Shopify's new chapter 🛍

Happy Labor Day trash diggers!

This special day marks the start of September and the finale of summer - kids are finally back in school, the US Open is in full swing and, most importantly, PSLs are back. They came early but we’ll dig a little more into that below.

It was a long week so there’s some extra trash to cover. Let’s jump right in:

• Shopify partners with Amazon 🛍  

• Walmart, Sam’s Club and Costco system glitches 😵‍💫

• Don’t let pumpkins impact your halloween 🎃 

• Tweet of the week 😆 

• Q from you - “How often do I file my returns?” 🙋‍♀️

Shopify offers Amazon’s “Buy with Prime” 🛍

Last week, Shopify announced it will give merchants the choice to offer their products to Prime members for the first time ever. Here are the implications of the partnership:

🌟 Enhanced Customer Experience & Conversion Rates:

• Allows merchants to tap into existing Prime benefits and offer faster delivery & convenient returns

• "Buy with Prime" expected to drive ~35% increase in conversion rates due to trust associated with Amazon Prime and the convenience of fast deliveries

🚀 Expanded Reach for Merchants:

• Shopify merchants gain access to Amazon's customer base of over 200 million Prime members

• Broader reach expected to drive ~12% sales increase

🛒 Streamlined Checkout Process:

• Simplified integration process for merchants

• Merchants can control customer relationships and data while leveraging Amazon's fulfillment capabilities

• Potentially reduces cart abandonment rates by ~25%

📊 Data Insights for Amazon's Growth:

• Amazon will gain data insights from DTC brands that previously didn't utilize its fulfillment services

• This could inform Amazon's strategies for future growth, driving at least 15-20% increase in revenue from third-party sellers.

🏢 Dependency on Amazon:

• Merchants reliance on Amazon's fulfillment network will limit their independence and flexibility

• At least ~15% impact on broader fulfillment services market

🚫 Monopolistic Behavior:

• The consolidation of two major players in the e-commerce world could raise concerns about monopolistic practices and centralization of power

• There will be regulatory scrutiny due to antitrust concerns

⚔️ Disruption for Competitors:

• BigCommerce and other e-commerce platforms will face challenges as Shopify enhances its offerings through Amazon's integration

• BigCommerce installations have already been dropping across all store sizes

• Expect double digit drops in retention across other platforms while Amazon increases market share by 5-7% with a stronger foothold in e-commerce

Glitches in major systems 😰 

If you shopped at Walmart and Sam’s Club last week, you should probably check your receipt. The retailers overcharged its customers two different sales taxes and in some cases 4x the normal grocery sales tax.

Costco New Jersey members suffered the same last week. Some were wrongly charged sales tax on discounted merchandise.

If widespread, these erroneous practices could be costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

Message to brands - take a look to see if this impacted your customers. There’s a good chance it did.

PSL season came early 🥤  

Pumpkin Spice Season 20 is in full flight, and I'll be the first to say, it's much too early this year... I'm still in shorts and it’s still Labor day.

With PSLs comes the pressure of Halloween 🎃

First, the costume... Is it Barbie, Ken, Oppenheimer, Spiderman or Mario?

Next, the decorations... Are we finally going all out? Will we rock the block?

Last, the pumpkins... Which patch do we pick? Who is carving the pumpkins?

If you are carving pumpkins, you may end up paying more for the pumpkin than your neighbor making their infamous pumpkin pie. But why?

In Iowa, Pennsylvania or New Jersey, pumpkins that end up in your drink, the pot or the pan are non-taxable.

But pumpkins to scare the neighbors will be taxed. 👻

Sounds like some people like Thanksgiving more than Halloween

Learn how your product is taxed in the US → 

Tweet of the week 😆 

🌟 Partner Spotlight 🌟

Entreprenista is a media company, podcast network and membership community dedicated to celebrating the stories of women founders & leaders, and sharing lessons learned from founders who are paving the way forward.

Interested in joining? Just reply to this email and I can make a direct intro.

🙋‍♀️ You ask, we answer 🙋‍♂️

Q (Joseph): How often should I file my returns?

A: Most states will assign you either a monthly, quarterly, or annual filing frequency. The more sales volume you have in a state, the more often that state will want you to file a sales tax return.

Understand your sales tax exposure 🧠 

We can run a sample audit & nexus analysis to help you understand your liability exposure. Free for Trash Talk subscribers.

You can also check out a Free Sales Tax Guide here.

Thank you for reading along. I’ll be back next Sunday with more sales tax shenanigans.

If you enjoyed this one, please share it with your network. 🤝

If you caught a laugh, reply back and let me know. I live for the people.

If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions, please let me know by responding to this email or DM me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Until next week’s 🗑 …

Rohit