Expand > How to grow your business
In this section we show you how to build upon your online selling to add in the best of store and multichannel (click and collect, in-store inventory, store guides, enhanced point of sale and staff training), mobile (both as a sales channel and to support the store and information gathering) and international growth.
Read all our content on growing your business across channels, territories and segments.
Could outsourcing help you sell more?
By definition small businesses lack resource. Outsourcing certain elements of what you do (web design, delivery logistics, warehousing etc) could help you focus on selling. Here we talk about the pros and cons of outsourcing business processes.
Multi-currency tracking from Google
Web giant Google has introduced multi-currency tracking to its suite of services aimed at ecommerce businesses – what does it mean to you?
Drop Shipping: finding the right supplier
Drop shipping is a popular supply chain technique used by online retailers. It uses wholesalers which are able to ship any products that you sell on your site directly to your customers, eliminating the need for you to hold any stock and takes away the risk of having an inventory that doesn’t sell.
Preparing for international ecommerce
Over the last few years there has been a phenomenal interest in international ecommerce. But with over 240 countries sharing a diverse mishmash of languages, alphabets and addressing formats, accommodating for each and every customer in your web forms is no easy task.
Making affiliate marketing work
In the second part of our series on affiliate marketing, Dan Cohen explains some of the techniques ecommerce businesses can use to make affiliate marketing drive new business and profits.
Q&A: Dan Jennings of Monster Slippers
Dan Jennings was busy running a successful logistics company when he came across a fledgeling business he simply couldn’t ignore. Monster Slippers. Since buying in 2008, he and his team have turned the business around and made it a roaring success.
Monetising video content
The key challenge for most marketing managers is how to deploy this video content to effectively generate consistent, measurable sales. Doing so can also make an effective business case for more video content, therefore contributing to more sales.
Profile: Joe white, Moonfruit
Hosting websites since 1999, Moonfruit has developed over the years to cater for small ecommerce businesses creating simple, user friendly sites. It was acquired by Yell (now Hibu) last year and continues to innovate as part of the Hibu company.
Q&A: Graham Hart of Harts of Stur
Graham Hart is at the helm of family-run Harts of Stur, a business which has been trading for over 60 years. Before that, his great grandfather ran the blacksmith business manufacturing steel parts for agriculture.
Q&A: Mark Pearson, founder of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk
MyVoucherCodes.co.uk attracts ten million visitors per month, sees revenues of some £12m a year and employs 150 staff at its London Bridge HQ, just six years after launch.
How to retain global customers
Globalising opens up your ecommerce business to new markets and a clear path to growth through global customers. It’s no easy task but it can help to provide long term sustainability for your business.
Start selling overseas with ecommerce
Today, your customers can come from anywhere. Nowhere is this truer than in ecommerce. Once you’ve established yourself as an online retailer, you are open to visitors from all over the world. Global communications and logistics, therefore, is an opportunity that shouldn’t pass you by.
Multi-channel ecommerce is now a two-way street
Multi-channel ecommerce used to be a one-way street. Online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon provided the starting blocks for many small business owners to take their first steps online.
