Well, what a different world we are now living in than when the last newsletter went out in January!  Firstly let me say that we hope that you, your family and friends are safe and well!

There is no way to avoid acknowledging the huge affect that COVID-19 is having on our society, economy and infrastructure, but amidst all the fear and negativity, there are also some amazing good news stories of people offering help and support to the each other and the most needy, and businesses stepping up to support each other so that we can all get through this!

Recent examples that may impact you as an online-seller are announcements from Hermes and Royal Mail about ways they are helping online sellers with shipping:

“We expect that our 2020 price increase will be delayed until Saturday 2nd May but this will be under review in the coming weeks. The change in online pricing will apply to Hermes ParcelShop Standard and Next Day services, as well as courier collection rates and we will write to you again before our new prices come into effect.”
​– Hermes

eBay and later Amazon have also started putting measures in place to assist online sellers with cash-flow matters:

Here at ChannelGrabber all staff have moved to working from home, but the only change this brings in terms of customer support is that we now need to ask you to use the built-in chat feature (lower right corner of any ChannelGrabber page) or email (help@channelgrabber.com) as the main method of communication with our Support Team, as telephone support will not be available during this time, however our team are all fully committed to providing the high level of support you are accustomed to receiving from us, no matter where we're working from!  :)  

If you have a question about your subscription or payments throughout this time you can email sales@channelgrabber.com or billing@channelgrabber.com - we're here to help and support you and your business through these unprecedented times and if we all work together we believe that many online businesses will come through this time unscathed, and perhaps even be bigger and stronger as a result!

Read on to find out about the features and improvements we're continuing to develop for the ChannelGrabber system!
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Find out about the improvements and brand new features we have been working on for you, and about our future plans for development.

We have now added a new field to our Products page, under the Stock tab, to compliment the Low Stock Threshold (stock alert) option, which allows a default reorder quantity to be saved per SKU, so that when that SKU is added to a Purchase Order, you don't have to go through every SKU manually to tell the system how many more you want to order from your supplier (although it can be overwritten on the Purchase Order if needed): 

As well as controlling this for each individual SKU from the main Products page, you can also set a default Reorder Quantity for all products from within the Settings > Product Management > Stock section:

We have started re-designing our Message Centre to pave the way for more improvements and new features.  As well as changes to the layout of the Message Centre, you can now create template replies which can then be easily applied to a message thread with your customer, to reduce your response times (which eBay and Amazon monitor closely!),  and improve the efficiency of your customer service!

To extend on our existing refunding feature, we have now been able to further develop the system to allow for Partial Refunds to be triggered from within ChannelGrabber for Amazon orders:

 
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You can now set the Shipping Carrier and add Tracking Numbers without having to click into each individual order!  Hurrah!

If you create labels within ChannelGrabber for a connected courier (eg. Royal Mail, DPD, Parcelforce, MyHermes etc) then the tracking data will still be allocated to the order automatically, but for our users who ship using couriers or shipping aggregators outside of ChannelGrabber, it's now much more efficient to add the tracking data to your orders!

First, if you haven't already, enable the Tracking Info column on your Orders table using the cog button on the top right of the table:

You will then see the carrier and tracking number for any orders that already have them allocated, but for any orders without a label or previously added tracking number, you will have two fields:

Simply select/search for your carrier from the extensive drop-down list first:

Then paste or type the tracking number from your shipping provider and hit the Enter key on your keyboard to save it when finished:

Once done, this tracking info will be automatically fed back to the sales channels once the order is marked as Dispatched in ChannelGrabber.
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Due to popular demand we are now developing support for Amazon Business customers so that ChannelGrabber can automatically upload PDF invoices to your Amazon account to satisfy their latest invoicing requirements.
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Amazon recently added Amazon NL to the list of countries with their own platform, which is included as part of Amazon EU accounts from now on.  As such, we will be developing support for Amazon NL to match the functionality already available for Amazon FR, DE, IT and ES in ChannelGrabber.
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We are in the early stages of beta testing but will soon be able to offer support in ChannelGrabber for accounting via Xero and QuickBooks, as well as marketing automation with MailChimp.  

It will be necessary for us to require a setup fee and additional monthly fee if you want to make use of these services, but if you want to be one of our early adopters and help us with final testing, for a limited time we will waive the setup fee for any CG users happy to help us with bug reporting and functionality feedback prior to the full release of these new features.

Get in touch with the Sales Team on sales@channelgrabber.com to find out more.
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If you have an idea for an improvement or new feature you would like to see us add to the system in the future, please do let us know, by emailing featurerequests@channelgrabber.com
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If you're asking for something that has already been requested, we will add your vote to the feature to give it higher priority, or if your idea is totally fresh, we will add a new request to our developers' board for votes and future consideration.

We almost always prioritise feature requests based on demand, so the more users that vote for a feature, the higher up the "to-do" list it will move  ;)

Don't forget, you can also check out our public development roadmap as well, which will give you an idea of what we're working on and what's next in line/further down our developers' queue at any time:  ChannelGrabber Product Roadmap

Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

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Here, we'll pass on any newsworthy events or changes that we've learned about the e-commerce industry that may affect our system or you, our customers.       

A message from Sam Gilbert, ChannelGrabber Head of Sales

As workers begin, wherever possible, to work from home and to avoid public areas, more and more turn to websites and marketplaces for their food, their clothes, emergency supplies, distractions for their children, and more. 

Internet users who would normally shun buying online in favour of their local stores are turning to their browser to find what they need. This is especially common in the older generations, who historically have been most likely to stick to local retailers.

Predictions for the UK Market

A recent YouGov survey, conducted on the 3rd March, found that 27% of Americans were already avoiding visits to public areas including shops. At that point, only 14% of Brits were doing the same – while reporting up to 85% in China.

Another survey of US habits found that the number who planned to avoid public areas if the news got worse would double. In fact, according to data compiled by emarketer.com for the US, as many as 85% of the over-61s were preparing to avoid stores.

And as the situation in the UK has become more serious over the last couple of weeks, it is expected the UK will also see a similar pattern develop.

We have the advantage as UK retailers of seeing patterns play out in other countries first, including data like the surveys referenced above. As infection rates have increased, we’ve seen self-isolations rise in response.

As more and more shoppers start to avoid shopping centres, supermarkets, and even corner shops, the demand for internet products grows significantly. Whenever we see a spike in the number of people shopping online, some percentage never go back to the high street.

In the short term, eCommerce will be a necessity for many. But will become a preference for most!
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Increased online shopping doesn’t mean every retailer will see sales rise. eCommerce advertising has become a must-have part of online retail over the past few years. Google Shopping and Amazon Sponsored Advertising provide an opportunity to ensure potential customers see your offerings and have the chance to buy them.

Well-designed, well-maintained advertising campaigns bring down the cost of each sale and allow companies to build their market share steadily over time. A great experience with an online retailer can turn one paid click into regular orders for months or years to come.

As more and more workers transition across to eCommerce shopping, the companies that invest in marketing will reach them. Sales will go to those businesses. But those sales have to be made at the right price. That means careful, expert management – and that takes time.
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How can Channel Grabber help?

When you pay for each click through to your products, you want to get value for money. A poorly maintained campaign can mean paying more than you need to for each click. If your inventory management isn’t properly updated – or isn’t reflected by your shopping feed – you could spend money advertising products you don’t have in stock to sell.

ChannelGrabber want to reach out to you all to see if you are reaching the people looking for your products. We operate a brand - Cloud Seller Pro - that can get your website and amazon listings performing better through targeted campaigns and the best part is you only pay for the results: it is a commission based model, where we only get paid if you sell your products as a result of our efforts, it is that simple.

And it doesn't cost a penny to set-up:
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​Google Shopping

Amazon Advertising

Email sales@cloudsellerpro.com or call 01524 230251 (ext 2) and quote promo code "CG Newsletter" and the CSP team will be happy to answer your questions!

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We hope you have enjoyed the February/March edition of our newsletter and found some useful information to help you with your online business.  

Why not also check out the blog page on our website, to keep up to date with news from us as well as even more industry insights and input from guest authors too?
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As always, if you would like to discuss anything relating to your ChannelGrabber account, please feel free to contact our team using the Intercom chat system (the chat icon can be found on the lower right corner of any ChannelGrabber page) or by emailing help@channelgrabber.com
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