F-Commerce a hit for small retailers

From: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/business/story/2012/09/24/facebook-commerce-a-hit-for-small-retailers/57838070/1

Facebook commerce a hit for small retailers

by Oliver St. John, USA TODAY

Updated 9/24/2012 8:07 PM

Facebook is becoming prime real estate for small retailers rather than the mega-mall that the big chains had hoped it would be.

Second-quarter profits from Facebook stores were up 38% from the first quarter for the 180,000 small to midsize retailers, and have been going strong ever since, says e-commerce company Ecwid. Based on Facebook's monthly active users stats, Ecwid makes the most widely used Facebook store-building software to work across social-media platforms and websites.

STORY: Facebook stock plunges 9.1% as doubts rise again

Businesses that sell on Facebook using Ecwid's app as well as on their own websites make 22% of their sales on Facebook, says Ecwid. Social-commerce gurus say small retailers have the edge over big names, because they behave more like friends on Facebook.

"This is where small business can really hit it out of the park," says Paul Chaney, author of The F-Commerce Handbook. "I connect with the guy or lady who runs the business, and that's the person who's posting."

Facebook commerce can be great for businesses such as the Apricot Lane franchise Jena Green runs with her mother, Renee Dixon, in Peoria, Ill. The boutique makes up to half of its overall sales of women's clothing, shoes and accessories on Facebook, says Green. She engages the more than 19,000 customers who have "Liked" her store by posting pictures of new arrivals, promotions and answers to customer inquiries throughout the day.

She says customers favor Facebook shopping because they're already checking the page for pictures of the new items anyway. If they see something they want, "It's just easier for them to click 'shop,'" Green says.

Many large retailers have not been able to break into Facebook commerce like Green and Dixon did. Nordstrom offered a few items for sale on its Facebook page for a limited time as part of a test last year, but "the customer didn't seem to respond," says spokesman Colin Johnson. J.C. Penney, GameStop, Banana Republic, The Gap and Old Navy all closed their Facebook storefronts, Bloomberg reported. But J.C. Penney hasn't given up on Facebook. "Our first attempt may not have been the right approach, but we're continuing to explore new ways to turn our 2.7 million followers into repeat customers," says J.C. Penney spokeswoman Daphne Avila.

Just don't put all your eggs in one online shopping basket, warns Skip Shean, CEO of 16wells, an online marketing consultant. Facebook is notorious for springing drastic changes on users unannounced. "It's a bad idea to rely on a platform you don't have any control over," he says. "You need a plan B."

Airline crew sells bags online

Interesting find about a blogshop selling stuff that is brought in by airline crew from overseas.

They also allow for installment payment.

From: http://brandbags4u.blogspot.com/

READ THIS -TERM & CONDITION

1) All items are 100% guarantee Authentic. I don’t like to use or support replica, fake and counterfeit items.

2) All items sold are Final. Non-refundable, Non-returnable.

3) You can choose COD or Post. For COD, I required 50rm deposit before meet up. This is to prevent buyer back out. Pls meet up at convenience places (any station on Star & Putra Lrt line, Bukit Jalil, Sri-petaling).

For Post, some items are Not included shipping! Pls check with me first.

4) I allow you to pay installment for price above RM800. Maximum period is only up to 2 month (up to our agreement via email or sms) which means you need to make full payment by this course. Deposit is Non-refundable.

5) Deposit 30-50% of the price for reservation & ALL Pre-Order items.

6) I will not be responsible if items lost and damage due to shipping.

All items here are guarantee 100% AUTHENTIC. Items are from overseas carried by air crews, or my friend who live in overseas that’s why you see price cheaper than local boutique.

To be fair for both of us, Please DO NOT transfer deposit before email order to me.

All items are 100% guarantee Original, Genuine, Authentic

Money back guarantee if found it’s not authentic.

Thank you & Happy Shopping!

Running a Blogshop

From: http://www.zdnet.com/tips-on-how-to-run-a-blogshop-7000005305/

Tips on how to run a blogshop

Summary: Singapore-based Momoteapots shares some pointers on how to handle the logistics and marketing behind a blogshop, and explains the benefits of resisting the change to a dot-com Web site.

By Ellyne Phneah | October 5, 2012 -- 10:34 GMT (18:34 SGT)

[CASE STUDY] Unlike many other blogshops who have migrated to a dot-com Web address, Singapore-based blogshop Momoteapots has resisted the move, based on cost calculations and customer feedback.
The blogshop's co-founder Serene Chow told ZDNet Asia in an interview that customers preferred using the LiveJournal site because of the more personalized customer service offered, such as chronological dialogue format that made it easy to browse.
It also allowed for more personal interaction, as compared to an automated invoicing system on big brand online shops such as Nasty Gal and ASOS, she added.
Chow explained there was also high costs in migrating to a dot-com Web site with proper online store features, which can typically go up to S$20,000 (US$14,660).
Co-owned with a good friend from school, Matthew Ang, Momoteapots today has approximately 1,000 transactions a month and launches new collections every two weeks. It had started out in 2007, when Chow, a university student, used it as an online platform to rid her wardrobe of old clothes and earn extra allowance.
With the blogshop scene being very saturated at the moment, we are often challenged to think out of the box to keep improving ourselves and keep ahead of competition," she said.
ZDNet Asia spoke to Chow to find out more about what it takes to run a blogshop.

Source: Momoteapots

Q: How do you source for your clothes?
Chow: We get our supplies of female apparel in Singapore and abroad. We make sourcing trips within Asia monthly to scour for clothes with the latest designs for our blogshop. We have also begun manufacturing our own designs, by working with middlemen and suppliers here.
At the moment, we work with a few trustworthy and reliable suppliers, since it is difficult to find a single supplier who is good at manufacturing every single apparel. For example, one supplier may be better at manufacturing blazers while another may have a niche in making dresses, so we will choose to work with both.
We meet our local suppliers weekly to order designs. Locally, off the rack stuff can take one day for delivery while our self-manufactured designs can take up to three or four months to arrive.
How do you market your products?  On average, one or two Momoteapots' manufactured designs arrive every week, along with readily available pieces from suppliers. With these pieces, we try to pick out which designs we want to showcase as part of a collection based on "what's hot".
We will then do a photoshoot mostly indoors, and occasionally we will have themed ones to inject some fun. I still model for the site, and the images are then edited by us--which helps save costs.
Preview pictures will be uploaded on the blog's social media page, and we will also announce the latest collection through our e-mailing list.
This is a good way to hype up the interest and buzz for a collection, as customers anticipate the upcoming designs. It also gives them some extra time to consider purchasing a particular piece. p>We will then prepare for the online launch by listing the measurements, writing out item descriptions, and doing up the inventory.
How is invoicing and payment done? Customers who are interested in buying a particular item will leave a comment on the post, noting the item of their choice and their e-mail address.
With this "invoice", a customer will then be given 24 hours to make their transfer via ATM fund transfer or Internet banking, and then inform us of the transaction details. If they do not or are uncontactable, we will "blacklist" the e-mail address, and give them lesser priority on their next order.
Invoicing on a blogging platform, as compared to a dot-com site can be troublesome and inefficient because you have to go through every single comment to create an invoice. The up side is they get a more personalized invoice from us as compared to a generic automated invoice from a dot-com side.
We consider a collection a success when at least 70 percent of the stocks are sold, which happens in almost all of our collections.
What other efforts do you make to get to know your customers? Knowing our customers is very important to us as it puts a face behind those we correspond with online. Similarly, when our customers get to know us, they may feel more comfortable buying from us in the future.
We hold private sale events once or twice a year only for customers who have signed up for our mailing list. At this event, the customers get first-hand previews of upcoming designs and priority access to our sale items.
With our online success, we have also opened a brick and mortar store.
The brick-and-mortar stores can give our online customers an additional outlet to shop with us, and reach out to a wider customer base. There are still customers who hesitate shopping online with us as they worry about quality and fit.
New or potential customers will now have more faith in our products when they have the opportunity to touch, feel or try our designs.

http://momoteapots.livejournal.com/ 

Asia Pacific fastest growing region in EC

From: http://blog.ignify.com/2011/02/28/world-wide-ecommerce-trends-asia-pacific-ranks-fastest-growing-region/

World-Wide eCommerce Trends: Asia Pacific Ranks Fastest Growing Region

February 28th, 2011

While the ecommerce market in the U.S. is now considered to be a mature segment of the retail industry, In Asia Pacific the expansion of this space remains in its early stages. eCommerce in USA still continues to outpace traditional brick and mortar retail. However in Asia Pacific the growth in eCommerce is staggering. However, unlike traditional beliefs that Asian consumers are averse to shopping online a report released in 2010 on Global Trends in Online Shopping revealed that only 13% of Internet users in Asia Pacific had never shopped online which was lower than the global average where 16% of users had never shopped online. This forecasts the ecommerce in Asia Pacific will continue to grow fast and only may become one of the largest markets world-wide. The report surveyed over 27,000 internet users in the world.

• The China Internet Network Information Center said the number of internet users in the world’s most populous country jumped 28.9% in 2009 to 384 million, which is more than the entire population of the U.S.
• According to this article on CNBC , “Sales done online nationwide in China have doubled to almost $80 billion in 2010, according to iResearch data, compared to total retail sales, which have grown nearly 20 percent per year in the last five years.”

While this spending burst could be a result of many things, experts say shoppers in Asia Pacific are fast-becoming comfortable with the ease of mobile e-commerce, compared to their Western counterparts. In addition to their web savvy ways, their economy is experiencing a consumption boom which should last for many years. Users in Asia Pacific are more likely to do a purchase using the mobile phone than users in North America.

Here are some key trends we’ve discovered by reviewing all the surveys including the Nielsen one referred to above and others from ComScore and Forrester Research:

• What they are buying: Outside of travel, Items that Asia Pacific shoppers like to buy online are books, clothing/accessories/shoes, cosmetics, videos/DVDs/games, and groceries in that order.
• Where within Asia Pacific are they buying: Total online spending as a percentage of total monthly spending varies by country with Chinese and Korean online consumers allocating the most via the web than any other in the region. Online consumers in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Hong Kong allocate the least.
• Who is buying: The developed countries in Asia Pacific such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan follow the same online gender profiling as North America where women dominate men in the traffic to online stores. Less developed countries like India, Vietnam and Philippines have men more dominant in visits to online retail stores.

So with this information, how can you begin marketing to the Asia Pacific part of the world through your ecommerce site ? How can you get their attention and keep it? Here are some tips on what you can do to build out your Asia Pacific ecommerce store.

1. Offer diversity in your online product catalog: The #1 reason shoppers in Asia Pacific go online is when they cannot find products in the store or for diversity. This is very different than the North America buyer where price is often a very significant reason to shop online. So you don’t need to be the cheapest price in town if your store can bring significant diversity. The more products you can offer the higher your chances of success will be in this market. Those testing the market with a very narrow catalog may find that they are setting themselves for failure.
2. Stay simple: While a broad catalog is desired, the store should be simple, easy to navigate and not overly complex. Most online retailers in Asia Pacific make the mistake of throwing a lot of flash and a dizzying array of colors. A busy look and feel is the most common and the least successful. Go for the clean and simple look and feel with a powerful offering.
3. Reviews: Online product reviews are more important than in North America. The strong social connection in Asia pacific means that consumers will like to read and research a lot more before they buy. Reviews (both negative and positive) will help increase the conversion on your store. Don’t sanitize your reviews
4. Promotions: The least used and yet most successful promotion in Asia Pacific is Free shipping. While it is hard to make shipping cost-effective in the region – if you can make that your strength. How do you make shipping pay for itself – tie the free shopping offer to a minimum order size e.g. the equivalent of $50. That will drive up your order size and the difference will pay for the shipping. The free shipping in itself will increase conversion significantly. Shoppers in Asia Pacific are very sensitive to shipping cost.
5. Mobile: The web should be your #1 priority. However the mobile experience should be a close second. Users in Asia are much more comfortable with the cell phone than consumers in North America. Take advantage of this and put in place a mobile offering much sooner than when you’d do it in North America.

Email us at ecommerce@ignify.com for more tips.

Pankaj Kumar is the Chief Technology Officer at Ignify. Ignify eCommerce is the only PCI certified eCommerce solution in the market that is available in the Asia Pacific region. Ignify has been included as the fastest growing business in North America for four years in a row by Deloitte, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. Ignify was ranked in the Red Herring Global 100 in 2011 – this list represents the top businesses world-wide with disruptive and innovative technology.