A look at 2019-2020

Dear Valigarers!

We want to wish you a great 2020! 

I took this opportunity to summarize what happened to us and where our eyes are on. 

2019 was a wonderful year! 

Product

Saying “2019 was productive” doesn’t say anything… We introduced so many new features we hardly believe it our-self. 🙂 

  • Walmart. We’ve added one of the most influential US marketplaces to our channels list. Protected and actively growing, we believe it can be a great addition to your online sales operation. 
  • Purchasing module. Now you can completely manage your work with providers and keep track of your physical inventory. Issue Inventory Receipts, create Purchase orders, manage Transfers between stock locations. 
  • POS and classical retail. We made sure that our integration with Shopify gives us the access to the Shopify POS – the easiest solution for the classical POS and offline retail needs. 
  • Invoicing module. We added integration with Quickbooks and GreenInvoice systems, to make your administration smooth and easy. Now your do all required paperwork for your orders directly from Valigara.
  • MailChimp module. Email marketing is a “glue” between the short-term and long-term business. Send your clients data into the the largest email sending system, in few clicks. This makes your email marketing even more easy and flexible. 
  • Feeds module. Now you can make your products data available for anyone instant, and updated. Want to have an updated feed for Facebook store or Google Products? Now you have it. 
  • VStore. We completely reworked and upgraded our websites module.  so you can build your […]

Invoicing module – QuickBooks integration

QuickBooks integration with Valigara

We are happy to announce the QuickBooks integration with Valigara! 

Accounting is a mandatory part of any business. When it comes to accounting software, Intuit’s QuickBooks seems to be a top pick for eCommerce businesses in the US and Canada. It is one of the most convenient accounting software, for tracking incomes, expenses and jewelry sold. 

QuickBooks helps to understand financial performance, and conduct business according to applicable Canadian and American law and rules. Addition of the invoicing module in Valigara automates financial tasks, and makes accounting less time-consuming and less stressful. 

Your orders and clients data, imported in real time from all eCommerce platforms, can now be used to issue invoices, receipts and other legal documentation, in few clicks. All the manual and tedious tasks are eliminated, saving precious time and keeping you focused on the most important issue – selling more jewelry online, effectively and easily. 

 

Enjoy selling!

Jewelry eCommerce news – December 2019

December news are known for the endless summaries, infographics, checklists and all kind of “Ecommerce Holiday Marketing Calendars”. You’ve surely already received few of them. Colors change, but the main focuses stay the same. Let’s keep it short and clear.

Holidays To-Do’s for December 

    • Super-fast shipping – clients late with their gifts become nervous and are ready to pay double for the fast  delivery. If your overnight shipping costs more than the product itself – it’s OK.
    • Aggressive sales – December is the last chance. Boom coupons and discounts, killer sales for existing clients – now is the time
    • Religious jewelry. There is much more than the Christian holidays in this  month. Jewish Chanukka adds to sales. Islamic holidays are far from the season in 2019. Look for more opportunities. 

Check new post in our Jewelry eCommerce Articles selection “Cold Days, Hot Sales: 7 Jewelry Selling Ideas for the Holiday Season“

December eCommerce news

eCommerce-wise, here are some remarkable things we’ve bumped into lately: 

  1. FedEx is no longer available on the FBA plans
    FedEx is no longer a part of Amazon’s FBA operation. For fine jewelry that’s heavily based on the last-minute orders, Amazon’s switch can challenge our ability to quickly and reliably deliver our jewelry. FedEx now free by agreements with FBA is to introduce new services to online sellers. 
     
  2. eBay publishes the “eBay Open” videos
    The latest eBay Open videos are published covering all sides of eBay’s operation. Besides multiple tips on Seller Hub, Conversion Tools, Shipping […]
  • 7 Jewelry Selling ideas to Get You Through the Holidays
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    Cold Days, Hot Sales: 7 Jewelry Selling Ideas for the Holiday Season

Cold Days, Hot Sales: 7 Jewelry Selling Ideas for the Holiday Season

The Golden Ticket to Jewelry Sales

The winter holidays are upon us, and this means that there is more for you to prepare for than the family Christmas dinner, for all its warmth and joy. This is the prime time to ride the festive tide and grow your business.

According to ZACKS market research, the 2018 November-December period saw jewelry among the sectors that enjoyed a 7-10% spike in sales. The company also registered a surge in e-commerce, so for all of you Internet-savvy jewelers, this is the time to go wild.

The holidays season specials

  • Main events. There are more than 20 events you will find in the For jewelry we target Black Friday (29 November this year), Christmas (24. December), New Year (31 December) and Valentines (14 February). There are many more, such as Cyber Monday, Green Monday, Boxing day etc, but they are less about jewelry. With that, smaller events like Halloween (31 October) can be more relevant for jewelry. 
  • Buying seasons. Here, it’s about your jewelry, location and logistics. Naturally, more extensive jewelry, bought locally, means better shipping, than cheap jewelry purchased from other continents. So, for the $50 fashion jewelry with international shipping, the 3-4 week delivery is quite normal, and the purchases start in early September, while the $1200 diamond rings is expected with 2-3 days delivery maximum, and can be purchased also a week before the event. 
  • It’s winter time
    • Carrier and fulfillment loads. Holidays season means more sales, […]

E-Sellers cautious as eBay rolls out Managed Payments

In September, eBay launched its brand-new Managed Payments program, currently available to a closed group of some 20,000 sellers. With over $1 billion in processed payments and the first seller feedback coming in, it’s time to take a closer look at this project.

What’s This About

With the introduction of Managed Payments program, Adyen, the global payment processing company used by Uber, becomes eBay’s prime partner in transaction processing. This means that the sellers joining the program will no longer be able to offer PayPal as a payment option – for now, at least, as it’s yet to be integrated. Their returns will be delivered to their bank accounts with a delay of 2-4 business days, as eBay says. In summer 2020, the program will be launched in full, potentially becoming mandatory for all or most sellers.

What’s The Buzz

The feedback coming in so far is at best mixed, with eBay forums replete with panicked posts from e-sellers blasting at the Managed Payment fees (2.7% + $0.25 per item vs. PayPal’s flat $2.9% + $0.30). Other major complaints include a lack of access to the eBay’s Global Shipping Program and delays in payment transfers to sellers’ bank accounts.

Should You Opt In?

Well, here’s a few things to consider:

  • Lower fees: A 0.2% reduction in transaction fees vis-à-vis PayPal could end up saving money. Even with the extra per-listing charges. With that, even if you’re on the 6-digits sales volume, the 0.2% doesn’t change things dramatically.
  • No PayPal: If a major share of your […]

Jewelry eCommerce News – August 18

August is here!

Time for a good vacation but also time to prepare for the upcoming sales season.

Here are some remarkable things we’ve bumped into lately:

  1. FedEx is no longer available on the FBA plans
    FedEx is no longer a part of Amazon’s FBA operation. For fine jewelry that’s heavily based on the last-minute orders, Amazon’s switch can challenge our ability to quickly and reliably deliver our jewelry. FedEx now free by agreements with FBA is to introduce new services to online sellers.
  2. eBay publishes the “eBay Open” videos
    The latest eBay Open videos are published covering all sides of eBay’s operation. Besides multiple tips on Seller Hub, Conversion Tools, Shipping Tips, Seller Protections and more, videos include the Category Leadership session with Director of Fashion “Renee Paradise” , where Jewelry category belongs to.
  3. Walmart to fight Amazon?
    Latest Walmart’s report says its eCommerce department grows 37% in the last quarter. The company also hints at some investments it continues to make to remain competitive online. Obviously Walmart’s direct opponent is Amazon, and interestingly Walmart puts its stakes on the 3rd party marketplace, an opposite from Amazon. Coincidence?
  4. US adds more taxes on China jewelry
    US government introduces the additional 10% import tax on a long list of jewelry and gemstone products, imported from China. The tax is due to hit on September 1st and includes diamonds, gemstones, silver jewelry and more. Does this move really create an opportunity for the local […]

Jewelry eCommerce News – July 29

Making sure you’re up to date with the last things happening in the eCommerce world and changing the jewelry industry (forever, yes)! Here are some remarkable things we’ve bumped into lately.

  1. eBay introduces the “Multi-User Account Access“
    The new option allows eBay sellers to grant access to their Seller Hub, with different permission levels. By this eBay acknowledges, that running the marketplace account became something more professional, and you need a specialist to run it. eBay promises to expand this feature even further.
  2. eBay to launch “Managed Delivery”
    After 10 years of thinking and considering, eBay goes into logistic! Differently, from FBA, eBay is going to implement the logistic through partners. Still, this is a crucial move that will allow eBay to gain back its importance and credibility.
    This is great news, also for the jewelry industry, as logistics is crucial for buyers, especially in the Fashion Jewelry directory.
  3. Alibaba Opens Platform to US Sellers
    Looking to penetrate the Asian B2B markets? Who does not?! 😉
    Sourcing jewelry on Alibaba has a long history. But this is NOT where it ends. Asian markets are interested in the US and European jewelry too (know for its higher quality). The latest move by the China giant is allowing the US sellers, including jewelry, to offer their products on the marketplace.

Enjoy Selling!

Valigara Team

Sendgrid

Valigara uses SendGrid system to send emails to your buyers. SendGrid provides a cloud-based email delivery service that assists businesses with email delivery. Sending emails with SendGrid SMTP has multiple advantages:

  • Optimization of Inbox Delivery and Engagement
  • Improved deliverability with domain and link customization
  • Elimination of domain spoofing and phishing emails with our custom SPF and DKIM record creation.

Select if to use the default Valigara account or your personal Sendgrid account for emails delivery.

Is Amazon Handmade a threat to Etsy?

Etsy unique positioning in the online marketplaces world can be defined as handmade products, designers , non-mass-production. Lately, by allowing production partners, shop teams etc, it focuses on more established businesses (which is quite clear because they produce more sales and so revenues to Etsy). This was clearly stated by Etsy in July 2018 , when Etsy wrote to their sellers “Now you have grown up”.

Amazon Handmade positions itself in the same category, unlike the “big brother” Amazon,trying to make home for artisan and unique products manufacturers. Despite the fact that in more than a year of operation Amazon Handmade weren’t able to build some serious competition ( becoming only 10% of Etsy), it’s important to remember the power behind this Amazon category.

One of the major issues Amazon Handmade had was the very annoying process of uploading items to the channel. This became a strong barrier for new sellers to join the marketplace. In the multi-channel marketing world, where sellers can easily get them self to multiple sales channels, this strategy led Amazon Handmade behind.

The later change in Amazon Handmade policies allows sellers upload items in bulk from Excel. This move can dramatically change the balance, and being a part of the most strongest eCommerce empire, Amazon Handmade can get stronger.

IMHO to become a serious player in the handmade / artisan world , Amazon has to review its strategy of treating sellers as given. Amazon is known for its hard approach to sellers. With that, Etsy is very active […]

Walmart for jewelry eCommerce

Recent research by MarketplacePulse made us focus on Walmart role in jewelry eCommerce ecosystem.

We summarized our thoughts on this:

  • According to the research, jewelry makes about 6.5% of Walmart products catalog. There are above 2.5M products in Jewelry department. This means that the category is quite significant on the marketplace. Not all marketplaces have enough volume in the jewelry category, allowing them to focus on the industry needs.
  • Walmart is actively growing, while encouraging external sellers to join. Only 2% of jewelry is sold by Walmart itself (one of the lowest rates in the marketplace). This is an opposite to Amazon, which has a very self-oriented strategy. It was shown not once, that Amazon’s brands have lower success than ones of 3rd-party sellers, and in the long-term point of view the strategy of ecological co-existence between the marketplace owned products and 3-rd party sellers is more effective.
  • Accepting only US companies as marketplace sellers, Walmart creates very strong protection for US sellers and is not too crowded (only 20K sellers). This is very much different from eBay and Amazon, crowded with more low-cost international sellers. From our clients’ experience we know that the marketplace performs well also in expensive products in the $3000-$4000 price range.
  • Buyers consider Walmart to be a provider of high quality products. This positioning allows selling high-quality jewelry, and has a positive role for the brand. In today’s cross-channel marketing world, this is an important factor in selecting the marketplace to sell jewelry.
  • While having relatively small catalog comparing to Amazon, Walmart offers  over half […]
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