CustomCat's 2019 Year-End Review
Another year went by in the blink of an eye, and a new one just began. It’s been a wild ride over the last 12 months for us here at CustomCat, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
We’ve taken many small steps forward in all aspects of our business, and we want to recap with you.
New Registered Users 2018 – 2019
CustomCat wouldn’t be anything without our partners. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all sellers around the world. We had over 10,000 new sellers register over the past year. Congratulations on starting your own business.
We look forward to working with you in years to come.
Average Order Value: $24.00
Knowing the average order value is essential for creating marketing and pricing strategies – the average order value was $24.00. If you sell products that cost less than $24.00, you might want to consider adjusting your prices.
How many DTG products did we ship altogether?
Over 2.5 million DTG items.
That’s ROUGHLY the equivalent of New Mexico’s (2.095 million) entire population.
Average Fulfillment Time: 1.5 Business Days
We don’t want to brag, but that’s super fast ~ only 1.5 business days, and things are only going to speed up.
TOP 5 International Countries We Ship To
See the top 5 destinations that we shipped the most products to in the past year.
The United States is by far the most popular shipping destination, but the other four countries are not far behind.
Focus your marketing on these five countries. The US has the largest market for ecommerce businesses in the world. If you are on the fence on where to expand your business, the US should be first on your list.
- Canada
- Great Britain
- Australia
- Germany
- France
Top 5 Selling Products
1. G500
G500 is our top seller by far. Gildan is the leading provider of everyday quality apparel that everyone loves.
- 11 oz. White Mug
- G185 Hoodie
- NL3600 Premium Sherpa
- G240 Long Sleeve Tee
- 60 x 80 Premium Sherpa
Top 5 Non-apparel Products
- 11 oz. White Ceramic Mug
- 15 oz. White Ceramic Mug
- Premium Sherpa
- Circle Ornament
- Landscape Canvas Print
We usually see spikes in mug sales during winter months (holiday season), but Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day are just as popular.
New Products
We added 22 new products in total and even created mockups of blankets for marketing purposes. Learn more by checking out our Blanket Selling Guide.
Tops
- Port & Co. Core Fleece Pullover Hoodie
- Bella + Canvas Unisex Made in the USA Jersey Short-Sleeve T-Shirt
- Next Level Men’s Made in the USA Cotton T-Shirt
- District Women’s Perfect Scoop Neck Tee
- LAT Ladies’ Curvy T-Shirt
- LAT Ladies’ Curvy V-Neck T-Shirt
- District Women’s Perfect Tri Racerback Tank
- Sport-Tek Pullover Hoodie
- Ugly Christmas “Sweater” Long Sleeve
Blankets
- Woven Blanket
- Premium Sherpa Blanket
- Arctic Fleece Blanket (two sizes)
- Premium Mink Sherpa Blanket (two sizes)
Towels
- Beach Towel
- Bath Towel
Canvas
- Deluxe Square Canvas 1.5″ Frame (5 sizes)
- Deluxe Landscape Canvas 1.5″ Frame (5 sizes)
- Deluxe Portrait Canvas 1.5″ Frame (5 sizes)
- Square Canvas .75″ Frame (36″ x 36″)
- Portrait Canvas .75″ Frame (24″ x 36″, 32″ x 48″)
- Landscape Canvas .75″ Frame (36″ x 24″, 48″ x 32″)
Wall Flag
- Wall Flag with back inserts
Biggest Sales Day of The Year: Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday is, without a doubt, the busiest day for CustomCat and the rest of the ecommerce industry.
If you are just getting started, preparation for Cyber Monday is a must – if you want to increase the average order value and orders, start planning for the holidays now.
New Integrations / Updates
All Platforms / Misc.
- Added Payoneer as a payment option. Access the Payoneer Guide to learn more.
- Added Pending Order and Error Queue for sellers to manage their orders in the CustomCat Dashboard. Access the Pending Order Queue Guide to learn more.
- You can now view/edit variant pricing before exporting your product listing to Woo/Shopify.
- Order/Error Queue > View/Edit Details > Made the Country field a drop-down to reduce errors from spelling mistakes/incorrect abbreviations.
- Order/Error Queue > View/Edit Details > Added base cost and retail cost per item; added total cost, including shipping for the entire order.
- Order/Error Queue > View/Edit Details > Can now edit Personalized text fields before processing order.
- Order/Error Queue > View/Edit Details > Can now edit the Shipping Method before processing order.
- Order/Error Queue > Added Pagination.
- Size Chart is now exporting again in the product description. *Bug Fix*
- Added Secondary Email field for “Seller/Owner Email” to better communicate with store owners and not just the customer support of your store.
WooCommerce
- Updated CustomCat API to handle the Newest WooCommerce Versions (Legacy API is no longer needed). Access the Connect CustomCat to WooCommerce and WordPress Guide to learn more.
- Updated order of dropdown menus so that “Style” in first. Now the rule is Style, Color, Size.
- The Text Personalization feature is updated and live for WooCommerce! You must update the script in your PHP functions for the latest update. Access the WooCommerce FAQs Guide to learn more.
API
- Webhook Endpoint > Webhooks can now be deleted.
- Order/Error Queue > This functionality now works with API accounts. You can now process orders and fix errors via CustomCat Dashboard.
- Order Endpoint > You can now designate the “Ship From Address” and “Company Name” on the shipping label via API call and it will override the “Ship From” and “Company Name” in your Dashboard settings. This way you can designate a different return address for different stores that you manage.
- Product Endpoint > Fixed issues with Pagination, limit, since_id and updated_since.
- Order Endpoint > You can now Hold/Pause orders via API (instead of relying on CC dashboard).
CSV
- You can now use Dropbox Design URLs as long as the Design URL is appended with dl=1.
Milestones
We had our first blog anniversary!
…and we have are officially on Pinterest now!
Here are the numbers:
In 2019, we had acquired 38 followers and growing. Thank you if you are one of them. If you haven’t checked us out on Pinterest, you may want to. You can find plenty of inspiration on a variety of topics. One of the most popular boards to date is Mug Inspiration.
Top 3 Blog Posts This Year
Not only we’ve celebrated our first blog anniversary, but we have also written over 90 posts, totaling 81,000 words. That’s equivalent to a standard book!
If this is your first time reading our blog, we have plenty of other goodies for you to read. Here are the top posts of 2019:
1. Canvas Selling Guide
2. CommerceHQ vs. Shopify
3. How To Start Your Clothing Line Business
Blogging is incredibly useful when it comes to the acquisition of new customers through Google. Do you have a blog on your store? You may want to consider making one and providing valuable information to your customers to drive more organic traffic to your site.
Top 5 Most Watched Youtube Videos in 2019
1. Welcome to CustomCat Fulfillment!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0fuoIFuPk
2. CustomCat Shopify App Tutorial #3 – Add Product Overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdy1ae69o7Q
3. CustomCat Shopify App Tutorial #7 – Personalized Products
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nCCk2P_6J0
4. CustomCat Shopify App Tutorial #2 – Design Library Overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPBObgaPBS0&t=27s
5. CustomCat Shopify App Tutorial #6 – Design Positioning and Presets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pXcisy52qk
Videos uploaded: 3
We also added three new videos to help explain what and how we do things at CustomCat.
1. Custom Print Posters: How It’s Packaged
2. Behind The Scenes: Canvas Stretching & Packaging
3. Combining Product Listings into One Using Multiple Designs
Take a look at what we’ve got planned in 2020
We plan to go full force into 2020. Get ready for some new goals.
1. Etsy & Amazon Integrations
Two of the most requested interrogations. Get ready because 2020 will be your best selling year to date.
2. Update Mockups
In addition to Etsy and Amazon, we have hefty goals in the mockups department. We have plans to update mockups to look more professional to help you convert better.
3. Redesign User Interference (UI)
The biggest project of all, we plan to rebuild our app using your feedback completely. Some exciting changes are coming your way in 2020.
4. Add shoes and home goods products
We can’t give away all of our secrets. Stay tuned, 2020 is going to be big.
5. Improve Personalization Tool
The backbone of our business stems from personalization, so it’s only fitting we want to work hard to improve our Personalization Tool.
A Big Fat Thank You!
A big fat thank you to everyone who made this year awesome. From the bottom of our hearts, we are grateful for you.
We have come a long way since 2016, and CustomCat wouldn’t be the same without you.
So thank you for choosing to work with us. Cheers to 2020!
Over to you
What was your biggest accomplishment in 2019, and what do you hope to achieve in 2020? Hop into our comments session down below.