The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

We have recently been overseas to attend the Canton Fair and the Hong Kong Gift Show. So on today's episode we share our itinerary from the trip and what kind of experience we had over there. We attended both fairs and we both toured factories of companies who were potential business partners. It was an interesting cultural exchange and we have definitely learned a lot about Asian business practic...

Today's episode is the third and final instalment of our series on domestic and international supplying. We have talked about shipping in both the United States and from overseas. We have also talked about the politics involved in overseas suppliers. Today we finish this series with how to find a supplier you can work with and make money. There are tons of online suppliers that offer cheap product...

This is the second part to our importing and shipping series.  Last episode we discussed the benefits of going with domestic manufacturer and all the challenges that comes with that. Today we discuss the process of ordering and shipping from overseas. When you get your shipment from overseas like from China you have two options you can go FOB (Free on Board) or CWX shipping. Free on Board is deliv...

We discuss our experience with shipping and importing product for inventory today. Most people make the assumption that importing from overseas like China is the best solution. But we are going to explore all the options of shipping both foreign and domestic. Everybody normally begins by stocking their inventory with a local vendor. There is nothing wrong with this approach and it does have some a...

We use today’s episode as a chance to thank all the listeners and reviewers who have left their feedback for us. We appreciate the comments and questions you guys leave for us. Speaking of questions we answer a 3 part question from one of our listeners, Colin. Colin left a 3 part question that we have dedicated today’s episode too. He asked us “what we could recommend for promotional material in a...

Today we complete the series How to Supercharge Your Email. This is part 3 of 3. If you haven’t heard the first part of this series you can hear parts 1 and 2 here and here . We have been talking about the success of the Colorit contests. We have talked about the email flows that contestants receive in their inboxes. These flows have really helped us get more sales. Colorit has 7 to 8 flows on Kla...

Today’s episode is part 2 to our email marketing series. Mike explains the email flow he uses for his Colorit.com contests. This episode will focus on the promotional material that is sent out over the course of the month. We discuss why we have the flow structured the way we do and Grant does some brainstorming to think outside the box. We toss ideas around and we talk about how successful Mike h...

Today we want to talk about the benefits of email marketing in your business. In the past we didn’t embrace email marketing, but all that changed with Colorit. We will walk you through our email flow during the Colorit Contest. The numbers are beyond encouraging and we will definitely be using these techniques on other products like cuttingboard.com. Grant admits that he doesn’t have a lot of expe...

Today’s episode is about going from running your business out of your home to a warehouse. We have our own growing pains stories on this topic, so we hope we can help those of you ready to move. The key factor to maintaining a warehouse is efficiency. A lot of things go into making sure your operation is efficient. You need to make sure the items are safely packed for shipping (which is harder tha...

Today Grant’s going to step out of the podcast. I'm Mike Jackness and I’m going to talk about my experience with running a contest for my site colorit.com . On December 5, 2015 we launched colorit.com. We had tried our product out on Amazon and decided to make the move to our own site to build the brand. Our first contest was January 1st. We offered a set of colored pencils every day for 30 days....

Today we thought we’d talk about life as an entrepreneur. Being your own boss has a lot of glamour to it. At least to those looking in from the outside. The truth is, it’s hard work. We share our own feelings on entrepreneurship and lend some perspective for those wanting to leave their 9 to 5 job for entrepreneurship. Not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship and there is nothing wrong with th...

Well Bigcommerce has announced they will be raising their prices. Today we will discuss what this price increase means for our personal businesses and the platform in general. It’s really easy to create a mob mentality against Bigcommerce during all  this, but hopefully today we give you a broader picture of this change. We have differing  views on Bigcommerce's decision, but that might help you d...

Today we finish out our 3 part series on brand building. If you haven’t listened to parts 1 and 2 we really encourage you to go back and give those a listen. We have covered what kind of products work well on an e-platform and how to bootstrap your brand with sites like Amazon. We’ve also covered trademarking and registering a brand. Today we’re going to discuss the why of having your own brand. H...

Welcome to Part 2 of our How to Build a Brand series. Last time we went over a few things to get you thinking about your brand, but on today’s episode Grant and I are getting into the nitty gritty and talking about the tools you’re going to need to build your brand successfully. Remember, branding is always easier if you can inspire an emotional reaction or attachment with your product. But findin...

This episode is part one of what will be a two or three part series on brand building.  You hear a lot about selling your products to make thousands on Amazon, but the way that we look at it is that those things are just get-rich-quick schemes. You’re not building a long term presence or brand, which is what we’re here to talk about today: how to build your brand.  Personally, we have our own bran...

Today’s podcast focuses on niching down your audience, but first a listener question. Tyler asks, “If you can share experience with MAP pricing?” If you would like to ask Ecom Crew a question head over to our contact form or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook. Grant says MAP pricing was used on Treadmill.com. MAP pricing is the minimum advertised price, and it is an agreement between vendors and sel...

Welcome to our last podcast of 2015! We love all the feedback we’ve received since we launched our podcast, and we can’t wait to hear what you guys have to say next year. That’s why on today’s episode we’re answering a listener’s questions! On our forum, David recently asked how we managed the logistics of owning and maintaining multiple brands under one business. Many of you out there may have qu...

Today we are giving you the Grant and Mike fireside chat as we take a look at how things have been going for us for the past 30 days and talk about some of our goals for 2016.  For both of us sales have been going really well and we have some exciting things to look forward to as we head into the new year. Grant explains that sales have exploded over the holiday buying period at CuttingBoard.com....

Today I’m flying solo again, but I have a great email to share with you. Jay from New Jersey sent me some questions about my recent trip to China. For those who didn’t know I have covered this extensively in our blog and the last episode. But today I’m going to answer Jay’s questions and hopefully encourage other listeners to send in more feedback. We went to China to check out both the Canton Fai...

I just got back from China and I am exhausted. My wife and I spent over three weeks visiting and mingling at the Hong Kong and Canton trade fairs. It was a great trip, but unfortunately Grant was unable to join us. New babies make international travel a tad bit difficult, but it was still one of the best trips I’ve ever taken for my career and my business. I like to call this trip my Leap Frog Eve...

Today Mike and Grant are going to give some guidelines on when to invest in your growing business. In any business there are aspects that are necessary to invest in and things that can be added as the business grows. This episode offers sound advice on when to recognize that need to grow and when your business has reached a peak.   Other bits of advice are: Keep your costs as low as possible or yo...

I’m casting solo today because Grant just had a baby! Congratulations! He’ll be back next week, but in the meantime, I’m going to talk about one of the best experiences I’ve had since becoming an online entrepreneur. I recently joined a forum called eCommerceFuel, a private online community for business owners that’s secure enough for candid business discussion and social enough to connect you wit...

On our podcast today we play host to James Peacock, president of the Arizona branch of inXpress, the international shipping guru that has saved both Grant and myself tons of money shipping overseas. What makes his website great is the fact that it requires no extra fees. You only pay when you ship, and the discounts you receive from inXpress can be combined with your existing discounts from USPS a...

In today’s episode we’ll be talking about how to modify your conversion for your e-commerce store for your checkout page and cart page to increase your checkout rate. These are methods we’ve used that have worked on our websites, have been documented, and are essentially fool-proof. We’ll also be uncovering the most common problems made on e-commerce sites, and telling you how to fix them. Here ar...

On today’s podcast we talk about SHIPPING! It’s the first thing we look at when we are seeking out online businesses to buy and own. E-commerce operates on a whole other level that involves storage and shipping since you may not always have a brick-and-mortar storefront to hold your goods. You need to know the size and weight of the items you plan on selling so that you can organize your shipping...