Hello!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here in E-comm Town. First, we witnessed the democratic process in action with some much-needed sales tax relief in California. Then Amazon—clearly insecure about losing its competitive edge—decided to expedite its Prime shipping to one day. Gee thanks, Jeff! And now President Trump is threatening to hike tariffs on Chinese goods.

Find out how these and other stories will affect your business in the ECF News Cart for May 8, 2019. You can also listen to our news roundup on the podcast via iTunes, Stitcher or the ECF Blog.

Enjoy!

– Andrew

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In the News:

Amazon to Offer Free One-Day Prime Shipping 

• Company is investing $800 million to expedite shipping within the year
• Move likely to raise customers’ expectations and nudge sellers toward its platform
• At the same time, Amazon took its no-markup freight brokerage platform live

Trump Threatens to Hike Tariffs on $200B of Chinese Goods

• President tweeted Sunday that he would raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10% to 25%, effective Friday
• Trump also threatened to slap a 25% tariff on the remaining $325 billion of untaxed Chinese goods
• Chinese delegation reportedly headed to Washington to salvage talks

Amazon to Collect Calif. Sales Tax for Small Online Retailers

• Law signed April 25 by Gov. Newsom helps online retailers in two ways:
  • Clarifies that platforms like Amazon and eBay—and not third-party retailers—have the burden of collecting sales tax
  • Raises the revenue threshold to $500,000 for out-of-state online sellers
• New law takes effect immediately

Shopify Raises Earnings Forecast on Demand for E-commerce Tools

• Shopify expects 2019 operating income of $20 million to $30 million, beating earlier forecasts
• Stock prices surged on the news, peaking Monday to around $265 per share
• Net loss widened from $15.9 million to $24.1 million, as costs rose 50% to $216.1 million
• Interesting Note:  MRR of $44.2 million.  Shopify Plus makes up 26% of their revenues.

Snap Lures Advertisers With Shopify Partnership

• Shopify merchants can buy and manage ad campaigns with the new Snapchat Ads App
• Easier for solo-preneurs and small businesses to advertise on Snapchat
• Snap is Shopify’s third partner, along with Facebook and Google

NBCUniversal Releases Shoppable TV, Takes Viewers Directly to E-commerce Sites

• Shoppable TV displays QR codes in TV shows that takes viewers directly to e-commerce websites
• During a test run, Shoppable TV reportedly generated thousands of scans and six figures in sales “within minutes”
• Networks slated to start using Shoppable TV include NBC, NBC Sports, Telemundo, Bravo, E!, CNBC Prime and USA Network

Top Forum Discussions:

(Subscription required to access. Not a member? Apply to join our vibrant community of 7-figure store owners today.)

• One Member’s Journey from Terrible to Incredible 3PL (Case Study)
• How Are You Financing Your Inventory? Let’s Build a List of Great Lenders
• I Recently Sold ColorIt – Here Is My Story …
• Any Fellow Dyslexics/ADHD’s Running a Store?
• Shopify Has Imposed a Limit on New Variant Creation and It is a Total Nightmare

Compelling Jobs:

(Enticing opportunities from the eCommerceFuel Job Board. Find your dream job or post your own job opening here.)

• E-commerce Manager | Tea Forté | Greater Boston Area, MA – Perfect for the person who loves premium tea and analytics
• Marketing Operations Manager | PetHonesty | Austin, TX – Join a team that wants to help 10 million dogs by 2024

Other Interesting Reads:

• Inside Gang Territory in Honduras: ‘Either They Kill Us or We Kill Them’ – NYT reporters follow young men as they try to keep gangs at bay in one of the deadliest cities in the world
• My Billion Dollar Mistake – KISSMetrics co-founder Hiten Shah recounts how shooting from the hip distracted his team at a crucial time

New ECF Content:

• 2019 State of the Merchant Report (Blog Post)
• Building a Culture Your Team Raves About (Podcast)
• Making Big Decisions in Your Life & Business (Podcast)
• Building an Insanely Profitable One Man Business (Podcast)