Posted by Fred Lizza, CEO, Dydacomp

If you’re running a small to medium-sized retail business, you are all too familiar with today’s challenges: a tough economy, changing shopping patterns, more competition and higher costs. But did you know that you can run your retail or distribution operations smarter and simpler with just a browser and Internet connection? Cloud based order  management is here and it can transform your business by handling the entire back-end process associated with your business operation. This primarily includes order processing, inventory management, fulfillment and shipping. There are three areas of order management in the cloud that can greatly benefit your operation.

Inventory Management:  The cloud can help you to adapt in near real-time to inventory fluctuations across all selling channels that you utilize including your Web store, Amazon, popular third-party e-commerce software such as Magento, offsite fulfillment centers and other shopping channels. It enables you to enhance your inventory management, allowing you to eliminate slow moving merchandise while increasing the amount of faster selling merchandise.

Improved Marketing: Order management in the cloud provides easy integration of your marketing efforts across all sales channels and customer profiles. Marketing to your existing customer base provides a prime opportunity to capture the value of your customer list to grow your business. This will enable you to segment your customer base, track specific campaign results and create targeted customer lists for marketing efforts.

Better Customer Service: Cloud computing has revolutionized customer service and support, allowing you to answer critical questions in a timely manner that will help you keep customers longer and keep them satisfied. However you interact with your customers, delivering excellent customer service is a key ingredient in developing and nurturing customer satisfaction and retention, and ultimately repeat business through loyalty. It only takes one poor customer experience to produce countless lost customers due to negative reviews and posts online.

If your company’s goal is to operate efficiently across multiple sales channels, provide the ideal customer experience and grow overall revenue, cloud based order management may be just what you need.  Click here to learn more about how retailers who leverage the cloud gain real-time, actionable insight into the details of their business, how they use this insight for growth and increased efficiencies and how they position their business to capitalize on opportunity.

Laura Hills, VP of Marketing, Dydacomp

Twenty percent of all people will visit Amazon online this year. Amazon continues to be the most visited online retailer to-date.  The Amazon Marketplace represents an opportunity for your business to reach over 173 million new customers and can enable you to achieve significant growth. One longtime electronics seller, Amazing Deals Online–who has been on Amazon for twelve years– reported a record holiday season in 2012 with an over 70 percent increase in sales from 2011. Now that’s a pretty impressive statistic.

Amazon’s strategy focuses on three core values:

1. selection,
2. price, and
3. convenience with the goal of offering the widest possible selection of items at the best price while providing the easiest repeat shopping experience.

Third party online merchants fit right into this strategy because they enable Amazon to offer wider product selections to a vast audience. In a note to investors just before Amazon reported its 2012 year-end results Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan said he believes the value of merchandise sold by Amazon versus third parties on Amazon (known as gross merchandise value, or GMV) has just about hit a 50-50 split. By 2015, Rohan says Amazon will hit $180 billion in GMV, and third-party sellers will be responsible for most of those dollars. Shouldn’t your company be tapping into this resource?

Amazon has tremendous power as a sales channel and the Amazon Marketplace enables businesses to sell products directly to end users on Amazon.  Listing your products on Amazon Marketplace will get your products in front of a significant volume of traffic.  So, if you want to sell more products, extend your geographic presence, build brand awareness and increase overall sales and revenue, Amazon Marketplace could be just what you need.

To help you get started, Dydacomp has created a special on-demand webinar that provides additional information on selling through Amazon Marketplace.  It is a must watch if you are considering Amazon Marketplace or looking for a more efficient way to manage your existing Amazon Account.  Click here to access this free on-demand webinar.

Laura Hills, Vice President of Marketing, Dydacomp

Tax season may be behind us, but making smart tax choices for your business is a year round consideration.   If you have been considering adding or changing software to increase productivity and streamline the operations for your eCommerce business, you may find 2013 is the right time to do this.  Although software cost is generally amortized (ratably deducted) over a 36 month period, if purchased or leased in 2013, software costing up to $500,000 may be able to be deducted against income this year.

President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”) into law in January of this year allowing business owners to deduct the cost of depreciating business assets on their tax returns, including software.  Under ATRA, the §179 Deduction of $500,000 has been extended through 2013 as well as retroactively for 2012.   The intent of the §179 Deduction is to provide tax relief for Small and Medium businesses (SMBs) and many businesses are taking advantage of this and reaping the savings.

The §179 Deduction  offers SMBs a great opportunity to maximize their purchasing power by allowing for the deduction of the full purchase price of qualifying software from your gross income in 2013. Be sure that you take advantage of the §179 Deduction as it can change each year without notice and has even changed mid-year.   In 2012 the §179 Deduction limit was dropped to $125,000 and was set to decrease to $25,000 in 2013.  So if purchasing and implementing new software is in your plans, consider making 2013 the year to get this accomplished – your bottom line will benefit.

There are some general guidelines that the software must meet including:

1. the software must be readily available for purchase by the general public;
2. the software is subject to a non-exclusive license; and
3. the software must not have been substantially modified (non-customized software).

A free online resource, Section179.org (www.section179.org) provides additional information and answers many common questions about the §179 Deduction for software.

The information above is information only and not advice, and should not be treated as such. We recommend that business owners consult with a tax professional for additional information on how to successfully take advantage of the §179 Deduction.   

Posted by Fred Lizza, CEO, Dydacomp

Online sales are continuing to account for a larger part of total retail sales in the U.S with online growth outpacing total retail sales.  The National Retail Federation predicts that online sales will increase between 9.0% and 12.0% in 2013 vs. 2012.  This is certainly good news for retailers that sell through online channels, but this increase can also pose some challenges for your order management process that you need to be aware of and ready to address.

As online sales increase so do business and operations issues that can prevent you from providing an ideal customer experience and growing your revenue. One of the biggest issues is that SMBs are still moving data manually across different systems which often leads to countless disconnects and lost business.

These manual processes, which typically require rekeying critical order information, invariably lead to errors. For example, an order comes in through your eCommerce store. The order information is then printed out and the data is rekeyed into your separate inventory management system. The details then need to be rekeyed yet again when completing the shipping information and may also need to be entered again into your accounting system for billing.

These repeated manual processes can slow down the business and open the door to human error, leading to delayed shipments, missed deliveries and unhappy customers.  The costs of the errors themselves and then correcting the errors begin to pile up.  They can impact all areas of operations, including customer service, purchasing, receiving, warehousing, fulfillment, accounting, management, and marketing. Larger businesses have more resources to address these issues while smaller and medium sized businesses tend to experience a far greater impact. To compete with the bigger merchants, SMBs must focus on making sure their order management systems are capable of keeping up with the double-digit growth in online sales expected in 2013.

Order Management is the business hub for SMB retailers.  It should be used to eliminate the manual steps between processes as the business grows and should enable you to integrate and automate all order management processes including eCommerce, phone/call center, customer service, payment processing, shipping and 3^rd party fulfillment, accounting, tax and billing systems and customer information management.

Don’t let cumbersome, stand alone or outdated order management processing get in the way of growing your business.  Be sure that your back office processes can keep pace with your online store across all key functional areas.

To learn more, click here to download our white paper Retail Trends – Is Your Back Office Keeping Up With Your Online Store?  The Top 5-1/2 Reasons You Need an Order Management Solution. 

Posted by Fred Lizza, CEO, Dydacomp

What would you say if you were told you can run your retail or distribution operations smarter and simpler with just a browser and Internet connection? Doing your due diligence by taking a few moments to research the details of such an option, you would find that it is not only possible, but good for business. Order management in the cloud is here. We call it Freestyle Commerce and it’s designed for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) looking to accelerate growth, process and fulfill orders, manage inventory and access customer information over the Internet.

When I talk to SMBs, they say that one of their biggest challenges is the current business environment in which they compete. Business owners are facing a myriad of fluctuations not only in market conditions, but in how products and services are delivered and through which channel. We live in an age where consumers have an abundance of information at their fingertips. The number one goal of small to mid-size retail merchants is efficiently operating across these multiple sales channels, while still providing the ideal customer experience and growing overall revenue.

Small businesses in the U.S. spent $3.5 billion on cloud technology in 2011, up 41 percent from the $2.2 billion spent in 2010, according to a report by International Data Corp. (IDC), a technology research firm. In 2012, spending on cloud technology was projected to increase by about 25 percent. Order management in the cloud is now creating a huge opportunity for SMB retailers to utilize the power of cloud computing to capitalize on growth opportunities by making it simpler and easier to manage orders from multiple channels. Bringing order management to the cloud provides SMBs with the following benefits:

• Easy-to-use, faster-to-implement and scalable application with lower total cost of ownership.
• Individual dashboards that allow users to focus on the metrics that matter most to the business, like sales data, inventory information and order status;
• Inventory tracking capability across all eCommerce and offline sales channels. Customer-centric service tools that deliver immediate access to all key customer data.

Small retailers who leverage the cloud gain real-time, actionable insight into the details of their business. For SMB retailers, this insight translates to growth and increased efficiencies, positioning their business to capitalize on opportunity.

We are now hosting webinars to share more detail about Dydacomp’s new cloud-based solution for order management, Freestyle Commerce. To register to learn more about our Early Adopter program, register to Join a Webinar at www.freestylecommerce.com.

Posted by Fred Lizza, CEO, Dydacomp

If you’re like most retail businesses, you’ve experienced an increase in manufacturing costs.  This leads to lower margins, leaving retailers to look for initiatives to preserve and grow margins whenever possible.  Expanding product selection and tighter inventory control are two areas where the right technology has enabled retailers to positively impact their business.  Retailers look to enhance operating efficiencies through greater use of technology to right-size inventories.  Many use order management systems that deliver integrated inventory management systems to increase efficiency and reduce costs.  Having accurate and timely inventory and order information can help you take the guess work out of merchandising and planning for future marketing activities.

The need for up to date inventory is a crucial element of success, particularly if you’re facing price pressure from major discounters or selling through multiple channels.  Retailers selling through multiple channels are challenged to keep close tabs on every item in their inventory.  Knowing when to reorder and restock those fast moving items is just as important as knowing when to discount or drop items that don’t move.  Keeping up with the fluctuating demands of consumers is not an easy task and inventory tracking needs to be simplified, streamlined and automated.

Expanding the product selections and increasing the number of inventory items offered can be achieved through drop shipping or integration with third party order fulfillment centers which adds another layer of inventory management to the mix.  With an automated inventory system, retailers are better equipped to flexibly source inventory and handle complex supplier and multi-supplier fulfillment requirements to better meet customers’ demands.

Integrating purchasing and inventory management processes enables retailers to establish optimum inventory levels for each item stocked and helps make sure that purchases are made well enough in advance to keep inventory levels where they need to be.  This provides greater inventory control and helps avoid out of stock situations.  Whether shipping direct or drop shipping from a warehouse or fulfillment center, cross channel inventory and purchasing control are essential across all platforms including third party eCommerce options.

An order management system can help you manage the flow of items to better control response time, manage inventory allocation and create a quick and seamless process for order fulfillment so you have the right products, at the right time, ready to ship to meet your customers’ expectations.

Posted by Laura Hills, VP Marketing, Dydacomp

In today’s competitive retail landscape, it is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller retailers to compete against the larger players. For many smaller retailers, expanding their operations into online commerce allows them to compete on a more equal footing.

Many small retailers have been participating in multichannel operations and have an understanding of how important multiple channels, particularly online ones, are to the success of their business and their survival.

Many of these retailers are including Amazon in their multichannel eCommerce strategy. Amazon has grown into the leading online retailer and has evolved its platform to provide tools and technologies for other businesses to use.  Amazon Marketplace is Amazon’sfixed-price online marketplace that enables retailers to offer their products alongside Amazon’s offerings.  Amazon Marketplace allows customers to buy items directly from the third party sellers.  In fact, almost 40% of all merchandise sold by Amazon comes from third party merchants.

There is tremendous opportunity for businesses to take advantage of Amazon’s brand to reach over 173 million potential new customers, expand geographic range, build brand awareness and increase sales.

Dydacomp has created a special 30 minute webinar that will deliver the information needed to get started selling through Amazon Marketplace.  If you are already using Amazon Marketplace, this webinar will deliver ways to effectively manage this new channel for achieving growth.

By attending, you’ll discover how to:

• Gain insight into the growth potential of your Amazon store
• Discover how other merchants have successfully entered this business channel
• Learn why you need to get started immediately to capitalize on sales
• Find efficient ways to manage and sync your inventory with Amazon and other channels.

This webinar is a must attend for anyone considering Amazon Marketplace or trying to find a more efficient way to manage their Amazon account.  Pre-registration is required.

Webinar details:

Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Time: 2:00 – 2:30 pm ET

To register for this webinar, click here.

Posted by Laura Hills, VP, Marketing, Dydacomp

In an article written by Kaihan Krippendorff for Fast Company, Dydacomp CEO, Fred Lizza shares his insight into how to read the signs that a company is gaining momentum.  The article, How To Get A Handle On When Your Company Is Gaining Momentum, focuses on Fred’s personal experience and discusses how Fred identified Dydacomp as a growing company before he joined the team. Kaihan ties this idea back to an anecdote about teaching his daughter to ice skate, as he likes to give his articles a personal touch.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Fred Lizza knows how to read the signs. He’s been the CEO of five fast-growing technology companies–Infinium, Idiom, Avotus Corporation, Optiant, and now Dydacomp, a software firm that helps small to mid-sized companies automate their fulfillment and direct marketing processes. When Fred joined Dydacomp 24 months ago, the company was in transition. Today, their solutions help small businesses serve more than one million online shoppers per day, linking their orders with more than $4 billion of inventory and submitting over $8 million in daily invoices.

When new investors asked Fred to step in as CEO, Fred saw that Dydacomp was on the path. Here are the signs he read:

1. Dydacomp was at an inflection point, but not in need of dire turn-around. “I don’t like financial turnarounds,” Fred told me.
2. Small and medium-sized businesses comprise more than 50% of consumer sales in the United States and nearly 50% of these are closed using online channels. Both of these factors should grow.
3. The people who run the online businesses are getting more sophisticated. As large retailers shrink, they shake off “reluctant entrepreneurs,” seasoned executives who realize they are better off starting their own enterprises. They are used to having access to sophisticated inventory management systems integrated with sales and marketing systems–exactly what Dydacomp delivers.

These three factors gave Fred the confidence to believe that Dydacomp had an opportunity, in his words, to be “the leader of the middle space.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Posted by Fred Lizza, CEO, Dydacomp

Dydacomp’s SMB Index for December has just been published in Internet Retailer. Our Index provides an indication of how small to mid-sized eCommerce companies, representing more than 15 industry verticals, perform each month.  The data accounts for more than 1.7 million orders that our Multichannel Order Manager (M.O.M.) and SiteLINK eCommerce clients receive each month, resulting in more than $200 million in combined monthly retail sales.

Below are the key takeaways from our December report:

• Dydacomp customers sold more than $300 million dollars in goods in December for the first time ever, processing over 2.4 million orders.
• There was an 8.0% monthly increase in year over year (Y/Y) same store sales in December 2012. The growth was driven by an almost 10% increase in the average order size.  This growth is a decline in the Y/Y growth rate from November, reflecting an early surge in holiday shopping that slowed in December as consumers were impacted by domestic political uncertainty and economic news.
• Growth leaders for the full year 2012 are consistent with prior month’s statistics, with books and sporting goods categories leading the way.
  • The growth in the books category seems to have been driven by growing interest in purchasing printed material online.  This category includes many special interest categories, such as religious publications, that are relatively new to online selling and therefore are in the rapid growth phase of development.
  • The growth in sporting goods categories peaked during the warm weather seasons as one would expect, but again is fueled by growth in specialized products that are not readily available on the more commodity sites like Amazon.
  • The nearly 50% year over year growth in December sales for the books category continued the very strong performance by this segment all year long.
  • Higher-priced categories such as jewelry and home furnishings continued to decline in both gross sales and number of transactions.  We attribute much of this weakness to fundamental economic conditions in the US.
  • The average order size increased by almost 10% in December vs. the prior year’s December, and the average order size for 2012 increased almost 5% to slightly more than $130/order.  This increase could be indicative of the return of some pricing power, and resultant price increases, to the market.

Click here to view Dydacomp’s SMB Index in Internet Retailer

Posted by Laura Hills, VP of Marketing, Dydacomp

If you’re looking to grow your eCommerce business in 2013, you must consider selling through Amazon® Marketplace.  eCommerce expert Lisa Suttora feels strongly that Amazon must be a part of your business model. The numbers just don’t lie. Amazon is the 10^th most visited site in the world and the 5^th most visited site in the United States according to Alexa.

Lisa Suttora points out that:

• Amazon Marketplace sales currently outpace the growth of both eCommerce and eBay
•  Amazon’s sites bring in more unique visitors than any other online retailer on the web
• This past year, 20% of the World Internet Population visited an Amazon site

Visitors to the Amazon site spend approximately 38 seconds on each pageview and a total of ten minutes on the site during each visit. And they generate approximately 250,000,000 visits per month according to eBizMBA. And now the stat that should hit everyone – 38% of all Amazon retail sales are by 3rd party online merchants… and this continues to grow each quarter. Imagine if your business could capitalize on that.

No matter how successful you are, you just can’t beat Amazon. Amazon Marketplace gives you the opportunity to reach over 173 million potential new customers, extend your geographic range, build brand awareness, and increase overall revenue.