Shift4Shop eCommerce Blog | Online Tools

Fierce competition in the eCommerce marketplace means retailers always need something new to grab the attention of their target customers. However, AI is bridging the gap. This virtual assistant can create more relevant and engaging shopping experiences for customers. 

From automation via chatbots to AI-powered shopping experiences, the eCommerce industry is poised for significant changes in the near future.

Whether you are a freelancer, small firm, startup, or a large enterprise, you will need some way to manage and keep track of various business activities and operations. If you fail to do so efficiently, the consequences can be really harsh on your business. This is where business management software comes in handy.

eCommerce has been at the forefront of shopping trends in recent years, transforming how people approach purchases and shaping their experience of businesses and brands.

If you’re a business owner, you have a lot to juggle. There's content to create, marketing to organize, teams to manage — it's a long to-do list. The last thing you have time for is sifting through pages of eCommerce metrics. However, eCommerce metrics are vital if you want to grow your business. They show where you are in terms of customers and revenue, they show where you can make improvements, and they help you provide the personalized experiences customers expect.

Remote work is here to stay, whether businesses like it or not. The more people work remote, however, the higher the chances of cybercrime, fraud and data mishandling. In order to avoid all of these things, managers and employees need to be aware of where the pitfalls lie. Regardless, good remote work policies must include features and safeguards to ensure customer, company and employee data integrity. Below are 19 ways you can make remote work even more secure.

Communication is key to maintaining a relationship. This advice often appears in the context of romance, but it applies to any connection between two or more people. It even — some would say especially — applies to matters of business.

Employees and employers must collaborate to make anything happen. Customer support teams answer questions from shoppers and clients. Success is often impossible without reaching out to and accepting feedback from customers. In these and many other cases, multiple[...]

The eCommerce industry is flourishing. New methods, new trends, new ideas. Huge opportunities to drive sales growth.

A customer places an order for a product from your online store. You open your Gmail app to see the order form. Then, you open your QuickBooks app and create a new invoice with information from the order form. After that, you open your Google Sheets app to update a spreadsheet with the details.

You likely open several more apps before the order is fulfilled and recorded. Then, you have to do it all over again for your other orders. These are the consequences of running an eCommerce business.

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One major advantage that online stores have over brick-and-mortar shops is that they’re always open for business. Anyone can access your site at any time, which is great if you’re trying to attract customers in other time zones. Moreover, the order placement process hums along smoothly without a serious need for constant human supervision. As the old marketing cliché goes, eCommerce business owners can make money in their sleep.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. Online stores never close …[...]

You never know when you're going to need to take a screenshot. There are all kinds of reasons why you might need one.

Maybe you're writing an article for your online store's blog, and you want to mention one of your favorite websites. This would be a perfect place for a screenshot to enhance your content. Or maybe you're trying to choose between two products, and you want a friend's opinion on which looks better. Sure, you could send links, but a screenshot would save your friend some time.

Getting leads is one thing, but closing those leads is something entirely different. While it can feel great to have request after request come in for work, the only way you and your business can actually survive is if those requests turn into sales. Whether you’re the one pitching a project or responding to a customer’s need, the better your sales proposal, the better the chances are that you’ll get a “yes” at the end of the day.

Have you ever been told to “clear your cache,” only to have no idea what that means? Whether you’re a website owner or someone who simply browses the Internet, you should be familiar with cache and how it works.

Cache helps website pages to run quickly and smoothly, but it can incidentally cause issues when things don’t load correctly. It can also get in the way of on-the-fly website editing. Whatever the situation may be, you most likely will need to know what cache is at some point – and how[...]

Taking a screenshot on your Mac should be simple. And, in all reality, it is. But, even those who regularly use screenshots in their work may not realize all of the different ways you can grab shots from websites on your Mac. And, of course, those who are new to Macs need a quick course in how to get started so that they can easily capture information and images.

Before we dive into how to take a website screenshot on your Mac, you need to know if you’re using a Mac “Pre-Mojave” or[...]

Communication is everything when it comes to business. Not only will you lose sales if you can’t communicate with potential customers in a timely manner, but you also run the risk of earning negative reviews if you can’t answer your current customers’ questions as soon as possible. And because communication is so essential, making sure that you have a reliable way to communicate with customers is critical to your success.

The better you’re able to communicate with your customers, the better[...]

Many of us now find ourselves more than seven months into our remote working adventure. The coronavirus pandemic continues to be the pressure issue in society, and people everywhere are still adjusting to the "new normal" of working life.

As we head into the winter months, many countries around the world find themselves facing the prospect of greater lockdown restrictions.

However, some of us have yet to master the art of working from home.

Usernames have become necessary, and even critical, in today’s digital world. Not only do usernames give you a unique identity online, but they create a level of security and confidentiality. And, in some cases, usernames actually become brands, as in the case of the hundreds of thousands of influencers found on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more.

Regardless of why you need to create a username, whether for digital access to online banking or for a social media network, making sure you do it[...]

As an online business, aesthetic is paramount. If your product photos or marketing materials don’t look high-quality, many potential customers may pass you by. But, if you’re not a professional photographer or can’t afford editing services, how can you create great photos?

Using free photo editors, you can improve your images in quickly without spending a dime on expensive software or additional features. If you are looking for programs resembling Lightroom or Photoshop with all of the[...]

Content marketing isn’t just part of a smart marketing plan; it’s a marketing plan in and of itself. Not only can content generate customers and grow your brand’s visibility, but it’s one of the most effective ways to boost SEO (search engine optimization), which, as any successful business knows, is critical in today’s digital world.

And at the top of the content marketing industry is a widely used tool called BuzzSumo. For a lot of content marketers, nothing can compete with BuzzSumo in terms[...]

Whether you manage an online team or are part of one, there’s always room for improvement in terms of keeping everyone organized and on task. And with more and more businesses choosing to operate virtually, making your online team more effective isn’t just a nice idea — it’s critical in keeping your business moving in the right direction. Thankfully, there are plenty of project management tools that online teams can leverage in order to accomplish a variety of things, from streamlining projects[...]