Tips for Building Customer Loyalty and Repeat Customers

Medallion is a California Based Fulfillment Company

As with many companies, your marketing efforts are probably directed primarily at converting prospects. But research shows overwhelmingly that repeat customers provide more value in sales and referrals at a lower cost to you.

Doesn’t it make sense to focus marketing activity on customer retention? Our California fulfillment services experts offer some creative suggestions to drive repeat business.

Create a Loyalty Program

A loyalty program is a simple but effective tool that incentivizes customers to come back to your website. Analyze sales reports to determine which criteria to use, such as rewarding repeat customers by volume or number of purchases.

Establish Trust

Consistency and transparency are two factors in building trust with your customers. In addition to making repeat purchases, consumers respond to trustworthy sellers by sharing their positive experiences with others A Forbes study shows more than 80 percent of respondents make purchases based on recommendations by friends and family.

Maintain a Social Media Presence

E-commerce lacks the personalized touch offered at brick-and-mortar stores. Connect with customers by staying active on social media. Answer questions, respond to comments, participate in discussions and post 10x content, original or shared, with genuine value to your target audience.

Sell a Superior Experience

“Sell the sizzle, not the steak” is a classic advertising motto based on the concept that customers respond to benefits, not features. With the amount of competition in today’s marketplace, it’s more crucial than ever to set your business above others by offering a unique buyer experience.

Use Packaging for Promotion

Even if you’ve never ordered from Amazon, chances are you’ve seen their shipping packages numerous times in places ranging from a friend’s home to a post office or UPS store. Take advantage of all that space on your packaging to keep your brand name and logo in front of current and potential customers.

Capture Conversions with Remarketing

All repeat customers begin as first-time customers, but industry statistics show that the average website loses approximately 98 percent of first-time visitors without a conversion. Remarketing with targeted ads to previous website visitors keeps you connected until they’re ready to buy.

Leverage Data

Digital marketing provides sellers with greater quantities of granular data than were ever available previously, but it means nothing unless you act on it. Mine data to learn as much as possible about your customers and use that data for targeted marketing campaigns and offers.

Provide Prompt Fulfillment

No matter how great your product is, nothing dampens a customer’s enthusiasm like long shipping times. If buyers know they can count on your company for prompt and professional order fulfillment, it gives you a distinct advantage over your competitors.

Boost Repeat Business with Our California Fulfillment Services

Are you finding it a challenge to juggle the demands of growing your business with the responsibilities of providing superior customer service? Let our California fulfillment services company handle your order processing needs from receiving and warehousing to shipping and customer support. Contact Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics for more information.

Startups and New Businesses Have Special Financial Needs, How to Plan for Success

Learn About the Amazon Effect

For many new entrepreneurs, managing finances is one of the more intimidating aspects of a startup business. Ensuring that funding, expenses and other financial elements are controlled from the beginning prevents minor issues from snowballing into major problems.

The good news is that financial management is not as difficult as you might think. Our fulfillment warehouse has been part of several successful startups, so we’re offering these expert tips to get your fledgling business rolling with solid financial planning.

Manage Expenses

In the beginning, expenses can be a huge drain on cash flow during the time you need it the most. Fortunately, most costs can be reasonably estimated ahead of time. Create a year-long budget covering rent, wages, materials, taxes and other fixed expenses and focus on keeping them as low as possible.

Avoid Commingling Funds

As the owner, you may feel all funds are ultimately yours so the line between personal and business finances becomes blurred. When you keep both sides completely separate, it’s much easier to track business finances and prevent personal spending from draining the company account. You should also formally pay yourself a salary rather than simply dip into company funds.

Keep Detailed and Accurate Records

When it comes to judging your company’s performance, you can’t afford to rely on gut feelings or instinct. Make sure an experienced accountant, either in-house or outside, is keeping track of revenue and expenses. Review financial statements regularly and make adjustments based on a clear, overall picture.

Don’t Overdo It

You may feel compelled to take on as many roles as you can to save money, but that strategy can actually be counterproductive. Learning unfamiliar skills on the fly can end up costing more time and money than hiring an experienced person in the first place. Delegating work frees you up to focus on your passion and grow the business.

Learn to Negotiate

Don’t take vendor terms at face value. You’ll be surprised at how often suppliers are willing to make concessions to gain your business. Prepare a game plan ahead of time so you know what your goals are. Remember that it never hurts to ask!

Invest in Technology

Business technology has become so advanced and so widely integrated that your company will be at a serious disadvantage from day one without it. Any investment you make in technology will pay for itself in money and time savings.

Establish an Emergency Fund

Financial experts recommend that people maintain an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses, and a company is no different. Put aside a percentage of income during peak times to help tide you through the slow periods.

Fulfillment Warehouse Services That Grow Along with You

Are you struggling with adjustments as your business expands? Our fulfillment warehouse services can be tailored to meet you specific needs today and scale to accommodate future requirements. Contact us at Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics to learn more about why we are the first choice for one-stop warehousing, inventory control and order processing services.

New Important Updates for January

Learn About the Amazon Effect

Here are a few links to help you understand some of the big changes that have already taken effect and could impact your bottom line. 

NOW through January 24th, USPS Rates have DECREASED to 2020 Rates

  • Temporary Rate Increase has EXPIRED
  • First Class Shipments reduced $0.25
  • Priority Mail Shipments Reduced $0.40
  • NEW 2021 Rates Take effect January 24th and can be downloaded here https://pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index

UPS 2021 increase started on December 27th

UPS Announces 2021 General Rate Increase – ParcelIndustry.com

FedEx 2021 increase starts January 4th

FedEx 2021 General Rate Increase – ParcelIndustry.com

The cost of shipping is an unforgiving part of the new normal. Managing your shipping costs has never been more crucial to your success.

Value Added Tax (VAT) Must Be Collected Starting January 1st for the UK

Effective Jan 1, 2021, Value Added Tax (VAT) must be collected for all goods
entering the United Kingdom (UK).

There will be a 20% VAT rate on goods valued up to £135 (about $180 USD), which you must collect unless your online marketplace (e.g. eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc.) is already collecting it. Current procedures for goods valued over £135 remain the same.

To prevent your UK shipments from being delayed, held, or returned by UK Customs in 2021, please consider the following steps:

1. Register for a VAT number with the UK: https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration
2. Collect VAT at the time of purchase.
3. Make quarterly VAT return payments to the UK.

In addition, you should include your VAT number on your customs declarations.
This process will vary depending on your shipping software, so be on the
lookout for instructions early next year.

California and Massachusetts Fulfillment Services that Exceed Customer Expectations

Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics and Sprocket Express provide a comprehensive set of eCommerce services that scale to meet your specific needs. Contact us to learn more about why we should be your first choice in cost-effective and efficient California and Massachusetts fulfillment services.

Our Top Tips for Business Startups – A Focus to Grow Faster

Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics a Fulfillment Warehouse

The first months of a business startup are exciting, but it can also be a time full of impatience. You’ve nurtured your fledgling company from a glimmer of an idea to a fully realized business, and you’re ready to take the world by storm.

That same passion that’s fueled your concept until now can help you grow faster as long as you stay focused. Our fulfillment company has been part of many successful startups, so we’re sharing some tips we’ve learned along the way.

Always Play to Win

Top sports coaches will tell you there’s a difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. Belief in yourself allows you to work from a position of strength rather than a timid, defensive attitude. Always bet on yourself to win.

Stay Flexible

Commitment to your business is vital, but as John Lennon once said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. Many elements are out of your control, so you should remain ready to pivot in order to skirt roadblocks or take advantage of new opportunities.

Prioritize Customer Service

No matter what the product or service, the goal of every company is to satisfy customers. That’s particularly important today, when bad word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire via social media. Think of your customers as real flesh-and-blood people rather than faceless orders and put their needs first.

Keep Learning

In the early days, startup entrepreneurs are often forced to wear many hats out of sheer necessity. Fortunately, there are a number of helpful solutions available from inexpensive online courses to high-tech digital tools. Learning pays extra dividends in the future when you can effectively communicate with experts you hire for those roles.

Take Advantage of Free Advice

There’s an old saying that free advice is worth the price. But there is actually a wide range of groups and forums where you can network with others who have gone before you. Not only will you pick up valuable nuggets of knowledge, you’ll have the opportunity to form professional relationships that prove mutually beneficial.

Avoid Debt

We’ve all heard the dramatic stories of artists and entrepreneurs who maxed out their credit cards (and sometimes those of others as well) to finance their project or company. In most cases, that business model ends up draining your cash flow through costly interest charges. Get in the habit of paying cash whenever possible.

Maintain a Budget

Both personally and professionally, many people make the mistake of increasing spending as income goes up. While you may be tempted to do the same once orders start rolling in, your business will be better served if you continue to operate as though you’re on a shoestring.

Fulfillment Warehouse Services That Grow Along with Your Business

When you start a new business, you should be concentrating on gaining sales, not processing them. Medallion Fulfillment & Warehouse Logistics offers comprehensive fulfillment warehouse services that scale to fit your growing needs. Contact us for more information.

Tips for Turning Instagram into a Sales Generating Machine for your Store

Medallion Fulfillment - a Fulfillment Company

So you’ve optimized your website content and you regularly engage with followers on Facebook and Twitter. If that’s the extent of your social media campaign, you’re ignoring a dynamic platform that can be a valuable tool in your online arsenal.

Instagram is more than just a place to post pictures of artfully arranged food. With approximately 800 million active monthly users, Instagram provides a great platform for you to connect with prospective customers.

Among the top 100 brands worldwide, 90 percent have an Instagram account, yet the business world has barely scratched the surface of the platform’s potential. Follow these tips from Instagram marketing experts to get orders flowing through your fulfillment warehouse.

Follow the Leader

Why spend time trying to reinvent the wheel? Large companies such as eBay and Amazon have the time and resources to research the impact of hashtags, relationship between text and image and other elements that make up effective Instagram posts. Study their accounts carefully and apply their methods.

Tell an Intriguing “Story”

Instagram Stories is a feature that lets you post a set of videos and still images in a slideshow format. Each Story stays online for a period of 24 hours, making it a perfect vehicle to tease promotions, new items and any other information you want to highlight.

Team Up with Influencers

Influence is a valuable commodity in marketing, and Instagram Influencers can help you exponentially expand your reach. Influencers are Instagram users who have established a reputation of expertise and trustworthiness in a particular area or niche.

Not sure where to start? Tomoson is a digital marketing platform with a searchable database of more than 50,000 Influencers that can be filtered by demographics, total reach and other criteria.

Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes

As with any social media marketing, an Instagram campaign requires careful planning and curation to achieve the desired results. When posting content to your Instagram feed, take a step back and view it as a customer would. Are the images and text projecting the image you want to cultivate?

Think Quality, not Quantity

Instagram marketing isn’t just a numbers game. You want to develop a base of followers who are truly interested in your brand and what you have to say. Instead of putting your Instagram feed on autopilot; focus on ways to connect with quality followers:

• Look for users via hashtags that correlate with your business and follow them first.

• Downplay blatant self-promotion in favor of engagement-based content, such as asking users to share photos based on a certain theme and marked with a hashtag.

• Create an emotional connection through posts about volunteer work or other personal passions.

Fulfillment Warehouse Services for Your Unique Success “Story”

Follow through on your Instagram campaign with impeccable customer service. Let our scalable fulfillment warehouse services provide a seamless customer experience, from ordering through delivery.

Contact us today and learn how Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics can handle your fulfillment warehouse needs, leaving you free for the important business of growing your sales.