Shopify & Ecommerce Ramblings

A blog about building and extending awesome Shopify stores

A quick primer on Shopify integrations

A quick primer on Shopify integrations

by Gabi Falanga 4 min read

Found in translation: What you need to know about custom Shopify integrations. Shopify does a great job at straightforward Ecommerce. However, there are times when you will need to integrate with another system, be it an accounting package or an inventory management tool.

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Ecommerce in the metaverse… MetaCommerce?

Ecommerce in the metaverse… MetaCommerce?

by Daniel Connor 4 min read

The Facebook company is now called "Meta" and they are creating the metaverse. One thing’s for sure: Wherever consumers are… online, offline, or in the metaverse, there will be commerce. MetaCommerce WILL be a thing. It kind of already is.

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Festive season readiness: How to get everything ‘wrapped’ up before Christmas

Festive season readiness: How to get everything ‘wrapped’ up before Christmas

by Gabi Falanga 4 min read

Jingle bells, analytics sells! Christmas is only a few weeks away and of course, you want your online store to attract and maintain customers during this period. Shopify and Google each offer analytics that will help you to understand how shoppers use your store and where it needs to be improved.

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Shopify: Balancing automation with humanized digital connections

Shopify: Balancing automation with humanized digital connections

by Gabi Falanga 4 min read

We recently caught up with Shopify’s Hain Joubert who told us about exciting new Shopify features, gave sage advice for merchants, and discussed how the global pandemic has changed ecommerce, probably forever. Joubert was eager to reveal improvements and changes that are underway at Shopify. The platform’s fulfilment network is being revamped with better software and features that give merchants more control and flexibility in managing their orders. 

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Prepare your store for Black Friday

Prepare your store for Black Friday

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Being well-prepared for BFCM means that your site will be ready for the subsequent Halloween and festive season gifting period when you’ll no doubt want to maintain high quality of customer service while coping with the influx of sales. Knowing that your platform is sound and optimized to convert the maximum sales, and that your marketing strategies have been working hard for you in the lead up to BFCM, will allow you to focus your energies where they’re needed on the big day.

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PODCAST: Why You Can’t Always Use Customer Journey Buying From Day One

PODCAST: Why You Can’t Always Use Customer Journey Buying From Day One

by Linda Lynch 1 min read

ShopCreatify founder, Ross Allchorn, returned to the Unprepared Podcast with Chase from Honest Ecommerce. This time they discussed the benefits of customer journey buying, how you can compare it with cross-selling, upselling, and bundling, attributions of sales and more. 

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Keeping customers post-Covid

Keeping customers post-Covid

by Gabi Falanga 5 min read

Online shopping exploded during the coronavirus pandemic as customers started shopping online more. Some stores reported unheard of increases in business. The vaccine rollout in the US might see the return of some semblance of normality. So what will merchants do to retain new customers from the past year? We look at ways to sustain this growth and make sure that short-term customers become long-term ones.

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Foldabox can’t contain itself

Foldabox can’t contain itself

by Gabi Falanga 9 min read

A luxury gift box ecommerce store Foldabox has almosttripled its business during the coronavirus pandemic. The store, with a UK and a USA site, has modest beginnings. Nicole Hines, the founder and managing director, launched the company in 2005.

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Dogfooding: Using what you sell

Dogfooding: Using what you sell

by Gabi Falanga 5 min read

There is always room for improvement on any site and ShopCreatify encourages anyone with a website to constantly review their sites. We recently relaunched our own site. Of course we’re on Shopify! We pushed ourselves to the limits of the platform’s content management capabilities and reaffirmed our faith in Shopify.

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We're changing ConversionBoost... "and you'll be shocked when you find out why!"

We're changing ConversionBoost... "and you'll be shocked when you find out why!"

by Ross Allchorn 5 min read

If you didn't already know, ConversionBoost  is  was our productized service for ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO). We've decided that that isn't enough anymore though... specifically the productized bit.

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Why you might want to consider a custom designed Shopify theme

Why you might want to consider a custom designed Shopify theme

by Ross Allchorn 7 min read

Not all merchants need a custom theme. For some (maybe you) they really do warrant considering though. There are pros and cons to the different approaches that can be taken to theming. In this article I've tried to cover those factors so you can make the best decision for your business.

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Giving customers the power to buy

Giving customers the power to buy

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Although sales have been skyrocketing for many online businesses, many households are experiencing reduced incomes and financial worries. Offering financing options on your store will give customers buying power.

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Taking risks and accepting failures: Grip6’s journey to success

Taking risks and accepting failures: Grip6’s journey to success

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

BJ Minson, founder of Grip6 inspecting his product made in USA

Taking risks, accepting failure and doing things himself are all part of Grip6 founder BJ Minson’s recipe for success. The American belt manufacturer, and ShopCreatify client, sold 350,000 belts in 2019. BJ Minson talks belt flaps, Chinese manufacturing, and marketing mess-ups.

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Wolf, ShopCreatify’s newest pack member

Wolf, ShopCreatify’s newest pack member

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Nina Wolf and her dog Fergus

Wolf became part of ShopCreatify’s ‘pack’ in June 2020. The experienced marketing manager has joined ShopCreatify in a strategic capacity with a strong focus on sales, marketing and merchant success. She only growls occasionally. Wolf was, until recently, the brand manager at Small Pet Select, a large US ecommerce store that sells quality animal food for small pets. 

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Why you should be focusing on BFCM right now

Why you should be focusing on BFCM right now

by Ross Allchorn 7 min read

Focus on BFCM
Photo by Kevin Ku

BFCM and the subsequent gifting season is the period when many merchants see the lion’s share of their annual sales in the year, and could be the much needed monetary relief that many are relying on. While we cannot predict how things will be for merchants during this holiday season, it does appear that it could be a favorable one for ecommerce again. 

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Unprepared - Ecommerce Podcast Interview

Unprepared - Ecommerce Podcast Interview

by Linda Lynch 1 min read

Chase Clymer, Ross Allchorn

Chase Clymer, host of Honest Ecommerce's interviewed ShopCreatify's Ross Allchorn in a recent podcast. In this episode they discuss how the pandemic has affected Ecommerce in South Africa and around the world, and what merchants should be focusing on during this time. 

While ShopCreatify has a distributed team that spans the world, there are a couple of teammates and customers with Ecommerce stores based in South Africa, giving Ross a unique perspective to offer.

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Tips to using your time wisely during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tips to using your time wisely during the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Ross Allchorn 6 min read

Working from home during COVID-19 Pandemic

Photo by Roberto Nickson

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are left with an uncertain future. Many brick and mortar businesses have closed their doors indefinitely (some will reopen, others not so lucky), and retailers are looking to ecommerce to secure their brand a future.

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A Helping Hand by the Ecommerce Community

A Helping Hand by the Ecommerce Community

by Ross Allchorn 4 min read

Shopify Ecommerce Covid-19 Helping HandPhoto by Austin Kehmeier

Online resources to help guide your ecommerce business through this pandemic

There is some help to get you up and running quickly, to support your community, and to aid us all in getting through Covid-19 times.

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Proudly embracing a remote mindset for improved efficiency and other benefits

Proudly embracing a remote mindset for improved efficiency and other benefits

by Ross Allchorn 6 min read

ShopCreatify Core Clients on a map

Is remote working all it’s purported to be? Well… in short… at least for me and my current team, yes.

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Are you leaving money on the table?

Are you leaving money on the table?

by Ross Allchorn 2 min read

You ticked all the boxes when you set up your ecommerce website, you spent time and resources on good marketing channels, and you’re getting loads of targeted traffic, but you’re not seeing the sales numbers you’d expect.

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