Resource Centre

This has been a year full of changes and challenges for me. To be honest it started off on a rocky foot. It was like the new year launched me into a whole series of challenges in my personal life, which were followed by work and career challenges that seemed to just compound. For a while it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, the right things just weren’t happening. Now, as the year comes to an end, I’m surprised when I look back on how much has actually changed and how many positive things have come from it.  Here are some of the best pieces of advice that have helped me in significant ways this year. Slow and steady. This probably seems completely unoriginal, and that’s because it is. It’s one of those really obvious, yet hard to learn lessons. We’ve all been hearing this same saying over and over again since we were kids, but I’m not sure that I ever really learned it until recently. We seek instant change, instant results and instant gratification, but it’s the small, consistent actions and steps that add up over time. When it comes to happiness, health, career - anything really - playing a long-term game can make all the difference. Ask for help. This lesson in particular has been a hard one. There’s this tendency to want to be self sufficient and completely capable of getting things done on our own. The pressure to succeed and to succeed the first time around is very real. But the truth is, we all need help at some point. And no matter how much someone cares about you, they likely don’t realize that you need a hand until you let them know. This piece can be hard to accept. It’s easy to place expectations on others - what we think they should notice or be aware of, and how we think they should support us. But the reality is that when you need support, you just have to ask for it. Reach out and communicate, more times than not people wish they had known sooner so they could have been supporting all along. Enjoy the process. There’s nothing wrong with having goals and keeping your focus on big future things, but what’s not good is when the focus turns into stress or pressure and stops you from enjoying the process. It can take a lot of time and experience to discover your best case scenario, but that’s okay. Keep your goals in mind and work hard to achieve them, but don’t be afraid to try new things and stay open-minded along the way. Be gracious with yourself. Sometimes a setback will do just that, set you back for a time. But the important thing is that at some point you make the decision to move forward regardless. It’s easy to get caught up in a game of ‘what if’ - dissecting the many things that could or should have gone differently in life, but what good does that serve? Overthinking the negative often allows it to take control, and those who choose a different mindset are the ones that overcome the unfairness that life sometimes throws in the way. Where you focus your energy and your thoughts will have an impact on your ability to deal with life’s challenges. It’s been a big year with a lot of changes and some serious challenges, but I’m thankful for it. I’ve learned a lot about myself and about what I want in life, and while those lessons have been hard they’ve been important. I’ve been able to try new things, shift my focus and now I’m able to pursue some of the things that I had been keeping on the back burner for all too long.  It’s been a big year, but I’m looking forward to a new year with new and exciting things on the horizon. Want to know what's coming up for GD Commerce in 2019? Stay tuned by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thank you to our GD Commerce Partners: Create Your Business Website Using Shopify Harness the Power of Drip CRM Software Set up Subscription Boxes, Recurring Orders and Payments Easily Using Bold Partners Boost Your Business Bookkeeping with Bench Learn How to Master Website SEO Using Mangools

As we move into a new year, it’s natural to reflect on what you’ve accomplished in the year past, where you’ve succeeded and what you want to work on to ensure you continue to grow in the year to come. This month, our team will be sharing our personal reflections in our weekly blogs. Partially because I want to be able to go back and reference them at the end of next year, and partially because our regular copywriter is on vacation (hope you’re having a great time, Darren!) 2018 has been a massive transformation for me personally and it’s been a time of constant (exponential) growth for GD Commerce. I truly feel like I am a different version of myself than I was when the year began. This year has been hard. I can confidently say I was taken through the wringer on an almost constant basis. With that being said, I was lucky to have the tools I needed to be able to withstand everything we encountered this year. I’ve had a few tidbits of wisdom that got me through this year. First the mind, the rest will come. This is an oldie, but a goodie, I think about it constantly. My RIDE instructor, Noah, said it years ago and it rings so true for me. Decide that you want it and go for it. Once your mind figures it out, the rest will fall into place. You’ve been through challenging things in the past, if you could get through that, you can get through this. I found this to be the most helpful when dealing with the stress of running a business. The truth is, I don’t have everything figured out. Each day I’m pushing myself to do things I haven’t done before and that leads to a whole lot of uncertainty - can you say imposter syndrome? The truth is, whatever position you’re in, you’re meant to be in. You can handle it, you just have to believe in yourself (see: first the mind...). Hire great people, give them what they need to do their job and then get out of the way. What a difficult but powerful thing to do. I have the immense benefit  of being friends with some of the most successful recruiters at Shopify who are always there to support me in my hiring and HR processes. Hiring the right people has been the key to successful business growth for GD Commerce. Finding the right fit is difficult, I'm always on the lookout for powerful additions to our team and they don't always come at the exact perfect time. What I've learned is, when you find them, hire them. Move mountains to make it work if you need to. Then step back and watch them kill it. Support them when they need it, challenge them when they can level up, and give them constant feedback. They'll amaze you with what they can achieve. Give yourself the grace you would give to others. I think it’s super easy to be hard on yourself. We all have expectations for ourselves. This year, I realized I had high expectations when Anushka mentioned in a group chat that “The Gabby standard is perfection.” That was a hard hit to take. If I expect perfection from others, I must expect it of myself as well. Maybe everyone can benefit from a little bit of grace - myself included. When you close your eyes, believe that what is have is all you need. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting more. If you want things you don’t have, you’ll never be happy. You’ll keep wanting more. The thing I’ve found the most helpful this year was to start a gratitude list and send five things that you’re happy for each day to your gratitude buddy. Creating a gratitude list is a daily reminder of what you have to be thankful for, because when you reflect on how much you have, you realize that it really is all you need. Shout out to Brook from RIDE for this one. If you’ve been reading our blogs religiously, you’ll know that 2018 was a big year for us to utilize Simon Sinek’s teachings in Start With Why and Find Your Why. Because of this, I took some time to reflect on my values and live those values. I discovered that the things that are most important to me are honesty, resilience, loyalty, hustle, and spontaneity. I’m so lucky to live in a beautiful city doing work that I love everyday and living a lifestyle that makes me feel great surrounded by friends and coworkers who empower me to do my best each and every day. This year hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, but at the end of the day (or year), I can truly say that each of the challenges or difficulties that I faced personally or through GD Commerce has put me/us in a better position for success moving forward. Want to know what's coming up for GD Commerce in 2019? Stay tuned by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thank you to our GD Commerce Partners: Create Your Business Website Using Shopify Harness the Power of Drip CRM Software Set up Subscription Boxes, Recurring Orders and Payments Easily Using Bold Partners Boost Your Business Bookkeeping with Bench Learn How to Master Website SEO Using Mangools

Each year, Canadians reach further into their pockets to splurge in Boxing Day sales. In fact, spending rose 9 per cent year-on-year from 2016 to 2017. When you open your virtual doors for the busy Boxing Day period you’ll want to make sure your employees and systems are ready to deliver a holiday shopping experience that’s second-to-none. In the age of ecommerce, this positive digital experience can lead to a growth in social media followers, website visits and help populate data that will inform the future direction of your business. In other words, it’s vital for your future business health to nail this important shopping date. Here’s how you can achieve your goal. Use Data to Your Advantage   Pop Quiz: What does the above graph represent? From taking a quick look at Google Trends, Canadian thoughts turn rapidly to Boxing Day sales around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This is the runway you should be giving yourself to plan accordingly to ensure everything runs smoothly on the day. It's likely your time will be spent putting out fires and responding to queries in the middle of December. Start planning in late November/early December for how your Boxing Day is going to pan out. Analyze how your business performed in previous years. What did you do well? What can be improved? What does the sales data tell you about your products? If a product was a strong Boxing Day draw, make sure you have enough in stock to satisfy demand. Did you find a crunch on staff hours on the day? Budget to have more staff working. Data is all around us. Use the data you have in hand to inform your Boxing Day decisions. Get Ready to Hustle In the run up to Christmas, be careful not to send mixed messaging with your digital marketing efforts. Your focus will be on maximizing Christmas sales. However, once the countdown is over, swiftly switch to your Boxing Day marketing push. Don’t be afraid to post to social on Christmas Eve or even send out an eBlast on Christmas Day. Let your customers know the big sale starts TOMORROW. Some of your potential customers are likely sitting on a cache of gift cards that will be spent somewhere. A little bit of hustle will maximize your chances they’ll be spent at your business. I’m not here to advocate working on Christmas Day, that isn’t necessary. Schedule eBlasts in advance and use social assistant tools like Hootsuite to line up your key messaging ahead of time. Stage a Dry Run Each year, Best Buy prepares for their busy holiday period by staging a dry run to simulate the demands placed on customers and staff alike. This valuable exercise aims to prepare staff for every eventuality that may pop up. While it’s not fair to compare Best Buy to your average ecommerce outfit, there’s still plenty to take away from their idea. What parts of your Boxing Day operation can you simulate in advance? Perhaps you could test your servers under a heavy load to see how they’ll handle the surge? Audit how long it takes staff to respond to multiple customer service requests. A wise man once said; “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” – take this thought and use it to inform your Boxing Day plans. Are You Mobile Friendly? As more of your customers shop via their mobile device it’s more important than ever for your store to be mobile friendly. If your site is powered by the Shopify platform, (and let’s face it, it should be!) the good news is you can choose from a robust and beautiful selection of templates that will enhance the customer experience while offering all the functionality you’ll need. Trusted by retailers ranging from global brands to national governments, Shopify is the number one solution for building a mobile friendly site. Need some advice on how to set it up? GD Commerce is standing by to assist. Our team are experts in all things Shopify, contact us and we’ll be delighted to help you get started! Thank you to our GD Commerce Partners: Create Your Business Website Using Shopify Harness the Power of Drip CRM Software Set up Subscription Boxes, Recurring Orders and Payments Easily Using Bold Partners Boost Your Business Bookkeeping with Bench Learn How to Master Website SEO Using Mangools

The holiday period is a time of high sales but it also presents an opportunity to turn gift purchasers into repeat customers. Here are four tips to build customer loyalty during the holiday season.

The weather outside may be frightful but in December the sales are simply delightful. The holiday season is the most important time of year for many a business – especially in the ecommerce world. After all, there are gifts to be bought and purchasing from the comfort of your home is a much more pleasant experience than braving the crowds. It’s a month of consistent consumer spending, with customers not just shopping for themselves, but for every member of their family. Black Friday and Cyber Monday rightly command an increasing amount of attention for the sudden spike in sales they bring, but savvy entrepreneurs never lose sight of December’s potential. So, how do you ensure your ecommerce business makes it to Santa’s nice list this year? Here’s a number of tips to help your store prepare for the coming festive ecommerce rush. Think Gift Cards We’ve all been there. You take the time to carefully buy gifts for everyone important in your life but, to your horror, you discover you’ve forgotten one important gift. This usually kicks off a last-minute scramble to pick up something…anything that can fill the gap. For many, this usually involves the purchase of a gift card. According to the good people at Riskified, Christmas Eve is one of the biggest days of the year for digital purchases and gift cards. Is your business offering a full array of gift card options? If not, you’re missing out on some serious potential business. Mobile is King on Christmas Day Did you know – Christmas Day is the single biggest day of the year for mobile sales? Think about it, many people are sitting at a relative’s house, digesting dinner, while absentmindedly browsing on their phone. It’s a potential goldmine for businesses but it’s important to have your eye on the ball. While you’re kicking back with family and friends, enjoying a nice craft beer, customers are going to want to make some purchases with all those gift cards you just sold them. Is your site optimized for mobile? If not, why not? This rapidly growing market sector will once again be the largest gateway for purchases on Christmas Day. Now is the time to ensure your mobile ecommerce store is just as good, if not better, than your desktop offering. Festive Cart Abandonment Spare a thought for all those lonely digital shopping carts that get abandoned each and every December. According to SaleCycle, abandonment rates rise sharply in the run up to Christmas. The main explanation given for this phenomenon is that customers say ‘see ya later’ when they find out their chosen item won’t be shipped in time to make it on to Santa’s sleigh. However, that doesn’t mean you’ve lost the sale. What’s your abandoned cart strategy? How can you entice those customers to come back and complete the sale? The gold standard is to re-target those customers with an email enticing them back, often paired with a discount or some other token of appreciation. Boxing Day Means Big Business Christmas Day coming and going doesn’t mean this festive jambaroo is over. Boxing Day has now become a week to ten-day-long sales event, with many ecommerce stores even beginning their sales on Christmas Eve. Consumers have a lot of cash floating around during this time, so it’s worth getting your Boxing Day offering ready well in advance. Look back at what rival businesses have done in previous years and see how you can put your own unique spin on it. Build anticipation by teasing the sale through your social channels and stress test your servers to ensure they can handle the load. Customers won’t be shy about going elsewhere with their cash, so it’s vital you’re ready to tackle this busy period. Find Out More Need help making your ecommerce store “Christmas Ready?” At GD Commerce, we can help you achieve your goals with a full suite of ecommerce services. Contact us and we’ll be happy to help! Thank you to our GD Commerce Partners: Create Your Business Website Using Shopify Harness the Power of Drip CRM Software Set up Subscription Boxes, Recurring Orders and Payments Easily Using Bold Partners Boost Your Business Bookkeeping with Bench Learn How to Master Website SEO Using Mangools

In the final part of our month-long series on Shopify we’ll be looking at the mobile payment world, comparing Square and Shopify, the two industry leaders in mPOS solutions. Whether your business is a retail store, restaurant or any other brick and mortar location, you’ve likely faced the question of which point of sale solution to invest in? Ideally, you’ll need something that will track your inventory, sales reports and sync with any ecommerce store you’re running. It’s fair to say a good old-fashioned cash register won’t achieve this goal. You’re going to need something a little more robust, something like Square or Shopify. What is a Point of Sale System? A point of sale system facilitates payment between a customer and you, the merchant. In times past, a simple cash register (not connected to the internet) was more than enough for businesses but it wasn’t without drawbacks. For starters, stock levels needed to be audited manually taking up valuable staff time. Cash ‘floats’ also needed to be reconciled at the end of every business day. The modern POS system is much more flexible in what in can achieve. They can track inventory in real-time, run analytics to make future stock ordering automated, speak to your online store for cross functionality and even track in real time across multiple locations. Both Shopify and Square provide industry leading solutions in this space, each with advantages and disadvantages. Shopify PoS We’ve spoken at length in previous blog entries about the advantages of Shopify as an ecommerce solution. Its robust feature set and easy installation make it the gold standard for online merchants around the world. If you want to run a physical location and an online store, Shopify PoS provides an excellent way to achieve this thanks to a robust feature set of syncing, reporting, inventory management and much more. Not running a Shopify online store? No problem. Shopify Point of Sale can be used alone, or as an add-on to an existing ecommerce site. Price The Shopify PoS hardware starter kit costs upwards of $700 CAD with a 30-day money back guarantee. Monthly subscription plans include unlimited devices, products and 24/7 support. They start at just $12 per month for the “Shopify Lite” plan, escalating to $300 per month for the “Shopify Advanced” plan. Square Popular with smaller merchants and start-up businesses, Square’s point of sale app is free to download, and it has no monthly fee. The ubiquitous “square” hardware starter kit the plugs into the bottom of iOS and Android devices, providing the perfect solution for businesses not yet ready to invest in more robust point of sale solutions. All payments are processed through Square when using their hardware. It’s worth noting they’ve been known to put a hold on larger transactions, so it might not be suitable for businesses handling large sums. This is to help avoid any instances of fraudulent transactions. Price Square Point of Sale costs around $500 CAD and that’s the only cost a retailer must bear. There’s no fee per transaction and no monthly subscription. It’s a great solution for smaller businesses that haven’t quite found their feet. Looking Forward If you’re hoping to grow your business, it’s hard to look past Shopify PoS. While Square’s offering is fine for a start-up, it won’t scale with your business. Shopify will, handling larger transactions just as easily as small ones. The robust feature set and added security make it the clear winner. Looking to get set up with Shopify Point of Sale? GD Commerce is standing by to help! Contact Us and we’ll be happy to chat! Thank you to our GD Commerce Partners: Create Your Business Website Using Shopify Harness the Power of Drip CRM Software Set up Subscription Boxes, Recurring Orders and Payments Easily Using Bold Partners Boost Your Business Bookkeeping with Bench Learn How to Master Website SEO Using Mangools

In the latest in our ongoing series, we examine the differences between Shopify and Squarespace, and how to decide which one is best for your business.

Trying to decide whether to use Wix or Shopify for your website? In this blog, we take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each platform.

Last week, we took a surface level look at the different website CMS options available to business owners. In this week’s blog, we’re going a little deeper, comparing two of the most popular options: Shopify and WordPress. As we begin to compare the two, it’s worth mentioning both Shopify and WordPress are proven platforms that work for millions of customers. What distinguishes them from each other is how you plan to use them. Let’s break it down into some of the key ways people interact with these platforms. Blogging A regularly updated blog should form a central pillar of any digital marketing effort. In this area WordPress excels. The platform started life as a blogging tool that later implemented ecommerce as a feature. WordPress reportedly runs 65 per cent of all websites on the internet today. With its array of plug-ins and tools, it’s the industry leader from a blogging perspective. While WordPress is known for its blogging capabilities, Shopify is no slouch either. Though the focus is on ecommerce, each Shopify online store comes with the option to create a blog and the embedded capabilities will be plenty to meet your needs. All the blogging basics are handled in a smooth and elegant interface, covering common features like inserting images and video, automatic SEO and ability to schedule posts into the future. It’s not as robust a blogging platform as WordPress, but it should be more than enough for all but the most demanding of users. Ecommerce Ecommerce isn’t handled natively through WordPress. Instead, users install an extension called WooCommerce to conduct business. This free tool is made by Automatic, the owners of WordPress so it’s completely trustworthy and safe to use. Around since 2011, WooCommerce integrates seamlessly with existing WordPress sites. One area it falls down is design. To craft a beautiful WooCommerce platform the services of a web developer are usually needed. If you have the budget, great! However, it’s often not feasible for start-up businesses. Shopify’s strength is in its robust ecommerce offering. It offers dependable security and a range of beautiful templates that can be implemented without the use of a web developer. Shopify also offers a unique “ecommerce university” education platform, where users can avail of training, support and mentorship from a large community of users. Looking to add features to your store? Shopify has a convenient app store built-in to its platform. If you’re more focused on ecommerce than blogging, Shopify is the stronger platform for your needs. Hosting Shopify is a hosted web solution. This means your site will run on Shopify’s servers. Everything you will need to get your store up and running happens “off the shelf,” meaning no developers, no web hosting fees or the need to install specialized software. Shopify is offered as a service, so you won’t own the software. Instead, you pay a monthly fee to Shopify and everything is hosted in the cloud. As long as you have an internet connection you can manage your store or website. WordPress does things slightly differently. You can follow the Shopify model and host your website on WordPress for a monthly or a yearly fee. Going down this route provides a quick and easy way to get simple websites online. Unfortunately, it’s less of an all in one solution than Shopify, as you’d need to use a third-party tool (such as Shopify) to add an ecommerce solution to your site. Alternatively, you can self-host on your own existing server. This is more of an advanced solution, allowing users to customize pretty much every aspect of their site. Ease of Use We’ll finish by looking at an important factor that plays a huge role in people’s decision making – How easy is each platform to use? Shopify is the winner in this regard, with its off the shelf template and easy setup making it the platform of choice for everyday users. That being said, WordPress offers a deeper layer of customization for those willing to tinker under the bonnet, or employ a developer to do it for them. Overall, each platform has strengths and weaknesses. Shopify excels for those looking to find a robust ecommerce solution. While WordPress is aimed more at bloggers and casual websites. Which platform works for you is very much dependent on how you plan to use it. Find Out More As a Shopify Partner, GD Commerce can help you launch beautiful ecommerce stores for every size and budget. Contact us, and we’ll be happy to discuss your individual needs. Thank you to our GD Commerce Partners: Create Your Business Website Using Shopify Harness the Power of Drip CRM Software Set up Subscription Boxes, Recurring Orders and Payments Easily Using Bold Partners Boost Your Business Bookkeeping with Bench Learn How to Master Website SEO Using Mangools