The Unofficial Shopify Podcast

"Is dropshipping dead?" That was one of the most common questions I got toward the end of the last year. Here's the thing– I don't know! Is it? Why are you asking me? There are certainly people more suited to answer this than me. To find out, we're talking to Tomas Slimas, Chief Marketing Officer at Oberlo. He should know– Oberlo users have dropshipped more than 100 million products during the last 24 months. In today's episode, you'll learn the answer, as well as what it takes to become a successful dropshipper, and even how dropshipping can scale your existing store. You'll Learn Is dropshipping dead? What successful dropshippers know What advantages does drop shipping have? How do you choose which products to sell? Are there specific risks to dropshipping? How can Oberlo help you build and even scale your store? Tune in for more details! Resources Oberlo Tomas on Twitter Tomas on LinkedIn Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

Doing business online without retaining an Internet lawyer is the equivalent of playing Russian Roulette– things tend not to end well. The days of the Internet being the Wild West are long gone. The empire is striking back! You need an experienced Internet attorney to guide you through the ever-growing collection of newly enacted laws and regulations governments are launching to address online legal issues. In this episode, Richard Chapo, a business lawyer with a sense of humor and 25 years of experience, walks us through business entity formation, copyright and trademark registration and enforcement, DMCA compliance, and the one thing you need to know about your Privacy Policy. You'll Learn When starting, choosing between sole proprietorship, S-Corp, or LLC. Why the S-corp and LLC just became more attractive as business models. The importance of a CPA How do you use the DMCA to keep people from stealing your content? What does a lawsuit cost? How to tackle copyright infringement when it goes overseas When infringement can be a positive What you need to know about your Privacy Policy Tune in for more details! Resources SoCalInternetLawyer.com Hiscox Insurance Bench Shopify DMCA Notice & Takedown Procedure Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

Ever wonder what it's like to be married to an entrepreneur? Or how a self-employed couple make it work and what the potential pitfalls may be? My wife and I both are business owners who work together, and we make it work, but not without a few key considerations. In this bonus episode, my wife and I discuss our unconventional relationship from our bedroom. You'll learn The one trick to know when to make your side hustle your full-time job How self-employed couples make it work When businesses let accounts receivable ruin them (and what to do about it) Resources JustTellJulie.com @Julie_Elster Kurt & Julie's "wedsite" Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

If you've ever had a brilliant million dollar idea for a product, you've wondered, "How do I get it manufactured?" To do that, you'll need to find a manufacturer who will work with you. And that's where the nightmare starts for many entrepreneurs. That's when you discover that for most people it's a web of miscommunications, middlemen, and missed deadlines. So how do you do it right? How do you avoid the pitfalls that have befallen so many crowdfunded products? Our guest today has brought dozens of products to market, run three ecommerce companies (sold one), and been a part of projects on Kickstarter raising over seven figures. Nathan Resnick joins us today from his new company, Sourcify, a platform that makes manufacturing easy. Having helped hundreds of companies manufacture products around the world, Nathan is going to discuss with us how to find, vet, and build a relationship with a factory so that you can turn your idea into a real product. Learn: How to vet a factory Nathan's approach to dropshipping How to build relationships with factories And why you may be in competition with factories in the near future Tune in for more details! Links Mentioned: Sourcify Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

As you grow your business, you'll soon need to start delegating things. First is usually fulfillment, and soon after is customer support. So how do you get customer support off of your plate while providing an amazing experience for your customers? The answer might be automation. I first met today's guest while speaking at the Day With Shopify tour, and immediately knew that he'd made something special. Romain Lapeyre joins us today to discuss customer support automation. After all, he cofounded a customer support automation platform, raised $1.5 million, and niched down on Shopify in the process. Their product, Gorgias, helps Shopify merchants manage all their support requests in one place, and automatically respond to common questions. You'll Learn Why is customer support important? How can you automate customer service right now? How do you automate it without angering customers? Should merchants try to automate all of their support? Where is the limit? Tune in for more details! Resources Gorgias.io Gorgias in the Shopify App Store Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

The hardest part of building a brand is often attracting an audience. After all, if no one has heard of you, how will you sell to them? That’s why it’s been no surprise to me that over the last two years, I’ve helped quite a few successful Amazon sellers expand onto Shopify. Starting in a marketplace like Amazon customers find you more easily, and rapidly validate your product-market fit. Once validated, you can then leverage Amazon to grow your Shopify store. But it’s not all roses and sunshine. There are some issues too. Today’s guest is a successful Amazon seller, Shopify merchant, and former Amazon FBA consultant. Noah Deligio will tell us, form his personal experience, how best to leverage both Amazon and Shopify for your business. You'll learn: What is Amazon FBA? How can you leverage both platforms? What are the pitfalls of Amazon vs Shopify? Resources How to Sell on Amazon Using Shopify Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

When starting out with your store, most folks struggle to get their first sale. Then, if you do find your product-market fit, and get traction in your niche, you set your sites on growing to your first million dollars in revenue. And if you can get there, you’d feel pretty great. Now what if I told you our guest today got to a million dollars in revenue in a few months on a single new product launch with pre-orders. Pretty wild, right? On today’s episode, we’ll pull back the curtain on this monumental success. Andy Bedell is the head of marketing for KeySmart, one of Shopifys largest e-commerce stores. He is an experienced advertiser and email marketer with over $20 million in revenue under his belt. In addition to KeySmart, Andy has consulted advertising agencies, other eCommerce stores, and several Kickstarter campaigns. Before entering the eCommerce world he ran advertising for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Executive Education department. You'll learn: How they got into a partnership with Tile How Andy approached business development through partnerships How did the crowdfund model helped with their campaign The pros & cons of crowdfunding on your Shopify store vs going with Kickstarter Tune in for more details! Resources KeySmart Pro Product Page Crowdfunder KeySmart FB Video Ads Share your thoughts Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. Never miss an episode Subscribe on iTunes Join Kurt's newsletter Help the show Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes What's Kurt up to? See our recent work at Ethercycle Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

You already know Facebook is the #1 acquisition channel for your online business. We’re seeing clients with 4-6x returns on ad spend using Facebook ads. But Facebook is a rapidly evolving platform. It seems like new features are being added every day. So what should we ad types and features should you be looking to use to grow your Shopify store as we start 2018? Joining us to discuss is Facebook ads guru Mojca Zove. Mojca is a Facebook Ads expert, author, and international speaker. Her work focuses on helping multimillion-dollar businesses generate more leads and increase profits with a carefully developed Facebook Advertising Strategy, so they can devote their time to other aspects of their business. She’s also the author of the Facebook Ads Manual: Everything You Need To Know To Get Started and the creator of The Facebook Ads Academy. Listen now. — Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via Email Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on iTunes Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on Stitcher Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via RSS Join The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Work with Kurt — Learn: The essential Facebook Ads Strategy for an ecommerce business Facebook’s most important new features for merchants The best ad types for Shopify stores Links Mentioned: Get Mojca’s free Facebook ads email course Super Spicy Media Free Guide I want to send you a sample chapter of Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

On Shopify, fashion & apparel is the largest vertical. It’s always one of the most difficult. One threat fashion retailers face is purchasing too much inventory. The solution that many merchants choose to avoid inventory issues is dropshipping. It’s inexpensive, accessible, and easy… depending on the products you want to send. If you’re looking for licensed products like pop culture apparel, it can be challenging to find authentic goods to sell. That’s where Hingeto’s MXED comes in. MXED allows you to quickly and easily sell officially licensed pop culture products within your Shopify store. It’s a game changer. Leandrew Robinson, co-founder of Hingeto, joins us to talk inventory risk, the future of drop shipping, and Marshawn Lynch. Hingeto builds tech solutions to help clothing retailers grow their sales without inventory risk. Early customers included PacSun and Marshawn Lynch's Beastmode. Before Hingeto, Leandrew helped 500 fashion brands make 1/2 a billion in revenue, in his 6 year stint as founder of flash sale site PLNDR.com & Chief Strategy Officer of Karmaloop. Listen now. — Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via Email Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on iTunes Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on Stitcher Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via RSS Join The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Work with Kurt — Learn: How running a flash sale site showed him the problem with fashion inventory What to do if you bought too much inventory? How a new app can add real licensed to product to your store in a few clicks. (This is a game changer.) How Leandrew gained Marshawn Lynch’s Beastmode as client Marshawn Lynch’s most admirable quality as an entrepreneuer. How long is too long to hold inventory Links Mentioned: Hingeto MXED App Beast Mode Apparel Drive More Sales with a Same-Day Shipping Countdown Timer Give customers another reason to buy with our simple to use, professional-looking shipping countdown timer. ☞ Start your free 7-day trial

We’ve talked often on this show about the importance of emails. But leveraging emails as a marketing channel requires having a list of customers and prospects to send those emails to. So what do you do? The answer is pop-ups. In this episode, we discuss best practices and benchmarks for pop-ups with the founder of popular pop-up app Privy, Ben Jabbawy. Through Ben’s leadership, he has helped grow Privy to support over 200,000 marketers in 180 countries. His data-driven approach to lead capture and on-site personalization has helped brands like UNIQLO, The Beatles, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and now you. Listen now. — Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via Email Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on iTunes Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on Stitcher Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via RSS Join The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group Work with Kurt — Learn: The gap in your funnel that’s fixed by pop-ups The difference between advanced pop-ups and a basic pop-up Use cases, offers, and stats for pop-ups How to use pop-ups without angering Google The #1 factor that affects conversion rate The most effective formats and triggers for pop-ups Links Mentioned: Privy Academy Privy for Shopify Drive More Sales with a Same-Day Shipping Countdown Timer Give customers another reason to buy with our simple to use, professional-looking shipping countdown timer. ☞ Start your free 7-day trial