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5 votes
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Curbside delivery isn’t new, but the pandemic helped it take off. Here’s what to expect as it moves forward
6 votes -
Fry’s Electronics is shutting its doors for good
23 votes -
TreeToTextile set to build demonstration plant in Sweden – several Nordic pulp makers are part of projects developing new clean ways to turn trees into textile fibre
10 votes -
Posing as Amazon seller, consumer group investigates fake-review industry
9 votes -
Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin, plans to accept it as payment
22 votes -
GameStop's stock has surged 1,500% in nine months after activist investors take board seats along with a massive short squeeze
30 votes -
Furniture giant IKEA is planning to sell spare parts for its furniture – its aim is to prolong the life of its products and dispel the idea that it makes disposable goods
19 votes -
As US shopping habits change, ports and cargo carriers struggle to keep pace
7 votes -
Inside eBay’s cockroach cult: The ghastly story of a stalking scandal
11 votes -
Some educated guesses about the companies, products, and services that are facing down a terrible 2021
9 votes -
Walmart will use fully driverless trucks to make deliveries in 2021
7 votes -
Do you think that Shopify could soon rival Amazon?
Notice: This has been cross-posted to another website, and re-worded I currently work in the eCommerce industry, and have hands-on experience building up a Shopify site from the ground up. As I...
Notice: This has been cross-posted to another website, and re-worded
I currently work in the eCommerce industry, and have hands-on experience building up a Shopify site from the ground up. As I watch all of the developments that Shopify makes both from a technical development standpoint and logistical standpoint, it becomes more and more clear to me that Shopify can begin to take on Amazon directly.
The introduction of Shop app, which aggregates all shipments into a single application including those outside of Amazon, also allows users to browse products from any particular Shopify store. The app also notifies you of any shipping updates, and when packages have been delivered.
From a technical standpoint, Shopify's main attractions come down to a few things: order management, credit card processing, customer management, and plugin integrations. This is the core of Shopify's platform for both larger and smaller businesses. Though due to Shopify's requirement of using their CMS to serve your content, enterprise users have to look elsewhere in order to build something called "headless builds", which essentially use alternate CMS mixed with Shopify's CMS to continue serving their content.
There are a few companies that make such software in order to build out a fully custom site while still using the Shopify platform as its core, though at the moment they are a little 'hacky' but still fully functional. Given the interest in Shopify's platform at such a high level, they are very likely working on their own headless framework which could allow for 1) mainstream stores to integrate their existing platforms into a unified Shopify marketplace, and 2) to allow stores to build out fully custom websites using the Shopify platform at its core and also enroll them into a unified Shopify marketplace.
Amazon has mostly become a front for cheap Chinese-made products, laden with review manipulation and questionable product quality. By instead bringing large brands on board with a unified Shopify marketplace, those stores can sell quality products backed by their brands which can gain trust from customers, and will give rise to smaller brands that may have been unnoticed by larger populations.
[ For example, I recently bought a pair of shoes from a very popular Shopify store: they represent quality, comfort, and eco-friendliness. I personally find myself more willing to spend money on quality products from companies I know I can trust. ]What's everyone's thoughts? Are there any general problems that could come from Shopify trying to jump-start a full-blown marketplace? Do you think that companies would be willing to integrate their ERP's and CMS's with whatever API's or headless framework Shopify decides to build out?
9 votes -
FedEx and UPS hit US companies with unexpected holiday shipping limits
9 votes -
Furniture giant IKEA has announced it will stop printing its traditional catalogue, one of the world's biggest annual publications, after seventy years
10 votes -
No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time. Singapore’s approval of chicken cells grown in bioreactors is seen as landmark moment across industry.
14 votes -
Amazon's reported surveillance of workers could break Australian law, union says
7 votes -
Woolworths set to build one of Australia's biggest liquor stores near dry Darwin Aboriginal communities
12 votes -
Amazon wants to win over Sweden – the Swedes have other ideas
7 votes -
Japan’s elderly online shoppers are running into trouble
7 votes -
What is the right price for fashion?
7 votes -
Amazon's launch of a Swedish retail site has caused embarrassment – confusing, nonsensical and occasionally vulgar product listings scattered across the catalogue
6 votes -
Finnish carrier Finnair will start selling business class airplane food in supermarkets in a move to keep its catering staff employed
8 votes -
IKEA is to buy back its unwanted furniture from customers to resell as secondhand, as part of the Swedish group's efforts to become more environmentally friendly
10 votes -
The economics of vending machines
9 votes -
CEO of Philip Morris, the company that makes Marlboro, says cigarette sales may end within ten to fifteen years
9 votes -
Unstaffed, digital supermarkets transform rural Sweden – Lifvs start-up has opened nineteen stores across the country, choosing remote places that have lost their local shops
15 votes -
Amazon deletes 20,000 product reviews written by seven of its top ten UK reviewers after a Financial Times investigation found they were written for profit
18 votes -
Japanese convenience store chain begins testing remote controlled robot staff in Tokyo
6 votes -
The demise of the secondhand bookshop
6 votes -
Amazon moves closer to drone delivery with US Federal Aviation Administration approval
4 votes -
Multiple US court rulings have found Amazon responsible for defects in products sold by third-party merchants
6 votes -
More than half of San Francisco storefronts closed due to pandemic
8 votes -
Six former eBay executives and employees charged with aggressive cyberstalking campaign targeting a couple who published an online newsletter critical of the company
23 votes -
Amazon liable for defective third-party products rules CA Appellate Court
6 votes -
Walmart to host pop-up drive-in theatres at Supercenter locations across America
9 votes -
Shopping addiction and COVID: The Amazon addicts of quarantine
11 votes -
eBay is reportedly getting close to a deal to sell its classified-ads business to Adevinta, a Norwegian company that runs online marketplaces
6 votes -
A risky bet by America’s mall owners: Plucking retailers out of bankruptcy to salvage a pandemic-hit industry
7 votes -
A personal account of a fake Amazon reviewer
15 votes -
Walmart+, an Amazon Prime competitor, launches in July
16 votes -
Woolworths pays the Australian Communications and Media Authority $1 million fine for spam marketing emails
6 votes -
The true cost of dollar stores - discount chains are thriving, but fostering violence and neglect in poor communities
7 votes -
Microsoft to permanently close all of its retail stores, with locations in NYC, London, Sydney, and Redmond being converted to "experience centers"
10 votes -
Thinking about opening a web store, looking for advice
I am mulling over starting a side business that would involve selling physical products. I would like to set up a web store for this, but want to keep the amount of web development I have to do to...
I am mulling over starting a side business that would involve selling physical products. I would like to set up a web store for this, but want to keep the amount of web development I have to do to a minimum. I would also not like to invade my customers' and potential customers' privacy. Can anyone recommend a way to approach this? I'm a software developer, but don't do much web development and don't really want to do development for this project beyond just getting the site up and running. What options exist for setting up a simple web store?
I've done a search and see things like Shopify. I've heard of them and get the impression they're reputable, but other items in my search seemed kind of scammy. Are there things I should look out for in this space?
8 votes -
Walmart shoppers will be able to find goods from Shopify merchants
4 votes -
Panic-buying: Australians top global charts for toilet paper stockpiling
5 votes -
Nearly half of commercial retail rents were not paid in April and May
9 votes -
Like Christmas: New Zealand's post-Covid books boom
4 votes -
How lockdown is changing shopping for good
8 votes