Comments for DoublePlus New Media Marketing http://www.doubleplus.com Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:03:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Fulfillment Companies Ease the Shipping Burden for Ecommerce Companies by Chuck Lasker http://www.doubleplus.com/fulfillment-shipping-ecommerce-companies.html#comment-65 Chuck Lasker Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:48:01 +0000 http://www.doubleplus.com/?p=41#comment-65 A nicely balanced article. Every other article I've read on the subject has a background agenda, usually written by a fulfillment company representative. Your article is well-written, too. Website Magazine could use you... A nicely balanced article. Every other article I’ve read on the subject has a background agenda, usually written by a fulfillment company representative.

Your article is well-written, too. Website Magazine could use you…

]]> Comment on Improve Your Bottom Line with Better Search Tools by Barrett http://www.doubleplus.com/ecommerce-site-search-tools.html#comment-61 Barrett Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:57:55 +0000 http://new.doubleplus.com/miscellaneous/site-search-tools-help-your-customers-find-the-products-theyre-looking-for.html#comment-61 Ok I'll be the Troll from under the bridge here and say that I personally have an aversion to paying out for a 3rd party hosted search solution ongoing and not sold on the idea as my eyes glazed over soon as I saw the starting service fee. The SLI Systems functionality paradigm is intriguing, but the if you don't have a bazillion different unrelated products do you need it - would it really be cost effective ? (Google Site Search anyone ???) Over the years I've heard a whole lot more noise from people whining over the cost of $9.95 hosting vs. $39.95 or quibbling over paying one time license fees for 3rd party programming, aka "modules"..... IMO an online store manager or designer needs take a hard look at whether they have failed in proper categorization and presentation of their product categories that may cause their shoppers to jump right into searching without simply navigating straight to them before thinking the added expense of 3rd party searching will be a good plan. In the very least; perfect their site categorization before testing the waters of a hosted search solution and then you'll know if you are really getting a return on your investment. Ok I’ll be the Troll from under the bridge here and say that I personally have an aversion to paying out for a 3rd party hosted search solution ongoing and not sold on the idea as my eyes glazed over soon as I saw the starting service fee. The SLI Systems functionality paradigm is intriguing, but the if you don’t have a bazillion different unrelated products do you need it - would it really be cost effective ?

(Google Site Search anyone ???)

Over the years I’ve heard a whole lot more noise from people whining over the cost of $9.95 hosting vs. $39.95 or quibbling over paying one time license fees for 3rd party programming, aka “modules”…..

IMO an online store manager or designer needs take a hard look at whether they have failed in proper categorization and presentation of their product categories that may cause their shoppers to jump right into searching without simply navigating straight to them before thinking the added expense of 3rd party searching will be a good plan. In the very least; perfect their site categorization before testing the waters of a hosted search solution and then you’ll know if you are really getting a return on your investment.

]]> Comment on Quick Tip: Easy Domain Switching for Miva Merchant Stores by Chuck Lasker http://www.doubleplus.com/domain-switching-miva-merchant-stores.html#comment-60 Chuck Lasker Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:18:48 +0000 http://www.doubleplus.com/?p=43#comment-60 Awesome! This is one of the best tips I've ever read. There's nothing better than some code to make life easier. Awesome! This is one of the best tips I’ve ever read. There’s nothing better than some code to make life easier.

]]> Comment on Fulfillment Companies Ease the Shipping Burden for Ecommerce Companies by Susan Petracco http://www.doubleplus.com/fulfillment-shipping-ecommerce-companies.html#comment-57 Susan Petracco Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:17:23 +0000 http://www.doubleplus.com/?p=41#comment-57 John, Thank you for taking the time to comment and outline your costs. One thing I neglected to mention is that we just finished a custom Miva Merchant 5 module for a client who is using your services - and a business that was well suited to outsourced fulfullment due to the fact that they are small items in terms of storage space, often sold in bulk, and not at all fragile or in need ot special care. Susan John,

Thank you for taking the time to comment and outline your costs. One thing I neglected to mention is that we just finished a custom Miva Merchant 5 module for a client who is using your services - and a business that was well suited to outsourced fulfullment due to the fact that they are small items in terms of storage space, often sold in bulk, and not at all fragile or in need ot special care.

Susan

]]> Comment on Fulfillment Companies Ease the Shipping Burden for Ecommerce Companies by John Lindberg http://www.doubleplus.com/fulfillment-shipping-ecommerce-companies.html#comment-56 John Lindberg Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:56:59 +0000 http://www.doubleplus.com/?p=41#comment-56 Thanks for mentioning EFULFILLMENT SERVICE in your article even though Mad Cat's ship volume wasn't high enough to make the numbers work when they started out. As you mentioned in your article the dollar value of the average sale makes a big difference in the fulfillment outsourcing decision plus the net ratio of monthly fulfillment fees to storage costs. For us, you can figure on $1.85 per order plus $.40 per item plus postal or discounted UPS reimbursement for the fulfillment cost. The typical storage cost works out to $69.95 per month plus $16.00 per 4x4x4 pallet or a per item storage fee based on the same per pallet rate. This means you have to avoid a situation where you are storing a lot of merchandise, but order volume is very low. A good rule of thumb is you need at least 100 orders a month if you have less than 50 SKUs that takes up two or fewer pallets. We have about 360 clients and the average works out to about 150 to 175 orders a month--some a lot more and some a lot less. There are a couple of other cost factors to think about which is a free carton or jiffy mailer is provided for every order plus we share our UPS discount with our clients---if you have a lot of orders per month, these two freebies really add up. As you pointed out in your article, the most important thing about outsourcing fulfillment is the fact that the ecommerce merchant can focus 100% of their attention on sales...that is the biggest payoff in the whole process. John Lindberg - President EFULFILLMENT SERVICE Thanks for mentioning EFULFILLMENT SERVICE in your article even though Mad Cat’s ship volume wasn’t high enough to make the numbers work when they started out.

As you mentioned in your article the dollar value of the average sale makes a big difference in the fulfillment outsourcing decision plus the net ratio of monthly fulfillment fees to storage costs.

For us, you can figure on $1.85 per order plus $.40 per item plus postal or discounted UPS reimbursement for the fulfillment cost. The typical storage cost works out to $69.95 per month plus $16.00 per 4×4x4 pallet or a per item storage fee based on the same per pallet rate.

This means you have to avoid a situation where you are storing a lot of merchandise, but order volume is very low.

A good rule of thumb is you need at least 100 orders a month if you have less than 50 SKUs that takes up two or fewer pallets. We have about 360 clients and the average works out to about 150 to 175 orders a month–some a lot more and some a lot less.

There are a couple of other cost factors to think about which is a free carton or jiffy mailer is provided for every order plus we share our UPS discount with our clients—if you have a lot of orders per month, these two freebies really add up.

As you pointed out in your article, the most important thing about outsourcing fulfillment is the fact that the ecommerce merchant can focus 100% of their attention on sales…that is the biggest payoff in the whole process.

John Lindberg - President
EFULFILLMENT SERVICE

]]> Comment on Fulfillment Companies Ease the Shipping Burden for Ecommerce Companies by Susan Petracco http://www.doubleplus.com/fulfillment-shipping-ecommerce-companies.html#comment-55 Susan Petracco Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:47:18 +0000 http://www.doubleplus.com/?p=41#comment-55 Jeremy, thanks for posting the reference. Having good providers in Canada is definitely a bonus! Jeremy, thanks for posting the reference. Having good providers in Canada is definitely a bonus!

]]> Comment on Fulfillment Companies Ease the Shipping Burden for Ecommerce Companies by Jeremy Kern http://www.doubleplus.com/fulfillment-shipping-ecommerce-companies.html#comment-49 Jeremy Kern Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:41:23 +0000 http://www.doubleplus.com/?p=41#comment-49 Excellent article. You're right in saying that it's not for every company. But it does help the small business owners that would benefit more from expanding their business than packing boxes all day. I see that you've recommended a few U.S examples. I've had good experiences with one in Canada called Primebin Solutions. So, if anyone's looking to expand to Canada, they're worth looking into! Here's there site: http://www.primebin.com Excellent article. You’re right in saying that it’s not for every company. But it does help the small business owners that would benefit more from expanding their business than packing boxes all day.

I see that you’ve recommended a few U.S examples. I’ve had good experiences with one in Canada called Primebin Solutions. So, if anyone’s looking to expand to Canada, they’re worth looking into!

Here’s there site:
http://www.primebin.com

]]> Comment on Quick Tip: Setting a Fallback Image by Susan Petracco http://www.doubleplus.com/setting-up-a-fallback-image.html#comment-23 Susan Petracco Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:56:29 +0000 http://new.doubleplus.com/ecommerce-tips/setting-up-a-fallback-image.html#comment-23 Justin, it's been awhile since I've worked with IIS, but I do remember playing around ISAPIRewrite (http://www.isapirewrite.com/) and IIS Rewrite (http://www.qwerksoft.com/products/iisrewrite/) before. This was back in 2003, so my memory is cloudy, but I think it worked pretty well. Justin, it’s been awhile since I’ve worked with IIS, but I do remember playing around ISAPIRewrite (http://www.isapirewrite.com/) and IIS Rewrite (http://www.qwerksoft.com/products/iisrewrite/) before. This was back in 2003, so my memory is cloudy, but I think it worked pretty well.

]]> Comment on Quick Tip: Setting a Fallback Image by Justin @ Palmer Web Marketing http://www.doubleplus.com/setting-up-a-fallback-image.html#comment-22 Justin @ Palmer Web Marketing Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:22:19 +0000 http://new.doubleplus.com/ecommerce-tips/setting-up-a-fallback-image.html#comment-22 Great tip Susan, I've never considered this before. Do you know of a way to do this on a windows server? Great tip Susan, I’ve never considered this before.

Do you know of a way to do this on a windows server?

]]> Comment on Improve Your Bottom Line with Better Search Tools by Susan Petracco http://www.doubleplus.com/ecommerce-site-search-tools.html#comment-21 Susan Petracco Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:06:16 +0000 http://new.doubleplus.com/miscellaneous/site-search-tools-help-your-customers-find-the-products-theyre-looking-for.html#comment-21 I think that's still the biggest challenge Nextopia faces. There's no easy path for other developers to integrate the tool. SearchSpring makes it nice for Miva Merchant developers by opening everything up inside Miva's admin so it can be worked with Store Morph code. I think that’s still the biggest challenge Nextopia faces. There’s no easy path for other developers to integrate the tool. SearchSpring makes it nice for Miva Merchant developers by opening everything up inside Miva’s admin so it can be worked with Store Morph code.

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