Drop Shipping – eCommerce Development | Drop Shipping Companies | Drop Shipping Pros & Cons | A Complete Guide to Drop Shipping

The question is not about now, the question is to fit ourselves & be prepared of whats upcoming. Drop Shipping – the new eCommerce trend is gathering pace in the web market.

So, what really is Drop Shipping?

Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer. As in retail businesses, the majority of retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price but some retailers earn an agreed percentage of the sales in commission, paid by the wholesaler to the retailer. [Source : Wikipedia]

In our words, many people shy away from starting an online store because of the startup costs and fulfillment hassles. But imagine if someone offered to pay your up-front inventory costs on thousands of items and manage your fulfillment operations. It’d be much easier to get started, and you could run your business from anywhere in the world. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not, if you know about drop shipping.

This would definately make the startup feel as if he has got an angel investor & funding to get going!

How Drop Shipping works?

[Image courtesy : GoGoDropShip]

Advantages of Drop Shipping:

Broad product offerings
Immense reduction in costs
Easy, scalable & fast Go To Market strategy
No warehousing required
No logistics overheads

Disadvantages of Drop Shipping:

Customer service challenges – how trustworthy is the dropshipper to check inventory quality, and deliver in time?
Comparatively lower profit margins
Up-to-date & highly process based systems to keep in sync with the inventory
More parties – more risks – more issues

Current Top Drop Shipping Companies:

and many more, you just need to Google!

Final Verdict:

Yes, its definately expected to be the next eCommerce trend considering the statistics of the no. of eCommerce startups coming up. With the market entry & stiff competition of new players, Drop Shipping definately takes the web eCommerce a level higher.

Why Outsourcing Your Software Development is Profitable in Economic Downturn? Read here

It’s not easy being a business in the UK right now, with relatively high labour cost, a crippled economy and general doom and gloom it’s becoming increasingly difficult to continue to function effectively and to really make an effective profit.

Why You should outsource your software development?

If you are involved in the software industry then you are probably doing better than most, in that you will most likely have an on-going supply of work due to the great performance of the technology sector and the constant need for improving software right across the board. With an incoming source of work and new developments constantly needing to be made, your company will likely be driven to meet new challenges at each turn, and look to encompass the best staff available.

Although outsourcing is something that many of us tend to steer clear of, in general this is because we don’t understand it, or we feel often frustrated by it, but at the end of the day if you are a business trying to make money in the current economic climate then it’s crucial that you take every possible measure to ensure that you are saving where you can – and this can conclude with outsourcing your software development.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the process of taking a part of your business (in this example software development) and outsourcing it to another company. Many companies do this to cut down costs and in general this involves moving a part of the company offshore. The idea of outsourcing a business offshore helps to ensure that costs are low – salary costs in the UK for example are much higher than other countries around the world – and this can help to generate additional revenue for a business.

When moving software developmentoffshore it is important to note that potential issues can arise in the field of quality control, but in general there are precautions put in place to ensure that regardless of where an item is developed or produced, the same level of quality is seen across the board.

Although many people are opposed to outsourcing software development for the main purpose that it’s seen as “selling away local jobs”, in a tough economic climate tough decisions need to be made. If you are in a position where your business is struggling financially then you need to be taking any steps that you can to claw it back on track, outsourcing your software development is one way that you can help to bring down costs while still producing the same product that you have developed a strong reputation for.

Starting Your E-Store: The Best E-Commerce Engines For You

Are you looking to build an online store for your products? If you are, then the right thing you need first is an online eCommerce hosting service that can help you in setting up your store. While you can find a number of eCommerce engines that can help you, selecting the right one can make a huge difference. Here is a review of some of the best eCommerce engines that can help you:

Magento

Magento is an open-source eCommerce engine that provides you with the opportunity of starting your own online store with flexibility and ease. It has been working tremendously since 2001 and is known for having the best technical team out of all eCommerce platforms. Recently, it joined forces with eBay and PayPal to enhance their engine with several new features.

Cost – Magento Community Edition is completely free of cost since it is an open-source application. However, the company offers two paid packages with additional services and support, Magento Enterprise and Magento Enterprise Premium at an annual subscription rate of $14,420 and $49,990 respectively.

Convenience – You may feel that the platform is a bit technical in use initially, but it provides a free demo to guide you about the proper use of the engine.

Customization – Although the platform provides a base model for users, it also allows complete customization of the system. The company also offers you multiple payment and shipping options that suits your customers better.

Marketing – Magento offers marketing help that includes SEO tools, segmentation and targeting tools and provides reviews and ratings.

Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce is web-based eCommerce software that contains around 450 different features that can help you create, manage and analyze your online store. The company offers around 60 payment options and bank-level security for your customer database and billing information,

Cost – Bigcommerce provides five different pricing packages; Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond that provides you with different product hosting range and storage capacities. The monthly prices for these packages $24.95, $39.95, $79.95, $149.95, and $299.95 respectively. However, if you subscribe for annual pricing, you can get discounted prices. Apart from these prices, the company does not charge any other transaction fee or other hidden fee.

Convenience – Bigcommerce is convenient to use and offers a 15-day free trial before you start. If you are making a switch, you can easily import all your data to the platform. There are no contracts to be signed and you can cancel the service anytime you want without any penalties. You can also upgrade between packages conveniently without losing any of your data.

Customization – The platform provides complete customization with its storefront designing and product configuration tools.

Marketing – Bigcommerce provides several strong marketing tools such as e-mail marketing, social media marketing, SEO and coupons. It also offers multi-tier pricing and group pricing options. You can also get all analytical reports of your marketing efforts.

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an open-source platform that helps you manage and track the performance of your online store. You don’t require too many technical prerequisites for the installation. The company does not offer a proper support team but it can provide you with all the required guidance on PrestaShop forum quite easily.

Cost – The basic version of PrestaShop is free. However, there are a number of templates, themes and modules that can be purchased for different priced from PrestaShop store.

Convenience – PrestaShop provides a number of different useful guides and a free demo for its users to help them understand the proper way of managing their store.

Customization – PrestaShop offers 40 different languages to help you grow a global business and several payment options that are convenient. The company offers a complete customization toolkit and provides detailed explanation for its use in the demo.

Marketing – PrestaShop offers around 300+ features that include several marketing tools as well. It allows you to send follow-up e-mails, newsletters and coupons and enables you to set up different loyalty programs.

If you are looking for a free or low-cost option, open-source engines that may be perfect for you include Zen Cart and VirtueMart, apart from the mentioned ones. However, if you are willing to pay a price, Bigcommerce is the best platform for you to host your online store.

Author’s Bio

Bob Thompson is a writer for Monitor.Us providing website & network monitoring. Bob writes about many different topics such as website security, website efficiency and how to best use website monitoring tools to improve user experience.

Your Story.com Lauches Pages For Startups, Investors and App Makers

Yourstory.in is one of the biggest online platforms for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups where you can promote your own business ideas in front of new investors. You can also find product reviews and its excellent resource for small business owners. They are occupied in the Indian start-up ecosystem for nearly 4 years, and in that time they have covered thousands of start-ups and featured many stories about the efforts, success (and sometimes failures) of these start-ups.

Being a start-ups it is not good idea to spend huge money on marketing and advertising thus we require a additional section were we can promote our businesses on-line to a larger and different audience.

Few days back YourStory.in launched new section, which is in currently in Beta called YourStory.in Pages. Here investors, VC’s, mentors and service providers can create Profile. Idea is to create a huge database for people interested in promoting website on-line and help companies to find new investors. It’s a similar model after Wikipedia where you can edit and add data about your start-ups.

Using Pinterest for Recruitment | Learn How to Present Your Career Profile?

Everybody loves images, and visuals stay in our mind longer than tedious text based posts. This is exactly whey Pinterest has suddenly made it to the top and seems to have caught on like forest fire. Apart from facebook, and twitter, today recruiters are turning towards Pinterest to hire. How? Why?

Pinterest is now sitting on the 3^rd position and receives more traffic than Google+ and linkedin put together. It seems to be the fastest growing social networking platform and has both men & women sharing and posting on a daily basis. It reflects on how creative people are and how eager they are for the world to see and note their presence. Even though not many companies are hiring directly through Pinterest, it has ignited a lot of ideas and new processes among recruiters. There are some who spend over an hour on Pinterest, but only half an hour on twitter. This goes to show how popular it is and how people are relying on it more and more.

How can a person be spotted on Pinterest?

Well, if you are someone seeking a job, or shift in career, it would be good to create an infographics and share the same on Pinterest. What is an infographics? A pictorial representation of data, in this case, your resume. It is not about adding jazz or glitter to the resume, but about showcasing your abilities and skills in a different manner. This will definitely appeal and attract potential recruiters.

What is in it for companies?

Not only can employees learn about various companies, but the companies can also look for people that fit the profile they have in mind. Going by the interests, habits, patterns and other categories, companies can today identify people who match their requirement and target them. It also allows them to tap into a sector that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

How?

Companies should spend some time understanding how Pinterest works, and how people approach it before they create their marketing strategy. The can device campaigns in the form of infographics and post them frequently on Pinterest. When it catches the eye of another member, who might or might not be seeking a job, they will share it or contact the company. Creating career boards is the best way to post a job requirement.

Happy recruiting.

Google Analytics New Features In 2013: Attribution Modeling Tool & More

Year after year, Google Analytics Certified Partners and Premium customers land in Mountain View for their Annual summit. The meet is all about looking ahead, what is in store for the Analytics, GACPs network and have a few discussions to come up with new ideas. Earlier, whatever took place at the Summit was kept within, but this year on they have decided to share outside.

Paul Muret, the Google Analytics Engineering Director opened the event with an introduction to Universal Analytics and how it will help customers customize their Google Analytics to understand the marketing funnel better.

linear_example – Attribution tool

Attribution Modeling Tool

He then went on to speak about Attribution Modeling Tool, one that the premium customers have been using since april 2012. It is used to build models that will provide credit to all their digital media channels, go on to provide insight on the impact of various marketing programs that work in sync towards increasing sales/conversions. Today, Google has begun to roll out the Attribution Modeling Tool for all the members.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV),

Another valuable feature in Google Analytics is used to show the amount of money that every customer will spend on a given business in the future. This will help make smart decisions and shall be out by early 2013.

The next point discussed was Cost Data Import-

Google analytics has begun allowing users to import their complete cost data from any other digital source into this. What this means is it allows the user to measure performance of their digital programs alongside each other. This should be rolled out in a month or so.

After doing a study and identifying valuable customers, Google analytics helps you make smart decisions and improving your spending pattern, and finally comes customer relationship management.

Another important and powerful metric system is the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value (RFM) that tech savvy marketers use frequently to identify their customers.
Soon, Google Analytics will have the power of RFM available to all customers.
Custom Dimensions / Metrics, a star feature in Universal Analytics will allow users to include additional information to their Google Analytics Account, such as CRM data and so on.

Also, ever since Google Analytics Premium has been launched for the enterprise accounts, there is a demand for the same in countries across the world. Soon, 8 new countries like Brazil, France, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy and Norway will have it.

With the whole world going the mobile way, pretty soon apps will replace websites and pages. Pretty soon, Google Analytics app will move from closed to beta and users across the world can carry out their transactions through their mobile devices.

As you can see, Google Analytics is marching ahead, with new features and possibilities. Watch this space to know more. Share this with your friends!

If you wish to learn more about, how Google analytic’s can help you to measure and track ROI of your paid and organic campaign, then contact us at info@ithinkinfotech.com or Hire our Professionals.

If you have any questions or suggestion please feel free to shoot us on our facebook @ithinkinfotech

6 Ways Businesses are Using GPS Tracking Technology?

GPS Navigation Technology

Uses Of GPS Tracking Technology

In the past ten years, GPS technology has become tremendously affordable. For less than a couple hundred dollars, you can install a GPS in your car. Many new vehicles even come with GPS functionality installed. Today, even businesses are putting GPS technology to good use.

GPS technology relies on embedded processors, which are becoming increasingly important in today’s business world. Whether you’re talking about a simple hand-held GPS device, a GPS system installed in the vehicle, or whether you’re talking about a company-wide fleet management GPS implementation, it all rises and falls on those embedded processors. The implications of this technology on business are staggering, and there are plenty of ways your business’ operations can be improved with GPS.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways that businesses are using GPS tracking technology in their daily operations:

Directions

This is probably the most obvious and the most common use businesses have for GPS. GPS lets employees get from point A to point B via the most direct route. Depending on the navigation system you’re using, you might even have access to real-time traffic data and alternate routes. Overall, this helps to improve a business’ efficiency; it means fewer missed sales meetings, less time wasted trying to find your way in unfamiliar territory, and ultimately less fuel waste.

Accountability and control

If your business has a fleet of vehicles, GPS opens up all sorts of doors. You can monitor your vehicle fleet from a single centralized location. While the obvious application here is for trucking and shipping companies, there are also applications in the business world. GPS can be used to track mileage, to check in on employees throughout the day, and reduce employee abuse of company vehicles. This is a constant balancing act, however, as monitoring employees can be a double-edged sword. It might improve overall efficiency, but it can also drag down morale if your people think you’re constantly looking over their shoulders.

Mileage and fuel efficiency

Some GPS systems are able to take the data from a fleet of vehicles and translate that into mileage payment for employees. This electronic data serves as a vehicle log, and eliminates much of the required paperwork in terms of tracking mileage. In addition, when it’s combined with fuel purchase information, GPS data can tell you how much fuel your fleet vehicles are consuming, and which vehicles are consuming more fuel than others. A fleet manager can use this to indicate that perhaps maintenance on the vehicle is in order, for example.

Emergency preparedness and theft prevention

GPS gives a company the ability to know where its vehicles are at all times. That means if a vehicle is stole, they can use GPS technology to assist police in recovering the vehicle. If an employee is in an accident, the company has real-time access to their location, and can send out assistance as needed.

Consumer applications

There are a number of ways a company can use GPS to interact with their consumers. For example, there are GPS-based applications that can help consumers find local businesses, and may even allow the business to provide a coupon or advertisement to the consumer. Services like Foursquare and Groupon are already implementing these kinds of GPS technologies. In addition, companies can use GPS to provide real-time data to customers about pending deliveries. A local florist, for example, could use a GPS system to automatically email a customer when flowers have been delivered to their destination.

Industry specific applications

There are all sorts of ways businesses in individual fields can use GPS. For example, a pizza restaurant can use it to help delivery drivers find their destinations. Private investigators might use GPS to track their targets, or maintain surveillance in other ways. Construction firms taht use heavy equipment can use GPS to prevent the theft of their excavation vehicles. For just about every industry, there’s probably a good way to use GPS.

GPS technology is changing the way we do business. Its improving efficiency and making our businesses run more smoothly.

As business GPS applications mature, we’re likely to see even more functionality. For example, GPS systems that automatically send alerts to the home office when a delivery is made, or when a driver diverts from an intended route are already in the works. Take a look at some of the GPS solutions for businesses out there, and see which might fit your business.

Nick Simpson is Social Media Coordinator at . Kontron, a leading designer of the open vpx as well as the atca lte network Kontron caters to a number of industries including the energy, military and medical industries.

5 Major Areas Of Google Analytic’s For Beginners

Google Analytics sounds like a big fancy word, but it is quite a simple term for analysis of a website or a blog. It is very important to monitor a website to see if it is effective, being shown in search engines and the changes to be made to make it better. There are 5 major areas that one needs to focus when looking into Google Analytics, they are

1 Term/Tag Clouds –

A great way to show people visually some of the important words used on the site. This is a feature that will come in useful for search terms used by people to find your website. It is a traffic driver and so one needs to have it incorporated into the statistics and analysis.

2 Motion Charts –

These are charts that showcase the growth over a period of time of traffic and visitors on a website. Motion charts are multi dimensional graphical representation of the data and all the metrics drawn from the website. These are used to provide a concise understanding.

3 Plot Rows –

It is an in built feature in Google Analytics that many ignore. What you can do here is to literally plot on the graph all the key points to understand the individual dimensions and how they impact a website’s traffic. Say on a particular day there is extremely high traffic, using the boxes next to the dimensions you can click on “plot rows” and see the colors change. This can be done for up to 6 dimensions at a time.

4 Metrics Comparison –

A valuable feature in Google Analytics is where you can change the way the graph is done. Not one but two metrics can be used, comparing two different parameters- say visitors and revenue earned. Using this one can study the correlation and effectiveness.

5 Pivot Table –

Yes, you read it right. These Pivot tables are similar to the ones you have used in MS Excel. They are quite a valuable feature on Google Analytics. Suppose you wish to see the keywords by search engines and through landing pages, all you need to do is Choose “Organic Search”, add a second dimension “Landing Pages”, and then click on the Pivot table button. Voila, you get to see the results in a concise manner of the connection and relevance.

Now that you know the various features, get cracking!

Why Do Start-up Businesses Fail? Top 3 Reasons You Must Look Into

Why Startup’s Fail?

Having an idea is one thing, but to be able to execute the same and keep it going in the long run needs dedication, focus and a strong team. Many a times, people jump into the start up arena overconfident or without the necessary foundation work. In such cases, the start ups fail within a few months. Some of the top 3 reasons for the failure of start ups are

1. Idea and concepts:

When working in a company, you might come up with an idea that sounds unique. You might want to go out on a limb to see if this could become a viable business. But, there is more to this when starting an entrepreneurship. There needs to be a business plan, concepts need to be developed, and when these processes are not in place, the start up fails even before it can take off.

2. Finance:

Any business needs a certain amount of capital to begin with. Often, entrepreneurs pour in their entire savings into the business based on the idea in their head. If they are unplanned, or unprepared for the various challenges along the way, money will get sucked in while revenue might not be seen for a long time. What then happens is they go out looking for investors, and if they are unable to find any, the business goes down the drain.

3. Founders:

A person might start a business, but with time he/she might add in a few founders, some might bring in capital, while others expertise. What happens in some start ups is that there are disagreements within the founders, each one brings in their thoughts, the business loses a sense of focus and ultimately meets the end.

Samsung Accessories For S3 & Note II: New Range of Charging Docks

Samsung Accessories Which Beats Iphone

It is not enough if you have a smartphone, you need to match it with the right accessories, showing it off and protecting the device. With the top 2 leaders in this category being Samsung and Apple, Samsung has come out with quite a wide range of accessories that beats the Apple iPhone by miles. Some of those accessories are

Screen protection: The Samsung Galaxy range of phones with their sleek design need a screen protection to keep the AMOLED looking good as new. The Invisible SHIELD is the best option, it keeps the screen protected and gives it a sheen as if there is nothing on the glass, adding to effects when playing games or videos.
Phone case For S3 and Note II: there are several cases out in the market, but the Samsung Flip Cover is the smartest of them all. It comes in White and Black, and fits the phone to the dot. The Galaxy or the Note, they each have their own cases, which work in keeping the phone safe and allows the user to speak when closed as well.
Desktop Dock: Why hide the smart looking smartphone (S3 and Note II) in your pocket when in office or home. Show it off using the desktop dock. Connect to speakers and enjoy a movie or music while you finish up errands.

Desktop Dock For New Samsung Phones

4) Vehicle Dock: Imagine driving the car on a highway and your phone rings. You have left it in the dashboard or in your pocket and are fumbling to reach for it while keeping your eye on the road. Samsung has introduced the super convenient vehicle dock that can be fixed on your dashboard or side glass pane. An added bonus is that it comes with a 12v charger which ensures the battery is juiced up.

Samsung Vehicle Dock Galaxy 2 ECS V1D3BKG Temp

5) 64gb microSD card: An iPhone comes with different capacities, which is the limit, and you cannot increase the memory. Whereas, Samsung has introduced a 64gb microSD card, allowing you to add on apps, media or just about anything else you desire on the phone without fearing loss of memory space. Use the 8mp camera, do a 1080p video, and load up all your music, and you still have some space left.