “We’ve made sure that we use materials that hark back to where we’re from, but at the same time make it very contemporary,” Jodie says.

Consistent brand experience

Along with redesigning the store, the company also embarked on a massive IT transformation, including replatforming to Shopify. “It was a really key project to ensure that when customers come to belstaff.com, that they’re getting the same feeling across all different touchpoints,” Jodie says.

Navid Jilow, Belstaff’s director of technology, says the IT project helped the brand move toward an omnichannel approach. “We really found the proposition where you can combine your point-of-sale and your ecommerce platform under a single platform very appealing,” he says.

With Shopify, Belstaff can gather more robust customer data based on both their online and in-store purchases. “That helps us build that customer profile up rather than having some of these bits missing in our data,” Navid says.

The company also worked with an agency to create an engaging customer experience on the front end that was as seamless and easy to navigate as the in-store experience. Navid explains Shopify’s headless setup allowed Belstaff’s developers to create a unique look for the website.

Old is new again

Lastly, Belstaff is embracing its longevity with the mantra “old is good.” In the current era of fast fashion, Jodie’s prediction is that people will buy less in the next 100 years, and will turn to brands that deliver quality craftsmanship. That’s why the brand is also focusing on sustainability and exploring ways to help customers repair their used Belstaff products. “Being able to buy a coat, wear it for 50 years, and then pass it on to your son is actually a really lovely part of what makes Belstaff special,” Jodie says.

To learn more about what Belstaff is doing to celebrate its 100 years in business, listen to the full interview with Jodie and Navid on Shopify Masters.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

“Net 30” is a common payment term you might see on an invoice. It simply means buyers have 30 days after receiving an invoice to complete their payment. Buyers typically receive their goods in the interim. Net 30 is popular among buyers that purchase products from wholesalers because it gives them enough time to sell the products before paying for them.

For some merchants, the idea of waiting 30 days for payment is risky. How will they operate in the meantime? Is there any guarantee that your customer will settle their debt, or is there a risk of them going silent before the payment term expires? 

These are all valid concerns, but there are steps you can take to insulate your business from bad debt if you’re offering a net 30 payment. Here’s how to protect your business and allow customers flexible payment options.

What is net 30?

Net 30 is a payment agreement in which a customer pays for their order within 30 days of receiving the product. It’s most often used in business-to-business (B2B) commerce, where buyers pay for inventory once they’ve sold it.

How do net 30 days payment terms work?

Net 30 days payment terms mean that the buyer has 30 days from the date of receiving the invoice to settle the payment in full. Some buyers opt for these terms because it gives them extra time to improve cash flow. During the 30-day period, the buyer can confirm the products meet their expectations, and sell it to their own customers (if this is the purpose of the sale). 

If the buyer hasn’t paid for the goods when the 30-day period expires, the outstanding amount may be subject to late fees or penalties.

An example of net 30 payments

Let’s say a small business owner purchases inventory from a wholesaler that offers net 30 payment terms. Upon receiving the products, the wholesaler issues an invoice dated March 1, stating that payment is due within 30 days. The wholesaler also offers an early repayment discount of 10% if the buyer pays within 15 days. 

The small business has until March 16 to claim the discount, with a final deadline of March 31 to make the payment in full. This is enough time to inspect and resell the products before settling the sales invoice within the agreed timeframe.

If the small business doesn’t make payment within 30 days, the wholesaler will likely issue a new invoice with an additional late payment fee. 

How to manage net 30 payment terms

1. Create an agreement

A contract is a legally enforceable agreement that protects you if a customer doesn’t pay within 30 days. To make the agreement watertight and let the buyer know what’s expected of them, you can include the following elements in your contract:

• The start date and end date of the agreement
• Products or services provided
• A discount offer for early payment
• Penalties for missing the payment date
• How returns are handled

Alongside the contract, prepare an invoice, a document that explains what you’re selling and for how much. This should include an invoice date, your agreed net 30 payment terms, what you’re selling, and instructions on settling the debt. 

To do this from your Shopify admin, create a draft order and select the “Payment due later” option. Here, you can set your payment terms. Choose “Within 30” days for net 30.

2. Consider an early payment discount

If you’re offering net 30 payment terms to your customers but would rather not wait a month for the money to hit your bank account, you can offer early payment discounts to incentivize people to pay earlier.

Early repayment discounts are typically written in the following format: [discount]% / [number] days. For example, 5% / 15 days net 30 means customers get a 5% discount if they settle their invoice within 15 days (before the net 30 deadline). 

3. Send regular payment reminders

Your customers might be busy people who forget about their upcoming payment deadline. Instead of waiting for the deadline to pass, you can send regular reminders to people who’ve agreed to a net 30 payment term. Here’s what that might look like:

• 23 days after invoicing: One week left to complete their payment 
• 29 days after invoicing: Final reminder with warning of a late payment fee
• 31 days after invoicing: New invoice with a late payment fee 

Shopify can send automatic payment reminders for you. Go to Settings and choose “Notifications.” Select “Customer notifications” and find the payment reminder section. You can edit what the reminder email looks like and choose how often you want to send them. 

Advantages of net 30 terms

Net 30 payment terms are popular among ecommerce retailers because they offer the following advantages:

• Incentivize new customers. Net 30 can help customers improve their own cash flow if they don’t have to pay for their goods until 30 days after receiving them. This removes any concern about trying new brands.
• Competitive advantage. If a customer is choosing between two merchants, the one offering net 30 payment terms could be the best choice for a customer who prefers a longer payment period, such as small business owners.
• Encourage customer loyalty. Offering net 30 payment terms is a sign of trust that can solidify strong relationships. This can build loyalty, because it’s easier for people to stick with a brand if they feel a strong connection to it.

Disadvantages of net 30 terms

Despite the advantages that net 30 can provide, there are some disadvantages to consider before you offer these payment terms to your customers: 

• You’ll need more working capital. You won’t recoup the cost of producing a product until 30 days after you’ve sold it. That means you’ll likely need a lot more working capital to operate your business in the interim. 
• Unpredictable cash flow. When people take you up on your net 30 offer, you trust that they’ll pay within 30 days. If they fail to do so, your business can experience cash flow management problems. 
• You may need to manually approve net 30 requests. Customers with poor personal or business credit scores might be more likely to default on their payments, and approving these people in advance takes time.
• You’ll need to remind people of upcoming payments. This is made easier with software that can send deferred payment reminders, such as Shopify.

Alternatives to net 30 payment 

If you’re not set on the idea of waiting 30 days to receive payment, consider these alternatives:

• Net 0. Also known as payment on receipt or immediate payment, net 0 means that payment is due immediately after placing an order. It’s most commonly used in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce, where orders are processed at scale.
• Net 15. A customer has 15 days to make their payment. Some retailers find the shorter payment window is a good middle ground between flexibility and waiting for money to hit their bank account. You’ll most often find net 15 terms offered by wholesalers to smaller businesses. 
• Net 60. This payment term gives customers more time—60 days—to pay for their order. The longer window is more attractive to customers with cash flow problems, but you’ll need substantial working capital to operate in the meantime. Net 60 isa popular arrangement between wholesalers and larger businesses. 
• Net 90. This tends to be the maximum payment term that businesses offer. Again, you’ll need a lot of working capital to operate while waiting. You’re most likely to find these longer payment terms in government contracts with longer sales cycles and approval processes.

Accept deferred payments with Shopify

Getting paid is a key part of selling online, so take some time to determine whether net 30 terms are right for you. Does the potential of converting more customers balance the risk of late payment?

If you’re not sure yet, you could also try offering net 30 payments to specific customers. You might contact existing customers you already know and trust to explore the idea of net 30 terms. Once you’ve got the hang of it and feel more comfortable accepting deferred payments, you can open it up to more customers. 

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Solvency, just like profitability, is a financial metric every business owner should be familiar with. 

Financial solvency is required for long-term survival. If a business is insolvent, it can find itself filing for bankruptcy and going out of business. 

To keep your ecommerce business financially sound, learn what solvency means, how it works, and some practical strategies your business can use to improve its financial solvency.

What is solvency in simple terms?

Solvency is a financial metric that evaluates a company’s ability to meet its long-term financial obligations. In business, debt is often a double-edged sword. While it can be an exceptional financial catalyst, it can also lead to a business’s downfall if poorly managed.

But solvency is sometimes confused with liquidity. While the two are similar, they are not the same. 

Liquidity vs. solvency

Liquidity measures a company’s ability to pay its short-term financial obligations. Solvency measures a business’s ability to meet its long-term financial obligations.

A liquidity problem occurs when a company cannot pay its short-term liabilities, like employee wages or supplier invoices, using cash on hand and outstanding customer receivables. Liquidity can easily become a concern for an ecommerce company. 

For example, assume a company makes large inventory purchases in Q1 to prepare for a busy summer selling season. The company may face liquidity issues in Q2 because a large chunk of its cash is tied up in inventory that won’t sell for several months. This leaves little cash coming in to cover ongoing expenses like rent, wages, or order fulfillment.

On the flip side, a business experiences a solvency problem when it can’t pay its long-term liabilities, like loans and mortgages, even if it sells all of its assets. 

When the total of a company’s current assets (e.g., cash, inventory, receivables, equipment, etc.) is less than its total liabilities, the business has a solvency problem. While a liquidity issue can be frustrating and can slow down operations, a solvency problem can be dire. 

Here’s how to visualize the difference between liquidity and solvency.

How does solvency work?

Because solvency is a key financial benchmark, merchants need to know if their businesses are solvent. But how?

The easiest way to determine if a business is solvent is to sum up its total assets and total liabilities and then subtract its total liabilities from its total assets. To calculate solvency, use this formula:

Solvency = Total Assets – Total Liabilities

For instance, suppose an ecommerce store’s assets include:

And assume its liabilities are:

Since the company’s assets exceed liabilities by $350,000, this company is solvent since it has an extra $350,000 to cover its total liabilities.

It also helps for business owners to understand these three solvency ratios.

Debt-to-equity ratio

The debt-to-equity ratio measures how a company finances itself with debt (loans and payables) compared to its own money (equity). It reflects the company’s leverage. In this calculation, debt is the numerator and equity is the denominator. To calculate debt-to-equity, use this formula:

Debt to Equity = Total Debt ÷ Total Equity

A higher ratio, typically over 2, should be a concern to an ecommerce entrepreneur. A debt-to-equity ratio of 2 means that for every $1 of equity, there is $2 of debt. This is when you can creep into solvency issues.

The ideal debt-to-equity ratio varies widely by industry. For example, businesses in capital-intensive industries, such as airlines, have higher debt-to-equity ratios. But technology and healthcare companies have lower debt-to-equity ratios. 

Let’s look at an example from popular ecommerce company eBay’s December 31, 2023 balance sheet.

Ignore all the words and numbers. Only look at the items blocked in red and blue. These are the two numbers needed to calculate eBay’s debt-to-equity ratio. 

As of December 31, 2023, eBay had a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38 ($15,224 ÷ $6,396). As an established ecommerce company, this ratio wouldn’t raise solvency concerns. But for newer ecommerce businesses, this would warrant ongoing monitoring.

Interest coverage ratio

Another way to know if your business is solvent is to calculate its interest coverage ratio.

The interest coverage ratio measures a company’s ability to cover its interest expense on its debt. It tells you how easily the company’s current earnings can cover the interest expense; hence the term “Interest Coverage.”

You can calculate your interest coverage ratio by dividing your company’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by its interest expense. Use this formula to calculate interest coverage ratio:

Interest Coverage Ratio = EBIT ÷ Interest Expense

EBIT shows you how much profit your business made from its core operations before considering extra expenses like income taxes and interest.

A low-interest coverage ratio suggests a company may have difficulty paying its interest expense. But a higher ratio means the business has more wiggle room to pay its debt obligations.

What interest coverage ratio should ecommerce businesses aim for? A company with consistent revenues should aim for a minimum interest coverage ratio of 2. 

Let’s look at another real-world example from the ecommerce brand Etsy. Again, ignore all the words and numbers. Only look at the items blocked in red and blue. These are the two numbers needed to calculate eBay’s interest coverage ratio. 

As of December 31, 2023, Etsy’s interest coverage ratio was a solid 19.9 ($279,841 ÷ $14,042). This is a strong financial position because it means that for approximately every $20 Etsy makes, it spends only $1 on interest. 

Equity ratio

Another financial metric you use to evaluate your company’s solvency is the equity ratio. 

Business owners and analysts can evaluate a company’s solvency by analyzing its debt using the debt-to-equity ratio or the interest coverage ratio. But you can also evaluate a company’s solvency by reviewing its equity level.

Equity is how much of your business you own after deducting what the company owes to others. The idea behind the equity ratio is that if equity is high, then debt will correspondingly be low. The formula for the equity ratio is total equity ÷ total assets. 

Let’s go back and look at eBay’s balance sheet and calculate its equity ratio. Remember to only look at the items blocked in red and blue. These are the two numbers needed to calculate eBay’s equity ratio. 

As of December 31, 2023, eBay’s equity ratio was 0.295 ($6,396 ÷ $21,620).

An equity ratio below 1.0 is worthy of attention because it means the company has more debt than equity. While this might not be a problem, it’s worth monitoring.

Factors influencing a company’s solvency

Monitoring your company’s solvency helps ensure its long-term survival and provides peace of mind to you as a business owner.

Factors that affect solvency can be broken down into three categories:

• Financial management
• Market factors
• Operational issues

Financial management

Poor financial management can lead to insolvency, and inefficient inventory management can drain cash flow. Overstocking slow-moving products ties up working capital, but understocking can lead to lost sales. 

Keeping a close watch over sales trends, including seasonality and customer purchasing patterns, can help with under or overstocking. Solvency can be traced back to profitability. A company consistently generating healthy profits has a greater ability to meet debt obligations and remain solvent.

Market factors

Economic conditions beyond your control can lead to solvency problems. For example, the government can change its tax regime, import or export policy, or regulatory requirements.

Staying ahead of the competition, identifying changes in customer preferences, or recognizing industry trends can help your business stand out and attract new customers and increase sales. 

Operational issues

Your ecommerce company’s operations are the backbone of your business. Slow order fulfillment and unreliable shipping can damage brand loyalty and lead to lost sales and reduced cash flow.

Ensure your marketing campaigns are designed effectively. A poorly designed campaign that cannot generate a good return on investment can eat into cash flow. Rapid expansion of product lines or entering a new category space that is not well thought out can also quickly deplete cash.

Other factors that can affect solvency include technological changes, natural disasters, and poor leadership.

Strategies for improving solvency 

Solvency is often a life-or-death issue for a business. That means scrutinizing your solvency metrics can be life-saving. 

If you’re worried about solvency and want to shore it up a bit, consider the following strategies. 

Improve your profits 

There are two ways you can increase your profits: increase sales or reduce costs. Typically, you will start by reducing costs because it’s the easiest and can give you results in days. 

Consider negotiating better prices with suppliers and shipping vendors. But don’t overlook the need to increase sales. Cutting costs can only do so much to improve a company’s financial health. Consider dynamic pricing models where prices adjust based on demand, competition, and customer behavior.

Restructure your debts 

Before risking default, consider restructuring your debts. 

Restructuring debts that lead to lower interest rates or extended repayment schedules can give business owners breathing room as they figure out how to put their business operations on a more sustainable track.

Manage inventory efficiently

Review your inventory management techniques to avoid over- and under-stocking. If you haven’t already, create procedures to prevent product damage to reduce waste and shrinkage. Ensure you are completing regular inventory audits to identify any issues with inventory storage.

Securing your future as a business owner

While you should know whether your company is earning profits, you should also assess whether it will continue to make profits for the foreseeable future. That’s why solvency, which measures whether a business can meet its long-term financial obligations, is crucial. 

The debt-to-equity ratio, interest coverage ratio, and equity ratio can help entrepreneurs evaluate whether their companies are solvent or not. 

And if you find your solvency metrics aren’t stellar, you may want to explore restructuring your debts and cutting unnecessary costs.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Entrepreneurs need good business ideas. Successful entrepreneurs take those ideas, scale them by using the right tools and their organizational skills, and build a brand. 

Raven Gibson’s journey is the perfect example of this. She took her passion for graphic design and her love of her natural hair to create Legendary Rootz, a fashion and accessories brand dedicated to empowering and uplifting Black women. Legendary Rootz started as Raven’s side hustle while she was still a college student. Despite never having previously run a business, her designs can now be found at Target. 

To grow her business, Raven uses a set of tools to capture her creativity and provide a great shopping experience for her customers.

3 tools and tips to help you run your business 

When it comes to staying organized so she can bring her ideas to life, Raven relies on specific tools:

1. Bulk import on Numbers

With so many different touchpoints for her brand, Raven uses bulk import to track data. “You can export and import your CSVs, filter by tags, collection, and visibility,” Raven says.

She uses bulk import on her Numbers spreadsheet to visualize all of her orders and customer profiles at once. This helps her ensure everything is in order on the back end of her website and aligns with the customer’s order.

2. Zendesk

For customer service management Raven recommends Zendesk. “With Zendesk I can pull up an email, the customer’s information, their orders, and shipping information all at once,” she says. Having this information in one place helps the team quickly fulfill orders, or solve problems when they arise. “It’s helped us streamline the process so we can help customers faster.”.

3. Notion 

When it comes to keeping track of creative ideas, Raven relies on Notion to stay organized. “Ideas spark, and instead of rushing into it, I take note of it in Notion. I have a database where I keep track of all my ideas, who I envision the design on, and how I want to market it.”

Notion allows Raven to conceptualize the roadmap for each product before rushing into production or prematurely marketing a design. Having tools to organize your creative process allows you to follow the muse when it hits, without worrying you’ll lose any of your great ideas.

To learn more about how Raven organizes her business, and to discover her tips for staying positive during stressful times, tune in to the full Shopify Masters episode.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Brightland is frequently cited as a direct-to-consumer success story. In under five years, Brightland’s photogenic olive oil bottles have not only become a hit on social media, but also with food editors, and even Oprah herself.

Founder Aishwarya Iyer never expected to go into the food industry. She had built her career in beauty, tech, and startups doing PR and communications. “I never thought that I would build a business in food and I never thought I would actually be an entrepreneur,” she says.

Aishwarya grew up in a family of home cooks, but it wasn’t until she rediscovered cooking as an adult that she became obsessed with olive oil: how it tastes, how it’s made, and the history behind it. 

She noticed how confusing it is for many grocery shoppers to differentiate olive oils. “There’s got to be something here where we can build a brand that people feel really excited by and people want to put it out on their countertop,” Aishwarya says.

Here’s what Aishwarya did to create one of the most-loved olive oil brands and how she’s expanded the product line to include honeys and vinegars.

Taking a risk and showing herself compassion

Aishwarya was apprehensive at first about starting Brightland because she didn’t have a background in food or an MBA. But ultimately, she decided to be compassionate with herself and listen to the “inner child” that helped steer her toward pursuing her passion for food.

She also got comfortable with redefining success and the risks involved with entrepreneurship. Her thinking was Brightland “could either turn into something huge or maybe I can sell a thousand bottles in eight months and I’ll be really proud of myself.”

Learning about the olive oil industry

Before she launched her olive oil, Aishwarya took classes at the UC Davis Olive Center. She wanted to be educated on what made a good olive oil. And, to learn about the local olive oil industry, she spoke to small, family-run farms around California. 

That’s how she learned most people didn’t know what good olive oil tasted like, because most olive oils at the grocery store are fairly old. The olive oil most consumers were used to, “may not have the bright tasting notes that a real fresh extra virgin olive oil actually has,” Aishwarya says.

The realization olive oil didn’t have to taste neutral helped Aishwarya hone in on the product she wanted to bring to market. She describes Brightland olive oil as, “really pungent, peppery, and grassy, and it tastes like something that’s alive.”

Expanding the product line

Brightland brought its mission of creating fresh, great-tasting pantry staples and working with high-integrity, small farms to create new products as well. The company found honey and vinegar producers in the US to complement its existing olive oils. And Brightland put a new spin on its hero product by creating a pizza oil that Aishwarya says it can’t keep in stock.

She explains the key to Brightland’s success has been forging its own path and tuning out the noise about when and how to expand. “I didn’t look at what other entrepreneurs who were ahead of me were doing,” she says. “I’m a big believer that silence and stillness actually give clarity.”

To learn more about Aishwarya’s journey to becoming an entrepreneur, listen to her full interview on Shopify Masters.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Do-it-yourself content has turned TikTok creators into overnight stars. A quick YouTube search uncovers craft tutorials for everything from embroidery to woodworking. And despite more competition, Pinterest is still growing. The DIY movement is having a moment (again). 

Studies show that working with your hands offers many mental health benefits. Crafting diversifies your brain activity, especially for those who do computer work, helping to increase creativity. And the sense of accomplishment in creating something from scratch can decrease stress and anxiety. 

Better yet, exploring your creativity may even spark a business idea. If you’re looking for a hobby you can monetize, let’s get crafting! Ahead, explore trending crafts to make and sell, with ideas for every skill level. Learn how to diversify your income and turn your passion into products to sell online, at craft fairs, and everywhere in between.

12 crafts to make and sell

1. Tufted rugs and mats
2. Paper flowers
3. Textile dyeing
4. Home fragrance products
5. Ceramic or clay plant pots
6. Needle felted goods
7. Vintage upcycle
8. Tote bags
9. Woven and knotted home décor
10. Handmade beauty products
11. Resin and polymer clay jewelry
12. Disco ball art

This list of crafts to make and sell is based on popular products sold by online retailers, predictions from crafting sources, and trending craft topics on social media. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Browse craft fairs and social media for DIY crafts that may spark an idea for something completely new. Anyone can sell crafts online once you find the right idea.

1. Tufted rugs and mats

One trend that’s still going strong is rug making, using a hooking or tufting method. Whether you hook by hand with a punch needle or use a mechanical/electric tufting gun, you can create unique rugs, mats, or textile wall art based on your own designs. The top creators are often fetching hundreds of dollars for one two-by-three-foot rug. It can be a lucrative business if you find your niche.

One brand that rode the wave of this trend when it first surged was Mush Studios. Founder Jacob Winter picked up tufting as a hobby during the pandemic, documenting his process on TikTok. When those videos went viral, he launched his successful brand. 

🧶 Tips:

• Offer a custom or made-to-order service, creating tufted rugs to your customers’ specs.
• Starting out in this space will cost you a few hundred dollars for materials, especially if you opt for the tufting gun method. Try a class, if one is offered in your area, to see if you enjoy it before investing.

2. Paper flowers

Paper flowers are simple crafts to make and sell, and potentially can be a fruitful small business idea. The wedding services market, though hit hard by the pandemic, is bouncing back and expected to be worth upward of $414 billion by 2030.

Marketing paper flowers as statement-making décor for weddings and events could score you a piece of that very big pie. Tons of free online paper flower tutorials and templates make it easy to get started. Better yet, paper flowers are among the easiest crafts to make and require very little upfront cost to get started.

Brittany Watson Jepsen built her career as a blogger and content creator for a decade before scaling her brand, The House That Lars Built, to include an ecommerce business. Brittany’s handmade paper flower tutorials were a particularly big hit among her followers. Now, she sells kits to help others easily make them from home. 

🧶 Tips:

• Find or create designs that can fold down and be unfurled by your customer to save on shipping costs.
• Why not try making and selling craft kits for kids or adults, assembling and cutting elements of paper flowers that customers can assemble at home?

3. Textile dyeing 

Tie-dye cycled back into popularity in ’90s, popping up in fashion retailer collections on everything from sneakers to underwear. Tie-dyed goods are easy crafts to make and sell from home, requiring very few materials and skills. 

You can buy and dye bulk blank t-shirts or tie-dye fabric to sew into one-of-a-kinds products, depending on your skill level. Also try traditional Japanese shibori, a trending method of resist-dyeing using natural indigo dye. 

Or, make your own fabrics to sew onto one-of-a-kind DIY crafts or handmade clothing—another trending craft for 2024. 

🧶 Tips:

• Fabric dye, both synthetic and natural, can be purchased commercially. You can also experiment with making your own dyes with ingredients from your pantry, like avocado skins, turmeric, or teas.
• Tie-dyeing typically can be done using string or elastic to resist dye. But anything can be used for this purpose—try bulldog clips, clothespins, or a wax-resist method like batik.

4. Home fragrance products

One of the easiest crafts to make and sell online, home fragrance products like candles require no prior crafting experience. And, they’re in demand. Candle making continues to trend and the home fragrance market is expected to reach $9.2 billion by 2026. 

You can purchase a basic candle-making kit to experiment with the process of adding essential oils to melted wax. But the possibilities are endless: Get creative and stand out with unique containers/shapes like those by Yui Brooklyn, great branding like Boy Smells, a niche audience like Scent & Fire, or unusual scent combinations like Frostbeard candles. 

In a crowded market, what’s your unique selling proposition? 

Young brothers Austin, Collin, and Ryan Gill started their candle brand as a home-schooling activity with the help of their mom, Celena. Frères Branchiaux started out selling at craft fairs and is now a seven-figure business with products sold in Macy’s and Whole Foods. 

🧶 Tips:

• Other home fragrance crafts to make and sell include room and linen sprays, custom essential oil blends, and natural diffusers.
• If you plan to make and sell candles online, be mindful that they are products susceptible to breakage and melting. Factor this into your packing and shipping strategy.

🎨 Learn more: How To Start a Candle Business (Guide and Examples)

5. Ceramic or clay plant pots

The plant-parent population grew like a weed at the onset of the pandemic, and businesses selling plants and plant accessories harvested the benefits. And, with plant care being a long-term commitment, tangential businesses will see benefits for years to come.

There is often a higher barrier to entry to pottery due to the need for specialized ovens (called kilns) to fire the clay. These are often cost- and space-prohibitive, but you can generally find community centers or clay studios that rent kiln time. 

Pottery-like plant pots can also be made from air clay or cement (poured into molds) and do not require firing. 

Rachel Acosta made a “radical career change” when she quit her job as a data scientist to pursue her pottery hobby as a career. Her brand Glaze Me Pretty sells ceramic plant pots and vases alongside a number of fired goods like dinnerware and soap dishes.

🧶 Tips:

• Take a pottery workshop or class to learn how to work with clay and get access to a kiln. 
• Consider other plant accessories like garden markers, hanging planters, watering spikes, or window boxes that can be made from a variety of materials.
• Since pottery is one of the more challenging crafts to make and sell, it’s less saturated than some of the other DIY ideas. It’s still important to find your own aesthetic to stand out from the crowd. 

🎨 Learn more: The Ultimate Guide To Selling Plants Online

6. Needle felted goods

Martha Stewart magazine named needle felting as a trending craft to make and sell for 2024. Needle felting is a sculptural wool craft made using a long, thin needle with a series of notches at the tip. This needle is poked into the wool, tangling it as it’s extracted. As the crafter continues this process, the wool becomes more dense and can be shaped into a number of finished products.

Once you get a hang of the technique, this is one of the many easy crafts on this list. Consider making and selling anything from felted wool dryer balls like those in the example from The General Bean, above, felted soap casings, ornaments, pet toys, and more.

🧶 Tips:

• With trending crafts, you’ll find a ton of competition in the market. Consider what you can create that differs from what you see from competitors.
• Felted goods make great gifts. Create product collections around gifting holidays like Mother’s Day or graduation and attend local craft fairs during busy shopping seasons.

7. Vintage upcycle

If you’re looking for a sustainable idea for a craft you can do from home, vintage upcycling might be for you. The process involves sourcing vintage or used clothing—maybe pieces that have rips, stains, or dated shapes—and repurposing parts into new products. 

Upcycled materials from a torn maxi-skirt could become a tote bag; a faded vintage sweatshirt could be cropped and re-dyed; an old t-shirt could be reimagined as a baby hat. The possibilities are endless for this DIY trend.

Frankie Collective upcycles vintage sports jerseys and other goods, mostly from the ’80s and ’90s, into other clothing, like shorts and crop tops.

🧶 Tips:

• You don’t need to have sewing skills or even a sewing machine to upcycle vintage clothing. Try distressing denim or cropping and dyeing tees.
• Consider what’s in demand. Which fashion trends from the past have cycled back? How can you convert less-desirable cuts into modern silhouettes?

🎨 Learn more: How to Sell Vintage Clothing Online: The Ultimate Guide

8. Tote bags

This is one of the most versatile craft ideas on our list, with options for every level of skill and creativity. At the low end, you can buy blank cotton tote bags and personalize them with silkscreening, beading, hand painting, textile dyeing, or embroidering. 

For more advanced crafters, sew tote bags from scratch from your own pattern—add pockets, closures, and other details to make yours unique.

Also consider other types of bags you can make. Take this example from upcycle brand Psychic Outlaw. The team turns vintage quilts into a number of accessories, from cosmetic pouches to fanny packs.

🧶 Tips:

• As a sustainable option, upcycle vintage clothing or fabric into a usable tote bag. Consumer trends continue to tip toward brands with sustainable business practices.
• Consider finding a niche in this crowded market. What about tote bags just for wine bottles, totes that convert to backpacks, bags that fold up to fit in a pocket, or totes screen printed with memes and pop-culture references?
• If you truly don’t have a knack for crafting, consider uploading your designs to a print-on-demand partner and have them shipped directly to your customer.

9. Woven and knotted home décor 

Woven and knotted textile art has made a big comeback in tandem with midcentury home trends. These home décor crafts have a range of options for every skill set. Macramé is a knotted technique popularized in the Victorian era and revived in the 1970s that can be used to make belts, textile art, and hanging planters.

Searches for “hanging planter” spiked in 2020 and have had sustained interest since, peaking during each spring gardening season. Even better, if you’re looking for easy crafts to make and sell, this craft is perfect for beginners.

Other textile crafts like hanging wall art can be made with a weaving technique using a loom—these can range from a simple wooden frame or hand loom to large electrical power looms. 

Obakki works with artisans in Mexico to produce handcrafted home décor like this textile wall hanging, made to order in custom sizes.

🧶 Tips:

• A beginner weaving kit can cost as little at $30 and contains all of the supplies you need to weave a trial project.
• What other woven crafts can you make and sell? Consider placemats, bathmats, soft baskets, throw pillows, DIY rope bowls, or jewelry.
• Follow trends in home and décor when planning your collections. Etsy identified curved shapes, boho details, and wiggle patterns as décor trends for 2024.

10. Handmade beauty products

DIY beauty products can be easy crafts to make and sell—even if you’re not very creative. Dabble with testing simple products (like DIY bath bombs) in your spare time before progressing to more complicated craft ideas like nail polish or lotions. 

Once you’ve perfected your product and start to see some success with your business, consider upgrading to working with a lab or factory to produce your products. 

That’s what Melissa Butler did when her handmade lipstick line—created in her kitchen—started to take off. Now The Lip Bar products are sold in WalMart, CVS, and in the brand’s own flagship store.

🧶 Tips:

• As handmade beauty products make great gifts, consider building your collections around gift-giving occasions. Gift sets are a great way to bundle products and make shopping simpler for your customers. 
• When you’re just starting your craft business, you can save on overhead costs by using upcycled materials like Mason jars for product packaging. Local thrift stores are often good sources for these ideas.

🎨 Learn more: How To Start a Makeup Line in 5 Steps

11. Resin and polymer clay jewelry 

Both resin and polymer clay jewelry creations began trending a couple of years ago but are still popping up all over the web because of their versatility and appeal as DIY crafts. Martha Stewart magazine names resin art as one of 2024’s trending crafts.

Resin jewelry is often characterized by items like dried flowers “preserved” in a hard, clear substance, while most common polymer clay jewelry is composed of opaque geometric shapes in bold colors. 

Both require some upfront investment for materials but have a low learning curve with plenty of online tutorials. Great as a hobby, jewelry is also an easy craft to scale into a side gig, as you can produce multiple pieces in each batch.

🧶 Tips:

• Resin jewelry is slightly more complicated, since it involves mixing chemicals and can be messy. Trial and error will help you avoid bubbles in your creations.
• Polymer clay jewelry can be made by cutting freehand shapes or using mini cookie cutters, then assembling the pieces with jump rings. Invest in a rolling pin designed for this purpose for a more professional finish.
• Consider how this medium can be used beyond jewelry. Think: holiday décor like Christmas ornaments or picture frames.

🎨 Learn more: How to Start a Jewelry Making Business: The Ultimate Guide

12. Disco ball art

One of the trendiest crafts to make and sell in 2024 is disco ball art or mirrored mosaic art goods. This mirrored effect is showing up on everything from bar carts to holiday ornaments.

You can find mosaic tile mirror sheets through many craft and online retailers to create the effect on goods to sell. This trend is especially popular for home décor crafts but can be applied to almost everything. Your imagination is the limit!

Manifestie is a festival wear brand that has gone wild with the trend, bedazzling hats and even decorative helmets with a mirrored exterior.

The disco ball trend has even made its may into makeup trends, with TikTok creators like Miryssa using peel and stick mirror sheets to create this look:

How to find trending craft ideas

When you’re looking for crafts to make and sell, the best place to start is with market research. This includes following trends in the industry. The niche craft communities on TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram can be a goldmine for DIY ideas. As you engage with content, the algorithms will start showing you similar content, including viral trends within those areas.

Also consider investigating trends through the following sources:

Get creative and sell crafts online today

Arm yourself with a glue gun and your winning DIY ideas. It’s time to upgrade your skills from a side hobby to selling crafts with your own business. Before you jump into the craft world, though, remember to build a solid brand, write a business plan, and identify your target customer. 

Remember to follow trends in DIY crafts and consider seasonality. You’re ready to make and sell crafts from home via an online marketplace or your own branded ecommerce store. Or, meet your customers in person and start selling your crafts through retail stores and craft fairs.

Illustrations by Sophie Gullbrants

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Ever sit soaking in a bathtub, marveling at the products that make a bath so enjoyable? Bath bombs (otherwise known as bath fizzies) come in a rainbow of colors, scents, and shapes, providing an indulgent bath experience. And, as it turns out, they’re easy to make.

If you’re creative and looking to turn a hobby into a business, bath bombs are also inexpensive to make and sell. A bath bomb business is the perfect low-risk idea for the first-time entrepreneur. There’s a thriving market for at-home spa experiences and room for newcomers if you find your niche.

The global bath bomb market is estimated to be worth $133 billion and is expected to grow into a $189 billion industry by 2030. Bath bombs are so popular, in fact, that there are millions of Instagram photos dedicated solely to these colorful creations.

Here, you’ll learn the process of making bath bombs, sourcing ingredients, and building a profitable business selling bath bombs.

Why start a bath bomb business?

Starting a bath bomb business has a few major benefits—namely, that you can make them in your kitchen with inexpensive ingredients and no machinery.

They’re also hugely popular. Bath bombs have become a worldwide trend in the past few years, and a mainstay in people’s self-care routines. And they’re showing no sign of slowing down: based on Google Trends, queries for “bath bomb” and related terms have steadily increased over that past five years.

In addition to being a lucrative market with surging consumer demand, here are a few other reasons why you should consider making bath bombs and cashing in on this trend:

• Low start-up costs. Since you probably have most of the ingredients you need at home, starting a bath bomb business is extremely inexpensive.
• Don’t need a lot of space. Because bath bombs are small and compact, you can easily store additional inventory in your house without paying for extra storage.
• Easy to customize. We’ll introduce you to a simple bath bomb recipe below that serves as a guideline for creating your own, but you can switch out interesting or unusual ingredients to differentiate your products.

Bath bomb business licensing requirements

From a product standpoint, bath bombs fall under two broad categories: cosmetics and drugs. Navigating what your product falls under can be tricky, but it basically comes down to what claims you’re making about your bath bombs. If you make any claims about mental or physical benefits, then they’re considered a drug. Otherwise, they’re considered a cosmetic product.

Most of the bath bombs we list below are considered cosmetics and are treated like soaps or lotions by governing bodies. If you plan on marketing your bath bombs for their medicinal benefits, your products must be FDA approved for effectiveness as well as safety.

FDA approval can be a costly and time-consuming process, but there are third parties that will take care of the approval process for you for a fee. And with the global wellness industry worth $5.6 trillion, it may be good business sense to invest in this type of product.

Requirements vary from country to country, so consult your local government for more information on how to register your cosmetic bath bomb business.

FDA approval can be a costly and time-consuming process, but there are third-parties that will take care of the approval process for you for a fee. Getting audited by the FDA can have serious legal and financial implications—not the hot water you want to find yourself in.

Types of bath bombs

Now that you know this self-care trend has traction, let’s examine the common types of bath bombs that you can consider making, and the target markets you can sell to.

Classic ball bath bombs

Most people are familiar with the classic bath bomb. These products are traditionally spherical in shape and come in a variety of colors and scents. They are considered mass-market products, and have a broad demographic of customers.

Jewel bath bombs

As if the soothing oils and intergalactic waters weren’t luxurious enough, some brands like to spoil their customers even more by adding jewelry to their bath bombs. Popular brands like Charmed Aroma and Fragrant Jewels are well-known for these products, and are a great gift for loved ones. These bath bomb brands typically target women and girls aged 16 to 35.

Glitter bath bombs

For the folks who love baths that are as sparkly as they are relaxing, glitter bath bombs are the answer. The addition of glitter or even crystals into these products has caught the eye of consumers—especially the growing market of consumers who believe that crystals have healing powers. 

Once reserved for fringey New Age circles, crystal healing has become a billion-dollar mainstream business. Still, most of these products are sold to urban-dwelling women between the ages of 20 and 35, with a higher-than-average disposable income.

Shaped or themed bath bombs

Other brands have chosen to think outside the box (or ball) by designing products in a variety of shapes and sizes. 

Whether they’re intended as favors for a bridal or baby shower, a gift for a pastry lover, or fun bathtime for kiddos, there’s likely a themed product out there to meet any shopper’s niche demands. And from hearts to doughnuts to chill pills to Pokeballs, the only limit on the shape of your bath bomb is your imagination.

Aromatherapy bath bombs

These bath bombs have been formulated with therapeutic grade essential oils. Distilled from the leaves, flowers, and seeds of plants, essential oils are used in bath bombs to target various physical and emotional ailments, like stress, dry skin, and digestive issues.

With the global wellness industry worth $5.6 trillion, it may make good business sense to invest in this type of bath bomb product. These bath bomb products have the broadest appeal in terms of demographics and the most profit potential.

Since aromatherapy is a type of alternative medicine that claims to have therapeutic benefits, the use of essential oils classifies these products as a drug, not a cosmetic. In this case, if you plan on marketing your bath bombs for their medicinal benefits, your products must be FDA approved for effectiveness as well as safety. We strongly urge you to not bypass this step. 

How to make bath bombs to sell

Once you’ve settled on what type of bath bomb you want to make, it’s time to start making them.

Gather your ingredients and supplies

Bath bombs are surprisingly easy to make and require only a few essential items. While you can switch out some of these ingredients to customize your bath bombs, the basic recipe for one batch of bath bombs calls for:

• 1 cup baking soda
• ½ cup citric acid
• ½ cup Epsom salt
• ½ cup cornstarch
• ¾ tsp water
• 2 tsp essential oil (lavender, eucalyptus, rose, orange, and lemongrass are popular for the bath)
• 2 tsp carrier oil (jojoba, sweet almond, coconut, olive, or even baby oil)
• 2 tsp of shea butter for an extra moisturizing “butter” bath bomb
• A few drops of food coloring (make sure it doesn’t stain)
• Molds
• Optional: dried flowers, sugar cake decorations, sparkles, crystals, etc.

💡Tip: If you prefer unique shapes, you can opt to purchase silicone molds that are used for baking or for ice. These hold up well during the creation process, are easily cleaned, and silicone trays help you create multiple products in one batch.

How to make bath bombs: Step-by-step instructions

It’s time to mix up your ingredients. You just need to combine the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then slowly combine them into a single bowl.

1. Mix dry ingredients

With the exception of the citric acid, mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2. Mix wet ingredients

In another mixing bowl, pour all of the liquid ingredients and blend.

3. Whisk wet and dry together

Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and whisk to meld together. Slowly add in the citric acid and continue blending. You’ll probably notice a slight fizzing reaction because of the citric acid. No need to panic—this is normal.

4. Mold and freeze

Pack the mixture into your chosen molds very tightly. You can overfill the molds slightly and use a spoon or glass to press the mixture in as tightly as possible.

5. Unmold and store

Pack the mixture with your favorite mold and place it in your freezer for an hour. Alternatively, you can immediately loosen the bombs from their molds onto wax paper and let them dry overnight. After drying or freezing, remove the bath bombs from the molds and ta-da!

If you choose to let them air dry, give the bath bombs a day or two to set completely before using them or wrapping them up. If you don’t plan to sell them right away, store them in airtight containers like plastic or glass Tupperware. Fresher bombs fizz and bubble more when dropped in a bath, so proper storage is integral to keep your inventory at its highest level of quality.

Note: Because bath bombs are crumbly in texture, molds with intricate designs and small pieces could break off. Testing and experimentation will help you figure out the best molds to use to achieve your desired results.

Sourcing ingredients 101

Now that you’ve perfected making bath bombs, it’s time to figure out your bath bomb formulations. Luckily for you, most of the ingredients you need can be bought at your local grocery store or in bulk online.

Questions to ask when choosing ingredients and formulations

Long soaks in hot water open up our pores, which allows more ingredients to absorb into the skin. But this also means more ingredients can absorb into your bloodstream. Because of this, you’ll also want to research your ingredients and your suppliers thoroughly—especially if you’re using essential oils.

Whether you’re re-creating popular bath bomb recipes or coming up with your own unique blends, you want to be sure you’re making truthful claims on your packaging, and that the ingredients you’re using are safe. Here’s what to consider when sourcing ingredients:

• Are the ingredients skin care grade and/or approved for use in skin care in your country? For example, coconut oil may be sold in both food-grade or skin-care-grade versions.
• Is the food coloring or soap dye you’re using FDA approved? Is it stain-free?
• Do you care about natural ingredients? How will you ensure that the suppliers’ claims are legitimate?
• Do you care about being eco-conscious? Are the ingredients you’re choosing biodegradable or will they clog up pipes?
• What preservatives will you use, if any? How will this affect shelf life?
• Will your products make organic claims? Be sure that the supplier possesses the appropriate certifications.These will differ from country to country.
• What are the labeling laws in your country and the countries where you ship?
• Are any ingredients or oils known as common allergens? For example, many people develop hives or blisters when exposed to bergamot oil.

These are just a few questions to help you get started. If you’re coming up with your own formulations, the learning curve will be steeper as you navigate how certain ingredients or additives behave together—especially if you’re using essential oils for aromatherapy bombs. In this case, you can hire a third-party to help you with the research and development process.

Choosing the right supplier of essential oils

All your ingredients should be sourced with care, but it’s essential oils that you should be most discerning about. Not all oils are created with purity in mind and they’re not regulated by the FDA, so you need to be your own advocate when it comes to sourcing the good stuff. 

Oils from disreputable sources may be cut with fillers, processed with chemicals, or just filled with “fragrance oils” that don’t have any plant benefits.

Here are a few things to look for when buying essential oils:

• Dark bottles. Since light and heat can damage oil, a quality supplier will sell their essential oils in a tightly sealed dark (usually amber) glass bottle. Never buy essential oil sold in a plastic bottle.
• Plant name. It should clearly state the common and the Latin name of the plant used to make the oil as well as what plant parts were used, how it was extracted (distillation or expression), and how it was grown (a.k.a. organic, wild-crafted, traditional).
• Source. If the label doesn’t outright mention country of origin, you might see a lot number which you can then look up.

If you plan on buying essential oils in bulk from wholesale suppliers, you have to be thorough with your research. Here are a few tips to help you assess an essential oil supplier:

• Check for certification and references. If you go the organic route, check for certification specific to your country. For US suppliers, look for a “USDA certified” label.
• Don’t fall for low prices. It’s natural to want to choose the most inexpensive product when you’re buying wholesale, but if the price is much lower than competitors, this is a sign you’re probably paying for fragrance oils with no medicinal benefits. 
• Talk to aromatherapy practitioners. These professionals can suggest oils, suppliers, and even help you come up with the most effective formulation for your bath bombs.

📚 Read more: How To Find a Manufacturer or Supplier for a Product

How to start a bath bomb business

Once you’ve mastered your formulations, it’s time to start selling bath bombs online. First, you’ll have to think through how you’re going to handle areas like production, inventory management, and customer service. You want to nail down all the logistics before you launch your bath bomb business.

Build an online bath bombs store

Once that’s all sorted out, your next step is to set up your store on Shopify. It takes only a minute to sign up for a free trial, and we’ll give you some time to play around before you commit. 

You’ll want to choose a Shopify theme that puts photos first and displays your colorful bath bombs directly on the homepage. We suggest themes designed for beauty brands like Sense, Broadcast, or Prestige.

Finally, you want to make sure your product photos really pop. Bath bombs are extremely photogenic, so you’ll want to show off their colors, textures, and shapes with high-quality photography. And since the real magic of bath bombs is in their activation, also consider including videos of your products in action on your product pages.

📚 Read more:

Labeling, packaging, and shipping bath bombs

Bath bombs are delicate and have a tendency to crumble if they’re not in the right conditions, so when you’re ready to package and ship your products, make sure you have the following:

• Shrink wrap
• Product labels and/or stickers
• Tissue paper or recyclable paper crinkle filler
• Boxes for shipping

Now, there are three things to keep in mind when labeling, packaging, and shipping your bath bombs:

• Avoid moisture. Any amount of moisture will make a bath bomb do what it does best—activate. Tightly wrapping the bath bomb will lock the moisture out.
• Be transparent in your labeling. No matter where you are, legal requirements ask that you list out all of the ingredients in your bath bombs— and full transparency will go a long way with your customers.
• Pack your products tightly. Finally, you’ll want to make sure your bath bombs can’t roll around in the box and bang up against each other. If they do, they’re more likely to break and crumble once your customer unwraps them. 

📚 Read more:

Marketing for bath bomb businesses

Competing for attention in the beauty industry is challenging for emerging bath bomb businesses. The type of brand you develop will impact your upfront costs, your prices, your target audience, and your marketing strategy.

Still, there are some general tips and advice for getting more eyeballs on your bath bomb products. For one thing, bath bombs were made for social selling, so channels like Instagram and Facebook Shops and TikTok are going to be key for you. 

Marketing ideas for bath your bomb business

You can use a variety of digital marketing tactics to drive traffic to your online store and specific product pages. Try some of the methods and tips below:

• Co-market with a complementary brand. Look to partner with other brands that align with your values. Consider creating a bundle of products to sell as a self-care package via social media, leveraging each other’s customer base.
• Influencer marketing. If you choose to partner with an influencer, opt for local, lesser-known creators with smaller but engaged audiences who will be affordable to work with.
• Giveaways and contests. Giveaways aren’t just great for the winner—they’re an opportunity for you to grow your bath bomb business. With a little bit of product as a prize and some marketing effort, an online giveaway can help your business acquire new customers.
• User-generated content. While your customers are almost definitely going to document their bath bomb experience anyway, encourage them to document it and tag it with your brand or a branded hashtag. This way, their followers can easily find you and become your customers, too.
• Push holiday sales and promotions. Bath bombs make excellent gifts. Get creative with colors and scents around the holidays, and play up seasonal motifs.

📚 Read more:

Selling bath bombs IRL

You don’t need to limit yourself to selling online—many makers also successfully sell IRL, too. Selling in person allows you to access a new audience and receive live feedback of your products.

In particular, market booths and pop-up shops give you the opportunity to have a temporary retail location without committing to high storefront rents and long leases. And selling alongside other talented crafters and DIY masters can serve up some serious inspiration for future products as well.

Why sell bath bombs in person

• Get a live product testing ground. You’ll hear direct feedback and questions from your customers. Addressing their concerns live gives merchants invaluable insights on how to improve products or answer customer pain points.
• Introduce yourself to potential wholesale clients. Other retailers attend markets and fairs on the prowl for new products for their stores. This is an ideal opportunity for smaller beauty merchants to connect for wholesale deals.
• Build an email subscriber list and social following from connections you meet at the fair, market, or festival.
• Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, makers, and business owners. It’s never a bad idea to build your network.

While selling offline may sound a bit intimidating, it’s simple to handle transactions while on-the-go by using a mobile point-of-sale system like Shopify POS. It syncs with your online store so your sales, inventory, and customer data is all up-to-date without any manual work on your end.

📚 Read more: Craft Fairs and Art Shows 101: Sell Products In-Person

Scaling your bath bomb business

The greatest thing about starting your own bath bomb business is how easy it is to expand your product line after your initial success. For budding beauty entrepreneurs, consider expanding from selling bath bombs to creating skin care, tinctures, soaps, and so many other lucrative products. 

You can upsell your existing customers based on the scents they buy often, create treatment-centric care packages, and grow your business to new heights.

Now that you have a viable business idea and guidance on how to execute it, you can work toward building a long-term, sustainable income in the bath bomb industry. 

Feature illustration by Alice Mollon
Step by step illustrations by Brenda Wisniowski

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

With thousands of apps in the Shopify App Store, you have a lot of options when it comes to extending the functionality of your online retail.

Whether you want to add customer reviews, improve email marketing, publish your products to Facebook, or get in-depth analytics, there’s definitely an app for that.

But with so much to choose from, we thought it would be a good idea to highlight 21 of the best free Shopify apps (either completely free or that offer a useful free plan) that retailers and marketers can add to their store. 

21 best Shopify apps for your ecommerce store

If you’re just getting started with a new store or looking to enhance your existing site, then this list is for you.

1. Offset
2. Shopify Email
3. ReConvert Upsell and Cross Sell
4. BetterReplay
5. ESC ‑ Size Charts & Size Guide
6. Jebbit
7. PayWhirl
8. Tip Quik
9. Promo.com
10. Easyship
11. Pre-Order Alpha
12. Change Commerce
13. Shopify Local Delivery
14. Easy Digital Products
15. TikTok
16. Stocky
17. Printful
18. Gameball
19. Secommapp
20. PixPix
21. Smart SEO

Offset

If you want to neutralize your shipping emissions that contribute to climate change, use Offset. Offset is a Shopify app that calculates the total emissions generated by your shipped orders.

That number becomes your Offset cost. The cost is typically low—a few cents per order—and your payment goes toward forest protection initiatives. Offset offers a dashboard where you can see your environmental impact, such as how many trees you’ve protected, and share those statistics with your customers. 

 Shopify Email

If you want to promote your business with email, Shopify Email is a great marketing app for building an email list and managing your campaigns. 

With Shopify Email, you can send branded emails to subscribers from your Shopify admin dashboard in just a few clicks. The app has a variety of pre-made templates that pull your logo, product images, descriptions, and more from your store. You can also customize the text and buttons in minutes. 

Simply import your contact lists into Shopify. Create and send your campaigns, then track results like opens, clicks, add to carts, and purchases to further optimize your customer acquisition and retention campaigns. You get 10,000 emails for free each month then pay only $1 for every 1,000 emails you send after that. 

ReConvert Upsell & Cross Sell

Upselling and cross-selling to your customers is a great way to increase cart size and average order value. With ReConvert, you can build a custom thank you page (aka order confirmation page) that turns new customers into repeat ones.

It allows you to customize your landing page with a drag-and-drop website builder and access features such as countdown timers, personalized recommendations, post-purchase surveys, and reorder buttons that help you automatically re-engage customers who just bought in your store. 

BetterReplay

Ever wonder why shoppers don’t convert on your website? BetterReplay provides live recordings of shoppers’ sessions so you can see how people interact with your Shopify store and what items they look at.

With this information, you can see and fix where shoppers get stuck and evaluate new ideas to improve conversions and lower abandoned carts in your store. 

The best part? The app is 100% free and records up to 5,000 sessions per month. No coding required.  

ESC ‑ Size Charts & Size Guide

A must-have for any fashion brand is an easy-to-read size chart. Size guides empower customers to confidently make purchase decisions, helping to recover sales that may have otherwise been lost.

They also help reduce the number of returns and refunds, since sizing issues are less likely to occur when customers know exactly which size fits their needs.

ESC’s size chart app helps merchants create size guides to match the look and feel of their store, and easily paste them into any page on their website.The app has a free plan that allows merchants to create up to three charts and a paid plan is available for merchants who need more.

Jebbit: Custom Product Quizzes

Jebbit helps you create beautiful quizzes that customers love to engage with. These match quizzes, also known as shoppable quizzes, can help people find the best fit products in your store to move them along the customer journey, increasing conversions and sales. You can build product match quizzes, personality quizzes, simple surveys, lead gen forms, and more. 

Jebbit’s visual builder lets you quickly map out and build these experiences. With no-code design elements and omnichannel distribution, you can meet customers where they shop and provide personalized product recommendations that drive sales for your Shopify store.

PayWhirl Recurring Payments

PayWhirl makes it easy to create, manage, and sell subscriptions through Shopify’s native checkout. Customers can set up their own accounts, see their billing history, and make changes to their payment plans any time.

They can also add new payment methods and information associated with their subscription, all without contacting your support team. 

Tip Quik | Tip Pop-up in Cart

Want to make both your employees and customers happy? Tip Quik gives customers the option to add a tip for workers before checkout. You can design a custom pop-up using Tip Quik, then install the snippet on your checkout page in minutes.

Your employees will be happier with more cash in their pocket, and your customers will have the chance to express their gratitude—win-win for everyone. 

Promo.com

Promo.com is a free Shopify app that helps you create product videos that drive sales for your store. Video creation requires little to no effort on your part. You just have to choose the type of video you need and product you want to promote. Then, Promo.com will pull all existing images and video on your website to create a promotional video for your business. 

Easyship

Easyship is an all-in-one shipping app that helps you reach customers around the world with lower shipping costs and higher conversion rates. Over 100,000 retailers use Easyship to save time and money for their delivery services.

When you use Easyship, you get access to pre-negotiated shipping solutions from couriers around the world through a single account. It also provides an intuitive dashboard where you can manage orders, including printing shipping labels, storing product dimensions, accessing invoices and receipts, generating return orders, and more.

Pre-Order Alpha

Pre-Order Alpha provides a fast and flexible way to sell pre-order, out-of-stock, and coming-soon products in your store. Using Pre-Order Alpha, you can highlight pre-order products with customized ribbons, add Pre-Order Now buttons to your product page, and automatically tag pre-order items in your admin, so you can stay organized and keep track of everything. 

Setup takes five minutes, and there’s an excellent technical support team to help you out along the way. 

Change Commerce

Change Commerce is a donation app that lets customers give to a cause, directly from your store. It supports over 1.5 million unique nonprofits. You can place your donation request widget on a product page, a shopping cart, or at checkout.

If a customer decides to donate, Change Commerce manages the entire donation process, giving you the opportunity to create a positive impact with little effort. 

Shopify Local Delivery

Consumer trends show that more people bought online and had it delivered locally during the first three months of the pandemic than ever before. Shopify Local Delivery is a free app that helps any brick-and-mortar business capitalize on this new behavior. 

You can choose your delivery area and price in your Shopify admin. Customers in your chosen area can choose local delivery during checkout. Shopify Local Delivery helps you manage the process by providing optimized routes, automated push notifications, and order status updates.

All delivery stops show up in a list on the app. After a delivery is completed, the upcoming stops get moved to the top of the list. 

Easy Digital Products

Easy Digital Products is a great free Shopify app to increase sales for infopreneurs, allowing you to sell digital products easily in your store. You can attach any files to your products or variants, upload them fast, and track all orders in the app. Simply customize the interface, buttons and text with one click. 

If you’re an Easy Digital Products user, you can import your own license keys or have the app generate unique ones for each order. 

TikTok

You’ve likely heard of TikTok, but did you know consumers spent $3.8 billion in the app in 2023? If you want in on the action, use the TikTok Shopify app.

With it, you can create video ads, track results, and manage all your orders inside Shopify. It’s a great way to reach a younger target audience and drive sales on TikTok.

Stocky

Smart inventory management is a big advantage to any brick-and-mortar or ecommerce business. If you sell out of in-demand products, it can lower sales—and if you keep too much inventory, you can drain your resources. 

Need a simple solution? Use Stocky by Shopify to optimize your inventory decisions. With one tool to manage and track your products, you’ll spend less time worrying about what to buy and more time increasing your profits with the best product mix for your store.

Printful

Printful is one of the best print-on-demand dropshipping apps for store owners selling print and embroidered goods like t-shirts and pillows. When a customer buys a product in your Shopify store, Printful automatically fulfills and ships it to them.

The company ships over one million items per month and handles all shipping, inventory, and production, so you can focus on building your business.

Gameball: Loyalty & Rewards

Gameball is a customer retention platform that helps you manage loyalty programs to increase referrals and sales. Customers can complete challenges, earn points, and level up through different tiers to earn rewards and discount codes. 

Gameball also lets you trigger pop-ups to encourage customers throughout their shopping experience to promote your program, interact with people, and create more loyal customers. The app offers a free forever version, with paid plans starting at $29 per month.

UpPromote Affiliate Marketing

If you want to run an affiliate marketing program for your store, you can create, manage, and track affiliates with UpPromote. When you install this free Shopify app, you get access to the UpPromote Affiliate Marketplace and find new affiliate marketers for your store. You can chat directly with influencers from the app, generate affiliate links, and track clicks and sales in one place. 

PixPix Image Editor

PixPix is an easy-to-use image editor with a ton of great features. The interface is lightweight and user friendly, so you can crop, resize, and adjust color and lighting issues quickly.

It also provides automatic alt text and optimized file names for search engine optimization. You can integrate PixPix directly into your product pages, giving you the ability to edit photos and get your products live and selling faster. 

Smart SEO

Ecommerce SEO is a challenge for many business owners. It can take time, resources, and money to build a website and rank it high in search engines. But with Smart SEO, you can automate SEO optimization and drive more traffic to your store. 

This free Shopify app automatically generates meta tags and alt tags, fixes broken links, and manages your sitemap to keep your pages Google-friendly. It also provides structured data to Google to boost your search results. All you have to do is choose a template and let Smart SEO do the rest. 

Visit the Shopify App Store for more apps

Shopify apps can unlock new functionalities that will optimize your site for a better customer experience and boost sales.

While the apps above are some of the best free apps available in the Shopify App Store, there are cart abandonment, marketing automation, Facebook Messenger, sales channel apps for Amazon, Etsy, and plenty more to leverage for your unique business and keep ecommerce website costs low. It all comes down to finding the best app and pricing that suits your needs.

Visit the Shopify App Store to browse even more apps by use case, and feel free to share your favorites in the comments. Happy selling!

Illustration by Alice Mollon

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

It’s impossible to make sales through your online store if nobody is visiting it.

The problem: Entrepreneurs fall into the trap of thinking any website visitor is a good one. In reality, sending low-quality traffic—people with no interest in what you sell—dampens conversion rates.

So, how do you attract customers to your online store—those who will actually buy? This guide shares 17 strategies that work.

1. Optimize your social media bios

Social media is a powerful tool to drive traffic to your online store. The only problem? Most social media platforms don’t like when brands divert people off the platform.

Instagram, for example, only allows one link in your profile bio. There’s no way to divert people to a specific page on your ecommerce website, making it difficult to execute social campaigns that increase web traffic.

Work around this issue using Linkpop to create a landing page that diverts people to your most-viewed pages, such as:

• Product pages of bestselling items
• Popular item category pages
• Your brand story
• Lead magnet landing pages
• Other social media profiles

Pink House is one ecommerce retailer using this strategy. It uses Linkpop to explain the brand’s USP and divert people toward its newsletter sign-up page, other social media channels, and retail locations. Its bestselling product, the Face Fix Serum, claims the most real estate on the page—a tactic to drive social media users toward its online store.

2. Partner with creators and influencers

Run an influencer marketing campaign that leverages a popular social media user’s existing audience to drive website traffic. Research shows that 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations (compared to just 38% who trust branded social media content).

The key is to find creators and influencers whose target audience overlaps your own. Find them on TikTok Creator Marketplace or Instagram search, and collaborate with them through:

• Sending free gifts
• Paid sponsored content
• Inviting them to be an affiliate

Richard Clews, founder of Pants & Socks, is one small-business owner using this approach to increase brand awareness. He’s partnered with several famous athletes, including Jason Roy, the famous England and Sussex cricketer, and world class boxer Nick Campbell.

“This is a great way for us to increase our reach, because although we are a specialized niche, our target audience is quite large—men 18+,” Richard says. “Sports has been a perfect way for us to reach different age groups in our target audience.

“With some of our partnered athletes, we have run a really cool campaign where we change the location of our logo on their gear or uniform, announce it on social media, and offer a 15% to 20% discount code to anyone who can identify the location in whatever game, match, or tournament they may be participating in.”

These influencer marketing campaigns generally net a conversion rate between 2.4% and 3.2%—much better than the 1.4% an average ecommerce store sees. But, Richard adds, “The couple of times we have tried this campaign, we have seen week-long increases as high as 7% to 8% conversion rate.”

Read more:

3. Run flash sales and promotions

Research shows that 37% of shoppers often look for coupons before making a purchase online. Use them as a hook to stand out from social media noise and give people an incentive to visit your online store. That could be:

• Percentage discounts
• Limited time sales, such as “30% off for the next 24 hours”
• Free shipping thresholds, such as “spend $50 for free next-day shipping”
• Product bundles, which combine two or more products at a lower price than buying each one individually

Create the coupon using discount apps like Daily Deals, MyBulk, or Wheelio.

Stephen Light, co-owner and CEO of mattress company Nolah, advises to then promote them in Facebook Groups: “Facebook is the home to thousands of private communities, each with niched members. It would be strategic to join a few of these groups dedicated to ecommerce customers in search of deals.

“You can super-charge your website traffic and sales by announcing your promotions within these communities,” Stephen says. “Since most of the members are actively seeking discounts on items, this technique is guaranteed to invite conversion-ready leads to your online store.”

4. Write optimized blog content

Did you know that 48% of shoppers start their shopping journey on search engines like Google? Search engine optimization (SEO) is a content marketing strategy that helps your ecommerce store appear in their search engine results page.

Write blog content that targets keywords your target audience is searching for. If you’re selling Apple Watch straps through your online store, for example, that could be “best apple watch straps for men” or “are apple watches waterproof.”

Follow SEO best practices to get your blog content to rank in search engines. That includes:

• Embedding the keyword in meta tags, alt text, and headings
• Building internal links that direct visitors to similar pages on your own website
• Using a short, clear, easy-to-read URL structure
• Actively distributing the blog post on social media channels
• Build backlinks to your website from external websites

Illuminate Labs, for example, publishes health-related blog posts on its website. President Calloway Cook says, “In July of 2021 we started content marketing as the core strategy to drive traffic to our Shopify store. We began to publish several well-researched articles per week to our company blog, Illuminate Health.

“That month, our site achieved 6,300 organic page views. One year later, in July of 2022, our site achieved 162,000 organic page views.”

5. Optimize your product descriptions

Product pages are existing pieces of content you can optimize to drive organic traffic. Write the product description with your target customer in mind, using the phrases they say, pulling on pain points they struggle with, and referencing keywords they’re searching for.

Take it from Kath Vaughn, owner of Milk Tooth, who says, “Organic search traffic is my number one generator of sales. My website ranks against other toy stores selling the same products as Milk Tooth because I don’t just copy the stock standard product descriptions that everyone else does.

“I take the time—and it does take time, don’t get me wrong—to write my own and, as a mother myself, try to provide information about the toy that would be helpful and appealing to a parent. I also try to upload unique product photos to sit alongside stock photos, although this is even more time consuming.”

Kath adds, “For the 12 months to August 20, 2022, organic Google traffic brought in just over 45% of total orders for Milk Tooth. I didn’t run a single Google ad during this period of time.”

6. Start a free quiz

People like learning about themselves. Personalize your content at scale using a free quiz. Not only do people have a reason to visit your online store, but you collect their email address for future retargeting. It’s a great way to turn first-time visitors into paying customers.

Take Wicked Edge, for example. The knife sharpening brand uses Octane AI to quiz people on which product they need. People are asked to select why they’re sharpening their knives, their use case, and knife thickness. They’re prompted to enter their email address in exchange for their quiz results.

Quiz takers see a list of personalized product recommendations after the final step, with a handy Add to Cart” button that instantly populates their online shopping cart with the recommended products.

Wicked Edge’s quiz does a great job of attracting customers to its online store—and most importantly, converting them. This simple widget boasts a 3.6% conversion rate (compared to the site-wide average of 1.5%). It also has a 67% higher average order value than visitors viewing standard website content.

But remember: while not all quiz takers will convert, you’ve already collected data to personalize future communication. The more specific you are with your quiz, the greater your chances at producing marketing campaigns that drive them back to your online store.

7. Create YouTube videos around trending topics

YouTube is the second-most-visited website in the world, with users streaming 694 hours of video every minute.

Take advantage of YouTube’s incredible potential by creating videos around trending topics. Do market research and uncover the topics your audience is interested in. Choose an engaging format to present your content—such as a “how to” guide or video tutorial—and upload it to your business’s YouTube channel.

YouTube is a search engine and social media hybrid. Increase the odds of your target market finding your videos by implementing the following YouTube SEO best practices:

• Upload a custom thumbnail that encourages users to click your video
• Add video tags to show YouTube which terms are relevant to your content
• Use callout boxes, playlists, and end screens to increase video watch time
• Write video descriptions that include keywords someone interested in your video would search
• Enable the Shopify integration to divert viewers toward products on your online store

Best Price Nutrition is one online store using this strategy to attract customers. Ecommerce manager John Frigo says, “We’re a vitamin and sports supplement store, so we often make videos announcing new brands, new products coming out, new flavors of existing products, as well as doing reviews of products.

“These videos tend to rank high in Google quickly. Everyone who lands on these videos is typically a very targeted customer.”

John adds its video marketing strategy drives results for the business: “We typically make at least two to three videos per week. Sometimes we do videos daily, and typically it drives $200 to $500 in sales per day.”

Read more:

8. Land press coverage

One way to get free online advertising is by landing press coverage on industry news sites.

Journalists are always looking for experts to contribute to their own content. Find requests from journalists looking for sources through a platform like Help a Reporter Out, Help a B2B Writer, or Terkel. Respond to requests with relevant stories featuring your brand.

Alternatively, get free publicity by pitching journalists directly. Shortlist the publications your target audience reads, and find journalists writing for the website. Email the journalist for a potential feature.

If you’ve got something interesting to say, such as a new product line or influencer collaboration, and the topic matches the site you’re writing for, there’s a good chance a journalist will cover it.

9. Build an email newsletter

The inbox is a direct line to your customers. Unlike social media channels, which have the power to tank organic reach instantly, email marketing guarantees a way to contact your potential customers.

But to email prospective customers, you first need them to opt into your mailing list. Do this by giving something away for free. Also known as lead magnets, place the following pieces of content behind an email opt-in form to grow your subscriber base:

• A free quiz
• A coupon code
• A checklist or downloadable PDF

Pearly Drinks combines this traffic-building technique with content marketing. The brand’s strategy is to create high-quality blog posts on the site, convert those visitors into blog readers, then convert them into customers. 

Filip is testing a handful of different pop-up boxes to maximize conversion rates—this one currently stands at 2%. But once a subscriber is on the list, Filip says, “We have a three-step email flow telling them about the contest, our brand, and our products with the goal of conversion.

“So far we are seeing very strong opt-in results for the popup on traffic that we normally get nothing out of. With our large network of articles, we’re able to get hundreds of signups every day, which we’ll turn into customers over time as we send them more educational content.”

Read more:

10. Use SMS campaigns

People have smartphones on them almost all of the time—86% of whom have SMS notifications enabled. If you have explicit permission to email your prospective customers, SMS is a superb marketing tool to drive customers toward your online store.

Start by collecting mobile phone numbers through touchpoints you already have with consumers. Add a phone number option to checkout forms, use pop-up boxes on popular pages of your online store, and ask email subscribers to opt into SMS marketing too.

Run SMS marketing campaigns that divert these subscribers back to your own website. That could be:

• Flash sales and promotions
• Subscriber-exclusive offers
• Text-to-win competitions
• New product or restock alerts
• Loyalty program invites

Not only is SMS a great way to drive website traffic, but it can provide excellent customer service to online shoppers still on the fence. Initiate quick text conversation that asks subscribers to share their biggest sales objection. Have your customer support team ease their pre-purchase anxiety to improve your website conversion rate.

11. List your store on free advertising sites

Advertising increases the odds of reaching your target customer. But you don’t need to invest cash into advertising to get started. Attract your target market by listing your online store on free advertising sites like:

Free advertising doesn’t drain an already-limited small business of its resources. Invest some time into creating a profile, uploading your product listings, and writing a description that encourages them to buy through your online website (instead of the free advertising site). You’ll reach the millions of people who search online marketplaces to discover new products.

12. Run Google Ads campaigns

We already know that 49% of people start their shopping journey on a search engine. Run Google Ads to reach them. They’re people already looking for products you sell, making them a fantastic source of potential customers.

Experiment with different types of Google Ads, including:

• Search ads, which appear in Google search results either as text-based or Shopping ads
• Display ads, which appear on sites in the Google Display Network
• Video ads, which appear on the Google-owned YouTube platform

Catherine Wilson, owner of Essential Derma, says, “We highly recommend boosting how well-known your brand is within your target market, even if this costs a large percentage of your budget.

“Once you become a genuine brand in your space, a Google Ads paid brand search campaign will bring spectacular results and help Google’s machine-learning algorithm find more customers similar to your converted customers. We average a 78¢ cost per conversion and a 31% conversion rate with our brand search campaigns.”

Read more:

13. Host a referral marketing program

It’s getting more expensive to acquire new customers. Take the pressure off and let happy customers do your marketing for you. They know what you offer, the type of person most likely to buy it, and what someone needs to hear before hitting Purchase, making them the perfect salespeople for your online store.

Build a referral marketing program using apps like Referral Candy, Yotpo, or Bloop. Reward your customer base with gift cards, store credit, or commission in exchange for every new customer they refer.

The best part about this marketing strategy is that you only pay for results. Instead of risking $1,000 in a new influencer program you’re unsure will pay off, you only pay for rewards once a new customer purchases.

14. List your business on review aggregator sites

Some 93% of consumers actively look for reviews before trusting a new business with its credit card information. Join the more than 500,000 businesses listed on review aggregator sites like TrustPilot to reach customers actively looking for products you offer.

Platforms like Google Business, Trustpilot, and Yelp exist to roundup the best businesses for a specific industry or use case. If your online store sells home furniture, for example, collecting customer reviews would influence your position on Trustpilot’s roundup of home furniture brands.

New Era Factory Outlet has a brick-and-mortar store that runs parallel to its online store. Its marketing manager, Flynn Zaiger, says, “We make sure to ask for reviews on local review sites, like Yelp.

“This might sound counter-intuitive: why would local review sites for walk-in business increase Shopify website traffic? We’ve found that people looking for stores near them are interested in buying online, saving themselves a trip to the store once they’ve found that you have a Shopify store that makes things easy.”

Flynn adds, “Referral traffic from local sites like Yelp are often some of our best-engaged traffic on the internet. It typically outperforms organic search, and other more traditionally thought of as high-engagement sources of traffic. According to our analytics, the average site duration and pages per session are higher for Google than they are for organic search (Google, Bing, and Yahoo.)”

15. Go local

Experiential retail is a way to provide experiences to shoppers in-person. Almost a third of customers said they’re likely to engage with branded experiences, hence why 40% of brands plan to make it a top priority this year.

You don’t need a permanent brick-and-mortar store to take advantage of physical retail, though. Drive in-person shoppers toward your website by attending local events such as:

• Craft fairs
• Trade shows
• Local markets
• Pop-up shops
• Chamber of Commerce events

Hand out your business cards at each event or have people scan a QR code from your signage—ideally stamped with an incentive, such as “Get 10% off with this card at yourwebsite.com.” That way, you don’t need to carry or sell inventory in-person.

You can use physical retail as a way to get people into the top of your marketing funnel, and process all sales through your online store.

Read more:

16. Host a giveaway

Organic social media can sometimes feel like shouting into a void. The secret to attracting attention is to share something people want to engage with.

Competitions are a prime example. Instagram giveaways see 3.5 times more likes and 64 times more comments than standard posts because users are in with a chance of winning something for free.

Bundle your bestselling products and give them away to one lucky winner. To enter, have them do some form of marketing for your brand. That might be:

• Liking the post
• Following your business’s social media account
• Sharing the post to their own Stories
• Tagging a friend in the comments
• Subscribing to your email or SMS list

Granted, it might sound counterintuitive since people enter the giveaway to win something for free. But if you have email subscription mandatory for anyone who enters, you have potential customers’ details further retargeting once the competition ends.

17. Run retargeting campaigns

Once you implement these tactics to attract customers to your online store, don’t fall at the final hurdle. Do one last push to convince previous website visitors to return (and purchase) with retargeting campaigns.

Retarget website visitors who have:

Let’s put that in practice and say you’ve had 200 website visitors in the past 14 days, but only 20 have made a purchase. Upload your customer list to Facebook and create a Custom Audience to retarget them through the platform. Use the dynamic ads feature to promote the item they previously viewed on your online store.

Studies show three out of five online users notice ads showcasing products they’ve previously reviewed. They’re also 43% more likely to convert, which could result in extra paying customers from the same initial website visitor base.

I focused on making creative ads and hired a creative to help me come up with different angles for my marketing such as featuring my customer’s product reviews. Data to support the fact that it works: my Facebook ads have an average conversion rate of 5.4%, and I was able to earn 15% better traffic on my Shopify store, with 18,682 site visits.

Read more:

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Under certain circumstances, it’s possible to conduct business as a sole proprietor without registering your business. However, choosing to incorporate and register your business inspires more confidence in your customers and offers protections that a sole proprietorship doesn’t.

If you’re still in the planning stage with your business checkout our how to start a business guide to help you get off the ground.

If you’re ready to go, read on to learn how to register a business with state and local agencies.

How to register your business

1. Pick your business name
2. Choose a business structure to register
3. Register for an employer identification number (EIN)
4. Check requirements for each business location
5. Register for taxes
6. File for any trademarks

Whether you’re registering your business as a sole proprietorship or a different business structure, registering your new business is a fairly straightforward process. Nevertheless, it’s important to register your business properly in order to avoid complications down the road.

1. Pick your business name

It probably goes without saying that your online store needs a name, and choosing a legal name for your business that’s both available and on brand can be challenging. When brainstorming your business name, it’s best to cast a wide net at first, then hone in on your top ideas. (Need some help coming up with ideas? Consult Shopify’s business name generator).

Once you’ve nailed down a few favorites, you’ll need to check if they’re available. Conduct a search in your local jurisdiction’s business database to see if any other businesses have registered under a similar name.

Other important considerations when choosing your business name include:

• Social media. Are relevant social media handles available, or is someone else already using your chosen name?
• Domain name. Conduct a quick domain name search to see if your branded URL is available.

2. Choose a business structure to register

Before you can register your business, you need to choosing your business structure and incorporate as such. Popular business structures include limited liability company (LLC), corporation (including C corp and S corp), general partnership, and limited liability partnership (LLP).

For more on the most common business structures, read our guide, The 4 Most Popular Types of Businesses and How To Choose One.

Each business structure requires a different process for registration. Sole proprietors, for example, don’t need to do anything. Corporations, on the other hand, need to file articles of incorporation or similar corporate documents. Opting for an LLC? See our state specific guides for California LLC, Texas LLC, and Florida LLC.

3. Register for an employer identification number (EIN)

Regardless of business structure, an employer identification number (also known as a tax ID number) is critical. It protects your Social Security number (SSN) and establishes your business as a separate legal entity. This means your business can build credit and hire employees.

You can apply for an EIN on the IRS website.

4. Check requirements for each business location

Just as each business structure has its own registration process and requirements, each location has its own parameters as well. It’s important to check with federal, state, and local government agencies to find out what you need to legally register your business.

Additional steps may include permitting requirements, licenses, articles of incorporation, forms, and fees, among other things.

5. Register for taxes

In most places, businesses have to pay sales tax and potentially other applicable taxes or fees. Because sales tax varies by state, you’ll need to register in each state where you plan to sell.

Some states don’t collect sales tax, which means store owners do not have to register a business for tax purposes. These states include:

• Alaska
• Delaware
• Montana
• New Hampshire
• Oregon

For the remaining states, check with them directly to find out what the process entails.

Get started: Shopify uses default tax settings for your online store, but you can customize your sales tax settings in your admin dashboard.

Learn more: Basics of Small Business Accounting: 12 Steps to Get Your Company on Track

6. File for any trademarks

If you’re launching a brand or product with a unique name, logo, feature, or slogan, you may qualify for trademark protection. A trademark is “anything that’s considered a source identifier,” helping consumers recognize your brand or products.

While you can establish a trademark “unofficially” by doing business and establishing a reputation, the safer approach is to register with the corresponding trademark office, either on your own or with the help of a trademark attorney. This ensures that your trademark is protected from any other businesses that might seek to use your idea for their own benefit. At minimum, be sure to trademark your business name with both the state and federal government.

Tips for registering your business

As you proceed through the process to register a business, here a few things to keep in mind.

Get organized

Before you start filling out any application, create a list of what you need. This will include things like your basic personal and business information, EIN, forms, licenses, permits, fees, etc. Have this information handy so you can fly through the application process.

Hire help

For more complex business registration (e.g., for heavily regulated industries), you may want to enlist the help of an expert. Qualified tax professionals and business attorneys can guide you through the process, answering questions along the way and even taking care of some of the steps for you. Shopify Partners offers a directory of tax professionals who can provide assistance with US state sales tax and liability.

Stay up to date

It’s always best to check directly with official location- and industry-specific sources for the latest information regarding business registration requirements. Make it a habit to check on your licenses, permits, and registrations each year—for accountability and to help you remember, you might do it at tax time. Set up calendar reminders for any expirations or renewals as well.

Kickstart your business with Shopify

Now that you know how to register a business, you can begin thinking about how to run it. Shopify offers tools and integrations that make it easy to manage every aspect of your business. With thousands of third-party apps and integrations to choose from, you can build a virtual business command center.

DISCLAIMER: These guides are for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional legal or tax advice. Please consult independent legal advice and your own tax adviser for information specific to your country and circumstances. Shopify is not liable to you in any way for your use or reliance on these guides.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

This post is for information only. You are responsible for reviewing and using this information appropriately. This content doesn’t contain and isn’t meant to provide legal, tax, or business advice.*

There’s an abundance of information out there about how to start a business. Sometimes, all you need is a simple, straightforward step-by-step guide to take you from square one directly to your goal. That’s what we’ll do in this post: show you the six steps it takes to create an LLC.

How to start an LLC in 7 steps in 2024

1. Choose a name for your LLC
2. Choose a registered agent
3. Obtain your EIN and check tax requirements
4. Prepare an LLC operating agreement
5. Open a bank account for your LLC
6. File the articles of organization
7. Create and launch a website for your LLC

1. Choose a name for your LLC

The name of your LLC is the first contact many have with your brand, and you want it to make a good initial impression.

Naming your online store may take some time—the perfect name doesn’t come to everyone overnight. Sometimes it requires lots of brainstorming and even collaboration. There are also lots of free tools, like Shopify’s business name generator, to get your creativity flowing.

Once you’ve landed on a name, check to ensure someone else hasn’t claimed it first. Many states have business directories you can search. You’ll also want to look outside your state, especially if you plan to sell to a wide audience. Scan Google, social media, and available domain names to see what’s out there.

2. Choose a registered agent

The registered agent (also called resident agent or statutory agent in some states) is responsible for receiving legal paperwork for your business. You can act as your own registered agent in some states, or you can hire an entity to act as your registered agent for you.

What’s important is that they reside in the state you are registering your business in, and are available to receive documents on your behalf.

3. Obtain your EIN and check tax requirements

Your federal employer identification number (EIN) separates your personal identity from your business identity. It acts like your business’s social security number (SSN), so to speak. In other words, it’s a unique numerical combination the government uses to identify your LLC.

To get an EIN, go to the IRS website and fill out an application via online form. The process is free, takes under 15 minutes, and is completely online. You’ll get your EIN immediately upon completion.

You also need to inform yourself of any tax obligations. This includes income tax, sales tax, use tax, value-added tax (VAT), and other potential tariffs.

4. Prepare an LLC operating agreement

An LLC operating agreement is a written contract where members of an LLC can define specific responsibilities, compensation, equity, and more. Members of an LLC can customize various terms to be more specific to the needs of the business.

Some states require this document when filing your LLC. And even though it’s not mandated in every state, it can be helpful—particularly for multi-member LLCs. An operating agreement provides a clear approach to how profits and losses are handled, along with the rights of each member.

You can write the operating agreement yourselves or, better yet, start with a template or hire a registered agent service or attorney to do it for you.

5. Open a bank account for your LLC

It’s easier to keep personal and business finances separate. Separating your finances also provides more protection to your personal assets. You’ll need your business information, including your EIN, to open a business bank account.

Read more: How To Choose the Right Business Bank Account

6. File articles of organization

Articles of organization set out legal rights, capabilities, fiduciary duties, potential liabilities, and other official aspects of the relationship between each member of an LLC. The legal documents are filed with the state, and help create a public record of your business information and existence.

Depending on the location and nature of your business, you may have to file additional paperwork as part of your articles of organization. Additional LLC formation documents could include:

• Permits and business licenses, especially for food-based businesses
• Workers’ compensation if you’re hiring employees
• Insurance policies required to operate legally
• Your LLC operating agreement

7. Create and launch a website for your LLC

When you’re ready to share your new business with the world, you can launch and promote your online store. We’ve created an online store launch checklist to help you remember everything from marketing to inventory to fulfillment. Drive traffic to your site to make your first sale, and invest in small business loans to grow your business.

Register to do business in other states (if relevant)

Once you have your EIN and business name, it’s time to officially register everything. Registering your business is a fairly straightforward process, though there may be extra steps required for merchants operating in certain industries, like food and beverage or CBD. You may also need to get a business license, depending on your niche and location.

Why form an LLC: pros and cons

When it comes to sole proprietorships versus LLCs, sole proprietorships have an advantage of simpler tax filing over other business structures—owners pass business taxes through as part of their personal tax return, and income is only taxed once.

The downside of a sole proprietorship is that since the business and its owner are legally considered the same entity, owners are 100% responsible for any debts or lawsuits incurred by the business, potentially putting personal assets at risk.

Meanwhile, when comparing LLCs to corporations, both offer protections of owners’ personal assets. Corporations can offer public stock options as well as enjoy taxation flexibility. However, corporations are typically more complex to form and operate, as they have additional paperwork, a board of directors, and shareholder meetings.

Pros of starting an LLC

Some advantages of incorporating as an LLC include:

• Protection. Establishing an LLC creates a legal separation between business and owner, similar to a corporation—offering business owners a layer of personal asset protection.
• Convenience. It’s a relatively simple and inexpensive process to become an LLC.
• Validation. Starting an LLC can impact you as an entrepreneur, making it a great first step to making your ecommerce venture official. It also legitimizes your brand in the eyes of potential customers.
• Capital. Legitimizing your business can also boost your ability to secure outside funding, such as loans or investors—and even business partners down the line.
• Taxes. LLCs can choose how they want to be taxed. No other entity type comes with this choice. And—unless you elect to be taxed as a C corporation—your LLC is taxed as a pass-through entity, bypassing the federal corporate tax rate of 21%. So instead of paying corporate taxes and personal income tax, LLC members take profit shares and pay personal income tax on the earnings.

Cons of starting an LLC

On the other hand, there are also disadvantages to LLCs:

• Startup costs. Forming an LLC usually comes with a small incorporation fee. You might also have the expense of hiring a tax professional to handle the formation paperwork.
• Protection exceptions. While LLC members’ personal assets are considered to be separate from the business, and thereby protected from any litigation involving the business, a judge may rule otherwise. It’s important to separate personal and business finances and operations, as well as avoid committing fraud.
• Taxes. LLC owners are subject to self-employment taxes in addition to income tax. The federal self-employment tax rate for 2023 was 15.3%.
• Paperwork. Being part of a member-managed LLC partnership adds an extra layer of paperwork to your taxes. You’ll need to file an IRS K-1 form, and each member must file a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065).
• Dissolution and reformation. If you or a member moves states, you might be required to dissolve and reform your LLC. This requires paperwork and potential fees.

Different types of LLCs

Single-member LLC/sole proprietorship

Single-member LLCs and sole proprietorships have one owner. While single-member LLCs can hire employees, sole proprietors don’t have that option. Owners can avoid double taxation by passing business taxes through as part of their personal tax return. Sole proprietorships don’t offer any personal liability protection.

General partnership

A general partnership is an informal business arrangement where two or more people agree to own and operate the LLC equally. This means they evenly divide all profits and losses. Each partner is legally considered the same entity as the business, meaning there’s no personal liability protection in a general partnership—but partners can pass business through on their personal tax return.

Family limited partnership

Family limited partnerships, or FLPs, are formed by family members who combine resources to establish and operate a business. FLPs typically have two different types of owners—general partners and limited partners.

General partners are responsible for operation, whereas limited partners don’t have any management responsibility, but can still buy into the business to get income. These are a popular choice for families who want to pass down generational wealth.

Series LLC

A series LLC is a type of business structure that allows an owner to separate business assets and operations into different subsets, called series.

A series LLC allows each subset to function as a regular LLC while also protecting the individual series from any liabilities that another one might incur.

Not all states allow series LLCs, so be sure to check with your local legislature.

L3C company

An L3C, or low-profit limited liability company, is a hybrid structure that combines elements of an LLC and a nonprofit business. While L3Cs are allowed to generate a profit, this income must be used to benefit a charitable cause. Not all states recognize this business structure.

Member-managed LLC or manager-managed LLC

Member-managed and manager-managed LLCs, unsurprisingly, refer to how an LLC is managed. A member-managed LLC is when all owners, also called members, share responsibility for day-to-day operations. Member-managed LLCs are common with small to midsize businesses.

Manager-managed LLC structures are more common for larger-sized businesses, or with owners who want a less active management role. In this case, members might either designate one or more members to handle day-to-day activities—or hire employees to take on these responsibilities.

*Requirements are updated frequently and you should make sure to do your own research and reach out to professional legal, tax, and business advisers, as needed. Businesses outside of New York will have different steps and requirements. To sell products using the Shopify platform, you must comply with the laws of the jurisdiction of your business and your customers, the Shopify Terms of Service, the Shopify Acceptable Use Policy, and any other applicable policies.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Do you know how many different ways there are to fund your company? Angel investors, crowdfunding, loans—the list goes on. It can be hard to decide what’s right for you and your brand. 

In Vicky Pasche’s case, she needed the money to fund Dapper Boi, a body inclusive, gender-neutral fashion brand. She and her co-founder, Charisse Pasche, turned to Kickstarter in 2015 to launch the company. Five years later, they raised $300,000 through equity crowdfunding alone. 

Whether you’re trying to secure your spot in the market or find the best way to bring your concept to customers, Vicky’s advice will help you fund your business. 

4 ways to fund your business

1. Run a crowdfunding campaign 

If you want to start a business but don’t have the capital, look for your ideal customer to help fundraise on a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter. 

“When we went on Kickstarter, it was just about connecting and relating to people. We were solving a problem, so we had to find people that had the same problem,” Vicky says. Kickstarter allowed her to connect with people facing the same challenges, and they were excited about her solution. Vicky and Charisse raised $26,000 after their initial ask of $18,000.

Try using crowdfunding tools like Kickstarter to find like-minded people who will help you achieve your vision.

2. Take pre-orders

While a great business idea can be lucrative, you’ll need money upfront to get production started. A way to solve this issue and bring in capital is to take pre-orders. 

“At the start, we offered [pre-orders] with an intro price discounted by 30%, for three weeks only,” says Vicky. ”Customers went nuts.” The limited time pre-order model raised demand and brought in a quick influx of cash for the founders. 

The money from a pre-order campaign will fund product production and give you a positive runway to keep growing the business. 

3. Connect with investors 

Vicky recommends using LinkedIn, signing up for networking events, and taking courses to meet as many people as possible. “You need to connect early and often,” Vicky says. The odds of finding an angel investor is higher with each new person you meet and share your vision with. 

There is no shame in asking people for help or for an introduction that will result in you raising more money. Vicky asked a mentor for advice and ended up meeting Dapper Boi’s first investor, who infused $250,000 into the company. Meeting more people will raise your chances of finding the right person to invest in your brand. 

4. Open up equity crowdfunding 

Attracting the right angel investor can be challenging and take a lot of time. That’s why equity crowdfunding is a great option once you’ve found your target audience. Vicky and Charisse usedStart Engine to offer customers partial ownership of Dapper Boi.

This approach is debt-free and allows for an influx of cash into the business, without having to exchange physical goods. Contributors receive a financial stake in the business for showing their dedication and support of the company’s growth. 

It’s intimidating to allow one investor to own part of your business. This route will allow you to feel the support of the community while gaining cash for the company. 

To learn more about Vicky’s journey, and discover how the brand manages a 50% customer return rate, tune in to the full Shopify Mastersepisode.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

At Shopify, our goal for accessibility is to make commerce accessible to everyone. This includes all entrepreneurs of any ability or age, and anyone within the Shopify ecosystem, including shoppers!

Shopify Checkout is a highly accessible user experience by default. This means shoppers with disabilities can buy with confidence using their own assistive devices and technologies; no third-party apps or plug-ins are required.

Before we get into the details of Checkout’s accessibility, let’s first define what we’re discussing.

What is digital accessibility?

“Digital accessibility” refers to the access of digital content. The definition we share reads as:

“Web accessibility is the practice of designing and developing a website or web application to be usable for as many people as possible, regardless of physical impairment or cognitive ability.”

When digital products are made with accessibility baked-in, people with disabilities can equally perceive, operate, understand, and interact with it. This not only helps with usability, but builds confidence and trust in the digital product and brand.

Why is accessibility important to my business?

When it comes to businesses of any size, accessibility helps to enable greater success in entrepreneurship. It does so by making your product open and available to more people. More people means greater growth opportunities, increased revenue, and positive public perception.

An industry report from 2020 estimates the number of people with disabilities to be 1.85 billion, which makes it a “market larger than China.” This represents a market opportunity in the trillion-dollar range. (Disability touches 73% of consumers and controls more than $13 trillion in annual disposable income.)

Disability touches 73% of consumers and controls more than $13 trillion in annual disposable income.

Let’s review how this helps your business regarding brand loyalty, competitive advantage, and conversion opportunity.

Brand loyalty

A recent study shows how consumers identify with and remain loyal to brands that reflect their own values. A key takeaway states 82% of shoppers want a consumer brand’s values to align with their own.

Some of the values mentioned in this study reflect the idea of inclusivity, which is at the heart of accessibility.

Competitive advantage

Implementing accessibility and inclusive design into your product can help you have a competitive advantage.

The WebAIM Million, an annual study that reviews the accessibility of the top one million homepages shares that across the one million homepages, almost 50 million distinct accessibility errors were detected—an average of 50.0 errors per page.

This reflects how accessibility is, unfortunately, not the norm. If your business provides an accessible user experience by default, this will set you apart from your competitors. People will take notice and recognize this is a part of your business values.

Increase conversion

Two studies conducted by Shopify partner Fable Tech Labs share compelling data for entrepreneurs.

The first looks closely at the relationship with disabled users and accessible apps on mobile platforms. This study reveals 94% of respondents factor the accessibility of apps and mobile sites into their decision around which businesses to support.

The other study looks at the state of online shopping for people with disabilities. This also shares more revealing data points, including:

• 71% of assistive technology users will abandon a digital experience that is difficult to use.
• Confidence building user experience is key to repeat purchases and customer loyalty.

What these studies reveal is how deploying an accessible user experience helps to increase conversion. Shoppers who are able to use your website or app with ease and confidence will do so and likely become loyal, repeat customers.

These important insights provide a sense of what the online shopping experience is like for disabled customers, and why it’s important for your business.

How does Shopify ensure an accessible checkout?

Shopify Checkout is not only the world’s highest-converting checkout, trusted by the biggest brands, it’s also highly accessible by default. Our Checkout design and engineering teams take great care in crafting accessible and usable components in conjunction with people with disabilities who rely on assistive technology.

Our Checkout design and engineering teams take great care in crafting accessible and usable components in conjunction with people with disabilities who rely on assistive technology.

Checkout Extensibility can add customizations to Checkout, including new visual elements built using a component library provided by Shopify. The components in this library are continuously tested to ensure they meet our internal accessibility standard. However, app developers still need to apply accessibility best practices when using these components.

Accessibility review

Accessibility of Checkout is reviewed on a continuous basis, the primary focus being usability with assistive technology and the coverage of core user flows. This is achieved through:

1. Design review of new components when required.

   Our internal accessibility team works with Checkout designers when new components or features are being created. By catching potential accessibility issues earlier in the product creation lifecycle, the team accelerates time to market by avoiding shipping defects and sprints to retrofit. It also means wider adoption by shoppers using assistive technology from day one.

2. Automated accessibility testing at the component level is continuous.

   Our component library and CI environments include accessibility testing via automation. These tests report high-level, objective accessibility defects.

3. Usability test sessions with people with disabilities are conducted quarterly (or on demand when required.)

   Test results disclose usability issues: subjective accessibility defects or blockers that may prevent task completion. These are triaged and sent to the team responsible for remediation.

   This task is contracted out to Shopify partner Fable Tech Labs.

4. Internal, manual assessments are conducted bi-annually (or on demand when required.)

   Deep-dive reviews are completed by Shopify’s internal accessibility team. By working through Shopify’s Accessibility Assessment Checklist — success criteria that reflect the latest WCAG standards — both design and code are thoroughly scrutinized in order to reveal defects that may have been missed otherwise.

Conducting accessibility reviews on a continuous basis means our Checkout teams are able to monitor for and remediate accessibility defects in a timely manner. This helps to ensure Checkout flows are highly accessible and usable by assistive technology users, further building confidence and trust in your brand.

Usability statistics

Regular usability testing of Checkout provides metrics and insight into where we prioritize effort. It also reveals blockers that need immediate attention.

A recent usability test session of Checkout revealed:

• 100% completion rate across varying assistive technologies; screen reader, voice dictation, and alternative navigation
• 86/100 accessibility score across Checkout state: guest, logged in, and mobile
• A total of two reported issues for a single usability test session, which were promptly sent to our engineers for remediation

As we continue to innovate and increase the extensibility of Checkout, we anticipate that these metrics will be consistent/improve across future test sessions.

Accessibility is good for business

Shopify Checkout is the world’s highest-converting checkout, trusted by the biggest brands, and is highly accessible by default. An accessible ecommerce solution means additional brand loyalty, giving your business a competitive edge and increased conversion opportunities.

By conducting accessibility reviews on a continuous basis, our Checkout teams are able to monitor for and remediate accessibility defects in a timely manner.

Up to 27% of adults in the United States have some type of disability. With more than 10% of all US ecommerce powered by Shopify, you’re well equipped to support your customer’s needs from day one with Shopify Checkout.

Accessibility is good for business. Start, run, and grow your business with Shopify!

Resources

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Shopify has just about everything you need if you're looking to sell online. It excels with unlimited products, user-friendly setup, and 24/7 support. It offers 6,000+ app integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and shipping discounts up to 88%. Plus, it allows selling both online and in-person, scaling as your business grows.

Whether you’re a business owner or an individual creator, developing a TikTok strategy takes a little planning and a lot of experimentation. After creating your TikTok content, you’ll need to find the best times to post on TikTok to maximize engagement from TikTok users.

Luckily, data can help you reach the right audience at the right time. 

Ahead, learn what the experts think are the best times to post on TikTok for each day of the week, within the US and beyond. And, find out how to analyze your own TikTok data to discover the optimal posting schedule for your social media calendar and specific target audience.

Best times to post on TikTok in the US (in ET)

The best times to post on TikTok vary by day. Here are the best daily times:

• Monday: 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 10 p.m.
• Tuesday: 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 9 a.m.
• Wednesday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 11 p.m.
• Thursday: 9 a.m., 12 a.m., 7 p.m.
• Friday: 5 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m.
• Saturday: 11 a.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m.
• Sunday: 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 4 p.m.

Let’s take a deeper look at these best times to post, broken out by day.

Daily TikTok posting schedule

Follow this schedule of optimal posting times to get maximum engagement from your audience:

Best time to post on TikTok on Monday

In general, the best times to post on TikTok on Mondays are 6 a.m., 10 a.m., or 10 p.m ET.

These times cover a global audience while also fitting into daily schedules in the US, such as when users are scrolling TikTok videos before school or work, before lunch, and before bed. 

Best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday

The best times to post on TikTok on Tuesdays are 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and 9 p.m ET.

This suggests people are checking TikTok when they wake up, and again late in the evening. Posting during these hours will ensure fresh content is ready when users open the app.

Best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday

The best times to post on TikTok on Wednesdays are 7 a.m., 8 a.m., or 11 p.m ET.

If you post video content on TikTok during these times, you can catch people on the platform before work or school—and then again right before bed.

Best time to post on TikTok on Thursday

The best times to post on TikTok on Thursdays are 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 7 p.m. ET.

Your content may receive extra reach if you post them on Thursdays around lunchtime. Many sources recommend scheduling the majority of your posts for early mornings, midday, and evenings across the midweek.

Best time to post on TikTok on Friday

The best times to post on TikTok on Fridays are 5 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. ET.

More engagement in the early evening suggests viewership reduces on Friday nights, when some people may switch to other forms of media, such as streaming, or head out for a Friday night activity. Post on TikTok earlier on Fridays when more of your audience are checking their socials.

Best time to post on TikTok on Saturday

The best times to post on TikTok on Saturdays are 11 a.m., 7 p.m., or 8 p.m. ET.

TikTok’s viewership decreases on the weekends. However, you can make the most of Saturday posts by scheduling them late morning and later in the evening.

Best time to post on TikTok on Sunday

The best times to post on TikTok on Sundays are 7 a.m., 8 a.m., or 4 p.m. ET.

Schedule video content to go out early on Sundays to capture people who rise and shine for a morning workout, jump on social media before grabbing breakfast with friends, or who just like to scroll in bed.

The best time to post on TikTok by location

The best time for you to post on TikTok won’t be exactly the same as the best time for Shopify’s social team or for other TikTok users—it will depend on your time zone and location of your target viewers.

If you have a global audience, pay attention to when people are most active across multiple time zones, and try to calculate time differences so that you can post content when the largest section of your audience is online.

For example, if your TikTok audience is primarily located in the UK and most active around 9 a.m. GMT, the best time for you to post on TikTok is 2 p.m. ET.

Keep scrolling for information on when your TikTok audience is most active.

When do the experts say is the best time to post?

Not everybody agrees on the best time to post content. Here’s what several social media management companies found when they analyzed the timing and reach of TikTok posts sent via their platforms.

SocialPilot TikTok study

After analyzing seven million TikTok posts published by more than 50,000 accounts connected to SocialPilot, the team at this social platform found that top-performing content was most often posted at these times (ET):

• Monday: 6 a.m.
• Tuesday: 2 a.m.
• Wednesday: 7 a.m.
• Thursday: 9 a.m.
• Friday: 5 a.m.
• Saturday: 11 a.m.
• Sunday: 7 a.m.

Buffer TikTok study

When the team at Buffer analyzed more than a million TikTok videos sent through their platform, they found that hourly reach peaked during these times:

• Monday: 2 p.m.
• Tuesday: 10 a.m.
• Wednesday: 4 p.m.
• Thursday: 4 p.m.
• Friday: 10 a.m.
• Saturday: 8 a.m.
• Sunday: 10 a.m.

The study concluded that TikTok videos posted on Tuesdays have the widest reach, with the lowest reach occurring on Saturdays.

Influencer Marketing Hub TikTok study

To determine the best times to post on TikTok, Influencer Marketing Hub analyzed more than 100,000 TikTok posts and looked for engagement trends. They found that the best times (ET) to post are:

• Monday: 12 p.m, 4 p.m.
• Tuesday: 4 a.m., 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m.
• Wednesday: 1 p.m., 2 p.m.
• Thursday: 5 a.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m.
• Friday: 1 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m.
• Saturday: 5 p.m.
• Sunday: 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 10 p.m.

Arguably, these studies reveal that there is no single best time to post on TikTok. In other words, the best posting time for you is likely to be unique, based on your audience’s viewing habits.

Next, let’s go beyond the general advice and look at how to use your TikTok app to find personalized data that will tell you exactly when to post.

How to find the best time to post on TikTok for your target audience

If you really want to find out the best time to schedule posts for your audience, you’ll need to use data analytics from your TikTok account.

General posting schedule recommendations are good for those crafting their initial content strategy and posting their first TikTok videos. If you’ve been a TikTok creator for some time, however, you can access personalized analytics to see when you should post to reach specific target audiences.

Leverage your TikTok posting data by following these steps:

1. Create a TikTok Business account
2. Open your TikTok analytics dashboard
3. Find your follower activity
4. Check your activity on individual TikTok posts

1. Create a TikTok Business account (formerly TikTok Pro)

First, you need to make sure you have a TikTok Business account set up on the app. It’s free and simple to switch back and forth with your personal account. Just go to Settings and Privacy, then Manage Account, then tap Switch to Business Account. This gives you access to analytics as well as other features.

2. Open your TikTok analytics dashboard

Next, you’ll want to look at your TikTok analytics. You can get there by clicking the menu at the top right of your profile screen, clicking Creator Tools, then Analytics. This opens TikTok’s analytics dashboard in your Business account, which offers insights into your account and your followers.

Here’s where you’ll find information like the average watch time of video content and other TikTok insights that will help you determine when to post videos across multiple time zones.

3. Find your follower activity

If you’re looking to find the best time to post on TikTok, you’ll want to check the Followers tab at the top. From there, scroll down, and you’ll see a pane titled “Follower activity.”

This is what it looks like on mobile:

This is the best TikTok analytics pane to use if you’re trying to figure out when your followers are most active.

Convert times from UTC

In the image above, the graph shows that follower activity increases during the day and peaks at 8 p.m. TikTok always displays times in UTC, so remember to convert any data to your local time zone.

For example, 8 p.m. UTC converts to 3 p.m. ET. So this account should aim to post around that time for the best chance at maximum engagement.

You can also find this information on a desktop by logging into your account and selecting “View analytics” under your profile. This gives a more detailed view (see below). You can download your data from the desktop dashboard.

Find the right times for your global audience

TikTok’s analytics dashboard shows not just when general users are active, but when your own followers are most often online. This can help you figure out the best posting schedule for your brand when you need to hit multiple time zones.

Bear in mind that your followers and TikTok customers may have different peak activity times compared to the general TikTok viewership. If your target audience or customer base is parents, for example, their activity might peak in the evening when they have more free time. If your target is students, their activity might peak after school hours.

This is the method that Shopify’s TikTok team uses to determine the best time to post. Shopify’s community of entrepreneurs is most active in the late afternoon but, again, this might be different for your audience.

The dashboard will also show where your followers are located. If, for example, you’re based in the US but notice you have a lot of followers in the UK, you may want to split your posts to target different time zones.

4. Check activity on individual TikTok posts

You have the best chance of receiving likes, comments, and views when your followers are most active. To get more detailed information about follower activity from your analytics dashboard, navigate to the Content tab.

From there, you can see data on individual posts from the past seven days, including:

• Total play time
• Average watch time
• How many people your video reached
• Where your video was found (your profile or the For You page)

This tab also shows the time and date your videos were posted. By combining your follower analytics with your TikTok account data, you can figure out when to post your TikTok videos for the most views and engagement.

After looking at your data, you may find that certain content does better at particular times of the day compared to other posts. Again, activity is likely to be highly individualized, so digging into your personal dashboard is key to finding the best TikTok posting times for your business.

💡Tip: The best time to post on TikTok may not be the same as the best times for other social media platforms. Check your analytics across each platform to find the optimal time to post content.

Learn more:

How to optimize your TikTok videos for engagement

Finding the best time to post on TikTok for your brand is only valuable if your content can successfully engage your audience.

Success on social media platforms like TikTok goes beyond posting your content at the right time. Quality content that offers value to your target audience and has clear goals. Even if you schedule content to go live at peak times, the content won’t perform if you don’t have a great strategy and brand voice.

Here are some ways you can optimize your TikTok content.

💡 Did you know? You can manage TikTok ads directly from Shopify.

Optimize TikTok video length

One of the key factors that impacts TikTok engagement is the length of your videos. As of spring 2024, TikTok will allow video uploads of up to three minutes in length, but what is the optimal video length for maximum engagement?

Data suggests two potential strategies for optimizing TikTok video length. One approach is to make videos shorter than 10 seconds. These videos received an engagement rate of 6.09% from March to August 2023.

For maximum engagement, however, videos should be longer than 54 seconds. Posts of this length saw a 6.7% engagement rate over the same time period.

Why short videos can work

Even though longer videos are the best overall engagement play, a short or micro-video strategy can work well on TikTok, thanks to the platform’s fast-paced nature. Users typically scroll through their feeds quickly, so posts that instantly capture attention are likely to generate engagement.

Short videos are worth considering, given that they may be easier to make, consume, and share. The more videos you post, the greater your chances of making content that goes viral.

Tailor video length to your audience

While general rules can guide you, optimal video length can vary depending on your audience. It’s important to use your analytics dashboard and experiment with different video lengths to find the right format for your most-valued audience.

💡Learn more: TikTok for Ecommerce: How To Convert Fans to Customers.

Follow TikTok trends

Another aspect of maximizing engagement on TikTok is staying up to date with current trends. Whether or not you follow TikTok trends can influence the best times for you to post.

The impact of trends on posting times

TikTok trends can dictate the type of content users interact with. For example, if a trending song or dance challenge becomes viral, videos featuring that trend are more likely to see higher engagement. This may affect the best times to post, as users may be more active during times when they can participate in trends or challenges.

Content featuring trending challenges often receives engagement during after-school hours (3 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and in the evening (7 p.m. to 9 p.m.). Posting content related to a trend during these times could increase your engagement.

Keeping up with TikTok trends

You’ll need to use TikTok regularly to stay up to date with the latest trends. Join the TikTok community by:

• Following creators: TikTok creators start and propagate trends. Following them can give you early insight into what might become popular.
• Using the Discover tab: Discover shows trending hashtags and sounds, providing a snapshot of what’s currently popular on TikTok.
• Engaging with your audience: Pay attention to the trends your audience is participating in. This can provide ideas for relevant content that your audience is likely to engage with.

The best time to post on TikTok is now

Insights from Shopify’s social media team and other studies can give you a general idea of the best time to post on TikTok for your brand. Even better, analytics from your TikTok account will tell you when your audience is most likely to engage with your posts.

However, the best thing you can do to build engagement on TikTok is to post consistently over days, weeks, and months. TikTok recommends that businesses post authentic, engaging content between one and four times per day for best results. 

The more you post on TikTok, the more data, feedback, and followers you’ll gain—and the more you’ll be able to pinpoint the best time to post on TikTok for your business.

If Shopify is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.