SkyBOX Checkout News

Questions You Should Be Asking All Your eCommerce Vendors

2019-02-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

Questions You Should Be Asking All Your eCommerce Vendors

Your online store needs more than an eCommerce platform to function–it also requires third-party software to manage your warehouse, control shipping and transportation, and assist in various other parts of your business’s supply chain. When choosing these partners, it’s important to ask the following questions:
Q: What is your process for compliance?
A: No retailer was left untouched by the implementation of the GDPR in May of 2018, despite it being a European Union regulation. Similarly, compliance issues like PCI and WCAG are crucial for not only retailers to comply with, but also any of the third-party vendors that they work with. Lack of compliance with these regulations can increase business risk and exposure and lead to hefty fines. Ensure the vendors you are working with are compliant from the very beginning of the partnership.
Q: How much will I need to budget for in the next year?
A: Third-party vendors can not only increase your risk, but also your total cost of ownership. Are there any additional pieces of software or services that this vendor will require you to purchase throughout the relationship? Under what circumstances could your costs go up? Many of these additional charges come up later on, so make sure you clarify upfront what the total cost for the next year will be, so you can budget accordingly.
Q: What is the timeline for implementation?
A: This question is particularly important if you are working with an implementer on your eCommerce site. Make sure you outline a specific timeline that both parties agree to. You don’t want to pay hefty costs up front only to have your go-live date continually pushed out by the vendor.
Q: Will a support team be available to assist beyond the initial implementation and will they monitor ongoing issues with the site?
A: Your eCommerce site is your business, and your vendors should make it their business as well. The “set it and forget it” method does not work when it comes to tech, and any vendor worth their salt will continuously be available for support questions and even anticipate the types of challenges you may face so that they can best assist you.
Q: Will there be any fees for training our team on this technology/service?
A: This is particularly critical when working with any type of new service provider. If your team is unfamiliar with the service, they will need training to get up to speed. There are certain service providers that will add fees for training your team, so it’s best to account for this up front.
Q: Who will my team be working with from your company?
A: The charming salespeople you speak to in the early stages of a new vendor relationship are usually not the people you will end up working with day-to-day. Clarify who you will be working with most closely, and meet with them early on to ensure your strategies and processes are aligned.
Q: Do you have a satisfied customer that we can speak with?
A: Our team has received this question before. Really, the underlying question is, “What kind of relationship do you have with your clients?” We believe it is just as important to have a strong, healthy relationship as it is to have the greatest piece of automated machine-learning software in the world.
Q: Can I extract the data created from your solution after a certain period of time?
A: Good, clean data is priceless. Being able to access your data and extract it to cross-reference with other systems or research can enable your team to make more strategic business decisions. Some vendors do not allow full access to customer data before or after a certain period of time.
When choosing vendors for your eCommerce business, look at them as an extension of your brand, because ultimately, they will be. And remember that your customers don’t really care who you partner with. They just want a seamless shopping experience, and it’s up to you to provide it.
Interested in learning how Virid can help you grow your eCommerce business? Reachout here.

About the Author:
Rachel is the Marketing Specialist at Virid. She loves all things creative and develops the content strategy for Virid’s website and social media. When she’s not writing whitepapers or creating email campaigns, she enjoys scrapbooking, baking, and playing with her dog, Coco.
About Virid:
Virid is a team of eCommerce experts providing a comprehensive solution for growing retailers. Their unique offering includes enterprise-grade hosted eCommerce platform, market Agility, and 24/7 monitoring, website development, and ongoing technical and strategic support from a results-oriented team. Check them out here: https://www.virid.com/.

Better Customer Experience

2019-01-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

Crafting a great customer experience online is key to improve your conversion rates and reduce bounce rates and abandon carts.

The SkyBOX Checkout solution takes your existing website and helps you deliver a shopping experience for international customers that will delight your visitors from overseas and help you to convert more orders.

See for yourself how SkyBOX Checkout optimizes your website for international orders: watch our video

1) Customers are greeted by a Geo-IP welcome message and see the pricing on your website in their local currency.

2) There’s no guessing about what the total landed cost is. Customers see all associated fees for import to their country in their local currency directly on your product pages.

3) Restricted or prohibited items? Don’t make your customers build out a shopping cart and be disappointed with adding items that can’t be sent overseas. Restricted products are shown based on IP detection so international customers can buy what can be sent to their country.

4) Don’t leave the checkout form open to interpretation. SkyBOX Checkout’s internationally optimized shopping cart is loaded in 7 languages so customers know what fields are required to complete their online purchase.

5) Translation of cart form fields isn’t the only key to optimizing the international shopping experience, diversity of supported currencies and payment types is also crucial to converting international transactions. The SkyBOX Checkout solution lets customers select from 87 supported currencies.

Interested in learning more about best practices for international ecommerce or interested in trying out the SkyBOX Checkout solution on your site? C ontact SkyBOX Checkout to get started today.

The China Cross Border Opportunity

2018-12-12T09:45:00.002-05:00

China represents a seemingly endless opportunity for cross border ecommerce expansion. The latest projections from eMarketer project cross border retail sales in China to grow by 18.5% to 144 billion USD in 2019. Growth is not expected to slow down at any time either despite political tensions and possible new changes in taxes and import/export regulations. By 2022 eMarketer projects that cross-border retail ecommerce sales will grow to nearly 200 billion USD.

What’s more the growth in spend on retail ecommerce sales is also driven by a growing population of digital shoppers who are entering into purchases via new technological devices like smart phones, tablets and laptops. As the middle class continues to grow in emerging markets like China, penetration of ecommerce sales will continue to grow as devices, internet and income become more accessible to new international shoppers.

Interested in learning how to accept orders from customers in China? Contact SkyBOX Checkout to see how our end-to-end international checkout solution with cart translation in Simplified Mandarin and DDP shipping rates with full tracking can help you execute your cross border ecommerce strategy.

Future of Logistics Tech Summit 2018

2018-11-15T15:36:00.000-05:00

SkyBOX Checkout had the opportunity to attend the Future of Logistics Tech Summit hosted by the LAB Miami this past week which took place in our hometown of Miami, FL at the Lyric Theater. In addition to our sunny beaches Miami is a hub for international logistics and trade and a natural home for bringing together talented logistic companies from all areas of the world.

We enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing familiar industry faces as we learned about new advances in technology that are disrupting the logistics and supply chain space. Key themes discussed at the Future of Logistics Tech Summit were block chain and autonomous vehicles, digital disruption in the transportation and logistics industry, last mile delivery expectations in ecommerce deliveries, and robots and autonomous warehouse solutions.

We also heard from several other startups participating in the event who are creating innovative technical solutions to meet the challenges of the logistics industry. You can read more about the event here: https://labventures.co/event/future-of-logistics-summit-2018/.

Best Practice for International eCommerce Email Marketing

2018-11-09T12:38:00.000-05:00

Email marketing for international ecommerce doesn’t have to be intimidating.

Here are our team’s quick tips to better optimize your email open rates for international customers:

· Segment your email database by language and geo-location.

Check out with your email provider if they can identify your users IP. Create country or regional specific segments within your database. You can also try to clean through your data by reviewing if email id’s contain country suffixes like .mx or .fr to segment out your international users from your US clientele.

· Schedule your send time to the local time zone.

Once you have your email database segmented optimize your send time to the local time zone of the subscriber’s location.

· Keep the messaging relevant to the local season.

4^th of July campaigns promoting summer offers will seem out of place to residents in the Southern hemisphere who are in the midst of their winter. And, think about opportunities where seasonality differences can promote new campaigns. Ex: Double down on your back to school campaigns or find a second life for your seasonal inventory by promoting to customers in opposite hemispheres.

· Celebrate Local Holidays.

While Thanksgiving, 4^th of July, and Halloween are prime holidays in the US. Holiday names, dates and celebrations vary based on culture and country. Whether it’s Bastille Day in France or Australia Day for your guests down under. There are opportunities for country specific and region campaigns for holidays like Dia de Los Muertes and Carnival in Latin America and the Caribbean. Tune into the local holidays and create promotions that celebrate with your audience.

· Localize Your Images

Be conscientious of how the images you’ve selected will be perceived in the local country. Scantily clad stock photos will be seen as insensitive to more conservative countries.

· Mobile First

As more and more ecommerce transactions become mobile first, make sure that your emails, landing pages and shopping cart are optimized to work across a variety of mobile devices.

· Be careful with local language and spelling.

Just as English in the UK, and Australia has different slang, spelling and phrases foreign languages like Spanish, Portuguese and French will also vary vastly by location.
French in Canada v. Haiti v. France may have different spelling, sayings and catchphrases.

Want more tips and tricks for improving your international ecommerce strategy?

Sign up for our newsletter or contact SkyBOX Checkout to learn more about delivering an exceptional online and offline customer experience.

How to Review International Traffic in Google Analytics

2018-10-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

One of the best places to start when developing your international ecommerce strategy is to review your existing organic traffic. If you already have customers coming to your site organically from your SEO, review your analytics and existing traffic to get the best bang for your buck before you start paid marketing spend.

Here are some tips from our team of international ecommerce experts about what areas to look at in your analytics when creating a new customer segment focused on international users.

Location – This one might seem like a no brainer but check out what location users are coming to your site from. This can be found under GEO à Location in Google Analytics. You can drill down by country, city, continent or sub-continent level. Take a look at where customers are coming to your site. You might be surprised to see customers from all over the world have already found your site organically!

Language—Next, check out what languages your customers have set for their internet browsers. You’ll be able to fine tune what languages are important to shoppers on your site. And, take this information with you when you consider implementing translation on your website or in your ad copy.

Devices—Don’t forget to review how users are interacting with your site. You might be surprised to see different device trends for international v. USA users. Many international customers, particularly those in developing countries interact with the site only via mobile devices.

Statista.com

72.9% of all retail sales will come from mobile devices.

Search Engines—Now that you know who your international customers are, find out how they are getting to your site. Are they using google, or is there a different search engine that is driving organic traffic to your site? Consider what search engines are driving traffic to your site and review ways you can localize the advertising experience on these search engines.

Site Content & Search—And, last but not least review what pages international customers are interacting with and what they’re searching for. Maybe a product that is not a hot selling items domestically has appeal overseas, or perhaps there are different seasonal search terms or translation required to improve search term results for your international shoppers.

Interested in learning more about how SkyBOX Checkout can help you understand and optimize international ecommerce for your retail business? Contact us to speak with an international ecommerce expert today.

Who will become the most popular ecommerce marketplace worldwide?

2018-09-13T17:49:00.000-04:00

A recent article by Website Builder Expert shows the current spread of ecommerce marketplaces worldwide. With the recent news of Amazon’s $1 trillion dollar valuation it’s easy for us to forget there are major players other than Amazon vying for control of the ecommerce marketplace.

The map shows the most popular ecommerce marketplaces by country. The signature Amazon orange reigns over USA, Canada and Europe while Alibaba has control over China. Not to be outdone by the two giant ecommerce A’s (Amazon & Alibaba) other marketplaces are gaining momentum and regional control.

For example, Mercado Libre has market dominance in the LATAM & Caribbean region while ebay is still the preferred marketplace for shoppers in Australia. Africa remains the region up for grabs as ecommerce continues to develop and shape consumer preferences in the region.

In terms of global spread for geographic coverage Amazon with over 34 million km² and Naspers with over 23 million km² are covering the most literal ground. And, when comparing market penetration in terms of numbers of potential consumers Amazon, Alibaba and Mercadolibre have the greatest number of consumers to reach in their respective markets served.

Interested in finding a partner to support your own global ecommerce domination goals? Contact SkyBOX Checkout to learn how to create your own comprehensive ecommerce expansion plan.

Calculating Duties and Taxes to Canada

2018-08-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

Canada is a prime market for export for U.S. brands. It’s close in proximity and there isn’t a language barrier as English is spoken throughout Canada. (Although, we’d be remiss to point out that you’ll definitely get some bonus points with the Canadian market if you can support French translation.)

While sending items to Canada may seem like a synch, there are duties and taxes in the region to consider if you want to create a seamless shopping experience for your Canadian clients.

There are two main items to consider in the duty and tax calculation for Canadian shipments.

The first is to review where you are sending the items. In Canada the country is set up in a group of ten provinces and three territories. Each province and territory has its own set of duty and tax rates based on the below concepts:

Provincial Sales Tax (PST): a tax only applicable to the particular province.

Goods and Service Tax (GST): a federal tax of 5% that is applied to most goods imported into Canada.

Harmonized Sales Tax (HST): a sales tax that combines the amount of PST & GST for a particular region.

The second is to review where the item is manufactured. If the item was made in the USA it may qualify for duty and tax exemption under NAFTA. However, if the item was manufactured overseas it would not be exempt from these fees.

The Canadian customs authority has a great link on their website to give you a sample estimated calculation of what the duties and taxes for your purchase are.

Are you interested in finding a solution inclusive of duty and tax calculation to Canada? Or have questions about how duties and taxes for ecommerce shipments work? SkyBOX Checkout can help. Our international checkout solution facilitates cross border shopping between the U.S. and Canada allowing you to charge customers in CAD and provide them a guaranteed duty and tax calculation inclusive of all export fees.

To learn more contact us here.

What to do when your shipment is delayed in customs?

2018-08-02T13:53:00.000-04:00

Nothing is more frustrating for you or your international customers than seeing that glooming checkpoint on your tracking “Delayed in Customs.” Often times there can be days or weeks that pass before any updates are provided by the logistics carrier. If you find yourself with an international shipment delayed in customs here are some tips to help:

1. Contact the company who is shipping your products: The first step is to contact the company who has shipped your products. This could be your account manager or the general customer service line for the shipping company or 3PL provider used.

2. Contact the customs office, broker, or local carrier directly: If you are able to connect at the local level with the customs office, broker or last mile delivery provider being used call or email them. They are in the country where the goods are and may have more up to date information related to shipment or insight into how long the clearance process will take.

3. Find out if there are any duties or taxes owed and who is responsible. If the item was shipped DDU, contact your customer to let them know s/he is responsible for paying the duties and taxes before the package can be released from customs. If the item was shipped DDP you or the carrier you’ve selected to ship the item will need to remit payment for the duties and taxes to the customs office via your local customs broker.

4. Make sure all paperwork is complete. Provide any updated information needed to complete the clearance process. Did you include a commercial invoice with your shipment? Was the harmonized code for each item in the shipment included in the paperwork? Was the country of manufacturer listed? Does this specific country require any additional customer details like a copy of their passport or id number? Depending on the destination there may be additional documentation required to release your package from customs.

5. Wait, be patient and learn for next time. Once you’ve checked with the logistic carrier and providers, made sure all the shipment paperwork is completed, and that the duties and taxes are paid there is not much to do except wait and be patient for the package to clear customs.

The best advice is to learn from this experience and review your logistics solutions in place. Can you reduce the delays in customs by tweaking your invoice format to include relevant information like harmonized code or country of origin? Do you need to provide contact information to your customers for how to pay for duties and taxes in their country?

Utilizing low cost DDU shipping methods with unreliable tracking might be cost effective but if you are experiencing customer complaints, chargebacks or delays using that shipping speed consider implementing a courier logistics solution or an international checkout solution to improve the visibility and speed in which your international packages are delivered.

To learn more about how SkyBOX Checkout can prevent your shipments from being delayed in customs contact us here.

Top Challenges of Selling Overseas:

2018-07-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

It’s easy to think that selling overseas on your ecommerce website is as easy as a click of the button and submission of a new order. Before you start accepting orders overseas make sure to optimize not only your website but also your processes to ensure a smooth buying experience for both you and your customers. Here are some of the top challenges ecommerce retailers face when selling to international customers:

1. Fraud: Opening your online sales to new markets opens up a world of risk. New payment methods, new currencies and fluctuating foreign exchange rates mean new obstacles to verify and approve orders for your web sales processing team. SkyBOX Checkout can help with its 100% guarantee of all international transactions processed on their platform. For all approved international orders SkyBOX will cover you for risk of fraud and chargebacks.

2. Duties & Taxes: When curating your international customer experience think of the golden rule- treat others as you’d like to be treated. Imagine building out a shopping cart, placing an order online and then getting slammed with an additional bill upon delivery and having to take additional steps to clear your package in customs. Convenience and Clarity are critical to a positive online shopping experience. Nobody likes hidden fees or surprise charges upon delivery. By not displaying an estimate of the duties and taxes or identifying to customers that additional charges will be levied upon delivery your customers will be upset, potentially abandon their package, or file a chargeback. SkyBOX Checkout can help with our proprietary customs calculators. We guarantee our duty and tax estimates and provide a full landed cost solution with a convenient delivery experience that goes direct to the international customer’s door.

3. Customs Paperwork & Logistics Labeling: Each international destination and customs office has different rules, regulations and paperwork which they’ll require to release your item for export. Creating a flow for warehouse operators on how to navigate the different paperwork required for export can be tricky, time consuming and tedious. SkyBOX Checkout can help. You’ll just ship items to our distribution centers in Los Angeles, New York or Miami like any USA order. Our team will prepare commercial invoices and all customs paperwork for the international leg of your package.

4. Tracking: Integrating rates and tracking systems from different logistic providers and updating your communication flows to your customers to track their orders can be a pain. Finding an international shipping service that provides clear tracking once an order leaves the US is also a challenge. SkyBOX Checkout can help with our proprietary track and trace system. We provide a seamless end-to-end tracking solution to give you and your customers visibility of the shipment to 179 supported countries and territories. Regardless of which carrier is used your customers will see a simplified event based tracking from order placed to order delivered.

5. Customer Service: At the end of the day good customer service is key regardless of selling internationally or at home. SkyBOX Checkout can help you and your customer service team with our in house multilingual customer service agents. SkyBOX Checkout’s customer service agents are specialized in supporting international customers with purchases from retailers in the USA. They are available via email and local phone numbers to support customers with questions about international shipping, payments or order placement.

Top Terms to Know When Selling Overseas

2018-06-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

Top Terms to Know When Selling Overseas: The international ecommerce market is booming and expanding your online sales to a new country can open the door for immense growth. Before diving headfirst into cross border ecommerce here are a few key terms that will help you speak the lingo of an international ecommerce expert to both your consumers and providers:

Fully Landed Cost | Full Landed Cost | Total Landed Cost: The total cost of the item once the item has arrived to the international consumer’s door. This price is inclusive of all charges related to the cost of the goods including the product, shipping and transportation fees, insurance, customs fees and any duties and taxes and last mile delivery fees that may apply.
DDP: DDP (Delivery Duties Paid) is inclusive of all duties, taxes, and brokerage fees. The DDP pricing is billed to the sender of the package.
DDU: DDU (Delivery Duties Unpaid) is not inclusive of duties, taxes and brokerage fees. Any duties, taxes and brokerage fees are billed to the recipient in the local country by the customs authority.
Localization: The act of making your brand, business or website local to the international consumers. Building out a global business strategy while maintaining a local approach to consumer messaging and brand positioning.
Harmonized Code | HTS Code: Harmonized Tariff Schedule is the 7-10 digit tax id classification used to assign the tax group classification when importing an item to an international country. The first six digits are recognized globally and the remaining digits are added by each individual import country. In the US the recognized format is 10 digits.

Thanks for a great show IRCE 2017!

2017-06-21T11:26:00.000-04:00

SkyBOX Checkout was thrilled to participate as an exhibitor at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE).

IRCE was held June 6-9, 2017 at the McCormick Place West Convention Center in Chicago. IRCE is a staple trade show for the retail and ecommerce industry. It featured top eCommerce leaders and a great variety of service providers who help eCommerce retailers achieve their success in the ever evolving landscape of online transactions.

It was great to see some familiar faces and meet some new friends at IRCE. We'd like to thank everyone who stopped by the SkyBOX Checkout booth to talk with our team about our end-to-end international checkout solution and we're looking forward to helping more ecommerce retailers create a transparent best-in-class buying experience for their international customers.

SkyBOX Checkout's anywhere-to-anywhere international eCommerce solution solves all of the traditional barriers to cross border entry like harmonized code calculation, duties and taxes, international logistics and multi-currency payment processing. Contact us to learn more about how adding SkyBOX Checkout as your international partner can optimize your existing website to accept sales to 200+ countries and territories.

This June 6-9 2017 join SkyBOX Checkout at IRCE!

2017-04-28T11:29:00.000-04:00

IRCE, the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, is the world’s largest eCommerce show with over 600 industry vendors, 200 speakers and 130 break-out conference sessions.

Join the SkyBOX Checkout team and ecommerce thought leaders from around the world to share your ideas and discuss the latest advancements and trends in eCommerce technologies. We look forward to seeing you at our Booth 1849 and showing off the latest products and offerings we have to help you expand internationally!

How Do International Shoppers Want to Pay Online?

2017-02-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

A recent study released by market research firm, eMarketer, showed it pays to offer consumers different payment methods and options online. The most popular payment methods for cross border transactions are still Paypal and credit cards. However, there’s a great opportunity to develop local payment methods like bank transfer, cash on delivery or pre-paid cards. These alternate payment methods account for more than a quarter of all cross border online transactions.

SkyBOX Checkout knows the importance of providing local payment methods and options for international consumers. As a part of our end-to-end international checkout solution we provide etailers the tools to present their product in local currency and accept payment via local payment methods like e-wallets, bank transfer and local cash deposit.

Contact SkyBOX Checkout to learn more about our multi-currency tools and payment methods and see how you can offer a more attractive mix of international payment methods to cross border ecommerce shoppers.

Business Plan Challenge FIU Track winners make tracks in healthcare, law and retail.

2017-01-30T11:34:00.000-05:00

Check out the latest updates from the 2016 Miami Business Plan Challenge winners and a great feature on what SkyBOX Checkout has been up to since we participated and won third place in the competition last year.

International e-commerce is complicated and SkyBOX Checkout has a fix for that.

SkyBOX Checkout is an international e-commerce checkout platform that helps international customers pay for and receive merchandise. It is accessed by adding a plug-in to retailers’ websites. Last year, SkyBOX Checkout placed third in the Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge.

“We’ve worked on publishing new plug-ins for SkyBOX Checkout on Magento and Shopify. We’ve expanded local payment offerings and local logistic services to the destinations we support and we’ve strengthened our network internally with our sister company, SkyNET, to better optimize the international shipping and offer even more competitive shipping rates to our clients,” said Taylor Philippi, sales and marketing director. “We’ve had interest from the industry to white-label the technology.”

One feature SkyBOX Checkout has started to highlight as an add-on product is the option to utilize its sister company SkyNET’s SIMS inventory management system because the company found many clients are interested in outsourcing all of their international business to SkyBOX Checkout including the inventory management component.

Believe in your core product but don’t be afraid to listen to your customers. They are the ultimate users and best advocates of your business.
Taylor PhilippiSkyBOX Checkout

The weakening of global trade as well as the growth and presence of large retailers like Amazon in international markets have been challenges in the past year.

“It’s been challenging to compete with corporations that have such a large budget and staff to participate in trade shows, and other paid marketing initiatives. We’ve had to be much more selective in what we wanted to invest in terms of paid marketing than some of our competitors,” Philippi said. “We’re confident that our strength lies in our personal relationships with our clients and our 40-year history as a logistics organization with sister companies SkyBOX and SkyNET,” Philippi said.

SkyBOX Checkout, now a team of 10, is continuing to add new clients. It is creating more plug-ins/apps with add-on capabilities such as inventory management and fulfillment for e-commerce platforms, and in 2017, the company will be opening a new fulfillment hub on the West Coast.

Philippi’s advice for Challenge contestants: “Believe in your core product but don’t be afraid to listen to your customers. They are the ultimate users and best advocates of your business. Customers can offer great insights into new features or enhancements to the product that will help you succeed as you go to market.”

31 Billion Packages Shipped Globally in 2015

2016-12-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

A recent study released by Pitney Bowes announced that ecommerce, global ecommerce and the associated parcel volume for international online orders are here to stay. The study reported that 31 billion parcels were shipped globally in 2015 and the number one area for growth within the parcel business of logistics is the ecommerce sector. The study found parcel volume is projected to increase by 20% in 2018. For more information on the findings released by Pitney Bowes study click here.

As international ecommerce continues to grow retailers are faced with the increasing complexity of navigating cross border commerce, delivering their packages to a global clientele, and maintaining a seamless customer experience across a variety of geography, language and cultures. It’s important to find a reliable partner to keep international deliveries as seamless as a domestic transaction, avoid additional hidden fees upon delivery like currency conversion, duties and taxes and maintain your brand integrity in new markets.

SkyBOX Checkout is an end-to-end international ecommerce solution and is poised to help retailers enter the world of cross border ecommerce. SkyBOX Checkout offers a turn-key solution for retailers who need help supporting their international volume.

Key features of the SkyBOX Checkout solution include: competitive international shipping rates with full tracking to 200+ countries and territories, a localized shopping experience with local payment methods, local currency & language translation, a 100% guaranteed full landed cost solution, and multilingual customer service agents.

If you’re ready to join the 3.1 Trillion global ecommerce market, give us a call and SkyBOX Checkout will help you dive into the world of international ecommerce.

Magento Community v. Magento Enterprise

2016-10-13T11:38:00.000-04:00

Magento, one of the e-commerce industry's most popular shopping cart platforms currently comes in two major license types. While they are used to offer more options, including Magento Go and Magento Professional, they have evolved to focus on solely on their Community and Enterprise editions.

*This is a guest blog post from our partners at Rand Marketing.

There are many similarities and many differences between the two. Magento Community is free software, while Magento Enterprise comes with an annual license fee starting at approximately $18,000 per year. While migrating between the two will require an extensive migration and re-platforming (in essence a rebuild), by volume, most businesses start with Community, and many never switch to Enterprise. However, a business with a lot of web traffic or sales, or a large enough product catalog among other metrics may be enticed to purchase some of the out-of-the-box improvements in Magento Enterprise. We find that typically if a business is on track to do $1,000,000+ in online sales, Enterprise is much more likely going to be a topic of conversation. If a business is on track for less than $500,000 in online sales, the expense is likely to be stifling. Those funds could be better invested in marketing and other growth to get to the point where Enterprise makes sense.

There are some extra expenses to keep in mind as well. With Enterprise, you’re likely to pay higher rates for Magento Extensions (ie. Add-ons, Modules, Plugins, Apps). They will be sold to fewer stores on average, so extension developers need to recoup their costs from fewer businesses. They also know that they can demand a higher price in the market. The same will go for Magento Optimized hosting and many SaaS platforms, which will also anticipate a bigger footprint, and more demand on their resources.

This of course begs the question, What do you get with Enterprise that you don’t get with Community? For starters, you get many additional features/modules, such as:

Enhanced caching and indexing to improve site performance
Advanced customer segments, targeting, and shopping personalization
Additional customer attribute fields
Price and discount rules based upon customer segments
Drag and drop visual merchandising within categories
Better search functionality with Solr Search
Automated abandoned cart and wishlist emails
Automation of up-sells, cross-sells, and related products
Enhanced management of static pages with Page Versioning
A Reward-Point Loyalty Program
The ability to sell and redeem gift cards
Google Tag Manager support
Support for CyberSource and WorldPay
Private sales
Store credits
Add to cart by SKU
Gift registries and multiple wishlists
Gift wrapping options for shoppers
Order tracking without logging in
A Return Management System (RMA) for products purchased online
Restrict access to view or purchase particular items by customer group
Import/export automation
Order archiving
More control of Administrator Roles, and logging of Administrator Updates
Better support for large numbers of concurrent Admin users
Staging, merging, & rollback of content
Enhanced options for hosting scalability and performance
Quick check of database corruption status and various settings
Magento’s PCI Compliant Payment Bridge
Additional enhancements to encryption and login security
A Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK)
Limited indemnification from Patent or Copyright Infringement lawsuits

If you need or want some of these features, do you absolutely need Magento’s Enterprise edition? Luckily, the answer is generally “No”. Most of these features can be added to a Magento Community website by adding a Magento Extension, or utilizing a SaaS (software as a service) system. In many cases, you can get more robust feature sets from extensions than the modules that come with Magento Enterprise. There are certainly cases where we’ve seen clients have us deactivate or otherwise ignore Enterprise modules and install add-ons to meet their more specific needs.

It’s also worth noting that some Enterprise features can creep into Community over time. While it behooves the Magento team to keep a healthy number of extras available in the “deluxe” version of their platform, they continue to add more to Enterprise, and as they do, some things may become available in Community, helping to keep Community the very competitive platform that it is when compared with other systems like WooCommerce, Prestashop, and other open source e-commerce platforms.

There is also a service component to Magento Enterprise. With Enterprise, the Magento team offers some limited customer support on the overall platform. Knowing that the developers of the platform are standing behind you can bring peace of mind, but it won’t replace having experienced developers to help as well. The Magento team will not be familiar with the extensions and customizations of your particular website, and therefore will typically be able to provide very limited support for the individual code conflicts and errors that you could experience.

Still not sure which edition is right for you? The experts at RandMarketing.com can help to assess your needs, and recommend the solution that’s right for you.

- Robert Rand

Do’s & Don’ts of Dimensional Shipping

2016-09-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

Whether you’re shipping domestically or internationally dimensional weight is changing the way retailers need to calculate ship costs. And, with recent rate increases by Fedex and UPS starting in January of 2017 it’s important to understand the best way to safely package products without losing control of shipping budgets or passing additional unnecessarily high shipping costs on to customers.

SkyBOX Checkout helps retailers effortlessly enter international markets and one of our areas of expertise is optimizing a retailer’s product catalog to calculate dimensional shipping costs. Here are a few of our team’s tips for improving your dimensional shipping procedures:

1. Take Note of Where Your Product Catalog is at Today. Check if your product catalog is storing physical or dimensional weight. If you are not storing dimensional weight begin to by entering the box sizes that you typically ship each item or product category with into your product catalog. If you are using drop shippers for your items request the dimensions from the manufacturers to incorporate this information into your product catalog.

2. Start Calculating Dimensional Weight Correctly. Once you have dimensions entered you can use a formula to calculate the dimensional weight based on the package dimensions. The industry standard for dimensional weight for international shipments is Length x Width x Height of the Box/ 139. The formula for domestic shipments is LxWxH/166. Check carefully with your logistics provider on what formula they’re using to calculate dimensional weight based on the destination. FedEX recently announced they’ll change the divisor for dimensional weight to 139 for their shipments.

3. Decide When to Use Dimensional v. Physical Weight. Once you have your dimensional weight stored in your database you can use an If Then formula to determine when to calculate off of physical or dimensional weight. Apply whichever weight is greater to accurately calculate the shipping cost.

4. Evaluate Your Current Packaging Procedures. Take note of what box sizes you’re using currently. If it is possible repackage to reduce empty package space or buy different packaging material to avoid having empty filler space in shipments it can save you and your customer’s serious shipping dollars. Consider implementing padded mailers for small items as opposed to boxes.

5. Monitor & Improve. Once you get an initial dimensional weight shipping process in place monitor and tweak the packaging materials used and dimensions stored in your system to optimize this process.

Have more questions about how to master dimensional weight shipping or best practices for international ecommerce? Contact SkyBOX Checkout today to learn more about how we can help you reach more customers in more markets.

SkyBOX Checkout Announces International Checkout Plug-in for Magento!

2016-09-14T11:41:00.000-04:00

Magento sellers can now effortlessly expand internationally to 200 + countries and territories with SkyBOX Checkout.

SkyBOX Checkout announces a new state of the art plug-in available exclusively for Magento retailers. The SkyBOX Checkout international shipping and payment processing solution can be added directly to the Magento etailer’s existing website. The SkyBOX Checkout plug-in allows Magento etailers to display a full landed cost directly on their existing website and handles international payment processing, shipping, logistics, customs clearance and customer service. The Magento etailer is able to seamlessly expand overseas utilizing the SkyBOX Checkout technology and is set up to process all international orders no differently than a domestic USA order.

Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms with more than a third of mid-to-large companies relying on the platform to sell online. What’s more over a quarter of the top one million ranked Alexa sites rely on Magento to drive traffic and sales.

“We’re excited to be able to offer this convenient plug-in to Magento etailers,” said Emilio Lizarraga, VP of IT. “The SkyBOX Checkout technology is transforming the way US etailers can reach international customers and Magento is a strong player in the eCommerce industry. For us, developing the plug-in was a natural fit as we look to help mid-to-large ecommerce companies with a competitive end-to-end international checkout solution.”

SkyBOX Checkout is confident that their Magento plug-in enables companies to grow their sales and business overseas. There is no set-up cost, monthly fee, or long-term commitment for etailers to use the SkyBOX Checkout technology. As part of the solution, SkyBOX Checkout coordinates all harmonized codes and dimensional weight set-up from the etailer’s existing product database ensuring that shipping, duties and taxes are calculated correctly. SkyBOX Checkout also eliminates the concern for international fraud by taking on 100% risk of fraud and chargebacks for orders processed through their technology. SkyBOX Checkout makes it easy for etailers anywhere in the world to accept orders from customers outside of their domestic market.

About SkyBOX Checkout:
SkyBOX Checkout is an international eCommerce solution for etailers anywhere in the world to enter the lucrative 1.5 trillion dollar global eCommerce market in more than 200 countries and territories. SkyBOX Checkout provides a full landed cost solution visible on all areas of the checkout process from the home page to the cart page. SkyBOX Checkout takes on full risk of fraud screening and international payments while providing competitive international shipping with full tracking via its proprietary logistics network. Anywhere- to-anywhere eCommerce, SkyBOX Checkout takes you global!

For more information about SkyBOX Checkout, visit www.skyboxcheckout.com or call 786.265.4821

4 out of 5 UK Shoppers Won’t Buy Online Unless in GBP!

2016-07-29T11:42:00.000-04:00

For many US retailers the UK is an attractive and relatively easy international market to enter.

Customers also speak English and they have a universal address system with postal codes which is accessible through many of the major global courier companies like DHL, FedEx or UPS. It’s also a top ten global eCommerce market with over $600 Billion in retail sales in 2015, as reported by eMarketer.

However, a recent study by OneHourTranslation.com proves that simply flipping a switch on in the backend of your eCommerce site management to turn on shipping for the United Kingdom doesn’t correlate with an increase in conversion. UK customers are demanding a better customer experience from online stores. “Four out of five consumers in the UK will not purchase from eCommerce sites that do not list their prices in British Pounds, according to a survey of 1,000 people in the UK by One Hour Translation.”

With 80% of UK shoppers refusing to make an online purchase from a website if the retailer doesn’t display their pricing in Great British pounds, US retailers need to find a localized payment solution to convert international customers in the UK and in other international markets. Local pricing, transparent and clear explanation of additional fees like duties and taxes, and foreign currency conversion fees are all steps in the right direction a retailer needs to take to optimize the checkout experience for customers from across the pond.

Setting a website up for localization in international markets is a complicated task. SkyBOX Checkout helps remove the complexity from expanding internationally with our international checkout solution.

Retailers integrate the international checkout solution directly into their existing website. Key features of solution include multicurrency payment integrations, full landed cost calculation at the product level, and international shipping and customs brokerage. If you’re seeing low international conversion rates, talk to one of SkyBOX Checkout’s global eCommerce experts to learn about how to create a transparent cost effective international eCommerce strategy. There’s no cost to set up and SkyBOX Checkout takes on full risk of fraud and chargebacks for all international orders. We look forward to helping you convert orders in the UK and everywhere else in the 200 + countries we support!

How to Improve Your Website for International Shoppers

2016-07-07T11:52:00.000-04:00

In 2015 global business-to-consumer (b2c) eCommerce topped more than $1.5 trillion dollars and it’s set to more than double by 2016. For retailers looking to target customers overseas there are some simple tips and tricks to improve visibility and messaging for international shoppers.

1. Add an international shipping icon or banner to your homepage announcing you ship internationally.

Nothing’s more frustrating from a user experience than shopping on a website, finding the products you’d like to purchase and then going to the cart page to enter your information only to find you can’t complete an order because the retailer doesn’t ship internationally.

If you’re shipping overseas announce it directly and clearly on your homepage.

2. Update the policies on your website to explain your international shipping process. Explain directly to your international customers what they can expect when buying from your store. Don’t leave your international customers in the dark about the order process. If you’re just starting with international shipping you will need to adjust and modify your domestic policies. Are you going to accept returns or exchanges for international orders? How long will it take for the order to arrive and will they have tracking? What’s the best way for international customers to reach your customer service team?

3. Create transparency. Explain upfront how you will charge your international customers and if they need to pay additional custom fees like duties and taxes upon delivery. If you charge in USD note this in case there is a conversion and foreign transaction fee. Explaining this upfront can help you avoid an irate international customer who abandons their package because they didn’t know they would need to pay duties and taxes upon delivery.

4. Add sizing or voltage translation from US market to international markets.

Depending on your product offering add additional information about sizing and fit.

For example apparel retailers need to disclose how their sizing for shoes or dresses are measured to translate this into the size equivalent in the international customer’s local market.

If you are selling electronics make sure to explain if voltage and plugs will be compatible in the foreign market or if additional accessories or conversion equipment would be needed.

5. Translate important pages. Undertaking a complete translation of your entire website is time consuming and expensive. If complete translation isn’t in your immediate plans a short term solution is to translate key pages of your website like FAQs, Shipping Policies, and Contact Us to communicate more effectively with customers whose native language is not English.

Interested in learning more about best practices for international eCommerce or looking to streamline and improve your global eCommerce strategy?

Contact SkyBOX Checkout to learn more about our international checkout solution and how we can offer you and your international customers the best in class experience for international eCommerce.