April 19, 2010
Doba's Tradeshow Booth
We attend dozens of online retail industry conferences and tradeshows throughout the year. Pick a month – any month – and you’re likely to find one or more of our staff members attending an industry event where we either have a chance to meet and greet customers just like you, or where we ourselves are presented with an opportunity to further our own professional development. As a result, we tend to live ‘outside of the vacuum’ that most businesses dwell in. Rather than keep to ourselves and act as if we know all the answers, we’re constantly striving to improve by meeting with customers face-to-face, and by learning from others in our field how to be better ourselves.
Along with eBay, PayPal, Yahoo, and Overstock.com, Doba was one of the primary sponsors of this past week’s eCommerce Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is an annual convention and tradeshow hosted be the eCommerce Merchants Trade Association and the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA).
This year’s Summit gave us a chance to interact with up-and-coming online retailers and learn about exciting new trends shaping the eCommerce industry. As you would expect, we interacted with retailers who use Doba’s online product sourcing solutions, including Syed Raza, a Doba member who attend the show free of charge thanks to our offer of free admission to the conference . Continue reading »
by Ken Woodbury
Marketing Director
April 15, 2010
Amala Hampton and Andrew Coleman
Nothing is more satisfying (to those of us here at Doba) than hearing about Doba members who are doing well with their online business. Recently, I spoke with a Pennsylvania couple that started their online retail business using Doba as their exclusive source for drop ship products. Amala Hampton and Andrew Coleman started LifeSupplys with the goal of helping people reach their highest potential by providing products and advice for the mind, body, and spirit (see LifeSupplys’ corporate website here; see LifeSupplys’ webstore here).
What intrigues me most about Amala and Andrew’s business is the way they’ve chosen to embrace social media and social networking as a means to build a following. Early on, Amala and Andrew came to the realization that launching a webstore and hoping customers would find it online wouldn’t drive the kind of traffic they needed to be successful. So in addition to focusing on website design and the user experience, LifeSupplys has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Blogger, all of which are trusted platforms that prove themselves to be great sources of traffic for online retailers who socially network online.
While LifeSupplys still has a way to go in terms of website design and maintaining their socially enabled profiles and accounts on a more consistent basis, small and independent online retailers can learn a lot from Amala and Andrew. To learn more about the benefits of social media for online retail businesses, read our recent article, “The Business Case for Social Media Marketing” (note: this article is currently available to Doba members only).
by Ken Woodbury
Marketing Director
April 5, 2010
Nothing helps us remain up to date with what’s happening in the online retail industry more than the various conference, tradeshows and conventions we attend throughout the year. Most recently, we attended the Associated Surplus Dealers (ASD) Show in Las Vegas and the eBay Certified Provider Fair at the eBay campus in Salt Lake City, Utah.
ASD 2010 Las Vegas
The Associated Surplus Dealers convention is one of the largest merchandising shows in the United States. With more than 3,000 wholesalers, importers and closeout suppliers displaying their merchandise this year, retailers attending the show had an abundance of potential product sources from which to choose. Continue reading »
by Ken Woodbury
Marketing Director
January 27, 2010
Wondering who won the How Do You Doba? contest (the first-ever contest to recognize and reward online retailers for the creative ways in which they use Doba’s services)? Well, wonder no more, because the winners are:
First Place Winner – Ike’s Wholesale
Lifetime Doba Advanced membership ($5,000 value)
Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camcorder
We love Derek Young’s story over at Ike’s Wholesale. Derek’s a young guy who took the initiative in a down economy to start his own online retail business. He is proof that you don’t have to be an online retail expert to take advantage of Doba’s award-winning services. Derek has employed unconventional marketing efforts, including building a loyal following in his local community through the distribution of flyers, advertisements on his vehicle, strategic alliances with local businesses and more. Derek won a lifetime Doba Advanced membership (a $5,000 value), and a Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camcorder.
Second Place (tie) Winner #1 — CheapForMe.com
Continue reading »
by Ken Woodbury
Marketing Director
November 19, 2009
One of the joys of working at Doba is hearing how online retailers use our drop ship services to earn a great income or augment the income they already have. Since so many of our members tell us how well they’re doing using our software to manage the ordering and fulfillment of drop ship products, we figured it was time for a contest, (and let’s be honest… who doesn’t like a contest, especially one with great prizes).
So, without further adieu, I am pleased to announce ‘How Do You Doba?’ — a contest that recognizes and rewards the best ways you — our members —are using Doba’s drop ship services to help run an online retail business.
‘How Do You Doba?’ recognizes various aspects of your business, including volume of Doba products sold, effectiveness of marketing strategies, creativity of niche, overall impression of the business, and more. So even if yours is not the largest online retailer business out there, you can participate and still have a great chance of winning. Continue reading »
by Ken Woodbury
Marketing Director
