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itsmike.co.uk
📍Durham, UK 🛒 E-Commerce 👨‍💻 Graphic Design ✏️ Marketing itsmike.co.uk | beyondthebasket.co.uk
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Interesting stat: 40% of UK shoppers abandoned carts last year due to delivery issues, mostly high costs & slow speeds. Shows how critical delivery experience has become. Clear options, faster shipping & out-of-home choices could be the fix.

Noticed a trend lately, first InPost and Yodel, now DHL eCommerce merging with Evri. Feels like the delivery industry’s consolidating fast. Curious to see how this plays out for small businesses, especially come peak season.

Me: can you deliver this item to number 26 for me? Royal Mail: dumps it on the doorstep of 20, insists that they delivered it within the delivery ‘area’ Think they’ve been taking advice from Evri!

One thing they don’t warn you about getting older: You’ll be minding your business on a random Tuesday, then suddenly find yourself turning Coldplay up on the radio 🫣

Big birthday energy incoming! Our personalised badges are loud, proud, and guaranteed to get you noticed. Add their face, name or age, and let everyone know it’s THEIR day. 👉 www.lookinggifty.com

Potential positive shift for online businesses: UK & EU signal commitment to free, open trade. If realised, it could ease cross-border e-commerce, but it’s early days. #ecommerce #smallbusiness

Greggs breakfast drive-thru is better than Mcdonald’s… don’t @ me

🗣️ Are you truly listening to your customers? Discover how genuine engagement can transform your business. Read more: beyondthebasket.co.uk/%F0%9F%92%AC... #CustomerExperience #BusinessGrowth

Have you read this week’s issue of my newsletter for UK online businesses and DTC brands? We cover hyper-personalisation, making your free shipping offers pop, and how a brand refresh turned a disruptor into a category leader. Read it here:

85 second BBC News hourly countdown is the longest I’ve ever seen!

Auto-reply is on, and the sun is out! Definitely needed this long weekend!

Tomorrow in Beyond the Basket: Why hyper-personalisation is your 2025 superpower, how to rethink free shipping, and a standout DTC rebrand you’ll want to steal from. Don’t miss out, subscribe now👇

Trump rolls back on tariffs against consumer electronics. Is this going to be the slowest, most incremental walk back in history? 🤣

Manna Aero’s drone deliveries are impressive 80 a day fully autonomous, and now targeting the UK. Great to see European tech making bold moves while America grows more inward-looking. Innovation over isolation every time.

It’s Archie’s first #NationalPetsDay! 🎉

I was shocked to see UK retailers lost £38bn to abandoned baskets 🛒 last year. That’s a lot of wasted ad spend. If you run an online store, this is worth 2 mins of your time:

I’ve noticed that my productivity drops as the temperature and amount of sunshine rises. 🤔

Just spotted news that Amazon’s cancelling big orders from Asia likely due to US tariffs. Wouldn’t be surprised if that stock ends up dumped in the UK. Might mean lower prices, but bad news for British makers trying to stay competitive. Something to watch.

This week’s issue of Beyond the Basket is out, here’s what’s covered: 🇺🇸 What the new US tariffs mean for UK sellers 📉 How to revive flatlining ad performance 🍫 A sweet Cadbury’s campaign worth a closer look Read the latest issue and stay ahead of the game: ✉️👇

Virgin Media has just been installed in our village, and I had it set up today. It’s so good to be able to watch content in 4K again. 💨

The latest issue of Beyond the Basket lands tomorrow! We’re covering how UK sellers can handle US tariffs, tips to revive underperforming ads, and a deliciously clever marketing campaign you’ll love. Don’t miss out! Subscribe now ⬇️

Shopify’s CEO wants teams to justify new hires by proving AI can’t do the job instead. Interesting move… but is it smart leadership or just AI hype going too far? Curious what others think. 🤔 💭

Worried about Trump’s new tariffs? 🇺🇸📉 For UK ecom brands, it’s not the tariffs, it’s the consumer confidence dip that hits hardest. When markets wobble, customers hold back. Less spending. More hesitation. It’s already starting.

Working on social media today while also trying to avoid White Lotus spoilers like:

Spring is definitely here! Set out my strawberry plants yesterday in a new tiered planter I made from some old terracotta pots 😍🍓

Yesterday, new UK rules ban hidden fees and fake reviews under the DMCCA. If you sell online, you’ll need to show all unavoidable costs upfront and tackle dodgy reviews. It’s a big shift, worth checking your listings. I’ve written a short post with practical tips. 👇👇

Million Dollar Secret is just an elaborate version of Carrot in a box.

ONS says 1 in 3 UK businesses are worried about supply chains. 📉🗺️ As someone running ecom brands, I get it, global shipping’s still a mess and likely to get worse given events of the last few days. Planning ahead and staying flexible feels more essential than ever right now.

I refuse to believe it’s been 20 years since this album was released!!!

I think I had too much sun today 🥵

Super excited that my newsletter is close to hitting the 200 subscriber mark!! 🎉 Don’t miss out join other small and growing online business owners getting a weekly hit of ecom news, insights and tips straight to their inbox 📥 💥Subscribe here👇

TikTok could be banned in the U.S. tomorrow if ByteDance doesn’t agree to a sale. 🙅 It’s a big moment, not just for creators, but for any business that leans on the platform to drive traffic or sales. #Tiktok #ecommerce #marketing

Midjourney have fired back at OpenAI with V7 launching today. They claim cheaper to run, faster/cheaper draft generation mode for experimenting and more coherence (less weird limbs). Is this going to turn into an arms race (pun intended)?!

Something I’ve been thinking about this week: can ethical brands survive being bought by big corporates, or is value dilution inevitable? Wild’s sale got me reflecting. I’ve written more on this in my latest Substack post, have a read: open.substack.com/pub/itismike...

Hotter than the Algarve? We’ll take it. ☀️😎

As a UK ecom seller, I’m watching Trump’s 10% tariffs closely. The Federation of Small Businesses calls it a “major blow” to SMEs, especially since 59% of small UK exporters trade with the US. A stark reminder of how exposed we are to global politics.

PayPal Ads are coming to the UK, using user purchase data to target shoppers. Interesting move for ecom brands… but with privacy concerns + ad fatigue, will it deliver real value or just add to the noise? Curious what others think, would you try it?

Me when someone suddenly asks me a question on a teams call, but i’m not paying attention:

🚨 Big changes coming for UK e-commerce: from 6 April, hiding delivery fees could land you a huge fine. I’ve broken down what DTC and online businesses in the UK need to know. Read it here 👇 #Smallbusiness #Ecommerce

This week’s issue of Beyond the Basket is out, here’s what’s covered: 👮‍♂️ What the new DMCCA regulations mean for your brand 🤑 How to escape the discounting trap 🐷 A clever Moonpig campaign worth stealing Read the latest issue and stay ahead of the game: ✉️👇 #ecommerce #smallbusiness #marketing