The goWholesale Blog
There’s a New Credit Card Scam in Town
April 18th, 2008
It’s almost like that gopher pounding game at the carnival. As soon as you bop one on the head another pops it’s mocking little head out of the hole which you must smash into oblivion…and so on and so forth for what seems like forever. Just as law enforcers find a way to prevent a crime, criminals find another way to commit it. We often stereotype criminals as dumb but in reality, in order to be a successful criminal you have to be smarter than the system that’s designed to keep you from violating it. It’s the nature of the beast I suppose and they’re back at it again.
In what is termed “credit card shaving” people buy gift cards or take stolen credit cards and test a 16-number sequence either by trying to make a purchase online or by calling a verification number the way merchants do. The scammers then scratch up the new card’s magnetic strip so a store clerk has to enter the numbers manually, what’s called “forcing a transaction.”
The result is a card that ends up looking like it went through the ringer a few times but apparently merchants are accepting these cards. The people who’s accounts the numbers match up to are left dumbfounded as to how their card information has been stolen because they still have their cards and no mail has been stolen from them…it’s a sheer case of dumb luck. And its taking off.
As a merchant, you can help customers by not accepting suspicious looking cards as well as cards with inoperable magnetic strips. This seems like common sense but the scammers tend to target low end small businesses where customer traffic is heavy. Just be sure you remain diligent and educate your employees to do the same.
Posted in In the News | No Comments »
Consumers Wary of Customized Ads
April 17th, 2008
A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive and Dr. Alan F. Westin Professor of Public Law and Government Emeritus at Columbia University showed that the majority (59%) of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with customized ads directed at them based on their web surfing habits. It doesn’t really surprise me either.
After all, have you ever been reading your GMail and glanced over at the ads down the side and noticed that the ads have been determined by scanning the content in your email? I’ll admit that when I first noticed that going on, it weirded me out a bit. It made me feel as though someone must be looking at my private emails! Apparently I’m not alone.
The survey goes on to report that more people would be slightly more comfortable with the practice if they were presented with a privacy policy first but not by a huge margin. From a consumers standpoint it does tend to send up some privacy red flags.
But as an advertiser, this type of focused strategy is enormously beneficial. It makes sure that the ads are far more targeted on the individual which saves the time and money of both the advertising business and the consumer. However, if the uneasiness remains, don’t be surprised if you see some battles ensue.
The question for business owners and advertisers (also being consumers themselves) will be: which side of the fence will you come down on?
Posted in E-Commerce and E-Business, Marketing Your Business | No Comments »
Crazy Breakfast Making Cell Phones - Part II
April 16th, 2008
Okay, don’t freak…there was no Part I so don’t go looking for it. Well, there sort of was…this is simply an addendum to my previous post Oh So Textual! *Text Message Shopping Has Arrived*.
When you bought your cell phone did you ever imagine that one day it would allow you to pay for things? No seriously, your cell phone as a form of currency? Yeah, neither did I. But now you can. I know! It’s nuts!
Ok, so here’s how it works (courtesy StorefrontBacktalk.com):
Step 1: You download an applet on your phone. Said applet would be associated with a payment method, a password, and possibly another form of authentication.
Step 2: The retailer would have a piece of compatible software installed in their POS system.
Step 3: You shop in the store as you normally do, picking out items for purchase. When you’ve selected you bring your items to the cashier.
Step 4: The cashier scans the bar codes of your items and tells you the total.
Step 5: You enable the mobile payment app, type in your password, and punch in the exact amount of your total.
Step 6: If all goes well up to this point, the app will display a bar code that the cashier would then scan with the same bar code wand as they used to scan your products. The bar code would include the exact amount, a date/time stamp and expire within 60 seconds in case you want to abandon the purchase.
Here are some of the other things it would do:
- Update the credit limit—or bank account balance—that the consumer could still use. According to the patent holder/inventor, Bob Lovett, “The merchant’s scanner also outputs a barcode containing the product’s price. The cell phone’s camera makes a copy of the barcode and then converts it to dollars and updates your remaining balance. This will alert card holder when an account is overdrawn.”
- The phone’s payment data would include the consumer’s age which would theoretically accelerate purchases of age-restricted items (alcohol, cigarettes, fireworks, adult-themed magazines, etc.) as well as establish retailer due-diligence and enabling such purchases to go through self-checkout.
And here’s the kicker for merchants:
- This type of payment system will allow for cheaper handling of micro-payments. Merchants would keep a record of the small transactions in a spreadsheet and when the banks are least busy, they would send the spreadsheet to them for processing. It would cost around five to ten cents as opposed to the twenty-five they pay for Visa transactions.
Yeah…that’s awesome.
For the rest of the the StorefrontBacktalk.com article, including the reaction of the National Retail Federation and others click here.
Posted in In the News | No Comments »
Hula Girls - The Original Organic Fashionistas
April 15th, 2008
Grab your coconut bras and grass skirts and jump on the organic textiles bandwagon! More and more retailers are beginning to cater to green fashion and it would appear that it’s more than just a fad.
The reason for this? One day not long ago some forward thinking entrepreneurs realized that people will spend bucket loads of money on fashion…so why wouldn’t people do the same for organic clothing as well? They looked around and said to themselves “the only organic clothes available look like burlap sacks!” “Ces’t tres horrible!” they gasped in unison, aghast at the utter disaster of the whole situation. And thus the organic fashion revolution began. (and this obviously happened in France because that’s where the best revolutions take place…at least in fashion, right? and I think Al Gore was there too…)
**note the above story is purely hypothetical in nature and should be regarded as mere imagination on my part as to how this whole thing began…but however it happened, it’s here.
Now companies such as Linda Loudermilk and Figleaves.com are selling$230 bamboo jeans and100% organic cotton undies for $28. While the prices may seem steep there appears to be a market for these items…and it’s growing.
So if you are a would-be entrepreneur looking for an idea, use this as a starting place. The market has scarcely been tapped and if you play your cards right you might just get in on the ground level of a phenomenal retail trend. Plus, with more and more people becoming interested in this niche, someone’s bound to come up with a new way to manufacture these goods for the masses…will it be you?
Posted in In the News, Small Business Resources | No Comments »
Whose Side Is Your Accountant Really On?
April 10th, 2008
How would you feel about hiring an accountant who puts the interests of the IRS before those of you or your business? What’s that you say? You wouldn’t like it? That’s what I thought you’d say…but what if I told you you had to?
Unfortunately, that may be the case.
(I mean, I won’t force you to but a much stronger influence might…what was their name again?…..oh right! The Government.)
The Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 stipulates that those who prepare returns containing an understatement of tax due - which the preparer “knew or reasonably should have known” - will be subject to penalties amounting to “the greater of $1,000 or 50% of the income” the preparer received for that particular federal return.
The act also expands the definition of tax-return preparer to cover those handling any federal return, including those for estate, gift, excise, and employment tax.
According to a recent Fortune Small Business article there are a bevy of downsides to this new legislation including:
- The act has the potential to injure the close personal relationships many small businesses maintain with their accountants.
- Smaller businesses may need to prepare more documentation than previously required. In turn, accountants may be less apt to take clients at their word.
- In some extreme cases, accountants may ask for far less data, hoping they will be less liable the less they know, which would put more of the legal burden on entrepreneurs.
So it sounds a bit like intimidation doesn’t it? And it would appear that the government would end up with a lot of free (and somewhat covert) auditors. How do you plan to handle this new legislation? Are you going to write your congressman? Did you even know this tomfoolery was afoot?
And for those of you who do end up getting audited this tax season (for real) check out How to Survive an Audit of Your Business- And Live To Tell About It
Posted in Finance and Accounting | No Comments »
Oh So Textual! *Text Message Shopping Has Arrived*
April 7th, 2008
I remember the days when cell phones were exciting because they were cordless AND you could use them past your front porch without it crackling and buzzing you deaf. Then came the ringtones. And the cameras. And the text messages, email, internet, music and video. I can’t afford the latest and greatest (mine simply allows for phone calls and a few texts) but when they add a “Makes You Breakfast in Bed” feature I’ll seriously consider upgrading.
But as is, I, along with countless others, still possess the capability of participating in text shopping, the latest service offered by Amazon.com called TextBuyIt. Here’s how it works (courtesy detnews.com):
“It lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that’s “Amazon” on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work — including from inside physical stores.
If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results at a time. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two the selections by texting back the number “1″ or “2,” or they can ask for more by texting the letter “M.”
New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by text message and e-mail.
From there, the customers can check on order status on Amazon’s Website.”
First I just have to say that I think this is pretty awesome–as a consumer that is. I keep thinking that there is no way things can get easier and lo and behold, someone finds a way. I’m not so sure I would use this personally (remember, I’m too cheap to upgrade to a cooler cell phone so I’m not exactly a ’shopping on demand’ kind of person) but I do know that this service will likely be widely accepted by shoppers and replicated and perfected in different forms by Amazon’s top competitors.
So what kind of effect do you think this will have on brick and mortar stores? Or small businesses for that matter that do not possess the capabilities of offering such a service in order to compete with Amazon?
Posted in E-Commerce and E-Business, In the News | 2 Comments »
Times are lean, all the more reason to go green!
April 3rd, 2008
If you haven’t already been bombarded by all the wonderful and practical reasons you should take steps to making your business more earth friendly, you might have fallen down a dark well and have no way of getting out. If this is the case and you are reading this, please email someone for help. And then explain to me how you are getting wireless down there.
If you fall into the other category (and hopefully that is ALL of you reading this) then you are familiar with this buzz phrase “going green.” I’m not here to repeat what we already know about the basics. So I’ll just skip ahead to the juicy details.
The “going green” craze has swept our nation and in the midst of it all has been a wealth of opportunity for environmentally oriented businesses not to mention creating a market for new ones to crop up as well. Unfortunately, in the area of solar technology, there hasn’t been much competition. Til now.
A recent article (which explains the ins and outs of solar energy in detail) from CNNMoney.com states that “several startups, including HelioVolt in Austin, Miasol in Santa Clara, Calif., and Nanosolar in Palo Alto, are working on a new technology called flexible thin film that’s on the brink of making solar more competitive.” And you know what that means? It means that these companies are going to work harder to produce the best solar product and we all can benefit from this (including Mother Nature).
Solar power has been two to three times more expensive than traditional energy methods but with these companies working on a cheaper way to convert solar energy into usable energy, lower energy costs are dangling right in front of us. So check out this new solar energy technology as I’m sure you’d rather spend company funds on actually growing your business, not just powering it.
For more tips check out an article by our small business expert, Steve Strauss: Why Going Green Is Good For Business
Posted in In the News | No Comments »
Avoid Spring Cleaning (sort of) - 4 Ways to Clear Computer Clutter
April 1st, 2008
April 1st. Many know it by it’s widely known and celebrated OTHER name…April Fool’s Day. Unfortunately, for many others it’s also officially the first day of facing projects they’ve managed so diligently to put off all winter. And what is usually at the top of everyone’s list? That’s right, (cue Beethoven’s 5th):
Spring Cleaning!
(Yeah, I know…I thought maybe the happy colors would make it less painful but alas, there is no way to overcome the incredible demoralizing strength of those two words combined. They continue to stand the test of Time…and apparently the test of Color Wheel as well.)
Fortunately, I have an alternative for those who wish to avoid the catastrophes otherwise known as basements, garages and landscaping. Why not take this opportunity to a little spring cleaning–er–organizational restructuring for your business? Now I don’t mean you’re whole business. Just focus on your computer. It’s probably full of backlogged information that you could easily do without not only from an aesthetic aspect but also in the sense that getting rid of needless files and emails will make your computer run faster.
Courtesy ManageSmarter.com and My Computer Works, a PC repair company, here are 4 easy ways to clear your computer clutter:
1. Slow E-mail
Topping the list of performance issues for most people is e-mail problems. Some issues are caused by settings that are incorrectly entered into the e-mail application. However, it is possible to speed up Microsoft Outlook and other popular e-mail programs by archiving or pruning old e-mails, especially those with attachments. Deleting unneeded messages from the Sent folder and emptying the Deleted Items folder will also allow the software to open and operate smoothly.
2. Sluggish Operations
Another common problem is deteriorating PC performance. Boot-ups seem to take forever, applications don’t load as fast and the dreaded “blue screen of death” shows up more and more often. There are a number of things owners can do to improve the situation: defragment the hard drive using the Disk Defragmenter utility in Windows, remove unneeded personal files as well as old or unused programs, many of which get automatically loaded with new software whether you want them or not, remove unused programs. If run-time is still down after deleting the digital clutter, users should look into purchasing more RAM from a local retailer.
3. Security
Malware, spyware, viruses and other PC infections can slow PC performance, but they can also damage files and compromise highly confidential information such as email and financial data. It’s essential to install, and routinely update, anti-virus and anti-spyware/malware programs. Make sure the programs are set to scan files, e-mail and memory on a regular basis.
4. Periodic Cleanup/Backup
A little housekeeping can extend a PCs life and ensure that important information is never lost. Dust is a major problem with both laptops and desktop units; tower units are especially prone to dirt and dust since they usually sit on the floor. To clean a PC case, remove the side panel and use a can of compressed air to blow away dust. Never use a vacuum, as the suction causes static that can short-circuit delicate electronics. The last and perhaps most important task of all is to back up data at least weekly: PCs are replaceable, but photos, videos, financials and business data can be lost forever.
Taking the time to give your computer a little love will likely save you time and gray hairs…so grab a snack, plop down in front of that PC and knock it out. Come on, it’s gotta be better than whatever is waiting for you in the attic, right?
Posted in E-Commerce and E-Business | No Comments »
Social Shopping Sites Bring More Opportunity to Small Businesses
March 31st, 2008
Interesting thing isn’t it? How the internet has completely replaced the need to leave your house to buy things. Shopping malls were once the great meccas of consumerism. What a shame….What’s that you say? They still are? Oh….how is that possible? The internet has EVERYTHING and you don’t even have to get off your duff to get it!
Sarcasm aside, in spite of the incredible convenience the internet affords, people are still flocking to malls around the world to find what they are looking for. So why is that? I thought the internet was supposed to make things easier?
The reason for this according to a recent Inc.com article, is that while shopping can be done individually, it is largely a social activity. We rely on recommendations from our friends and family to locate sources for certain products we may be interested in because we trust these people to give us good leads. In the internet world, all we’ve had to rely on are the search results Google and the like produce for us which, as we savvy internet users have come to find out, is based primarily on variables that do not have the consumer in mind, often producing the most prominent (read “well known”) sites first.
We’re in luck though. Smart entrepreneurs have recognized this and are doing something about it. For the first time, we are starting to see websites dedicated to tailoring the online shopping experience directly towards the consumer. Sites such as ThisNext, Shoposphere and Kaboodle are what is called “social shopping” sites. And here’s what they do:
- Features recommendations by friends and like-minded shoppers
- Gives authority users based on quality recommendations
- Display a wider array of smaller (and arguably cooler) brands/businesses
As a small business marketer here’s how and why you can use these sites to grow your business:
- It’s zero cost if you do it right. For example, on ThisNext, if you fill out a “Shopcast” including one of your products, it will likely generate interest and click throughs to your website.
- Again, done correctly, you could also end up forming a mini army of volunteer brand evangelists. Word of mouth is still a very valuable marketing tool. The same applies for the internet.
- You will see not only a rise in web traffic but also in sales. Topo Ranch, a t-shirt company, stated that after posting their original Shopcast, their “daily Web traffic has increased by almost a third and sales have risen 165 percent.” The numbers don’t lie.
Just remember to be a responsible member of these communities. Many of them self police anyway but you cannot approach it from a strict marketing standpoint. Don’t be intrusive and abuse the system. Merely develop good relationships and allow it to work for you.
Posted in E-Commerce and E-Business, Generating More Sales, Marketing Your Business | No Comments »
The Online Shoppers Cometh - Are You Ready(eth?)
March 26th, 2008
Well friends, it’s finally happened. People are now officially computer savvy. Or at least according to a 2007 Forrester Research report almost 75% of us have learned how to successfully shop online and the the number of late comers to the internet party continues to dwindle each year. That’s great news for online businesses! But it’s also a bit of a double edged sword.
These findings indicate that more and more people are getting familiar with navigating the internet and therefore learning how different websites hinder or facilitate their online shopping experiences. And guess what that means? It means that on the whole, people’s expectations are much higher–and growing alongside their experience.
So what does this mean for you? Well, quite simply it means that your emphasis on getting customers to your site should now be shifting to retaining customers. People are now quite comfortable with turning to the internet to get whatever products they need so you know that the traffic is there. You must now “wow” these customers with your quality of service and streamlined shopping experience. If customers think, even for a split second, that it’s too difficult to find what they’re looking for on your site, they’ll be out of there faster than you can blink.
So do yourself a favor and invest a little time and money into making your website stellar! Visit our Ecommerce and Ebusines Articles for more advice, tips and info!
Posted in E-Commerce and E-Business | No Comments »
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