Deliver Security & Convenience to Your Customers by Offering Ship to a UPS Access Point TM Location

Author: Ashley Overton  |  July 10, 2018

shq-ups-access-pointConvenience is one of the key factors turning customers to online shopping. As a way to expand that same convenience and positive experience to delivery, we have teamed up with UPS® to make it simple for retailers to offer the option to ship to a UPS Access Point location to their customers. The UPS Access PointTM program allows these retailers to ship orders to nearby retail locations, so customers have a secure location to hold and pickup orders.

UPS launched their UPS Access Point program in New York City and Chicago in 2014. At that time, the program proved to be a great option for those living in large cities filled with apartments and hard working individuals. It then expanded to additional cities in 2015. And, due to its success, there are now nearly 9,000 UPS Access Point locations in the United States alone.

A Convenient Alternative to In-Store Pickup

45% of millennials prefer to have packages shipped somewhere other than their home.

UPS Access Point locations take the convenience of In-Store pickup to the next level. It allows customers to avoid the rush in the store while giving them the option to pick up their order at a closer location with extended evening and weekend hours. Offering extended pickup hours is a huge plus for those who work and have busy schedules, it allows them to pick up their packages on their own time without hassle.

And, to add to the fun, customers are normally faced with lower shipping costs when choosing the option. Shipping costs are a determining factor for many online shoppers. If faced with high shipping costs, many will abandon cart and move on to a competitor.  By shipping to a commercial location within the UPS Access PointTM network, you will be presented with lower costs which opens the option of enhancing customer experience and beating out the competition with lower rates at checkout.

Make sure the delivery reaches the customer

The ship to UPS Access Point option is also becoming increasingly popular due to the security it offers.

We’ve all seen videos showing individuals snatching packages from doorsteps, leaving customers frustrated not only at the thief, but the retailer as well. The retailer is then faced with a tough decision: Do you replace and resend the item for free? Or risk your customer leaving a bad review due to an extremely negative delivery experience although you have done your part in getting the item to its destination?

With UPS Access PointTM delivery, both the retailer and their customer can be rest assured that the delivery will be safely held until the customer is ready to pick it up. Which means you aren’t left with the cost of sending the item again and will have greater visibility on who is picking up the delivery. In turn, you should see an increase in customer satisfaction.

How you can offer UPS Access Point delivery

Both ShipperHQ and UPS work to help our merchants stay ahead of the curve by giving them the tools they need to easily move their businesses forward.  Both companies understand that an excellent shopping experience has to include great shipping options, so we have come together to offer retailers a Free ShipperHQ Plan for Ship to UPS Access Point.

You can easily sign up for your Free Ship to UPS Access Point Plan and activate UPS Access Point option in your checkout by signing up for a UPS account and setting up Ship to a UPS Access Point location information as a carrier in ShipperHQ.

If you already have a ShipperHQ account, or would like to upgrade your ShipperHQ account so you have access to all the bells and whistles, you’re in luck! Every ShipperHQ plan offers UPS Access Point delivery as a small package option. You will have the option to customize your UPS carriers with restrictions, discounts, surcharges and much more.

Contact us to learn more about how you can upgrade to a Standard, Pro or Enterprise ShipperHQ plan for free through the UPS Customer Technology Program (CTP).

Link to full article

Sales Tax on Shipping Charges, Demystified

Author: Jennifer Dunn  |  July 2, 2018
tax-1-min

As an online seller, when you think of “shipping issues,” your first thought probably has something to do with finding the lowest rate or fastest route from your warehouse to your
customer. But another shipping issue many sellers don’t consider is whether or not the shipping fees you charge your customers are taxable.

This post will explain when shipping is taxable, when it isn’t, and how to handle shipping taxability in your online business.

Shipping Taxability 101

As an online seller, you’re likely already aware that, in the US, you are required to collect sales tax from buyers in states where you have sales tax nexus. And, as an online seller, chances are you ship all, or at least most, of your products to your customers. But did you know that many states consider shipping charges to be taxable, too?

Depending on a state’s sales tax laws, the price you charge to actually ship a product to your customer may be subject to sales tax, just like the price of the item. Here’s a list of states where shipping is taxable.

In practical application, this means that if you are required to collect sales tax on a product, you are often required to collect sales tax on shipping charges, too. Let’s look at some examples.

Example transaction where shipping is taxable:

Jane sells a $100 lamp and charges $10 in shipping fees to a buyer in a state where shipping is taxable.  The sales tax rate is 5%. In this case, Jane is required to charge the 5% sales tax rate on $110 (the price of the lamp plus the shipping fee.) She’d charge a total of $115.50 to her buyer.

Example transaction where shipping is not taxable:

In this case, Jane sells the same $100 lamp and charges $10 in shipping fees to a buyer in a state where shipping is NOT taxable. The sales tax rate is, again, 5%. In this case, Jane is only required to charge the 5% sales tax rate on the $100 price of the lamp, but not on the $10 shipping fee. So, to this buyer, she would charge only $115.00.

Seems simple enough, right? Well, there are a few caveats we should warn you about.

Exceptions to the Shipping Taxability Rules

State laws were written before eCommerce – You can read what each state’s tax laws say about sales tax on shipping charges here. But you might notice that some of these laws don’t seem to make a lot of sense from the point of view of an eCommerce seller. That’s because many state sales tax laws were written before eCommerce became as prevalent as it is today. Fortunately, most states have re-interpreted their laws to apply to online sales, and you can generally find guidance either by visiting a state’s website or by giving your state’s taxing authority a call.

You are delivering products in your own vehicle – Most of the state sales tax laws referred to above are specific to sellers who use a “common carrier” to deliver products. A common carrier is a service like FedEx, UPS or the USPS which anybody can use to ship products. Many states have different laws for sellers who deliver products in their own trucks or other delivery vehicles, so double check with your state’s taxing authority if this sounds like your situation.

Where shipping is not taxable, delivery charges must be separately stated – Another important thing to note is that most states who do not require sellers to charge sales tax on shipping fees require that those fees be separately stated on the invoice. To curtail any problems with taxing authorities, just be sure that you always state the cost of shipping separately from the price of the item.

Sometimes shipping and handling is taxable – In at least two states, Virginia and Maryland, shipping is not taxable, but handling is.  And if those two charges are combined into one “shipping & handling” charge, then the entire charge is taxable. Confusing, right?

Be careful how you treat mixed taxability shipments – In some states, items like clothing, groceries and medicine are not taxable. And in general, if an item is not taxable, then the shipping charge to ship that item is not taxable either. However, you may run into a situation where a buyer has bought a mix of taxable and non-taxable items from you. In most cases, you can simply either weigh or value the items, and only charge sales tax on the shipping charges for the taxable items. But you always want to double check with the state, because sometimes their laws on how to tax mixed taxability shipments differ.

I hope this blog post has helped you determine when (and when not) to collect sales tax on shipping charges. For a whole lot more about sales tax, check out our Sales Tax 101 for Online Sellers guide.

TaxJar is a service that makes sales tax reporting and filing simple for more than 10,000 online sellers.  Try a 30-day-free trial of TaxJar today and eliminate sales tax compliance headaches from your life!

About the Author

Jennifer Dunn is the Chief of Content at TaxJar, the leading sales tax compliance software for online sellers. Try a 30-day free trial of TaxJar and put a lid on sales tax!

Link to full article

ShipperHQ and GDPR: Important Information for ShipperHQ Customers

Author: Daniel Ziegler  |  June 4, 2018

If you do or your company operate in the EU or European Economic Area (EEA) or if you do business with anyone located there you’ve likely already heard about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that goes into effect today. In essence, GDPR is a set of laws and regulations backed by stiff penalties that apply to all organizations worldwide who collect, store, or process information about individuals in the EU. Since GDPR is a far-reaching and complex set of laws and regulations it’s important to seek other resources to understand GDPR and your obligations under it. For example, IAPP and DMA provide useful resources and companies like MailChimp and DotMailer have done an excellent job of compiling important information you should know.

We’ve always placed a high value on the privacy of the information shared with us by merchants using ShipperHQ. Because of this and by keeping the personal information we gather to the minimum required for ShipperHQ’s functionality, we’ve been compliant with many of the requirements of GDPR for a long time and nothing changes in how ShipperHQ functions. In the past few months, we’ve undergone an extensive review of our policies and procedures and can confirm that effective May 25th, 2018 we are compliant with GDPR.

We’ve taken a number of steps to ensure compliance:

  • Updated our User Agreement to make privacy and data handling much more clearly defined for ShipperHQ customers
  • Updated our Privacy Policy with additional tools and safeguards for your data and your customers’ data
  • Provide an optional Data Processing Addendum (DPA) providing additional protection to our customers who need it
  • Compiled a list of sub-processors we use which is available to our customers
  • Established training for current and future employees in data privacy

To help you understand how these changes impact you and your customers, we’ve also compiled this summary. This summary is not legal advice but we hope it serves as a useful outline for you. If you have a ShipperHQ account and are impacted by GDPR it’s important that you understand what we’re doing to be compliant by reading our updated Privacy Policy and User Agreement and contacting us if you have any questions.

For Retailers Using ShipperHQ

We collect some information from you when you set up your ShipperHQ account or as you set up additional features and functionality. This information can include:

  1. Your name and contact info so that we can get in touch with you about your account or, if you allow us to, send product updates and messages about new features from us or our partners.
  2. Billing information which might include credit or debit card details, billing addresses, or bank details. This information is only used to pay for your ShipperHQ account.
  3. Information you provide while setting up your ShipperHQ account which may include warehouse addresses, account details for your service providers, etc. This information is only ever used to allow ShipperHQ to do what you tell it to do.
  4. Information from shipping quote requests you send to ShipperHQ while using our system. See the section for Customers of Retailers below for more information on what information is collected and how we use it. 

If you’re using ShipperHQ, you’re also providing us with some information about your customers. This information and how it’s used is explained more fully below but it’s important to understand that it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the right to collect this information from your customers and protect this information while it is in any system you control and while it’s being sent to us.

Your data is your own

All of the configuration and usage information in your ShipperHQ account is your data. For personal information contained in configuration and usage data, you can ask us at any time to remove this information from our system and we will do that within a reasonable timeframe. Since this data is used to enable specific functionality in ShipperHQ, if you ask us to delete some or all of your data we may inform you that this will mean you can not use certain functionality or would need to cancel your ShipperHQ account entirely. If this is the case, the decision is always yours under the terms of our User Agreement.

We are required by law to keep a record of some information for a certain amount of time even if you cancel your ShipperHQ account. We will only keep the information required by law and let you know exactly what we will keep and for how long if requested. It may not be possible to delete some information immediately (for example, when stored in a backup system) even if we’re allowed to by law but if so this information will be prevented from being used until it can be deleted.

In order to provide our team with additional information to ensure that ShipperHQ operates correctly or to improve the operation of ShipperHQ we aggregate some data from all of our customers. We also may use aggregated data for marketing purposes, for example to describe the number of shipping quote requests processed by ShipperHQ. When used for any of these purposes, the data is fully anonymized and extremely limited so that no one can identify data originating from you or your customers. You can request that we do not use your data in this way or a full explanation of exactly what data may be used and how by contacting us.

We safeguard your data

We employ industry-standard best practices to keep your data safe including a variety of security practices and tools internally to make sure that members of the ShipperHQ team only have access to the information they need to do their job.

If we identify any data breaches which may expose personal information, we will notify you as appropriate and work with you to take whatever steps are necessary to address the issue.

ShipperHQ uses some third party applications or services (sub-processors) in order to operate correctly and your data may pass through or be stored by these applications as described in our Privacy Policy and User Agreement. These may include providers of application hosting or storage, payment processors, or analytics tools. All sub-processors used by ShipperHQ agree to protect your data with the same or greater security practices used by ShipperHQ and no sub-processor is permitted to access your data except for the specific purpose of ShipperHQ’s operational needs. You can contact us at any time for a list of sub-processors used by ShipperHQ.

For Customers of Retailers Using ShipperHQ

If you shop on a website which uses ShipperHQ, we may collect some information that you provide to that website in order to give you shipping information on behalf of the retailer. This information may include: your name, your company name, contact information such as telephone number or email address, the address you are shipping to, or other pieces of data required to provide you with shipping information.

We limit our use of your data

We store all of the information we collect about a shipping information request for up to 90 days in order to allow us to support the retailers using our system. This information is only used by our technical support team to identify issues when necessary and access is limited to only those members of our team who need access to do their job.

We also store a very limited set of information indefinitely. This information may include the city, state or region, post or ZIP code, and country that you enter as well as the total weight, price, and quantity of the products in your order. This information is used to give the retailer you are buying from analytical information about shipping information requests. This information may also be anonymized in such a way that no one can reasonably identify you and used by ShipperHQ to track performance of our system or for marketing purposes.

Your data is your own

At any time you can ask the retailer using ShipperHQ to request that all of your data is deleted. They can request that ShipperHQ deletes your information and we will do so as described in our User Agreement with that retailer.

For All Visitors to Our Websites

We use standard tools for tracking visitors to our website. This is in the form of cookies that are stored on the device you use to browse our website. This information is used so that we can see how visitors are interacting with our website and measure the success of our online marketing. You can use your web browser settings to stop us from creating or using these cookies at any time but if you do so you may not be able to use certain features or functionality of our websites.

If You Have Questions

We want you to know how we use your information and what your rights are with respect to your data. You can find full details in our Privacy Policy and User Agreement or contact us if you have any questions.

If you expect to collect and send to us information which is more sensitive than usual, operate in or work with companies or individuals within the European Economic Area or EU, or if you otherwise need additional safeguards than those provided by our standard policies, please contact us to discuss an additional Data Processing Addendum (DPA).

Link to full article

Google API Usage

Author: Karen Baker  |  May 25, 2018

Google are changing their API pricing and terms of use in a big way from June 11th 2018, with changes to both free usage limits, calculation of charges and their prices. These changes are significant and we are behind the scenes exploring the impact and next steps.

ShipperHQ uses Google Maps APIs for some of our advanced features, you may have received an email regarding your Google API key if you use these features.

We will provide an update here shortly, including any actions required by our users.

Read more about these changes from Google

 

Link to full article

Getting the Most out of Magento Imagine 2018

Author: Karen Baker  |  April 17, 2018

In my experience, years ago IT professionals were not a particularly sociable bunch. I recall once attending a work IT event in London and remarking to a female colleague friend that we should have gone for a degree in Marketing as I’m sure it would have been a lot more fun!

But things change – geek is the new cool and luckily in the Magento Community there are a truly diverse set of individuals. Not just programmers, but marketers, salespeople, managers, social media types, devops, entrepreneurs, merchants, etc., etc.  Which is really what makes Magento Imagine a great event.  It’s not yet been totally taken over by the corporates, the high rollers or the VC guys, its still got some soul. Maintaining that soul is a challenge but as with any event you find your group, and luckily with 1500+ people attending, there should be enough variety to keep you amused! Imagine 2017 photo (powering tomorrow)

What Makes Imagine Special?

I attend a lot of events around the world, including IRCE, Shop.org and dev events such as RailsConf.  My personal take on what makes Imagine special is that it’s small enough to be intimate, but large enough to be interesting.  The money is available, nothing is skimped on, nice lunches, great evening events, and great keynote speakers.

This intimacy allows several things to happen:

  1. You can find like-minded people who have similar stories/histories as you
  2. People are open and friendly – you get a good dose of American hospitality and it’s truly infectious
  3. Time to relax and rewind – many of us work extremely hard at our companies, the event really allows you to sit back and consume
  4. You don’t feel harassed – it will be interesting to see if this changes this year, but in previous years even though there is an exhibition hall, it doesn’t feel like you need to avoid all eye contact when walking around!

In my mind all of this is invaluable as you get this rather unique opportunity to meet new people, make new associations and connections. Some of them may be direct leads, but in my experience, I’ve found peers who have become friends, people I can turn to when I need a listening ear, or just guys to have a chat with on Twitter or the forums.  When you are back in your little office it makes you feel like you belong to something bigger and thats a great feeling.

What are Your Goals?

Before you attend any conference you should understand what you want to get out of the event. They’re expensive; its not just an excuse to party and your company will want you to get the most out of it.  It’s extremely important to be prepared. In particular, set up meetings in advance and make sure you know the agenda if you have a lot to cram in, otherwise it turns to chaos. We bring along my PA Jane who manages the whole team and their schedule throughout the event, thats how crazy it gets for us (after 6pm she is allowed to party though!!).

When we first started doing events we had little understanding on how many business cards we could pick up. Now we schedule time for networking, time to be together as a team, time to switch off, etc. We do set our goals out in advance – what we want to achieve, what people we want to speak to, what we want to understand about the product, the roadmap, etc.  This drives our schedule.

My Advice for Newbies

I’ve been attending Imagine since its inception in 2011 and this year we are Gold sponsors.  I think if you are attending Imagine for the first time it can be a little daunting, especially now as a lot of people know each other. I can see that it can be hard, especially if you are more of a shy kind of person.  So here are some tips:

  1. If you are bringing a team make sure you get some ‘team time’ – I always take the team on a team building exercise. One year we went buggy riding before Imagine and then afterward spent three days in Zion National Park. It was great to just say thanks to the guys and also allow a triple-continent team spend time ‘bonding’.
  2. Don’t be afraid to walk up to people – I think of it a little like speed-dating and a lot of people at the conference will do it. But it’s not all about work; use it as an opportunity to learn from others and listen to their stories. You never know who you will meet! And if you find no commonality then just shake hands, swap cards and move on. I’m sure neither side will be offended.
  3. Keep the booze under control – Remember it is a work event and anything you do will be noted and remembered and shared – especially with the advent of live streaming. I’d say just be aware of your actions.
  4. Attend the events around the edges of the conference – PreImagine is a great one as its a community run event. You often find little parties going on here and there away from the main event, and even a few after-after-parties.
  5. Sleep well in advance – It’s a very hectic few days. If you plan to make the absolute most of it, then be prepared to be up at 8am and going to bed at 2am.
  6. Find quiet time – Sometimes during the day I just escape to a place in the hotel away from the noise and chill for a bit. Personally I love it after 12am – most people have gone off and you can wander down to the tables and have some fun with the die hard crew.
  7. Forget Email – You just need to put on the out of office, have faith in your team and forget about outside life. Trying to juggle is nearly impossible and you will miss out on a valuable experience. Just immerse yourself and trust your colleagues to hold down the fort.

If you are a Merchant

For Merchants attending Imagine I’d encourage you to do a few things:

  1. Try to speak to as many merchants as possible – Attend the Merchant-to-Merchant sessions and try to connect. The snippets you can share with each other will be invaluable and its my experience that many merchants go through exactly the same experiences, highs and lows, so connect up!
  2. Be open to new experiences, new ideas, new ways of thinking – Let go of your day-to-day work for a few days and open up to the possibilities. Yes there is a reality bump at the end but its okay to think outside the box for a few days, it won’t harm you and it may help drive some new thinking.Imagine 2016 Booth Photo
  3. Have some key things you wish to achieve and then search for those people to help you – Whether that be  needing help with shipping, payments, marketing, a design agency, etc.
  4. Ask people for referrals – It’s all very well and good going around the exhibition hall, but referrals count for a lot. Ask around. There is a big community of people there, many of whom are very familar with the Magento space. If you need a particular capability or want to know the best design agency that will fit your needs, budget then ask. I’m sure you will find people to advise you, or if they can’t,they will point you in the right direction.
  5. Understand Magento – Its path, where it’s going, what the roadmap is – this helps you in your decisions not just today but 12 months down the line when next year’s Imagine is ramping up. Attending the Keynotes is a great way to get/stay in-the-know.

And lastly, if you can’t make it follow @ShipperHQ & @WebShopApps on Twitter. We’ll be keeping you informed with live updates whilst we are there.

If you are attending then have fun, enjoy this time. You are in Vegas – there is ‘free’ food and drink, you are with people that are like you.

You can find our team at Booth 307, and we’ll be available for meetings throughout the event. If you have any questions around shipping you should set aside some time to chat with us. You can set up a meeting with Karen and the team to learn more about how we can work together to make shipping simple.

See you there!

Link to full article

PreImagine 2018 Sponsor Spotlight: Vertex

Author: Ashley Overton  |  April 2, 2018

Vertex Magento Imagine Image

Although this is Vertex‘s first year attending PreImagine, they have had their partnership with Magento and offered simplified sales tax for Magento merchants for 3 years. They also had the wonderful opportunity to announce the signing of their Premier Partnership at last year’s Imagine event!

Vertex provides cloud and on-premis solutions that can be tailored to specific industries for every major line of tax, including sales and use, income, value-added and payroll. Merchants faced with the challenges of selling online, can access the software directly from the Magento dashboard in order to automate their sales tax collections.

Erin Kissling, Partner Marketing Manager at Vertex, sheds some light on what it’s like to be apart of the Magento community and what they are looking forward to as PreImagine newbies this year.

Where will you be traveling to Las Vegas from? 

We are based in King of Prussia, PA right outside of Philadelphia where a majority of us will be traveling in from. I hope everyone is ready to hear about how proud we are of our recent Eagles Super Bowl Championship and debate about who has the best cheesesteaks. I will definitely be requesting “Motown Philly” at Pre-Imagine.

We also have a few members of team traveling in from Georgia and Texas – we are working on converting them to Eagles fans.

What does being apart of the Magento Community mean to you?

Being a part of the Magento Community is truly unique and inclusive. I can honestly say that Magento and other partners have welcomed us with open arms to this ecosystem! We have not only been able to help merchants with their sales tax needs, but we have built friendships and comradery with others in the community. With so many Magento merchants powered by Vertex and the most recent core bundled integration, our Magento Premier Partner could not be more important to us.

We are always growing and learning. Is there any one thing you would like to learn during the conference as a whole?

I am always excited for breakout sessions that focus on the merchant perspective to learn about their view surrounding the checkout experience, site performance, and efficiencies. Hearing directly from merchants is always so insightful and allows us as partners to ensure we are providing them the most streamlined tax offering for their online store.

Additionally I am looking forward to attending the payments panel and hearing what is new in the 2.2.4 release.

How many years has Vertex attended PreImagine? How many as a sponsor?

This is so exciting for Vertex because it is our first year attending and sponsoring PreImagine. Our team is looking forward to spending time with the community and partners.

Why did Vertex decide to sponsor PreImagine this year?

We have been so welcomed by Magento and other partners and felt like we wanted to support the community. Karen Baker was so nice to invite Vertex to participate in an Austin Meetup in February – everyone at the Meetup was raving about how great of an event it was. We wanted to support Karen and the awesome ShipperHQ team in their famous event! How Karen included us in the Meetup is a prime example of how welcoming this community is as a whole.

What is your favorite memory from past PreImagines?

We are looking forward to creating some this year! I can’t wait to have this answer ready to go for 2019.

What are you looking forward to most this year?

We are looking forward to networking with the amazing Magento community. I am really excited to see what swag everyone sends and what unique theme everyone comes up with.

I am also excited to cut some rug and dance! Hopefully I will be physically able to still move after the Big Dam Run – TBD.

What would you list as the biggest benefit of attending PreImagine?

We are looking forward to reuniting and networking with others in the community. We all know we will be swamped during the Imagine show, so it will be great to hear how everyone is doing and catching up! I am so excited to see other partners and Magento team members that I don’t get a chance to see often. It is always fascinating to me to network and learn from others in the community – I think sometimes it’s so easy to just focus on what your solution offers. It’s really great to be able to hear from other solution and technology partners about the value they bring to the Magento platform and the problems they solve for merchants.

Do you have any advice for first time attendees?

Since we are newbies, I do not have any advice but if anyone has any – email me! I am all ears!

Are you exhibiting at Magento Imagine? If so, do you want to share anything exciting you have in store for people visiting your booth?

Vertex is a proud Platinum Sponsor of Imagine and we will be at booth #421. Our booth is going to be full of fun people, unique swag, and all of the answers to your sales tax questions!

Link to full article

PreImagine 2018 Sponsor Spotlight: MageMojo

Author: Ashley Overton  |  March 12, 2018

20170402_191026This will be MageMojo‘s third year attending and sponsoring PreImagine! Their team joined the Magento community in 2009 and have actively shown their support by working to make improvements within the community.

MageMojo is a hosting company built by Magento developers. They focus only on Magento hosting which allows them to provide a level of support unseen in the industry. They also develop code, write crons, drink MageMojitos and love to have fun!

We had the wonderful opportunity to interview Edward Vigil, Director of Marketing and Sales at MageMojo. This witty interview will have you prepared for PreImagine as he shares past experiences and how to best navigate the event.

Where will you be traveling to Las Vegas from?

NYC baby…..and Texas yeeha…..also PA, Michigan and Ohio. We are from everywhere – that’s what makes us great!

We are incorporated out of the great state of New York, but our teams are all over the world. We like not having boundaries in seeking our talent, so we search for the best no matter where they live.

What does being a part of the Magento Community mean to you?

Since we joined the community, we have worked to understand what the community needs most. All of our success has come from understanding issues raised by the community and finding ways to solve them.

We help facilitate a platform to discuss our experience and hear from others about their triumphs and issues.

20170402_191009We are always growing and learning. Is there any one thing you would like to learn during this year’s conference?

The Magento roadmap – what’s going on in the Magento Universe. Find out what the community is working on, the problems they have and how we can help…and of course see who jumps in the pool this year!

How would you describe your first PreImagine experience?

Oh, that Karen :)

What did you find most enjoyable about sponsoring and attending PreImagine last year?

Our CTO, Martin Pachol, got detained by security. We pretended to be working on getting him released. Never heard how he got released…hmmm

His expense report was creative!

What do you plan to do different this year to improve your experience?

Sleep less..haha….We are trying to meet and get to know as many new people as we can and also make time for our old friends. We had to get a booth twice as big this year so you can all come visit!

What are you looking forward to most this year?

The camaraderie of the Magento community, seeing old friends and meeting this Magneto everyone keeps talking about.

What would you list as the biggest benefit of attending PreImagine?

Sets a great tone for the days ahead. We get to see friends having a good time and get a headstart on networking. Always easier to get some face time with Magento celebs at PreImagine including the ShipperHQ team.

20170402_181439Do you have any advice for first time attendees?

Find your Mojo and go hard. You’re gonna love it!

Are you exhibiting at Magento Imagine? If so, do you want to share anything exciting you have instore for people visiting your booth?

Swag, Swag and more SWAG! Stop by for free shirts and we thought of a cool poster with Magento database layouts you have to checkout… Get your Mojo here baby!


Link to full article

PreImagine 2018 Sponsor Spotlight: Dotmailer

Author: Ashley Overton  |  March 7, 2018

Dotmailer started as a Magento SI in 2012 and has been an active part of the community since. Their team is joining us for another year of fun and networking as a PreImagine sponsor.

WinstonsDotmailer is now a marketing automation platform with email at its core empowering B2B, B2C and eCommerce businesses. Their software enables marketers in 150 countries to use advanced data to design, test and send powerful automated campaigns.

Lindsay Mearman, Marketing Manager at Dotmailer, took some time to share her expertise on the Magento and PreImagine experience.

Where will you be traveling to Las Vegas from? 

Most of our staff will be traveling from NYC, we also have a few people traveling from our London office.

What does being a part of the Magento Community mean to you?

With a strong B2B background but limited B2C dotmailer decided to relocate the Magento expertise from within the agency to focus on building an industry leading integration with Magento. With now over 500 Magento merchants powered by dotmailer and a Magento Premier Partner our relationship with Magento couldn’t be more important to us.

How would you describe your first PreImagine experience?

A party and networking event like no other, it’s simply an event you can’t afford to miss

What did you find most enjoyable about sponsoring and attending PreImagine last year?

The opportunity to meet and networking with most of Magento’s greatest, smartest and most loyal community members.

What do you plan to do different this year to improve your experience?

We didn’t resource heavily enough for direct new business sales, and 2017 shocked us with a much higher merchant turnout than previous years.

What are you looking forward to most this year?

Same as every year, the comfiness of the beds in the Wynn, especially after an entire day on your feet and miles of walking.

Image uploaded from iOS-2What would you list as the biggest benefit of attending PreImagine?

Nurturing relationships with our partners and clients.

Do you have any advice for first time attendees?

Don’t be shy, introduce yourself to as many as people as possible. Everyone is kind and friendly, and it’s the best opportunity you have in 2018 to build connections.

Are you exhibiting at Magento Imagine?

Yes, Dotmailer will be exhibiting at Imagine.

 

Link to full article

PreImagine 2018 Sponsor Spotlight: Classy Llama

Author: Ashley Overton  |  February 22, 2018

Classy Llama has been apart of the Magento Community since their inception in 2010, and has played a role in the growth of the community providing various additions to the code base and being an active contributor across the agency, merchant, and technology space. They have attended every PreImagine event since it started in 2012 and sponsored for the very first time last year!

The team focuses on development, marketing, and consulting services for online merchants considering or already on the Magento platform. They are creative, caring, and credentialed eCommerce professionals who provide a holistic approach to business needs.

We had the wonderful opportunity to interview Paul Ebisch, President of Classy Llama, about their past PreImagine and Imagine experiences and learned more about what they look forward to this year.

17758614_1247272231989180_7429917526687209119_oWhere will you be traveling to Las Vegas from?

We will be traveling from the land of Llamas in Springfield, MO.

What does being apart of the Magento Community mean to you?

The value of being in the Magento Community has been vast given it is a unique space where businesses have come together tackle shared issues that face eCommerce on a daily basis.

What did you find most enjoyable about sponsoring and attending PreImagine last year?

It is always a blast to see as many from the Magento community early on at Imagine. It takes the energy level up a notch with excitement to hear how everyone is doing.

What are you looking forward to most this year? 

Seeing what kinds of merchants are being attracted to the new Magento platform.

What would you list as the biggest benefit of attending PreImagine?

The opportunity to connect in face-to-face interactions with those we work with virtually throughout the Magento Community.

Do you have any advice for first time attendees?

Get a stuffed llama early on.

17632283_1241606619222408_5913266308139929168_oAre you exhibiting at Magento Imagine? If so, do you want to share anything exciting you have in-store for people visiting your booth?

Classy Llama will be exhibiting and highlighting our work in the technical SEO space within the Magento platform. And, as always, we will have all new llama swag to share with the world.

Link to full article

PreImagine 2018 Sponsor Spotlight: Subscribe Pro

Author: Ashley Overton  |  February 13, 2018

Dashboard-Screenshot-GrowthSubscribe Pro was born out of a Magento development agency and their founder has been working with Magento since the early days. The company is extremely involved in the Magento Community and are no stranger to PreImagine. They made their first appearance in 2013, and have even been involved as sponsors in the past.

Subscribe Pro is the leading SaaS subscription commerce solution for Magento. They integrate closely with Magento and allow merchants to run replenishment, club and membership subscription programs. Subscribe Pro works to help brands increase the average customer lifetime value (LTV) for their most loyal customers.

We interviewed Garth Brantley, CEO of Subscribe Pro, to get insight on the Subscribe Pro PreImagine experience and to see what they look forward to most this year:

Where will you be traveling to Las Vegas from? 

We will be travelling from Baltimore, MD, home of the Ravens and Orioles, where we are based.

What does being apart of the Magento Community mean to you?

Absolutely the best part of working with Magento is the Community. It has been humbling to witness what this community can do and it’s an honor to be able to give back a little bit by supporting events such as #preimagine.

We are always growing and learning. Is there any one thing you would like to learn during this year’s conference?

Yes, learning and growth makes life great, and is essential in eCommerce and any tech related field. I’d say I’m most excited to learn about what other folks in the industry are doing to apply new technologies to expand eCommerce beyond the web. Things like PWA’s, Alexa, Google Home, etc.

Also, AI has been hot in the wider tech world for a while now and I’m pretty excited to learn about new ways it’s being applied to eCommerce.

How would you describe your first PreImagine experience?

I want to say that was maybe 2013? I remember baking in the hot sun around the pool at the M hotel and developers downing shots of vodka.

What did you find most enjoyable about sponsoring and attending PreImagine last year?

PreImagine has consistently been the most enjoyable industry networking event I’ve attended. The level of energy and enthusiasm from a diverse range of attendees is always inspiring.

What do you plan to do different this year to improve your experience?

Last year our travel schedules had us dealing with logistics issues during the event. We plan arrive early and maximize time spent enjoying the event and engaging with our fellow Magento Community members.

What are you looking forward to most this year?

Excited to see what the new venue and larger capacity bring for the event.

What would you list as the biggest benefit of attending PreImagine?

Networking with a diverse range of folks from the industry.

Do you have any advice for first time attendees?

Arrive early and rested, pre-hydrate.

Are you exhibiting at Magento Imagine? If so, do you want to share anything exciting you have in-store for people visiting your booth?

Yes. We’re pretty excited about the conference this year in general, and we’re lining up some fun goodies for the booth.

Link to full article