Shopify

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.

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.

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.

Katherine Oyer found herself shopping for baby clothes while traveling long before she became a mother, which led to her noticing that the brands she found abroad were lacking distribution in the US. To fill this gap, she launched Francis Henri, a modern shop for little ones. Francis Henri’s curated collection started online and it recently opened its first retail space, causing sales to more than double.

Katherine was able to sign the lease on a second retail location thanks to her savvy investments in customer experience. She prioritizes her shoppers, and now they keep the brand growing through word of mouth.

Learn how Katherine’s smart customer retention plan helped her scale her kids clothing brand.

 

How to retain customers

1. Pace your business growth

In the early days, Katherine packaged and shipped orders herself. “I kept the business small enough that I could manage, because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sit at home and ship boxes all day,” Katherine says. Entrepreneurship can be a solo experience for a long time before your brand generates enough income to afford staff. Stay on top of all your customers’ orders so they feel compelled to come back. 

Later, as more customers started to return, she felt confident attending in-person events to sell. “I was doing in-person pop-ups once a month. I wasn’t doing it every week, because of the life that I was living,” Katherine says. While these events can be great opportunities for brand awareness, don’t overextend yourself either. 

2. Make thoughtful choices 

“The customer experience is so important for me. I will not cut corners on handwritten thank you cards in every package, or specialty tissue paper and stickers,” Katherine says. 

Making thoughtful choices requires knowing your customers well. “We have a parking lot with a back entrance, which pretty much has now become a front entrance, because everyone parks in the lot and brings their strollers in,” Katherine says.

She listened to customer feedback, hearing that other stores in town were difficult to access and pick up from. To solve this, she launched BOPIS (buy online, pickup in-store). “If there is a mom who has a sleeping baby, we’ll get messages that say, ‘Can you just run my bag out?’”

3. Trust the data

When Katherine notices a certain item has sold out or is ordering a new item from a popular vendor, she’ll buy more for her repeat customers. “Being able to sort in Shopify by vendor is so interesting,” Katherine says. “You can see the sell-through of certain brands and then certain brands that don’t seem to translate as well.”

Getting into the data on the back end of her Shopify store helps Katherine decide how much of each SKU to order. If you have the items they want in stock, your current customers will come back for more—and bring new customers with them. “I have always believed that if you have a wonderful customer experience and a superior product, people come back,” Katherine says.

Tune in to the full Shopify Masters episode to hear more customer retention tips and discover Katherine’s advice for launching your first retail store.

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.

Businesses of all kinds start blogging as a way to build up a long-term audience. But the reverse is also happening, with more and more bloggers starting businesses as an extension of their blog. And it makes sense.

One of the biggest challenges new businesses face is building an audience for their products. New bloggers, on the other hand, often work backward: building an audience first by consistently putting out good content, then exploring ways to monetize their traffic.

Starting a blog is easy if you only want to have a side hustle. But if you’re thinking about creative ways to make money as a blogger, you’ll need to be strategic to set your blog up for success.

This step-by-step guide will take you through how to start and grow a blog into a source of traffic and income. While it’s meant for those who haven’t started a business yet, it’s also relevant for existing businesses that want to up their blogging game.

What is a blog?

A blog is a website consisting of content, usually focused on a specific topic, that is regularly updated. Unlike news outlets and other publications, blogs tend to take on a personal tone, which helps as a tool for organizations (blog owners) to connect more deeply with their audiences.

People (and organizations) start blogs for all kinds of reasons, including:

• To share opinions, passions, or glimpses into their lives
• To teach others what they know
• To build an email list
• To develop their personal brand as an expert
• To make money online
• A combination of any or all of the above

For these reasons, blogging can be incredibly fulfilling—especially when complete strangers start consuming your content—but it’s also a commitment.

Whether you publish daily, weekly, or monthly, it’s important to be as consistent as possible, not just in how often you publish but also in the type of content you publish.

It’s very rare for bloggers to see results from their business or personal blog right away, so to stay motivated in the early stages, you’ll need to keep your eyes on the prize.

How to start a blog

1. Find a way for your blog to make money
2. Pick a niche for your blog
3. Choose a blogging platform and template
4. Choose a blog and domain name
5. Plan your publishing strategy
6. Get people to read your blog consistently

The hardest part about blogging is finding the time and ideas you’ll need to do it consistently. Getting started, however, is fairly straightforward.

If you’re wondering why we’re starting our guide for how to start a blog with the topic of monetization, it’s because you need to think more like an entrepreneur than just a blogger in order to make this a profitable venture.

1. Find a way for your blog to make money

This might sound counterintuitive, but if you’re looking to make money blogging, you should start with the money part first and the content part second. A solid monetization strategy comes before your first blog post because it determines what types of content you publish and how you grow long term. So to start, you want to think of your new blog as a business, rather than a creative outlet.

There are many ways to monetize your own blog, depending on the kind of blog you decide to start. For example, pairing a small business idea with a blog creates a sustainable way to grow for little cost other than time and energy.

Many people think using something like Google AdSense is the only way to start making money blogging. But while ads can help generate income, they require large amounts of traffic before they become economically viable. Thankfully, there are tons of other ways to start a blog and monetize it quickly, without the need to have a massive audience.

Here are six ways to monetize:

1. Selling a book

A great example of someone who has done this is James Clear. After writing a self-development blog, James wrote the book Atomic Habits to monetize his blog and capitalize on the knowledge he’d gained over years of writing posts.

This book, sold in digital and physical formats, not only made his blog economically viable: it also landed him on the New York Times bestsellers list.

2. Affiliate marketing

The affiliate marketing method allows you to gain a commission every time you sell a partner’s product. When done properly, affiliate commissions can add up and be a great way to make passive income.

Bases Loaded Softball, for example, writes gear reviews to attract readers, then promotes a product from Amazon in every new blog post. If a reader buys the product after clicking the link, the blog earns money.

3. Digital products

Digital products such as online courses are a natural way for bloggers to monetize. Successful bloggers are expert content creators, and courses capitalize on knowledge you already have. Just check out CopyHackers.com for inspiration from a blog that already made the jump.

4. Physical products

Depending on the topic and content of your blog, you can begin selling physical products that align with your brand and message. One example of this is Glossier, a makeup brand that grew out of Emily Weiss’s fashion blog, Into The Gloss.

5. Services

If you’re an aspiring blogger, chances are you’re an expert in a given area and are great with words. Services like consulting, coaching, and speaking engagements are great ways to monetize a blog.

6. Subscriptions

Patreon isn’t only for YouTubers. When people find value in the information you provide, they may be willing to pay a monthly fee to access exclusive blog content, making subscriptions a great way to monetize a blog.

The truth is, there are better and faster ways to make money with your blog that don’t require a massive volume of pageviews every day. That’s doubly true if you can build a loyal audience, not just a large one.

Of course, more than making money, your most important consideration will be who your audience is and how you’re going to serve them.

2. Pick a niche for your blog: What’s your “thing” going to be?

There’s no shortage of content on the web. It may seem hard to stand out, but there are two ways you can compete: by finding a niche to focus on and by creating content that has something about it that readers can’t easily find elsewhere.

It’s important to choose a niche that is an inch wide but a mile deep. This will ensure you can consistently create content without running out of ideas, and influence your blog name (which we’ll cover later).

You’ll also need to ensure that your chosen niche attracts an audience that aligns with your blog monetization strategy. What products or services would this audience be interested in buying?

You can do this in several ways:

• Focus your new blog on a specific location (e.g., New York)
• Focus your blog theme on a specific segment within a larger category (e.g., not just recipes, but vegan recipes)
• Deliver your blog posts in a different style or voice (e.g., humor)
• Compete with quality (e.g., in-depth posts on a topic that no one else is willing to do)

BlogTO, for example, covers a wide range of lifestyle topics but focuses specifically on the diverse city of Toronto.

The niche you choose will determine not only whether you can sustainably serve your audience with a steady flow of content, but also how you achieve monetization.

Ask yourself: What products or services would your blog audience want to buy? Whether you plan to monetize with display ads or the other strategies we’ll mention later, it’s a critical question to ask when choosing a niche for your blog.

You don’t want to skip this last step. A competitive analysis can help build your brand and create a unique voice in the space. The key to a successful blog is looking for a gap in perspectives and filling it.

3. Choose a blogging platform and template

Before you write your first blog post, you’ll need to set up your blog hosting and content management system. This is where many would-be bloggers get stuck if they’re not exactly sure which platform they should invest their time and money in.

The choice usually boils down either to a self-hosted or hosted blogging platform:

Self-hosted

These platforms generally offer more customization options, but you’ll need to host the site yourself by paying a hosting company a separate monthly fee. Apart from this cost, a web hosting plan requires some initial setup. WordPress is the go-to open-source platform if you’re considering the self-hosted route.

Hosted

A hosted site will allow you to set up your own blog faster. Shopify, for example, includes hosting in all its plans. However, unlike Shopify, some hosted sites, like Blogger or Wix, will limit customization options.

When choosing a platform, you will want to pick one that:

• Is easy to use
• Doesn’t require coding or HTML skills
• Will be able to grow with you

During your blogging journey there will come a time when you may want to change the look and functionality of your site as your brand matures, your traffic grows, and you have more posts to organize.

You’ll also want to ensure that your blogging platform offers a healthy ecosystem of plug-ins and apps—they can make a world of difference in optimizing your site’s performance, running site backups, marketing your new blog, and simplifying tasks.

4. Choose a blog and domain name

Companies like Bluehost will give you a free domain name if you sign up for a hosting plan. Bluehost also offers a 30-day money back guarantee if you’re unhappy with the service.

When choosing a domain name, think about what you’re going to call your website. Unless you’re trying to build a personal blog or a portfolio site, I would recommend against using your own name as your custom domain. You can still be the face of the blog, even if your personal name isn’t in the URL, and it’s a lot easier to build a sticky brand when you come up with a creative name that reflects your message.

Take a look at the Black Girls RUN! blog by Ashley Hicks-Rocha and Toni Carey. The blog, though a collection of Ashley and Toni’s personal experiences as Black female runners, falls under their brand name, Black Girls RUN!

When choosing a domain name, aim to make it:

• Memorable
• Fun to say
• Easy to spell
• Unique

Choosing a name for your blog can be tedious, but a good brand name makes a memorable impression on readers and allows them to know what to expect from your company.

Building a blog on Shopify

Shopify is a hosted platform that includes both an ecommerce website builder and a blogging platform, with add-ons such as hundreds of plug-ins and apps to help you grow and sell physical/digital products or services right away. You can start your free trial today.

Once that’s settled, you’ll need to pick a blog theme.

A “theme” is just a template for the blog design, layout, and features of your website. There are plenty of great Shopify themes available for free that you can set up with one click, whatever platform you choose. You can pick a theme in the Online Store tab in your Shopify dashboard, under Themes.

But if you’re not happy with those options, consider paying the one-time fee for a premium theme, as it will have a big impact on the overall user experience.

The design of your site can also affect your search engine optimization (SEO) and the engagement metrics on your blog content. Readers make a snap judgment on a site’s trustworthiness based on how it looks and feels.

Take The House That Lars Built. One glance at this interior-design-and-crafts blog and you know it’s going to be a fun experience.

From the quick load time to the soft colors and playful illustrations, The House That Lars Built is bound to appeal to readers who are into arts and crafts and design.

Most of us can also remember landing on a poorly designed website and bouncing when it became hard to find what we were looking for. Take some time when choosing a new theme, as it can make a world of difference in how your blog performs. 

Some Shopify apps that can extend the functionality of your blog include:

Building on WordPress

A self-hosted WordPress blog is a great place to start for new bloggers. Note that WordPress is only free if you’re using WordPress.com: if you use WordPress.org, you’ll need to pay for hosting and your own domain name (all which you can do with Shopify).

If you sign up for a Bluehost account, you can automatically install WordPress from your hosting dashboard. If you want to start a free WordPress blog, you can pick a theme on WordPress.com. There are many free WordPress themes you can choose from, including ones for blogging.

If you don’t want to pick a theme right away, click “Skip for now” and the top of the page. You’ll be redirected to a new page where you can start building your blog.

Click Name your site, then fill your information and click Save settings.

Next you’ll want to choose your WordPress theme, either a free theme or a paid one if you have some money to spend. Find a free theme in your WordPress dashboard under the Appearance tab in your sidebar, seen in the screenshot below.

Or find great WordPress themes for blogging on marketplaces like ThemeIsle or ThemeForest. To install an external theme from a site like ThemeIsle, go to Appearance, then Themes, and click >Install theme. There are also many WordPress blog plug-ins you can install to help market your blog pages. 

Want to turn your WordPress blog into a mini ecommerce site? The Shopify Buy Button lets you sell on any WordPress site or blog—all you need is a product to sell and you’re ready to launch in just a few clicks.

5. Plan your publishing strategy

Every blogger needs to keep a healthy supply of ideas, and it helps if you plan ahead to ensure you never run out. Create a content calendar to help you keep track of your ideas (and keep yourself on track, too). Your content calendar should include:

• What content you’re creating
• What audiences you’re targeting
• Which distribution channels you will be releasing on and on what date

You can use a simple spreadsheet to plan out your content calendar. However there are a lot more effective tools available. Trello, Airtable, or Asana are good options because they make organizing content more intuitive.

Thinking about your content mix is also important to get a sense of the scope of your blog and what categories/tags you might use to organize it all as you add more great content in the future.

Some types of blog posts to include are:

Evergreen content

Evergreen content gets its moniker because it’s relevant without much modification over time. It often takes the form of educational, informative articles about topics that are not news-cycle dependent.

Topical content

Topical blog posts capitalize on currently trending events or topics. Topical content is that it can fuel quick growth on social channels when it’s addressing topics with a lot of public interest in a distinctive way. Use topical content strategically, but don’t lean on it for steady traffic as it can be more unpredictable and go stale more quickly.

Curated content

Curated content, or content that was generated elsewhere but is linked to and contextualized by you, can be a great way to augment your original content strategy. The web is a big place, and readers appreciate thoughtfully curated content that aligns with their values and interests.

Feature pieces

Interviews can be a great way to build rich content in an editorial style. Feature stories tell a story and take readers into the minds and lives of extraordinary people. Interviews with notable people can be a great way to build authority as you gain some credibility by association.

Visual content

Visual content is something that all bloggers should have in their strategy. Search engines reward blog posts that incorporate videos, original images, and graphics.

Interactive content

Quizzes can be a great way to increase engagement like time on page and unearth deeper insights about your audience.

Try to plan out each blog post at least one month in advance, and publish on a consistent schedule so your audience has an idea of how often to expect new blog posts. You can always tweak the calendar if a feature story pops up and needs to get published fast.

Before writing blog posts, start with an outline. While this is a step that some bloggers might opt to skip, writing an outline is an effective way to hit all the points you need to hit. It’ll help make sure you include any relevant keywords and liberate your mind from the destination so you can focus on the journey.

When you have finished writing your blog post, before hitting Publish, here are some simple things you should do:

Edit your work

While coming back with fresh eyes and using a tool like Grammarly can help to catch syntax and grammar errors, having a human editor to bounce ideas off of can help take your blog posts to the next level.

Organize your blog post with headings

Subheadings make your posts more scannable and approachable for readers.

Workshop headlines and social sharing images

A headline and image can make or break your blog post distribution. While we wouldn’t advise creating clickbait, successful blog headlines and images that stand out on social feeds and inspire curiosity are vital to getting people to read your work.

Keep in mind that you won’t grow your audience overnight. You’ll have some hits and some misses, but you need to keep going to keep growing.

6. Get people to read your blog consistently

We usually talk about growing an audience after publishing. But if you want to start a blog and build momentum quickly, you need to consider your strategy before you launch.

Many bloggers struggle with distribution for two main reasons:

1. They don’t have a concrete, repeatable distribution strategy within their publishing process.
2. Publishing a new blog is already a nerve-wracking experience, and amplifying your reach makes it that much scarier.

The latter is something you eventually get over, but the former requires some initial thought and investment of time before you launch.

So let’s walk through some of the ways you can plan for growth and get the most out of every blog post you create.

Start collecting emails as soon as possible

Regardless of what platform you’re blogging on, you should be focused on getting email subscribers. Every new subscriber is a sign that you’re doing something right, and is a potential repeat reader you can easily reach.

Even if you switch platforms down the road or decide to start something new, your email list remains with you. But it’s not enough to just have a subscriber list. You need to capture these emails at every turn and you do that with contact forms.

A good habit to get into is embedding contact forms directly into your content or homepage with a call to action to subscribe. You can even embed one in an exit pop-up to convert abandoning visitors into subscribers.

Many email marketing solutions allow you to create and use these forms easily. You can even generate a link that directs to a separate contact page you can link out to in your blog posts, social media, and email signature.

Remember that people aren’t going to subscribe to your blog if you don’t ask and if you don’t make it easy for them. Every time you hit the Publish button, you should email it to your list—a process you can automate down the road once you get into the swing of things.

Brainstorm opportunities to go after search engine traffic

Using keyword research, you can get an idea of how much search volume there is for particular search queries in your blog niche. The higher the number, the more demand there is for a topic and the more traffic you can potentially generate long term.

The easiest way to do this is using Ubersuggest and entering search terms from your audience’s perspective to try to unearth interesting blog post ideas. Queries that start with “how to” or “best” are a good place to start.

Even if you don’t land a spot on the first page of the search engine results, you’ll have a content idea with proven demand. But if you want to aim high, you can learn more about SEO. And if you’re on Shopify, consider the free SEO checker app for optimizing each blog post.

Set up your social media strategy

While it might seem like a smart move to market your new blog on every social media platform, this can be difficult to manage and isn’t always effective. Instead, focus on the channels where your audience spends the most time. Do they join specific communities or forums? Are they on TikTok versus Facebook? Depending on your niche and your resources, your choice of channels will vary.

For example, Oh Happy Day, an online party-goods shop, taps into its growing list of more than 1.7 million followers every time it publishes a new blog post.

Don’t neglect your personal networks either—your friends and family make a great early audience as you start a blog.

Reduce, reuse, and resurface your content

You can’t put up an extensive and unique blog post every day. A good blogger knows how to reuse and repurpose their content to get the most mileage out of it. Here are some blog post ideas to keep in mind:

• Post a roundup of past blog posts with a common theme (e.g., “Our Best Posts of [YEAR]”).
• Recreate blog posts as other types of content, such as infographics or quizzes.
• Occasionally update and republish old content after a good amount of time has passed to boost ranking in Google Search. This works great with seasonal content (e.g., “10 Lazy Halloween Costume Ideas”).
• Consider accepting guest blog posts once you’ve started to amass a following. Guest authors will likely share this content with their own audiences, too.
• Add links to related content within and at the end of your posts. (If you’re on Shopify, install the free Related Blog Posts app.)
• Become a podcast guest and discuss a few blog topics you already wrote about.

When time is money and you’re in the business of blogging, you need to constantly squeeze more value out of your efforts.

Understand analytics to understand your audience

The best opportunities are hidden in your data, waiting to be discovered.

Whether you’re using a WordPress blog or the Shopify platform, take the time to set up Google Analytics on your site (it’s free). With a Google Analytics account, you can get deeper insights on your new blog, like the average amount of time people spent reading your posts, the quality of readers coming from different sources, and even the number of readers in real time.

Data can also be used as leverage for bloggers. The ability to prove how much traffic you bring in is a huge asset that makes others more likely to want to work with you or gain access to your audience.

How much money do bloggers make?

Full-time bloggers can earn a healthy living writing online content. In fact, according to finance blog Millennial Money, people who start a blog can earn up to $50,000 even in their first year, while bloggers who have built traffic and subscribers earn more than $100,000 the following year.

Get started now and make money blogging

Whether it’s your first time or you’ve done this a million times, it’s your audience that ultimately makes for a successful blog. If you want to grow your traffic and make money blogging, focus on growing this audience as you add new content on a regular basis.

You can learn more about how to make money blogging by checking out the following resources and success stories:

Blogging isn’t just fun and fulfilling—it’s also one of many paths to entrepreneurship. If you think like an entrepreneur and aim high when it comes to growth, you can start a blog with a valuable audience that powers your business for a long time to come.

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.

Even when a customer knows what’s inside a box arriving from their online order, there’s still an element of excitement that makes for a memorable unboxing experience.

That’s because small business owners can add unique and carefully designed packaging materials—such as layers of logo-branded tissue paper or maybe brand-aligned colored packing tape to the seams of a cardboard box—to build brand awareness.

The kind of cardboard, typeface, and inserts a business chooses can all provide important packing information, influence sales, and serve as a marketing tool.

The right packaging adds product value and encourages retailers to put your products on their shelves. If you’re torn on what kind of packaging you could use to introduce your small business to customers, here are some ideas.

10 small business packaging ideas

Unique or interesting small-business packaging ideas can have a big brand impact. Here are 10 creative ideas for your ecommerce packaging:

1. Personalized bags and boxes
2. Environmentally friendly inserts
3. Minimal packaging
4. Special instructions
5. Community-centered artwork
6. Physical newsletters
7. Tape options
8. Custom notes
9. Highlighting artisans and creators
10. Tissue paper

1. Personalized bags and boxes

Even if you know that your product would ship safely in a simple mailer, you can still create a personal touch with personalized bags and boxes. Whether you choose to display your branded logo, a slogan, or your company’s name on your shipping materials, it’ll make your packaging immediately stand out from the pack.

Check out Hero to learn about ways to design, customize, and roll out custom packaging for your small business.

2. Environmentally friendly inserts

While it can be loads of fun to get custom stickers, samples, coupons, or other vibrant packaging inserts, some customers may see those products as items that aren’t easily recyclable, depending on their composition.

Look into compostable or recyclable inserts made from natural materials that will simultaneously help protect the planet and inform your customers about your brand.

3. Minimal packaging

Ever scratch your head when you receive a box that’s within a box—and sometimes, yet another box? One packaging idea at your fingertips is to remove any extra layers of packaging and solely ship your product within one layer of cardboard box.

For example, Rothy’s is a shoe brand that only ships its products within its shoeboxes. Depending on the type of products you sell, this same packaging strategy may fit your small business, support sustainability, and improve your bottom line.

4. Special instructions

When your product requires specific steps, make the customer experience as stress-free as possible by providing any special instructions to educate your customers on the press.

Retailer Inkbox sells semi-permanent tattoos. Each package includes your chosen print and instructions on how to apply it to your skin. As part of Inkbox’s unique packaging, it has switched to more recyclable materials in its packaging.

5. Community-centered artwork

If you know that you want to make a splash with the visuals of your package design, take a look around. Are there ways to meaningfully tap into artistic talent that connects to your brand? You could incorporate crowdsourced art created and provided by people within your business’s network.

For example, if your product is all about bold, beautiful art, use social media to run an online contest with a cash prize for imagery that could inspire a season’s worth of packaging. It’s a creative way to develop deeper relationships with your customer base and even highlight their talents.

6. Physical newsletters

You may have already created an online newsletter for your business, but are there any other behind-the-scenes stories that may be worth sharing? If so, your packaging may be an opportunity to include exclusive content like a printed newsletter, postcards of recent photo campaigns, and other materials that are only available within packages for a limited time.

For example, Farewell Frances supports its brand image by including postcards of recent photo campaigns and placing them into packages for customers to enjoy at home—a unique add-on to the branded packaging experience.

7. Tape options

Packing tape may initially seem plain and drab, but there are no rules limiting what type of packing tape you can use—the choice is yours! Whether you want to wrap packages with a fluorescent neon stripe or a logo image, or use stickers instead, an extra pop of signature color or imagery can help solidify your brand’s identity. Plus, you can align your packing tape or stickers with other materials inside of the package, like inserts and tissue paper.

8. Custom notes

Adding a handwritten note is a personal touch to include when a customer buys a product from you. Personalizing packaging with inserts goes a long way toward building a positive brand experience.

Start by writing a small thank-you note and tucking it into your packages, like beauty products maker Journ does. You can add personalized information like your customer’s name or inspiration for the product and share appreciation for their support. In time, such thoughtful communication can become a touchstone of brand identity and attract repeat customers.

A downfall of this idea, however, is that once you ramp up to a certain level of production, it can become more challenging to execute.

9. Highlighting artisans and creators

Sometimes, who makes your goods and why is a central pillar of brand identity. Part of your ecommerce business may therefore center on artisans and global stewardship. Consider incorporating graphics, photographs, or notes that tell how creators make your products. This can help deepen the human connection to your brand because people feel their purchases are doing social or environmental good.

Take sustainable clothing brand Public Myth, which makes ethically made apparel on-site or just blocks from its Vancouver, Canada, headquarters.

10. Tissue paper

When a customer opens a package, one of the first things they might see is tissue paper. It’s a key way to incorporate signature brand colors into your packaging concept. Consider customized or bold tissue paper colors to create a positive color experience that represents your brand. Off-the-beaten-path craft paper is another option to wrap your products and help ensure they’re safe during shipment. Digiwrap is a digital printing resource to help with that.

3 types of packaging

For your ecommerce business, the main purpose of packaging is to protect products during shipping. Three types of packaging options when mailing your products are:

1. Corrugated cardboard boxes

Thicker than regular cardboard boxes, corrugated boxes have wave-shaped paper layers for extra protection. There are various types of corrugated boxes, which are sturdy, reusable, and safe for transporting a range of products, including glass, valuables, and heavy items, or anything that’s fragile or needs extra durability or stabilization during transit. These boxes are typically lightweight, so they won’t add unnecessary shipping costs.

For an eco-friendly version, look for corrugated boxes made completely—or with a portion of—recycled cardboard. Ecoenclose is a vendor offering completely sustainable cardboard options.

2. Padded mailers

Padded mailers are best for smaller products that can be protected by the mailer’s internal layer of plastic bubble wrap or recyclable paper. Think books or handmade jewelry within a brand’s custom packaging or small box within the mailer.

Because padded mailers are relatively compact, they don’t have to be left on a customer’s doorstep, where they might be stolen. Instead, they can be slipped into a mailbox for safety and security. Ecopackables offers compostable padded mailers to help cut down on plastic use, too.

3. Bags and mailers

Poly bags and mailers may seem the same as padded mailers, but they’re different. There is no protective bubble wrap or protective liner. Bags and mailers are often larger, super lightweight, and water resistant to protect contents from the elements.

Since these options lack padding, this packaging is best for soft items, such as clothing. Sustainable packaging company Grounded offers renewable mailers made with compostable bioplastic.

What’s the first step in choosing product packaging?

There are different custom packaging options depending on the type of product you sell. Before narrowing down your packaging choices, the first step is to think about your business and identify your brand values and the messaging you’d like to convey. Among the values that may help inform your custom packaging decisions are:

Sustainability

If your business uses sustainable packaging and shipping solutions, you may consider the environmental impact of your packaging as a key brand value. Using recycled, organic, or handmade materials are ways to do this and reflect those eco-friendly values.

Other environmentally conscious options small business owners may consider to make their packaging stand out include using compostable materials, shipping smaller-sized packages to reduce waste, and buying carbon-neutral credits to offset the carbon footprint of shipping.

Social responsibility

Your business’s social impact efforts can influence the products you offer or how they are made and packaged. Perhaps your mission is to support independent artists, uplift artisans, or devote a portion of your sales to a social cause. If so, examples of a brand’s social responsibility can lend themselves to packaging that tells a wider story via graphics, inserts, colors, and other design elements.

Cost efficiency

Perhaps your main goal as a business owner is simply to keep your costs as low as possible to pass those savings along to existing and new customers. That might mean that your business focuses on providing a better value for your products than a competitor does. If so, your goal may be to use as few frills as possible to keep your packaging streamlined, simple, and inexpensive.

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.

So you’re ready to make your mark with print-on-demand t-shirts. It’s a profitable product choice—every year, apparel brands generate billions of dollars from tees, thanks to their universal appeal and endless design variations.

But how do you ensure your t-shirt business stands out in a crowded market? The answer is to pick a print-on-demand company that offers well-made garments, quality printing, and fast, reliable shipping.

From there, it’s down to you to create awesome graphics perfectly tailored to your customers’ tastes. This post helps with both parts of running a print-on-demand t-shirt business.

The best print-on-demand t-shirt companies

The first step in your quest for world t-shirt domination is to pick the best print-on-demand company for designing and making your shirts. According to merchants, the companies below are as reliable as your go-to tee:

1. Printful
2. Printify
3. Apliiq
4. Teelaunch
5. Gooten

1. Printful 

Printful is a popular app for creating print-on-demand t-shirts and more. With no order minimums or upfront fees, it’s accessible for businesses of all sizes. Plus, it’s easy to link products to your Shopify store, as well as to Etsy and Amazon.

Printful offers more than just printing. It can also produce custom packaging and will take care of warehousing and fulfillment. That means less work for you.

When it comes to t-shirt variety, Printful has you covered. There are men’s, women’s, and children’s styles, including standard t-shirts, polo shirts, and tank tops from popular brands.

• Popular t-shirt brands: American Apparel, Bella + Canvas, Gildan, and more
• Average fulfillment time: 2–7 business days
• Mockup generator: Yes
• Ecommerce integration: Yes
• Branding options: Custom packaging

2. Printify

Printify offers more than 850 print-on-demand products, including a wide range of t-shirts, tanks, and hoodies in various colors. It’s easy to connect Printify with Shopify, Etsy, and eBay, and there’s also an open API for added flexibility.

Printify lets you order samples, so you can be sure of the design and quality before you commit to a larger order. It’s a great choice for sellers worldwide, thanks to its network of more than 90 printers across the globe. Plus, you can see the average fulfillment time for each supplier, helping you make informed decisions.

• Popular t-shirt brands: Bella+Canvas, Gildan, Delta, and more
• Average fulfillment time: 2–7 business days
• Mockup generator: Yes
• Ecommerce integration: Yes
• Branding options: Varies by t-shirt

3. Apliiq

Apliiq is a print-on-demand that’s focused on apparel. It offers a diverse range of shirts, including standard t-shirts, tank tops, flannels, polos, and even unique tie-dye tops. Depending on your chosen style, you can select from dozens of colors.

But Apliiq doesn’t stop at printing. It also offers private labeling, woven tags, embroidery, and patches, allowing you to customize products for your brand. You can order samples with no minimums, perfect for testing quality before making a larger commitment. And if you decide to go big with Apliiq, bulk orders can net you discounts of up to 18%.

• Popular t-shirt brands: Gildan, Jerzees, Tultex, and more
• Average fulfillment time: 5 business days
• Mockup generator: Yes
• Ecommerce integration: Yes
• Branding options: Custom labels, logos, tags, and packaging

4. Teelaunch

Teelaunch is a print-on-demand service that began by focusing exclusively on clothing. You’ll find men’s, women’s, and unisex t-shirts, tank tops, long-sleeve tees, and sweatshirts. It even has shirts for youth, toddlers, and babies. Sizes range from small to 5XL and colors vary, with more than 20 options for many styles. Some shirts even offer double-sided printing.

Teelaunch works well with Shopify, but you can also sell on Etsy, Facebook, Amazon, or eBay. While the app doesn’t offer free samples, there is a discount for first-time users.

• Popular t-shirt brands: District, Champion, and more
• Average fulfillment time: 3–6 business days
• Mockup generator: No
• Ecommerce integration: Yes
• Branding options: No

5. Gooten

Check out Gooten, a print-on-demand solution designed for businesses. With a catalog of over 280 customizable products, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and accessories, Gooten offers plenty of choice.

Most products are ready within three to four business days and ship at a flat rate, making it easy to plan and budget.

With a network of over 50 manufacturers in more than 70 global locations, Gooten is ready to help your print-on-demand business grow.

And it’s not just about printing. Gooten also offers woven and embroidery decoration options, giving your products that extra touch of quality.

• Popular t-shirt brands: Bayside, Champion, American Apparel, and more
• Average fulfillment time: 3-4 business days
• Mockup generator: Yes
• Ecommerce integrations: Yes
• Branding options: custom labels and packing slips

How to sell print-on-demand t-shirts (4 steps)

Once you’ve picked a print-on-demand service, the next step is to create the visual design for your shirts. Don’t worry if you’re not an artist or a design expert. There are several ways to approach this task, each with its own pros and cons.

The key is to choose the method that best suits your skills and comfort level.

1. Find your t-shirt niche
2. Choose t-shirts for printing
3. Create t-shirt designs
4. Build an online store to sell your tees

1. Find your t-shirt niche

A successful t-shirt business starts with a clear niche. In a crowded market, unique t-shirt designs that appeal to a specific audience are an absolute must. Research other online t-shirt businesses to spot market gaps and develop a unique selling proposition.

Use your market research to understand your potential customers’ interests and behaviors. This information can help you create buyer personas to hone in on your target audience.

2. Choose t-shirts for printing

T-shirts come in many forms! Review your print-on-demand partner’s inventory to pick the right t-shirts for your customers.

Most sellers opt for cotton or polyester tees. Cotton is soft, comfortable, and durable—and is a good choice for eco-conscious customers when sourced organically. Polyester keeps its size and shape well but can retain odors. Blended fabrics offer a balance but may cost more.

Also, consider the weight and fit of t-shirts. Lightweight, slim-fit shirts are ideal for outdoor activities and workouts, while heavyweight and relax-fit shirts tend to be more comfortable and longer-lasting.

3. Create t-shirt designs

Before you start selling, you need to create eye-catching designs. Here’s how:

DIY design

If you’re artistically inclined, leverage your skills to create your own t-shirt graphics. This could be anything from a unique illustration to a popular meme, fan artwork, or your brand logo. Remember, while unique t-shirt visuals can set your brand apart, ensure the design process doesn’t outweigh the profits.

Leverage online resources

For those comfortable with DIY but needing a little guidance, online t-shirt templates and mockups are a great resource. These tools often provide free templates and design elements, making the process easier and more cost-effective.

Outsource to professionals

If design isn’t your strong suit, consider hiring a professional. Platforms like Shopify Partners connect you with experienced designers who can bring your vision to life. This can be a worthwhile investment, especially if it frees up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.

4. Build an online store to sell your tees

When your tees are ready, you’ll need a place to sell them. For most businesses, that means an ecommerce website, a business social media account, or, better yet, both! Here’s how to set up your store:

Pick an ecommerce platform

Choose an ecommerce platform that fits your needs. Consider factors like pricing, features, and ease of use. Shopify is a popular choice for clothing designers and sellers because you can integrate your favorite print-on-demand app directly into your store. That makes it simple to set up product listings.

With Shopify, you can also add social media sales channels to sell to customers on Instagram and Facebook.

Set up your store

Decide on a name for your store, register a website domain, and build your first pages—such as a homepage, product pages, and a page containing your shipping policy, which needs to match the terms provided by your print-on-demand supplier.

You’ll also need to configure your checkout so that customers can pay for their tees. If you’re using Shopify, you can take advantage of its internet-leading one-click checkout.

Select a theme

As you build a brand around your t-shirt designs, consider how to reflect your business’s aesthetic in your store design. The right store theme can make your store more visually appealing and easier to navigate.

Add your t-shirts

If you are using a print-on-demand service that integrates with your ecommerce platform, it should be simple to list your t-shirts in your store. Include unique, memorable product names, detailed descriptions, and clear pricing information to help customers feel confident about their purchases.

If you can, order samples of your shirts and invest in high-quality product photos that showcase your designs.

Market your products

Once your store is live, it’s time to attract customers. Start by identifying your target audience and where they spend their time online. This could be on social media platforms, forums, or blogs related to your niche.

Create a marketing strategy that reaches your audience on these platforms. This could involve social media advertising, content marketing, and influencer partnerships. Remember to highlight what makes your t-shirts unique.

You could also consider a launch promotion, such as a discount on each customer’s first purchase—or a two-for-one offer.

Free Webinar:

How to quickly start a profitable print-on-demand store

In our free 40 minute video workshop, we’ll get you from product idea to setting up an online store to getting your first print-on-demand sale.

Getting started with print-on-demand t-shirts

The beauty of print on demand is its flexibility and scalability. You can continuously test new designs, experiment with different niche audiences, and adapt your products based on customer feedback and market trends. When you’re ready, it’s simple to expand your product line beyond t-shirts to all kinds of apparel products.

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.

Enamel pins have exploded in the fashion world and entrepreneurs can take advantage of this business opportunity.

These tiny metal pins are highly customizable and can feature any design, including offbeat illustrations, branded logos, and anything else you can dream up. Enamel pins act as an extension of people’s personalities and give them the chance to customize and accessorize jean jackets, backpacks, hats, and more.

From graphic designers to apparel masterminds to major retailers like Urban Outfitters, creatives and pin makers worldwide have started building successful online businesses by transforming their unique designs and ideas into enamel lapel pins.

This comprehensive guide covers how to make and sell enamel pins, from design to manufacturing and marketing. It’s time to create your own online accessory powerhouse.

Use our free starter kit to sell enamel pins!

Burst is a free stock photo site powered by Shopify. Download our free enamel pin images and read our guide to learn how to start selling pins online.

Get a free starter kit from Burst

Why make enamel pins?

Souvenir pins have been around for decades. Go into any rest stop or gift store and you’ll likely find an assortment of different lapel pins.

Today, people wear pins to express themselves and to promote the things they like. They can place pins anywhere: backpages, hats, shirts, pants. Enamel pins have become a sort of fashion statement, with celebrities like Taylor Swift wearing them on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

Illustrators and artists love the enamel pin industry for a few reasons:

• Pins are a good complement to selling clothes and stickers
• The profit margins on enamel pins are high
• They are easy to make and ship
• There’s no limit on creativity

Types of enamel pins to make

Soft enamel

Soft enamel is the most popular choice for creating enamel pins and a favorite for beginners. It generally has more color options, with richer and more vibrant colors available. Using enamel paint you can customize this type of enamel pins to your heart’s content.

Using soft enamel also lets you get more texture detail into your design, including borders and edges you can actually feel. However, soft enamel pins are also much less durable than hard enamel pins and they can be scratched easily. From a pin production perspective, they can be easy to make but have durability drawbacks.

To create a soft enamel pin, one layer of paint is applied on recessed areas of the pin’s surface. The slightly higher metal between these recessed areas give the pin a rigid finish. These enamel pins are often cheaper to produce.

Hard enamel

Hard enamel is much more durable and rugged than soft enamel but can be more expensive and generally has more restrictions when it comes to coloring. Hard enamel pins can appear subdued and less vivid than soft enamel pins.

Additionally, hard enamel pins use a clear coat of resin on top which creates a textureless, smooth surface. Hard enamel is a good choice if your pins will need to withstand the elements and if long-term durability is important to you. For example, if you’re targeting customers who want to hang their enamel pin on their outdoor back back for example, this type of pin might be a great option.

3D mold

3D mold pins, or die-cast pins, are a type of pin made with metal. They are made when molten metal is poured under high pressure into a mold of your design. 3D mold pins typically have a more elegant, classic look and are made from either zinc or pewter.

You’ll want to use die cast pins when you have an intricate design that requires cutouts or a pin that isn’t a perfect shape. Think designs for animals, toys, planes, or symbols.

Offset epoxy pins

An epoxy pin has a clear plastic coating that is applied to soft enamel or offset-printed-style lapel pins. It adds shine and protects your designs from damage. Epoxy coating can protect silk screen paint or offset printed designs from fading or scratching over time.

Die struck

Die struck pins are made from pressing metals, like iron, gold, or copper, against a steel mold to create your pin. Striking the metal creates a recessed area where you can add color options, like cloisonné. Some makers also sandblast the recessed area to create a two-tone metal look.

How to make enamel pins

1. Find your unique niche
2. Design your custom enamel pins
3. Make your pins
4. Sell your pins on marketplaces

1. Find your unique niche

Want to know the secret to creating a great product? Find an audience first.

If you can narrow down a unique niche for your enamel pins, the rest of the process will be much easier. Understanding your audience also means understanding how to design a great product and sell it to that audience.

Often times, the best foundation for a successful small business idea is a passion project. When you find a niche that you’re passionate about first, creating and selling enamel pins online won’t feel like work. It’ll still take time and effort, but you’ll enjoy every part of the process if it’s something you truly care about.

When it comes to niches, there are two basic ways to find an audience: choose a niche that you care about or find a niche that you either already understand or can easily learn to understand. All it takes is a bit of market research to find a passionate, engaged audience that will be perfect for your brand.

Spend some time browsing your favorite enamel pin websites or social media profiles. Have a look on Pinterest for some inspiration. Take note of what you like and what you think could be improved. Be sure to look for inspiration outside of the enamel pin niche as well. You can always borrow inspiration from other industries to help further grow your enamel pin business.

Using your own niche communities

If you’re already an active member of a niche community, creating a business that caters to their values is a straightforward process. Remember: a niche can be any community with a specific, definable set of interests.

A niche can be any community with a specific, definable set of interests.

Not sure which niches you belong to? Take a look at your interests and think about the communities that surround them.

• Do you have any hobbies?
• What are your favorite TV shows, movies, or books?
• What are the things you’re crazy about?

Discovering new niche communities

Targeting your own community can be a rewarding strategy, but sometimes it’s better to find new niche audiences with fresh opportunities instead.

There are a few different methods to seeking out active niches:

• Reddit. Using tools like Reddit List, you can discover the most active communities on Reddit. Reddit is a meeting place and message board for some of the world’s largest subcultures, which makes researching and validating niche audiences simple.
• KWFinder. Another way to evaluate demand and interest is by using KWFinder to find out how often people are googling terms related to your target niche.
• Google Trends. You can also use Google Trends for a more generic overview of global search volume. While Google Trends isn’t as in depth as the other two options, it quickly can help you determine the viability of a niche.
• Pinterest. Because Pinterest is an incredibly visual platform, this is a great place to start. Take note of the best boards and influencers who post frequently about enamel pins or craft jewelry. 

Determining whether a niche community is a good fit

Once you’ve done some research and found a set of niche communities that could work for your business, it’s time to determine whether they’re good fits for creating a successful, sustainable product.

Here’s a simple framework for evaluating a niche’s potential:

• Is it a unique niche? Your niche should have defining traits that set it apart from larger, more mainstream audiences. A set of unique traits will make your niche easier to target. Lots of different folks like enamel pins! Get clear on who you want to target. 
• Is it a sustainable niche? If you’re planning on building a successful business, you’ll want to find a niche that has the potential to stick around for a long time. If there are already businesses serving your chosen niche, changes are good it’s a sustainable business model.
• Is it an active niche? Without an active community, marketing to a niche can be a major challenge. If your niche has lots of engaged members, it will be much easier to build an audience that will rally behind your business.
• Is it a scalable niche? While you might start out targeting a single, small subset of the population with your products, if you’re successful, you’ll want to expand. If you think targeting your niche won’t limit your business’ potential in the future, it’s a good fit.
• Are there influencers in your niche? If your niche has major players who are popular social media influencers, marketing to your audience will be considerably easier. Are there certain members with large followings on Instagram (#pingame) or Pinterest? Even just a few big influencers can go a long way.

2. Design your custom enamel pins

After you’ve determined who you’re going to be selling your enamel pins to, you’ll need to figure out what those pins will actually look like.

Even if you don’t have any design skills, creating enamel pins is totally possible. There are a wide variety of options out there to connect you with talented artists or turn your original designs into physical products.

Let’s take a look at the different resources and tools you can use to design stunning enamel pins, regardless of your skill level.

Design your own pins

For creating mockups of your lapel pins, using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop is probably your best bet. If you don’t have access to Photoshop, here are some free alternatives you can use to create your own original designs:

Work with a pin designer

Maybe you aren’t confident in your design skills or you don’t have the time to create your own designs. Whatever the reason, there are lots of great options out there for outsourcing the entire design process to talented designers from around the world.

You can work with a company like Your Stuff Made that specializes in pin design and manufacturing.

The brand is artist-run and owned, so you know you’ll get high-quality, custom pin designs at an affordable price. It also manufactures pins out of its own ethically sourced and certified factory in China. You’ll pay between $130-180 for a minimum order of 100 pins between a size range of 1-2 inch pins.  

There are also great marketplaces for hiring graphic designers and purchasing design resources:

Note: If you’re purchasing design resources, make sure they have a commercial license so you can use them for your products.

When it comes to enamel pins, there are a few guidelines your final designs will need to follow:

• Your designs will need to only use solid colors, usually from the Pantone color matching system, which means your enamel colors can’t include gradients or transparent colors.
• Due to the size of enamel pins, you should avoid using small text or fine details in your designs.
• Normally, your manufacturer will only need a JPG, PNG, or vector file of your design, but be sure to ask them for details like sizing and bleed area to make sure you’re following their specific guidelines.

Learn more: The Business of DIY: 24 Things to Make and Sell Online

3. Make your pins

Once you’ve come up with your designs, you’ll need to track down a manufacturer who can take your ideas and transform them into enamel pins.

Even if you’re an experienced entrepreneur, researching and contacting manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors can seem a little intimidating. However, the manufacturing process is fairly straightforward if you know what you’re looking for ahead of time.

In this section, we’ll explore the step-by-step process for researching and evaluating manufacturers, as well as things to keep in mind once you’re ready to get your enamel pins made.

Factors that influence pricing

As a rule of thumb, it’s important to try to keep your costs low when ordering pins. Here’s a look at the factors that increase the final price of your order:

• The number of colors used in your design;
• The complexity of your design;
• The pin size;
• The quantity of your order.

In terms of order quantity, the main cost for manufacturers is building the initial mold for your product. Once they’ve built the mold to cast your pin, the cost to add more pins to your order is not as impactful on your bottom line as the cost of creating the mold. Just something to keep in mind when you’re considering how large of an order you should make.

Finding a manufacturer for your enamel pins

There are many companies in North America, Europe, and Asia that offer enamel pin manufacturing. A quick Google search for enamel pin manufacturers can turn up lots of different results. Here’s a quick look at a few options:

Alternatively, you can use Alibaba to track down a reliable manufacturer overseas.

Connecting with overseas manufacturers is an intimidating process. If this is your first time dealing with manufacturers, you probably have no idea where to start—but that’s totally fine.

Manufacturing specifications for enamel pins

For enamel pins, there are a few details you should keep in mind when reaching out to a manufacturer.

Most enamel lapel pin manufacturers will allow you to customize the materials you use for your pins, beyond hard or soft enamel. You’ll be able to choose the color and texture of your enamel pins’ base before dyes are added, so make sure you ask to see all the options available. You should also ask about the options available for the needle on the back of your pin, including whether the clasp for the needle is steel, rubber, or some other material.

Additionally, find out if your chosen manufacturers will also let you customize the way your pins are shipped. Enamel pins usually arrive in small plastic bags, but some manufacturers will allow you to add a custom backing card to each bag for a unique, professional touch. If backing cards are available, make sure you’re given the exact design specifications for them, including color limitations and bleed area.

Get a sample

Any trustworthy manufacturer will send you a proof or sample pin for you to inspect before ordering a full run of product. Be sure to thoroughly examine this sample to make sure that the product lives up to your vision.

After finalizing your product design, the next step is to validate demand. Order the smallest run possible first and see how it does. Once you’re positive there’s a substantial demand for your product, then you can think about scaling up and increasing the size of your orders.

How to sell enamel pins online

Now that you know your market, the pins you’ll sell, and your supply chain, it’s time to figure out how and where to sell your enamel pins.

Open an online store

Marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy are good places to list your pins, but you’ll want to open an online store for your own brand. An online store acts as your digital home, where you can connect with shoppers and sell your products.

For example, PINTRILL, a leading enamel pin seller, features hundreds of pins on its ecommerce website.

PINTRILL gives new life to work by artists that have passed like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. It also expanded its product line to include keychains, pin backs, and hats. You can create your own DIY custom pins right on the website.

Because PINTRILL doesn’t list on third-party marketplaces, it doesn’t pay commission and can keep all the profits.

Resources:

Take great product photos

Make sure to take good product photos of your pins. Shoppers will want to see the details, and you took the time to design them, so might as well show ’em off.

Market your online store

When it comes to marketing your own enamel pin business, there are some recommended channels you’ll want to try:

• Search engine marketing (SEO). SEO helps you reach people who are looking for specific enamel pins or designs. The buying intent behind these searches means you’ll get relevant traffic to your product pages, which can result in more sales. You can do this organically through on-site optimization or by promoting through Google Ads.
• Instagram marketing. Instagram is a highly visual platform, perfect for creators to show off their products. You can publish a mix of Stories, posts, or Reels to promote your products and connect with followers. The more they enjoy your content, the more likely they are to buy.
• Facebook advertising. Say you want to target a specific group with your pins. Facebook ads can help you market to people who fit that profile.
• Influencer marketing. Partner up with micro-celebrities, YouTubers, Instagrammers, and TikTokers to use their influencer and promote your pins. Influencers help you get in front of the right people.

Building a DIY enamel pin business

Building an enamel pin business can be both rewarding and profitable when done right.

Even if you feel like there is some competition in your niche, do it. Like any competitive market, if you focus on making incredible products and getting them in front of the right audience, you’ll turn a profit.

Start your business as a side hustle, then slowly turn it into a full-time venture. You’ll figure out what pins sell and different ways to source them to increase margins and make money online.

Illustration by Pete Ryan

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.

Wholesale trade is worth about $670 billion dollars annually in the US alone, and the industry has grown by more than 38% since 2020.

Those are hard numbers for sellers to ignore, which is why more of them, especially dropshippers, are scrambling for a piece of the wholesale ecommerce pie.

Still, you can’t sell a product you don’t have. The biggest challenge in sourcing products is finding a supplier you can trust. With scores of wholesale options all around the world, finding the best supplier for your online business can feel overwhelming.

But it doesn’t need to. With Shopify Collective, you can discover high-quality products from Shopify brands to sell through your online store. Another option is a marketplace like Faire, which offers products from thousands of independent brands.

If you’re already on Shopify, you can use the Faire: Buy Wholesale product sourcing app to buy wholesale products and sync them to your store. If you want to sell wholesale, you can try the Faire: Sell Wholesale app to gain exposure to independent retailers globally.

Ahead, learn how wholesale buying works, explore additional options, and learn how to find the perfect wholesale or dropshipping suppliers for your needs.

What is a wholesale supplier?

A wholesale supplier is a business that buys goods directly from the manufacturer and sells them to brick-and-mortar or online retailers for a profit. The wholesale model soared in popularity with the onset of mass production and marketing techniques in the 19th century.

Without wholesalers, manufacturers would have to market goods to retailers on their own. Instead, wholesale vendors act as middlemen in the supply chain.

They buy from manufacturers in such large quantities they get a significant discount, which they can then pass on to retailers. They normally have a product license and, as such, their products are not available to regular customers—or at least not at the same price points they offer to retail partners.

Retailers then repackage the wholesale products for individual sale at a profit. Price is always negotiable, but dropshippers and other retailers typically pay wholesalers 60% to 70% of what they charge consumers.

How to find a reputable wholesale supplier

With so many options, finding the best suppliers for your business can be daunting. Here are a few things to bear in mind:

• Quality. Some sites do feature more than their fair share of knockoffs and low-quality products, so do your market research before you’re stuck with thousands of low-quality items.
• Price. Take detailed notes on prices and remember: everything is negotiable. The more you buy, the larger the discount should be. If you can get a 10% discount, then you’re in good company.
• Complaints. If something goes wrong, who’s going to fix it? Customer service is a key part of dropshipping, so you’ll only want to work with wholesalers who have a good reputation.

Another concern for merchants is how to find suppliers who can handle a quick turnaround. Meeting this window is crucial, as consumers expect products to arrive within three business days.

So how do you find legitimate, quality wholesale suppliers? The following are all wholesale supplier marketplaces you can order products from.

Wholesale suppliers by variety and price

If your online business curates a wide variety of products or is competing on price, consider working with some of the following wholesalers.

Alibaba and Aliexpress

The Ali family of websites is China’s most dominant online marketplace, comparable to Amazon in the US. Research shows it has a 63% share of the domestic (Chinese) ecommerce market. Alibaba is a wholesale supplier directory aimed at a B2B audience, while AliExpress is a B2C experience.

If you’re looking to conduct a limited trial run, AliExpress might be a wise choice before going all-in on wholesale with Alibaba. The Ali family of websites is ideal for:

• Medium- to low-quality goods sourced from China
• Wide variety of wholesale products and price points
• Private label/white labeled items

One of the best things about working with suppliers based in China is ePacket delivery, which makes shipping much faster and more affordable than it used to be. This is because in 2011, the US Postal Service made ePacket delivery eligible for First Class service and delivery confirmation.

DHgate

DHgate is another wholesale supplier based in China. DHgate has lower prices on a lot of wholesale products, but is known for carrying a lot of replica goods. If that’s not an issue for your business, it’s worth digging through deals to see what you can unearth.

DHgate is best for:

• Having a wide selection of products with options to suit any merchant and niche
• Integrated rating system to help vet the right supplier for you

Wholesale suppliers by location

Sometimes it’s best to pick a wholesale supplier based on geography. Fast delivery is increasingly a priority for modern consumers. If you’re in North America or Europe, then these are the wholesalers you should know about.

EK Wholesale

EK Wholesale is based in Scotland and has been around for more than 30 years, making it one of the leading wholesale suppliers for merchants who do business in Europe. EK is known for carrying high-quality products, and offers free delivery to the UK mainland on orders of £250 or more. Other benefits include:

• Specialization in clothing (so if you’re not selling clothes you might want to look elsewhere)
• Full integration with the Shopify POS
• Ability to design your own private label clothing brand

If most of your customers are based in the EU or your business specializes in the fashion niche, then working with EK Wholesale might be the best option for you.

Faire

Faire is ideal for merchants based in North America. It has a wide variety of suppliers based on the continent—and a wide variety of goods, including beauty, kitchen, pets, and bags.

Faire is also good for dropshippers looking to save on shipping costs. The free shipping bonus could really make a difference to your business, especially if you’re new to the world of dropshipping.

Wholesale suppliers for dropshipping

If you already know what you’re doing when it comes to dropshipping, take a look at some of the following options. Experienced dropshippers who are comfortable navigating clunky websites, or those with a very specific niche, are sure to find some great price points.

Wholesale Central

Wholesale Central has more than 1,400 suppliers, more than 700,000 products, and requires no membership fees. Its website isn’t flashy, but if you know what you’re looking for and have some experience wholesaling, this can be a solid option.

• Wholesale Central offers a wide variety of options for dropshipping and wholesale only. There are no retail prices whatsoever, so make sure you have your business ID and tax number ready.
• You can use Wholesale Central to search for dropshippers directly, and results are sorted by geography.
• No registration is needed: you can start searching and connecting to wholesalers right off the bat. Some other sites require a waiting period as they process your registration.

If you’re eager to get started on your dropshipping journey, not having a registration waiting period makes Wholesale Central a solid option.

IndiaMart

IndiaMart’s range of suppliers is staggering—it stocks the usual consumer goods, plus a few specific industries. Depending on the wholesale product you’re pursuing, this could be your best choice. Here’s why:

• IndiaMart is very good for certain niches. If you’re selling medical, chemical, industrial, or automobile supplies, this is the site for you.
• IndiaMart is also one of the few wholesale companies to offer over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical dropshipping services.

IndiaMart’s strength lies in its niches. Few wholesale vendors have contact with the industries that IndiaMart does.

Other considerations for finding suitable wholesale suppliers

If you have the patience to dig through the options we’ve laid out, you’re bound to find suppliers that suit your business. Just make sure to avoid some of the common pitfalls:

• Overspending. On one hand, you want to spend enough so you actually get the benefit of working with a wholesale supplier, but you also don’t want to go all-in on a product that hasn’t been market tested. Know your budget limits and calculate what you should be paying.
• Fees. Know the membership fees or any extra costs you’re paying for so you don’t get surprised. Membership fees are the norm in the wholesale world, but make sure your supplier is upfront about it.
• Public selling. If a wholesale supplier offers goods to the public, that’s a red flag. Legitimate wholesale prices require business identification.

If you’re just starting your dropshipping journey and need a little extra help, consider a dropshipping app. An app syncs with your Shopify account, meaning you can add products directly to your online store. Dropshipping avoids the stress of packaging, shipping, and managing inventory.

What problems does a wholesale supplier solve?

For businesses that wholesale products, the goal is to select and curate the best wholesale products for customers, while handling all the marketing and customer service.

But those products have to come from somewhere. Otherwise, you’d have to develop your own products and supply chain. That’s where wholesale suppliers come in. There are many advantages to working with wholesalers:

• You can buy as much stock as you need without worrying about expensive storage rental.
• If something sells out suddenly, you have an existing relationship with a supplier and can quickly restock.
• You get discounted products to sell online at solid profit margins.
• You essentially bypass the entire product development process—saving money and time.

Dropshipping and wholesale suppliers

Dropshipping is a fulfillment method where an online store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, the store will purchase products from a third-party supplier and have them shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the seller never handles the products directly.

Think of it as wholesale purchasing meets third-party fulfillment (as opposed to regular retailers who buy wholesale—or develop and manufacture their own products—and handle fulfillment on their own).

Learn more: 150+ Dropshipping Products to Sell for Profit

Unconventional ways to find wholesale suppliers

Using wholesale supplier marketplaces is the simplest way to connect with a wholesale supplier, but it’s not the only way.

Those willing to stray from the beaten path just might find a great deal lurking around the corner. Other options for finding reliable and trustworthy suppliers include:

• Going to an industry trade show and connecting with wholesale suppliers in person
• Joining social media groups for your niche and talking shop with other merchants
• Joining trade organizations for your product to see if any names come up

Those willing to meet and greet a wholesaler live may find a solution that’s ideal for their unique business needs. Some people work better in person, and building a business relationship face to face can lead to increased trust and cheaper prices for wholesale purchases down the line.

Once you’ve found your ideal wholesale supplier, it’s time to reach out and take the next steps.

What to ask when contacting a potential wholesale supplier

Before you pick up the phone, ensure you have the necessary business license and tax documents on hand. You won’t be able to place an order at some companies—or even get their attention—without this information.

Rules for dealing with certified wholesalers vary from state to state. (Do your research.) Wholesale suppliers often have a special product license, meaning they legally cannot do business with consumers, only other businesses.

When you do call, here are key questions to ask:

• What are the minimum order quantities (MOQs)? If you’re looking to order 100 pieces of jewelry but the supplier only offers discounts on orders of 500 pieces or more, then that’s an issue.
• What’s the cost per unit? This question goes hand in hand with MOQs. According to the economies of scale, the more you order, the lower your cost per unit (CPU) will be. But don’t be tempted to order more than you need, especially if you’re just starting out. If a product isn’t as popular as you anticipated, you’ll be left with a large surplus and a loss.
• What’s the return policy? If there’s a problem with an order, are you going to have to front the cost of returning bulk orders, or will the wholesaler cover them Knowing the answer to this upfront will help minimize risk.
• What is the lead time? When you’re running a dropshipping business you need to keep your customers happy. Knowing the lead time on a product lets you manage customer expectations and not leave them waiting indefinitely. Long delays mean unhappy customers. Especially when the product is sold out and restocking will take too long.

Ask clear, direct questions that will help you find answers to your most important questions.

“I’m thinking of maybe starting a dropshipping business sometime soon” is the type of vague email that a busy wholesaler might just ignore. But straightforward questions that show you mean business—such as, “What’s your best price for 250 units per month?”—are more likely to get a reply.

And remember—oftentimes, you can negotiate with wholesale suppliers. Don’t be afraid to push back if the numbers they’re quoting won’t work for your margins.

Final checks before you sign on the dotted line

You’ve done all the homework and are almost ready to come to an agreement with your wholesale supplier. But before you sign that contract, here are a few more things to check:

• Ask for references from other customers. If a wholesale company is reluctant to share this information with you, that may be a red flag.
• Do they have liability insurance? If not, be careful. This type of insurance is there to protect you in case anyone is injured by a faulty or damaged product that you sold them.
• Do the numbers make sense? Don’t overextend your business just because the discount offered is exciting. If you’re new to dropshipping, the best strategy is to buy only what you need. You don’t want to be left holding surplus stock if what you thought was the next hot product turns out to be a dud.

Next, here are some special considerations for popular products available to wholesale, along with some things you’ll need to keep your eye on before placing a large order.

Popular wholesale products

When selecting among top wholesale suppliers, it’s important to consider what kinds of products you’re selling. While two suppliers may be roughly the same for general merchandise, one may be the ideal supplier for a specific niche. Here are some tips for specific wholesale items and industries.

Wholesale jewelry

When you’re looking for the right wholesale watch or jewelry supplier, make sure the wholesaler mentions the following key information. If they don’t, you might want to keep looking for another supplier.

• What are the product reviews like? Does the quality match consumer expectations?
• Who is the wholesaler currently supplying? If it’s a well-known ecommerce business, that builds trust.
• Jewelry is small and delicate. If the worst happens, who pays for it? Iron out issues like this before you place an order.

Wholesale clothing

Fashion is highly popular among dropshippers, and the possibilities are constantly changing in line with the latest trends. A couple things that can make or break a fashion wholesaler are:

• Possibility of brand customization (e.g., custom t-shirts or hoodies)
• The quality of the unboxing experience—packaging is the only channel that reaches 100% of your customers

Learn more: What Is Print on Demand and How To Start a Business (2024)

Wholesale tea and coffee

Selling coffee online has an easy entry point, with its own considerations:

• Nobody sees a logo when they’re drinking coffee, so packaging is your only opportunity to connect with wholesale buyers.
• Establishing a brand identity is important for those in the food industry, and a good wholesaler should be willing to work with you on that.

Find the best wholesale suppliers for your business today

Sourcing a supplier feels like a roadblock: You can’t open an online store until you have something to sell. But it’s never been easier to find a reliable wholesaler of quality products (who also delivers on time).

Find a well-reviewed wholesaler who’s familiar with your niche, get a few samples, negotiate a price, and open that online store.

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.

A background removal tool is key to creating polished, high-quality images, whether for your website or social media campaigns. 

Removing an image’s background provides benefits including easy integration across sales channels, increased attention to your product, and improved image optimization for SEO. 

If you’re handling branding design tasks, there may be more tools available to remove image backgrounds than you realize. Sure, there’s Photoshop, but it’s not the only option. There are also free photo editors, as well as more scalable AI business tools to get the job done faster.

Below, we’ll look at some of the best tools for removing image backgrounds. 

Best background remover tools 

1. Pxl Photo Background Remover
2. InPixio Remove Background
3. AutoClipping
4. Cutout.pro
5. PhotoScissors
6. Clipping Magic
7. Adobe Express

1. Pixl Photo Background Remover

Pxl Photo Background Remover is a free Shopify app that helps you remove backgrounds and create stunning product photos in one click. It uses AI to detect your object and remove the background, saving you editing time and money. You can even add a colored background to match your store design and remove up to 15 backgrounds at one time. 

Features:

• 100% automated using AI technology
• Customizable background colors
• Bulk actions
• Integrates with Shopify store
• HD download options

Pros: 

• One-click background removal
• Backup feature 
• Bulk background removal actions

Cons: 

• One user claims the app doesn’t retain image quality 
• 10 free credits

Price: Free 

2. InPixio Remove Background

There is both a free version and a paid version of InPixio. The free version is an online background remover that uses an AI algorithm to erase unwanted objects from your photo’s background. The great thing about this app is that it also has retouching tools that allow you to select your background in more detail.

You can save your photo as a JPG file with a white background or use the preset background images to superimpose your photo. This photo editing app allows you to save and upload images unlimited times. However, you don’t get access to any other photo editing tools unless you pay a yearly subscription.

Features:

• User-friendly interface for beginners
• Allows for fine-tuning of automatic selections
• Batch processing
• Saves images with transparent backgrounds in PNG format
• Text, image, and shape overlays
• Background genius lets you add different backdrops

Pros: 

• Uses AI to detect and remove backgrounds quickly
• Retouching tools

Cons: 

• AI might not detect complex backgrounds
• Limited editing tools

Price: Free plan available; full access starts at $49.99 per year

3. AutoClipping

AutoClipping is a free online background remover. It’s great for beginning photo editors who don’t want to mess around with complicated edits. AutoClipping’s AI does all the work in removing those pesky backgrounds. However, to get a good transparent background, you do need to make sure your images have clearly defined subjects.

Features:

• Ability to convert photos into banners for social media
• Text layers
• Manual corrects 

Pros: 

• Zero-click background removal with AI
• Easy to use
• Image upscaling

Cons: 

• Limited to three background removals with free version

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at 20¢ per image

4. Cutout.pro

You aren’t limited to removing backgrounds only in photos anymore. Now you can do it in your videos too. Cutout.pro is an online background remover that automatically removes the backgrounds in your images and videos. It also allows you to superimpose your images and videos onto any background of your choice.

Cutout.pro lets you crop your images to fit different social media needs and add text to them. All in all, this is a great one-stop shop if you have fairly simple editing needs. 

Features:

• Ability to change the background color
• Free download for images up to 500 x 500 pixels
• Video background remover
• Basic image editor

Pros: 

• Automatic background removal
• Remove background from image and video quickly
• Superimpose images and videos

Cons:

• Must pay for HD image download

Price: Free

5. PhotoScissors

PhotoScissors is an online background remover that removes the backgrounds of busy images. It also has presets for cropping images so they’re compatible with sites like Amazon and eBay, and with social media. 

With PhotoScissors, you can upload unlimited files, but you’ll need to pay for photo credits to download high-resolution files. You’ll also need to pay for Inpaint, PhotoScissors’s complementary software, to access more detailed background removal tools. PhotoScissors operates on a pay-as-you-go model, where one credit equals one image. Depending on how many credits you buy, you can pay anywhere from 3¢ to 50¢ per image. 

Features:

• AI background removal 
• Swap background 
• Precision cut-outs
• Image generator
• User-friendly interface
• Resize tool

Pros: 

• Automatic background removal
• Built-in tutorials
• Remove background around tricky objects like hair

Cons: 

• Pay as you go

Price: Free download of images in standard definition; full photo editing package starts at $84.95

6. Clipping Magic

Another great online background remover tool is Clipping Magic. It uses AI technology that constantly improves its background removal tool with every photo uploaded to its servers.

The only drawback is that the free version of this tool leaves a watermark on all of your images. If you want an image without one, you’ll have to pay for credits. You’ll also need to pay for a monthly subscription if you want access to the full range of Clipping Magic’s features, like bulk clipping. 

Features:

• AI background remover
• Smart Editor for precise cutouts
• Dedicated hair tool

Pros: 

• API Integrations
• Bulk clipping
• Tutorials

Cons: 

• Can download a small image with watermarks for free
• Subscription required for removing watermark and downloading images

Price: Free, then $3.99 per month for paid plans

7. Adobe Express

Adobe Express offers a free online image background remover. Simply upload any JPEG or PNG to its website, then edit it or add a new background in the Adobe Express platform. 

Features:

• Automatic background remover with AI
• Easy to use
• Integrates with other Adobe products
• Available on web and mobile
• Edit and enhance options

Pros:

• Efficient and precise 
• No design skills required

Cons: 

• Subscription required for full capabilities 
• Need internet connection 

Price: Free plan available; premium plans start at $9.99/month 

Best background removal apps 

1. PicMonkey
2. Background Eraser
3. Background Eraser – Remove BG*

8. PicMonkey

PicMonkey is an online photo editor for tweaking product photos taken on a smartphone. PicMonkey saves everything in the cloud automatically, and you can access it from any Android or iOS device.

It has both an automatic and a manual background remover, as well as some pretty good photo editing tools and templates for collages and banners.

Although you can use PicMonkey for free, most of its features are available only if you subscribe. For example, if you want to download the image you’ve been working on, you’ll need to pay for an annual subscription.

Features:

• Graphic design tools like fonts and stickers
• Design templates for Facebook, Instagram Stories, and Pinterest
• Photo editor 
• Stock image library

Pros: 

• Automatic cloud storage
• Built-in tutorials and resource center
• Ability to print your images

Cons:

• Must subscribe to access background remover

Price: Free seven-day trial, then $72 per year

9. Background Eraser

Background Eraser is a free background remover app for Android that has been downloaded more than 100 million times. It is fairly simple and focuses entirely on helping you remove backgrounds from your photos. You can download Background Eraser from the Google Play app store.

It offers three different ways to remove backgrounds:

• Auto is a removal tool that removes pixels similar to the ones you’ve selected.
• Magic acts like a magic wand and makes estimations based on your selections.
• Manual gives you complete control.

The only drawback is Background Eraser is focused only on background removal. That means you’ll need to download other apps to superimpose your images or turn them into marketing materials.

Features:

• Three background removal options
• Auto color feature
• Basic image editing tools 

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Excellent AI features

Cons: 

• For Android devices only

Price: Free

10. Background Eraser – Remove BG*

Background Eraser – Remove BG* uses artificial intelligence to detect which part of the picture is the background. Then, it turns the background transparent. From there, you can change it to whatever you want. It’s an iOS app used by more than 10 million people to showcase their products or photography work. 

Features:

• AI-generated backgrounds
• Templates 
• Pixel-level precision 
• AI avatars 
• Multiple cut-out modes
• All-in-one editor

Pros: 

• Automatic background removal
• Export images in different social-media-friendly dimensions
• You can download high-quality versions of different image sizes

Cons:

• Subscription required for full features
• For iOS devices only

Price: Free, with in-app purchases 

Finding the best background removal tool for you

As you can see, there are a lot of tools out there to help you get perfect ecommerce photography images. What’s more, you don’t have to be an expert photo editor or spend hours in front of a computer. With a quick upload into one of the image tools on our list, you’ll have that perfect soufflé picture for tempting everyone on social media.

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.

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 you’re an entrepreneur who is eager to burn the midnight oil with a new business venture, we’ve got a potential business idea for you: selling homemade candles.

When it comes to creating a product that’s practical and hot (literally and figuratively), learning how to make candles is a skillset that’s useful even for the hesitant DIYer.

So, if you’re curious about how to make homemade candles and start a candle business, it’s time to learn how you can make money online with this trending product.

Why start a candle business?

Candles are an essential decor item—an industry set to eclipse 10 billion in global sales by 2032, according to Expert Market Research. 

In past years, the commercial use of candles has seen a sharp increase, with spa and massage using scented candles for aromatherapy, and restaurants creating soft, moody environments for customers. 

Consumers buy candles as home decor accents as well as for relaxation and stress reduction, according to the National Candle Association. Taking a quick look on Google Trends shows us that global interest for homemade candles is consistent. And while candles may be used for various purposes across the globe, most of the searches for homemade candles are concentrated around North America, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa. This is great intel for candlemakers looking to find a market for their DIY products.

In addition to the popularity of this hot product, candles offer business owners a number of other benefits, including:

• Low cost entry. Granted, some homemade candle varieties require pricier materials than others, but in general, candlemakers can create their wares with very little cash up front.
• Easy to sell anywhere. Want to sell your home decor items at craft fairs and local markets? Homemade candles travel well, so you can sell them both online and offline.
• Scalable craft to learn. Whether you’re a DIY master or a crafting newbie, the base recipe for basic candles is easy to follow. As you’ll notice from our handy infographic below, the formula is simple.
• Easy to customize. With so many types of candles, it’s easy to personalize your products and differentiate yourself from direct competitors.

From the standpoint of a DIY business, learning how to make candles is a skill that can be transformed into a viable income stream. But before we tackle the topic of creating homemade candles of your own, let’s take a look at the popular types that are piquing shoppers’ interest.

Types of homemade candles

One of the big advantages when it comes to making candles for your business is the variety—there’s likely a type of candle out there that will catch the eye of any potential customer.

Not sure where to start? Here are some of the top types of homemade candles you can explore when planning your candle business opportunities.

Soy candles

Soy candles are made from a base of soy wax. This wax is derived from soybeans and, therefore, is made from vegetables (opposed to regular oil- or paraffin-based candles).

Not only are soy candles made from a renewable resource, they also burn cleanly and for longer. That way, customers get more bang for their buck when it comes to getting a longer-lasting candle.

Scented or aromatherapy candles

This is one of the most common varieties of candles. Scented or aromatherapy candles offer a spectrum of scents for customers looking to spruce up their homes with pleasant smells.

Whether they’re meant to mask a normal household stench or simply create a unique scentscape, these candles come in dozens of scents—so there’s a smell that will appeal to almost everyone.

Aromatherapy candles makers market their products as offering specific benefits that correlate to certain scents. Generally, the recipes for these candles use essential oils that are meant to enhance physical or mental well-being. For example, lavender scents are often associated with relaxation.

Vegan candles

There’s a growing segment of shoppers that are concerned with the materials businesses use to make their products—particularly any animal ingredients. Basic candles often contain animal byproducts like beeswax, which isn’t desirable for some consumers.

But here comes vegan candles to the rescue! Vegan candles use modified formulas with ingredients like soy wax, plant-based waxes, fragrance oils, and natural fragrances.

Decorative candles

When entering a homeware store, you’ve likely noticed candles that come in many colors, shapes, and sizes. Some candles are made purely for decorative purposes—they aren’t necessarily scented and aren’t made from special ingredients. They simply add a certain something to a space in your home.

Decorative candles often come in complicated shapes, feature accessories, and employ complicated designs.

How to start a candle business

1. Do market research
2. Build your brand
3. Create a candle business name
4. Write a business plan
5. Make candles to sell
6. Build your online store
7. Create a marketing plan

1. Do market research

Your target market are the people you want to reach with your marketing efforts. These are the buyers who will be most interested in your products and most likely to convert to customers. In the candle industry, target markets are broken down into three categories:

• Prestige. Luxury candles are a new and quickly growing segment of the candle market. Pricing may vary. The average prestige candle can sell for between $30 and $100. Prestige candles are known for their premium packaging, fragrances, and emphasis on brand storytelling. 

• Mid-market. These mid-tier candles have broad appeal. You’ll likely find them in retail outlets like Target. Mid-market candles typically have unique scenes like rose water, grapefruit, or basil, and cost around $10 per candle. 

• Mass market. These candles are the most affordable on the market. Brands like Yankee Candle and Bed Bath and Beyond take up most of this segment. You’ll find standard scents like vanilla or ocean breeze, and will cost around $5 to $8 per candle. 

Decide on which market you’ll go after. Do you want to get into retail stores like Home Goods or Macy’s? Then mid-market may be the best route. Want to only sell through your own website and other online boutiques? Prestige candles may be your calling. 

Choosing your market will guide everything from sourcing materials to building your brand and packaging. Once you have a segment in mind, you’ll want to decide on the types of candles you’ll create. 

2. Build your brand

The second step in starting a candle making business is building a brand. A brand helps you build an audience, influences your marketing efforts, and makes it easier to create better products for your customers. 

A good brand strategy is crucial for candle businesses in particular. The industry has grown so significantly over the past decade that it can be challenging to break in. 

Let’s look at three ways you can stand out in the saturated candle market.

Unique and interesting fragrance blends 

Fragrance is the most important buying factor for consumers today. Research by the National Candle Association shows that three-fourths of candle buyers say it is “extremely important” or “very important” in their selection of a candle. 

One way to stand out from the competition is with interesting fragrances. Developing a new blend immediately carves a place in the market for you. Rather than offer standard floral and woodsy scents, opt for more complex and sophisticated smells buyers can’t find elsewhere: scents that make people think or remember something or feel a sense of mystery and intrigue.

Brand story

A brand story is the fastest way to connect with buyers. It’s a narrative that shapes and communicates your brand to people. It’s the foundation on which your mission, message, and voice is built. 

Brand stories, especially in the candle business, are captivating, human, and honest. It should make people feel something, which then drives them to take action—whether it’s a signup, purchase, donation, etc. 

Take Keap Candles story for example. The founders, Harry Doull and Stephen Tracy, were unhappy with their jobs in tech. They want to do something more meaningful and inspiring with their work and turned to candle making. 

To find your story, ask yourself:

• Why am I making candles?
• Who am I making candles for?
• What impact do I want to have on them?
• What impact do I want to make on the world?

Visual identity

Your visual identity (which includes your logo, photography, website, social media, and packaging) is the most direct way to influence how people feel about your candle business. 

When it comes to your candle brand, you want to pay close attention to the aesthetic of your products. Customers will use your candles for their scents and a home decor complement, so you want to design products in-line with your audience.

For example, Boy Smells brand is bright, sensual, and accessible to all genders.

The brand adds this identity into all its marketing assets, from website to social media. 

Once you interact with Boy Smells, chances are you won’t forget it. That’s the power of strong visual identity. 

3. Create a candle business name

At this point your candle business is shaping up nicely. You’ve probably come up with a few business names along the way, and now’s the time to decide on one. 

Be sure to keep your candle business name ideas short and simple. That’ll make it memorable and easy for buyers to pronounce. If your name is too difficult to remember, you’ll miss out on free word-of-mouth marketing. 

If you’re still stuck on a business name, use Shopify’s business name generator to stir up fresh ideas. All you have to do is enter a keyword, click Generate Names, then browse thousands of auto-generated name ideas for your company.

4. Write a business plan

A business plan guides your entire operation when creating a candle business. It helps define your strategy, pinpoint challenges, understand what resources you need, and analyze your business idea before launch. 

Ask yourself: What is the end goal for my brand? Who are my direct competitors? Do I want to be sold in retail outlets like Target or Nordstrom? Or do I want to start an ecommerce store and sell directly to my customers? 

Identify your business goals and keep them in mind as you build out your candle making brand.

5. Make candles to sell

As we’ve demonstrated, there are plenty of candle types you can create in your own kitchen. Here, we’ll show you how to make a basic soy candle. You can take the same basic ingredients, tweak them slightly, and create your own customized recipe.

Gather your materials

For this homemade soy candle recipe, you’ll need:

• Soy wax
• Wicks (preferably cotton)
• Super glue
• Essential oil of your choice
• Spatula
• Double boiler
• Thermometer
• Mason jar
• Pen or pencil

While you likely have some of these items sitting around your house, you can easily procure the rest without busting your budget. You can find soy wax in bulk on sites like AliExpress or Bulk Apothecary for around $10 per pound.

Merchants looking to source jars or other glass containers can look on AliExpress for a variety of bulk-buying options, or check their local thrift store or dollar store for inexpensive containers.

See our guide on Aliexpress!

Essential oils are available at your local craft store or on Etsy or Amazon. The remainder of the ingredients can be found at almost any grocery store.

Prep your wax and container

Now, let’s prep your materials to get your candle wax ready. Take your soy wax and put it into your double boiler on your kitchen stove to melt (if you don’t have a double boiler, use a glass bowl on top of a larger saucepan or pot). Fill the bottom pot with water and the top with the soy wax and turn the burner to medium heat. Stir the wax with your spatula, making sure you break up any chunks.

While the wax is melting, take your wick and glue the end to the bottom of your glass container. Allow glue to dry, which will keep your wick in place as you pour your wax.

Customize your candle mixture

Once your wax melts, take your preferred essential oil and stir into your mixture at a ratio of one ounce per pound of wax. If you’d like to change up the color of your candle wax, stir in chunks of non-toxic crayons.

Once your ingredients are melted and mixed, let it cool to 130–140 degrees Fahrenheit. Check the mixture with your thermometer to ensure it reaches the correct temperature.

Prep your pour

Now that your wax mixture is cooled to the correct temperature, it’s time to pour it into your jar. Hold the wick upright with one hand and pour the mixture out of the pan with the other. Fill up three quarters of the jar with the hot wax mixture.

To keep the wick upright, tie its end to the pen and set it across the opening of your jar.

Finishing your candle

Allow your wax to firm up before beginning your final pour. You may see a small sinkhole in the wax around the wick—don’t worry, that’s normal.

Take the remaining wax mixture and pour the remaining quarter into the jar. Allow the rest of the wax to set completely. Once the wax is firm, snip off the excess wick with some scissors, and your candle is ready to burn!

6. Build your online store

Now that your candles are ready to go, where should you sell them? A great place to start is your own ecommerce store. 

Creating an online store sounds like a daunting task compared to listing your candles on online selling sites like Amazon. But these marketplaces cut deep into your profits and don’t let you express your brand freely. Your online store is not only more profitable in the long run, but acts as a digital home for your brand. 

When it comes to building an online store, Shopify is the simplest way to start. You can build an ecommerce website without any coding or huge budget. 

7. Create a marketing plan 

You’ve got the recipe for success—now it’s time to figure out how to sell your soy candles (or other homemade candles).

Online

One of the easiest—and most lucrative mediums—for selling candles is online. You can use multiple digital platforms, like social media and your own ecommerce site, to reach potential customers around the world.

While every digital medium won’t be a successful sales platform for every merchant, here are a few places entrepreneurs can try to help them get started.

• Instagram. Many lifestyle brands found great success by focusing on Instagram marketing . Curate a feed of beautiful images related to your brand, stage photos of your candles to show off to customers, and reach a larger audience. You can also use Instagram to reach out to brand evangelists or micro influencers and provide a behind-the-scenes peek at how you make your candles.
• Pinterest. Home decor is a major category for users of Pinterest, which is one of the largests platforms customers use to find brands and products. So it’s wise for homemade candle merchants to consider Pinterest marketing as a pillar in their strategy.
• Snapchat. As another highly visual platform, Snapchat is another viable option for maker merchants. As one of the fastest-growing social media platforms with more than 200 million users, DIY hustlers can use Snapchat marketing to reach an increasing audience.
• Giveaways and contests. As part of a social/content marketing strategy, you can use some of your merchandise as prizes in a series of giveaways and contests. Not only can these contests help you gain followers and build brand awareness, but you also have the opportunity to show off how well your products work.
• Email marketing: Deliver your message (as well as promos, discounts, and other brand news) right to your customers’ inboxes.

Offline

Although selling online is a viable avenue for merchants, don’t be afraid to try selling IRL.

Homemade candles are compact and travel well—which makes them ideal for selling on the go. Your sweet-smelling home decor items are ideal for displaying in craft shows and pop-up shops and gives merchants the opportunity to get in-person feedback directly from potential customers.

Still not sold on selling in person? Going IRL for sales has a number of other benefits, including:

• Getting direct feedback. If you’re eager to improve your products (or just dying to hear what customers think), selling in person is a great way to do it. Meet your target customers face-to-face, address their pain points, and get ideas for potential new products.
• Discover wholesale opportunities. Ready to scale your business? Or looking to explore selling B2B? Markets and fairs are ideal events to meet wholesale buyers and establish a foundation for such a relationship.
• Build your online following and email subscribers. Whether you’re aiming to grow your social audience or build your email list, use pop-up shops and markets to connect online. When visitors show up at your booth or shop, ask them to subscribe to your email list or follow your branded social channels for new products, discounts, and giveaways.
• Networking and inspiration. Connecting with fellow makers and entrepreneurs is also a major part of the draw for festivals, markets, and fairs. Meeting other merchants can inspire you with new ideas and help you come up with new solutions to shared problems.

Although physical sales require different skills than sitting at your desk, a little know-how and the right tools can make it simpler to make sales on the go. Use a mobile point-of-sale system like Shopify POS to help you set up your shop or booth at your next flea market, farmer’s market, craft fair, and/or maker fair, and keep transactions quick and simple.

Candle business tips

Whether you’re starting a candle making side hustle or kicking off full-time, keep these candle business tips in mind:

Take amazing product photos 

Great product photography is key to convincing people to buy your candles. Make sure you can clearly see the shape and label of your candles. Up for a challenge? Stage an image of the candle in use in your home so shoppers can envision it in theirs. You can hire a professional photographer to take your photos or take high-quality photos with a smartphone.

Create more selling opportunities 

Having recurring customers is more profitable than constantly finding new ones. Test different cross-sell and upsell opportunities to drive more revenue from your existing customers—such as travel-sized versions of your most popular candles, or limited-edition scents. You could also offer subscription boxes, like Frostbeard Studio. The brand offers a Candle of the Month Club, where customers get a brand new candle every month for a set price. 

Expand your product line 

Brands like Tofino Soap Company repurpose their scents for products like soaps, shampoos, balms, perfumes, and other things to make and sell online. It’s an easy transition for many candle makers because the scents are already developed, you just need to create the new product. You can then upsell customers based on scents they buy often, create scent-centric care packages, and reach new audiences.

Push holiday sales 

Approximately 35% of candle sales happen during the Christmas holiday season, according to the National Candle Association, with 76% of buyers viewing candles as an appropriate holiday gift. Prepare for this season by creating holiday campaigns with special promos and ads targeted at potential buyers.

Stay on top of consumer trends

Stay up to date with what’s going on in your niche. Use resources like Meta Foresight, Think with Google, and Nielsen to understand customer pain points and track breakout trends. You can use this insight to come up with new product ideas, fragrances, and marketing campaigns to promote your brand.

Starting your candle making business

You’ve gotten this far, which means you now have a great grasp on how to get started with your own homemade candle business. With the tools and knowledge above to help you make and sell your homemade candles, you can move forward to create your own income stream using your DIY skills.

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.

Competition is the natural order in business, especially for ecommerce brands where it’s not just your local competitors that you need to worry about.

Customers are overwhelmed with options, and they want to quickly understand what makes one product or brand different from another. Knowing the right way to position yourself and your products can mean the difference between standing out and blending in.

That’s why it’s crucial for all entrepreneurs to understand how to both identify and communicate a unique selling proposition (USP) to help guide your branding and marketing decisions.

What is a unique selling proposition?

A unique selling proposition (USP) is the unique benefit that makes your business or product better than the competition. It’s a short sentence or two defining the specific and clear benefit that makes your business stand out when compared to others in your market.

Forming an opinionated and deliberate unique selling proposition, or unique selling point, helps focus your marketing strategy and influences messaging, branding, copywriting, and other marketing decisions, as well as prospective customers.

At its core, a USP should quickly answer a potential customer’s most immediate question when they encounter your brand:

What makes you different from the competition?

Your USP plays to your strengths and should be based on what makes your brand or product uniquely valuable to your customers. Being “unique” is rarely a strong USP in itself. You have to differentiate around some aspect your target audience cares about, otherwise your messaging won’t be nearly as effective.

A compelling USP should be:

• Assertive, but defensible: A specific position that forces you to make a case against competing products is more memorable than a generic stance, like “We sell high-quality products.”
• Focused on what your customers value: “Unique” won’t count for much if it’s not something your target customers truly care about.
• More than a slogan: While a slogan is one way your USP can be communicated, it’s also something that you can embody in other areas of your business, from your return policy to your supply chain. You should be able to talk the talk and walk the walk.

It’s not necessarily what you sell that has to be unique, but the message you choose to focus on that your competition doesn’t.

What a unique selling proposition isn’t

Specific marketing offers—like 10% off, free shipping, 24/7 customer service, or a strong return policy—are not USPs. Convincing and effective though they may be, they’re not unique on their own, nor are they positions that are easy to defend, as any of your competitors can copy them.

USP marketing isn’t just the header copy on your homepage. It’s a position your small business takes as a whole that can be incorporated into your products, your brand, the experience you provide, and any other touch point your customers have with your business.

The best way to understand what makes a powerful USP in business is through examples. So here are nine unique selling proposition examples that get it right, and what you can learn from each successful business.

9 unique selling propositions examples

1. Pipcorn
2. Death Wish Coffee
3. Muse
4. Taylor Stitch
5. Tattly
6. Saddleback Leather
7. Third Love
8. Beardbrand
9. Warby Parker

1. Pipcorn

You can buy pre-popped popcorn at your local dollar store, so “mini-popcorn” on its own isn’t much of a unique selling point.

Instead, Pipcorn is a great case of a brand using specificity to carve out their own unique place in the market, choosing instead to focus on what makes their product a smart choice for the health-conscious or vegan consumer.

Phrases like “all natural,” “whole grain,” and “small batches” are seen on the bag, and the brand’s site highlights other health benefits like gluten free, non-GMO, and antioxidants. Pipcorn also gets specific about how its snack food is healthy instead of just saying that it is, listing points of difference that its customers will care about.

By positioning its product around current health-conscious trends, it’s able to create a USP that would not only actively help them attract new customers, but also retail their popcorn as a premium product.

2. Death Wish Coffee

A lot of coffee shops and roasters lay claim to having the “smoothest” or “richest” cup of coffee out there. Death Wish Coffee, however, chose to cater to those who need an extra kick in their cup of joe by instead selling the “world’s strongest coffee.”

Death Wish Coffee is an excellent example of developing a product based on a unique selling proposition that was largely left untouched in the crowded coffee market. It’s not a position that will immediately attract every kind of coffee drinker, but the product firmly appeals to a certain segment of consumers, and it’s hard to imitate.

Death Wish Coffee backs it up too. In addition to boldly declaring its USP on its site and packaging, and breaking down how its product is made, it also offers full refunds for anyone who says the coffee wasn’t the boldest cup they’ve ever had.

3. Muse

Muse is a noteworthy example of why you need a USP even when your products are truly unique. Muse offers the first consumer tool out there that can provide real-time feedback on your brain’s activity as you meditate.

It is the first company to offer what it does, but having no direct competitors doesn’t mean it has no competition at all. People have been doing just fine for centuries without its product, after all.

In this case, Muse’s biggest competitor is the status quo: unaided meditation. So its USP, naturally, is around enhancing your existing practice to “get the most out of meditation.”

You can see how a lot of its copy, while focusing on different selling points, comes together under this single idea.

Throughout its content and marketing messages, it builds a case for both mediation in general and for meditation aided by its product. This is a smart example of acknowledging the norm to position yourself as a truly different solution.

4. Taylor Stitch

Taylor Stitch is a clothing company that relies on crowdfunding in order to develop new products. While some consumers may frown upon established brands that leverage crowdfunding, that isn’t the case here because of how they make it a part of their USP.

Taylor Stitch successfully turns crowdfunding into a competitive edge: “We design new products. You crowd fund them.”

It immediately lets customers know why crowdfunding new products offers advantages to traditional self-funded or investor-funded business models. Customers are assured that:

• They’ll save 20% by preordering.
• It’s better for the environment.
• It gets these products in your hands when you’d actually use them.

These are staples of crowdfunding that have been brought to the surface and translated into value for the customer—it’s hard to argue with saving money and being more environmentally friendly, and supporting a business you believe in is a nice bonus, too.

By positioning its unconventional business model this way, they turn a potentially risky pre-order process into a compelling marketing angle.

5. Tattly

Many temporary tattoo products are intended for kids and feature simple and silly designs. Tattly takes a different approach, offering gorgeous, intricate art for people of all ages.

These temporary tattoos are meant to be beautiful like traditional tattoos, allowing customers to express themselves without the commitment or high cost of real tattoos.

Tattly doesn’t have many direct competitors that sell similarly bold designs made from safe materials. This makes it easier for the brand to develop its USP, in theory, but it still needs to differentiate itself from the inevitable comparisons between its products and its more familiar counterparts.

By focusing on the art, it’s able to do that with its USP, which it expresses as: “Fake tattoos by real artists.”

Many design-centric brands source designs from real artists, but Tattly surfaces this fact about its business. The artists behind its designs are as much a part of what it sells as the tattoos themselves, getting prominent profiles on its site organized under a section dedicated to artists and their works.

It could have left it as a mere line of copy on its site, but instead it chose to incorporate the artists behind its products into the design of its online store, reinforcing the idea that tattoos are a form of wearable art.

6. Saddleback Leather

One of the first things you notice about Saddleback Leather’s site is its famous tagline: “They’ll fight over it when you’re dead.”

It’s a sentence that immediately conveys the unique value of Saddleback’s products to its potential customers, in its signature irreverent tone: this product is built so well it will outlive its owner. The messaging also refers directly to its 100-year warranty, which backs the promise with a guarantee that the products will last you a lifetime and then some.

Longevity, especially for high-priced, everyday carry products is definitely a unique selling point, especially when so many competitors are focused on positioning their products as status symbols, the stylish trends that you’ll want to replace next year, or a cheap solution to an expensive look. Longevity is Saddleback’s competitive advantage.

In fact, when cheap knockoffs of their products started appearing in the market, Saddleback Leather took it as an opportunity to create a clever “how it’s made” video that reinforces the quality of its own craftsmanship. Because it was clear on its USP, it took advantage of the opportunity to further entrench the company’s unique position on quality and craftsmanship.

7. Third Love

Women’s lingerie is a billion dollar industry, so newcomer Third Love had to find a way to make sure it was able to compete with legacy brands.

Third Love made its “We have the right fit” USP an integral part of its branding. It’s not just a key part of the messaging in its ads and the copy on its site—it even has a Fit Finder quiz that allows first-time customers to find the right fit for them.

To go even deeper on its promise, it also offers half-sizes and a “try before you buy” guarantee.

Third Love’s USP is a powerful promise. And while other brands might offer a sizing chart to help shoppers, Third Love prioritizes getting you the right fit based on your individual needs.

Of all the messages it could have focused on around style or quality, it honed in on a pain point that many women experience when shopping for bras, and chose to double down.

8. Beardbrand

A lot of cosmetics companies—for both men and women—try to offer quick fixes at cheap prices, addressing symptoms instead of the root cause. Beardbrand’s USP takes the form of a product ethos that immediately sets them apart from the industry standard.

It wants to create products that “work with your body’s natural chemistry, rather than to disguise or change it.”

It lets users know it doesn’t sell harsh, drying, artificial products, and instead uses natural oils that work with the customer’s body chemistry.

This product ethos means that it only sells products that live up to this standard and pits itself against a rampant problem in the industry.

Casting the industry norm as an antagonist is a positioning strategy often used by brands that are confident about their solution to the customer’s problems.

9. Warby Parker

Warby Parker’s USP is all about customer service and experience.

The popular DTC eyewear brand sets itself apart from the crowd by offering a home try-on program. It lets customers try five frames at home, for free.

Once the try-before-you-buy period is over, customers must return the items they don’t want (using a prepaid return shipping label), and can purchase the items they like. 

The service allows it to compete with brick-and-mortar retailers, and stand apart from them. It meets customers where they are by taking something that used to only happen in person (buying glasses) and makes it convenient and easy to do from home.

How to write a unique selling proposition

Now that we’ve looked at unique selling proposition examples from other businesses, you might be wondering how you can go about creating, uncovering, or refining your own unique selling proposition.

Every USP is going to be, well, unique but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a process you can follow to put yourself on the right track. Here’s how you can write your USP:

1. Get specific about your differentiators

Make a list of all the potential differentiators of your brand and what you sell. Get specific. Breakout products and compelling marketing messages rely on precision—they solve the exact right problem and communicate that benefit to customers in their own words.

2. Research the competition

Who are your competitors and what are their USPs? Look for gaps where you can potentially introduce your brand differently. Products in the same category can be positioned in wildly different ways—footwear, for example, can emphasize style, comfort, or durability.

3. Identify your customer needs

Compare your most unique angles against your audience’s needs. Are there any customer needs that haven’t been filled? Do you see any pain points that you can appeal to that your competitors haven’t?

4. Compile the data

Take the information that you’ve learned and sift through it to single out your strongest USP.

5. Write your USP

Once you have a vague idea of what your USP is, it might help to express it as a positioning statement so you can get it down on paper:

[YOUR BRAND] offers [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [TARGET MARKET] to [VALUE PROPOSITION].

Unlike [THE ALTERNATIVE], we [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR].

This won’t be exactly what you advertise on your website, but it should help you clarify your USP, its audience, and any specific differentiators that might be worth highlighting.

6. Apply your USP across your business

Applied properly, a USP can be woven into different areas of your business, from your brand name to your return policy, to reinforce the idea to your customers.

While it can take some time to get your USP down, it can then be used across your ads, landing pages, and even social media copy.

Unique selling propositions: Defining your competitive edge

A USP isn’t just a persuasive line of copy on your homepage. It’s ultimately how you position your products or even your entire business to the rest of the world.

Your products don’t need to be wholly unique in and of themselves for you to have a strong unique selling proposition. Instead, look for a spot in the market where you can plant your flag that is relatively untouched by the competition.

There may be a dozen ways you could sell your products, but your USP is the big idea that best positions your brand according to what your customers care about and what your competitors aren’t.

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.

While Facebook may not have the edge it once had, it still has an incredibly high number of active users: more than 3 billion, compared to Instagram’s 2 billion and TikTok’s 1.5 billion. 

Facebook users have many options to make money, from affiliate marketing and running ads through Messenger to selling items on Facebook Marketplace.

But making money on Facebook isn’t without its challenges: average engagement on organic posts hovers between 1.5% and 2.5%, and those that pay-to-play via ads and sponsored content see their reach dwindle over time. 

The good news? Facebook still offers exciting ways to make money, many of which are aimed at entrepreneurs and creators with Facebook followings.

Whether you’re looking to make some extra money on the side or find more customers for your existing business, here are six ways you can monetize your Facebook audience. Plus, the requirements you’ll need to meet in order to do it. 

Before you start: check your Facebook monetization eligibility

There are a handful of ways to make money from your Facebook content, but first you must be eligible to do so. This means your Facebook page and the content you post on it must abide by the platform’s eligibility requirements, which are grouped into three categories:

1. Facebook Community Standards: These are the platform’s foundational rules, such as no graphic or unsafe content.
2. Partner Monetization Policies: These rules are for your Facebook page as a whole, as well as the content you create, how you share your content, and how you receive and make online payments.
3. Content Monetization Policies: These are content-level rules that apply for every piece of content you post, such as no violent or profane content.

To check your eligibility, go to the Facebook section of your Creator Studio and click the Monetization tab. Select which pages you want to see your monetization eligibility for—you will also be served other monetization information about the page. 

Once you’re eligible to monetize your Facebook content, it’s important to stay eligible if you want to sell on Facebook. Regularly review the platform’s Community Standards, keep your domain clean with high-quality content, and ensure you have the rights to post your content. If for some reason your page becomes ineligible, Facebook will inform you via the Monetization tab in your Creator Studio, along with the reason you’re no longer eligible. 

How to make money on Facebook: 6 ways

1. Create videos with in-stream ads
2. Add a paid subscription to your page
3. Collaborate with brands
4. Earn money directly from your fans
5. Run paid events online
6. Drive visitors to your online store

1. Create videos with in-stream ads

In-stream ads attract the attention of a captive audience and are ideal for creators and brands with a sizeable audience. When a user is part-way through watching a Facebook video, they are more likely to watch the entirety of an ad if it means they can continue on with the original content—unlike a standalone ad in their feed, which they’re more likely to skip.

In-stream ads in action: Bottled water brand LIFEWTR wanted to increase brand awareness and generate a positive, creative sentiment around its product.

So it implemented short in-stream ads that ran in the midpoint of feed videos as well as properties like Facebook Watch, showcasing its community art projects through powerful visual stories. The campaign resulted in a two times lift in brand awareness and a 1.9 times higher lift in ad recall.

Why it worked: LIFEWTR used in-stream ads to tell a story and keep the attention of an already-captive audience. 

Get started: Think about what you want to achieve with your videos and what stories you can tell about your brand. If you want to advertise mid-roll, try adding in one- to two-second natural pauses when you create your videos where an in-stream ad could slot in.

As well as meeting Facebook’s eligibility criteria, videos must be over one minute in length and influencers need at least 10,000 page followers to run in-stream ads. These tips apply to brands that want to pay to run in-stream ads. 

2. Add a paid subscription to your page

Generate consistent monthly revenue through fan subscriptions, which encourage your most loyal followers to pay a recurring sum to fund your page. This is a great way for brands and creators with large, active audiences to monetize their page and reward fans with exclusive content and discounts. The “stars” feature lets users buy a pack of stars to send tips to their favorite creators for additional revenue. 

Fan subscriptions in action: The Vegan Baker has created a separate Facebook Group for supporters of the brand. Fans are charged $4.99 a month to access exclusive content and discounts.

They are also able to send additional tips via Facebook’s stars feature for a piece of content they particularly enjoy. 

Why it worked: The Vegan Baker can monetize its active audience while rewarding users with exclusive content. The stars feature allows the brand to see which types of content perform best and increase engagement with a tight-knit segment of its followers. 

Get started: Fan subscriptions are only available on an invitation basis at the moment. Users can unlock fan subscriptions when they have 10,000 followers or more than 250 return viewers, and either 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 watch minutes.

Once you’ve received your invitation, you can choose what benefits you want subscribers to get, create a promotional video to launch your subscription service, and film a thank you video to welcome new subscribers. 

3. Collaborate with brands

Create content with a relevant, complementary partner to increase your reach and diversify your content output. There are plenty of brands that want to work with influencers, creators, and other companies to reach new audiences and raise brand awareness, and this can be a great way to boost your follower count and generate engagement. 

Brand collaboration in action: StyleNow Feed partnered with Jasper’s Boutique to bring followers of both brands fresh content. The paid partnership allowed the two companies to collaborate on relevant content that aligned with the needs of both their audiences, and users could click on each piece of content to learn more about each brand. 

Why it worked: The two brands are well-aligned and have similar but not identical audiences, which meant they could unlock a new segment of followers by reaching users who already had a strong connection with the partner brand. 

Get started: Before you can start tagging business partners in posts, you have to request access. Once you’ve done that, you can access collaboration opportunities and view insights inside the Brand Collabs Manager. 

This type of monetization method is best for Pages with an active, loyal following who post content that most brands won’t consider risky. 

4. Earn money directly from your fans

Fans who sign up to Facebook Stars can buy Stars to show their appreciation for your content. When a viewer watches one of your live streams or plays your Reel, they can tap the Star icon to send stars to your creator page. Facebook will pay you $0.01 for every Star you receive on your content.

Organic content rewards in action: Paula Garcia has a large following and by creating Reels especially for Facebook, can cash in on the number of views, likes, and comments she gets. Paula actually combines a number of the tactics used here to solidify her Facebook monetization strategy, like getting sponsors for her Reels and posting them organically on the platform. 

Why it worked: Paula Garcia already has a large following, so was a no-brainer for her to tap into Facebook’s features that let her cash in on the number of views she generates. 

Get started: Facebook Stars are only available to members of Level Up and managed partners. Once signed up, you will alerted in chat when a viewer sends you Stars. You can track your Star count in Meta Business Suite.

5. Run paid events online

Engage followers through a live event they can enjoy from the comfort of their own home. Facebook’s paid events feature lets you schedule, set up, and run events through your page, which is perfect for creators and businesses moving in-person events online. 

Paid events in action: Jasper’s Market hosts and advertises a number of events through its Facebook Business page. Fans can view a list of events and purchase access directly from the brand’s page.

Seeing how many people are interested or attending creates a buzz around the event, while regular reminders ensure attendees don’t miss a single moment. 

Why it worked: Hosting online events helps Jasper’s Market reach new audiences who are interested in different kinds of events. It also generates engagement among followers who may not all be in the same location. 

Get started: Enable paid online events on your page and click the Events tab to create a new event. Choose the “paid” option and fill in the required information about your event, the price, and a co-host, if you have one. 

Your Facebook account and page must pass Facebook’s monetization eligibility criteria before you can start creating paid events. 

6. Drive visitors to your online store

Direct shoppers from your Facebook page to your Shopify store through the platform’s social commerce features. This is a great way for brands who already have a small business on Facebook to capture consumers mid-scroll with shoppable ads and powerful calls to action. You can turn well-performing shoppable posts into paid ads to drive more traffic and define a new target audience you’d like to reach. 

Shoppable posts in action: Clothing brand QUEENSHOP wanted to boost sales among fans who had previously engaged with its content. It used Facebook’s Live Shopping feature to reach consumers who were online at that exact moment and direct them to the brand’s website through a product CTA in the bottom corner of the screen. The Live videos resulted in a 1.7 times higher return on ad spend and a 3.3% uplift in adds to carts.

Why it worked: QUEENSHOP was able to engage fans who were actively online and ready to make a purchase. It reduced the number of steps in the buying process by directing shoppers straight to the correct product page so they could make an instant purchase. 

Get started: Add your product catalog to your Facebook page in the Catalog Manager and link to relevant products when you post an image or video. To link to a product during livestreams, click Feature under the product or link you want to show after you’ve started your video. 

Diversify your earnings

Starting an ecommerce business, selling services, and creating digital products or merch all benefit from using Facebook’s massive audience as a sales tool. With the platform’s new suite of features made especially for entrepreneurs and brands, it’s easier than ever to engage new and existing audiences. 

But don’t get tied to just one feature or just one platform. Diversify your offering so that if one platform dries up you have other streams of traffic and revenue. This is especially important today, when the organic reach of mammoth social media sites like Facebook are dropping by the day and consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical of paid advertising campaigns. 

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.