Today in Global Small Business: FedEx Awards More than $230,000 to 10 Small Businesses

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• FedEx boosts 10 small businesses with award dollars.
• Global e-commerce revenue to hit record-breaking $3.64T in 2024.
• How to drop ship on Shopify.
• Quote of the week:  "If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time." – Steve Jobs
• How to master international payments (sponsored content).
• Take your social media strategy to new heights.

Today in Global Small Business: Where's My Order?

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• With e-commerce booming, consumers increasingly want to know, “Where’s my order?” Three-year-old package tracking firm Route aims to answer that question in real time with its AI-driven software.  Route cofounder and CEO Evan Walker tells Forbes that the startup is now worth $1.25 billion, following a $200 million fundraise.
• How to attract customers when they are ready to buy.
• What I wish I knew before starting my e-commerce business.
• Quote of the week: "And it's interesting, when you look at the predictions made during the peak of the boom in the 1990s, about e-commerce, or internet traffic, or broadband adoption, or internet advertising, they were all right - they were just wrong in time." – Chris Anderson
• E-commerce competition heats up in China – Shopify and JD.com pair up. 
• E-commerce predictions for 2022 from 26 e-commerce experts.

The Global Small Business Recovery Story

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Shopify President Harley Finkelstein says that entrepreneurship is now part of the global recovery story.

"Small business is going to lead the charge in bringing our cities and communities back to where we were pre-pandemic,” Finkelstein added.

Read the full interview about how global small business will lead the pandemic recovery in cities the world over.

Shoppable Pins Brought to You By Pinterest on a Worldwide Basis

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Shopify’s Pinterest app, which launched last year in the US and Canada, is now available in 27 additional countries.  The Pinterest app for Shopify stores lets merchants upload their product catalogues and convert their products into pins.  Users can then buy products featured in a merchant’s pins without ever having to leave Pinterest.

This gives 1.7 million merchants the ability to turn products from their e-commerce store into shoppable pins.

Empower Global Small Businesses' Presence Online

With support of global commerce company Shopify and the Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana business owners will become more competitive during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged businesses across the nation to find new ways to connect with customers. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) partnered with e-commerce platforms to provide Louisiana small business owners with enhanced customer service and special resources to make setting up or expanding your e-commerce capabilities as easy as possible.

What's in store?  Plenty.  With the website noted below, Louisiana business owners gain access to a 14-day free trial with Shopify and enhanced one-on-one support.

More details can be found online by visiting the website: https://www.lasmallbizonline.com/

Will this opportunity be available to everyone at some point?  Sure looks like it already exists on Shopify's website (perhaps sans the enhanced one-on-one support).  Click on upper right hand corner – Start Free Trial.

Today in Global Small Business: Amazon Hands Shopify a Big Win

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Three focus areas to strengthen your global business.
• How woodworkers can go global.
• Does being a big reader make you a better (global) leader?
• A discussion on the digital economy's potential.
• What five experts say about the future of e-commerce.
• How Amazon has handed Shopify a big win.