Finding the software that would have CozyCoverz.com covered

It can be a complicated process to let customers personalize a product. You have to make sure the customer understands the available options and knows what to select to get the results they want. It’s crucial that an online store uses eCommerce software that can support this kind of feature.

Unlike some businesses that start out as brick-and-mortar and then expand into eCommerce, Craig planned from the beginning that CozyCoverz.com would be an online business.

“I was interested in doing something more ‘eCommerce’ specifically,” he says, “and so I was looking for an eCommerce solution to be able to create that store.”

Craig’s research on eCommerce software led him to discover Shift4Shop. He looked at several different platforms, but Shift4Shop appealed to him the most. “It just seemed to be the most flexible,” he explains. “It had a lot of functionality. I wanted to have flexibility for the future to be able to do different things, and it just seemed to be the most open in terms of being able to modify it.”

But Craig wasn’t only considering the future when he decided on Shift4Shop — he was also interested in the here-and-now. “It also had a lot of features and functionality built right into it to make it handle all the eCommerce stuff all around, including printing shipping labels and everything,” he says. “So it just seemed like the easiest way to get off the ground, and yet still have a lot of functionality that felt like I would be able to use it for a while.” The issue of starting off with a simplistic platform and then having to move to another solution later on didn’t appeal to him, as that situation can present a huge setback to a business.

Craig discovered that Shift4Shop served his business’s needs just as admirably as he’d hoped. He has several favorite features, many of which focus on the amount of time he saves by using the Shift4Shop software.

The feature most necessary to his business is the ability to customize the product pages as needed. Not only are Craig’s products customizable, they also come with different options like available colors. Some products even offer different methods of customization, like embroidery, laser engraving, or screen printing depending on the material. CozyCoverz.com is able to use Shift4Shop’s built-in functionality to flesh out their product pages and ensure all the appropriate options are easy for customers to understand and select.

“I also like the mailing functionality; the emails,” Craig says. He cites order confirmations, autoresponders, and abandoned cart recovery as great time-savers. He also uses automation to keep in touch with his vendors for dropshipping purposes. “All that is automated, so it really saves a ton of time,” he says. “It makes things much easier.”

Weaving the future

With over 9 years in business, CozyCoverz.com has already expanded beyond its original concept as a blanket store. They also sell other customizable products like towels and tote bags, and added face masks to their product line during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Craig has other plans to continue expanding his business, with even more personalization options for customers. At first, he wasn’t sure if Shift4Shop would be up to the challenge. “In fact, I had looked at some other platforms, but I realized Shift4Shop actually has the flexibility to do that.” He has plenty of ideas for new customizations to offer, including additional options for embroidery, logos, screen printing, and much more, all of which the customer can choose right when they place their order. “That’s something else that will be more easily managed in the system, that takes a lot of the work off,” he explains. “That’s going to help a lot.”

Craig says he’s very likely to recommend Shift4Shop to other businesses, and in fact he already has. “I’ve recommended it to several people that I know, and also just online recommendations,” he says.

The available support is a primary reason for his recommendation. “Because I’ve been using it for a long time, I know what’s great about having a hosted solution like Shift4Shop is that it provides all the functionality and flexibility — but it’s managed by Shift4Shop, so if there’s any issues, the customer service is there to answer any questions. They’re always very responsive when there’s been any questions or issues, and so it takes a lot of that work away, because they’re managing the platform.” This is in strong contrast to an open-source eCommerce platform, in which a merchant often has to struggle without support.

Craig also sees Shift4Shop as a great eCommerce solution for any business, regardless of their resources or experience level, mainly because it has so much to offer. “Just having the flexibility, ease of use, and functionality, especially right in the box,” he explains as a huge advantage. “You don’t need a whole lot of other services to add on to it, because it has so much just built into it. So it’s definitely my recommendation to people — people that are starting out, but even people that have been [in business] a while. It’s got a lot of power to it. It’s great.”

Craig feels as if he made the right decision by choosing Shift4Shop, and in fact, CozyCoverz.com has never used another eCommerce platform. The business has already expanded more than once, including its product line, and seems poised to take on any challenges the future may hold. After all, people are always going to need blankets — and being able to customize them is an irresistible bonus
for many!

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The right recipe for an eCommerce website

Keep Life Tasty has been selling online for about 6 or 7 years. LLance remembers the business’s break into eCommerce as a bit less than ideal. “I was using something that came with my domain hosting company — it was just kind of like a little starter kit,” he says, “and what we realized quickly is that we needed something a lot more robust.”

The search soon began for an eCommerce platform that would serve the needs of the Kezners’ growing business. LLance discovered Shift4Shop by researching other companies in the same type of industry, which is always a great place to start. He realized many of these businesses were using Shift4Shop, so he decided to give it a try himself.

He is quite pleased with the results, and with the large number of features Shift4Shop has to offer. “I think the best thing about Shift4Shop is I can use features that make us seem like a much bigger company than we really are, without having to pay thousands of dollars a month,” he says.

Since Keep Life Tasty sells wholesale as well as direct-to-consumer, LLance notes that the Customer Groups feature is one of his favorites — especially since Shift4Shop includes it right out of the box, with no custom programming or pricey apps required. “One of the best features I think, for the money, is the ability to segment customers and show them different pricing,” he explains. “Some other companies charge $1,200 a month for that same feature, which is insane.”

LLance says he would definitely recommend Shift4Shop to other businesses, and he already has. “In the food business, there are all kinds of companies that share resources, so whenever someone asks me, I tell them ‘definitely go with Shift4Shop, you get way more value for your dollar.'”

What’s cooking for the future?

LLance and Lori continue to innovate in their kitchen, and with a history of experimentation leading to successful products, new recipes seem likely to be on the table at any time. In fact, the Kezners share their new product ideas in the Test Kitchen section of their website, giving customers a chance to try limited-time new recipes before they hit the market. Just as always, all their new products continue the tradition of being dedicated to all those who have influenced them and inspired their creativity.

LLance looks forward to continuing to expand in the future. “We hope to really push the volume of our business,” he says. “The food business has been a recipient of a lot of attention during these crazy times, and we’re just hoping that we can keep up our infrastructure and the ability to ship directly to customers, and grow as the demand hits.”

Such growth would be a win-win situation, not just for Keep Life Tasty, but also for customers everywhere who look forward to their next cup of Millie’s Sipping Broth or can’t wait to try the next flavor of GarLic It!® and other products. Many loyal customers would say Keep Life Tasty has succeeded in its mission to bring comfort food and a family atmosphere to them, even during the most trying of times. LLance feels similarly about his eCommerce platform: as he puts it, “Shift4Shop has been right there with us the entire way.”

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Searching for the right software

Business-to-business buyers have different needs than regular consumers, but their preferences have evolved just the same. In today’s eCommerce-driven world, B2B customers have discovered unprecedented convenience. This makes it easier, faster, and more cost-effective for businesses to find suppliers and form a relationship.

So, bringing Soteria Metal Roofs online was the next step. Tony needed flexible software that would allow him to create the ideal B2B portal. After doing some research on eCommerce platforms, he decided on Shift4Shop.

There were several factors that helped him decide, starting with the broad list of features included in Shift4Shop. However, it wasn’t just the existence of the features, but the way they were presented. “I chose Shift4Shop based on a number of things,” he says. “First and foremost, the transparency in terms of what it provided, whereas with a lot of the competitors it was very secretive.” Tony was hesitant to try using a platform that wasn’t clear on what it offered. “I didn’t want to commit to something only to discover that it wasn’t the right solution for me.”

Since his goal was to build a B2B online store, he looked specifically for software that had the right tools to let him accomplish this easily. B2B sellers want to structure their websites according to their business model, and while this can vary depending on the business, there are several features required to make it possible.
For example, B2B eCommerce merchants will often hide their product catalog from unregistered users, and in some cases, hide their whole site. This gives the business more control over who they accept as clients, and prevents B2C consumers from mistakenly trying to place an order. Soteria Metal Roofs hides all content on their B2B portal from unregistered users to ensure they can build proper relationships with those they accept as authorized dealers.

B2B also requires special pricing. The most familiar example would be wholesale or bulk pricing, but it can go deeper than that depending on the needs of the business. Tony wanted to have a tiered pricing system for Soteria Metal Roofs, where he could offer different pricing levels to different clients. Since Shift4Shop has this feature, he cites it as another reason he chose it as his platform.

Tony was also in a position very familiar to new eCommerce entrepreneurs: he had no knowledge of how to build a website. “I have to be honest; I have zero experience,” he says. “I’ve never done anything like this.” But once he got started with his Shift4Shop website, he learned very quickly. “It was just so easy to use, and I thought ‘wow, this is incredible.’ I’m close to exactly where I want to be, with small exceptions.”

Building for the future

The future is bright for Soteria Metal Roofs. Tony is pleased with how quickly his business has picked up speed, and he gives Shift4Shop some credit for that. The included features allowed him to build his B2B website how he’d envisioned, and while he points out the tiered pricing as his favorite feature “absolutely, by far,” he’s looking forward to using more of Shift4Shop’s tools to continue to expand his business.

“It’s actually taken off quite well,” Tony says, of his business’s beginnings. “I want to get salespeople involved to push the product more, again using the platform. I also found that [Shift4Shop has] a salesperson addon that fits perfectly with my business model.” The addon he refers to is Shift4Shop’s Sales Rep Management module, which offers full management and commission tracking for sales representatives.

Tony says he would absolutely recommend Shift4Shop to a new business. He reiterates that the ease of use made a big difference, as well as the additional support available to help him learn the ins and outs of the software. “The Knowledgebase is absolutely incredible, and if there was something that I had a hard time with, I would either call or send a message, and I would get my response. It’s a great platform. I love it!”

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Bringing an ancient art into eCommerce

Perhaps fitting a business that focuses on helping such a traditional craft remain appreciated in current times, Venetian Bead Shop was an early adopter of eCommerce. At first, they sold in person as exhibitors with the International Gem and Jewelry Shows, the San Francisco International Gift Show, and at other shows in the San Francisco Bay Area. Buyers from jewelry stores attend these types of exhibitions to look for products to sell at their retail stores.

“Clearly, there was no internet,” Brenda says of the pre-eCommerce times. “But in 1998, we opened our first online store. It was on Yahoo!, and it was called Viaweb Stores in those days.” In addition to selling larger glass pieces from the Venice furnaces, Brenda started adding beads to the store’s catalog. At the time, the limitations of technology meant she could only take 32 pictures at a time — a steep prospect for a store that would one day have over 16,000 SKUs. Thankfully, things have gotten much easier since then.

Eventually, the time came to split their business into more than one website. “The store became clumsy for people who wanted to buy multiple products,” Brenda explains, “So we spun off Venetian Bead Shop.” At first, they kept it on Yahoo! Stores, but within a few years, they were looking for another platform.

The search for software that could
meet the challenge

It was crucial for the business to use eCommerce software that was both feature-rich, and easy to use. While it’s possible for businesses to keep developers on staff, the better solution is to use an eCommerce platform that anyone can learn, regardless of their background.

“Between 2000 and 2006, I think I tried every shopping cart there was. If it was out there, I tried it!” Brenda says. “The one I probably stayed the longest with was Miva, which is an excellent cart, but very geeky. So, in 2006, we needed to have it so the people who worked for us could actually go on and they didn’t have to know code.”

Eventually, the search for a new platform led Brenda to discover Shift4Shop.
“The deciding factor was really that it had some of the GUI capabilities, but it had a lot of the same coding capabilities that we had before, so it was a hybrid that worked for someone who is good with coding, but also someone who you just hired to run your store. They weren’t going to break it, and it had all the capabilities that we need.”

Finding advantages with Shift4Shop

One of Shift4Shop’s primary advantages is that it’s scalable for any size of business and any number of products. Online store owners on Shift4Shop can create unlimited categories as needed, and nest them within each other to create subcategories. Since there’s no limit to how many categories a Shift4Shop store can have, or to the depth of the categorization, this gives the platform a strong appeal for businesses that need deep category structures to help customers find what they need.

A jewelry supply store like Venetian Bead Shop needs the ability to add an enormous number of SKUs to their catalog and categorize them appropriately. Even if you don’t consider the huge variety of beads, jewelry supplies include findings (like clasps and jump rings), stringing materials, tools, and more. Add different materials to the equation, like silver and stainless steel, and it’s easy to see how even a smaller jewelry supplier could end up with hundreds of products — let alone a large, established business like Venetian Bead Shop.

It’s not just the software itself that Brenda finds useful for her business. In 2020, she started using Shift4Shop’s SEO service, which she says is her favorite thing right now. She explains that with 16,000 SKUs on Venetian Bead Shop, the SEO is “a big deal.” This is definitely the case, since for SEO to be effective, every product needs to be optimized.

“I can have Shift4Shop do that, and I don’t think about it,” Brenda says. “They talk to me once a month about what we’re going to do next month, and tell me what we’ve done.” She greatly appreciates the fact that these services are available from Shift4Shop itself. “I like that it’s a total package. If you have to give someone else access to your website… they can break it. So, if I ask Shift4Shop to do it, I know that it’s going to be secure, I know that if something breaks, [they’re] going to fix it. I could hire someone in my own shop to do the SEO, but it would cost me a lot more.”

Brenda also relies on Shift4Shop’s integrations with other software to run essential parts of her business. She operates multiple online stores to ensure better targeting in the different niches related to Murano glass, and uses ecomdash to handle her business’s multichannel sales and synchronizations. She has also been using Stone Edge to manage all her orders since 2003. “I wouldn’t be with a cart that didn’t work with Stone Edge,” she says.

“I like that it’s a total package. If you have to give someone else access to your website… they can break it. So, if I ask Shift4Shop to do it, I know that it’s going to be secure, I know that if something breaks, [they’re] going to fix it. I could hire someone in my own shop to do the SEO, but it would cost me a lot more.”

– Brenda Nishimoto,
Venetian Bead Shop founder

Forging a future from glass

A Dream Team for eCommerce

Brenda says she would definitely recommend Shift4Shop to other businesses. She cites the ease of use, payment processing, and integrations as well as the variety of eCommerce website templates in the Theme Store. “[Shift4Shop doesn’t] require you to be a programmer to get started.”

As for Venetian Bead Shop, the future is bright, and Brenda has her eye on the next steps for continuing to share her passion with the world. The business has already grown substantially since its early days, and has moved to new facilities several times — without ever missing an online order.

Now, Brenda plans to start selling on Instagram soon, making use of Shift4Shop’s complete Instagram integration. She’s also opening more stores on Shift4Shop, including a new site with a partner from Venice who makes jewelry. She explains that she has found that Shift4Shop grows along with the business.

Brenda has experienced firsthand the numerous challenges that come with building and growing a successful business, especially in such a niche market. But she’s not just running a business: whether she’s managing one of her websites or crafting beads herself deep within a Murano furnace, she’s helping to keep a legacy of beauty alive for the next generations.

Venetian Bead Shop has an inspiring story for anyone who wants to create a business based on something they love. After all, Brenda’s abiding love for Venice, its culture, and its artistry is what inspired her to start the business, and what drives her to this day. “Why I work is so at the end of the day, I can be in Venice!”

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Breaking into eCommerce

(without breaking the bank)

Everyone has to start somewhere. For TruTech Tools, their eCommerce journey started with an online store designed by a talented high school student. They chose Zen Cart as their supporting shopping cart software. Jim Bergmann explained the situation in a 2012 interview during his time as TruTech Tools CTO. “As a small business, we looked for the lowest barrier to entry, and Zen Cart was free. But hardly anything is really free. We found there was a huge tradeoff for website novices in that there was no customer support.”

Without support, the team had a tougher time dealing with issues. To make matters worse, their site experienced frequent downtime, sometimes due to the cart itself and sometimes from their own doing. Jim was a service technician by trade, without any working knowledge of how to run a website. In addition to support, the TruTech Tools team was looking for guidance and best practices — neither of which they found with Zen Cart.

By 2008, it was clear Zen Cart wasn’t going to allow TruTech Tools to grow as quickly as they had envisioned. Their competition was simply outranking them consistently on a lot of products. Jim knew there had to be a better way.

Eventually, he came across Shift4Shop. “Shift4Shop was light years ahead of Zen Cart in terms of what we needed our software to do,” Bergmann says. “It was the perfect platform to continually learn more about running an online store. We wouldn’t be where we are today without it.”

Jim cites three main reasons for the switch to Shift4Shop:

Strong Support Staff

Jim says that he can “pick up the phone pretty much any time of day and get help with managing the product.” Shift4Shop features 24/7 phone support in addition to email and live chat resources. “Everything a growing online retail business needs to stay on track,” Jim says. Their current webmaster, Hayden Smith notes, “It’s a huge benefit being able to reach out to a Shift4Shop Technical Account Manager when unavoidable issues arise which happen with any eCommerce platform. Having someone always available for support is critical to success.”

In-depth eCommerce Learning Resources

“Starting with limited eCommerce knowledge, we were able to learn and excel quickly based on Shift4Shop’s library of information,” Jim remarks. The TruTech team easily learned tricks like how to upload products and get them indexed by Google. “We’ve outpaced even the manufacturers in search results, thanks to strong content and the formula that Shift4Shop has put together.”

Solid Foundation for a Business

According to Jim, “A lot of people try to design their website, then sit down and try to find a product that fits it. We needed a framework that would hold our product steady. Shift4Shop is a proven example of a solution that works for eCommerce.” After finding the right solution, they put it to the test.

Defeating other eCommerce challenges

Running a business isn’t without its challenges, and TruTech Tools has had its fair share of them. “It’s nice to have a team you can rely on when things go wrong,” Jim explains.

Jim shares the story of one situation. “I was working with the importing/exporting feature on our store. I made some changes and lost formatting on the whole site. That kind of mistake can cost our store thousands of dollars. Luckily for us, we were on the line with Shift4Shop support staff. They understood the urgency and made it a priority. After a few hours, we were back up and running, minimizing any downtime or losses in sales..”

Overall, Jim says Shift4Shop has been an extremely reliable sales partner. The team uses third-party software to monitor site uptime. According to TruTech Tools statistics, uptime is “way into the high 90s.” Downtime is practically nonexistent and only lasts for a few minutes in the rare instances it occurs.

Shift4Shop’s robust feature set has proven to be a great resource for the business. Four crucial functions have come in handy:

Customer Relationship Management

TruTech Tools does a lot of business over the phone in addition to online sales. As a result, the company requires a strong customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Shift4Shop delivers strong features for managing customers, offering the TruTech team the ability to manually input phone sales for full sales tracking.

Time-Saving Marketing Tools

Email marketing is more effective when it includes a personalized touch. Using Shift4Shop’s autoresponders, TruTech sends out special messages to different types of customers, including thank you notes, calibration reminders, notifications when consumable products are due for replacement, customer satisfaction surveys, coupons and more.

Versatile Integrations:

As TruTech grew over the years, they started looking for more software to add to their toolbox. For example, they switched their email marketing to MailChimp, and thanks to Shift4Shop’s integration the transition was smooth and easy. They have used systems like Kount and NoFraud to protect their business from fraudulent transactions.

Shift4Shop’s features demonstrate another level of reliability for Hayden. “Shift4Shop’s integration with GoDataFeed is critical for keeping our online advertising in tip-top shape.”

One of the most important results of the switch to Shift4Shop is difficult to put an exact number on. Hayden refers to the powerful built-in SEO in the Shift4Shop software. “Before Shift4Shop, the majority of our traffic came through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Now, more of our traffic comes in organically. It’s an important part of profitability when you can make these changes.”

Building for the future

In the first full year TruTech Tools switched to Shift4Shop (2010), the business grew by 37 percent. Over the last 11 years, the company has experienced YOY growth of 22% to 34% 8 times.

By 2010, the company had expanded to include 30 product lines and logged another 20 percent increase in sales.

Growth has been steady since then, and every year has been better than the last. In early 2019, TruTech moved from the 4,000 sq. ft. facility they’d had since 2012 to a 15,000 sq. ft. facility to accommodate their growth in inventory and staff. Their sales goals have been exceeded every year for the last 6 years.

“It doesn’t matter how great of a house you build,” Hayden adds. “Everything comes down to how solid your foundation is. Shift4Shop has been that foundation for TruTech Tools, from our days as a small startup up until the present.”

In fact, Shift4Shop has continued to grow along with TruTech Tools. The development of Shift4Shop’s Core Template Engine brought new possibilities to website development, including mobile-first responsive design and loads of new features. Improved SEO, new Shift4Shop modules, and numerous other tools are either built into Core themes or require them to function. TruTech was able to transition their existing Shift4Shop website onto the Core engine while keeping their unique look and feel, thanks to Shift4Shop’s Core Conversion service.

“It doesn’t matter how great of a house you build, everything comes down to how solid your foundation is. Shift4Shop has been that foundation for TruTech Tools, from our days as a small startup up until the present.”

– Hayden Smith,
TruTech Tools Webmaster

TruTech Tools and Shift4Shop:

A Dream Team for eCommerce

TruTech Tools has undergone an evolution, Bill points that their business has moved physical locations several times to handle their growth, but they’ve only switched shopping cart software once. The company gives much of the credit for their expansion to their eCommerce platform.

The post The TruTech Tools success story appeared first on Shift4Shop.

“The thought of using cloth diapers had never crossed my mind, but within just a few hours of being born it was apparent that our new baby girl was allergic to her disposable diapers,” Julie says. “It didn’t matter which brand we used.” She and her husband Chad spent days trying to find a disposable diaper brand that would work for their newborn daughter, but without success — every disposable brand gave their baby a painful allergic reaction.

At that point, the writing on the wall was clear: cloth diapers were the answer. However, Julie wasn’t satisfied with the existing brands, nor did she want to do it the old-fashioned way. “At the time there were only a handful of ‘modern’ style cloth diapers appearing in niche pockets of the market. The available brands did not fit well and leaked almost constantly,” Julie says. “I did not want to use the ‘old school’ type rags (prefolds) you have to pin and slip plastic pants over, so I stared sewing my own design of cloth diapers for my daughter.”

And just like that, Rumparooz were born.

Developing a Revolutionary Cloth Diaper

Diapers need to be a lot of things: absorbent, leak-proof, comfortable, and safe. As Julie worked on her design, she made innovative changes that would elevate Rumparooz above other cloth diaper brands. “One critical feature that I added into my pattern right away was the inner gussets,” she says. “This was the feature lacking in every other style of cloth diaper available — a feature that would now contain all the ‘blowouts’ and keep the mess in the diaper where it belongs.” The US Patent and Trademark Office recognized Julie’s invention, and has issued 4 patents to her since 2013.

Julie was clearly onto something. It wasn’t long before friends and family started showing interest in buying Rumparooz from her, and word began to spread. “Over a short period of time this led to stores contacting me to open wholesale accounts,” Julie says. “The popularity took off nearly overnight and hasn’t slowed down since!” This led her to found Kanga Care, LLC in 2007, based in Golden, Colorado.

Kanga Care Goes Online

In March of that year, Julie decided to break into eCommerce. Kanga Care’s first website was launched… and crashed hard within 24 hours due to an incredible amount of traffic. “I received more orders then I could possibly even make in 9 months,” Julie says. “I spent a few days contacting customers to let them know how long it would be before their order would ship and gave them the opportunity to cancel their order.” But people were willing to wait: not one single customer canceled.

Julie recognized this as a signal that Kanga Care had massive potential as a brand. She seized the opportunity, adjusting her prices and relaunching the website with estimated shipping dates visible on new orders. Customers kept rolling in, eager to get Rumparooz for their own precious little ones.

Kanga Care was headed for success, but that meant the company needed to rise to the challenge. Increasing demand began to overwhelm their supply — Julie made each diaper by hand. “We can account for around 2,200 diapers that I made before we started outsourcing production,” she says. “I still create each pattern and product that we make, but we now have a factory that takes care of the production.”

Kanga Care also quickly outgrew their eCommerce platform and within a couple of years, chose to move to Shift4Shop. Some retailers that were buying wholesale from Kanga Care recommended Shift4Shop and it seemed like a natural solution. “I would say the best thing about Shift4Shop is the ease of use and the flexibility based on your knowledge and skill level of creating a website,” Julie says. “It can be very ‘plug and play’ quick and easy to get a store up and running fast. It is also endlessly customizable with hundreds of advanced features and tools to make everything from product upload to template design a snap.”

Making Cloth Diapering Accessible on a Budget

As Kanga Care continued to grow, Julie and Chad remained on the lookout for new features to help serve the needs of their customers. The Ekstroms believe no one should have to compromise when it comes to the health of their children, and as firm supporters of cloth diapering, seek to make it accessible to as many parents as possible. “Our main focus is on the environmental and health benefits of a chemical-free reusable diaper and accessories,” Julie says, but it’s much easier on the budget as well, saving thousands of dollars in the long run. “For a family to purchase everything they need to cloth diaper from birth to potty training it will cost around $450 – $500. This is already a massive savings over buying disposable diapers, which will cost a family $3,500 (per child) in just the first 3 years.”

Still, $500 up front can be difficult for some families. Kanga Care sought a way to help new parents afford the investment. “We started looking into ‘buy now, pay later’ solutions as we started seeing them pop up on other websites as a payment option,” Julie says. “We knew that it would be an appealing option for our customers.” To give their customers the ability to finance purchases, Kanga Care chose Sezzle, the leading US-based “Shop Now, Pay Later” payment platform.

Benefits of a Buy Now, Pay Later Solution

Sezzle works by allowing customers to split their purchase across 4 payments in a 6-week period, which are clearly listed on the product page before the item is added to the shopper’s cart. Customers can be approved immediately with no impact to their credit scores, and Sezzle does not charge interest on payments. It’s an innovative, straightforward way to help customers increase their purchasing power without the downsides that come with typical credit. Merchants are paid the full amount up front, with Sezzle assuming all risk associated with potential fraud and repayment, making it just as convenient for sellers as it is for buyers.

As shopping demographics change, it’s crucial to remain on top of the needs of the customers a business is trying to target. 67% of Millennials don’t have a credit card, so a solution like Sezzle is often their only means to buy a product that would normally be outside their budget. “Every day we have new families who make the decision to cloth diaper their child,” Julie says. And while disposable diapers are several times costlier than cloth diapers like Rumparooz, disposables can be more affordable in the short term.

“The biggest difference with disposable diapers is the cost is spread out, package by package, over weeks, months and years,” Julie explains. “The cost of cloth diapers is usually an up-front, one-time purchase.” This leads to situations in which parents who would prefer cloth diapering end up needing to rely on disposable brands simply because that’s what they could afford at the time. But by implementing Sezzle, Kanga Care has given customers access to the best of both worlds by taking the sting out of the initial investment. “Sezzle allows us to offer a payment solution that will break up a sizeable purchase into much smaller, manageable payments that are spread out just like buying a package every couple weeks,” Julie continues. “Our favorite thing about Sezzle is the relief it offers our customers, making the upfront investment for cloth diapering possible for all families!”

From Inspiration to Success

Kanga Care has been doing brisk business since its beginnings and has become one of the foremost brands in the cloth diapering industry, with a well-deserved reputation for excellence. Julie remarks on Kanga Care’s biggest milestones. “The past 13 years have been filled with hundreds of notable moments. One of the big ones would absolutely be when my first patent was published, soon to be followed by 3 more. Another milestone was when we were approached by our first licensor brand, tokidoki, to do a print collaboration across our product line. We have since partnered with brands like Care Bears and Tetris with more waiting in the wings. As Kanga Care continues to grow we have designs and prototypes for new products, prints and collaborations.”

Julie cites the close relationship Kanga Care has with its customers as a source of continued inspiration that also keeps the company passionate and grounded. “Kanga Care has grown organically and we plan to keep it that way. We have a very close relationship with our customers and fans. Tapping into that community gives us enthusiasm and is the fuel we burn. Growing at a pace that we can manage is important us because we never want to lose touch with the very people that we are making these products for.”

One way Shift4Shop has helped nurture that relationship is through the built-in Reward Points module. “We have a lot of fun with the Reward Point feature, which has helped us build an incredibly loyal customer base,” says Julie. “They appreciate the kickback for cash spent as well.” Logging into the Kanga Care website with Facebook, another Shift4Shop feature, is also very popular. In fact, one reason Kanga Care chose Sezzle is because of its seamless integration with Shift4Shop, along with its easy user interface.

Adding Sezzle has proven to be beneficial for both Kanga Care and its customers. Now, more parents than ever before can invest in healthy, environmentally-friendly cloth diapers, and the numbers show they’re doing just that. Kanga Care has seen its Average Order Value increase by 27% and its revenue by 54% since deciding to use Sezzle.

Kanga Care: Growing by Leaps and Bounds

Parenthood knows no demographic — new parents can be in any situation, with any kind of budget. The well-being of their new baby is also central to their lives, even without allergies such as those suffered by the Ekstroms’ daughter. By revolutionizing cloth diapering, Kanga Care has had a vastly positive impact on countless families, and by choosing to offer “Shop Now, Pay Later” via Sezzle, the company has made their diapers more affordable than ever. Their eCommerce website through Shift4Shop provides the shopping experience parents want, and Kanga Care continues to provide industry-leading cloth diapering solutions at affordable prices. It’s a win-win situation for everyone!

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Planting the Seeds of a Business

Corco Industries, the company behind the domain, is located in a small Pennsylvanian town called Corry. It was founded in 1996 by Aaron and Julie Kingston as a manufacturing business. They started out with powdering coating, and then Aaron added sheet metal to their production after taking an interest in the material. They later added boxes, and when that led to a military contract, they opened a wood department to fill that need. Then in 2011, according to Corco’s marketing manager Melissa Martin, an unexpected request from a family member moved the business in another, greener direction.

“My Aunt Debbie,” Martin said, “had some health problems where bending down or kneeling in the ground was impossible. She loved to garden and wanted to have something where she could grow … veggies and fruits and she wouldn’t have to bend over.” The story then goes that she could not find anything online to help with that. Knowing that her brother-in-law was good with his hands, she asked her sister, CEO Julie Kingston, if he could build something that enabled her to grow crops and flowers with her disability. Julie and Aaron soon designed an elevated planter box — the first of many to come as part of their new line of accessibility-focused garden supplies, Aaron’s Homestead Products.

It is only natural that family played such a pivotal role here: AaronsHomestead.com is firmly a family business. Aaron Kingston, the namesake of the garden supply line, builds the planters himself. In addition to serving as Corco Industries CEO, Julie Kingston handles sales and events. Their daughter Melissa Martin has worked her way up from “picking up hooks for a penny a piece” as a youth to overseeing the business’s marketing as an adult. Even Melissa’s husband (a veteran of the Marine Corps) is involved: he runs the shop whenever the Kingstons go out to peddle their wares at shows and conventions.

The folks at AaronsHomestead.com are all devoted to the craft of gardening in general, and growing their own food in particular. People commonly associate this practice with large-scale farming, but this family knows better. The truth is that anyone can raise crops and reap them as a meal if they have the right tools and a little knowledge. As shown by Aunt Debbie’s example, that includes people with disabilities, as well as people who do not believe they have much room for gardening. Aaron’s Homestead strives to help others grow their own green thumbs.

Aaron’s Homestead Goes Online

The Kingstons and Martins may be located 30 miles east of Erie, but they wanted to make their gardening products available beyond their corner of Pennsylvania. They initially started an online store with the Homestead site-building platform, formerly owned by Intuit. All seemed to be well for a time. Then, Intuit sold off Homestead Technologies to Endurance International Group, and according to Martin, their services became “terrible.” One notable and alarming incident caused her to distrust their money management systems: “One month, I got another company’s financial info!” Since then, the family has moved the Aaron’s Homestead Products website to Shift4Shop , and they have found the stability and financial privacy that any small business needs.

Moreover, thanks to the abundance of features and services on their new eCommerce platform, their online store is better suited to meet the needs of any visitors. It now runs on one of Shift4Shop ’s highly streamlined Core templates, a series of themes designed not just to give their site a modern look, but also to boost its eCommerce functionality. The code is optimized so that pages can load quickly, and with AJAX implemented, they immediately update to reflect new changes without the need for refreshing. AaronsHomestead.com is also more mobile-friendly (and therefore SEO-friendly) than before thanks in part to the Core template, which is completely responsive in its design and comes with Google AMP for the product pages.

The products of the Aaron’s Homestead line are designed to make gardening easier for people with disabilities. They wanted their website to be just as easy for anyone to use, and Shift4Shop has obliged. A website’s user experience (UX) must be intuitive and simple, as well as compatible with the tools that people with disabilities use to navigate webpages. Otherwise, the site is not just less accessible, but harder for anyone to use. That can dissuade potential customers from completing purchases or outright discourage people from visiting your site, and therefore significantly hurt conversions. AaronsHomestead.com’s UX has been optimized so that all internet users, including people with disabilities, can get through the site without issue.

SEO is also invaluable to a website’s success, and Shift4Shop ’s software provides numerous built-in tools for boosting AaronsHomestead.com’s rankings in search engine results pages. The website made some serious gains just by switching to this platform, and the Core template’s inherent responsiveness and AMP go further towards meeting Google’s standards. They are also using our company’s Technical SEO service, which gives them access to performance monitoring services and lets them take care of aspects like title tags, meta tags, and social media links. In addition to all this, Shift4Shop’s experts have also resolved technical issues, added new pages, and consulted for their new blog, so AHP can fully display their variety of products and services. The site is now far more informative — and far more competitive.

A Bright Future

AaronsHomestead.com continues to sell high-quality gardening beds, folding support cages, and accessories. None of this would have been possible if anyone in the family had closed themselves off to new opportunities. If they had not helped Debbie in her time of need, they would not have started a lucrative line of accessible gardening products. If they had not accepted that military contract, they might not have seen much reason to create a wood department — meaning no Aaron’s Homestead Products. If they had not created Corco at all, none of this would have happened. Instead, this group of versatile people seized any chances that came their way, and the success story of their online store now speaks for itself.

The post Aaron’s Homestead Breaks New Ground with Shift4Shop appeared first on Shift4Shop.

Pearls of Joy is a specialized jewelry company with a business model revolutionary in their industry. Kevin Canning, with a background in web design and internet marketing, was hit with the desire to start his own eCommerce business back in 2002. “I looked at what industries were ripe for disruption,” he explains, “and jewelry was an industry with insanely high markups and very little online presence.”

Canning was well aware of the benefits of a narrow niche — the more specialized a business, the easier it is for the company to excel. Plus, too wide a scope creates too much opportunity for competition. “I knew there would be major players entering the jewelry space that would hard to compete with, but I thought if I could do just one type of jewelry really well, there was a high chance of success,” Canning says. He continued to develop his plans through research, and arrived at pearl jewelry as the niche for his new company after observing the scarcity of pearls at most jewelry stores. This meant little competition.

Disrupting the Market

Jewelry, like most products, goes through a multiple-step supply chain before reaching the consumer. Raw materials are processed and then pass through a wholesale distributor before reaching a retail outlet. Canning’s mission for Pearls of Joy was to circumvent this supply chain to bring the highest-quality pearl jewelry directly to the consumer without going through the middleman steps — the steps that result in huge markups in price.

The only way to do this was to handle every step himself. In 2003, Canning made his first trip to Asia in search of pearls. 15 years later, he’s traveled almost a million miles buying pearls directly from farmers and processors. “Over the years I’ve flown all over the world sourcing pearls: China, Japan, Tahiti, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia. But today, a lot of the pearl buying takes place at massive gem shows in Asia — think a room the size of a football field, filled with diamonds, another filled with colored stones and a single giant room devoted to pearls, where pearl farmers from around the world converge to sell their harvests.” The close relationships Canning has developed with his sources ensure a steady supply of the best pearls in the world.

By working directly with pearl farmers and processors, Canning has been able to consistently supply Pearls of Joy with the raw materials it needs to create beautiful pearl jewelry that would normally retail for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The pearls he buys are brought back to Pearls of Joy’s headquarters in Los Angeles, where they’re made into finished jewelry pieces and sold via the Pearls of Joy website. The direct-to-consumer model ensures Pearls of Joy can offer their products at prices 50% to 80% lower than they’d cost at regular jewelry stores.

Education and Value

One of the challenges in selling luxury goods is the connection in people’s minds between quality, luxury, and price. High-ticket products like jewelry can attract two different types of skepticism, both centered on customers being uncertain about what they’re getting. Customers with experience buying expensive jewelry may wonder how Pearls of Joy can offer the same (or better) quality pieces at such an incredible discount. Other customers, perhaps making their first investment in heirloom-quality pearl jewelry, may simply be concerned about getting their money’s worth.

Canning has eased these concerns among his customers through education. Where other companies simply release sales materials, Pearls of Joy adds value through providing comprehensive information to help customers understand everything about the pearls and processes involved in the creation of their piece. In 2004, Canning cofounded Pearl-Guide.com, the world’s largest pearl information resource, and he was also involved in the creation of the Cultured Pearl Association of America’s educational website, Pearls as One.

By educating customers about pearls and where they come from, Pearls of Joy emphasizes the authenticity of its jewelry and creates savvy consumers who understand the value of the product. This approach has been wildly successful — a customer can follow the piece all the way from the pearl farm to their home, and learns to appreciate their purchase in a whole new way.

The transparency and real passion displayed by Pearls of Joy has also built a great amount of trust in the brand, which is vital in an industry involving the sale of high-priced products over the internet. One of Canning’s most memorable success milestones is the sale of a $50,000 necklace. “I would never have thought you could sell such an expensive item online, without the customer being able to touch and hold it,” he remembers. “But it’s a testament to branding, education and building trust with your audience. That customer trusted me with a tremendous amount of money — and ultimately they received an incredible one of a kind necklace, with a value 5 times what they paid.”

Building an Ideal Online Store for Pearls of Joy

Canning’s vision for Pearls of Joy was focused on eCommerce from the very beginning, but building an online store presents its own challenges. After trying out several platforms including Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify, Pearls of Joy moved to Shift4Shop around 2010.

Other platforms simply didn’t have the customization possibilities and range of tools that Pearls of Joy required. “Shift4Shop offered a platform that I could make my own. It allowed me the flexibility to implement the designs and strategies I needed to grow my business,” Canning says. “The flexibility to customize has been essential for Pearls of Joy. I test and customize everything and most other platforms are either a nightmare to work with, or simply won’t let you customize certain elements.”

Shift4Shop’s tools and integrations have also made a difference — Canning cites the SEO-friendly URL structure as a huge benefit, as well as the built-in product reviews. Customers rely on reviews to help them make their purchase decisions, and that’s even more important when large dollar amounts are at stake. Shift4Shop’s free product review module is very valuable to a business like Pearls of Joy.

Of course, there are risks involved in selling high-ticket items — luxury merchandise is a common target of internet fraudsters. Canning is thankful for Shift4Shop’s FraudWatch app, which analyzes attempted purchases across 12 indicators that represent common traits of fraudulent orders. Orders with suspicious features like payment methods that don’t match the shipping address are flagged for review and can be accepted or rejected at the business owner’s discretion. FraudWatch also compiles community information from other vendors to help determine a positive or negative fraud history for customers that place risky orders. Canning says FraudWatch has saved Pearls of Joy thousands of dollars.

Continued Success

Since its founding in 2003, Pearls of Joy has truly made waves in the industry by selling jewelry online. Kevin Canning has been featured in an assortment of media like the Today Show, The Talk, The View, Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, and Forbes, and has also supplied pearls for films and television.

Today, Pearls of Joy has broken the 7-figure revenue mark, which Canning sees as an opportunity for further expansion. “Once you hit $1.0m, you now have cash flow and assets to fund serious growth,” he says. “Pearls of Joy has tremendous momentum and I have no plans on taking the foot off the gas. I believe within 5 years we can make our competition completely irrelevant and I plan on breaking the 8-figure mark.”

Pearls of Joy is a fantastic example of the success a business can reach with a well-defined niche and a solid plan — and of course, an eCommerce platform powerful enough to handle it. Canning considers his decision to use Shift4Shop “a no-brainer” thanks to its robust features, flexibility, and ease of use.

Using the right eCommerce software can help empower a business to follow its plans for success and to reach its goals, but no business can survive without the other ingredients: planning, innovation, and a carefully-chosen niche and market. Canning offers a classic piece of advice that emphasizes the importance of specialization in business: “If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll end up nothing to anyone.” The story of Kevin Canning and Pearls of Joy is a true inspiration to every entrepreneur seeking to shake up the market and grow a successful business.

The post Pearls of Joy appeared first on Shift4Shop.

The two were uniquely prepared to enter the e-liquid manufacturing market. “Ben comes from a research chemistry background,” Les explains, “and I was an economics major, which seemed like a good fit at start-up.” And it is a good fit indeed — he goes on to say that their combined expertise has helped grow their business exponentially.

Om Vapors officially went into business in October of 2014 in Lexington, Kentucky. In June 2015, they began selling online. They started out using GoDaddy Shopping Cart, but within a few months decided it was time for an upgrade. “We didn’t even have a real eCommerce platform,” Leslie says. “We chose Shift4Shop because it seemed to be the best value. In addition to this, there is just about any app that you could ask for. The SEO capabilities are also a big bonus.”

Going with Shift4Shop proved to be the right decision. “We have been using Shift4Shop for 10 months and have experienced amazing results thus far,” Les says. In fact, Om Vapors has increased their monthly revenue by 370% in the time frame between November 2016 and August 2017, a rate of growth that is truly impressive. Business has become profitable enough that the company upgraded from a 900 sq. ft. facility to a 3,000 sq. ft. facility that also has an additional 300 sq. ft. of cleanroom space. A cleanroom is important to reach the highest manufacturing standards for e-liquids. Since 2016, Om Vapors has also taken on contracts to manufacture e-liquids for other brands.

Om Vapors has grown its selection of e-liquids as well. The brand released a couple of e-liquid lines and went through several iterations through 2015 and 2016 before establishing itself as the Om Vapors of today. They also have a product unique among e-liquid manufacturers, which in fact helped the company secure its niche early on. “After gaining more knowledge on the subject and completing his chemistry degree, Ben came up with the idea for a vape product that would simulate smoking as closely as possible without introducing any known carcinogens,” explains Les. The result is Om Vapors’ WTA (Whole Tobacco Alkaloids) line of e-liquid, which introduces additional tobacco alkaloids besides nicotine in order to create an experience closer to smoking than can be achieved with conventional e-liquids.

Shift4Shop’s features have served a large role in helping Om Vapors reach its eCommerce goals. “The SEO tools built in to Shift4Shop are great,” says Les. “The way orders are arranged on the back-end of the site makes it very easy to address issues and keep hundreds of orders organized at a time. The analytic tools are powerful and allow us to plan out logistics much easier than in conventional retail.” Om Vapors also makes use of the Shift4Shop Reward Points module for their loyal customers, and finds great convenience in the MailChimp integration. “It makes sending out emails to customers seamless.” As for the best thing about Shift4Shop? In Les and Ben’s opinion, “it’s a tie between the ease of integrating third party apps and the timely customer support.”

Today, Om Vapors is doing steady business. Customers are happy, and reviews state that the flavor descriptions on Om Vapors liquids are accurate as to what the liquid actually tastes like — which can’t be said of many other e-liquid manufacturers. They also offer bargain-priced sample packs of all their e-liquid lines, giving potential customers a chance to try different flavors at a steep discount.

Om Vapors’ plan for the future is to upgrade their website alongside their company’s production capabilities, as well as expanding into more contract manufacturing. They’re also considering creating their own e-liquid distribution company.

Business is good, and the future is bright for Om Vapors. As Les puts it, “We’ve come a long way! Learn how Shift4Shop can help you with selling vape online.”

Om Vapors uses Zinrelo’s loyalty rewards platform to convert one-timers into repeat buyers.

Om Vapors was founded to provide a selection of well-tested, delicious, and most importantly, affordable e-liquids. They believe that anyone should have the accessibility to a selection of e-liquids that not only taste good but are also carefully crafted. Om Vapors not only makes vapes affordable but has a large variety of e-juices and several types of nicotine ranging from; nicotine salt e-liquid and e-juices designed for sub-ohm devices to whole tobacco alkaloid e-liquids.

The Solution

Om Vapors was looking for a solution that could easily integrate with the Shift4Shop platform. Zinrelo offered them a program that was simple to install, easy to customize as per their brand requirements and very clearly visible to customers on their website.

The Om Nation Loyalty Program offers customers multiple point earning opportunities with simple actions to create 360-degree engagement for Vape juice or hardware purchases made on website, refer a friend, account creation, sharing/ follow on social media channels. They also offer customers enticing coupons to save more!

The Results

• 24.2% lift in average order value
• 3.51X increase in repeat purchase revenue
• Loyalty program emails saw an impressive a 28% open rate and a 19% click rate

The post Om Vapors Reaches for the Clouds with Shift4Shop appeared first on Shift4Shop.

For many of us, it can take a lifetime to realize our passions. For Laurie Erickson, the answer was always obvious, though the path was not always clear. She combined her passion for hair accessories with her admiration of French manufacturing to create a whole new line of hair accessories, a collection that now includes thousands of unique pieces.

Humble Beginnings

Before passion had been built into success, The Finest Accessories began its life humbly in a Washington state garage. In the early 1990s, after 10 years in the scrunchie business, Laurie sold the company she had started and stepped away to pursue another passion: being a full-time stay-at-home mom. She stayed at home for 18 months, and then — replete with months’ worth of new ideas — she returned to the fashion industry to meet a host of design capabilities she felt were as of then unmet in America.

Laurie designed a collection and took it to Nordstrom. “It was very intimidating. I didn’t have any money. I rented the cheapest rental car I could get,” she says. “I remember sitting at Tyson’s Corner in D.C. and reading positive affirmations.” She ultimately met with one of the fashion accessory buyers, and Nordstrom gave her a chance.

A Successful Brand

Since that day, The Finest Accessories has continued to grow its collection to include everything from hair ties to phone cases, all created to the same high quality standards the company is known for. The Finest Accessories is on a constant mission to live up to its name. “When we conceive of a new piece, we seek out the people with the greatest expertise in the field and collaborate with them from inception to production,” Laurie explains. “Our Italian bandeaus are hand-crafted in Italy because we found the perfect knit expertise. Similarly, many of our jewelry items are made in Germany because we sought out a producer renowned for their delicate use of Swarovski® crystals.”

The Finest Accessories prides itself on the strong, longstanding relationships it has built not only with its producers but also with its colleagues throughout the beauty and fashion industries. “Getting our pieces onto the shelves of the best department stores, the ones we love to shop at ourselves, has been a major accomplishment for us.”

A Timely Redesign

However, the challenges didn’t end there. The Finest Accessories went online in 2005. “It was a very, very slow process,” Laurie remembers. Breaking into eCommerce was a great achievement, but then the time came for a sleek new site design — not just for looks, but to meet the modern standards of the web. Having built a longstanding relationship with Shift4Shop, it felt natural for The Finest Accessories to turn to Shift4Shop for the redesign. “They were at the forefront of our minds when it came time for a site upgrade,” says Wendy Jensen, The Finest Accessories eCommerce Strategy Director.

Aware that some of the most vital improvements are entirely on the back-end, The Finest Accessories had an interest in the technical aspects of Shift4Shop’s development process. “Using Shift4Shop’s emerging code standard created a more robust solution for our site as we transitioned from separate desktop and mobile sites to a single, optimized, responsive web design,” Wendy explains.

They chose the Professional Design Package, and Shift4Shop’s designers got to work. “The design process is always a challenge, as there is a lot of back and forth,” Wendy says. “We liked that we were able to brainstorm together and think of creative solutions to any issues that we ran into during the process. The team worked hard to make sure that our site met our business needs and expectations. They were responsive to our requirements and willing to adapt their design to meet [them].”

Great Results

The Finest Accessories was more than pleased with their new, improved website. “In the end, we were impressed with the results,” Wendy reports. “The designers incorporated our feedback along with the look and feel of our brand. We like the consistency, how the look and feel are the same throughout the different pages, as well as the little details, such as the integration of gold — one of our brand colors. The process resulted in a beautiful site and more importantly an elevated shopping experience for our customers. Compared to our initial process going online more than 10 years ago, this redesign process was swift.”

Since the redesign was completed, The Finest Accessories has seen a 32% increase in conversions as well as a 17% increase in traffic. “We are eager to show off our updated site and branding,” Wendy says.

Since the early days in Laurie Erickson’s garage to their brand new optimized online store, The Finest Accessories has gone through an adventure to get to where it is today. The company continues to live up to its name, and Shift4Shop is proud to count them among our clients.

As for a new business owner breaking into eCommerce, Laurie has the following advice. “Learn from the philosophy of the tortoise and the hare: I’m much more satisfied with slow and deliberate results, because I find them much more stable… and never give up.”

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