Selling products online means not only setting up and running an ecommerce site, but also finding ways to attract customers to your site and creating an overall online shopping experience for them. This week, online giants Yelp and eBay added some services to make the process of running an ecommerce business a bit easier. Read about these headlines and more in this week’s Small Business Trends news and information roundup.
eCommerce
Yelp Adds eCommerce for Local Boutiques
Through a new partnership with the boutique shopping platform Shoptiques.com, Yelp now offers consumers the ability to purchase high-end apparel and accessories from these retailers based in the U.S., England and France.
Ebay Unveils Advertising Service for Sellers
eBay recently reported plans to test a new advertising program that will give some sellers the opportunity to raise the profile of some products above the pack. Called promoted listings, the service launches next month by invitation only for items bought and sold on eBay. Under the proposed program, sellers pay only when an ad is clicked and a product is purchased.
New to eCommerce? Enjoy Has Free Hand Delivery, Setup
A lot of eCommerce sites strive for a personal experience but ENJOY is delivering on that claim … by hand. ENJOY launched earlier this year and the eCommerce site certainly has a unique take on the mobile or online shopping experience. After customers make a purchase on the site, ENJOY hand delivers the product to their customers.
Employment
Americans Prefer Not to Work for Family-Owned Businesses
If you have a family business, then you might find hiring non-family members to work for you to be a challenge. Unlike the residents of several European nations, most Americans would prefer to work for other types of companies, a survey of a representative sample of adults in the 27 member states of the European Union and 13 other countries reveals.
Retail Trends
Hong Kong Bun Festival Makes Local Bakery More Than $10,000 a Day
Living in a small town can help or hurt small businesses. But when you find a niche that needs filling, you just might strike gold.
For example, the Bun Festival, held each May on a tiny, one square-mile island near Hong Kong, has been growing exponentially each year. The small town of Cheung Chau is flooded with people filing off by the boatload to take part in this yearly tradition.
Bombas Socks Has Buy-a-Pair, Donate-a-Pair Retail Model
Buy-one-get-one free is considered one of the greatest retail concepts of all time. In today’s more socially conscious environment, an interesting twist was added by a company that crowdfunded its product focus: socks. Bombas, which only makes socks, follows a buy-one-pair-donate-one-pair retail business model.
Small Biz Spotlight
Spotlight: OneTouchTeam Creates Do-It-Yourself HR
Human resources can be an important part of every business. But the smallest of businesses are unlikely to have the resources to dedicate a whole department to human resources or even to outsource it.
OneTouchTeam is very familiar with the difficulties that small businesses face when trying to run their own HR solutions. So, the company created a DIY human resources solution.
Small Business Operations
Celebrating National Business Etiquette Week
This year’s National Business Etiquette Week runs from June 7 to 11 at The Protocol School of Washington. The week-long recognition offers instructor-led business etiquette courses, as well as international protocol training. Founded in 1988, the Protocol School of Washington has trained more than 2,500 graduates from 45 countries.
How to be More Productive: Build Your Biz on the Cloud
A recent chat on small business productivity looked at cloud services among other options as a way to create a more dynamic company. The chat also included general suggestions on how to be more productive. Moderated by Small Business Trends founder and CEO Anita Campbell (@SmallBizTrends) and Smart Hustle Magazine publisher Ramon Ray (@RamonRay), the chat featured plenty of participation.
Technology Trends
Lenovo Goes 3D With the Z51 Laptop
Microsoft is billing its Surface 3 as the alternative to the laptop, but what’s the alternative to the Surface? The Chinese electronics giant Lenovo is betting on its Z51 laptop, which includes a 3D camera that you can use to play games, scan, or for gesture control.
Need To Manage Your Google Settings? Google’s My Account is Here
Wouldn’t it be nice if you had more control over what private information is collected about you? Google is rolling out two new improvements to their privacy and security tools that will do just that by putting more control over your information into your own hands. Users now have access to a personal hub for managing Google settings called My Account.
Windows 10 Release Date Finally Announced
After revealing its newest operating system back in September of last year, Microsoft has finally announced the Windows 10 release date – and the much-ballyhooed return of the Start button – both of which will be available to the world on July 29. And, as promised, it will be free. For months, Microsoft has been building up the anticipation for Windows 10.
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Image: eBay
