Blogging softwares- do they make a difference (2)

Here is another article on the importance of blogging softwares.

Like the previous one, it makes some comparisons between the Blogger, LiveJournal and WordPress, but this article is better written.

There is also mention of other softwares like Drupal which looks to be a more advanced type of push button web publishing.  This is important becuz it shows a continuum of possible site types- from simple Blogger sites to more sophisticated ones that resemble dotcoms.  Thus we can suggest that the complexity of a blogshop business may go hand in hand with the type of platforms used, since we have observed that many blogshops have evolved into full e-commerce sites or dotcoms.

From Blogshop Magazine website: http://www.blogshopmagazine.com/different-types-of-blogging-platforms-for-blogshop-owners/ 

Different Types of Blogging Platforms for Blogshop Owners

by: aidan in Resources // No Comment

There are many blogging platforms available today that are suitable for Blogshop. Some of them are free, while others have a price if you want specific customization. Let’s discuss some of the most common blogging platforms that are used in Blogshop around the web and see which one you prefer.

Livejournal (Free)

LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source[4] server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community. LiveJournal's blogging features include those found in similar blogging sites (multiple authors, commenting, calendars, and polls). However, LiveJournal differentiates itself from other blogging sites by its WELL-like features of a self-contained community and some social networking features similar to other social networking sites.

Blogger/Blogspot (Free)

Blogger is a blog storage service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It is funded by on-screen ads. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003.The service itself is located at www.blogger.com. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at subdomains of blogspot.com. Until May 1 2010 an FTP service allows pages edited through Blogger to be published to other hosts. If this service ceases, all blogger blogs will be hosted by Google, though domains other than blogspot.com may be used.

WordPress (Open Source)

WordPress is an open source CMS, often used as a blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL. It has many features including a plugin architecture and a templating system. Used by over 2% of the 10,000 biggest websites, WordPress is the most popular blog software in use today. It was first released in May 2003 by Matt Mullenweg as a fork of b2/cafelog. As of September 2009, it was being used by 202 million websites worldwide.

Drupal (Open Source)

Drupal (pronounced /ˈdruːpəl/) is a free and open source[2] content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1% of all websites worldwide[5], ranging from small personal blogs to large corporate and political sites, including whitehouse.gov nand data.gov.uk. It is also used for knowledge management and business collaboration.

Joomla (Open Source)

Joomla! is an open source content management system platform for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets as well as a Model–view–controller (MVC) Web application framework. It is written in PHP, stores data in MySQL and includes features such as page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, search, and support for language internationalization.

Custom CMS

A content management system (CMS) is a collection of procedures used to manage workflow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures are designed to:

• Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data
• Control access to data, based on user roles. User roles define what information each user can view or edit
• Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data
• Reduce repetitive duplicate input
• Improve the ease of report writing
• Improve communication between users

In a CMS, data can be defined as nearly anything - documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data, etc. CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, revising, semantically enriching, and publishing documentation.

Selection Dilemma?

If you wanted to set-up a blogshop quickly and readily, my advice to you is to use the free platforms that are available to you. You can start and play around with the free platforms until you have earned money or are ready for expansion. You can then move on to either hire a professional freelancer/web company to set up your own domain site with your own CMS to start your eCommerce shop, or you can do it yourself if you’re web savvy enough.

Blogging softwares- do they make a difference?

Since blogshops are created from free blogging softwares, then it begs the question of how important blogging platforms are to blogshop businesses.  The essential motivation to for this practice is cost-cutting, that is, blogging platforms are FREE, and EASY to use.

It does seem that a lot of the blogshops use Blogspot.  generally, Blogspot is easier to use, so that probably explains most of it.  However, WordPress and LiveJournal have features that are beneficial to blogshop businesses as well.  This article makes a comparison (warning- the writing is not exactly great):

From: http://blogsss.com/is-livejournal-blogspot-or-wordpress-better-for-building-blogshops-in-singapore.aspx

 

Is Livejournal, Blogspot Or Wordpress Better For Building Blogshops In Singapore

In this article, we will try either Blogspot, Livejournal or wordpress is befitting for we when it comes to office building your Blogshop

Livejournal

The pass value of Livejournal is the amicable height resolution where blogshop owners can emanate their amicable space inside of LiveJournal in the internet as well as encounter their probable customers.

Pluses: As referred to above, LiveJournal has the small most amicable networking facilities as well as communities where blogshop owners can publicize their sales object to the community. It is really easy to find brand new friends there as well as lane their blogs.

Minuses: If we have been meditative monetizing your blog, Livejournal will not concede that – all advertisements there have been combined by Livejournal company.

Categorizing your sales object is differient as well as the series of themes is limited. There have been no plugins during all.

More importantly when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) The poke engines do not similar to Livejournal: It is doubtful we will ever be upon the initial page of Google , so all you’ll get is the same Livejournal users as you.

Blogger

IMO, Blogger is the easiet height for any one is starting off. Compared to Wordpress, it is most most easy. This is the height for beginners, who only begin off formulating the Blogshop.

Pluses: Yes, we can monetize your blog with Adsense: the advertisements can be combined in singular amounts as well as positions

Plugin is accessible in creation your blog some-more entertaining, as well as some-more themes.
Another value is it authorised we to make use of your own domain (without blogspot) whilst regulating their template.

Minuses: It is not SEO friendly. Many beginners consider that if this height is warranted by Google, afterwards their blog will be in the Top 10 upon each page of the poke engines as well as have thousands of visitors each day. It is not true: Although there is the probability to be upon the initial page of Google, it will take most some-more time to get there as upon Wordpress.

Blogger doesn’t demeanour nice: doesn’t concede to supplement categories that is critical for the Blogshop.
With the large of thesis available, It does assistance Blogshop who needs to emanate the veteran image. However tweaking is limited.

Wordpress

This is the most appropriate resolution for Blogshops who wish to have veteran as well as good seeking web-page. However be rebuilt to sense the bit some-more about wordpress as it is elementary as Blogshop. Also for wordpress, we need to have your own hosting so it does take the small programming if we confirm to select wordpress.

Pluses: There have been most veteran themes as well as plugins, Code programming can be finished with most plugins that is beneficial for blogshop.

Minuses: Hosting is required, the cost is not costly as well as can be lonesome by gain from your blog.
Excellent height for everybody who wants to set up the veteran picture though the small knowlege of web programming is required

Kelly Chan
www.blogshopcity.com
Singapore #1 Blogshop Directory as well as Online Shopping Forum

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 

 

The importance of aesthetics in blogshop sites

 Looks play a very important role in blogshop sites.  This is indicated by the kinds of attention being paid by owners to making their blogs look fancy and unique.

Where in most e-commerce sites, functionality and usability have always been considered more important- that is sites that load fast and are clean, fast and uncluttered- the kinds of aesthetics being applied to may blogshop sites indicate that looks are an important factor.

I think this makes some sense, considering the majority of blogshops are related to fashion.  It must be important to customers that blgoshop sites be highly decorative and attractive in appearance.  Thus, I deduce that appearance has an important marketing function.

Here is an article from Blogshop Magazine that gives advise on how to improve appearances of blogshop sites, especially the header.  

 From: http://www.blogshopmagazine.com/10-examples-of-blogshops-with-aspiring-headers/

  

10 Examples of Blogshops with Aspiring Headers

by: melinda in Resources // No Comment

Whenever you arrive at a website, the first image that comes to your sight would be the website’s header.

A good header benefits a website in many ways. For instance, a cute logo could probably send a message to your visitors that the products you are selling would be associated with selling cute toys or miniature stuff.

Moreover, a logo with combination of other images would make a fantastic header for your blogshop. So whenever your visitors see your logo or header anywhere, they would recognize it and immediately your shop’s name comes into their mind.

Therefore, if the header is messy and confusing, visitors seldom would remember it. Even if the shop’s logo appears somewhere, they would probably forget where they have seen it.

As such, the header should be simple and concise. It represents shop’s overall style. Here we have picked out 10 Examples of Blogshops with Aspiring Headers, which enhances their overall appearances.

Pandamie


Moochemooche

Thedeelynn

Lockedupstars

Fashriot

Missypixie

Pandaswithpistols

Odorikoya

Dressabelle

Hollysurprise

Overall Appearance

Having a fascinating header for your shop would greatly enhance the overall appearance. It represents the style and uniqueness of your shop. Moreover, it helps to retain the first impression of your shop. Did you come across any nice headers that you would like to recommend? Share with us in the comments section!

Article on Bonito-Chico blogshop

This article is from: http://www.merryriana.com/blog/2010/07/26/the-merry-riana-show-featuring-bonitochico/
 
This blog article focuses on one of the pioneers of the blogshop craze, Bonito-Chico blogshop.  It is based on an interview on a show.  The full interview is available on You tube here:



The article has this to say:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In our highly tech-savvy society today, shopping has taken a whole new form on the Internet, a convenient, sophisticated and accessible platform that can satisfy even the wildest demands of the most hopeless shopaholics.

With a simple click on the mouse (or your iphone), you can buy anything from clothes, make-up, shoes to jewelry, food and the latest prada bag, all from the comforts of your home.

However, some traditional shoppers would complain that such an impersonal, one-way form of exchange takes away half the fun in their shopping. If you are one of those who prefer to have that personal touch when you indulge in your favourite shopping, you might find the solution in a blog shop.

A blog shop is where sellers put up pictures and descriptions of their merchandise on a web log and buyers make their purchase by leaving comments on the webpage itself or via emails. The seller will then email the potential customer before money is transferred and the desired item is sent to the buyer’s very doorstep.

Sounds complicated? Not to young fashionistas nowadays who are well-versed in technology and incredibly resourceful in seeking for the best bargains and latest fashion online. And this trend is in part, the result of the hard work of three ambitious and determined young girls, who not only like shopping, but are creative, bold and far-sighted enough to also make it their career.

Two sisters, Viola and Velda, as well as their good friend, Rachel started BonitoChico three years ago and have within this short time span, made it one of the most well-known blog shops in Singapore.

About end of last year, I actually got a chance to interview them both Viola and Velda. They are both very pretty and talented young lady.

Considered as one of the pioneers in the blog shop business, BonitoChico is Velda’s brainchild, initially used as an outlet to sell the girls’ pre-loved clothes. To their surprise, they had received more replies than expected and soon, the livejournal account started gathering its own strong band of followers.

Today, the girls’ creativity and willingness to take risks have finally paid off. BonitoChico has been awarded the Best Blog Shop 2009 by Nuffnang and on average, receives 15,000 to 20,000 views per day. On launch days where new collections are put up, 30,000 to 50,000 loyal fans would camp by their computers, flog to the site right on time of the launch, and play fastest-fingers-first to snatch the lovely and affordable apparels on sale.

Even with the intense competition posed by many other emerging blog shops, BonitoChico remains steadfast in its position as one of the most popular blog shops in Singapore. The secret to its success lies in how the girls consistently put in effort to maintain and improve their site to provide the best shopping experience for their customers. Collections of apparels on BonitoChico are updated frequently and a strong credibility is established when accurate measurements, clear photos and descriptions of the clothes, as well as prompt replies to enquiries are provided.

BonitoChico’s self-manufactured, original designs; friendly and efficient customer service; reasonable prices and pretty models are also some of the many reasons why BonitoChico continues to top the list of bookmarked sites for thousands of fashion-loving girls in Singapore.

Also, unlike an ordinary online store, BonitoChico allows more interactions between the girls and the buyer. People who are interested in the items can post comments and enquiries before making a decision. Often, they can also take a sneak peek into the blog shop owners’ personal life, via the URL of their personal blogs included in the BonitoChico’s website.

This inevitably closes up the gap between the girls and their customers. Instead of being merely a channel for a cold, faceless transaction, BonitoChico has built a connection between them, and made online shopping much more fun and interesting.

A short tour through the personal blogs of Viola, Velda and Rachel would easily reveal to their readers how friendly, fashionable and fun-loving they are. Furnished with pretty photos of their overseas trips, shopping “loots”, friends’ gatherings, fashion shows, their blogs make an interesting read and are no doubt a source of the latest fashion tips and inspiration for many girls.

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, and are interested in making your passion or hobby your career, the way these girls have done, Velda and Viola have the following success formula to share with you: Be original, be yourself and not be afraid to follow your passion.

To get more ideas or to simply indulge in some good old shopping, check out bonitochico.livejournal.com, and if you have any enquiries, you can always approach the friendly ladies through their email addresses stated on the website.

Blogshop Dispute

This is a very interesting spate between 2 Singaporean blogshop owners.

It is interesting because of the following reasons:

1.  This spate involves two teens who are still in school and are running blogshop businesses on the side.  Each party has made claims that are contradictory to the other's.

2.  It brings into question the legal standing of blogshops.  If either party brings this case to the authorities, will it be entertained?  Will these blogshops be considered legitimate business entities?  In this case, they are resorting to police reports!

3. The spate is brought to the attention of the public via social networks.  It has been posted on a forum and at least one blog has even reviewed it (although its authenticity is hard to determine).

4.  Since the owners are teens, their family members, especially their parents, have been pulled into it as well.

This is the seller's blogshop, called Shopping-Oh, run by Steffi, Sherlyn and their mom.  They are teens, one being about 16-18 years old and the other younger.  They buy direct from wholesalers in Taiwan and probably have other blogshops as customers.  It is claimed to be a family business.  The mom works at Republic Polytechnic where they run a family-owned food stall.

http://shopping-oh.blogspot.com/2008/09/hihi-d.html

The owners have opted to use their blogshop to tell their side of the story.  Not sure if this is a good PR move at all.

This is the buyer's blogshop called PeekaBoOo.

http://www.peekkabooo.blogspot.com/ .

 The owner is Angela Lee, and it seems they are buying from  other blogshops (like Shopping-Oh) and reselling it.

The buyer has posted this spate on a popular Singaporean forum called SG Club.  The whole thread is here:

http://forums.sgclub.com/singapore/mother_blogshop_owner_286922.html

Here is a blog that has incidentally made a review of Shopping-Oh:

http://www.passion2serve-sg.com/ 


I am not sure if it is a real blog or something that the buyer has set up just to tell her side of the story.  Note that the blog is NEW, and has one post.

Hope to see how this plays out.

Are blogshops legal businesses?

This blogger raises an interesting question about the legality of blogshop businesses.

Most blogshops are usually not registered as far as I know.

http://imaginaryspaces.com/eileen/?p=1810

My friend Sohail from Iran even keeps up with the news in Malaysia. He saw this article on unregistered businesses and forwarded me this news. I don’t keep up with the news locally… so this is what I think about these illegal online trades…

Unregistered businesses in Malaysia are BIG! Domestic Trade is now tracking down people who are doing business illegally or business that doesn’t PAY TAXES!

400 unregistered online biz charged
GEORGE TOWN: Four hundred online businessmen have been charged in court for not registering their business with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) in the past two years.
Deputy Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said they were charged under Section 12 (1) (a) of the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 (Amendment 2001) which carries a fine of up to RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years.
He said individuals or companies conducting online business were not exempted from registering themselves to prevent fraud.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is monitoring online business to detect individuals and companies which conduct business illegally, he told reporters after opening a dialog on business ethical practices here today.
"Businessmen should be aware of their responsibility and code of ethics and should not victimise consumers," he said. – Bernama

I can’t blame the government for tracking down these people especially the one’s in illegal trades online (betting, porno, sex trades). However, of course it affects many online blog shops that do not have a registered company name. Mainly cause these blog shops are run by people who are still very young and looking to make a tiny profit!

Shoppilicious, fortunately being a registered company with the ROC does not have to worry about this!

Unfortunately, I’m not sure what are the trading legal laws like in Malaysia as it was never specified anyway. Are blog shops considered business? As far as I know, blogshops do not make a lot of money. May be few hundreds a month? If they are lucky, it can reach up to a RM1,000 on a bazaar night.

In order to safe your sorry arse from being FINE and DETAINED! Make an effort by registering a company name. That is if you are making a lot of money. Preferably RM1,000 and above monthly without fail! All you have to do is go to SSM and pay only RM100 for a year. You have to pay this fee annually. But it’s really not much!

Domestic Trade won’t go after online shops that barely makes any profit. But if you are an actual business that has income coming in a lot every month… it gets really fishy! So SSM will only track down these people. Blogshops are really safe.

As for those people who are making tons of money every month online…. Please get yourself registered. It’s only RM100 a year! Because of these people, we are affected too. Shoppilicious doesn’t make a ton of money and it’s saddened by the fact that we are being affected by irresponsible people or dishonest traders. But being that domestic trade is now tracking down people will also help us cause consumers may have a slight tinge of hope that shopping online is safer now. Or may be not. Which ever way they look at it… get yourself registered!!!

The Evolution of the Shopping World

This article tries to document the e-commerce fashion scene, and situates blogshops within its context.

http://www.myfatpocket.com/fashion/the-evolution-of-the-world-of-shopping.html

The Evolution of the Shopping World

Monday, 05 July 2010 09:00

TOUCH OF VOGUE
by Min Yan



Remember the good old days of the 90s when shopping was so one-dimensional and straightforward. If you wanted something from the shops, your only option was basically to physically go to the shops and get it yourself. 

And then there came the wonderful invention called the Internet. As the Internet proliferation grew to consume almost every aspect of our lives, it was only a matter a time that shopping became part of our online lives.


The massive popularity of online shopping didn't occur overnight, nor did it happen yesterday. At the start, those who shopped online were mainly young men with a high level of income and education and bought primarily books and electronics. However, as the percentage of female internet users increased, the equilibrium began to shift.

In 2000, a study revealed that sixty percent of Internet users report shopping online for clothes, and among these shoppers, 41 percent shopped online at least once a month and 56 percent have made at least one online clothing purchase. Keeping in mind that this was almost a decade ago where people still actually led lives outside of the Internet, these were pretty impressive statistics!

And with statistics such as these, it was only natural that enterprising businessmen began to capitalize on the rapidly changing shopping business model.



Two of the most successful online-only retailers ASOS and NET-A-PORTER were established in 2000, strangely enough, at the end of the Internet boom of the late 90s. Despite the loss of confidence in many Internet startups, who tried to do too many things with too little resources, among consumers, with careful positioning and marketing, they were able to pull through the tough times.

Today, ASOS has over 1,000 employees and is the United Kingdom's largest independent online and fashion beauty online retailer. With international growth leading the way, it is quickly becoming the market leader in the online fashion world, recently posting sales of £223 million.



NET-A-PORTER on the other hand, is an online, London, United Kingdom-based luxury clothing and accessories retailer. The website, presented in the style of a fashion magazine, was launched in 2000 and now stocks over 300 international brands such as Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Chloé and Miu Miu. What Net founder and chairman Natalie Massenet has done is combine on one website the thrill of shopping at a chic boutique with the pleasure of reading a fashion magazine.

Successful online retailers such as these opened up a whole new playing field for fashion retailers. Fashion retailers like Forever 21 saw the potential for a whole new market and quickly set up their online presence, which today rakes in a significant portion of the company's annual income. Topshop and Victoria's Secret are among the few other retailers who have significant online presence in addition to its offline entities.

To put things into perspective: Net-a-Porter was sold to luxury conglomerate Richemont in a deal that valued the company at approximately $531 million, while H&M’s market cap is $21 billion. So while e-commerce is definitely not here to replace physical stores, a significant online presence could do a whole lot of good for fashion retailers who are not yet onboard with the idea of e-commerce.

Fact is, it was simply inexcusable for a global fashion retailer to not have an e-commerce operation in this Internet era. Offline retail operations, though massive, were slow and cumbersome, which in the rapidly changing fashion industry, is a huge problem. For example, product testing could take up to weeks for test and response time, as opposed to days with an online retail shop. More importantly, not having an online presence meant that the retailer could be missing out on shoppers who may not be located near to a physical store.

A New Competition



These days, it seems that it's become more and more imperative that fashion retailers have a strong e-commerce presence. Enter the blogshops.

Set up by enterprising young people, these blogshops are a threat to fashion retailers mainly because they are usually targeted towards students or working adults who spend majority of their time online, and at the same time, budget conscious.

However, the biggest threat that these blogshops pose to fashion retailers is simply the fact that they take away what could have been allocated time at their physical stores by shoppers. With these online blogshops, which not only offer fashion forward items at a fraction of the cost of clothes at these fashion retailers, they also offer the gift of convenience, and with these convenience, many shoppers no longer see the need to venture out shopping.

With a lack of a significant online presence, how are the fashion retailers supposed to even attract those who have taken their shopping wholly online?

Once again, the face of shopping has been changed. Where do we go from here?


Sure this is just a comic poking fun at the increasing reliance that shoppers display on the internet, but one cannot help but wonder, would we ever actually come to this stage? That we become so dependent on the internet to supply us with whatever we need that we completely abandon the traditional concept of shopping? Well, retailers could probably rest easy that Apocalypse Day would most likely not come for them.



As strong a presence as online shopping as made in the realm of shopping today, it's highly unlikely that it'd ever dominate actual shopping at the physical stores. After all, as convenient as online shopping is, shoppers lack the basic ability to try on and feel the clothes they fancy. A lot of guesswork and gauging is involved, and it's not unlikely that they end up with items not up to their expectations when the items finally arrive at their door step. Also, it seems that offline is where the lucrative business exists.

In fact, even blogshop owners themselves seem to echo this sentiment, as many of them make the move towards bringing part of their business offline, whether it is renting out whole shops, or sharing space with other blogshop owners in physical stores.

Of course, that's not to say that fashion retailers can rest easy. Here’s the thing: when the economy was at it’s worst, online retail sales were the one area that either grew or didn’t suffer as much from the downturn. Not having an e-commerce operation at this point is simply unthinkable. In a tough economy where people are online everyday but not going to malls and shopping districts as often (if at all), fashion retailers simply must continue to focus on their Web presence in order to remain relevant into the future.

So while online shopping is unlikely to eclipse its brick and mortar counterparts, there's no doubt that the balance will continue to shift in favour of online shopping, as more and more retailers realise the massive potential of the online business, until it reaches an equilibrium where the shopping landscape truly reflects the shopping behaviour of the consumers.

The Rise of Blogshops: Tried and Tested

This is an interesting opinion piece about blogshops, from a blog called Project Fidgety Fingers.

The part that got me interested is the comment about tax evasion.

http://projectfidgetyfingers.blogspot.com/2010/07/rise-of-blog-shops-tried-and-tested.html


There has been a rise in blog shops recently in Asia. For those who do not know what blog shops are, they are online shops that make use of free spaces like livejournal, wordpress, blogspot... etc., as their online store. It is cheap, or if not free most of the time. These stores make use of Facebook and other social networks to promote themselves. They also give away their items by asking people to join their mailing lists. This is how they enlarge their circle. Also, they tend to evade tax most of the time.

They are not like Fidgety Fingers Shop where it is a flea shop of sorts and we report our earnings if we have any. These blog shops sell new items. They are not cheap, nor are they expensive (we do think they are expensive considering the quality). We have tried blog shops a couple of time to see what the hype is all about. This is our experience...

WHY ARE BLOG SHOPS ATTRACTIVE?

• They are easy to use. They are online, so you can shop at your own time. You would ideally be browsing the shops even when you are skiving at work.
• The items are relatively affordable.
• The items are modeled by the blog owners themselves and their friends. The blog is branded and have a style or look, making them look exclusive.
• They carry items which are trendy.
• They give out freebies to bloggers and have these bloggers advertise their blog shops for them. So we see bloggers wearing their pieces and that somehow made a lot of girls want the items to look like these self-acclaimed celebrities(wannabes).

WHY ARE BLOG SHOPS A SCAM?

• They mostly require bank transfers, which does not exactly leave a trace if taxation is in question. To see if they are remotely legit, see if they offer Paypal. Paypal has a system which protects the payee.
• They carry items which are cheaply made. These items usually come in one-size and are usually a UK size 6-8. They are usually cheaply produced in places like HK, China...etc., and hence the petite Asian sizes. If you are tall and a UK6-8, you can forget about the dresses. They provide measurements. However, if you are a veteran in Ebay shopping, you would realize that those measurements are not from well fitted clothings.
• Because they are free size, they usually do not fit very well even if you fall in the UK6-8 size range. You really do not want to spend your money altering the clothes because the pieces' true value actually cost less than your alteration fees.
• You cannot try the pieces. Clothes tend to look nice in pictures sometimes because they are clipped at the back or front, depending which profile you are looking at.
• As they are cheaply produced, we call them 'disposable' clothes or bags. They are made to mimic current trends but quality of the materials are very compromised and poor. They do not last, hence 'disposable'.
• You are not protected. These are not shops. These are makeshift shops by bloggers who are trying to earn an extra buck or using these blog shops to evade rent and tax. We have bought a bag which arrived faulty and we were not compensated. We were instead given a $5 discount for our next purchase. Low business ethics, that is. Lesson learnt, no blog shops anymore for us.
• As they are purchased from a wholesaler in China, they are not specially designed. These are bulk orders with a brand tag sewn on them. You will find similar items in various blogshops. You will also be able to find their items in shopping malls where you can touch and try those pieces on. For blogshoppers in Singapore, you can primarily find a lot of blogshop items in Far East Plaza. Blogshop items are even priced more than the shops because they tend to sell their 'brand' and you have to include postage as well.

These are just some observations. In our opinion, it is not worth buying from blogshops. We rather buy legit brands where you can be sure of the quality, style and sizes. You might think Topshop or New Look quality is compromised too and so why not buy something cheaper but stylish. We beg to differ. There is a clear difference in quality. Much more, you can try and touch the items in a real shop. Also you are protected when you shop in a real shop or even Ebay!

If you are a supporter of individuals evading tax for their profit, do continue blog shopping. Have a good day. ;-p

Blogshops Today, Close Shops Tomorrow

Here is an online news article about blogshop stores at the Far East Plaza in Singapore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-6258927/aHR0cDovL3RucC5zZy9uZXdzL3N0b3J5LzAsNDEzNiwyNDgxODIsMDAuaHRtbD8=
By Geraldine Yeo
July 8 2010

A year ago, they were featured in newspapers and magazines because of their innovative business model. But today, the couple are wanted by their tenants – who claimed that they have disappeared with their rentals and deposits. Mr Ang Chuang Yang and Ms Tsai Siha's business plan was simple: Rent a shop space, then sublet the store racks to online shops – or blogshops – to physically display and sell their items beyond cyberspace. The couple, both 20, were so successful that their first shop– which opened at Far East Plaza in July last year– expanded to three as of April. The other two units were also in Far East Plaza. All three stores, called Best of Blogshops, sold clothes, jewellery and accessories for women imported from countries like Hong Kong and Thailand. It charged an average of $600 a month for a clothes rack that could hold up to 25 pieces of clothing. The shop also collected an additional 20 per cent commission on all sales at the end of every month, claimed tenants The New Paper spoke to. But since April, the shops have suddenly closed, leaving more than 20 tenants high and dry. Collectively, they have since lodged a police report, which a police spokesman confirmed with The New Paper. Four tenants The New Paper spoke to claimed their losses amounted to $13,200 in total.

Nuffnang co-founder starts Jipaban

This news might be worth to note as it involves Malaysia's biggest online ad server Nuffnang which is the adverising muscle behind the local blogging scene.  With Jipaban, they are providing a one-stop shopping portal for blogshop owners.

Curiously, the Jipaban site has a Singaporean domain: http://www.jipaban.com.sg/

A look at the screen shot will show that this site is different than the countless other directories and aggregation sites in that it has a distinctively Web 2.0/social media feel to it.  It also has social networking features which adds to its uniqueness.

Here is an interview article with Cheo Ming Shen, the co-founder of Jipaban:

From: Today Online website: http://www.todayonline.com/Shop/EDC100703-0000033/Five-questions-with-Cheo-Ming-Shen

Written by Lynette Koh

If you are a fan of blogshops, you should bookmark new e-commerce website, Jipaban.com. Launched in May, Jipaban brings together small retailers to create a one-stop virtual shopping portal. With about 80 retailers currently onboard, its name may be a bit of an exaggeration (jipaban is Hokkien for one million), but still, it offers e-shoppers a reasonably hefty selection of products, including clothes, accessories, and lifestyle products.

Its co-founder, Cheo Ming Shen, is also one of the people behind blog advertising website Nuffnang.com. Here, the 27-year-old entrepreneur tells Today about e-commerce, his ever-growing watch collection, and how the name of his newest venture came about.

Nuffnang was started in 2007. You and your partners have co-founded several other web-based businesses since, such as Jipaban. Why the focus on e-commerce?

I believed then, and I believe now, that the Internet is a "greenfield" for today's entrepreneurs. In South-east Asia, in particular, there is very little locally developed content, so this represents great opportunities for prospective dot-com entrepreneurs who are willing to innovate and work hard.

Why did you call your new website Jipaban?

"Jipaban" means one million in Hokkien. It first came up when I heard a Hokkien song of the same title. The song reflects the aspirations of a wannabe millionaire. There are two reasons why the name is relevant.

Firstly, it represents the aspirations of its retailers to make money and become millionaires. Secondly, Jipaban is currently in its embryonic stage. In the future, we will expand and bring in more variety for our shoppers. The limits are endless.

Where do you shop?

I shop online quite a lot. My favourite online shops are www.firebox.com (a British gadget store) and Amazon (where I buy e-books for my Kindle). I also go to

www.manutd.com and www.icons.com to buy football memorabilia.

What are your retail weaknesses?

Definitely watches. I have over a dozen watches. My favourite watch is Mr Roboto, (an automatic steel watch) by Azimuth, a Singaporean-founded company. The watch cost about $6,000.

What's your worst buy?

Although I spend a lot of money on thingamabobs, I usually deliberate over an item quite a lot before I actually buy it, and I have a natural attachment to the things I buy. They usually represent a memory or have some other significance, so I haven't really regretted any single purchase so far.

Malaysia's 1st Online Entrepreneurs Weekend

This event will be happening at the Mid Valley Convention Center from 13 to 15 August.

http://www.malaysiantoday.com.my/node/1574

I am going to attend it as it will be a chance to begin my initial round of interview as there will be many blogshop owners and other participants there.

Malaysia's 1st Online Entrepreneurs Weekend


They were only biding time. Now they too are at the forefront of fashion: Blogshops. Once restricted to the space within the virtual world, Blogshops are now present in the physical dimension. Making this possible transition possible is Malaysia's Online Fashion Entrepreneurs' Weekend 2010.

While surfing on popular networking site Facebook, you find that someone has tagged you on a picture. Clicking on the notification, curious to see if it was a good shot of you, you see that you have been tagged as a left sleeve.

We are getting more and more of these pictures as more of our friends decide to earn extra income by trying to become entrepreneurs. They set up shop by placing their products for sale on various blog platforms, advertise on Facebook, and update their stores' progress on Twitter.

There are a few site dedicated to highlighting the myriad of stores such as diaryofane-shopaholic.blogspot.com, ashopaholicsden.com, will-shop-till-drop.blogspot.com and many more. These sites suss out the best from the rest and update the shoppers on which of the blogshops have new collections.

An event called Malaysia's Online Fashion Entrepreneurs' Weekend 2010 (MOFEW) organised by A&O Brandbuilding Consultants aim to bring these entrepreneurs out of the four corners of the screen to set up shop on ground at Mid Valley Convention Centre come August 13 to 15.

You can expect some of the crowd favourites to be displaying their wares. The full list of blogshops who will be participating on the three-day event is listed on MOFEW's Facebook fanpage at http://tinyurl.com/MOFEW. 

On the Fan Page as well, you will be able to view the competition between blogshops as they rally for votes online in the first round of 'The Search'. The second round will have the top 25 highest voted blogshops to be judged by the main sponsors such as Elizabeth, Snips Salon and the organisers themselves.

The panel of judges will be giving points based on the blogshops' fashion, creativity and marketing knowledge from their creation of three product shots. The fashion shots will also be judged by public votes on the same Facebook fanpage.

In the final round, the shortlisted top eight will be required to create a total image for an assigned model using their own products with the assistance of the SNIPS team who will provide make-up and hairstyling. A fashion show will follow suit and the whole ensemble will be judged by the same panel of judges before one is eventually crowned Malaysia's Online Fashion Entrepreneur.

For those of you who own an iPhone, there's more for you! MOFEW has a dedicated application which is downloadable free from Apple AppStore. The app will have all the listings of the exhibitors, contacts, their shop's web address, the blogshops' catalog along with vouchers and discounts for shoppers.

There's even a nifty search function to let you browse the specific categories without needing to flip from page to page.

Log on over to mofew.com.my for more information on the first ever Malaysia's Online Fashion Entrepreneurs' Weekend.

Their Facebook page is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malaysias-Online-Fashion-Entrepreneurs-Weekend/122251237790413?ref=sgm&v=wall#!/pages/Malaysias-Online-Fashion-Entrepreneurs-Weekend/122251237790413?v=info&ref=sgm