I ruthlessly unsubscribe from almost all newsletters. Eric’s one of a select few that I look actually forward to opening because it has proven itself consistently valuable for Shopify merchants.
— Kurt Elster, Ecommerce Strategist, founder of Ethercycle, and a top Shopify Plus Expert.
Past issues
Shopify Dispatch Issue #331 - Brand building, Inventory Turnover Ratio
Brand Building Best Practices: Statistics, Trends & Strategy One strategy to build organic traffic is with brand building. Elise Dopson goes through the best practices and examples of how companies are doing it without advertising. It will take effort and time like any other organic channel so it's best to...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #330 - Shopify's Future of Commerce, Email marketing best practices
Shopify Future of Commerce report Shopify's released their Future of Commerce report along with some articles that highlight trends for small businesses, retail, and retail (again). Given the amount of articles on this topic, I'd expect to see a lot of content from Shopify coming out from this report over...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #329 - Choosing Shopify theme, Safety stock to prevent stockouts
Choosing the Shopify theme that's right for my store When it's time to replace your Shopify theme with a new one, Ilana Davis gives you questions you should ask about the new theme before buying. Buying a theme means you're partnering with the theme developer so it's not a decision...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #328 - Shopify theme updates, Creating email newsletters
Trade-offs of custom development vs updating Shopify themes With the holiday season over and Shopify's new Online Store 2.0 out, lots of merchants are planning theme updates. Ilana Davis breaks down the choices you have when it's time to update your Shopify theme or get a new one developed. 10...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #327 - Rebuy rates as indicators, Live store reviews
Rebuy Rates Kevin Hillstrom recommends using rebuy rates as an indicator for what your marketing should be focused on. It's an interesting idea and could simplify how some stores approach customer loyalty. Live Shopify Store Reviews Ilana and Kai will be performing live Shopify store reviews mid-January. These can be...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #326 - Shopify Markets developer preview
Developer preview: Shopify Markets Shopify Markets, their tool for managing international markets, is now in developer preview. This is where apps are able to start working with the new features and reporting issues ahead of the full launch. My hope is that this will unite a lot of international components...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #325 - Shopify collection page SEO, Competitive pricing
SEO for Shopify Collections Kai Davis (no relation) writes about how to improve your collection page SEO. The collection content (or more common, the lack of any content) is the biggest limitation I've seen with collection pages in most Shopify stores. Even a little bit of unique content can turn...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #324 - 2021 Black Friday results, B2B ecommerce trends
Sales Report: 2021 Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday With more data coming in from reporting sources, Marcia Kaplan highlights how the 2021 holiday season started. The amount of early shopping was interesting and should cause you to consider starting your deals in early November next year. The B2B Ecommerce...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #323 - Shopify Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2021 results
Early Black Friday / Cyber Monday results from Shopify Shopify's released two press releases about 2021's early results from Black Friday and the Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend. Highlights are that sales are up (though how much is due to Shopify's own market growth?), cart sizes are up, and...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #322 - Free samples, Hide products from search engines
The Science of Free Samples: How Freebies Keep Customers Coming Back For More Elise Dopson writes about how to use free samples in your Shopify store and their benefits. Geared towards in-person retail, there are a couple of ideas for online-only stores too. Hiding products from search engines using metafields...