China has closed tens of thousands of factories across the nation this summer, targeting “heavy polluters.” Reportedly, the new Ministry of Environment is employing this method to lower pollution levels, which have skyrocketed during China’s period of industrial growth. E-commerce owners who source from China will want to reach out to their suppliers to check that products will still be available and how it may affect prices. Read below for the full article and to see which specific regions will be affected.
Speaking of e-commerce, if you are, or know, a government official or city planner passionate about having an Amazon headquarters in your city, you can now submit a proposal for why you think they should build their new 50,000 person office in your town here Founder Thomas Smale actually had the chance to stop by the headquarters in Seattle this week while speaking at the MerchWorld and SCOE conferences.
This week in the SaaS world we saw Atlassian launch Stride, their new workplace communication platform developed as an improvement to their current program, HipChat. Atlassian reportedly integrated lessons they learned from HipChat and other platforms to create a product for a more efficient workday, so companies who utilize Atlassian should expect a more user-friendly platform going forward.
This week in featured listings is a highly profitable e-commerce business in the cell phone accessories niche, with a monthly gross revenue of $73K, diversified sales across multiple channels and 23 SKUs, and strong CAGR reaching 136% for the period 2015-2016. The timing to purchase this site could not be better, as the upcoming iPhone 8 release means this business is primed to capitalize on the resulting boost in sales. Also featured this week is a rapidly growing B2B affiliate business in the software and tutorials niche, with a c.8.4% CMGR and rankings for c.4,500 keywords with hundreds in the top ten position. Lastly in featured listings this week is an extremely profitable affiliate site in the home furnishings niche with $37K gross revenue per month and a c.6.4% CMGR over the trailing 12 months. These sites have picked up significant buyer interest so be sure to request information today if you would like to learn more!
In entrepreneurial news, Thomas was recently featured on the online-business podcast IndieHackers in an interview with Courtland Allen. Online business owners might be interested to listen and hear Thomas discuss how to determine how much your online business is worth, how to maximize its value, and what to do to prepare to sell your business. Also trending in the online business blogging world is a guest post by Thomas on the MerchInformer blog, where he discusses how to grow, value and sell a Merch by Amazon business. Seattle was the name of the game this week, as Thomas was there to speak at both the Seller’s Conference and MerchWorld. If you were there, we would love to hear about your experience on Twitter!
Continue below for more on China’s factory shutdowns, Atlassian’s launch of Stride, and a survey that reveals when consumers are planning on doing their online holiday shopping–and where they plan to shop.
Deal Highlights
Featured:
E-Commerce – Cell Phone Accessories – $73K gross/mo
- Diversified sales across multiple channels, including strong sales via a branded website
- Rapid CAGR reaching 136% for the period 2015-2016
- Sales diversified across 23 SKUs
- Heavy brand investment leading to a defensible market position
- Strong website traffic profile with over 500K sessions and 1.2M page views in the last 12 months
Yearly net profit: $174,000
Asking price: $433,000
Affiliate – B2B Software & Tutorials – $41K gross/mo
- Rapid revenue growth, reaching c.8.4% compound monthly growth rate over the last 12 months
- Exclusive partnerships with 4 industry-leading software providers
- Strong traffic with c.500,000 sessions in the last 12 months
- Keyword rankings for c.14,500 keywords with hundreds in top 10 positions
Yearly net profit: $489,000
Asking price: $1,296,000
Affiliate – Home Furnishing – $37K gross/mo
- Strong and predictable growth reaching a c.6.4% compound monthly growth rate over the trailing 12 months
- Keyword rankings for over 18,000 keywords
- C.460,000 sessions driving c.692,000 page views in the last 12 months alone
- Authoritative brand thanks to an early presence in an expanding niche
- Low owner involvement
Yearly net profit: $442,000
Asking price: $1,387,000
Sold:
SaaS – B2B Digital Marketing – $4.7K MRR
Affiliate – Personal Grooming Appliances – $2.1K gross/mo
Affiliate – Baseball & Softball Accessories – $1.6K gross/mo
In the News…
Heavy Polluters Get the Boot
China’s new Ministry of Environment has been cracking down on factories that are deemed “heavy polluters.” This could impact you if you are sourcing from areas such as Shandong, Henan, and Hebei, just to name a few. China has been one of the most popular places to outsource to for decades, and that has taken a toll on the environment, now leaving China with some of the most polluted cities in the world.
While the Ministry of Environment might be new, the sanctions seem to be here to stay as a result of the 2013 “10 Measures for Environmental Protection” being passed. Previously, when new laws were put into place there was little to no compliance, so factories kept operating their under old, high-pollution methods. Another issue was the lack of transparency about what the exact policies were, so many factory owners unknowingly continued to operate without complying. In the past, factories could get away with this because they had agreements with municipal level individuals, but these new sanctions are coming from, and being enforced by, top levels of the government.
If you source from China, we recommend you check in to see if your suppliers or any subcontractors have been affected.
Atlassian Strides Towards Perfection
This week, Atlassian launched their new workplace communications platform Stride. The professional chat program will be a heavy competitor to Slack, the current forerunner in the office communication space.
Stride is an attempt to combine lessons learned from their current chat platform, HipChat, as well as others, into a better product, according to the Atlassian team. The program will offer both a smart text-based messaging service as well as full audio and video messaging. Innovative add-ons include the ability to pin decisions and action items for others in the side bar, meaning it will be easier to digest what you’ve missed if you’re coming back from some time away.
Companies can expect improved usability and a more functional product geared towards making the workday easier and more efficient.
Holiday Spending is Kicking off Early this Year
Digital marketing agency CPC Strategy recently conducted a survey of 1,500 shoppers and the results, the Holidays are coming early this year. A majority of shoppers–over 35%–plan on starting their Holiday shopping before Thanksgiving this year, and they are still expecting those Black Friday deals.
Where are they looking for these deals? Online. Of the 1,500 survey participants, over 72% said that they will go to Amazon to search for gifts, while 38% said they plan to shop at e-commerce competitors Walmart and Target.
The deciding factors of who will come out on top are price (including shipping), brand quality, shipping speed, and product selection just to name a few. E-commerce retailers are not going to be able to use the same tactics they have used for years. Almost three quarters of shoppers surveyed are planning on spending the same amount they did last year, and less than 15% are saying they will spend more. Online retailers need to compete for dollars much earlier than they have in the past, which means they need to adapt their normal holiday game-plan to cover a longer period of time.