Shozammers,
We are looking into Shozam features to help you sell more, easier and faster using your galleries. We want your feedback surrounding this type of new development. This should be of interest to anyone who has Shozam Business Edition or who has an interest to sell and make money through Shozam galleries. Let us know if you have any feedback on these issues you want us to consider.
BACKGROUND - 2 E-COMMERCE METHODS
Method 1: Use Sell Tab (Step 2 of Shozam)
As you know, you can use Shozam to create shopping buttons in your gallery. As long as you have a PayPal Business or Premier account, all you need to do is enter a few options (Sell tab in Step 2 of Shozam) and Shozam can propagate shopping buttons across all your selected images (or "products"). Then, once a Payer makes a purchase from your online gallery, you get a PayPal notification. You review that notification and then you fulfill it. This gives you the flexibility to sell anything you like but also puts the burden on you to fulfill the purchase.
PROs
You set your options in the Sell Tab and Shozam can automatically propagate the PayPal shopping buttons to all selected images in the album you are editing. No need to enter the information again for each image/product.
CONs
Shopping buttons are limited to the functionality provided by PayPal, meaning you just get notified when a purchase is made and then it is up to you to make sure it is fulfilled. If you sell digital products (e.g. high-resolution files of your images or e-books in PDF format) you will need to email the Payer a link or attachment to the digital file. If you sell physical products (e.g. prints, framed posters or other goods such as jewelry or crafts) you will need to produce, package and ship the product to the Payer or enter an order for it with a third party provider which can do it on your behalf.
Another CON we want to address the way PayPal buttons are generated is to allow options for your products to appear as just one shopping button with drop-down option lists (rather than one button for each button)
-- OR --
Method 2: Use HTML Tab (Step 2 of Shozam)
You can go beyond just PayPal to a more feature-rich e-commerce provider and use it to create shopping buttons and functionality they provide. Typically such a provider would be able to generate for you HTML code which incorporates all the functionality needed for the shopping button. You would then copy that code and paste it into your gallery (HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam).
PROs
You can have the order be fulfilled automatically by that third party. If you sell digital goods, they would automatically be able to send to the Payer a secure digital link to the digital file you are selling. If you sell physical products, they would automatically produce, package and ship the product to the Payer (which works great for drop-ship products or photography related products like prints, framed posters, printed T-shirts and mouse-pads, etc.)
CONs
You would need to create a separate button for each product you sell and then copy/paste into the HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam for each corresponding product/image. If you have hundreds or thousands of products/images, this would be a tedious process. Also, if you have digital products or physical ones that rely on a digital image (like prints and posters) you would need to provide that third party with where the original high resolution image is. Doing it for hundreds or thousand of images/products will be tedious as well.
PRACTICAL SCENARIOS
1 - Sell physical products only produce
If you sell one-of-a-kind items like custom jewelry or crafts, your prices may differ with each piece and likely would create your buttons one-by-one. When a Payer completes a purchase, PayPal notifies you of the completed transaction and you fulfill each one by hand. No further automation may be needed in this scenario.
WAYS TO IMPROVE
You could benefit from a way to organize your “pricelists” so you can more easily apply them to specific product items in different albums or galleries. Also, if you sell items that may have only one “image” but come with several options, beneficial would be to have Shozam arrange all those options in drop-down lists on the page with only one shopping button, rather than a button for each possible option.
2 - Sell physical products others can produce for you
If you are selling physical products that are standardized, with set prices that apply across your products/images, you would benefit from integration with a 3rd party provider which can automate not only delivery but also producing and packaging the product. This would be the case if you have a photography (or artwork such as painting) related gallery. A third party provider can produce, package and ship for you small prints, large framed prints, imprinted T-shirts, mouse-pads and the like.
WAYS TO IMPROVE
You could benefit from tighter integration with a provider that produces these types of products so once a Payer buys something, the order will be automatically processed and fulfilled by that provider. If you have specific providers you would like to see integrate with Shozam, please see this related forum post. This integration would allow you to simply fill-in your settings one time, rather than doing it for *each* product/image. Hopefully this simplification would be able to happen in Shozam as well as in the 3rd party provider’s interface.
3 - Sell digital products
If you sell digital high resolution files of your images (or any other types of downloads such as e-books as PDFs), you will need to send to the Payer (likely in email) the digital file. You would benefit from an automated way to deliver this. Note that you CAN currently do this using a 3rd party provider (such as E-junkie or PayLoadz). You sign up with them and create a shopping button for each product you want to sell. They provide you the HTML code for the button and you simply paste that code on the HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam. However, if you have hundreds of products/images, it would be tedious to create a separate button and copy/paste from the provider into Shozam. Also, you would need to tell the provider where your digital files are so they can use them for automatic delivery. If you have many products, similarly this would be a tedious process.
WAYS TO IMPROVE
You could benefit from a tighter integration between Shozam and a third party provider (such as E-Junkie or PayLoadz). This integration would allow you to simply fill-in your settings one time, rather than doing it for *each* product/image. Hopefully this simplification would be able to happen in Shozam as well as in the 3rd party provider’s interface.
GIVE US YOUR INPUT!
Please provide your feedback with any details you may want us to consider on these areas of improvement or additional things we may have missed. Help us make Shozam work harder for you and your business!