Business News

Thu Nov 21

Must-use Services to Jump Start Your E-Commerce Store

Written by News Company

With more and more people shopping online, perhaps it crossed your mind to get on that bandwagon and start your own e-commerce store. Almost everything you can sell in a physical store, you can also sell in a virtual store. If you already have a physical store, you can sell your products there. If you want to cash-in on the rising popularity of online selling outlets, even without your own inventory, you can do that too.

How to Be Better Than Other Online Stores

With all the people getting in on the action, one of the things you must do constantly is to improve user experience and customer service to get the upper hand on your competition (it also helps reduce the number of lengthy exhausting disputes with disappointed clients. Another way to handle these expensive disputes is by using mediation services such as Purchase Guard). This means you will need to employ a few key tools and services to be a better online store than your counterparts. To ensure that your e-commerce store gets more traffic and revenues than its competitors from the get-go, here are a few must-use services to jump-start an e-commerce store:

Live chat support – One thing that most online customers look for when it comes to e-commerce stores is a live online chat feature. This helps them ask their questions right then and there, directly, quickly helping them with the decision whether to buy or not.
Mailing service – Probably the most popular one of these services is Mailchimp. This helps automate the sending of email blasts to your mailing list (or multiple lists), giving you the chance to reach more people faster. This gives you more time to devote to the management and improvement of your online store since you don’t have to send emails to your mailing list manually.
Analytics tools – How can you keep track of the number of people who come and go on your site? How do you find out which activity they engaged in while in your store? With the use of tools such as Google Analytics and Metrilo, you can do all these and much more. For example, these tools can help you see which pages on your site turn people off, where they tend to abandon their shopping cart, tell you which link brought them to your store, etc.
Easy-to-use billing tools – Some people tend to abandon their shopping carts during the checkout process. This is due to some e-commerce billing systems that are tricky to use, i.e., not user-friendly. Some checkout systems make it difficult for buyers to check out and finish purchasing the desired product. Reduce the incidence of cart abandonment by employing billing tools that are secure but easy to use.
Advertising and marketing tools – How can you increase your revenues? By increasing your visitors with the use of advertising, of course. Among the most popular advertising mediums (paid and free) you should never do without are Facebook ads, social media platforms, Google AdWords, and others. Some tools help make the creation of these ads easier, so make sure you do thorough research first.

These are just five of the different software tools and services your online store should never do without. Other tools you should also consider adding to this list include website design tools, research tools, and business tools that allow you to improve your e-commerce store further.

Wed Nov 20

Australia’s Spending and Saving Habits Revealed

Written by Media Release

BNPL solution, humm, releases new research that lifts the veil on our attitudes to spending and saving, along with shopping habits

Australia, Savvy shoppers, Australia is a nation of them as a new report out today by BNPL service provider humm indicates. Amongst the key findings, the results show we love a bargain, we love to shop – we’re about the impulse purchase, but we are also mindful of spending.

Elizabeth Minogue, Chief Revenue Officer of flexigroup (the engine behind humm), comments; “as the pioneer of BNPL in Australia, we know that people’s attitude to money has changed in the 30 years we’ve been in business. People want more control of their spending; they are smarter about how they use their money and are considerate of budgets. We commissioned this research to dig deeper into consumer’s attitudes to help understand some of the key trends happening today so we can continue to tailor solutions into the future.”

“The results show that we consider ourselves to be pretty smart or savvy when it comes to using our own money, with half of the people surveyed commenting that seeking out a bargain is like a full-time job. We were also happy to see that people have good awareness of what BNPL is with 4 out of five people commenting that BNPL allows them the ability to obtain what they want or need right away, increasing happiness and self-esteem.”

So just how savvy are we when it comes to saving, and spending?

The Spending and Saving Report, which surveyed 1,000 people across Australia, found that 7 out of 10 people surveyed believe Australians are increasingly becoming savvy shoppers, with the majority thinking they themselves are savvy at both spending and saving. [Interestingly, attitudes across generations and sexes also vary. Some key findings include:

Males are twice as likely as females to see themselves as financially savvy
Nearly half of Gen Z feel like they are in control of their spending and saving to a large extent
While, overall, Baby Boomers are perceived as the “savviest at saving” their money among all the generations.

When it comes to shopping, it seems we are in awe of those savvy shoppers amongst us with 3 in 5 women secretly admiring the ability of other women to be savvy shoppers. And ladies no longer need to fear returning home with an armful of bags or packages at the front door, when nearly 1 in 2 men secretly admire the ability of women to be savvy shoppers.

We also love a bargain, with more than 90% of consumers seeking out a discount or special offer prior to making a purchase, and two in three consumers admitting to searching for discounts all the time. In fact, more than half admit that seeking out discounts is almost like a full- time job for them.

However, in order to shop, of course there is the need to save, with the report revealing that Aussies are continually focused on managing their budget. In fact, across the generations, more than half of consumers have a rough budget for saving, however, admit to not always sticking to it:

Younger generations are more fugal than older generations with almost half of them saving more than 20% of their net income
While, according to the report, males tend to save more than females

As we know, sometimes managing a budget can be hard, and sadly many people admitted to delaying important purchases because they couldn’t afford it, including:

51% said they have delayed necessary dental work

35% delay paying for the gym
35% delay purchasing children’s clothing
29% have delayed undergoing a medical procedure
Females rather than males are more likely to delay purchases ranging from clothes to a new car

Some other key findings from the report include:

53.7% of Baby Boomers live life by making what they have go a lot further, while 52.6% of Gen Z live life prioritising experiences and freedom
30.9% of Gen Y say they use special techniques to stretch their money further in contrast to only 18.7% of pre-boomers
Most consumers say, to a large extent, they are in control of their saving and spending:

47.3% of Gen Z
34.9% of Gen Y
40% of Gen X
38.8% of Baby Boomers
42.5% Pre-Boomers

Nearly 50% of each generation say they make impulse purchases at least occasionally
Nearly 65% of people say that impulse purchases improve their happiness
7 in 10 people think it is important to have the ability of making impulsive decisions

BNPL specific findings:

86.3% to say they have at least a good understanding of a BNPL service or you can also phrase it as 86.3% of people say they have either a good or very good understanding of what a BNPL service is.
84.2% of Boomers have not used a BNPL service in the past 12 months compared to 66.6% of Gen Z
74.2% of people said they have not used BNPL to make an unexpected purchase in the past 12 months such as a dishwasher breaking down or a health bill

More about humm and flexigroup

Available online and in stores across Australia, humm – the responsible way to buy-now-pay-later – is available for everyday purchases, such as clothes and shoes, as well as must-have-can’t-wait services such as dental work.

Flexigroup’s experience in the sector brings a responsible consumer-first approach to an industry lacking in transparency and security.

Beginning as a risk management company and with decades of experience in consumer lending, flexigroup has unprecedented security and customer care.

Unlike other products on the market, humm uses a proprietary triple-check process to encourage responsible spending and to make sure consumers are suited to the payment plan. In addition, every humm user that is over the age of 75 is spoken to over the phone from a humm representative in Australia to ensure they understand their purchase and are happy with the pay later arrangement.

About flexigroup:

Humm is part of flexigroup and offers consumers access to lending solutions for purchases with partner retailers from $1-$30,000. The platform is split into two bands titled ‘Little Things’ (up to $2,000) and ‘Big Things’ (up to $30,000). Humm launched in 2019 with a roster of top-tier retail partners including Myer, Ikea, Just Group and many more.

flexigroup provides a diverse range of finance solutions to consumers and business through a network of retail and business partners. This includes Buy Now Pay Later products, credit cards, and consumer and business lending. flexigroup has been operating in Australia for over 30 years, has partnerships with 62,000 sellers and now services 1.2 million customers across Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.