Dropshipping News

Patrick Foster offer us with 5 tech-centric ways to boost employee retention in a time where businesses compete to hire the top members of staff

You'Re At If The Head Of A Growing Usa Dropshippers . Business, Building The Ideal Team Is A Delicate Balancing Act You Want The Best Of The Best (Or At Least, The Best You Can Afford To Hire): The Most Talented, Skilled , passionate, dedicated, enthusiastic and reliable candidates you can find but you also do not want to build your business around people unlikely to stick around in the long term.

Support side ventures

Some people are content to be employees in perpetuity, lacking the ambition or the inclination to pursue positions of power, but if your staff members are good enough at what they do, they'll eventually hunger for something more - something that you'll struggle to satisfy with the occasional pay rise or additional benefit. This is where side ventures become highly useful.

If someone on a regular basis, but this time the afternoon would go it towards going towards pursuing personal or professional projects. If someone on your team really wants to have their own blog but has never found The time, they can spend this time working on your blog with your guidance and support.

Do you have an employee harbouring a burning desire to become an entrepreneur? Show them that they do not need to leave to try it. E-commerce is an industry That's exceptionally accommodating to part-time work, scaling all the way from large full - time retail operations to small ecommerce drop shipping stores that some of them can grow in store a while, or even partnering with them on it as a joint venture, you can let them grow without letting them go.

Since you are best served hiring the best people can can hide the most people you can find leave and just doing everything you can to motivate them to stay with your company.

There are various tech - it 's are not having to commit to any expensive long - term schemes to make remaining with your company a more enticing proposition. centric ways to do it without spending a fortune - here are 5 of them to get you started:

Provide online training programs

People need to feel that they're growing, developing their skills and overcoming new challenges, Be proactive: do not let them believe that they must must go elsewhere to achieve that kind of development.

There are numerous online training courses that you can assign to employees (some paid , like those on LinkedIn Learning or Udemy, and some free, like those on Alison and some on edX).

You can get input from your employees in the choice of the courses they are interested in and they can benefit both them .

Play team video games and quizzes

Teams that socialise together tend to achieve greater cohesion, have fewer arguments, and few more arguments, and few fans and damage productivity. And while it would never have been accepted in times of standoffish professional environments, most small businesses are are they will perfectly willing to give video games a try.

There are countless games viable for co-op: you can find some suggestions here, or just set up a Steam account and look through the the other categories until something stands out. You can pick games that require specific skills to make the training element more blatant, but the point is more to put everyone at ease and make them feel comfortable with one another.

Collaborate on a multimedia project

They might get picked up certainly niche skills in the process, even if they have not used computers much in their personal lives. at recording and editing audio, or at writing at the web. What's great about cloud-based systems is that they make complex collaborative projects much easier to approach.

Some employees could work on a podcast, while others, others are projecting the same team can work together on bringing the "about Us" page for your website, bringing in numerous disparate elements. They could have fantastic projects of which they could all be proud.

Improve your workplace

Through automation, aesthetic improvement, and the general wonder of gadgets, you can easily make a workplace a more appealing place to spend 40 hours each week. Would some music liven things up? You can set up an Amazon Echo speaker and let people take turns to choose songs for the playlist. What about some relaxing VR experiences? set up a console and a headset and let people take breaks to zone out and unwind.

Could they benefit from larger than, more comfortable keyboards, or noise-cancelling headphones? Such items can prove costly, but think about how much use they get get over time, and factor in the value of keeping your employees happy (as well the value of being more accessible).

Invest in high-quality technology (and get rid of all the unbearably-slow workstations), and you are seeing higher productivity, more efficiency, and a significant reduction in workplace stress.

Try these 5 tech-centric tactics to make your workplace, you need to take care of your team is not feeling motivated to stick around. a more supportive and enjoyable environment.

The best drop shipping art prints suppliers across the globe

Clients can find art prints suppliers simply through art sites like Chinabrands, finerworks, and many more. In order to order a design, the client has to create an account with the portal first.

1. Finerworks

Finerworks is a website dedicated towards art aliexpress dropshipping. Finerworks allows artists and photographers of any scale to get their art work printed on any material of their choice and have it delivered in a blind packaging to their customers.

Any artist who thinks he can sell his art work but does not want to invest in getting the art printed, packed and delivered; he can choose finerworks to complete all the tasks.

It has two print locations, which are Atlanta and San Antonio, TX from where the company prints and ships the art works. In case of international shipping, the company charges an extra 20% of the order total.

It provides an automated drop shipping option to the artists. The international drop shipping option is not very clear since the company mandates that in case of international drop shipping the address used on the package has to be the finerworks’s which takes away the option of confidentiality from the seller.

2.Gooten

Gooten is a website which provides access to print on demand vendors worldwide and along with that it also provides drop shipping services.

The seller does not keep any inventory, does not need investments for its business and on the other hand has access to a vendor network spread worldwide.

It also provides a one to one dedicated manager who helps in letting the business become successful. Gooten has a very well built API which integrates the products of the seller on e-commerce giants like Amazon, eBay and many more significant names in the e-commerce industry.

A major drawback is the logistics of the company. The logistics of the company is not so well developed and thus delivery to all the parts of the world is not very easy.

3.Printhouse

Printhouse is an organisation providing art print on demand and dropshipping services.

Printhouse is an entity providing world class printing quality and over 300 options to get your art work printed. Printhouse provides the option of white label branding which facilitates the dropship seller.

It has 5 printing facilities established in various parts of the Mexico, the USA and the UK which helps in timely delivery of the products.

It claims to have tie ups with globally known carrier companies. Maximum orders placed are dispatched the very next day. The API of printhouse is integrated with Shopify, BigCartel, Etsy, Gumroad.

The drawback of the website is that the shipping policies and the rates were not very clearly mentioned on the website so it is quite ambiguous to comment on the shipping and logistics policies of the company.

4. Chinabrands

Chinabrands, an established point for drop shipping of diverse art prints provides details of price in USD along with price and the stocks available.

The model number and the printing style are also mentioned.

Clients can check in more details such as product dimensions, weight, shape and the places where it fits best. In order to get assessment or order cost, the client has to sign up with chinabrands using personal email id and password.

● Payment methods: Clients can make payment through credit card, PayPal, Money order and wired transfer mechanisms. The other modes of payment include Western Union.

Chinabrands is similar to all other sites like amazon, eurographics.ca, aliexpress and worldgallery, as far as payment disbursal methods are concerned.

● Designs: The art prints of Chinabrands are mostly of the contemporary, cosmopolitan, modern or abstract styles. Most of the products demonstrate overlapping of bright colours.

Dropshipping process: The dropship home decor policy at Chinabrands is quite effective and that is why the prices of the products are kept low. Purchasers of art prints can get them at factory based rates, not market rates. Hence product rates do not depend on market-related changes. Clients can avail customer support services at any time of the day. Chinabrands has an in-house expert team to guide the clients in case they want to market the art prints purchased from Chinabrands.com.

Advertisers spending less than $1 million per year in media often have a hard time justifying the cost of implementing and maintaining a data management platform (DMP). Why? The Year 1 cost alone can be six figures as well as ongoing monthly licensing agreement, making the investment uneconomic, even to the most optimistic CMO.

`Combine that with the difficult task of finding and retaining data marketing talent, and it is no surprise that many marketers and medium-sized dropship watches business owners baulk at the idea. That is, of course, not to say that the benefits will likely outweigh the costs. Even if the payback is there over the first couple of years, it is often hard to justify the initial cost.

To invest in DMP or not?

We know there is upside in leveraging our data to buy media, we already have a CRM, but outside of email, our data is not connected to any other media platforms. Most businesses keep a good database of customer details, products purchased personally identifiable info, which they segment and address via email. We know most about these customers because they have already been acquired, we are first party to this data.

Then there are those who visit our stores, online or in person, we know something about these prospects as they have left a digital footprint. We capture their movements via analytics, we may cookie their device, we may even re-market to them based on their browsing behaviour and intent profile using a third-party platform.

If display remarketing is the first step in this journey, we begin to really get somewhere when we combine our first party customer data with our largely anonymous browsing data, and anything available to buy from third-party data distributors.

DMP alternatives: What and how

When marketers get it right they may see material improvements in their marketing efficiencies. But if you are not ready to take the plunge you can replicate some of the functions of a DMP within your existing tech stack, which may be simply your CRM and Google Analytics.

If you’ve already segmented your audience, and have an email or mobile phone number, you have the basis for a framework to extend this segmentation across your Web traffic via tagging and pixel rules which fire when a person does something on your site.

For example, in a hotel context, if a person searches for a hotel with a short lead time, midweek, one night stay, it is highly likely they will be a dropship china business traveller. Armed with this high intent indicator you can both exclude and include them from various creative execution. You may exclude them from seeing creative with messaging around late checkouts, or weekend event based packages.

On the other hand, when the messaging does suit, you may bid more for their eyeballs, given you know with a high level of probability they are a high value, possibly repeat guest. Of course, this is a simplified view, but you can build complex audience segments, track and address them with a high degree of confidence… some way approaching what you may see via a DMP.

OK, so what next?

So you are now collecting data and building actionable insights based on first party and browsing data. You now need a DSP to find these audiences and buy in real time. DSPs can be accessed via agency trading desks, but some DSPs do work directly with advertisers and offer a managed service.

The largest publishers/networks, Facebook and Google act as DSPs, providing you access to their online inventory. Start with the platforms you know, leverage the data and begin building the case for further investment in data-driven marketing.

A net 1,123 stores disappeared from Britain's top 500 high streets in the first six months of the year, according to the accountancy firm PwC.

It said fashion and electrical stores had suffered most as customers did more shopping online.

Restaurants and pubs also floundered as fewer people go out to eat or drink.

London was the worst-hit region, PwC said, while Wales had the lowest number of closures.

"Looking ahead, the turmoil facing the sector is unlikely to abate," said Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC.

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"Store closures in the second half of the year due to administrations and company voluntary arrangements [a form of insolvency] already announced will further intensify the situation."

Which shops were hit hardest?

According to PwC, 2,692 shops shut across the UK in the first half of 2018, while only 1,569 new stores opened.

Electrical goods stores were among the biggest casualties, largely due to the collapse of Maplin in February that resulted in 50 stores being closed.

Italian restaurants also struggled, as Jamie's Italian and Prezzo both shut stores after striking rescue deals with their creditors, while Strada also made closures.

PwC said there was net decline of 104 fashion shops and 99 pubs as openings failed to replace closures "at a fast enough rate".

There were some bright spots, however, with supermarkets, booksellers, ice cream parlours and coffee shops all seeing slim net gains in their store counts.

Which regions suffered most?

According to PwC, Greater London had the largest number of store closures of any UK region, with a fall of 716, while only 448 were opened.

Other cities that suffered included Leeds, which opened nine stores but closed 35, and Reading where there were 39 closures and only 18 openings.

Newcastle fared worst in the North East, with a net decline of 17 stores, while Nottingham fell by 35.

None of the UK regions analysed by PwC recorded a net gain in store count in the first six months of the year.

What's causing the problem?

Retailers are facing a perfect storm of pressures as consumers rein in their spending and do more of their shopping online rather than on the high street.

As a result, many retailers have found themselves struggling to pay their rents and other overheads, such as a rising minimum wage and Farmhouse Decor Wholesale business rates.

In last month's Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond promised to spend £900m on reducing the business rates bill of 500,000 small retailers by a third.

He also promised a new tax for online firms that employ fewer staff and pay far lower business rates.

However, the British Retail Consortium said the chancellor was "tinkering around the edges" and called for "wholesale reform" of the business rates system.

Jake Berry, the minister responsible for high streets, said the government was determined to make them thrive.

"We have created a £675m fund to help high streets adapt, slashed business rates ... and are creating a task force guided by Sir John Timpson, one of the UK's most experienced retailers, to ensure that high streets are adapting for rapid change and are fit for the future," he said.

A managing general agent (MGA) or a managing general underwriter (MGU) is a specialized type of insurance agent or broker that has been granted underwriting authority by an insurer, according to the International Risk Management Institute (IRMA), and can administer programs and negotiate contracts for an insurer. An MGA’s functions can include binding coverage, underwriting and pricing, settling claims, and appointing retail agents in a certain region, all of which are typically carried out by insurers. At its core, the MGA manages all or part of the insurance business of an insurer and acts as an insurance agent or broker for the insurer, while working as the intermediary between carriers and agents, and/or insureds.

How MGAs fit into the distribution channel

Wholesale brokers act as an intermediary between a retail broker and an insurer, and work with insurers to attain specialized coverage for clients while having no contact with the insured. An MGA is one type of wholesale broker, and operates on the insurer’s behalf while also working closely with clients to attend to their needs. The other type of wholesaler is a surplus lines broker who works with a retail agent and an insurer to obtain coverage for the insured. What makes MGAs unique is their binding authority from the insurer.

An MGA will deliver and service a carrier’s product to both insurance agencies and clients. MGAs can work with several carriers to formulate a specific mix of products to deliver to agents/brokers or directly to insureds.

How MGAs benefit insurers and agents

Working with MGAs is beneficial to insurers because they possess expertise that insurers may not have in their head or regional offices, and which can be costly to develop in-house, according to IRMA. Working with an MGA, companies can pass time-consuming and complicated tasks to an outside entity that already has the knowledge to address them.

MGAs tend to deal in lines of coverage such as professional liability, employee benefits or surplus lines where specialized expertise is needed to underwrite policies, though they can be active in any line of insurance, and work with all types of insurers. If an insurer wants to explore a specialty line of business, but does not want to take on the risks or uncertainty of doing so, they can turn to an MGA to offer up that expertise, and give the MGA the authority to underwrite and issue specialty policies because they are already familiar with the risks.

MGAs can also write business in geographically isolated areas where insurers do not want to open an office. A small town or rural region might not warrant the opening of a branch for an insurer, but working with an MGA in that area provides the company with access to new customers without spending money on staff or rent.

Similar to insurers, agents can get expertise about a particular product or more competitive pricing by working with an MGA. They can likewise gain entry to markets and carriers that could be difficult to access on their own, and because of the often-smaller size of the MGA business, there are fewer barriers to communication for a broker. MGAs also bring technology to the table, such as online platforms that integrate with wholesale womens shoes channels or products that speed up the quoting process, that help independent agents provide better services to their clients. Agents can realize higher commissions by working with an MGA that has a diverse network of carriers, allowing agents to review the commission structure and have the option to sell carriers’ products that offer the best rates.

MGAs around the world

Many MGA models were created during the 1990s and 2000s, though the role of the wholesale broker, a category that MGAs fall into, dates back to the 19th century. Associations that represent MGAs in specific regions today include:

Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) in the UK, which was formed in 2011

American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA), which was established in 1926 and has since merged with the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) to form the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA)

Canadian Managing General Agents (CAMGA), a relatively new association formed in 2017

Underwriting Agencies Council, based in Australia and formed in 1998

In Australia and New Zealand, MGAs are referred to as underwriting agencies, though they have the same functions as managing general agencies. EY revealed that these agencies made up 13% of the broker market in Australia in 2016.

In the UK, the term ‘MGA’ has been adopted by the market to refer to what was once known as a ‘coverholder.’ Today, more than 300 MGAs underwrite over 10% of the UK’s £47 billion general insurance market premiums, according to the MGAA.

Worldwide, MGAs fall into one of the fastest-growing segments of the insurance industry. Global investment firm Conning reported that MGA and program market growth continues to outpace the growth of the property and casualty market, with direct premium growth of 7% higher than the previous year compared to the 5% seen in P/C market growth. The analysis also showed that 21 of the top 25 P/C insurers have relationships with MGAs.

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The role of the MGA today

With technology bridging the gap between insurers and clients today, some carriers are moving away from relying on MGAs, which has thrown the identity and future of the MGA into question.

“By virtue, MGUs and MGAs, program administrators, are the middlemen,” said Rekha Schipper, president of Tangram Insurance Services. “How can we make sure we stay ahead, make sure that we take advantage, and make sure that we continue to be relevant and meaningful to a broker, to a carrier, to a tech investor, to say, this entity still belongs in the middle of all of this?”

However, an MGA is a natural outlet for technology solutions to plug into because of its established distribution channels. These agencies can also react to market changes quicker than typical insurance companies because they are smaller businesses that are acting on behalf of larger carriers.

“We can bring programs to the market faster. We can get out to more brokers because they can get on our platform. We can reduce our expenses as an MGU because now we’re automating a lot of things,” explained Schipper, adding that there’s “an unprecedented opportunity” for partnerships between technology vendors and MGUs.

During hard market periods, MGAs can be used by insurers to decrease costs and increase profitability. The MGA model is also flexible. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Ironshore, a Liberty Mutual company, established its managing general underwriting agency as its commercial clients were facing heightened risk since the viability of some insurance carriers that offered high coverage limits across many lines of business for major companies was uncertain. Brokers were meanwhile also under pressure to find alternative coverage solutions. The Ironshore MGU model involved underwriting as well as claims management, the latter of which made it unique from a traditional MGA, which can have limited authority on claims management and payment.